The story of the midnight goat thief starts with a Hare who is already tired of living alone and he decides it is due time he finds himself a companion. The Hare decided to visit the neighboring village to meet his future-in-laws. So before visiting the next village, he needed someone to accompany him.
The Hare then asked his friend to accompany him to the important occasion. He asked his long-time friend the Baboon and he agreed. Afterward, both the Hare and the Baboon left for the neighboring village to meet the in-laws.
When the Hare and the Baboon were halfway through the journey, the hare stooped. He asked his friend the Baboon for a favor. The Baboon agreed and he asked the hare what he wanted him to do. The Hare then asked the Baboon can he see an herb.
The Baboon replied that he saw the herb and the herb was used to cure stomachache. The Hare praised his friend and he told the Baboon that when they reached his in-law’s place and they were offered a meal, he might suffer from a stomachache. He told his friend that he should come to this place to dig up the herbs and bring them back to cure him.
After the baboon gave his consent, they set off to travel to the nearby village. When it reached sunset, both the Hare and the Baboon reached the in-law’s village. The hosts warmly received them and also provided a room for them to rest.
The hare and the baboon were hungry, so they looked forward to someone offering them a meal. The in-laws gave them a feast that they had planned in their honor. As the hare and the baboon took their first bite, the Hare stopped the baboon.
The hare told his friend that he was already having a stomach ache. He asked his friend if he remembered the herb they saw and he told him to hurry and get it. The Baboon quickly went to get the herb for the Hare’s stomach.
While the Baboon hurried to get the herbs, the hare ate the whole meal. When they finished, he asked them to clear the table. After a while, the Baboon came back looking tired with the herbs in his hands. He told his friend that he ran as fast as he could to get the herbs to cure his stomach.
The Baboon asked his friend for his food and the hare told him that the host had cleared the dishes. Something disappointed them, and after a while, they both fell asleep. At night, the Baboon was hungry and he couldn’t sleep.
The Hare then suggested that they should steal a goat from the pen. The Baboon agreed to this plan and so the two friends accomplished their mission and they went back to their room. The hare stained the baboon’s hands with goat blood while his pal was fast asleep.
The next morning the host found out that their goat was missing. The host questioned the hare and the baboon and they both denied the crime until the host saw the hands of the baboon covered with blood. They captured and killed the baboon. The Hare then apologized for the baboon’s behavior and he thanked the host.
The hare tricked the baboon’s friend, leading him to his death, as heard by a jackal. The jackal then planned to avenge this friend’s death. Then the jackal requested that his hare go with him to his in-law’s hamlet. The jackal also used the same tactics the hare used on the baboon. They told him about an herb and how it would cure him when he had a stomach ache. The jackal told the hare that he should return and get this herb for him whenever he had stomach aches.
Before they continued their journey, the hare excused himself to the bathroom and he secretly dug up the herbs and hid them. Both the hare and the jackal continued their journey and they arrived at the in-law’s place at sunset.
The host welcomed the visitors and gave them a room to rest. Soon after, they were served food. The Jackal told the hare that his stomach was beginning to rumble and asked the hare to bring him the herb that he mentioned during their journey.
The jackal immediately grabbed the herb from the hare and had to share the meal with him. The jackal woke up in the middle of the night to tell the hare how they should plan to steal and kill the goat. After their mission was a success, the jackal took some of the goat’s blood.
The hare’s eyes were wide open while the jackal waited for him to go to sleep, and soon the sun rose. The Jackal, having stolen the in-laws’ goat, was found with goat blood.
Moral Of the Story
The moral of this story is that some people are clever and cunning. They will always outwit others. You have to be careful not to fall prey to them and you shouldn’t try to emulate their ways.