There was once a Rabbit who could never get enough to eat. And it was true-- that whenever he sneaked slyly into any machamba (small farm or garden) where cabbages and carrots were growing, there was always someone who told him to clear off.
“You peasants are a bad lot!” He would sob, running away. “If I had a machamba I wouldn´t chase anyone away who was hungry!”
“Then why don´t you become a peasant, then?” said a Chirico, flying nearby, who was hungry.
“Good idea mate!” exclaimed the Rabbit. “I´ll start right now!”
So he grabbed a spade, a hoe and a rake, planted some cabbages and carrots, and watered and weeded them. And every morning he went to see if the plants were ready for picking.
The one day who did he see in his machambe? The Chirico, his neighbor the Chicken and the Gazelle were eating the new shoots!
The Rabbit got very worked up at this__ “Get out of there!” he shouted. The Chicken and the Gazelle at once moved back, but the Chirico, staring at him gave him a reminder:
“But once you told me that if you had a machamba you´d never chase anyone away who was hungry.”
“That´s true. But you have no idea of all the work I put in to grow those things! Come on. Move off and get out of there!”
And he made such an angry face that the poor Chirico was scared and stepped back too.
“Perhaps I could help you...” he suggested. “And we could sow again.”
“I´ll do the watering,” said the Gazelle.
“And I could pull out the weeds.” put in the Chicken.
“In that case,” the Rabbit agreed, laughing all over his face, “I don´t need to send anyone away who´s hungry. The machamba becomes ours!”
And he sat down on the ground with his new friends. They ate with a healthy appetite, and they gained strength to take up the hoe, spade and rake to begin to work!
Compliments of our developing world(odw). www.magiclink.net/~odw