The Couple and the Lion (A Folktale from Mandera)

What happens when an angry lion won’t leave a couple’s animal herd alone? In the remote valleys of Mandera, you’re about to hear the tale of how a man and wife outfoxed a greedy lion using some very hot water and clever thinking!

Chapter 1: The Nighttime Prowler

Deep in the Mandera countryside, a husband named Abdi and his wife Aisha lived peacefully in their little hut home, raising cattle, goats and sheep. No neighbors for miles around – just the animal family they cared for so dearly.

But every few nights like clockwork, a hungry ROAAAR would shake them awake!
“That lion again!” Abdi would grumble.
For a greedy lion came prowling every night, feasting on their beloved herd. One…two…three animals gone, just like that!

Aisha fretted, “Oh Abdi, at this rate, we’ll be left with no animals at all! That horrible lion must be stopped.”
Can you imagine how frustrating and scary it would be to have a fierce lion keep stealing your animal friends?

Chapter 2: Cooking Up A Lesson

Well, crafty Abdi had finally had enough. Putting his head together with smart Aisha, they cooked up a plan to teach that meat-thief lion a blazing hot lesson he’d never forget!

Late one night, they snuck outside and dug a deep pit right by the animal shed. Covering the top with grass, it made a perfect hidden trap for the prowling lion to go SPLAAAT! right inside.

Sure enough,come morning, ROOAAR! ROOAAR! Angry lion snarls echoed from the pit! Abdi rushed out with a big purple toothy grin.
“Aisha, Aisha! It worked, we caught the greedy furball! Now bring me a steaming pot of your hottest boiling water…”

Chapter 3: A Sizzling Punishment

Abdi had a mischievous gleam in his eye as Aisha returned with the bubbling cauldron of hot, hot water. Without hesitation, he cried out:

“Take that, you thieving rascal!” SPLAAAASHHH! Straight onto the trapped lion’s back!

YOOOOOWWWLLLLLL! The piping hot water seared the lion’s skin, making him bellow in agony like a boiling tea kettle. He twisted and thrashed wildly as Abdi continued sloshing on wave after wave of sizzling liquid punishment.

Whimpering pathetically, the now crimson-furred lion finally managed to wriggle free and go limping off to his den, whipped tail tucked firmly between his burning legs.

But Abdi and Aisha’s triumph was short-lived. For in the coming days, a very different ROAAR began echoing through the valley…the battle-cry of the lion’s kin, seeking bitter revenge!

What do you think the furious lion’s friends have in store for the clever couple?

Chapter 4: Revenge of the Lion’s Pride

The very next morning, Abdi spied the burned lion leading a whole prowling pack of friends and relatives toward the little hut, teeth gnashing and claws extended for bloodshed!

Aisha gasped in terror. “Abdi, I told you we shouldn’t have been so cruel! Now they’ll tear us apart for what you did!”

Not wasting a second, Abdi grabbed his wife’s hand and fled for the biggest tree he could find, scampering up its
gnarled trunk just as the first lions arrived, slashing at the bark.

Trapped on his swaying perch with snarls all around, Abdi shook in his sandals as the lions began stacking themselves in a towering, furry pyramid – using the burned lion as the unfortunate base.

Up…up…up they climbed, mouths agape and frothy, until the tippy-top cat extended his hooked claws mere inches from Abdi’s pale, quivering face!

Just then, the quick-thinking man cupped his hands to his mouth and hollered down at the scrabbling feline tower…

What do you think Abdi could possibly have shouted that made every single lion go thumping back to the ground in a heap?

“AAAAIIISHAAA! BRING THE HOT WATER!”

Those four simple words caused the burned lion’s pupils to dilate in panic. Visions of searing, bubbling agony came flooding back like a freshly reopened wound.

“RRRRAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!” he howled in primal terror, instinctively ripping himself free of the lion tower’s foundation. WHOOMPHH! The whole towering pride collapsed into a tangle of furry limbs and surprised yelps.

By the time the dazed lions managed to untangle themselves, Abdi was already on the ground, sprinting back to his wife’s arms with the dust clouds of fear at his heels.

And from that day forth, neither lion – burned or unburnt – dared step one shaking paw near the couple’s humble herd again. For just the mere memory of that sizzling punishment was enough to make even the fiercest feline’s tail tuck itself tightly between its legs.

Sometimes, they still swore on particularly blustery nights, they could hear a distant, spectral voice riding on the hot winds shouting…

“Aisha…bring the hot water!”

Moral Lesson

And so we learn, as the old Mandera saying goes: “A burned child dreads fire.” For the hardest lessons are those that bite us hottest and stick with us longest.

The End.