Rafi Tales
Rafi was a newborn Giraffe in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.
His mom and family took care of him, the forests were full of fresh, green, tender shoots to feast on and he had many brothers and sisters to play with. He loved his life.
He jostled with his siblings for the particularly succulent shoots, that were high up. But his older sister shoved him aside and began chomping on them. When he tried to take back his place, she again hustled him out of her way and continued to munch on the juicy leaves.
Offended, he moved around looking for more such shoots. There! He could see some on the next tree. His hunger insatiable, he ambled around looking for young green succulent shoots. Happy to be away from competition of his siblings, he wandered around looking for more trees.
By evening he was so full he decided to stop.
But when he looked around he could not see his family... or anyone of his giraffe cousins... or any giraffes at all.
Confused and tensed Rafi looked around. He saw a group of small creatures grazing nearby and gamboled towards them. When he explained his predicament, Breza, their leader came up to him and said “You are too young to be alone. I have heard the lions roar nearby. We will guide you to your family, through a shortcut across the river.”
The naughty baby zebras tried to trip him up. But he stood firm and tall.
One baby zebra looked at him admiringly and asked “Will you teach me to grow a long neck like yours?” Rafi felt very proud.
Mingling with them, he reached the river. There was a herd of elephants, and the matriarch offered to help him across the waters. He saw a baby elephant called Clumsy looking up at him curiously. Clumsy walked next to him guiding him across. She spoke to him about how clumsy she was and promptly slipped and fell into the water. But Rafi offered his leg and stood firm as she twined her trunk around it and rose up. Rafi felt deeply happy.
The elephants dropped him very near to his family. Rafi was almost home. He noticed a group of deer standing around, grazing. A baby deer looked up. Rafi was feeling very proud of himself after having been through so much. He boasted to the baby deer, “I can run very fast. Faster than you.”
The deer boldly replied back. “If that is the case, why don't you try and catch me?”
Rafi agreed and the deer set off. It zigzagged into the forest, twisting and turning. When he tried following, his long legs got entangled and he fell.
His pride took a fall, but he got up, having learnt a lesson in humility and ambled towards his family, eager to tell them about his adventures.
MORAL: If you don't use google maps, you get to meet interesting people and learn a lot of life lessons.
[ratemypost]
Penmancy gets a small share of every purchase you make through these links, and every little helps us continue bringing you the reads you love!