Hare, that will trickster, went to live with Grey antelope. One day he said to her, “suppose we go and till our fields and plant some bean!” So off they went and set to work. Antelope stole Hare’s beans, and Hare stole Antelope’s beans, but did most of the stealing.

Hare set a trap in his field, and Antelope was caught by the leg. In the early morning the cunning rascal went out and found Antelope caught in the trap. “Don’t you think you deserve to be killed,” said he, “now that I have found you out?”

“No! No!” she cried. “Let me go, and we will go back to my house where I will give you a hoe.” So he let her go, and she gave him the hoe.

Hare then packed his beans, harvested all his fields, and made ready to be off. Good-bye,” he said to Antelope, “I won’t stay with you any longer. You are a thief!”

Hare soon came across the great lizard, Varan, lying at the edge of a water-hole. It was the chief’s water-hole, where they drew their water, and he had been placed there on guard to find out who it was that was continually disturbing it and making it muddy. “What are you doing here?” said Hare.

“I am watching this hole to see who it is that muddies the chief’s water.”

“I’ll tell you what,” said Hare, “we had much better go and till a field together.”

“How can I dig?” said Varan. “I can’t stand on my hind legs and hold the hoe in my forepaws.”

“That doesn’t matter! Just come long. I will tie the hoe to your tail and you will be able to dig beautifully.”

So the hoe was tied on, but when this was done Varan could not move. Then Hare ran back to the hole, drank his fill of water, and finished by stirring it up well, making it as muddy as possible. After this he walked all over Varan’s fields and regaled himself on his groundnuts. In the heat of the day he came back and said, “Ho! An army has passed through the country. I hear that the warriors have dirtied the water in the hole. I hear, too, that they have ravaged all your crop of groundnuts!”

“Untie me!” said Varan. “I can’t budge.”

“All right, but only on condition that you don’t go and accuse me, Hare, of having stirred up the water.”

“But who told you this story about those soldiers who did all the mischief?”

“Don’t ask me so many questions. If you do, I won’t untie you!”

“Very well! I’ll be quiet, but take away this hoe. It hurts me!”

“Listen! First of all, I’ll go and draw some water for you. You must be thirsty.”

“No, I’m not thirsty. Only let me go!’

“If you are not thirsty, all right! I won’t untie the hoe.”

“Oh, very well, I am thirsty. Hurry up, and come back as fast as you can.”

Hare went to Varan’s village, took the wooden goblet from which he always drank, drew some water, and once again stirred up the hole. He took a drink to Varan, and said to him, “If anyone asks you whether I have disturbed the water, you must say that you did it. If you don’t promise me this, I won’t untie you.”

“All right. Very well.”

Then Hare ran to call the chiefs – Lord Elephant, Lord Lion, and the rest. They all came and asked Varan, “Who has been drawing our water and making it muddy?”

“It is I, said Varan.

And Hare, the rascal, added, “Yes, I found him committing this crime and I tied him up to a hoe, so that he couldn’t run away.”

The chiefs congratulated Hare. “Ah! you have been very clever! You have discovered the villain who has been muddying our pool!” And they immediately killed Varan.

The wily trickster, Hare, took the hoe and then went to look for Grey Antelope. She was on sentry duty, on the edge of a pool, for guards were placed at all the pools to prevent anyone from approaching, as the water still continued to be muddied during the night. Hare, not being able to get anything to drink, said to antelope, “What are you doing there so close to the water?”

“I am guarding the chief’s pool.”

“You will get thin and die of hunger, if you stay like that at the edge of the pools. Listen! You would do much better to come with me and till a field. Then, in time of famine, you would have something to eat.”

“Let us go!” said Antelope.

Hare set to work in grand style. He gave Antelope a hoe and told her to dig. “I can’t get on my hind legs,” said she, “and hold the hoe with my forelegs.”

“Let me have a look at your forelegs. I’ll tie the hoe to them, and you will be able to did all right.”

Antelope tried, but she couldn’t do it.

“Never mind,” said Hare. “Wait a minute.” He ran back to the pool, quenched his thirst, and muddied the water. Then he filled a calabash and hid it in the bush. On returning to Antelope, he said, “Hello! Haven’t you done any hoeing yet?”

“No, I can’t manage it.”

“Would you believe it! An Army has passed by, and they have stirred up the pool.”

“No!” Truly? Untie me, Hare!”

“I won’t untie you unless you swear that what I said is true.”

“Very well! Untie me.”

