The lion sleeps well tonight.

Descendants of the South African man who wrote the 1939 song that became known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" won a huge share of royalties from the song that has been covered countless times and appeared on the soundtracks of at least 15 major films. Solomon Linda's song "Mbube," the Zulu word for lion, was the first pop hit from Africa, selling 100,000 copies in the 1940s. Under apartheid laws that prevented Blacks from negotiating over rights to music, Linda sold the track for less than $2. His family will now receive 25 percent of past and future royalties. With the song featured in Disney's "The Lion King," according to the family's lawyer, "the musical was netting millions of dollars and Solomon Linda's daughters were trying to survive as domestic servants, not earning enough to feed their families."

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