Trap
Once upon a time, in the rich savannas of Africa, there lived two young men named Zombai and Sendai in a tribe. They had been friends since childhood. They had grown up together, wandered together and learned how to hunt together. One day, they went hunting as usual. After walking for a long time, they found a place where monkeys often passed and decided to set a trap there. They prepared it carefully, hid it well and waited nearby in some bushes. After some time, a monkey finally appeared. Zombai and Sendai got ready. The monkey slowly approached the trap and eventually stepped right onto it. They quickly pulled the rope and caught it by the ankle.
But something strange happened. Their rope was not the only one wrapped around the monkey’s leg. There was another rope! Zombai and Sendai looked around and then looked behind the monkey. A few seconds later, three young men came out from behind the bushes on the other side. It turned out that they had also set a trap in exactly the same place, and they had hidden it so well that Zombai and Sendai had not noticed it at all. The three strangers looked just as confused. Moments later, they realized that the other group’s trap had caught one of the monkey’s front legs while Zombai and Sendai’s trap had caught a back leg. When they realized this, both groups suddenly started laughing. The whole situation was simply too ridiculous.
After talking for a while, they introduced themselves. The three young men were from a neighboring tribe, and their names were Bangolo, Momongo and Toftofo. Normally, the two tribes did not have much to do with each other. They did not necessarily hate one another, but they rarely interacted. However, things took a different turn that day. When it was time to decide who was going to take the monkey back home, Zombai said:
“You guys should take it. Maybe it stepped into your trap first. We’ll try to catch another one.”
Bangolo immediately objected.
“No, no, no. We can’t do that. Your trap caught it too!”
Then Sendai tried to give the monkey to them, but they refused again. Finally, Toftofo came up with an idea.
“Since we both caught it, why don’t we just eat it here together?”
So Sendai’s group quickly gathered firewood while Momongo’s group prepared the monkey. Soon a fire was burning and the meat was cooking over it. At first, the five young men were together only because of the hunt, but while the food was cooking, they began talking. They realized that they were around the same age, they all had similar stories and they laughed at the same things. Bangolo also took out a good drink he had brought with him, placed it in the middle and shared it with everyone. They ate, drank and talked. A few hours earlier, they had been complete strangers, but by then they were already behaving like old friends. As the sun began to sink, however, they suddenly remembered something important. They had supposedly spent the entire day hunting, yet they had nothing left to take back to their tribes. They had eaten the monkey.
Sendai thought for a moment and said:
“I know the migration route of the antelopes. If we go there, we may be able to catch one, even if it is only a young one. If we catch two, you can take one and we can take the other.”
It was a good plan, but there was one problem. Lions also wandered around that area. If one of them smelled the fresh kill, things could become dangerous very quickly. Still, none of the five wanted to return home empty-handed. So they set off together on another hunt. When they reached the migration route, they prepared another trap, checked their spears, chose their positions and waited. After a while, a herd of antelopes appeared in the distance. At that moment, the five young men from two different tribes began moving as though they had hunted together for years. One drove the herd in the right direction, another blocked an escape route and the others waited near the trap. After a long and exhausting hunt, they managed to catch two young antelopes. Even better, no lions had appeared at all. Since it was getting late, they decided not to stay any longer. Bangolo, Momongo and Toftofo took one antelope, while Zombai and Sendai took the other. They said goodbye and headed toward their own villages.
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Just when they thought the day was over, a large male lion emerged from the grass and blocked Zombai and Sendai’s path. It did not take long for them to understand what the lion wanted. It was after the fresh kill. Zombai and Sendai started shouting, raising their spears and trying to scare the lion away. But the hungry lion did not move away. It even came closer. Fortunately, Bangolo, Momongo and Toftofo had not yet gone far. They heard the shouting in the distance and recognized the voices of the two friends they had met that day. Wondering what had happened, they immediately ran back. When they arrived, they found Zombai and Sendai facing a huge lion.
Without hesitation, the three joined them. Now there were five men standing against the lion instead of two, but the lion still refused to leave. It was becoming clear that they would not be able to scare it away. The five guys fought back together against the lion. After a fierce struggle, the lion was on the ground, barely moving. Everyone was tense and exhausted. They checked on each other. Somehow, all five were still standing. They had scratches and small wounds, but no one had been seriously injured. And now, lying in front of them, was the body of a massive male lion.
Zombai and Sendai immediately said:
“You should take the lion. If it wasn’t for you, we might not even be alive.”
Bangolo shook his head.
“We already have an antelope. How are we supposed to carry this as well?”
They argued for a while, each group trying to give the lion to the other. Eventually, they decided that the only sensible thing was to take it together to Sendai’s village.
They arrived at the village late at night. The whole village had been worried about them. The villagers came forward, but then noticed the three strangers. The Karashi chief immediately became suspicious of them and reached for his spear. Zombai quickly stepped forward and said:
“Wait. They helped us.”
Then they told the whole story from the beginning while the chief listened patiently. By the end of the story, he understood that these were no longer simply three young men from another tribe. Because of their courage and because they had saved the lives of two of their hunters, the chief decided to give Bangolo, Momongo and Toftofo the tribal talisman. From that day forward, they were recognized as brave-hearted warriors and trusted friends.
After that, Zombai and Sendai were able to hunt freely with Bangolo, Momongo and Toftofo. The five began meeting again and again. Sometimes they went hunting. Sometimes they spent hours walking through the savanna. They would eat, drink and talk together. Before long, Zombai and Sendai even began visiting the other tribe. At first, people on both sides found this unusual, but eventually they became used to it.
Thanks to their unusual friendship, the chiefs of the two tribes, who had not properly met in a long time, began speaking again because of these five young men. At first, they discussed small matters. Then food and water came onto the table. They started trading with each other again and sharing information. Before long, they were even arranging marriages between the tribes. And whenever a kid asked their parents how all of this had started, they always said the same thing:
“One day, in the middle of the savanna, five young men caught the same monkey.”
