Goso, the Teacher

Goso, the Teacher

Once, on the island of Zanzibar, there lived a teacher named Goso. He had no school with large rooms. Every morning he spread a mat beneath a broad calabash tree, and the children sat around him in a half-circle.

Goso taught them to read, to count, and to listen carefully to one another. He also liked to ask questions that could not be answered in a hurry.

“Before you blame someone,” he often said, “you must understand well what happened.”

One evening Goso stayed beneath the tree to prepare the next day’s lesson. The sun was already going down, leaves rustled softly, and high among the branches a gazelle named Paa was quietly making her way along. She saw a ripe calabash fruit and decided to taste it.

Paa stepped onto a thin branch.

Crack!

The branch swayed, and a large fruit broke free and fell.

Thump!

It fell beside Goso and struck him painfully. The teacher collapsed onto the mat and fainted. Fortunately, people were passing nearby. They carried Goso home, called someone skilled in healing, and let him rest.

In the morning the children came for their lesson and saw the empty mat.

“Where is our teacher?” they worried.

When they heard about the night’s accident, they were all sad.

“We must find out who made the fruit fall!” said the oldest pupil.

“And not be quick to blame anyone,” reminded a girl in the first row. “Goso always says that.”

The children examined the tree and decided that perhaps the strong South Wind had shaken the fruit down.

They went out onto the open road and called, “Kusi, South Wind! Did you knock the calabash down on our teacher?”

The South Wind rustled through the grass and answered, “I am indeed strong, but am I so all-powerful? Look: an ordinary clay wall can stop me.”

“Then we must ask the wall,” the children decided.

They came to the clay wall.

“Wall, you stop the South Wind. Did he turn toward the tree and knock down the fruit because of you?”

The wall seemed to rumble in reply. “If I were the strongest, could a little rat make a passage through me?”

The children looked at one another.

“Then we must find the rat!”

Paanya the rat peeped out of his hole.

“Paanya, you gnaw through a clay wall. Perhaps this whole story began with you?”

The rat squeaked. “If I were the strongest, would I run from Cat?”

The children found Paaku the cat warming herself in the sun.

“Paaku, Rat is afraid of you. Does that mean you are stronger?”

The cat yawned. “Perhaps. But a rope can hold me easily when my owner does not want me climbing into the fish basket.”

Then the children took a rope.

“Rope, you can hold Cat. Are you the strongest?”

The rope creaked softly. “A knife can cut me with one stroke.”

The children went to the knife.

“Knife, you cut rope. Perhaps you are the strongest?”

The knife flashed in the sun. “Fire can heat me until no one can touch me.”

The children came to a hearth.

“Fire, are you stronger than Knife?”

The flames crackled. “But water puts me out.”

At the well, the children filled a bucket of water.

“Water, you put out Fire. Are you the strongest?”

The water splashed. “An ox can drink a whole bucket of me.”

In a field grazed Ngombai the ox.

“Ngombai, you drink water. Are you stronger?”

The ox swished his tail. “But a little fly will not leave me in peace. It circles my ears, lands on my back, and I can do nothing about it.”

The children laughed and began looking for the fly.

Soon they heard:

“Buzzz!”

“Enzi the fly, even a great ox cannot chase you away. Are you the strongest of all?”

The fly circled through the air and said, “If I were the strongest, would Gazelle catch me with her tongue when I settle on leaves?”

“Gazelle!” cried the children.

Only then did they remember the thin hoofprints they had seen near the calabash tree.

They followed the path and soon found Paa the gazelle. She stood beside some bushes and looked very guilty.

“Paa,” the children said calmly, “all morning we have been learning who is stronger than whom. South Wind pointed to Wall, Wall to Rat, Rat to Cat, Cat to Rope, Rope to Knife, Knife to Fire, Fire to Water, Water to Ox, Ox to Fly, and Fly to you.”

The gazelle lowered her head.

“It was I who was in the tree,” she admitted. “I wanted a ripe calabash and accidentally shook another fruit down. I did not see the teacher below. I am very sorry. I was frightened and ran away.”

The children were silent.

“You did not mean to do it,” said one pupil. “But running away and saying nothing was wrong.”

“I know,” Paa said quietly. “How can I help?”

The children asked her to bring Goso fresh fruits and herbs that grew far from the village, where a gazelle could travel quickly. Paa agreed and that very day brought a whole bundle.

A few days later Goso was sitting outside his home, smiling at his pupils.

“So you found the guilty one?” he asked.

“We found not a guilty one, but the cause,” the children replied. “And we learned that strength passes from one thing to another: Wall stops Wind, Rat gnaws Wall, Rat fears Cat… and in the end we found Paa.”

“And what did you do?”

“We listened to her.”

Goso nodded with pleasure.

“Then you learned the lesson after all, even without me.”

Soon classes began again beneath the calabash tree. And whenever one of the children was quick to say, “It is certainly his fault!” the others laughed and reminded them, “Do not hurry. First follow the trail all the way to the gazelle.”

From then on, the saying meant: check everything to the end before you draw a conclusion.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