3 The hare, the hyena and the baobab.

In Africa there are baobabs. There are big ones, but there are also smaller ones. Some have a huge trunk and big branches. It is almost impossible to climb them. Others have nice foliage that gives a nice shade where travellers like to rest and often take some leaves home. The leaves of the baobab are used to make a special sauce called "siraboulouna". It is an excellent sauce which unfortunately is made less and less nowadays. But I remind you that this sauce is very good and that is why travellers liked to sit under the baobab trees.

This is what the hare did one afternoon. He had made a long journey to his uncle who was a blacksmith. The return journey had been difficult because it was hot. So, as I just said, the hare sat down under the baobab tree, which was not like the other baobabs.

After he had recovered his senses, the hare found the place so good that he could not help but declare openly:

- Oh, baobab! How pleasant your shade is!

Then the baobab spoke. Yes, the baobab spoke! Yes, the baobab spoke, for it was not like the other baobabs. It spoke and said:

- Yes, stranger, my shade is pleasant, but will you taste my leaves?

As he said this, he dropped a large green leaf. The hare did not hesitate. He chewed the leaf two and a half times and swallowed it.

- Say, baobab, your leaves are delicious!

The baobab accepted the dialogue.

- Yes, stranger, but my fruit is even more delicious.

The baobab dropped a ripe one at the foot of our traveller; the hare opened it and took a good bite, chewed it once with his left jaw and swallowed it.

- Oh my! baobab! There is no better fruit than yours.

- Yes, traveller, my fruit is good; now look inside my trunk!

Then a strange thing happened. The trunk of the baobab tree opened like the two leaves of a door. The hare stood up to better follow the process. He opened his eyes and saw that the famous trunk was in fact a shop containing all sorts of precious objects. There were suits, golden dresses, bicycles, high-heeled shoes, books and what not!

- Come in and take your pick, stranger!

I leave it to you to imagine what the hare did. The hare became the most beautiful, the richest man in the whole village. Two weeks later, his wife was elected president of the local women's association. The hare's children were honoured. Things got so bad that jealousy ensued, especially in the hyena's family. The day the hyena could no longer overcome her rage, she threatened the hare, who was obliged to give in to her request and explain the matter.

- You see the baobab tree on the road to Bobo. You go there and then you sit down and the baobab talks to you and finally you'll see that...

- Well, stop! I understand!

Indeed, the hyena had understood. She had heard of such phenomena. She went away. Everything went well until the baobab tree opened. The hyena's pipe fell out of her mouth in a fit of excitement.

- Come and make your choice, stranger.

The hyena took a step forward, then back and said:

- Dearest baobab, I ask you two things.

- What are they?

- First, shut up, baobab!

The baobab closed.

- Now rest on my head, baobab.

I don't think I need to tell you why the hyena demanded this of the baobab. But what I do know is that the baobab obeyed. One saw the big baobab rise from the ground with all its big roots. The hyena stretched his neck and both arms. The baobab rested on his head, gently at first, but then became heavier and heavier. The hyena crouched down, but finally knelt down. Her back arched. She groaned, then screamed under the weight of the huge baobab. She was about to be crushed, when the baobab suddenly took pity on her and returned to the ground. Our friend the hyena got up with difficulty and returned to her home. She was twisted, wounded, with a fractured skull.

The saying goes, the more you have, the more you want. We all know people who, like the hyena, want to have it all and who are also crushed by the weight of what they earn. The constant desire to hoard goods or money leads to temptation and foolish desires that lead to ruin.

That is why God has promised His children to provide for their needs. He who believes in Jesus Christ knows that the Lord takes care of him. He need not always seek to amass wealth. He knows, as the Word of God says, that "it is better to have little and respect God than to have great wealth and be ruled by worry" (Proverbs 16:16).