The sick Goat

In a small Nigerian village, an old woman named Tolu lived with a goat she loved so much, and she called it Goatie. She cared for the goat so much that it became like a child.

Every morning, early in the morning, the goat would come to the front of the woman's room and bleed to get the attention of its owner for food.

One faithful morning, nothing out of the ordinary. As usual, the sun rose from the east to a beautiful day in the dry season; the hours of the day were not reduced. The goat woke up and walked gently to the front of this woman's room like every other day. It bleated for the necessary attention and waited. Unfortunately, it didn't hear its owner's voice as she used to answer, "Good morning to you, Gotie," Which often let the goat know that food was coming. It will hop and skip and bleet again with excitement.

The goat bleated again. Maybe the woman was tired from her human chores during the night and fell deeply into sleep. This time, it was a bit louder, but still, there was no sound of response. The goat decided to give the door a little ramming. The door was sure locked, but still, there was no response. It seems as if there was no one there.

After a little while, a young girl pushed the front gate open and entered the compound, and the goat was happy, thinking maybe the woman had gone on a stroll or to buy food items and was just returning. But alas, it was Fumi, the woman's youngest daughter. Apparently, the woman fell ill during the night and was rushed to the hospital, where she was admitted.

The goat thought of praying to its maker but paused to think of it. What should it pray about. "should I pray for her to recover?" it reasoned. "Oh yeah, so that my life will return to how it used to be." it starts jumping and running all over the compound, showing how joyful that would be. Then, another thought came to its mind. "Hmm, my owner is a Yoruba woman, and they like parties. If she gets well, they will like to throw a party to celebrate her regaining her health, which will require meat; guess who will serve that purpose, me." The thought of it becoming meat made it fearful that it started to bleed loudly and to run helter-skelter.

"Alas, maybe she should just die, and who knows, I might be adopted by Fumi," it reasoned. "But she never liked me one bit; well, she might be forced to do it to keep her mother's legacy," Trying to find a reason.

"Come to think of it, if the woman should die, will that not require a burial ceremony? Well, yeah, of course, it would, and there will be plenty of leftover food for me. I will be fed till I become fat." He paused, "Wait a minute, will they not require meat for the ceremony as well; of course it does, that means my end as well." No, no, no, that is a total no." The goat was perplexed. The two situations seem like good prayer points, but the only challenge is that both outcomes will end up with it being used as the meat for the aftermath event.

"Well, I sure love my owner, but surely love me first. No prayer will be offered by me that will end me, or rather, the only prayer now is for you to remain sick while I remain alive." The case is closed. The goat concludes.