There was a drought for a long time, and the animals in the forest were starving. Two friends - Rabbit and Monkey - decided to live together because it is easier to get food together. The monkey made a small house on the top of a large baobab tree. They settled in it. But the friends also had old mothers. They also built them in their house.
The Monkey and the Rabbit usually went together to get food. And when they returned, they climbed the rope up the tree and fed the mothers.
One day the Monkey, noticing how thin her mother was, decided to kill the Rabbit's mother. And soon, climbing a rope up a tree when Rabbit’s friend was not at home, she carried out her evil intention and threw the corpse from the tree to the ground.
- Why did you kill her? - Monkey's mother cried bitterly.
“I killed her because we don’t have enough food for you two.” Can't you see how thin you've become? I feel very sorry for you!
-You did very badly. Very bad! — the old woman continued to cry.
- Look, mom! - said the Monkey sternly. - If your friend Rabbit asks you where his mother went, tell him that she was eaten by a hungry Uncle Leopard.
When the Rabbit returned from hunting and wanted to climb a tree to feed his mother, the Monkey said to him:
“The leopard gnawed through the rope, friend Rabbit, not quite, really, but it’s barely holding on, and you won’t be able to climb it.”
The rabbit believed it at first. And then he became suspicious. And how will his mother live without food! And so, having told the Monkey that he would come late today, the Rabbit returned earlier than promised and safely climbed the rope to the top of the baobab tree. And then the Monkey's mother deceived the Rabbit. She told the Rabbit that his mother was eaten by the Leopard.
Poor Rabbit cried bitterly. He cried for a long time, and then decided that now he would sit all the time in this house, living out his days alone.
The Monkey returned, saw the crying Rabbit and began to drive him out of the house. But the Rabbit flatly refused to leave his home.
- The leopard will eat you too! - the Monkey shouted.
- Well, let it be. I am now alone in this world. Why do I need life?
- You're just a fool! - said the Monkey.
The rabbit thought for a long, long time about why his mother died. And the more I thought, the more I doubted that the Leopard had eaten her. And one day, when the Monkey was not at home, he pestered her mother with questions: why his mother died. And she burst into tears and confessed everything to him.
“You can’t bring my mother back now!” - said the Rabbit sadly. - But our friendship is over. I feel sorry for you, and I will not kill you, although it would be necessary to take revenge on the Monkey! Live alone in a tree, and I’ll go look for another shelter.
Since then, the Rabbit and the Monkey have lived separately: the Rabbit on the ground, and the Monkey on the tree.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru