Mr. Yanquoi was a petty trader who shuttled between villages, selling his goods. He made it a habit to stay two days in every place he stopped, whether there was good business or not. His reason for this was to make friends and leave a good name behind.

One day, a friend of Mr. Yanquoi, who had traveled through the whole country, told him about a distant village where business was encouraging. Mr. Yanquoi had not been to that part of the country, but his eagerness to sell caused him to set out on the journey, which he thought was just an hour walk. Much to his surprise, he walked all day, from 6:00 AM to 7:30 PM before he arrived in the village.

Usually, whenever he arrived in a village, Mr. Yanquoi would ask for the chief of the village to host him, but this time, he did not do so because he was too exhausted and hungry from the long walk. He instead pleaded with the owner of the first hut at the entrance of the village to lodge him. The man, Sumo, in his mid-thirties, agreed.

Sumo called his wife Garmeh, and introduced Mr. Yanquoi, and after the traditional exchange of handshakes, Sumo told Garmeh to go and prepare some hot water for the stranger to have a bath. Garmeh agreed and wound her way through the back door to pour some of the water that was in a pot on the firestones into the bucket, and take it inside the bath fence. She returned and said to Mr. Yanquoi, “your water is in the bath fence.”

“Thank you Garmeh,” Mr. Yanquoi said, “but where is the bath fence?”

“Please come with me, I will show it to you,” Sumo offered.

Mr. Yanquoi followed him around the hut. “That is the bath fence,” Sumo said, pointing to it.

“Thank you, Sumo. You are very hospitable.” Mr. Yanquoi hurried inside the bath fence to wash the dust and sweat of his long walk off his skin.

Sumo returned to his wife to ask whether she was preparing some food for the stranger. “Sumo, before the man arrived, the food was ready,” Garmeh said.

“Then please hurry and dish up the food because that man looks very hungry.”

“He looks so for true,” Garmeh agreed.

Before Mr. Yanquoi could finish with his after-bath formalities, Garmeh had dished up the food. Garmeh called out to him, “Mr. Yanquoi, some food is ready for you.”

“Bring it my daughter.”

Garmeh brought the two bowls and placed them on the log Sumo ate on. Mr. Yanqui eagerly opened the first bowl. It was full of rice. He smiled. Again, he opened the second bowl, which was full of palmbutter. In the bowl he saw something like a small finger sticking up from the palmbutter, so he called Garmeh to find out what kind of meat she cooked.

“What you see in the palmbutter is monkey meat,” Garmeh told him.

“O, my tradition forbids me to eat monkey meat, but since I am very hungry, I will eat the food. But do you have a heartstring friend who you tell secret?”

“Yes, I have a friend who knows all about me,” Garmeh answered.

Mr. Yanquoi frowned and said, “Please go and call her for me, because I don’t want people to know that I broke my law.”

Garmeh went quickly to call her friend, Zoe. Both of them came and Mr. Yanquoi related his problem to Zoe. “My daughter,” he went on, “Garmeh told me that you are the only friend she confides in and tells her secrets. Do you too have a friend who is close to your heart like Garmeh?”

Zoe told him she did.

“Please go and call her or him for me.”

Zoe went and returned with her friend, Gorpu. Again, Mr. Yanquoi related his problem. This went on until the whole village of about two hundred inhabitants was covered.

Mr. Yanquoi sighed and told Mr. Sumo that he could eat only the rice.

“Why?” Sumo asked him.

“Because if I had eaten the food without asking for Garmeh’s best friend, the news would spread like a wild fire by tomorrow, which would mean that I would be in trouble.”

“You wisely guided yourself.”

“Yes, we travelers are very careful in whatsoever we do, especially when our character is involved. My tradition is harsh on things others perceive trivial.”

“Should Garmeh bring some palm oil so that you can’t eat the rice white like that," Sumo pleaded.

“Please, if it won't trouble you,” Mr. Yanquoi said, and sighed again.

“Garmeh,” Sumo called, “please bring Mr. Yanquoi some palm oil and pepper to eat his rice.”

“What if I cook some of the dry fish with soup?”

“Wait, let me ask him.”

“Mr. Yanquoi, Garmeh wants to cook some pepper soup for you since you can’t eat the palm butter.”

“Sumo, I can’t wait any longer; I am extremely hungry. She can roast whatsoever she was going to cook soup with and bring it. I’ll appreciate it.”

The message reached Garmeh and she roasted a sizable piece of fish and brought it to him.

“I thank you, my daughter. Please forgive me for the inconvenience I have caused you,” he said.

“You were right to ask for my friend. If you didn’t ask for my best friend, it was going to be different thing tomorrow. I'm sure I would have mentioned your visit to her.”

So Mr. Yanquoi, disappointed and starving, ate the rice and roasted fish as if he had not eaten for months.

"Nothing is considered a secret once two or more people are involved," he thought to himself. He knew he would have found himself in trouble if had eaten the monkey meat, because one of his hosts would have told one of their friends, and it would have gone all around from mouth to mouth. His name would be spoiled for nothing.