Tortoise tug
of war prank.
The bigger they are the harder they fall for pranks. The African folklore teaches the elephant, hippopotamus, and tortoise tug-of-war match did not take any physical strength to win.
African folklore of elephant, hippopotamus, and tortoise tug-of-war match
Elephant,
hippopotamus, and the tortoise were once upon a time great friends. But, one
day, when the tortoise was walking near a river with the elephant, he saw a
chance to cleverly outwit his big friend.
Tortoise
told his friend elephant that, many times bigger as he was, he could nevertheless
pull him into the water.
This
amused the elephant greatly, and with sarcastic laughter he told the tortoise
that the suggestion was ridiculous. Nevertheless, the little tortoise, even
more determined to put into motion his plan, urged him to let him try, and when
the elephant mockingly consented, he fastened a rope about his body and ordered
him remain where he was until he pulled him in, after which he walked with the
other end of the rope to the river.
There
he told his friend the hippopotamus that, though he was many times larger, he
could pull him out of the water. The hippopotamus was astonished at the nerve
of the statement and dared tortoise to try it. Whereupon tortoise, with inward
glee, fastened the second end of the rope about him and told him to get into
the water and pull, which he did.
The
elephant, feeling the strain on the rope, resisted it as hard as he could, and
thus the two unwitting combatants worked furiously until they were too tired to
pull any longer.
Then,
each disbelieving that the tortoise could have pulled so hard, they slowly
followed the rope to see where it led. Slowly, they walked up to each other and
discovered the trick tortoise played on them. Well, they felt very foolish and
became so angry at tortoise they swore to kill him wherever they found him.