Off Hare went to get the calabash to give her a drink, and made her promise to confess that it was she who had disturbed the water. Then he called the chiefs, who killed Antelope.

But there was one creature that outdid Hare in cunning and that was Tortoise. She mounted guard at the pond. Hare arrived there. “You will die of hunger, if you stay at the edge of the pool with nothing to do. We had much better go and till a field together.”

“How can I hoe with short legs?” asked Tortoise.

“Oh! That will be all right. I’ll show you how to do it.”

“Eh! No. thank you! I think not!”

“Well then! Let’s go and help ourselves to some of the wild boar’s sweet potatoes.”

“No,” said Tortoise uncompromisingly, “No pilfering!”

However, before very long Tortoise began to feel hungry, so much so that, when Hare again proposed a marauding expedition, she overcame her scruples and they went off together to root up the sweet potatoes. Then they lighted a fire of grass in the bush and roasted them.

“Tortoise,” said Hare, “just go and see if the owners of these fields are anywhere about, as we must not let then catch us.”

“Yes, but let us both go. You go one way and I’ll go the other.”

Off went Hare, but Tortoise, instead of following his example, stayed behind and crawled into Hare’s sack. Hare soon came back, filled up his bag with sweet potatoes, threw it over his back, and ran away to escape the proprietors, shouting at the top of his voice, “Hi, Tortoise! Look out! They will catch you! I’m off! Fly”

He ran as hard as he could to escape capture. Tortoise, inside the sack, ate the sweet potatoes. She picked out all the best ones and finished the lot. She said, being satisfied, “Kutlu.” After a while Hare was tired out and lay down quite exhausted. He felt the oangs of hunger.

“Aha! Said he to himself. “I will have a good feed!” He sat down in a shady spot, opened his sack, out his hand inside, and pulled out one very small sweet potato. “This is much too small for me,” said he, and putting his hand in again, felt a nice big one. “Oho! here’s a beauty! When he had pulled it out of his bag, what was his surprise to find that his potato turned out to be Mistress Tortoise!

“Hello! Why! It’s you!” he cried in disgust and threw her on the ground. She scuttled away as fast as she could. Then Hare began to wail, “When I think that I have been carrying her all this time!” He felt very crestfallen.

Continuing his travels. Hare next met King Lion, surrounded by his courtiers. He at once asked permission to swear allegiance to the king and to settle in that country. But every day he went out to steal other folk’s groundnuts. When the owners of the fields came to look at their crops, they exclaimed, “Who can it be that digs up our groundnuts?”

Hare went off to find King Lion, and said to him, “Sire, your subjects are not what they should be, for they are in the habit of stealing.”

“Indeed!” said Lion. “Go and keep watch, and if you discover anyone stealing, catch him.”

Hare went off to take up his position in the fields, but Lion followed him and surprised him in the very act of feasting on groundnuts. “Ha! Ha! You tell me that my subjects are not honest folk, while it is you who do the thieving!”

“Not at all! I was only keeping a look out! Come here, and I will show you the footprints of your subjects, for I know them well!”

So they went to a large shady banyan tree. Hare made a strong string of one of the long tendrils and said to Lion, “As you think I don’t speak the truth, just sit down here and you will soon see the thieves passing by. I shall while away the time by making you a crown of wax.”

“All right,” said Lion, “make me a crown.”

Hare began by parting Lion’s mane down the middle and arranging the hairs carefully, one by one, on either side of his neck, as if he were preparing a spot on the top of his head for a crown. Then he made holes through the bark of the tree, on both sides of the trunk, and passed the hairs of the mane right through them, some on one side, some on the other. This done, he tied all the hairs securely together at the back of the tree with the string he had made, and he said to Lion, “I’ve finished the job. Jump up quickly and you will see one of your subjects stealing in the fields!’

Lion tried to jump up. He couldn’t! He had half killed himself struggling to get to his feet!

Hare ran to the village. “Come,” he shouted, “And see who it is who ravages your fields! He had previously torn up a lot of groundnut leaves and thrown them down close to the Lion. The villagers hurried to the spot.

“There! Don’t you see him?” Haven’t I found him out, eh?” Lion didn’t dare to say a single word.

Then his subjects cut great staves and beat him to death. “Ah! Hare, You are very clever, and we are grateful!” they said.

