An African Fable: How Giraffe came to be at the Pyramids Read online

  At first light Jackal went to see what this noise could be. But Monkey, who went along as he could not hold his curiosity, saw it first and shouted: “Jackal, look over there!” He pointed out, to what looked like a thick cloud of smoke rolling over the horizon. “It thunders like a fire! It smokes like a fire! We have to get away from here!”

  But Jackal was pointing his nose in the direction of the smoke that thundered, and said: “This is curious indeed. It does not smell like fire. It smells like water.”

  The rest of the team has caught up with them by now, and Giraffe gasped: “Water? Water, that smokes and thunders?”

  “Look,” shouted Young Giraffe. “It is water! It is a very big river and all the water is falling down very far. It is falling down a very steep cliff and into a very big hole in the earth!”

  “Could this be the place where the Earth is round and the waters flow back from where it came?” shrieked Monkey. “Is this the edge of the Earth?”

  A big tree stood at the edge of the river, just where the water dropped down the very steep cliff. Monkey scrambled up into the tree. He was swinging by his tail, his head upside down. He was trying to get a better view of the waters running back into the Earth.

  With a deep frown of concern, Jackal peered into the distance. He was trying to see where the water went. Did it go back into the Earth, as Owl predicted? Jackal did not notice that he was at the very edge of the river, where the water ran over smooth rocks. Suddenly his feet slipped on the wet rocks. With an anxious yelp he landed in the water.

  Monkey shrieked and shut his eyes tight. He did not want to see what happened to Jackal! Jackal yelped again and Monkey put his hands over his ears. He did not want to hear what happened.

  Jackal cried out loudly and desperately, “Monkey, help me!” Monkey opened his eyes. At the very last moment, just before the river took Jackal away over the edge of the cliff, he grabbed Jackal by the tail with his two little hands.

  With a strength that he didn’t know he had in his small body, he pulled Jackal back onto the rocks. For a minute or two, Jackal sat shivering on a rock. Then he carefully moved away, back to safer ground, where Porcupine was still pacing in panic. Jackal shook himself briskly, and the water sprayed from his wet fur, right into Porcupine’s face. That made Porcupine very angry.

  “This is not the place where the Earth is round and the waters flow back into the Earth,” Jackal informed the Team. “I saw the waters flowing away again from the very deep pool and into a very big river. We do not have to be concerned.”

  And with that he trotted off into the distance, with the rest of the Team following him. They were very relieved.

  ~~***~~

  The Team travelled for many more days.

  One day they walked through a very dark forest. The trees were taller even than Giraffe. Young Giraffe was still walking in front, as Lion had ordered him to do. He could not see very far. Monkey was too scared to ride with him. So Monkey walked at the back, pretending that he wanted to get some exercise.

  Young Giraffe was very scared. But even though his heart was beating wildly in his chest, he kept on walking. Then suddenly, right before him, the Earth fell away! There was nothing in front of him!

  He blinked, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the light. There were no more trees before him. There was no path for his feet and he stopped. But before he could cry out a warning, Giraffe, who was walking very closely behind, bumped into him. He skidded forward, slipping and sliding down, down, down…!

  Young Giraffe shrieked as he tried to find his footing on the loose rocks and stones. The stones rolled down with him. “The Earth is toppling, I’m falling off the edge!” he cried as he skidded even further down the steep slope.

  Giraffe was just in time to stop! He quickly turned around to stop the others, to stop them also falling from the edge of the Earth.

  Very far down, Young Giraffe came to a stop on a narrow ledge, where a small rock stopped him from sliding further down. His eyes were tightly shut. He did not want to see when he fell over the edge of the earth.

  But after a minute, he realized that he was not sliding anymore. He slowly opened his eyes. He was very scared and he did not want to move.

  “Young Giraffe,” shouted Giraffe from the top. “We will come down to help you!”

  Young Giraffe was too scared to move, in case he would topple the earth. In a hoarse voice he cried, “No, Giraffe, stay where you are! You must not also fall over the edge of the Earth. I will fall alone.”

  His voice turned into a squeak when he cried, “Go back to the Animals and tell them where the Earth falls away! Go and save them!” He shut his eyes again, so that he would not see when he fell over the edge.

  Giraffe looked carefully at the scene below him, where Young Giraffe had come to a stop on the narrow ledge. Then he ordered: “Young Giraffe! Take a deep breath and open your eyes!” Something in Giraffe’s voice made Young Giraffe obey.

