King Scarface...

As always, once I see the photographs of my "finished" pieces, I notice things I'd like to fine tune. Such is the case with my latest spool animal..."King Scarface". My original plan was to create a lion that I'd name "Aslan" after The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe stories. Then, I learned about an extraordinary, legendary, wild lion and changed my plans.

My spoolie looks just a bit too "happy", so I'm going to fine tune the nose and mouth area on him, as I add more black fur into the top of his head. Of course, a king needs a crown, so my little lion has one, too.

King Scarface from the Masai Marah Reserve

This is what the real King Scarface looked like. Rather than try to tell you what was so extraordinary about this lion, I'm going to quote the words written by the people who knew him best on the Maasai Mara Reserve:

"The legend Scarface, the king of the Savannah and ruler of the Maasai Mara Reserve, killed 400 hyenas and 130 lions and controlled an area of ​​400 square kilometers. He had 900 lions under his command. He is also considered the only lion who was able to kill an adult hippopotamus in a single battle and expel crocodiles from his reserve because they preyed on a young cub. In 2012, Scarface got into a fight with a lion called Marsupial, who was 3 years younger than Marsupial and bigger than him. Everyone thought that Scarface would lose the fight. Scarface was injured in his foot, but he emerged victorious and kept Marsupial’s head for two weeks before throwing it away. In 2016, he and his brothers Sekiu, Hunter and Murami got into a fight with 6 lions and killed 2 of them on their own. A few days before his death, Scarface walked several miles back to his home and birthplace. On his way, the lions gave him food instead of attacking him. This is unusual in the animal world, but Scarface broke the rule and gained great respect from everyone. He also did not… A cat attacks a human being and is announced dead after a sad roar from the lionesses. He was buried by the National Geographic team in honor of his legendary life, the lion who was only defeated by death. This is from my report and personally I followed his life until his death." - Writer unknown to me

If you'd like to see one of the last videos of this magnificent lion, you can click HERE to view it on Instagram. (I don't think you have to have an account to watch the video.) 

I consider my little spool animal a pale tribute to how wonderful King Scarface really was, but I will keep it to honor his memory.