An African Fable: How Ostrich came to climb Kilimanjaro (Book #2, African Fable Series)

An African Fable

  How Ostrich came to climb Kilimanjaro

  By

  Salome Byleveldt

  Copyright Salome Byleveldt 2013

  Thank you for respecting the work of this author.

  ~~***~~

  Table of Contents:

  Start Reading

  End Note

  Other Books by Salome Byleveldt

  “It is cold today, isn’t it, Giraffe?” Monkey asked. He was sitting on his favorite branch in the big tree when Giraffe walked past.

  “I did not notice that, Monkey. It feels the same as always.”

  Monkey shivered, and said: “Well, I’m cold.” He swung down the branch, landed on all four of his little feet and ran down towards the river. Hippo was basking in the sun on the sand at the river’s edge. Monkey jumped into the air. Then he rolled himself into a ball and laughed as he rolled down the bank of the river. He shrieked when he bumped into something. At first he thought that it was Crocodile, but luckily it was only Hippo.

  “Oh hello, Hippo,” Monkey chirped.

  “Hello Monkey,” Hippo sleepily greeted him, without opening his eyes.

  “I say, Hippo, it is cold today, isn’t it?” Hippo gave it some thought then he opened one eye.

  “I didn’t notice that before, but now that you’ve mentioned it, it is a bit cold. I’ve been lying in the sun since early this morning. Now the sun sits in the middle of the sky and I am still not as warm as I should be.”

  “That’s what I thought too, Hippo. It is cold. By the time the sun sits in the middle of the sky, it should be very warm. I think something is wrong.”

  Just then Young Giraffe came down the bank of the river. He wanted to have a drink of water from the river and to talk a little bit with Monkey. Monkey was his best friend. When they were travelling to the end of the Earth, Monkey had called Young Giraffe the bravest of all the Animals. Now they were best friends.

  “Don’t you think that it is cold today, Young Giraffe?” Monkey asked. Young Giraffe did not feel cold, but he didn’t want to disappoint his best friend. So he carefully answered: “Well, I’m not exactly cold, but maybe my skin is too thick to feel the cold. You could be right Monkey. Maybe it is cold today.”

  “That’s what I thought too, Young Giraffe. It is cold today.” Monkey skipped up the bank of the river and ran to find Elephant. He found him pushing down a tree, so that he could reach the top branches, where the juicy leaves grew.

  “Hello Elephant,” Monkey shouted from afar. “Don’t you think it is cold today?” Elephant gave the tree a big push and it broke into two with a loud crack. Monkey felt a little scared, but he didn’t want Elephant to see that he was a little afraid of him. “I’m cold today, Elephant. Don’t you think it is colder today than usual?”

  “No, I don’t think it is cold, Monkey. You’re making a mistake.” Elephant put his trunk around a branch and stripped all the leaves from it. He put a large bunch of the leaves in his mouth. After some time he saw Monkey still sitting next to him and he talked around a mouth full of food: “You’re wrong Monkey. It is not cold today. Now leave me alone while I finish my lunch.”

  Monkey decided that Elephant was much bigger than he was, so he left him alone. He ran down the path to where he knew Porcupine was sleeping in a burrow. When he found the burrow, he put his head down into the entrance and shouted: “Porcupine, are you there?” And when Porcupine didn’t answer straight away, he shouted again: “Porcupine, don’t you think that it is cold today?” Monkey balanced on the edge of the burrow and when he tried to shout down it for the third time, he slipped and almost fell head first into the hole.

  Porcupine was fast asleep when he heard the commotion from the top and he came running out with his quills standing on end. He was barely awake.

  “Don’t you think it is cold today, Porcupine?” Monkey asked as soon as he saw that Porcupine had opened both eyes. When Porcupine did not answer right away, Monkey repeated impatiently: “It is cold today, isn’t it, Porcupine? Don’t you think something is wrong?”

  “Yes Monkey, it is cold today. Now can I go back to sleep?” And just when Porcupine tried to slip down his burrow, Mouse appeared as if from nowhere.

  “What did I hear you say? Did you say something is wrong?”

