Becoming The Muse

Jackal The Judge

Once upon a time….

There was a leopard that was a menace, terrorising the villagers and preying on their livestock. The people came together and decided to set a trap for the leopard and end its reign of terror. The leopard got caught in the cage trap and was at the point of starvation when along came a man.

“Hey man, my friend, man, can you help me out? I have been caught in this trap as you can see, I haven’t eaten in days and I am dying of starvation. Can you please free me?”

The man looked at the leopard and replied “I know your kind, you are a predator if I set you free you will eat me.” The leopard pleaded with him, “No, no, no, you would be saving one of the creator’s creations from certain death, please help”

The man took pity on the leopard and released it from the cage.

As soon as it was freed, the leopard pounced on the man. “Whats this now?” the man shouted  “You said you would not eat me if I set you free!”

“It is what it is” the leopard replied, “I am at the point of starvation I don’t have the energy to hunt and you are the closest thing so…. “ The man reasoned with the leopard, “Ok fine, I cannot argue with that, but hear me out. Can we ask three other creatures and see if they agree that you can eat me?”

After some brief thought the leopard agreed, “Very well, as you wish.” So they set off to find three creatures to decide the fate of the man.

They first animal they say saw was a cow. “Hello Cow, my friend, can you hear my predicament.” The man narrated to the cow, “I found this leopard caught in a trap and I freed it, now it wants to eat me, how do you see this?”

“You people eat us, you put yorks on us and make us toil in your fields, you take the milk meant for our offspring and have it for yourself, its your turn, be eaten” the cow declared.

Next they ran into another man. Upon seeing a fellow man, the man was elated and called out “Man, hey man! Come and hear my predicament?” he narrated his story “I found this leopard caught in a trap and I freed it, now it wants to eat me, how do you see this?”

The fellow man answered “People cannot be trusted, if I help you today, tomorrow you might turn on me, people have no loyalty… be eaten you are prey.”

Next they ran into a jackal that was going about its jackal business and the man called out “Jackal, hey Jackal. Come and hear my predicament?” The jackal curtly replied “Okay what?”

Once again the man narrated his story, “I found this leopard caught in a trap and I freed it, now it wants to eat me, how do you see this?”

“Ah that’s easy, the leopard found you trapped and freed you, so let it eat you.” The Jackal replied dismissively.

“No, no, no, no!” the man refused profusely “I am not the one who was trapped” he clarified.

“Ah okay, where exactly did all this happen?” the jackal asked the man, who pointed and said “Just over there.”  “Is it far?” asked the Jackal. “No, its very close” the man replied.

“Take me there” the jackal commanded and so they went back to the cage.

When they got there, the jackal said to the man “Ok you! Get into the cage, as you were before you got freed.”

“No, no, no” the man refused profusely “I am not the one who was trapped!” he exclaimed.

“So who was in the cage?” the jackal asked

“Me” replied the leopard.

“Quickly, everyone get into the positions you were when all this started and stop wasting my time” The jackal ordered.

The leopard got into the cage and the man stood exactly where he had been standing.

“Okay then and what were you doing when you were there” the jackal asked the man.

“I was on my way somewhere when the leopard called” the man replied

“Well then, be on your way” the jackal told the man.

The End.

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A Shona folktale adapted into a local popular song Mutongi Gava Maenzanise Joseph Mutero and The Zvishavane Sounds.

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