The Ant's Tiny Waist... The Story Behind It

Ever wondered why the waist of the Ant is so tiny or how the Tortoise broke its shell? Well, my mother passed down the knowledge to me and I am supposed to pass it down to my own children.
Curious? Read on.

I tell this story how my mother told it to me, or at least that is what I think.

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Pixabay Commons

The Animal kingdom was at peace because the war was silent; everyone knew their boundaries and so predators don't attack until the prey crossed its boundary, and the prey could report the predator to the gods if it ventures into their side of the boundary to hunt. So although the war was not over, it was silent and there was peace.

One day Mr Tortoise, the cunning one, decided he was bored and thought it would be fun to bring all the animals together in one place and so after thinking long and hard, he decided to host a party. He went about inviting different animals.

He started from the smallest, Mr Rat. "I'll be hosting a party and I want you to be there," he said.

"I'd love to attend but if Mr Cat and Miss Snake is there, I won't be coming," Mr Rat replied.

"They won't be coming," he assured.

"Then I will be there."

Next, he went to Mr Cat."I'll be hosting a party and I want you to be there," he said.

"I'd love to attend but if Mr Dog will be there I won't be coming," Mr Cat replied.

"He won't be coming," he assured Mr cat.

"Then I will be there."

Next stop was Miss Snake.

"I'll be hosting a party and I want you to be there," Tortoise said.

"I'd love to attend, but if Chief Eagle will be there, I won't be coming," Snakey said.

"The Chief won't be coming," Tortoise promised.

"Then I will be there."

So, on and on he went about inviting the animals, listening to their fears and inviting the very fear next. He promised the fly that the spider will be absent and promised the spider that the Gecko will be absent. At the Gecko's fear of the snake, he promised him that Rat had already expressed that fear and that she won't be coming. He assured the Zebra, Antelope and Goat of the Absence of Tiger, Lion, Cheetah and Leopard. Everyone invited was ecstatic as it has been a while they went out together without fear of a predator.

Ant saw all this and knew the damage it could cause and decided to involve the gods. Now in those days there were two ways to summon the gods, it was either one went to heaven's gate or he beat the drum in a particular rhythm to attract them, each god having his unique rhythm. Deciding that he could not beat the drum hard enough to summon the gods, Ant began the journey to heaven, hoping that he would reach there before the party began. How wrong he was!

On the day of the party, all the animals came promptly, keeping to time and each one saw his enemy at the entrance. Eyes shocked and red, the animals prepared to attack one another, while Tortoise sat high in his tower, which took him days to climb, watching the display, his boredom completely cured.

The snarls and yelps got to ant on his way to heaven's gate and, fearing that he would be too late if he continued on his way to heaven's gate, he decided to beat the drum, but the drum was all the way down on earth, and he decided that his belly was going to serve. So, using all his might he beat the special rhythm on his belly, not realizing that with each hard hit he gave his belly it sank and sank. At his third attempt, the god of the animals heard and came swiftly to his side where he simply, wearily pointed towards earth and gasped out all he knew.

Anumanu was the god of the animals and other gods told him he was useless as long as they were concerned as he only delt with animals, mere animals, and fearing that that surmise will be proven true if there is a full-fledged war in the animal kingdom, he rushed down with burning anger and stopped the war, but by then the Leopard and the Cheetah already had spots from spikes of the Porcupine who wasn't invited but took sides with the smaller animals when it heard the war cry.

After creating an emergency boundary, Anumanu searched for Tortoise until he found him at the tower, cowering behind nothing but his shell, and won't come out to face the wrath of Anumanu. So with the residue of the anger he came down with, Anumanu flung Tortoise out the window of the tower and the fall was so hard all the Kingdom shook.

Ordering everyone back to their homes, Anumanu went back to heaven in a huff, sure that such a prank would not happen again. All the animals ignored Tortoise in his pain and went their way, all except Ant who was just returning to earth as Anumanu flashed away, and Snail who felt pity towards Tortoise as he couldn't imagine what he'd do if his shell got broken.

So they both got to work and through the night Snail produced slime while Ant fixed the puzzle of Tortoise's broken shell.

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So I have shared how Ant's waist got tiny and how Tortoise got his shell broken. I don't know if Tortoise learnt his lesson, but I knew that neither he nor Ant ever looked the same after the incident.

The moral of the story? That boredom is deadly, or that we should never trust the Tortoise or that we should not get as angry as Anumanu got. I don't know, I'm just sharing what I was told... I think.

First Published Here.