Plot

In an African jungle strange enough to have a roaring butterfly, Inki the boy hunter, a lion with false teeth and a magical minah bird match wits.

Once again, the mysterious minah bird hops his syncopated way into Inki's lion-hunting expedition. This time the little black bird has a new reality- defying way to disappear: he hops into a haystack which gradually (and with the same catchy hip-hop) shrinks down to a single straw, which vanishes.—Paul Penna <tterrace@wco.com>

A worm and a butterfly frolic merrily through the jungle until the mighty hunter enters the scene with his fearsome spear. Well, maybe he's not so mighty. Inki is a small boy learning an essential skill by starting out small. But in this strange never-land of an African jungle, even a butterfly can roar like a lion and send the would-be hunter fleeing into the distance. Speaking of lions, Inki the hunter becomes Inki the hunted when the king of the jungle gets a whiff of him. But it's unclear whether Inki's greatest threat is the big cat or a small minah bird. Hopping on odd beats of a Mendelssohn tune, the placid bird, capable of magic disappearances and surreal reappearances, causes trouble for man and beast alike, and is not above filching a steak or a pair of false teeth, in the process.—J. Spurlin