Hare cut Lion up into pieces. Then he took the skin and wrapped himself in it. Thus disguised, he went to Lion’s village and entered the queen’s hut. He said, “I am not well,” and shut himself up, refusing to see anyone. he gave orders to servants to kill an ox because he was ill. Then he had a second one slaughtered, then a third.

The women said to him, “Are you going to move to another place, since you are killing all your oxen?”

“No,” said Hare, “I have no intention of moving any more. I am killing them because I know very well that I shall never get over this illness.” So he had a general slaughtering of all Lion’s oxen, goats, and sheep, to the very last head of cattle. When all were killed, he said to the queen, “Haven’t you got my money in your keeping?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Well, bring it all out and put it together with my royal mat and all my valuables on the village square.”

The lion’s skin had now acquired a rather loathsome odor, the flies were settling upon it in swams, and Hare was by no means comfortable inside of it.

“What sort of complaint have you got?” asked the queen. “It is something that smells very nasty.”

“Oh! I have only got some sores. I must go and find a doctor. Good-by, I shall start at once.”

Lion’s wife replied, “Then I will go with you, my husband.”

“No,” said he, “No occasion for that, for I know exactly where I must go.”

He went out to the square, picked up the mat in which all the money and valuables had been packed, and then, throwing off the lion’s skin, he tore away as fast as his legs could carry him with all the village in pursuit.

Hare came to a burrow, and in he ran. The pursuers got a hooked stick to pull him out. They tried to hook him and managed to get hold of his leg. “Oh, pull away!” cried he. “Pull away! You’ve only got hold of the root of a tree!”

So they left off pulling. They tried again, and this time they really hooked a root.

“Hi! hi!” he yelled. “Hi! hi! Take care! You’re hurting me! You’re killing me! Ow! Ow!”

They pulled as hard as they could, and they pulled and pulled until the hook broke and they fell over backward. They said, “Qaa.” Finally they were tired out and said, “Oh! Let us give it up and leave him where he is!” So they stopped up the burrow with a bunch of grass and went away.

The south wind no sprang up and blew the grass deeper into the burrow.

“I am done for,” said Hare to himself, as he fancied they were succeeding in getting nearer to him. He was suffering the pangs of hunger and was terribly thirsty, but not dare to leave the burrow, supposing his enemies to be close at hand. At length he cried out, “Have pity on me and let me go, my good fathers, I beseech you!” He crept cautiously toward the entrance of the burrow, and found only a bunch of grass. Then he made off at once, leaving all his treasures behind him, not even giving them a single thought.

He ran on and on. He became thin and ill. He ate grass, but it did not remain in his insides; it passed through him immediately. He came to the home of Grey Antelope. “Say, Antelope, suppose we sew one another up! You stitch me up, but not completely, you know! It will keep the grass much longer in our insides when we browse, and we shall get much more nourishment out of it.” Antelope consented, and partially stitched up Hare. Hare sewed her up entirely. Antelope swelled and died. Fortunately for her, however, she fell in a field belonging to a woman who picked her up, put her in her basket on the top of her head, and carried her to the village to be eaten. She gave her to her husband to cut up. He set to work and began by cutting the stitches that Hare had sewn. All that was in Antelope’s interior at once came out, she jumped to her legs, and galloped away.

She met Hare, and she said to him, “All right! I’ve found you out now! Never again do I call you my friend!”

Hare, being thirsty, was looking for a pool but could not find one. At last he came to one where no one was on guard. Tortoise was really in charge, but she was in the water. Hare walked in. “What luck! How nice and cool it is!” said he, quenching his thirst and swimming about. Tortoise snapped at one of his legs, then at another.

“Hello! Let me go! I’ll promise you a goat if you will let go!”

They came out of the pond together, and Hare said to her, “Come along to my house, and get your goat.” They reached his home, but no goat! Nothing! Hare did not give her anything. Then he remembered the money that he had left in the burrow and said, “Let us go and see chameleon. He has my valuables, for he borrowed a lot of money from me. I’ll just run round and fetch my brother; he knows all about the business and will be my witness.” Having said this, Hare ran off. Tortoise arrived at Chameleon’s abode and said, “Give me Hare’s money which he says you have!”

“What! I haven’t anything belonging to Hare!” Whereupon Chameleon blew into Tortoise’s eyes. She swelled, and died.

That’s the end.

