Long ago, in the peaceful village of Mudavula, there lived a very lazy chameleon. At that time, all the animals farmed the land to feed themselves and their families. All except Chameleon. Because of his laziness, he did not want to work like everyone else. Instead, he thought up a crooked plan so that he could borrow from others and live well.

One Monday morning, Chameleon went to Hare to borrow maize meal. Before he arrived at Hare’s house, he changed his skin colour from brown to green.

“Please lend me some maize meal,” Chameleon asked.

“And when will you pay me back?” Hare asked.

“At the end of the month!” Chameleon promised.

Hare filled the empty bucket that Chameleon had brought. Chameleon took the maize meal home, smiling as he went. He was thinking about his crooked plan to trick the other animals. He made up a little song to help him remember his plan.

‘I will change my colours
But no one will ever know.
I was green when Hare saw me,
With Lizard I’ll be yellow.
Frog will see a black chameleon
With Tortoise, brown I’ll be.
I will change and change my colours.
They will never know it’s me!’

On Tuesday, Chameleon woke up hungry. “I can’t eat porridge every day. I need rice!” Chameleon thought. “I will change my skin colour to yellow and go to Lizard. If I can trick everyone, I will not pay anyone anything!”

Chameleon went with his empty bucket to Lizard, who kindly filled it with rice. Chameleon promised to pay Lizard back at the end of the month.

On Wednesday, after cooking some rice, Chameleon looked unhappily at his plate. “No! No! Plain rice is not nice. I need meat!” Chameleon thought for a while. “Frog will give me meat!” he decided.

Chameleon changed his skin colour to black and ran to Frog’s house with his empty bucket. Frog filled his bucket with meat. Again, Chameleon promised to pay Frog back at the end of the month.

“I am missing fruit. I need it!” Chameleon thought on Thursday. “Who has fruit?” Chameleon thought, scratching his head. “Tortoise! Yes, Tortoise!”