  “Yes, that’s better,” said Giraffe. “Now get up slowly and carefully and turn around to face us!” Giraffe instructed. Then, when Young Giraffe was up and had turned his back to the dangerous end of the ledge, Giraffe said: “There are a couple of footholds to the right. Can you see it?”

  When Young Giraffe had said that he could see it, Giraffe continued: “They are very small, and they are very far apart, but they will get you to the top. Be careful though!” he warned, “When the rocks roll down around you, you must ignore it! Take one step at a time.”

  Young Giraffe was very, very scared. The panic rolled in his eyes, but he kept listening to Giraffe and followed his instructions carefully. Cautiously he made his way back from the edge of the Earth, back towards his friends. It took a very long time.

  When he reached the top, Monkey jumped on his back. With his little arms tightly hugging Young Giraffe around the neck, he declared, “You’re the Bravest of all the Animals, Young Giraffe!” Young Giraffe was feeling very honored that Monkey called him the Bravest of all the Animals.

  The Team stayed there, right at the edge of the Earth, for the night.

  ~~***~~

  Early the next morning, Jackal woke up the Team. He had already been out and about to scout the area.

  “This is not the place where the Earth has become round!” he excitedly informed the Team. “This is only a deep valley. If we walk for some miles along the edge, we will be able to go around it. Then we can continue on our important mission.”

  In no time at all the Team was ready to continue their journey. With their high spirits restored, they set off in the direction that Jackal showed. They found their way around the valley and into the direction that the Big River flowed.

  Suddenly, Porcupine called out from the back. “Isn’t it strange?” he asked. “All the time we were travelling I had to squint into the Sun. We are still keeping the place where the sun gets up in the morning on our right. And we still have the place where it goes to sleep in the evening on our left. But now the Sun is shining on my back and not in my face anymore. I do not need to squint into the Sun anymore.” The Team thought about this for a while.

  “We have crossed the Equator,” Jackal declared importantly.

  “But we have not seen it. We should have seen such an important place!” argued the Team.

  But Jackal was adamant. He knew that they were moving in the direction that the Big River flowed. Now the Sun was shining on their backs during the day. Things were as they should be and he was satisfied with that.

  So they travelled for many more days, while Sun shone from behind.

  ~~***~~

  One day they found themselves entering a strange place. Huge rocks were stacked around them. It looked like a maze and they often lost their way. Often the path they were following would come to a dead end. Then they had to turn around to find another way.

  Giraffe climbed onto the highest place and stretched his neck even further. He was trying to see if they were still travelling in the right direc
tion. The rocks stretched for many miles around them.

  “Yes, we must keep on travelling in this direction. There is no other way and we have to get through these rocks. We must be careful not to lose our way in this maze.”

  Many times they had to turn around and find another route around the rocks. They were very tired from walking all day in confusion and they wondered for how long this would continue.

  After many days, Jackal suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. “We are almost through this maze! I smell a change in the air. The whisper of the wind is different too.”

  They came to a very narrow gap in the rocks. When Young Giraffe peered through, he thought he could see miles and miles of open space. It stretched out all the way to the horizon. Maybe it was his imagination, so he called Jackal to have a look as well.

  “We’ll have to go through this gap,” decided Jackal. Young Giraffe squeezed through, with Jackal and Monkey following him.

  They heard Giraffe calling from behind. “I’m stuck, I’m stuck!” he cried in panic. They turned around and there was Giraffe, stuck halfway through the narrow gap. He was not able to move at all. He could not go forward, not even a tiny little bit. He tried to go back, but he could not do that either.

  “Pull in your tummy, Giraffe,” suggested Jackal and Monkey laughed.

  Giraffe pulled in his tummy, but still he was stuck. “Help me!” cried Giraffe. Jackal and Young Giraffe tried to pull Giraffe from the front. Porcupine was pushing from behind, but still Giraffe was firmly stuck in the narrow gap.

  Porcupine was very tired from running on his short little legs behind the others. Now he was getting very annoyed with Giraffe.

  He shouted, “You have to get through Giraffe! I am stuck behind you! I want to get through as well!” Porcupine bristled and all his quills stood upright. He gave Giraffe’s behind a big push. With that, one of his sharp quills stuck into Giraffe’s bottom.

  “Ouch!” cried Giraffe and shot through the narrow gap and out on the other side. Monkey thought it was very funny and laughed out loud. Jackal thought it was funny too. But he tried not to laugh.

