Tsuro and the Fruit of the Fig Tree

A great fig tree, a muonde, produced the sweetest fruit, but it was so tall that no animal could reach it. The animals decided to work together. The Elephant would stand at the bottom, the Rhino on his back, the Buffalo on his, and so on, until they made a great tower reaching the fruit. Tsuro the Hare, being the smallest, was at the very top. He was the first to taste the delicious fruit. But instead of passing it down, he began to eat his fill. The animals below grew impatient and shouted for their share. Tsuro, wanting it all for himself, called down, "The one at the bottom must move! The tree is shaking!" The Elephant at the bottom, thinking there was danger, moved aside. The entire pyramid of animals collapsed into a chaotic heap. While they were all dazed and bruised, Tsuro calmly climbed down from the now-bent branches and made off with the best of the fruit he had gathered. The story is a lesson about how a single act of greed by the one at the top can bring down the entire structure of community cooperation.