h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This myth is from the Kalahari area,
i.e. southern Botswana,southeastern Namibia and northern R.S.A. Plz note that the actual fable is in Italics.

One day, Mr Baboon invited Mr Tortoise to lunch. Mr Baboon was a great prankster, as Mr Tortoise soon found out. When he arrived at mr Baboon's home, Mr Baboon told him that lunch was ready. However, it was at the top of a tall tree. As Mr Tortoise couldn't climb trees, Mr baboon ate both luches. To Mr Baboon's surprise, Mr Tortoise invited him to have lunch with him the next day. Mr tortoise lived in the middle of a large ash-field, so, when Mr Baboon arrived,his hands and feet were ashy(baboons walk on all fours). Mr Tortoise said "NnaThat's 'no' in Setswana, the traditional language of Botswana, you can't eat with dirty hands. Go and wash them." So Mr Baboon walked to the nearest waterhole, washed his hands and walked back. However, his hands were dirty again. So, he walked back, washed his hands, and came back.However, his hands were dirty again, so he never got to eat his lunch, but Mr Tortoise ate them bothBoth the lunches, that is!!

That's the whole fable. The moral is, pretty much, "do unto others as you would like them to do unto you". However, another moral is "He who laughs last, laughs longest". I believe that the moral is the first, but you may think differently. Ah well. Salang SintleSetswana for 'Goodbye'!