Have you seen a
chimpanzee? Maybe you have seen a picture at the zoo or in their natural
habitat in Africa. Their food mostly consists of plants and fruit, but they sometimes eat insects, fish and eggs. Chimpanzees live in large groups called
communities. The community makes a huge nest out of tree branches. They weave
the tree branches and twigs together either in the top of one large tree or string
them between two. Chimps use leaves to pad the nest, making it cozy. The nest
can be as large as 16 ft. across. Sometimes they sleep alone in the top of
trees, especially when taking naps. In a community there is always a dominate
male. In our story, the dominate male is Themba, pronounced TEM-bah, which means "trusted."
Sade, pronounced SHAW-Day and means "sweetly singing," has two young chimps. The oldest is Ada,
pronounced AH-dah and means "oldest daughter," and the youngest is Yenee,
pronounced Ya-NAY and means "mine."
Sade loves her young
chimps, but doesn't know what to do with her son, Yenee. Ada is very obedient, polite,
and truthful. Each time Sade asks Ada a question she knows Ada will answer
truthfully. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Yenee.
For instance, a while
ago Sade told her chimps to clean up the sticks and rocks they brought into
their nest. Ada and Yenee along with a few other chimps had taken them up to
the nest to play with. The chimps left their mess and they needed to clean it up.
Ada and Yenee swiftly swung up toward the nest. Sade turned to talk to a friend
of hers. As she was talking she noticed Yenee and another chimp playing and swinging
upside down on a branch near the ground.
She called to him and
he obediently came to her. She asked, “Did you pick up your mess in the nest?”
He answered, “Yes.”
Sade said, “That was
fast. Where is Ada?”
“I don’t know.” answered
Yenee.
Later, Sade saw Ada and
asked her where she had been.
Ada said, “Cleaning up
the sticks and rocks.”
“Did Yenee help you?”
asked Sade.
“No.” replied Ada.
“Not at all?” asked
Sade.
“He didn’t come to the
nest. I cleaned it up myself.” said Ada.
Sade found Yenee and
talked to him about telling the truth, obeying, and helping his sister. She
made him stay with her for the reminder of the day. He was not allowed to play with
the other chimps.
One day, a young chimp
and his mother came to Sade and explained how mean Yenee had been. He stole a
banana and made faces at the young chimp. Sade asked Yenee about it, but he
denied it.
Sade was
worried. At first, she thought he would outgrow it, but it was becoming
apparent he wasn’t. Every time she questioned him, he lied to her. He was
becoming so accustomed to lying he told a lie even if the truth made a better
story. He didn’t act like he knew how to tell the truth. She didn’t know what
to do about him.
A while ago, Ada and
Yenee were getting ready for school. In school they learned survival skills.
They were taught how to tell which plants were good to eat and which ones were poisonous.
There were many kinds of snakes in the jungle and they needed to learn which
ones were dangerous. They also learned what tracks different animals left. Yenee
liked school, but on this day he kept looking into the jungle off in the opposite
direction.
Sade said, “Yenee, you
need to go right to school. Don’t get any ideas in your head.”
“Alright, Mom.” said Yenee.
As soon as he and Ada
were out of sight, he zipped away swinging from limb to limb, tree to tree. Ada
called after him, but he just swung away faster. Ada continued on to school
hoping he would come later.
After school, Ada came
home alone. Sade asked, “Where is Yenee. Did he leave school when you did or
was he detained by his teacher?” Ada explained what had happened. She took Sade
where she saw Yenee disappear.
Sade said, “Ada, go
tell the community where I’ve gone. Themba will know what to do and will see to
any of your needs. Sade swung away
calling, “Yenee.”
