Once upon a time there was a small animal in Sudan called the Wan. The Wan was very intelligent. One day a Wan went into the forest to look for something to eat. The Wan went far away from its home. At that time, the season was spring. There was no more water during that time in Sudan. The Wan spent many hours searching for food, but it got nothing. The Wan stopped to figure out a way it could save itself from death. The Wan went forward. Then it found a big river where thousands of Crocodiles lived. But one of the Crocodiles had a new wife. Its mother-in-law was sick; she had asthma. The medicine that the mother-in-law used during her sickness was a Wan's heart. The young Crocodile was very tired. It was looking for medicine-the Wan's heart-that would save the mother-in-law.
Just then, the Wan came to the river to drink some water and take a shower because it was thirsty and hungry, and the Wan was playing in the water to get cool. The young Crocodile soon saw the Wan, and it said, "I've found it! I've found the medicine for my mother in law!" Suddenly the Wan was captured by the young Crocodile. The Crocodile didn't want to kill the Wan right away. It wanted to show its power to its mother-in-law. It put the Wan under its arm so the Wan would not drown. It took one hour to reach the sick mother-in-law. The Wan asked the young Crocodile many times, "Where are we going? What place are we going to?" but the Crocodile didn't answer it.
When they reached home, the sick mother-in-law laughed, and the Crocodile told the Wan, "I brought you here to save my mother-in-law. I need your heart now. It is medicine for my sick mother-in-law." The Wan was a smart guy. It thought about a way that would save it from being killed. The Wan laughed. The Crocodile asked it, "Why did you laugh?"
The Wan said, "I'm sorry, but we Wans don't carry our hearts with us all the time. I am sorry, but if I had known this before we reached here, I could have brought my heart with me to save your mother-in-law. I left my heart in a tall tree. Please, can we go back to bring it and save your mother-in-law?"
The Crocodile said, "Yes, we can go right now." They went back, and the Wan said, "Do you see my heart up there in the tree"?
"Yes, the black one," the Crocodile said.
The Wan said, "Well, let me go to get it." The Wan climbed the tall tree. When it got up to the top, it laughed and said, "You are foolish to wait for me and to believe that I will be back soon." But the Crocodile waited for a long time and said, "Come on, Wan, I am tired. Hurry up! Come down and come back to save my mother-in-law's life."
The Wan said, "Bye-bye, stupid. I won't come back, and I don't want you to take my heart." The Crocodile tried to dig up the tree, but it couldn't. The Crocodile went back and the mother-in-law died. The Wan saved its own life by tricking the Crocodile. So the Wan found a way to save itself from death. This is a Wan story from my country, Sudan.
