Animal Activities #58

A buffalo called Genta. He was an imposing creature in size and strength and his glossy black hide shone in the light of the rising sun. His horns gracefully curved backward, and a little bell tinkled softly as he walked that was tied around his neck. That's where Genta got his name.

Genta was no ordinary beast of burden. He was the faithful companion of an ordinary farmer named Mr. Rahman, who lived by the rice fields and the seasons. Genta every day came to stand calmly outside the pen well before the sun rose, waited for the arrival of Mr. Rahman to greet him with a warm smile and a soft pat on the neck; they would walk up together to the rice paddies through the moist dirt trails where water still clung to the too-late-departing dew.

In the fields, Genta was increasingly patient. He drew the plow slowly, breaking the hard earth into straight rows. Despite the labor, Genta never moaned. He appeared to realize that the soil he tilled would nourish the rice that fed Mr Rahman’s household, and the village.

But there was one thing that made Genta special. He had a sharp sense of nature. One afternoon with the sky still clear, Genta suddenly was agitated. He snarled softly and shook his feet on the soil. Mr Rahman was astonished, but he took Genta home at once. Soon after their arrival back home, torrential rains and raging winds battered the village. A handful of farmers still caught in the rice fields were forced to flee their tools. From that day on, the villagers were said to trust his great sense of changes in weather.

Despite slowing age and dwindling strength, Genta was still feared and respected. Mr. Rahman had no plans to sell him. "Genta is not just a buffalo," he said one day, "he is family."

Genta liked to rest in his old age beneath a cool tree on the rice paddies. The village children delighted in petting his head; and the little bell perched around his neck still chimed softly in the breeze.

And every time when they heard that sound in the early morning, the villagers were able to start the day filled with dreams and expectations of hard work, the way a loyal buffalo called Genta taught them.