  “Yes, I am cold today, Mouse,” Monkey said. “Don’t you feel cold as well?”

  Mouse thought about this a bit. Then he stuttered: “Y-yes, I think I’m cold as well t-today, Monkey.” He looked around. Then he nervously asked: “Why d-do you think it is c-cold today?”

  The Animals had started to gather around Monkey and Mouse. Owl was sitting in a tree close by. He stared down his nose at Mouse. “Little Mouse! Are you scared?” Owl asked, with a gleam in his eye.

  At first Mouse thought that he should pretend that he was not scared. But he was just a little bitty mouse, so he said. “Y-yes Owl, I am scared. Is something wrong? Why would it be cold today?”

  Just then, Jackal came trotting past. “Why have the Animals gathered around? What is happening?”

  “Something is wrong, Jackal,” replied Monkey. “It is cold today.”

  Jackal sniffed the air. Then he shook his fur. He sniffed the air some more. “Yes, you could be right. It does feel a little bit cold.”

  Mouse squeaked: “Why would that be, Jackal?”

  “Because of the snow, of course,” Jackal replied at once. “It is the snow that makes it cold.”

  “Snow! Snow..?” the Animals asked in unison. “What is that?”

  “Yes, I have heard of this snow!” exclaimed Hippo. “The rumors that came down the river told about the snow that is kept at the top of the Earth, on the mountain they call Kilimanjaro.”

  “But what is this snow?” insisted Mouse.

  “It is white and icy stuff. When there is lots of it, it lies like a soft, white blanket on the ground.” Jackal responded.

  “Really Jackal? A blanket?” the Animals asked in wonder.

  “Yes, but this blanket of snow would be very cold and would make you freeze all over.” Jackal informed them.

  “Where does it come from?” asked the Animals.

  “I don’t know,” admitted Jackal. “Hippo, do you know?”

  “I know it is kept at the top of the Earth,” replied Hippo. “But I do not know where it comes from.”

  “If we don’t know where it comes from, how do we know that this white blanket of snow would not come flowing down the top of the Earth? Would it cover us with cold and freeze us all over?” asked Mouse.

  “Ooh! This is scary!” cried the Animals. “Where does this snow come from?

  Lion had been sleeping under a tree, some distance from the circle of Animals. But the noise that the Animals made woke him up from his afternoon nap. He gave a big yawn and stretched his body. He shook his head to fully wake up and then he gave a mighty roar!

  ~~**~~

  “Quiet! Enough with the noise!” he trotted closer and asked: “What is going on here? Why are you making all this noise?”

  Mouse was almost hysterical as he cried: “Lion, there is a white blanket of snow that will come flowing down to cover us with its cold and make us freeze all over!”

  Lion glared at Mouse. “What are you talking about, Mouse? Snow? What is snow?”

  “Jackal said that it is white and icy stuff, and when there is a lot, it makes a very cold blanket on the ground!” Ostrich said.

  “Why is this snow a problem?” Lion asked,
while he looked around at all the Animals.

  “It’s because it is cold today, Lion!” Monkey cried. “Don’t you feel the cold as well?” But before Lion could respond, Monkey declared: “It is the snow that makes it cold.”

  “Where is this snow?” Lion demanded.

  “It is kept at the top of the Earth on the mountain they call Kilimanjaro,” Hippo said importantly.

  “We know where it is kept, but we don’t know where it comes from, Lion!” squeaked Mouse. “If we don’t know where it comes from, how do we know that this white blanket of snow would not come flowing down to cover us with its cold?” The Animals cried in concern.

  Lion thought about this for a while, then he said: “Owl, what do you have to say about this? Where do you think the snow comes from?”

  Owl did not know anything about snow. “Perhaps,” he offered, “it grows on the plants like the seeds on the tall grasses.”

  “That cannot be,” said Jackal. “The rumors on the wind said that the snow could turn to water if the sun was hot enough.”

  “Perhaps,” Owl tried again, “It bubbles out of the Earth like water comes out of a fountain.”

  “A fountain of snow?” asked Elephant.

  “Yes, a fountain of snow!” Hippo was excited. “That could explain where the snow comes from.”

