Mama Baboons Kindness is Punished by Death

Mama Baboons kindness is punished by death African folklore teaches us kind-heartedness should be accepted and rewarded, not punished by death.

Mama Baboons’ Kindness is Punished by Death

Once there was in a town a baby whose body was covered with a very troublesome and unsightly skin disease. The father and mother of this child had no choice but to work very hard on the neighboring rice farm, and owing to the condition of the little one's body the mother could not strap the baby upon her back, as is the usual custom, and take it with her to the field. She had to leave it in the hut uncared for and alone.

When all the people of the town had gone to their farms, a baboon who lived with a family of baboons in the nearby bush came into the town and soon found the suffering baby. It took the child in its arms and carried it to the creek, where it bathed its wounds and anointed them with medicine made from roots and herbs. This was done with tender care.

Kindness African folklore 

The baby was then taken back to the hut where its mother had left it, and this performance was repeated for several days.

The mother, returning from the farm and finding that her sick baby had been well cared for, was surprised, and as this kind treatment continued day after day, she resolved to hide herself and watch for the kind nurse.

She had not long to wait, for as soon as the people had left the town

and the baby was alone, the baboon came, took the baby in her arms, and cared for it as she had been doing. The next morning the father of the child watched for the baboon; she soon appeared and, emerging from the bush, made a direct line for the hut.

The father was terrified and, as soon as the animal was near enough, shot the poor thing, painfully wounding her.

The baboon dragged its bleeding and mangled body with difficulty into the bush and there uttered loud and pitiful cries which told of its pain. This soon brought her mate and companions near.

They were angry as they saw how her kindness had been rewarded. The baboons gathered in large numbers, determined to avenge the wrong inflicted upon their innocent and suffering companion. They armed themselves with guns, made war upon the town, driving all the people away, and it was never again inhabited.