  Young Giraffe inspected Giraffe’s bottom where the quill had pierced him. He announced that there was no damage done. Porcupine felt very bad that he’d hurt Giraffe. But the Team decided that it was just as well, since Giraffe was now free and they could continue on their important mission.

  That night they slept in the open. It was very cold.

  ~~***~~

  It was a very long night, especially for Porcupine. They all huddled together to keep warm. Porcupine could not huddle with them, as he couldn’t control his shivers. With each shiver that ran through his cold little body, his sharp quills would stick out.

  After Monkey had been poked with Porcupine’s quills for the third time, Monkey cried out so loudly that the others asked Porcupine not to huddle too closely. So he tried to get some sleep outside of the little circle, but he was too cold. He was up many times during the night, walking around the little group to check that they were safe.

  It was still dark when the Team woke up and they sat in a circle and waited for Sun to wake up too. They did not know what awaited them.

  “Wake up, Sun!” shouted Monkey. Even Giraffe was getting antsy.

  Then, at last, the first rays of Sun’s light climbed into the sky. And there before them, for as far as they could see, was the biggest stretch of sand that they’ve ever seen. It went all the way to the very far horizon. They could not see the end of it!

  They were very excited. Could this be the big stretch of sand before the end of the Earth? Could this be the Big Desert that the rumors talked about? The one you would find just before the Big Waters that is called the Sea?

  And then, when Sun was fully awake, they saw it!

  Far out into the distance were three strange shapes. They went closer. They saw that the strange shapes were built with solid blocks of rock. The blocks were stacked into shapes that they’ve never seen before.

  Jackal was very excited. “Yes, I’ve heard rumors! The rumors talked about very heavy, very big rocks, stacked one on top of the other to make strange shapes. The rumors called it the Pyramids!”

  “It looks very heavy,” said Young Giraffe worriedly. “Won’t it topple the Earth?”

  The team stopped and sat down slowly, to check if the Earth was perhaps toppling under the weight of the big Pyramids.

  Nobody talked. But after some time, Giraffe said hopefully, “It feels to me as if the Earth is steady. It is holding firm under the great weight of the rocks that they call the Pyramids.”

  “Yes, we can feel that the Earth is steady too,” said the others. “We can see that the Earth is not upset by the great weight of the Pyramids.”

  Jackal got up and sniffed the air to check for danger. He cocked his ears to listen to the whispers of the wind. Then he trotted off into the distance, while the rest of the Team waited anxiously for him. They could see him sniffing the air some more. He turned his head to better listen to the sounds on the wind.

  When Jackal returned to the Team, they could see that he was very happy.

  “This is the Big Desert. We have found the end of the Earth!” he shouted.

  “Really, Jackal?” asked the Team. “You are sure that this is the Big Desert at the end of the Earth?”

  “Yes!” said Jackal, “I am sure. We have found the end of the Earth! Beyond this Big Desert is the Big Waters that they call the Sea. The end of the Earth is still where it is supposed to be. We are safe!”

  “We are safe! The Animals are safe! The Earth is still the same!” shouted Monkey.

  “We are safe! The Animals are safe!” echoed the others.

  With a joyous shout, Young Giraffe galloped towards the Pyramids. He wanted to have a look at them from up close. Giraffe followed at a more sedate pace. He was looking curiously around him at the new sights. He smelled the different air.

  Jackal pranced around for a while. Then he sat down and watched Monkey frolicking in the sand. Monkey was chattering and singing, “I’m safe, we’re safe, the Animals are safe! Hooray!”

  At first Porcupine didn’t know what to do. Then he decided that the Earth was safe. Everyone was safe. And he was very, very tired. He rolled into a ball and fell asleep immediately.

  That is how Giraffe came to be at the Pyramids.

  ~~***~~

  With the good news that the Earth was safe, the Team returned home safely. Lion and all the Animals said that they were very brave, because even though they were often very scared and afraid, they had continued with their mission. The little team had helped to save all the Animals. They were very happy and proud.

 

  The End.

  Ostrich was very embarrassed because he had fainted in front of all the Animals. He wanted to be strong and brave as well! Will he get a second chance to show his courage?

  Read ‘How Ostrich came to climb Kilimanjaro’ to find out what happened to Ostrich.

  ###

  Other Books by Salome Byleveldt

  African Fable Series:

  How Giraffe came to be at the Pyramids

  How Ostrich came to climb Kilimanjaro

  How Hyena came to cross the Namib

  What’s the matter with Elephant?

  Author’s Page