Mbeki was a boy who live in a small village

Mbeki was a boy who live in a small village on the edge of the great Serengeti plain of Africa.

Mbeki would spend days watching the animals on the plain, learning and studying their behaviors.

Twice a year during the great animal migration from their summer to their winter feeding grounds and back,
the villagers would gather their meagre belongings and hide in caves in the hills above their village.

When they returned, they would find that their village had been ravaged by marauding elephants that would strip the straw and logs from their mud huts for food.

After one devastating year when the village was almost completely destroyed,

Mbeki vowed to learn as much as he could about elephants to help his village.

One day as he sat hidden in the tall grass he saw an old bull elephant with a broken tusk that appeared to be in distress.

As Mbeki crawlled closer to observe, he noticed that the elephant was holding one foot off the ground.

Mbeki crawed closer still and saw there was blood on the elephant’s foot.

Mbeki stood and approached the elephant nervously and saw a large thorn stuck beneath the elephant’s foot.

Screwing up his courage Mbeki held the elephant’s foot in one hand and pulled at the thorn with all his might with his other hand.

The thorn came loose at last, Mbeki gave a shout of triumph and the elephant gave a loud trumpet.

Suddenly the elephant wrapped his trunk around Mbeki and lifted him high off the ground and Mbeki and the elephant looked at each other. Mbeki saw joy and thankfulness in the elephant’s wise old eyes. After a long while the elephant gently placed Mbeki on the ground and stamped his front foot on the ground three times and slowly turned and walked away.

After that day Mbeki vowed to double his efforts to learn all he could about the elephants. Soon he became famous for his knowledge throughout the land and was invited by neighbouring villages and cities and countries to talk about his experiences.

Many years later, Mbeki now an old man after a long career travelling the world as the world’s foremost expert on elephants finds himself back in the village he had lived as a child. But oh how it had grown, no longer a small dusty village of mud tracks and mud huts it was a modern city filled with all the trappings of modernity and a million people. It even had it’s own zoo. Mbeki decides to visit. Mbeki walked around the animal enclosures smiling, remembering his life as a boy when suddenlh behind him he heard an elephant blow his trumpet.

Mbeki turn and there, in front of him, an elephant with a broken task with it’s trunk raised. They looked at each other, the elephant stamped it’s feet on the ground three times. Mbeki could not believe it, his heart was filled with joy.

Mbeki hobbled closer to the elephant, they looked at each other. Mbeki raised his hands and hugged the elephant. The elephant wrapped his trunk around Mbeki and lifted him off the ground and once again Mbeki could stare into those wise old elephant eyea.

Suddenly the elephant threw Mbeki hard onto the ground and stamped on Mbeki’s head three time killing him.

It was a different elephant on the edge of the great Serengeti plain of Africa. Mbeki would spend days watching the animals on the plain, learning and studying their behaviors.

Twice a year during the great animal migration from their summer to their winter feeding grounds and back, the villagers would gather their meagre belongings and hide in caves in the hills above their village. When they returned, they would find that their village had been ravaged by marauding elephants that would strip the straw and logs from their mud huts for food.

After one devastating year when the village was almost completely destroyed, Mbeki vowed to learn as much as he could about elephants to help his village.

One day as he sat hidden in the tall grass he saw an old bull elephant with a broken tusk that appeared to be in distress. As Mbeki crawlled closer to observe, he noticed that the elephant was holding one foot off the ground. Mbeki crawed closer still and saw there was blood on the elephant’s foot.

Mbeki stood and approached the elephant nervously and saw a large thorn stuck beneath the elephant’s foot. Screwing up his courage Mbeki held the elephant’s foot in one hand and pulled at the thorn with all his might with his other hand. The thorn came loose at last, Mbeki gave a shout of triumph and the elephant gave a loud trumpet.

Suddenly the elephant wrapped his trunk around Mbeki and lifted him high off the ground and Mbeki and the elephant looked at each other. Mbeki saw joy and thankfulness in the elephant’s wise old eyes. After a long while the elephant gently placed Mbeki on the ground and stamped his front foot on the ground three times and slowly turned and walked away.

After that day Mbeki vowed to double his efforts to learn all he could about the elephants. Soon he became famous for his knowledge throughout the land and was invited by neighbouring villages and cities and countries to talk about his experiences.

Many years later, Mbeki now an old man after a long career travelling the world as the world’s foremost expert on elephants finds himself back in the village he had lived as a child. But oh how it had grown, no longer a small dusty village of mud tracks and mud huts it was a modern city filled with all the trappings of modernity and a million people. It even had it’s own zoo. Mbeki decides to visit. Mbeki walked around the animal enclosures smiling, remembering his life as a boy when suddenlh behind him he heard an elephant blow his trumpet.

Mbeki turn and there, in front of him, an elephant with a broken task with it’s trunk raised. They looked at each other, the elephant stamped it’s feet on the ground three times. Mbeki could not believe it, his heart was filled with joy.

Mbeki hobbled closer to the elephant, they looked at each other. Mbeki raised his hands and hugged the elephant. The elephant wrapped his trunk around Mbeki and lifted him off the ground and once again Mbeki could stare into those wise old elephant eyea.

Suddenly the elephant threw Mbeki hard onto the ground and stamped on Mbeki’s head three time killing him.

It was a different elephant