TORTOISE, THE DOG, AND THE TOWER | AN AFRICAN FOKLORE
Whenever Mr. C-- felt jolly he told stories. His favorite was the tale of the tortoise, and how he got his shell broken. Mr. C loved to tell about the famine in the land, and the meeting called to address the issue. Apparently Tortoise, the most cunning and erudite of the animals, was the first to give a suggestion at this meeting. For your delectations I will now try my best to recount this tale as sweetly as Mr. C—told it.
At the meeting, you see, tortoise suggested, that since, sooner or later, the famine would kill them all, they should all, instead, kill their parents. Yes, according to tortoise, their parents were already old and hoary, and instead of letting them go to waste, they should be killed and stored somewhere where they could all eat them sparingly until the famine was over.
Now the animals, as expected, protested at first. But tortoise, being the astute sophist he was, managed to convince them, saying he was to them as Joseph was to the Pharaoh in Egypt. He was well-versed in the scriptures, you see. But little did he know that this famine would last more than the one in Egypt, hell more than any in history.
So all the animals killed their mother, except one. The dog. Toiling day and night, the dog fashioned a long durable piece of rope with which he climbed to heaven, and there he built a compact little house for his beloved mother.
Now in heaven, a remarkable thing happened. There was plenty of food, you see; fruits so bountiful they grow again the instant they’re plucked. Dog had no idead this was how it was, but it was more than a pleasant surprise. All day and night they dined, dog and his mother, until they were more than satisfied.
And after he had eaten as much as he could, dog set out to depart back to the Kingdom, but his mother called him, and warned him not to reveal their secret to the others. They could not be trusted, she said. If they should get to heaven all would seek to keep the fruits for themselves, until they themselves had none. More so, they did not deserve it, those filthy parent murderers.
So the dog set out, prepared to keep his secret at all cost. He even devised a method by which he would make his ascension to heaven henceforth. Every night when the other animals were busy finding sleep to relieve themselves of their hunger for a while, he would walk to the spot beneath the entrance to heaven, and he would sing a special song. And his mother, on hearing this song, would let down the rope so that her beloved son could climb and reap the fruits of heaven with her alone.
Tortoise, however, had a reputation. All animals could testify to his shrewdness, and his uncanny ability to notice the slightest difference in them. And so it was not a surprise that it was he alone who noticed that while they were all getting thinner, the dog was getting fatter.
END OF FIRST PART. STAY TUNED FOR THE SECOND!