The wishes of the Reptiles (a fictional folk tale)

       

Once upon a time in the animal kingdom, all reptiles lived in peace and harmony and they shared everything in common.

These reptiles were beautiful, harmless and loving creatures. The Anaconda, Boa and Pythons were like elder brothers to the Cobra and Black Mamba. The Tortoise and the Turtle were best of friends while the lizard, Gecko and Chameleon were always seen moving together.

A beautiful scenario it was: to see how the crocodiles and the alligators watched over the lizards, gecko and chameleon like they were their children.

Then, came a great famine in the land of the reptiles, which caused great panic, hunger and enmity amongst them. The famine was so intense that the bigger reptiles turned to feed on and swallow their smaller friends. As a result of this abnormal turn of event, the smaller vulnerable reptiles like the lizard, chameleon, gecko, tortoise and turtle scattered in fear of their lives hoping and wishing that they could have the power to protect themselves against the bigger reptiles.

One day, the tortoise who is the wisest among the reptiles called for a peaceful gathering where all reptiles could air their views and anger on what was happening in their kingdom and also find solutions to the problem. While they were arguing, a voice came from above; it was the voice of their creator who was willing to settle every grudge they had against each other. The voice asked them to make a wish on the kind of survival weapon that they want. He also warned them to wish wisely because whatever they wished for will last for eternity. However, knowing the nature of His creation and that a wish would not be enough for them, the creator was willing to grant them their first innermost thought.

After hearing the voice of their creator, they were ecstatic to know that their creator had not abandoned them and so they decided to go back with their old friends to decide on what to ask from the creator. The crocodile and alligator became friends again; the python, boa and anaconda started discussions like old friends who have not seen each for a long time; the lizard, gecko and chameleon all went to their formal playing grounds; while the tortoise and turtle quietly and slowly walked home.

The lizard, gecko and chameleon knowing how vulnerable and small they were in size compared to their fellow reptiles desired to leave the reptile kingdom to live among men. However, the chameleon who wanted to be the most beautiful creature amongst them wished to be able to change to the colour of any environment he finds himself in. With that wish, he desired for no permanent place to live but to be able to come and go as he wished.

The gecko desired to live with men and to look pitiful so that no man with sympathy would hurt him. The lizard who wished to live amongst men never wished exactly what the gecko wished but instead he wished to live outside the homes of men. This made him the most notorious and populated lizard today.

The tortoise and the turtle knowing that they are the slowest in movement and could not sniff the presence of their predators, desired for a permanent shell strong enough to protect them even from the venom of the viper. With that, they would have an upper hand against their enemy. The turtle was afraid of being a terrestrial habitat because he was sluggish on land and so desired to live in an aquatic habitat where he would swim and move faster. However, the tortoise thought that with the shell all would be well so he desired to live longer than his friend the turtle. That is why the tortoise life-span is from 80-120 years and that of turtle his friend is from 20-46 years.

The python, boa and anaconda desired to be the largest of all reptiles, and they all uniformly desired to swallow their victim rather than eating them. While the cobra, viper and black mamba never really thought of been large instead desired to be more poisonous and that is why today a single bite from a black mamba can kill a man in 30 minutes, a large anaconda in hours and the king of the forest, the lion, is not excluded.

Their creator waited to see what close friends; alligator and crocodile would wish for. They both wished to be the largest lizard with teeth all over their jaws in order to scare predators away, but they forgot that such request would make them ugly and with a rough skin, which would truly look brutal. Despite their wish for a vicious look, the alligator secretly desired to be broader than the crocodile, while the crocodile on his side desired to be more aggressive than his friend.

And all their desires came to pass and stayed for generation to generation.





Story by: Unoneme Eric Chizoba
Edited by: Amadi Chinyere