A long time ago, Antelope lived among all other animals. One day, he called all of them. He said, “I have found a girl I want to marry but her parent want me to come and visit them with my friends and relations.”
The Tiger said, “That’s good. Do you want us to go with you?”
“Yes,” answered the Antelope. “The only problem is that they live in the sky.”
Parrot, Vulture and Pigeon said, “Don’t worry, we shall go with you. When is it?”
image source
The Antelope said, “It’s five days from today. I know the birds can go, but what about me and my other friends like the Tiger and our King Lion?”
The birds replied, “Don’t worry. We shall carry the small animals and we shall give all the others some of our feathers.”
The Antelope said, “Thank you very much. You are very kind. But I want to tell you something.”
“What is it?” asked the Parrot.
Antelope answered, “In my in-laws house, they will ask us our names. You all have your names but when I get there, I don’t want to be called ‘Antelope.’ I want to be called ‘All of you.’
“All of you?” asked the Lion. “Why do you want to change your name?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll find out later.”
On the day of the visit, the Antelope and his friends set out early. It was a long and tiring journey. When they got there, the girl’s mother came to greet them.
She said, “We are happy to see you all. We hope you had a good journey.”
Soon, some of the women in the home brought big bowls of pounded yam and soup. The oldest lady said, “This food is for all of you.”
As soon as she left, the Antelope jumped up and said, “Did you hear what she said? The food is for ‘All of you.’ That’s my name here.”
image source
He sat down and ate while the other animals looked on angrily. The Antelope did the same thing the next day. The other animals nearly died of hunger.
When it was time to go home, the birds carried the small animals. The other animals used their borrowed feathers to fly back to earth. The birds took all the feathers they had given the Antelope. Nobody would carry him. So, he begged the Vulture. “Please, tell my wife to bring out all soft things in my house. I am going to jump down from the sky.”
The Vulture flew back to the earth and went to see the Antelope’s wife with a wrong message. She brought out all the hard and sharp object. Then Antelope jumped down and broke his broke into pieces.
QUESTIONS?
Where did Antelope’s relations and friends have to go with him?
Which of his friends first agreed to go with him?
How would the other friends get there?
What did Antelope want to be called in his in-law’s house?
Did he tell his friends the reason?
Where the other animals happy?
What did they do to Antelope?
Did the vulture give Antelope’s wife the correct message? How do you know?
What do you think of the Antelope?
What lesson do you learn from this Passage?