M’Pofo and the Bee
6 minute read · Original M’Pofo story
M'Pofo and the beehive
It was a hot and sunny African afternoon. M'Pofo, the elephant, was dozing in the shade of a thorn tree. 'After my nap, I'm going for a swim in the waterhole. Then I'll have a lovely, cooling dust bath,' thought M'Pofo.
An urgent buzzing under his ear disturbed him just as he was about to doze off.
"M'Pofo, wake up! Batenga, the baboon, climbed our baobab and knocked our beehive down. It's cracked open, and that horrible baboon has stolen our freshest and sweetest honeycombs." Inyosi, the bee, knew just how much M'Pofo enjoyed fresh honey.
The young elephant slowly opened his eyes and then blinked twice because that is what young elephants do when they wake up. After that, M'Pofo stretched and flapped his ears so forcefully that Inyosi was blown all the way out to the front of M'Pofo's long trunk.
"That's terrible, little friend. But I'll see what I can do to help," said M'Pofo.
Inyosi sat on M'Pofo's forehead, holding tightly onto the elephant. Together they galloped off to Inyosi's beehive. Hundreds of bees were angrily flying around. Seeing the big, grey elephant, they tried to talk at once. All M'Pofo heard was a loud buzzing.
The problem was clear to see. The beehive had split open when it fell out of the tree. First, M'Pofo gathered some wet mud from the nearby riverbank. Then he skillfully used his trunk to spread the mud over the cracks. In the hot sun, it dried fast, fixing the hole in the hive.
M'Pofo could lift the hive back up to the tree branch, from where it had fallen. However, he had no way to keep it there. The bees always started a new hive by making the sticky part at the top and building from there. Luckily, his friend Ululwembu Many Legs, a spider known to friends as Ulu, was scurrying past.
"Ulu," trumpeted M'Pofo, "can you help me to get this beehive back onto the baobab tree?"
"Certainly, I'll hold it in place by spinning my toughest web," said Ulu and quickly climbed up to look. Whilst M'Pofo held the hive in place, the spider spun a sticky and firm web around the top part. Then, they were able to stick the hive onto the baobab again. Ulu tied a special knot at the end of the web, which he had learned from sailors when travelling around the world on a sailing boat.
With the hive and the bees safe again, M'Pofo, Ulu, Inyosi and hundreds of other bees went in search of Batenga, the baboon. Soon they found the baboon sleeping under a big Mopani tree; empty honeycombs lying around him. Batenga was snoring so loudly that the earth almost vibrated with each snore.
The animals quickly decided on a plan of action. First, Ulu used his spider web to tie Batenga's back feet together. Then all the animals shouted, trumpeted, and buzzed at once.
Batenga woke up in shock and tried to run away. But, of course, with his feet tied together, he fell over onto his nose. M'Pofo picked the baboon up by his foot and held him dangling above the ground. Inyosi and all the bees laughed at the naughty baboon hanging upside down.
"Before I put you down again, Batenga, you have to promise to behave and not steal any more honey from the bees."
Squirming with embarrassment, Batenga answered, "I'm sorry, it is just that I love honey so much! But I'll behave, and to make up for what I've done, I will bring fresh flowers every day for a week, so the bees won't have to fly so far in search of pollen to turn into honey."
All the animals thought this was very fair indeed, so M'Pofo put Batenga down and helped him untie his feet. The animals were happy to be friends again. M'Pofo went to eat some lovely fresh thorns from a Mopani tree. Ulu decided to spin his spider web in the tree's branches where Batenga had been sleeping. The bees all returned to their hive and busied themselves, making new honeycombs to store fresh honey.
Batenga kept his promise and brought the bees fresh flowers every day for a week. Then, to thank him, the bees rewarded the baboon with his very own honeycombs dripping with sweet honey. They also brought some honeycombs to the helpful elephant, M'Pofo, who was thrilled.
So, you see, little one, if you help others, you might get rewarded. Sometimes the best reward is just knowing you helped someone who needed help.