Folktale: The Tortoise, the Dog and the Farmer

There was once a famine in the land of the animals because the dry season had lasted longer than usual. There was no rain in the land, and every animal was thin and unhealthy due to the scarcity of food. The land was too dry to germinate any seed. The tortoise was one of those suffering the hardships of the famine. Hunger had made him look smaller than his shell. On the other hand, he noticed that his friend, the dog, appeared to be in good health. He decided to find out what the secret to the dog's happiness was.

The tortoise decided to pay his friend, the dog, a visit the next day.

The tortoise arrived at his home and was well received. The dog entertained him with some richly cooked yam porridge. This surprised tortoise since no animal could afford a decent meal at that time of the famine. He asked his friend to tell him the secret of how he was able to afford some food. He also wanted to look as healthy and well fed as the dog looked but thee dog answered, "There is no secret to it, my wonderful friend; all of my hard work has paid off".

The tortoise decided to pursue the matter further after the dog's response did not fool him. He remarked to his friend, "I know you have a way to stop this hunger, so tell me, and I'll keep it a secret." The dog, however refused to tell him but claimed he was a successful farmer. The tortoise thanked him and then went home, but he could not get the problem out of his head, so he devised a scheme.

It was obvious to him that the dog was a lazy animal in terms of farm work. He preferred hunting to farming, so why would he suddenly become a successful farmer during the period when hardworking farmers could not afford to feed.

He decided that the only way to know the truth was to trail the dog's whereabouts the following day. He watched the dog depart the house quite early in the morning while hiding behind a tree. Keeping a safe distance behind the dog at all times, he followed him all the way to the next animal kingdom.

The dog arrived at a farm and, after making sure no one was looking, began gathering yam from the farm into his basket. The tortoise then let the dog know he was there. The dog was horrified that his friend the tortoise would go to such lengths to find out the truth. He had been caught at his game and had no option but to tell the tortoise the truth He made the bad decision to reveal his theft from another person's farm to the tortoise.

After the big revelation, both the dog and tortoise began to go every morning to steal yam from the farmer's farm. The tortoise took a little bit more each time they went than the day before. The dog realized that the longer it took them to return home, the more yams the tortoise added each day, so he made the decision to warn him. "My dear friend the tortoise, the amount of yam you bring home every day is getting out of hand. We left for home pretty early yesterday but arrived extremely late. We might be discovered by the farmer, and that would be the last of us. "Don't worry, dear friend; I'm keeping plenty yam at home for the rainy day," the tortoise retorted casually. "The farmer will never ever catch us".

”"I don't think you should be greedy; you could get us in trouble if we harvest more yam than we can carry. We should harvest what is easily enough to avoid being caught by the farmer," the dog expressed his concern.

So early in the morning on the next day after they were done loading their basket with stolen yams, the dog announced that he was leaving for home. However, the tortoise begged for more time to harvest yam. Soon after, the dog put his basket on his head and began walking home. The tortoise became aware of this and chased after the dog.

"Dog, wait for me, wait for me; I can't carry my basket by myself because it's too heavy; please assist me,"

The dog, on the other hand, refused to listen and dashed away from the farm. The tortoise pleaded for hours, but the dog had long since vanished.

Because the tortoise was carrying an extremely heavy basket full of yams, he was too slow and before he could leave the farm, he was caught by the farmer who had come to check on his crops. When the farmer arrived at his farm, he discovered the tortoise with a basket full of his yam. He handed him over to the king's men, who brought the tortoise to justice. When the dog saw what had happened to his friend tortoise, he was terrified, and he realized how unjust his actions had been toward the farmer. From then on, he resolved never to take anything that did not belong to him in order to avoid getting into trouble like the tortoise.

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Lead image from Google