M’Pofo and the Sore Foot

M’Pofo and his friend Lou-Anne, the little bush girl, were walking along chatting happily when a loud roar from a nearby bush startled them. Somebody was crashing around in the brush, muttering to themselves. Frightened, the pair leapt behind a big Mopani tree.

“What was that M’Pofo?” asked Lou-Anne in a hushed whisper.

“I’m not sure what could have made the strange noise,” said M’Pofo as he cautiously stretched his trunk around the tree and sniffed the air. “I can’t smell anything suspicious. But I’m going to take a look.” Slowly he peered out from behind the tree, examining the bushes when another roar shook the thorny bushes just in front of them.

They both hid behind the tree again. Finally, Lou-Anne said, “I think someone has hurt themselves. Maybe we can help?”

M’Pofo thought this was a good idea, so he stepped out from behind the tree and asked, “Excuse me, is… is… is everything ok?”

“Of course not!” roared a voice out of the middle of the dense bush.

“Well then, what’s wrong, maybe we can help?” added Lou-Anne, who was now standing next to M’Pofo staring expectantly at the quivering bush.

Suddenly the bushes rustled loudly, and Ubejane, the grumpy black rhinoceros, pushed his way out. The friends noticed that he favoured his front right foot and limped heavily. The cantankerous old rhino snapped, “well, don’t just stand there, do something!”

Ubejane’s bad temper didn’t bother the two friends. He was always like this! So, the two friends went to inspect the rhinoceros’ foot. M’Pofo used his trunk to lift the foot into the sunlight so they could see better.

“I know what is causing you the pain, Ubejane,” said Lou-Anne seriously, “you have a thorn from the Mokala tree in your foot. They are particularly long and hard.”

“Then you’d best get it out,” grumbled the rhino.

Lou-Anne tried to pull the thorn out, but she was not strong enough. M’Pofo used the tip of his trunk, but he could not get a good grip on the thorn, and it stayed firmly in Ubejane’s foot.

Just then, Vakawu, the vervet monkey, came racing past. Hot on his tracks was Buhala, the banded mongoose. “Naughty monkey, leaving your banana peels lying at my front door. I’ll teach you some manners!” she shouted at him whilst trying to bite Vakawu’s tail with her sharp little teeth.

She chased the monkey several times around the rhino and the elephant until M’Pofo trumpeted, “Friends, stop this, you’re making us dizzy. Do be sensible and help poor old Ubejane. He has a thorn in his front right foot, which we can’t get out.”

The two animals immediately stopped chasing each other and came to look at Ubejane’s foot. Vakawu, who is very clever, had an idea, “I know how we can get it out. Buhala holds onto the thorn, Lou-Anne holds onto Buhala, I will hold onto Lou-Anne, and M’Pofo will hold onto me. Then, when Lou-Anne says pull, we all pull in the same direction. Ok?”

Everyone agreed this was an excellent plan indeed and got into position. “One… two… three… pull!” shouted Lou-Anne.

The animals pulled with all their strength, and the thorn came out of Ubejane’s foot with a loud plop. Buhala, Lou-Anne and Vakawu landed in a big heap, with Vakawu, the vervet monkey, at the bottom of the pile. He complained, “Get off me. You two weigh so much!”

The others all laughed, and Buhala said, “It serves you right for putting your banana skins at my door.” However, they stood up again and helped Vakawu back to his feet.

Meanwhile, Ubejane was incredibly happy to have the thorn out of his foot. He tenderly tested it and found that he could walk very well indeed. “Thank you all so very much. I want you to come round later and have some lovely marula berry cake for tea; I want to share it with you.”

The friends thought it was a fantastic idea to go and eat some cake, especially as Ubejane was not as grumpy as he usually was.

So you see, little one, sometimes you have to work together to achieve something that you couldn’t do on your own.