Culture

This story goes back to the year 1972 when a young English scientist, named George, was traveling through Africa. George worked for a pharmaceutical company as a biologist. During one of his longer stays in a small village in Africa, he got to play with a small monkey, whom he later named E-mo. He spent a lot of time playing around with his pet monkey and took a liking to his pet’s habits. During one of the hot and humid afternoons, George observed little E-mo digging the ground for sweet potatoes. He watched the little monkey taking the sweet potato out of the ground, only taking a small bite out of each potato and throwing the rest away. After watching E-mo for a while George decided to teach the little monkey how not to waste food. He began the very next morning teaching his pet how to take the sweet potatoes to the nearby river and wash them in the river. He figured that E-mo would enjoy sweet potatoes more if they were clean and free of mud. He was right. E-mo began to like the idea of washing his sweet potatoes before eating them. It took George more than two months to train this little animal to do this.

George finished with his assignment after a few months and went back to England. Leaving E-mo was one of the hardest things George ever had to do. The two of them had developed a unique relationship, one that George would never forget.

Several years went by before George was assigned to another project in Africa. He was excited and wondered if he could find E-mo again. Much had changed in the past few years. "E-mo must be a grown monkey by now and there is little chance the small animal will remember me," George said to himself.

When he arrived in the same village where he first met E-mo, he noticed that many things had changed. He immediately started searching for his long-lost friend. First he looked for E-mo where the monkeys used to hang around. But he did not see E-mo or other many monkeys. He asked the local people where he could find this special breed of monkey. They told him that he could find the monkeys near the river bed. So he left quickly for the river.

When he got to the river, he noticed the most incredible thing he had ever seen in his life. All the monkeys were bringing their sweet potatoes to the water and washing them before eating them.

He was stunned. He looked around the small group of monkeys when his eyes locked with one. "Is that E-mo?" he thought to himself. The monkey kept staring at him. George started walking towards the group. The monkeys screamed and started to jump around and warn the others about the intruder. They all screamed except the one that stared at George. The two looked at each other a while longer before George leaned down and opened his arms to welcome his long-lost friend. The monkey ran to him like a little baby running to his Mom.

The two held each other for a while before George sat back and watched his friend and the rest of the group return to what they were doing before. George continued watching and watching. He saw how all the monkeys were washing the sweet potatoes exactly the way he had taught E-mo and E-mo had, in turn, taught them.