A spine of mountains runs along the middle of the beautiful tropical island of Madagascar, dividing it into an arid desert on one side and a lush green forest on the other side. This hot and humid jungle is a home to many incredible and unusual creatures endemic to the island, such as lemurs, chameleons, tenrecs and the weirdest of insects, and this is where our story takes place.
One fine afternoon, a lazy ring-tailed lemur decided he was tired of eating fruit and insects and decided to see what chameleons tasted like. So he attacked a peaceful beautiful amphibian and ate it right there! Other chameleons seeing this got really shocked and scared because they realised they could not feel safe around lemurs anymore. The lemur didn't actually like the chameleons' meat but decided it was better to eat an untasty meal than hunt for small insects for hours.
Meanwhile, all the chameleons entered a state of emergency. Some panicked, others tried to flee, finally many decided to get together and look for a solution to the hateful lemur.
'Why don't we dig a hole so he can fall into it?' suggested one of them, laughing.
'But who will volunteer to lure him into it?' many of them shook their heads.
'I think we should find an ally. Bigger and stronger than the lemur who could scare him off for good,' suggested another chameleon.
'An enemy of my enemy is my friend? Who do you mean specifically? A fossa?' asked another.
'That makes sense but won't it want to eat us as well?' warned a fearful one.
'Hmm… that's a good question!' other voices whispered in a noisy assembly.
'A recruited friend could quickly become an enemy and want to hunt us, too,' one of the chameleons concluded, rejecting the idea as too dangerous.
Plus none of them wanted to approach a fossa and they weren't sure if it would even be interested in helping them.
At last, one of them suggested a ruse.
'The plan is simple. All of us will gather and stay together until the lemur approaches. Once he is close enough, we will surround him.'
'And we will do what chameleons do best!' interjected another one reading his friend's mind. 'Change and flash colours! Appearing and disappearing around the lemur. Confusing, intimidating and hopefully frightening him to death!' he concluded.
They all laughed and clapped, thinking it was a brilliant plan.
As they thought they did. When the lemur got close to them in the dark part of the jungle, all of the chameleons turned petrol blue in a coordinated display and started blinking their many, many eyes. Then, they changed to bright yellow. Finally, individuals started flashing all sorts of vibrant colours: scarlet reds, emerald greens and ghost whites; like colourful lamps being switched on and off all around him. Appearing scary, poisonous or giving an impression of disappearing into the brown background. As if they were skilled tiny magicians.
As expected, the lemur got really, really frightened and confused. And when he could take it no more, he ran as fast as a cheetah and nobody ever saw him again. All chameleons broke the dense silence of the forest with a joyful and loud cheer which carried through to all the parts of the island. Their fearful hour was finally over and they celebrated their victory with music, dancing and laughter.
A child poet Mattie Stepanek once said: 'Unity is strength… When there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.' Our tiny chameleons would agree with him!
