Animal Contests and Clever Escapes: Five Folk Tales

The Wildcat, harbouring resentment, did summon all the beasts who held the Monkey in disfavour, owing to the manifold deceptions he had wrought upon them. “Go ye forth and proclaim that I have departed this mortal coil,” quoth she, “and that ye are making arrangements for my funeral obsequies. See to it that ye extend an invitation to the Monkey to partake of the funeral repast.”

Prior to the arrival of the funeral guests, the Wildcat did recline and feign death most convincingly.

All the creatures did then perform the funeral dance about her inanimate form, the Monkey himself not excepted.

“Wildcat is deceased, deceased, deceased”, they chanted, as they moved in their solemn measure.

Whereupon, the Wildcat did spring forth with sudden alacrity, attempting to seize the Monkey.

But the Monkey, with characteristic agility, had already ascended to the lofty heights of a tree.

And it is from that day forward that Monkeys have taken up their abode in arboreal dwellings.

'Let us ascertain which amongst us can endure the longest without sustenance!' quoth Turaco to Coucal.

'I accept this challenge forthwith!' declared Coucal. 'I pledge to abstain from all victuals, contingent upon your reciprocal promise. We shall observe which of us persists the longest!'

Coucal, true to his word, partook of naught, and as a consequence, he diminished in frame and waned in vigour.

Turaco, feigning abstinence, did, in clandestine fashion, partake of victuals each night. Thus, he did not diminish in frame, nor did he wane in vigour.

Seven days did transpire.

Coucal succumbed to death!

'Who hath brought about Coucal's demise?' inquired the other feathered creatures.

''Tis his own failing,' squawked Turaco. 'He abstained from victuals, grew thin, waned in vigour, and thus, met his end.'

“I say, Rooster, I shall present to thee a challenge, a gastronomical contest, if you will!” quoth the Elephant.

Whereupon the Rooster did concur.

The Elephant partook of victuals most heartily, until such time as slumber did claim him. Upon his reawakening, he observed that the Rooster continued to consume provender withal.

The Elephant, not to be outdone, resumed his repast, and again succumbed to Morpheus' embrace. Upon his subsequent arousal, he did express astonishment to perceive that the Rooster yet persevered in his consumption!

The Elephant, alternating between ingestion and somnolence, awoke once more to find the Rooster perched upon his dorsal aspect, pecking at his hide.

“Pray, sir, what is the meaning of this intrusion!” the Elephant did exclaim, with no small measure of alarm.

“Merely seeking sustenance, old chap, in the form of minute insects that may reside within your bristles,” responded the Rooster, with an air of nonchalance.

The Elephant, seized by terror at the Rooster's seemingly insatiable appetite, did flee in great haste, and remains to this day apprehensive upon hearing the Rooster's clarion call.

'Verily, Elephant, I do tender thee a challenge to an eating contest,' quoth the Goat.

The Elephant did emit a hearty guffaw. 'I am, by far, of a greater magnitude than thyself!' he declared. 'I am persuaded that victory shall be mine.'

The commencement of the contest did transpire.

The Elephant did consume with great voracity: grasses, sticks, weeds, aught that presented itself to his gaze.

The Goat, in the interim, did partake of some herbage, though not in copious quantities, and did then recline upon a stone, ruminating upon his cud.

'Pray, what comestibles art thou ingesting yonder?' inquired the Elephant.

'I am presently engaged in the consumption of this very rock,' responded the Goat. 'Subsequent to the devouring of the rock, I shall direct my appetite towards thee.' Whereupon the Goat did cast upon the Elephant a look most ravenous.

The Elephant, seized by terror, did take flight.

Even unto this present day, the Elephant remaineth in a state of trepidation towards the Goat.

'You are, indeed, of diminutive stature,' the Elephant remarked to the Tortoise.

'Verily,' responded the Tortoise, 'yet I possess the capability to leap over thee! Present thyself here on the morrow, and I shall furnish demonstrative proof.'

Under the cloak of night, the Tortoise excavated two subterranean hollows, concealing therein his fraternal sibling within one such cavity.

Upon the subsequent day, the Elephant duly arrived.

'Station thyself hence,' quoth the Tortoise, positioning him betwixt the aforementioned hollows.

'Now, I implore thee, occlude thine ocular organs!'

The Tortoise secreted himself, whilst his brother emerged from concealment. 'Open now thine eyes! I have executed a leap over thee,' he declared.

The Elephant evinced astonishment.

'I shall replicate the feat,' proclaimed the Tortoise's brother. 'Again, I entreat thee, close thine eyes!'

Thereafter, he absconded into hiding, and the Tortoise re-emerged. 'Behold! I have leapt back!'

'Thou art, in sooth, possessed of remarkable leaping prowess,' the Elephant conceded.

The Tortoise permitted himself a smile.