The legacy...

It was around the time that the ape became a man. And on the eve of his becoming a man, the monkey once again gathered all the animals around him to say goodbye to them. Tomorrow I will become man, he spoke wistfully to them, and you will leave me all and avoid, and a fight will arise between my seed and your seed.

Yes, a fight! roared the lion.
You want to become more than us! growled the rhinoceros.
You will have to pay for that! repeated the flea venomously.
Let's leave it! said the monkey with a touch of indescribable tiredness,
and let's celebrate a feast of peace and joy together today.
So be it! shouted the animals and crowded good-naturedly and benevolently around the departing brother and asked him if they could not do something nice for him or give him something.
Then the monkey felt even gloomier, and he sat down under a palm tree and began to sob miserably. Deep compassion went through the animal hearts.
We want to comfort the poor man!" began the sheep at last, and he strode ahead toward the weeping man.
For a long time the sheep looked into the eyes of the monkey, and then it said: "Carry my image always in your heart, so it will be as if I lived on with and in you!
The camel followed the sheep, looked deeply into the eyes of the monkey and said the same to him.
And the ox, the donkey, the pig, the peacock, the goose, the tiger, the wolf, the hyena and many other animals approached, and each of them looked deeply into the eyes of the monkey and solemnly said to him: "Carry my image always in your soul, so it will be as if I lived on with you.
The last to approach were the lion, the eagle and the snake.

The monkey could hardly look out of his eyes because of tiredness, and when the snake had said goodbye, he immediately sank into a deep sleep. But confused and terrible dreams frightened him, and towards dawn he rose from his camp in a half-slumber and groped his way to the nearby spring.
With eyes, whose veil clear consciousness could not yet tear, he looked into the water mirror, which, slightly moved, reflected his image.

How he looked! There floated on trembling waves the image of the simple-minded sheep - or - no! It was the ugly camel, staring at him with arrogant features from the waves. All at once it seemed the bloodthirsty tiger he saw himself as in the floods, and no sooner had he looked closer than it was a peacock beating its vain wheel at him.
At last a ray of sunlight broke through the trees, and the monkey awoke from his dreamlike state. Astonished, he rubbed his eyes and immediately wanted to climb the next giant tree, when his gaze fell into the spring. Then he realized that he had become a man overnight.

(Christian Morgenstern, (1871 - 1914), German writer, dramaturge, journalist and translator).