"I am the Guests"

Happy weekend to us all. I'm so happy to see this interesting lovely topic on folklore that I like so much and learnt from. Over the years, many folklores have been told and heard but I will say my favourite is the story of tortoise and other animals.

Tortoise and other animals were invited to a ceremony one day. It was the burial ceremony of dog's father-in-law. So, on their way to the venue, tortoise told the other animals that its name is " the Guests" while others will bear their own individual names such as goat, sheep, lion, elephant, cow etc. So, they all agreed. Immediately, they got to the venue, they were highly honoured and welcomed. The dog and its wife came out to greet the animals. It was a moment of joy and reunion for all of them, because dog and its wife had been far away since the father-in-law demise.

So, the animals were told to sit and relax as they would eat, drink and merry. Dog went inside together with its wife, after he had ordered the guests to be served. So, they sat comfortably waiting to eat and fill their bellies to the brim. The aroma of the food filled verywhere as the servers were coming with the food. Immediately, they got to the animal's canopy, the animals could not hide their joy, as they were hungry already. The servers said, as they were about to drop the tray, "They said we should give the food to "the guests", tortoise joyfully stood up as the one with the name "the guests' He said, " Bring the food, I am the guests" . He stood still till he received all the plates of food and asked others to relax as they would serve everybody, individually by their names. So, the rest waited.

After they waited one hour without food, they started looking so confused. Nothing was forth coming and tortoise was at the end of the table devouring plates of food that could easily have served them round. It was then, the lion stood up angrily and roared towards the tortoise. Realizing that they have been deceived and cheated by the tortoise, the rest of the animals pounded upon tortoise and beat it to stupor until he vomited all the food. The elephant, having thoughtt he would receive the largest plates of food, after seeing what was given to tortoise became more furious. Tortoise had dashed its hope. He shot out its tusk, lifted the tortoise fiercely and threw it down. Trumpeting angrily, the whole place became scattered, before dog and its wife could intervene, the deed was already done. Tortoise's back was already broken. It was a show of shame, as everybody gathered at the scene to watch the greedy tortoise. It struggled to pick its back but it wasn't that smooth till today.

The story taught me to shun greed and be considerate. Thanks for reading.
The picture is Meta AI generated.