WHO IS WISER THAN THE OTHER?-OYEDELE OBASANJO JOSEPH

The Tortoise has been described as one of the cleverest among the animals. One day, he met the Elephant and a fierce argument came up between them.                                                                                                   “I am wiser than you”, the tortoise said. This made the elephant to be very angry since the tortoise could not match his strength and status as the biggest of all animals.  Therefore the elephant replied, “even your great-grand fathers knew your lineage could not be as wise as I am”. They continued to exchange words and each  vowed to show he was superior in knowledge and wisdom to the other.

The tortoise did not sleep when he got home. He thought of how to defeat and put the elephant to shame. Later after that, the King of a nearby village died. The tortoise arranged for local, commercial drummers and the set on a journey to the forest to look for the elephant singing and dancing:                                                                                                                       

Elephant come home and become king king.                                                                           Lucky elephant, powerful elephant.

When they got to the elephant, the tortoise said, “God afternoon majestic  and royal King.People  from the nearby village sent us to you. Their King died some weeks ago and after several divinations, the lot fell on you as the next King and we are here to take you home for your rites of c oronation”. He opened his bags and presented  the gifts sent by the villagers.

The elephant was very happy and the host of local drummers he saw also convinced him. He dressed up and followed them with to be enthroned. The drummers increased the intensity of the drumming and the singers continued to sing the praises of the elephant till they got to the village and the raised platform  beautifully  prepared for the elephant. He walked up to the throne to have a royal sit. He did not know that there was a covered wide pit under the throne  and he landed in the pit with his great body. The tortoise went round the villages to call people who trooped out to watch a foolish and helpless elephant. Hunters from nearby villages came, killed the elephant and shared the meat among the villagers. Indeed, the tortoise was wiser than the elephant!