Once upon a time, animals of every kind from the beasts of the land to the critters and all the creepy crawlies, were gathered together from every corner of the earth for the very first time in one place, the great ark (Noah’s ark). The great flood sent by God had destroyed every living thing except a male and female of each species and Noah and his family. It was their temporary home while they waited for the great waters of the flood to dry up, but one day a commotion broke out.
“Listen up!” said a cat to all the animals, “From now on, the captain of this Ark is me! What I say goes, and hey Hilda,” he eyed the dairy cow, “If I want milk, you must give me….” His voice trailed away into a nervous whisper as a gorilla walked towards him and started laughing.
“I like you little kitty, ” the gorilla said with a laugh-ridden voice, “but this Ark and all of you, ” he turned round to look at all the animals with a sharp glare, “belong to me, Big G.” Suddenly a hoof poked him, it was Martha the donkey and she said,
“Over my carcass!”
“Well, well, would you look at that?” said Hilda the cow to the donkey, “I simply can’t believe God saved a stubborn old donkey like you Martha?”
“Well best believe it Hilda. It is she that stands before you now. So, how did a wicked creature such as yourself find favour in God’s eyes?”
“You took the words right out of my mouth Martha,” snorted a pig, “How were two wicked creatures such as yourselves not wiped out of existence? Surely, if donkeys and cows got saved, the pigs ought to finally fly?”
“If it were up to me!” A voice boomed, and all animals turned to an elephant standing at the far back grooming himself, “All of you should have been wiped out, ka-boom! This world belongs to elephants. The rest of you are useless.”
“I am the only true king here!” big lion roared and every animal except the elephant went silent with fear.
“The king who will eat all of us you mean,” Zebra shouted hiding behind the elephant.
And so it was, that animals argued bitterly between each other, insisting that God had made a mistake to have saved those that they did not like. They were almost at war, ready to wipe each other out of existence themselves, paw against paw and hoof against hoof, paw for paw and hoof for hoof.
“Everyone quiet!” hooted Ruphas the owl perched on top of the giraffe, “You know how we will live happily ever after, after this flood?” He smirked, “When we have killed our worst enemy, the snakes!” At once everyone paid attention and resembled a united front.
“He’s right,” said Tooth the goat, and everyone shouted in agreement, some in the crowd chanting,
“Where are they? Kill them!”
As soon as Ruphas saw that the crowd was getting even more violent, he spoke once more saying, “Peace citizens!”
The crowd went silent and he continued, “Look at yourselves. If you can be united to do bad, can’t you be united to do good also? Did God save us only for us to kill each other? You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!”
All the animals murmured against themselves in shame. They agreed the way forward is not by killing each other. God saved them for a purpose.
Read – When I Grow Up – A Children’s Story by Temani Nkalolang, Botswana
