The Reward in Helping Others

Once there lived a cheetah named Jade who lived in Africa.  She was all alone, everyone in her family had gone away or died.  The loneliness did not bother her much, though.  In fact, Jade rather enjoyed being by herself and feeling free.  She was an excellent hunter and that was all that mattered to her.  One day while roaming through the safari, Jade comes across a lion cub all by himself.  She asks the cub why he is all alone and he told Jade that a group of humans came and snatched him while his mother was gone and his father was asleep.  The humans managed to take him a distance before he was able to escape the capture.  Now he has no idea where he is or how to get back home.  Also, being only a young cub, he is not yet an effective hunter and has gone two days without anything to eat.  Jade felt sorry for the cub and was able to emphasize since she was only a little older than the cub when her parents had died and she was left to fend for herself.  Jade decided to take the cub under her care.  After hunting, she made sure to leave plenty of food for the him.  In addition, Jade had a general idea of where the lions’ pride was located and she and the cub, Jefa, set out in search of the cub’s homeland.  After a couple of days, they stumble upon Jefa’s father and mother.  At first they thought that Jade had taken their son away from them, but upon being informed of the situation they expressed their utmost gratitude.  Jefa went to live with his family again and he said that someday in the future he hoped to make it up to Jade.  It came to pass that a few years later there was a food shortage as a result of a famine.  Jade searched and searched for something that she could eat to satisfy her hunger, but there was nothing.  Not long afterwards, she sees Jefa.  Jefa informs Jade that he has heard that there is a plentiful amount of food in a distant territory that would take several days to reach.  Jefa offers not only to escort Jade to the land but to accept her as part of the lions’ clan.  Jade, recognizing that being with others who are willing to provide support would be useful, accepts.  As a result of Jade’s kindness and concern for the once small cub, she was spared from dying of starvation.