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A long time ago there lived a spider 

monkey by the name of Manfred. Manfred 

had been surrounded by zebras his entire 

life, and was raised as a wild zebra as 

well. In the hot African climate Manfred 

and the sparkle had lived, living off of the 

little vegetation and rare watering holes. 

For a long time they were happy, until 

Manfred's adoptive mother passed away.

On the outside, the sparkle looked healthy 

and happy, but in reality, all the zebras and 

Manfred were on edge. Manfred's mother,  

named Zurka, had protected Manfred from 

all the other zebras who were unhappy with 

him living among them. Now with Zurka 

gone, the zebras openly showed that they 

didn't like the way he ate with his hands, the 

way he swung from trees as if they were 

monkey bars, his diet of ants and bugs, and 

his never-ending chatter. 

Manfred felt as though he were living in a 

volcano just waiting to erupt. His daily 

routine consisted of eating breakfast, 

brushing his teeth, and trying to make just 

one friend. But none of the zebras were 

interested in being friends with Manfred, and 

every other creature just assumed there was 

something wrong with Manfred because no 

one wanted to even touch him. Several 

months after Zurka’s death, Manfred 

followed this pattern. But one day he was 

tired of how the zebras were treating him.

“I am tired of the way they treat me!” 

screeched Manfred.

As if he were a cheetah, Manfred ran around 

the African plane as though he were on fire 

and howled and howled. He began throwing 

rocks to express his anger. But he stopped 

just as suddenly as he had started. Because 

after hurling the last rock aimlessly, he had 

heard a loud thud and a nasty grunt. Uh oh 

thought Manfred. Slowly he turned. Staring 

back at him was a big, old, angry water 

buffalo.

“Hey! What was that for?” gruffly asked the 

water buffalo. 

His legs were riddled with scars and healing 

bruises. On top of his head were the 

largest horns Manfred had ever seen. 

“I-I-I I am so sorry!” Manfred said in a 

squeaky voice. 

“Sorry doesn’t cut it!”

The angry buffalo then charged Manfred at 

a thousand miles per hour. Screaming and 

yelling, Manfred ran to the closest safe 

haven he spotted, the mango tree. 

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