  “But will it flow from the top of the Earth to cover us in a white blanket?” cried Mouse, “A cold, white blanket that will freeze us all over?”

  “Ooh! That is scary!” cried the Animals in unison. Lion had to roar again to restore order.

  ~~**~~

  “We must go to the top of the Earth to find the place where the snow bubbles out,” said Jackal when calm was restored.

  “But why do we want to go where it is dangerous? Why do we want to find this fountain, Jackal?” Elephant wanted to know.

  “When we have found it,” explained Jackal, “then we could put a big rock onto the fountain where the snow bubbles out of the Earth. Then the snow would remain inside the Earth and we would be safe from the blanket of snow.”

  The Animals were very impressed with Jackal’s plan. Lion also thought that it was a good plan.

  “Who will go?” he asked. No-one answered.

  “Who will go to the top of the Earth to block the fountain of snow?” demanded Lion.

  “I’m just a little bitty mouse,” Mouse excused himself from the task, “I would not be able to roll a heavy rock onto the fountain.”

  “That is true,” said Owl, “You are but the size of one little bite, Mouse.”

  Elephant was hiding behind a tree, so that the Animals would not notice him. But the tree was too small to hide all of him. His eyes and his ears were hidden behind the tree, but his trunk was sticking out in the front, and his bottom was sticking out at the back. The Animals all laughed at Elephant.

  “I am too heavy to climb to the top of the Earth,” he sheepishly explained. “I would slide down the steep sides of this mountain that they call Kilimanjaro.”

  “I can go,” offered Warthog. “I am sure of foot. And I can use my two pairs of tusks to roll the rock onto the fountain. I am not scared to go.” Lion thought about this, but then decided that no, it would be too dangerous for Warthog to go. He did not have enough hair on his body to keep him warm.

  Hippo offered to go, as he was brave and strong. But no, the Animals decided, it would be too cold for Hippo to go. He needed to lie in the sun for a very long time every day to keep warm.

  The Animals were quiet as they thought about who would be the best one to go to the top of the Earth to block the fountain where the snow bubbled out of the Earth.

  Suddenly Owl spoke up: “Ostrich could go! He has lots of feathers to keep him warm! Yes, he should go!” The Animals laughed and Ostrich almost fainted! But he did not want to faint again, like he did the last time when the Animals needed someone to save them.

  Now Ostrich wanted to show the Animals that he also had courage. He knew that his heart was brave, but the problem was with his head. His head was always very, very scared. He knew he had to think quickly of a plan, so that he would not faint.

  So Ostrich hung his head very low, so that the courage in his heart could flow down to his head. Then, when he thought that enough of his heart’s courage had flowed down to his head, he lifted his head. And quickly, before the courage could escape, he shouted in a hoarse voice: “I will go! I have feathers to keep me warm. I am the best one to go to the top of the Earth!” Then he almost fainted again and had to hang his head down low, so that the courage could flow back to his head.

  Lion was quiet while he looked at Ostrich. Ostrich was very nervous under Lion’s yellow stare. He stood very still. He tucked his wings in tightly, close to his body. He did not want Lion to see that the feathers at the tips of his wings were shivering because he was so frightened.

  The Animals giggled: “You will turn around and come running back at the first little noise you hear, Ostrich. You will give up along the way,” they sniggered.

  When their sniggers turned into laughter Ostrich shouted: “I said I would go! I will not give up along the way. I will complete the mission.” The Animals laughed out loud.

  Then Ostrich held his head high and said quietly, so that only Lion could hear him above the noise of the Animals: “I give you my word, Lion. I will complete the mission. Let me go to the top of the Earth to find the fountain where the snow bubbles from the Earth.”

  It felt like an hour to Ostrich, but after a short minute, Lion responded: “Very well, then. You will go on this important mission, Ostrich. You will go to save the Animals from this cold blanket of snow.” Ostrich felt faint again, so he quickly hung his head low to allow the courage to flow back to his head.

  ~~**~~

  “Here is the Plan!” announced Lion and when the noise had quietened down, he continued: “Ostrich will go to the top of the Earth to find the fountain where the snow comes from.” The Animals hooted with laughter. They couldn’t believe that Lion would send such a birdbrain. But Lion was very impatient now.

