The friendship between monkey and the goat

A Kingdom of Animals once existed in the equatorial forest of West Africa. There, the animals usually make friends amongst themselves. Those who were very good friends even cooperated in helping each other with their work. They could journey long distances in search of food or attend animal parties. During the season of a particular fruit, the King of the animal kingdom would organize a general party. On the party day, all the animals and their young ones would gladly move into the part of the forest where that fruit is in abundance. They would spend the whole day eating, singing, dancing, and having fun. They usually have a black plum party, palm nut party, banana party, pumpkin party, blackberry party, sugarcane party, guava party amongst many.

It so happened that the Monkey and the goat meet at a palm kennel party where all the animals gathered to crack and eat palm nuts. Animals who could climb helped those who could not harvest the nuts. A monkey, who was a good climber, decided to help a certain goat who was one of those unable to climb. He was only good at sugarcane parties that needed no climbing. The monkey would climb and get the nuts from the tall palm nut tree while the goat concentrated on cracking the nuts with its strong teeth for them. They both enjoyed the party fully despite the goat's inability. The goat was very happy enjoying the party with the monkey's help and at the end, he happily thanked the monkey. From that day the Monkey and the goat became friends who often helped each other.

Monkey owned a large farm of kola nuts and pears on his part of the forest. The trees have grown wild and needed pruning. He went to his friend the goat and invited, “Please, my fruit trees are growing wild. I don't think I would be able to do all the pruning by myself. Can you create time to come and help me?” The monkey lamented, “My back hurts a lot and my doctor has said I should not carry heavy loads and not use my arms to do hard work like pruning. That I should not also stand in the sun for long since my head also hurts.” The monkey sympathized and left. The monkey worked so hard, and overtime so he could complete the wedding.

During harvest season the monkey invited his friend the goat again. The goat happily accepted the invitation and on the agreed day came very early in the morning. They spent a long time on the farm harvesting kola nuts and pears. These were fruits the goat loves a lot. When they had harvested a good quantity, the Monkey asked him to take as much as he could carry to his home. The goat filled a big bag that weighed about twenty-five kilograms with pears and another with kola nuts. He carried the pears on his head and the kola nuts on his back, a quantity he could feed on for months to come.

The monkey watched keenly with amazement how his friend the goat packed his bags full with the crops. He wondered silently that there is someone whose doctor has advised not to carry heavy loads and do hard work who could still carry that much. As they were journeying home, the goat kept thanking him for his generosity. The monkey welcomed it but it didn't cancel the fact that he just discovered the goat had become a cunning fox as foxes were known in that animal kingdom to be cunning.