A long, long time ago, there lived an old woman in a farm house miles away from surrounding villages, in a country called MaFodayfee. She lived in a seclusion of some kind. Her only company were her farm friends: Cow, Goat, and Cock. She kept a fabulous garden near the farmhouse from which she got fresh fruits and vegetables. It was a peaceful life the old woman lived. She would tend the garden regularly, as work in the garden was her only form of exercise. Ya Yenoh had lived in the farmhouse for over three decades. Her children, living in different parts of the world, would come to visit from time to time. 

Over the years, the country of MaFodayfee had been struggling with the effect of a serious drought. The farmers had been seriously hit as their rice and peanut farms could not yield anything. But YaYenoh’s garden flourished. Everyone who visited her wondered what the old woman was doing differently. The drought had an impact even on the animals in the bush. There was a tiny animal who lived near the old woman’s farmhouse. His name was rat. Rat had traveled the length and breadth of the country looking for food, but could not find any. One day, Rat was taking a casual walk near Ya Yenoh’s house when he stumbled upon the old woman’s garden. He found a cool area where he sat and ate whatever he could find. He returned to the bush after filling up his stomach. Since then the Rat would come regularly to eat in the garden. The old woman noticed that her crops were being stolen but could not figure out who was doing this. When she could not take it anymore, the old woman decided to set a trap in the garden. One morning, just when Rat was getting ready to go to the garden, he saw Ya Yenoh setting up a trap on one of the potato beds. He watched from the nearby bush and realized that the garden had become dangerous for thieves. Rat stayed away from the garden for a couple of days. After debating in his mind what course to take, he concluded that he should meet the old woman’s farm friends, Cow, Goat, and Cock, to enlist their support to convince the old woman to disconnect the trap. 

The next morning, Rat went to talk to Cow. He began,

“Good morning,  Cow, I have come to discuss a serious issue with you. This concerns all of us. There is a disguised trap in the garden. I believe it is a threat to everyone, including you and me. Although I live in that bush over there, I am your friend, an animal like you. I want us to meet the old woman and plead with her to disconnect the trap.”

The Cow replied, “ Rat, traps are not my problem. Don’t you see my neck, it is not meant for that funny instrument you call trap. I do not care whether it is there or not, and I will not talk to the old woman about it. Bye-bye.”

Rat was disappointed, but he decided to try talking to Goat. He went to Goat in the afternoon and said,

“God afternoon, Goat, I have come to you this afternoon to discuss something that concerns you and me. There is a trap in the old woman’s garden. Any of us can unintentionally be caught by that trap. I would like us to meet Ya Yenoh and plead with her to disconnect the trap.”

Goat smiled and said to Rat, “My friend, you certainly are not serious. Do you want me to leave my rich grass here to talk to Ya Yenoh to disconnect a trap? The trap is not my worry, please leave me alone.”

By this time Rat’s enthusiasm had dwindled. If he could only get one of Ya Yenoh’s farm friends to go with him, the old woman might agree to disconnect the trap. “Will Cock agree with me?” Rat asked himself. “If Cock rejects my proposal, what next?” Rat wonders. He summoned enough courage to face Cock that evening. On meeting Cock, Rat said,

”Good evening, Cock, I am here this evening to discuss an issue that touches you and me, and everyone else around here. There is a disguised trap in the garden. It is a threat to any one of us. I would like you to go with me to the old woman to plead with her to disconnect the trap. Would you do that?” Cock looked at the Rat with amazement. He said to him,

“I don’t understand what you are talking about. Don’t you see that the garden is not my problem? I don’t need to go there to get my food. As long as Ya Yenoh eats rice, I am fine. Your trap story is your headache. Go solve it yourself.”

Having failed to convince anyone about the danger posed by the trap, Rat kept off the garden for a while. He thought about different ways to circumvent the trap, but none was worth trying. 

One sunny afternoon, Cobra, a poisonous snake, was strolling through the old woman’s garden when he walked right into the trap. He struggled, and struggled, and struggled to release himself but failed. Then he stumbled upon an idea. He thought to himself,

“It would make sense to feign death in this situation. Someone will then come and release me thinking I am dead.”

Cobra recoiled into a seemingly harmless mass. That afternoon, Ya Yenoh came to the garden to pick some potato leaves to prepare her lunch. As she picked the leaves, she moved from one potato bed to another. On one of these beds lay Cobra. She did not see Cobra as her eyes were on the leaves. She unknowingly stepped on Cobra’s head. The furious snake drove his poisonous teeth into the old lady’s foot. The snake’s poison ran into the old woman’s blood stream with tremendous speed. In less than two minutes the old woman lay dead on the potato bed. News of the death of Ya Yenoh spread to the surrounding villages like wild fire in the dry season. In less than an hour, hundreds of people gathered in the farmhouse.

          She was a well-known woman survived by ten sons and ten daughters, all of whom lived in distant places. Messengers were dispatched to all the children. The children and the in-laws came to pay their last respects to the old woman. As was the custom, plenty of food and drink had to be provided for the sympathizers, family friends, and others. The eldest son suggested that Cow be slaughtered as a lot of meat would be needed for the occasion. Ten able-bodied men were assigned the task of slaughtering Cow. Cow was confronted, knocked down, and had his fore and hind legs tied. Rat was watching all of this from the nearby bush. From his position, Cow could see Rat, and Rat could see him too. He beckoned to Rat for help. Rat came near and said to Cow,

“Cow, you know I cannot come out for these people to see me. They will eat me too. This is the time for them to eat us. Do you now see how the trap was your concern too? It was the trap that caught the snake which killed the old woman; and it is the old woman’s funeral that has sanctioned your death.” 

Then came the fortieth-day ceremony. This was the most important occasion for the dead. It was the time for people to pay the very last respects to the dead in an elaborate way. So, the children, friends, and other relatives all came to the ceremony. Again it was time for plenty of food and drink. This time it was Goat’s turn. Before he was slaughtered, he saw Rat in the nearby bush and called for help. Rat told him that he could not help him because the humans would eat him too. But he reminded Goat that it was the trap in the old woman’s garden that had caused all this.

“Goat,” Rat said, “do you remember the trap I talked to you about? Well, you would not be in this predicament if you had listened to me, and worked with me.”

Goat did not respond.

There was an important In-Law who came from afar and so could not be there on time for the ceremony. By the time he arrived, all the food was gone. One of the women remembered that the old woman had a cock. It was Cock’s turn. Before he was killed, he saw Rat in the nearby bush and beckoned to him for help. Rat replied, “You know I cannot come to the open; the humans are going to eat me. Funerals are their excuse to kill us. How I wish you had listened to me. It is that trap I talked to you about that has engulfed all of you in a web of death.”