Meanwhile, Yenee was
far away sitting in a tree. He was not alone. With him was a young gorilla. Yenee
told the young gorilla that he had run away because the community was very mean
to him. He said they made him do all the work and beat him if he didn’t do
exactly what they told him to. He said they kept food away from him and made
him sleep by himself even in terrible storms. The young gorilla thought chimpanzees were
like gorillas and looked after each other. He told his father, who was named Wasesa,
pronounced Wah-seh-SAH and means "careless."
Sade looked for Yenee
for two days. Sad and worried, she went back to the community. Every day she
watched for him. She hardly slept nor ate. Yenee didn’t come home because he was
too busy telling lies to the gorillas and he loved being the center of
attention.
The gorillas were very
concerned that the chimps had treated Yenee so badly. Wasesa was so upset by
what Yenee had described, he got together a bunch of gorillas to go teach the
chimps a lesson.
He said, “Our chimp
friend has been terribly mistreated by his community. They must be punished. We
need to teach them a lesson they will never forget.
Yenee didn’t know what
to do! Should he stay there, go with them, or hurry on ahead and warn the
community that the gorillas were coming? He had been telling lies so long, it
didn’t occur to him to stop them by telling the truth. He decided to hurry on
ahead.
He swung and leaped
from tree to tree going as fast as he could. He got there first and told Sade
and Themba that he heard gorillas plotting to make war with them. “They held me
captive and I barely escaped.” lied Yenee.
“That is not true!”
said a gorilla who had watched him leave and followed. “We took you in when you
said you were mistreated and ran away!”
Sade said, “Yenee what
have you done?”
For the first time,
Yenee didn’t know what to say. He was caught right in the middle of his lies.
Soon, the gorillas came. The one who followed Yenee stopped the rest and told
them what happened.
Wasesa stepped forward.
“We’re sorry we took Yenee’s word. We have a custom in our family that when one
lies he is either killed or banned from the family forever, never to return.
Lying is like a sickness and should be cut out. We leave you to decide. Yenee,
you will not be allowed to come to us again.” The gorillas left.
Sade said to the community,
“Yenee has been saying lies ever since he could talk. I should have told you. I
am sorry. I leave the discipline up to you.”
Yenee was very frightened
as he watched the community huddle together deciding his fate. He said to Sade,
“Mom, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize my lying could cause the gorillas to come and
fight us.”
Sade said, “Yenee that
is not the point. You have to learn to tell the truth. Lying is a terrible
thing that hurts others and especially you, the person telling the lie.”
Themba spoke for the
community. “Yenee we should banish you. Send you to live all by yourself for
causing this uproar and for lying to your mother and others. But we will
show you mercy. If you promise to change and become truthful you may stay. If
you tell another lie we will have no alternative but to banish you. As a young
chimp, you would not survive long by yourself. You need to change your ways so you
can stay with us.”
Yenee said, “Thank you.
I promise to tell the truth. I see now how much hurt I have caused. I am sorry.”
Sade said, “Yenee, you
need to think before you speak. Lying has become a habit you will need to
break. I don’t want to lose you. I love you. I am sorry I didn’t do more to
train you to tell the truth. This may not have happened if had I done things
differently in teaching you the value of telling the truth.”
Yenee was reminded many
times before he started to answer a question. It was a hard job to teach his
tongue not to lie. He learned that lying is a terrible habit to get into and
telling the truth is always the way to go.
The
bible says we should never lie. Deceit is another word for telling lies. The
Ten Commandments tells us not to lie. Exodus 20: 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Leviticus
19: 11c ...nor lie to one another. Verse 16 says You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people. Proverbs
12:22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,
But those who deal truthfully are
His delight. Psalm 101:7 He who works
deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who tell lies shall not continue in
my presence. Psalm 34:13 Keep your
tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
If
you have a problem with lying, you can ask the Lord to help you. Psalm 120:2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and
from a deceitful tongue.
Memorize:
. Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are an
abomination to the Lord, But those
who deal truthfully are His
delight. And/Or. Psalm 120:2 Deliver
my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue.
Verses in NKJV unless
otherwise stated.
