"Oh!" said a surprised Mum Lioness. "I just made some yesterday."
"The word is out ... creatures keep stopping by and hinting that they're hungry," said Arunacub. "If I offer them carrots or bananas or an apple, they just start clearing their throats and peeking past me into the cave. Only when I offer them a Ramana Munch do they agree to have a snack."
"Well, we had better make a very LARGE batch," said Mum Lioness, looking out to see what sort of day it was. Outside the cave were two enormous chunks of chocolate.
"Look Mummy Lioness!" said Omcub excitedly. "We really can make a HUGE batch!"
No sooner had they started figuring out how many times they should multiply the normal recipe to make good use of the chocolate than Crumple and Rumple arrived, with Mama Hippolyta bringing up the rear. Crumps and Rumps immediately jumped up on a slab and began gouging out big hunks with their very large hippo teeth.
"Crumple! Rumple!" said Mum Lioness. At this hint of sternness, Mama Hippolyta at once announced that the chocolate had been delivered to the cave by mistake, and had really been intended for Crumple and Rumple's morning snack.
Trying to be fair, Mum Lioness said, "Very well, then. Please take it home so the cubs can get on with their studies."
The cubs could not believe it! This was more chocolate than they had even known existed, and their mother was giving it all away to the Hippo family before they, the cubses, has even had a tiny taste! Surely Mum Lioness was going too far this time.
"Very well indeed," said Mama Hippolyta. "Crumple precious, take a side. Rumplyboy, you lift from that corner. I will take this side. Okay, on a count of three. One two three, HEAVE!!!"
The chocolate slab did not move even an angstrom. The cubses all looked at Mum Lioness, paws to mouths to conceal their smiles.
"What! What?!" exclaimed Mama Hippolyta. "What sort of chocolate is this! Maybe some leaded chocolate that will impair their brain function. I have had them to Chennai for IQ tests and the dears both scored 195. Unsurpassed geniuses! Come along darlings, we must abandon this strange and dangerous chocolate." Each taking a final mouthful so large they could not close their mouths, they hopped on their mother's back.
"Won't we need an awful lot of butter?" asked Tirucub, who was still working on scaling up the recipe.
It was true, they did, but Unca Krishnamoorthy arrived almost right away with a big amount.
Unca Krish was just unloading it when Suri Nagamma arrived with a big supply of maple syrup. This was the hardest ingredient of all to find. "Wherever did you manage to get that?" asked Mum Lioness with delight.
"My brother had it delivered," said Suri. "I was just taking it to Bhagavan, but if you could work it into some of that tasty Ramana Munch, we could take that to him instead."
"Yes!" said all the cubs at once. "The ingredients have arrived by his grace, so we will take it all to Bhagavan!"
They then began the melting and mixing work. At one point Med Tiger, who had smelled fresh chocolate on the breeze and come dashing over, was asked by Mum Lioness to make sure the cubs did not nibble away too much. Med Tiger was not the ideal choice of creature for the job, because he got distracted right away by some nibbling of his own.
The gigantic underpining to the bars was pressed into pans and baked till it was golden brown. Next came the very fun chocolate melting and dipping stage. The cubses carried each dipped chunk to a huge tray, wondering how they were going to get all the Ramana Munch down the hill to Bhagavan.
After they had dipped all the chunks, Spotty suddenly fell into the chocolate vat! The chocolate had cooled a bit but was still not solid. Spotty did not get burned at all, but when Mum Lioness pulled him out, he was almost unrecognizable.
"We had better get you cleaned up fast, in case Crumps and Rumps sneak back and mistake you for a chocolate leopard instead of a real one," said Omcub. No one wanted to try the Ramana Munch until Bhagavan had had the first bite, but they were quite happy to tidy up Spotty.
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