From Ali Mohammed
Year 10

The Animals Who Looked After ACamel

Once upon a time there were a group of animals that looked after a camel. They decided to raise and feed it. One day a fox and an ostrich took the camel for grazing. After a short while in the grazing field, the fox tried to cheat the ostrich by saying,
“Oh ostrich, I am hungry and I need something to eat, will you go to the forest and find some fruits to eat or stay here and keep watch over the camel”.
The ostrich said,
“I am going to stay here and keep watch over the camel. Go and find something to eat.”
The fox collected a lot of shiny stones and put some wax on the stones and said to the ostrich come and eat your lunch, the ostrich was very hungry and began to eat all the stones swallowing one by one until she couldn’t say anything and choked.

The ostrich died and fox came to the king of the animals and said,
“ Oh Lion, I can’t alone keep raising the camel, please find me another fellow who will help me”.
The lion roared and said,
“Where is the rabbit?”
The rabbit said,
“I am here my Lord.”
“Go and help the fox with grazing the camel.”

The fox and the rabbit became good friends and trusted each other until one day the camel gave birth to a baby camel and the fox began to cheat the rabbit saying,
“ We are very hungry and it is long time since we ate a fresh meat, what do you think if we eat the baby camel”.
The rabbit said O.K. and the fox killed the baby and ate all the meat except one piece of meat.
In the afternoon the lion came to them and said to the fox, where is the new baby and the fox said I was grazing the camel and the rabbit was keeping watch over the baby, A hyena came and ate the baby. The lion roared and roared until all the animals rushed to his cave. The lion said,
“ I am not trusting you anymore except the fox “.
The fox and the lion lived together until one day the fox tried to cheat the lion again. She said,
“Oh dear lion, go and sleep. I am watching the camel.”
When the lion slept, the fox went to the Hyenas and told them,
“The lion is dead and the camel is yours now.”
The greedy hyenas ate the camel and when the lion realised the camel was eaten by hyenas, he decided to flee from the area and went to an area called Bahallo Galleen.

A Somali children’s story.

Tit for tat:

The camel and the fox were friends and thieves, a true friendship, one day they wanted to cross the river so that they could go to the farm and steal food.
The camel said to the fox “get on my back so that we cross the river” and the fox crossed the river on camel’s back.
On the other side, they arrived at the farm the fox caught the chickens and the camel ate the vegetables. The fox finished eating the chickens quickly because she had only small stomach. When she had finished, she said to the camel “after I have eaten my lunch I am accustomed to singing”.

The camel that had not finished eating cried, “don’t sing” the farmer will hear you. Let me finish my lunch first. But the fox did not listen, and started to sing. The men at the farm heard singing and came running quickly. The fox ran away and the men caught the camel and beat him until his bones started to hurt.

When they let him go he went to the river, the fox was waiting there, because she couldn’t swim. The fox said “ can I get on your back to cross the river” the camel replied “get up” and the fox jumped on the camel’s back. When the camel came to the middle of the river, where the water is very deep he said, “ after I have eaten my lunch I am accustomed to taking a bath”.
The fox begged no, no please don’t take a bath, I will drown.
I am sorry replied the camel, but I always take a bath after lunch. And slowly he let his backbone go down into the water.

Help! Shouted the fox.
The camel said do you feel sorry for what you did, yes replied the fox.
The camel felt sorry for the fox and said I cannot let you die and took the fox to the other said of the river.
When they reached the riverbank the fox and the camel both promised that they would never hurt one another again. But said the camel that was tit for tat and they both laughed.