The Two Cow Herds

     During the days that we don't go tell the AIDS stories or the story cloth in a village, we work on writing down the AIDS stories in Toposa. Our goal is to have a recording of these stories (along with audio files of the New Testament, etc.) available on a solar player so that we do not have to physically be in a village for the information to be heard.

Um, makes my brain hurt.

     There was once a herd of cattle that stayed far out in the forest with a group of young men. The young men looked after the cows and kept them safe. They would sing songs to relax the cows at night, and they would clean the cows and make sure they had plenty food for grazing.  One night, hyenas came into the camp to attack the herd, but the young men fought them off with their spears. The next night, a leopard came into the camp to attack the herd, but the young men fought it off as well. The cattle were safe from all the wild animals, because the young men protected them.

     But then one night, while the young men were asleep after dancing for many hours, a man-eating lion snuck into the camp. It crept up silently and pounced on the young men, one by one, before they knew what was happening, and killed them. The cattle were left all alone in the forest. When the hyenas came, the young men were not there with their spears. The hyenas killed some of the cattle. When the leopards came, the young men were not there with their spears. The leopards killed some of the cows. Soon the herd was destroyed by all the wild animals.

     Now, there was another group of young men with a herd of cattle, who lived in the forest some distance from the first herd. These young men also looked after their cattle and kept them safe. One night, hyenas came into the camp to attack the herd, and the young men fought them off with their spears. Another time, a leopard came into the camp to attack the herd, and the young men fought it off as well.

     These young men heard about the man-eating lion and how it killed the young men at the other camp. They did not want the same thing to happen at their camp. So they set guards at night to watch and wait for the lion. One night, the lion tried to sneak into the camp, but the guards saw it and chased it away. Every day, the young men set guards in case the lion tried to come back. They never forgot that it was out in the forest, so they were always watching. 

These young men stayed alive, and the cattle were not left alone in the forest. When the hyenas came, the young men were there with their spears to fight them off. When the leopards came, the young men were there with their spears to fight them off as well. The cattle were safe and happy, because the young men were there to guard them from all the wild animals.

**We use this story to explain how AIDS is like the lion that comes to attack. If they are careful to remember the information they can keep AIDS away from their village, just like the second group of young men kept the lion away from their camp.