Antics of an Angry Goat
By Baba Galleh Jallow
Mbeh the goat was angry; really angry. So angry that he bleated non-stop twenty-four seven and kept kicking the air with his back legs and hitting his snout on the ground. He had to make those impudent folks know that he, Mbeh, was not an easy goat to play. If they had their silly games and wanted to play with him, well, here he comes. He will show them just how to play the play and how to bleat the bleat and kick the nasty kick. That’s what they want? They got it. Period. Full stop. Wolemu!
Our common townsfolk were confused because they did not know how and when Mbeh the goat got so mad. No one could guess why he was so angry that he refused to eat any hay and would not even touch his favorite potatoes; those that always made his mouth water. No one had ever seen him so mad that his voice rattled the air when he bleated. His horns had become soaked with red mud on account of his furious butting of the earth. Some of our common townsfolk speculated that maybe some creature of the earth had bitten Mbeh the goat on the snout and that was why he was so mighty mad. Hard as they tried, no one could elicit an explanation from the furious Mbeh. He ignored all questions and comments and continued to loudly bleat at the top of his shrill voice and to furiously butt the earth, creating a pattern on the ground that looked like the scene of two fighting bulls.
And Mbeh the goat was indeed a bull. Who did not know Mbeh, alias Wahal of our famous little town? Those who came to our little town and did not know Mbeh to be the mighty bull were not deserving of any respect. The legend of Wahal was known well beyond the confines of our little town and people who heard that Mbeh was angry invariably held their mouths and loudly exclaimed, Hey! Beware the wrath of the angry bull!
Our common townsfolk knew that Mbeh was no easy goat, and that he could really be Mbeh if he was in the mood. Most of the time though, Mbeh was just one of our ordinary common townsfolk, charming and smiling and loftily conversational, given to protestations of elevated piety and proverbial shakings of the hand and tapping of the back. When Mbeh was in the right mood, the light from his sparkling eyes twinkled like little stars in the skies of our little town, and he could be seen happily switching his little tail this way and that, this way and that, part in jest and part as a way of saying that while he was known as the bull, he still could play the play and switch the goatee switch. Seeing Mbeh in such a jolly good mood immensely delighted our common townsfolk for it was good to see such might become a child and play the childly play. It affirmed their long-held belief that in every goat there was a child, that in every square was a circle and that not every day is a Sunday. Mbeh the goat was a jolly good fellow when the proverbial skies were blue and the weather was fine, neither warm nor cold, just fair enough for a stroll in the mental park.
But alas the day that Mbeh the goat got angry at something, as he was in those troubled days! Who on earth raised the frightful ire of the raging bull? What impudent bloke caused Wahal to get so mad that he wouldn’t touch his favorite potatoes? Who had brought the wrath of the bull on the streets of our little town? And when would the rampage end so that our common townsfolk could again see the milky smile of our benign goat and hear him bleat the joyful bleat and snort the playful snort? Who ever angered Mbeh owed our common townsfolk a big apology, for they had turned our little town into the scene of the very unpleasant spectacle of an angry goat. Seeing him endlessly bleat and butt the earth and kick the air and refuse to touch his hay, our common townsfolk fervently prayed for the day when the clouds would lift and the sun would shine again with Mbeh bleating the playful bleat, snorting the happy snort and switching the goatee switch while discoursing interesting matters of the joys of life with our common townsfolk.
After much peering and asking and the hiring of private investigators, our common townsfolk discovered why Mbeh the goat was so angry. He had been denied entry into the annual conference of Most Famous Animals. Because of a careless and insulting statement he made about funny animals who did not know where their mouths were, all the famous animals of our little town had called Mbeh a fool and decreed that he should not be allowed to show his goatee face at their elevated conference. Hence Mbeh’s extreme rage and furious antics. In fact, the last thing we heard, Mbeh had decided that he was no longer a goat. Henceforth, he was going to be a bull and will bulldoze any puny little folks who thought they were wise and told him where to go and where not to go. He was going to bleat twenty-four-seven and see just who the hell could do anything about it. Let all those so-called famous animals go to hell. He was the one and only Mbeh the goat of bull rage fame! And no one could do anything about it! He would show them that he was no easy goat to play!!
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