One day warthog was sitting in some mud when gazelle came bouncing through the undergrowth, all hot and flustered. When she stopped for breath warthog asked her what she was doing.
“I’m running away from the shalapa”.
“What’s shalapa” asked warthog in alarm.
“It’s a horrible monster that will eat you, if you don’t run away from it” she said and ran off.
Warthog had never heard of shalapa before, but thought it sounded dreadful so he started running as well doing his best to keep up with gazelle. “Wait for me”, he said “I don’t want to be eaten by the shalapa”.
Just then they came across ostrich having a rest in the shade of a tree.
“What’s going on” said ostrich.
Warthog explained how they were running away from the shalapa, the horrible monster.
“Oh dear I suppose I should be running away too. Wait for me” she said, as she started to run after warthog and gazelle who had rushed off again.
Then gazelle, warthog and ostrich came across monkey.
“What are you doing” asked monkey?
“We are running away from the shalapa” said gazelle.
“What’s shalapa” asked monkey?
“It’s horrible monster that will eat you” said warthog.
“What does it look like” asked monkey?
“We don’t know what it looks like, silly” said gazelle. “If we stopped to find out it would catch us and eat us!”
“Well, what does it sound like then” asked monkey?
“We don’t know what it sounds like, silly” said warthog. “If we stopped to find out it would catch us and eat us!”
“Well what does it smell like?” asked monkey.
“We don’t know what it smells like, silly” said ostrich. “If we stopped to find out it would catch us and eat us!”
“Who told you about this monster” monkey finally asked?
“Everybody knows about the shalapa” said all three animals in unison.
“Well I’ve never heard of shalapa and I find it hard to believe in something that I haven’t seen, heard or smelt” and monkey. “Haven’t you considered the possibility that shalapa doesn’t exist?”
“But what if it does” said gazelle.
“What if it’s real” said warthog.
“We couldn’t risk it” said ostrich.
“Well, I’m not going to run away from something that might not even exist” said monkey.
“You play with your own life if you want, but we’re not going to take any chances”, said ostrich, and all three animals ran off as fast as they could.
“I will wait here in the tree and see if it passes by” said monkey.
Monkey waited and waited.
He waited and waited all day, but no monster ever turned up.
“I wonder if warthog, ostrich and gazelle are still running” he thought as he settled down to sleep in the cool of the evening.
