Once upon a time in the animal kingdom, the Tortoise once had many friends.They played with him,ate with him and shared other things in common.Because of his pranks,many of them left him.They complained he told lies.They said he was cunning.They said he was not reliable. In spite of all these,the tortoise still made new friends.He was very friendly and talked sweetly.His new friends were the squirrel and the Rabbit.They assisted him,shared meals with him and discussed common problems.The tortoise did not want anyone to share his meal with him.He was fond of food and was not ready to share this with anybody.He ate big meals several times a day. He instructed his children to warn him ahead if any visitor was on the way close to his house while he ate.First he would run to hid behind the door,later,he had a big bag close to him while he ate. He would quickly put his food in the bag before any visitor knew he was having his meal.
Later he developed a means of knowing if some visitors were coming whenever he was eating his meal he asked one of his children to stay outside the entrance of the home and warn if a visitor would disturb him as he ate his meal. one of his children usually stood by the entrance door to warn him.Once the tortoise heard the warning,he quickly finished his food and was ready to receive the visitors.
The tortoise had many friends and they shared their meals with them .None of them ate in Mr. Tortoise house.He ensured that no food was available whenever his friends called .But they were still good friends.
One day the squirrel told his friends that he heard some news from some other animals.Let me tell you right away .
'There may be a famine soon if this happens,we may be in trouble ',said squirrel.'We can plan to ensure that we don't suffer if there is famine.We can build a big store of food ',said Rabbit.' Yes,we can.We can build a good solid store with food to last for a long time '.'That's good ,let us work for it's success,'Said the tortoise.The three friends decided to have a big food store.They should save food for the rainy days .
'Famine is not a friend to anybody ',said the Squirrel.
A place was chosen for the food store .It was decided that the three friends should contribute food to the store.The Squirrel was the most hardworking of the three friends .He brought food to the store most times four times a day.The Rabbit tried,he brought food there most times three times a day.The tortoise when he performed best brought food two times a day.For some days ,the Tortoise brought no food.
Once in two weeks the three friends visited the food store and were doing a good job in providing food for themselves if in future there is famine.They did this for quite a while.True as predicted,the famine began within a year.Food became very scarce and people began to suffer.The three friends called a meeting.The squirrel was the chairman.'Now the famine is with us.We have worked hard to save ourselves from hunger .But we have to manage our food very well.Let us decide how often we would come here to take food for our families '.Thank you Squirrel,we should come here twice a week to take food for our families ',said the Rabbit.
'Now Mr. Chairman ,let us come here everyday to take food'.said the Tortoise.The three friends discussed for a while. It was decided that they should come to take food once in two days.They should all come in the morning and share whatever they took out of the store.This was agreed and the three friends took food and shared it among themselves.For quite sometimes the arrangement worked.The Tortoise was used to heavy meals .He was getting thinner.His share of food was not enough for his family.He decided to go to the food store on the day his friends would not be there.He started to go there and take more food.The Squirrel was the first to notice the constant shortage of food in the store,he told the Rabbit his discovery.'Let us hide and watch anyone who comes here on the days we decided not to be here,' he suggested.This was agreed upon.The Rabbit and the Squirrel hid in the bush. Suprisingly,they saw the Tortoise walking to the food store singing with joy.He opened the food store and took some food .He carried this food outside the store and continued singing his song.On his way his friends caught him.'Mr Tortoise,you are a terrible thief.So you secretly come here to steal food while we follow the agreement we all reached on sharing food'.shouted the Squirrel. 'Please pardon me,it was not my fault.It was the fault of the stomach soldiers,they need more food and I have to provide this to please the stomach soldiers'.'You have no shame.We shall take you to the king and I Know the punishment would be great ',said the Rabbit.'Please pardon me ,it was the stomach soldiers,unseen stomach soldiers.They don't keep the peace in the stomach.Now that I am caught,I will caution them to keep peace, please pardon me',said the Tortoise.
The three friends discussed the matter .They banned him from the food store for a week and he agreed to their judgement.The tortoise for one week when very little food was available for his family.
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From @ikefelim