  “I said quiet! No more of this noise!” he roared. Then he continued: “Jackal, you have thick fur to keep you warm. You will go with Ostrich to help him find his way. Do the same as you did on your previous mission when you found the end of the Earth. Listen to the wind and the murmur of the water. Catch the rumours and the whispers in the trees. Warn Ostrich when you smell any danger, so that he can be safe.”

  Jackal wanted to argue with Lion, but one look at Lion’s face and he knew that Lion would not tolerate any argument. So he merely nodded. He kept his tail in the air so as to give the appearance of confidence.

  Monkey was hiding high up in a tree. He was shivering, but it was not from the cold. He was scared. He did not want Lion to notice him, in case Lion thought of sending him with Ostrich and Jackal to the top of the Earth. He tried to stop his shivers, but he couldn’t. The tree that he was hiding in was trembling with him. The leaves tickled Lion on the nose.

  Lion looked up and saw Monkey. Then he roared: “Monkey, you will go along with Ostrich and Jackal. You will help Ostrich to roll the heavy rock onto the fountain to block the snow. Monkey looked away. He did not want to look Lion in the eye. When Lion was in this terrible mood, there was no arguing with him.

  Then Lion noticed Porcupine. Somebody had to go along with the Team to protect them. Porcupine had the courage and he had sharp quills with which to protect the Team. Porcupine stood expectantly closer, he wanted to go along! But Lion was worried that Porcupine did not have enough hair on his little body to keep him warm in the cold snow.

  “No Porcupine, I have decided. You cannot go on this mission.” Lion shook his head sadly. “You would not be able to huddle with the Team to keep warm in the cold of the night. Your quills would poke the others, as it did when you went to the end of the Earth.” Porcupine was very disappointed. He swallowed a big lump in his throat. He did not want to cry in front of the Animals
.

  “Hyena”, said Lion after some thought. “You have big teeth and a very strong jaw. You will go with the Team to protect them!” Hyena giggled.

  “Yes, I have big teeth and I can bite very hard, Lion. I will go with the Team to protect them from danger,” Hyena arrogantly replied.

  “That then is the Plan,” declared Lion. “You will go to the top of the Earth that is on the mountain that they call Kilimanjaro. You must block the fountain of snow so that it remains in the Earth.” Then, in a soft voice that only Ostrich could hear, he said: “Remember, you have given me your word, Ostrich. Go then and complete this mission that will save the Animals from freezing under a cold blanket of snow.”

  ~~**~~

  The next morning Jackal, Ostrich and Monkey stood around, waiting for Sun to fully wake up. They were ready to go. But Hyena was nowhere to be found. They called out to Hyena, but he did not answer. They waited and waited. Then they asked all the Animals to help them search for Hyena. They searched high and low. They searched all day, but still they could not find Hyena.

  And all day long, while the Animals searched for Hyena, Porcupine strutted where Lion could see him. He bristled to show off his sharp quills so that Lion could see how brave he was.

  Then, when it was late afternoon, Lion had to accept that Hyena could not be trusted. He was hiding so well that they would not be able to find him. Lion was very concerned. Someone fearless had to accompany the Team to protect them from danger. They could not go alone.

  Just then Porcupine marched past again. “Porcupine,” asked Lion, “Will you go with the team on this important mission?”

  “Yes, yes, yes!” shouted Porcupine and danced around Lion, “I’m going along, I’m going along!” he sang, while displaying his quills for all the Animals to see his courage.

  By then it was very late and Sun had almost gone to sleep. The team had to wait for the next day to start their mission to the top of the Earth.

  ~~**~~

  The team set out early the following morning.

  Jackal was trotting out in front, with Ostrich close behind him. Ostrich held his head high. He did not need to hang his head low as he still had enough courage left in his head. Monkey had forgotten that he was scared. He was running around, playing tag with Meerkat. But eventually it was time for Meerkat to turn around and go back to the other Animals. He longingly stared after Monkey and shouted: “Next time I’m going along on the adventure, Monkey!”