One man and his precious cow

The father came by to see how his cow was doing. "Have you eaten?", the man asked the cow.

"Hmm", the cow replied. "Your wicked son took me to the wilderness where no grass grows. Then he tied me up and went to sleep."

The man was again very angry. He grabbed a big stick and woke his son up. Then he chased him away.

The second son wandered for days until he came upon the house of a blacksmith. The blacksmith taught him how to make hoes and matchets for farming as well as bows and arrows for hunting. The blacksmith told the boy, "One day, I will have to send you back to your father so you can teach him how to make these tools. Then he can depend less on that wicked cow."

The father had now called his third and favorite son. "Go and graze the cow. Be sure to take good care of her for it will break my heart to send you away like your brothers" he warned his son.

The son took the cow to the green fields where she grazed and bathed. Then he tied her to a tree to dry. Just then the father arrived.
"Cow", he asked. "Did you have enough to eat?"

"Hmm", the cow replied. "Your favorite son is just as wicked as his brothers. He took to the wilderness where no grass grows. Then he tied me up here to die."

The man was very sad to hear this but he wouldn't listen to his son's pleas. He sent him away just like his brothers before him.

Narrators comments: This story is of Fulani origin. It is an abridged version of the story, "A Man, His Sons and a Cow" from the book "Tales by Moonlight", published for The Nigerian Television Authority.

I had never heard this story until I read it in the book and I found it pretty amusing initially. When I thought about it some more, I realized that it is about a man's attachment to his wealth. It is also about the man's enslavement to a pastural lifestyle where the cow was king.