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The Art of
Friendship
A
Traditional Rabbit Tale from the Luo People of Kenya
Early
in the long past, the white bellied termite and the rabbit were
very good friends. One day, Termite invited Rabbit over to
her house for dinner. Termite had gathered a mouth-watering
array of foods for the feast, and she displayed them proudly on
her kitchen table before cooking. The only ingredient she
seemed to be lacking was butter, and Rabbit haughtily pointed this
out, "Your spread," he said, "certainly looks
luscious, my friend, but I hardly think it will taste so without
some spread to cook it in. Where's the butter?!"
He chuckled at his cleverness and at his friend's apparent embarrassment.
Termite ignored her guest's distasteful
manners and proceeded to cook. She took out a large frying
pan and placed it over the fire. Then, when the frying pan
was hot, she performed a remarkable feat never before witnessed
by Rabbit. She lifted herself over the hot pan and sat down
right in the middle of it. Amazingly, a liquid substance,
much like butter, began to drip out of Termite's belly.
When the bottom of the pan was covered, she lifted herself out and
began to fry the food for dinner.
Now, termite was able to perform this feat
because her white belly naturally contained a butter-like substance.
Rabbit, however, was unaware of her nature and was stunned by the
performance. But, Rabbit was very proud. He thought
he was the most wonderful animal alive, and he refused to believe
that any other animal could do something that he couldn't.
So, instead of complimenting Termite on her incredible accomplishment,
he simply said, "Oh, umm, yes. I see. That's
what I usually do. I didn't know you could do it too."
So the friends ate their meal and
said no more - for Rabbit was sulking.
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