The Aunteater

The following is a read aloud story for January 2006. This is one of a series of stories especially written for Awana Clubs, home-schoolers, Sunday school classes, VBS, mission conferences, or just the fun of reading about children in a wild land called: “The Amazon Rain Forest”. Print them out. Collect them. E-mail them to others who have children and would like to get these stories. Use them for the glory of God. This story is “made up”,not real, but it could have happened. Indians of the great Amazon forest live quite literally in a giant zoo. Animals are an intricate part of their lives. I have watched children playing with giant anteaters and wondered at the patience of those beautiful creatures. Our story tells of one such anteater who lost his patience with a lady…and became an “aunt-eater”.

The old story teller, Douemi (Dough-way-MEE)
(Missionary/cultural observer with the Amazon tribes for many years)
Serving with New Tribes Mission, Sanford, Florida

The women were sweeping and sweeping the village center. They had made their own brooms from long palm fronds tied on the end of a stick. It worked. Sweep. Sweep. Sweep. It was a big open space and soon the night singing would begin. It hadn’t rained in several days so the ground was sandy and dry and hard. The two Culina boys, Sapi (Saw-PEE) and Nani (Gnaw-KNEE), sat watching and talking to each other excitedly. “It’ll be a BIG dance tonight”, Sapi said enthusiastically as he ran his fingers stiffly through his dirty black hair. “Yes,” Nani agreed, “and a big full moon too!” Sweep. Sweep. Sweep. Dust roiled up near where they were sitting and they waved their hands in front of their faces as if they could clean the air that way. They were about to get down and run away from the dust and sweeping ladies, but it was just then that they saw it. An enormous long-nosed bushy-tailed anteater!
The curious looking creature was about two feet high and six feet long from the tip of his long snout to the end of his hairy tail. He had a shaggy gray coat and powerful front claws for tearing apart bark and rotten wood as he searched for ants and termites. And wanting to look very “dressed up”, he had a conspicuous black band on his coat. He was a tamandua (tah-mon-dew-AH) and very proud of it! But unfortunately he had been “anteater-napped” in the forest by a band of Indian hunters. They had surrounded him and then knocked him down and tied him up and brought him back to the village for the kids to play with. For several weeks now the tamandua had lived at the end of a long rope. He wanted so bad to get free and return to the forest. In fact he was very, very, very hungry. Ants were not in abundance in this village…at least the delicious varieties he craved from the rotten logs and forest floor.
“C’mon, Sapi, let’s go tease the anteater!” And as soon as Nani had said this the two boys were racing to the animal’s area. The tamandua had been pestered and poked and teased and pelleted by pieces of wood and hard clay. He was not happy! The boys found a stick and poked at the animal’s side. He bellowed in a strange sounding way and they laughed and laughed. Suddenly one of the women who had been busily sweeping the village center appeared at their side. “Nani, don’t get close to it! It has sharp claws! It could be dangerous!” It was Nani’s aunt Sarri (Saw-HEE) and she was scolding and scolding. The two boys were feeling mischievious, as boys will be, and they poked at the beast some more and the woman began to chase them. Round and round the anteater the three of them went shouting and laughing and carrying on. Aunt Sarri almost caught Sapi one time, but he wiggled free and raced to the other side of the anteater. The anteater, meanwhile, was getting dizzy from all the times it had to turn it’s head around and around to keep an eye on these enemies. And then Aunt Sarri slipped. She lost her footing and stumbled forward right into the side of the tamandua. And quick as a wink he took a big swiper with his claw and hit her on the bottom. His sharp claws ripped out a piece of her flesh. And then totally paralysed with fear she saw the beady little eyes and the long snout and felt the bite on her arm. OUCH! The anteater was angry and had become an “aunt-eater”!
The boys saw the plight of Nani’s aunt and they quickly grabbed sticks and moved in to draw the attention of the animal away from Sarri. She crawled moaning and hurting away to a safe distance beyond the anteater’s rope length! Her bottom hurt and her arm hurt and she was calling for help. People raced to get her and take her to a shelter. Sapi and Nani threw their sticks down and ran through the moonlight after the crowd. The anteater sighed in relief. He licked his mouth. “Aunts” were not nearly as tasty as ants!!
Bad situations. Have you ever gotten yourself into a “pickle”..a bad situation? You didn’t mean to do it, but, like Sarri, as things happened you found yourself in a dangerous place and you needed to get out FAST. When we do not follow the Word of God and do what the Bible tells us to do…we find ourselves getting into trouble. And then something begins to eat on us! Often it is the voice of God speaking to our hearts and telling us we sinned and did wrong. Our conscience. Do you feel like you are wrestling with a sharp-clawed anteater that will bite you? Run to Jesus! Go to Him and ask for forgiveness and stay away from those painful sins that want to eat you. Be a cucumber for Jesus…not a pickle!!