MOONLIGHT TALES - Why The Dog Lives With Man

Puppy and his mother

Long, long, time ago, the dog used to live in the Forest like the Fox, Hare and the Hyena. Something happened that made it run away and live with Man. There was a terrible famine in the land so great that the animals decided to eat their parents in turn. This idea was not acceptable to the dog whose only surviving parent was his mother he loved so much and he could not voice his reservations.

He could not imagine her death not to talk of him being the cause of her death. The turn of the Lion came for him to present his father and mother, with pain he offered them and the whole animals ate them even though not sufficient but it provided them something in their stomach for the day. Soon it was time for the Elephant, Tiger, Fox, Hippopotamus, Leopard, Hare, Tortoise and so on.

All the while the dog was not happy, he was alive solely for his mother. An idea occurred to him. He quickly grabbed it and decided to act along. Few days to his turn, he told the entire kingdom that his mum was sick with chicken pox, all the animals stayed away from her because of the fear of being infected. Two days later he announced her death, The animals mourned with him and told him to go ahead and bury her.

The Dog took his mother high up a tree and would everyday communicate with her as follows:

Iya, Iya ta'kun wa'le o

Alujanjankijan

Ggogbo aye lopa yeye e je

Alujanjankijan

Aja mu tire od'orun

Alujanjankijan..

Each time he is to see the mother after singing the above song, she would throw down a rope for him to climb and meet her up there. 

This continued for a while before the fox noticed that the dog was always absent at a particular time of the day and would reappear at the same time. He began to observe him and when he was very sure, he decided to follow him. He could not believe what he saw, so the dog lied to deceive all and keep his mother while he ate that of others.

He quickly ran back and informed the others. They were all angry and decided to deal with the dog. They all marched to the place while they were some miles to the place, Mother Dog looked from the Tree and saw the other animals coming with anger towards them. It dawned on them that their secret has been discovered and imminent death awaits the two of them.

They quickly came down and ran away  from the forest and barely made it outside the forest. They knew they could never return to the forest so they decided to live with man. That is how dogs have ever lived with man.