The Baboon's Judgment

This is my version of a public domain story: "The Judgment of the Baboon" which is a Khoekhoe (Nama) story from Bleek's Reynard the fox in South Africa. See the PDF of the original. I have followed the original word by word while also feeling free to make my own changes and additions.

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The Baboon's Judgment

 

Someone had chewed the tailor's clothes!

The tailor thought Mouse looked guilty. "Did you chew my clothes, Mouse?" asked the angry tailor.

"I did not!" protested Mouse. "Cat is the guilty one."

Cat blamed Dog, Dog blamed Wood, Wood blamed Fire, who blamed Water, who blamed Elephant, who blamed Ant. 

The tailor wasn't sure what to do, so he went to Baboon. "Someone has chewed my clothes! I blamed Mouse, but Mouse blamed Cat who blamed Dog who blamed Wood who blamed Fire, and Fire blamed Water, Water blamed Elephant, and Elephant blamed Ant. You, Baboon, must be the judge. Summon all the suspects here and find the criminal. I demand satisfaction!"

Baboon called all the suspects to come to court for the trial. 

After hearing all the evidence, Baboon didn't know which suspect to punish, so he decided that they should all punish each other.

"Cat, bite Mouse!" Baboon shouted.

Cat bit Mouse, and then Baboon shouted, "Dog, chase Cat!" 

Dog chased Cat, and then Baboon shouted, "Wood, beat Dog!" 

Wood beat Dog, and then Baboon shouted, "Fire, burn Wood!" 

Fire burnt Wood, and then Baboon shouted, "Water, extinguish Fire!" 

Water extinguished Fire, and then Baboon shouted,  "Elephant, drink Water!" 

Elephant drank Water, and then Baboon shouted, "Ant, sting Elephant!" 

Ant stung Elephant.

There was no one left to shout at, so Baboon squashed Ant under his foot.

Then he turned to the tailor and asked. "Are you satisfied now?"

"I suppose so," said tailor. "You've punished every single suspect, so, yes: I'm satisfied."

But there's been trouble ever since Baboon's foolish judgment: Ant keeps stinging Elephant, Elephant keeps drinking Water, Water keeps extinguishing Fire, Fire keeps burning Wood, Wood keeps beating Dog, Dog keeps chasing Cat, and Cat keeps biting Mouse... and everybody keeps squashing Ant.

As for Baboon, he used to walk on two legs like a person, but now he walks on four legs like the other animals, all because of his foolish judgment.