[THONGA }

THE HARE ONCE MET the hyena and proposed that they should go for a walk. They went for a walk together and then separated, after which the hare went to the lioness’s cave and found it closed. She cried out, “Stone, open,” and the stone rolled away from the mouth of the cave. She entered and said, “Stone close,” and the stone returned to its place. She then proceeded to the room where the lioness stored her fat, after which she went to the room where the meat was kept, and having had enough to eat, she returned to the entrance, told the stone to open, and when she had passed out, to close once more.

Feeling hungry again later she returned to the cave. On the road she met the hyena, who asked her where she came from and why her mouth was oily. The hare denied that her mouth was oily, but as the hyena persisted in his statement, she told him to rub ashes on his mouth and it would become as beautiful as hers. The hyena did as he was recommended, but no change took place in his appearance. The hare next suggested washing it with water and afterwards with urine; but although the hyena tried both, his mouth remained as dry as before. The hyena said, “Please tell me where you go and feed.” At first the hare refused to comply with his request and said, “You are so foolish whenever you go anywhere and are sure to be caught.” But as the hyena would take no refusal, she consented to allow him to accompany her and told him about the lioness’s cave. “There are,” she said, “five rooms. In the first the ashes are kept; in the next, the bones; in the third, the tough meat; in the fourth, the tender meat; and in the last, the fat.” The hyena cried, “Get out of the way, take me there,” and off they started.

When they arrived at the cave, the hare told the hyena that when he wanted the cave to open he must say, “Stone, open,” and when he wanted it to shut, “Stone, close.” The hyena cried out, “Stone, open,” and the stone rolled aside. When they were inside, the hare said, “Stone, close,” and it closed again.

The hyena at once started on the ashes, while the hare went to the room where the fat was kept. When the latter had had enough to eat, she returned to the entrance and said she was going away. The hyena remonstrated with her as he was not nearly satisfied. After telling him how to get out of the cave, the hare went up to the stone and said, “Stone, open,” and again, when she was outside, “Stone, close.”

When the hyena was alone, he went to the place where the bones were kept, after which he proceeded to the next room, where the tough meat was stored, and ate until he was satisfied. He then returned to the entrance and said to the stone, “Stone, close,” instead of “Stone, open.” He repeated the words “Stone, close,” several times and could not understand why nothing happened.

At this point the lioness, the owner of the cave, returned and said, “Stone, open.” When the hyena heard, he cried, “Ah! Woe is me! That is what I wanted to say. Poor fellow that I am! Stone, open! Stone, open!”

The lioness entered and said, “shall I eat you, or shall I make you my servant?”

Then Hyena asked to be made her servant and was told to look after the lioness’s cub. He was also given a bone and instructed to break it when the lioness had crossed four rivers. The hyena counted the lioness’s footsteps and, when he calculated that she had crossed the four rivers, broke the bone. A chip flew, fracturing the cub’s skull. Fearing that the lioness would kill him on her return, he searched for some hornets and stuffed one up each of the cub’s nostrils so that it might be supposed that it had been stung to death.

The lioness returned to her cave a short while afterwards and called to the hyena to bring her cub. The hyena told lies for some time and invented several excuses for not doing as he was told, but the lioness was firm, and the hyena had to pick up the cub and bring it to its mother. The lioness at once saw that it was dead and told the hyena to take it outside. While he was doing this, he ate one of the cub’s legs.

A little later he was again ordered to bring the cub to its mother and then to take it away once more. He devoured another leg while carrying it away, and when the lioness called out to him a third time to bring the cub to her, he said the birds had eaten two of its legs. He then ate up the cub.

The lioness intended to punish the hyena for his misdeeds, and after tying him to a tree, went to get some sticks with which to beat him. As he was standing there, bound to the tree, some other hyenas bent on a raiding expedition passed close by, and one of them, seeing him, asked him why he had been tied up in this manner. He replied that he was being punished for having refused to drink some oil which had flies in it. The other hyena suggested that they should exchange places and, after untying the knots, he allowed himself to be bound to the tree instead, while the first hyena followed in the wake of the raiding party.

After a time the lioness returned, and commenced to flog the hyena, who cried out, “Stop! I will drink it now.”

“Drink what?” said the lioness, and she commenced to flog him again.

“Oh! Oh!” the hyena cried, “I will drink the oil with the flies in it.”

The lioness then saw that this was not the hyena that had killed her cub.

The next morning the hyenas on their way back from their raid passed the cave, and the one who had killed the cub saw on the ground some strips of bark, which the lioness had spread out in the sun to resemble meat. “I will go to my mistress’s kraal,” quoth he, “For I see there has been a kill.” On reaching the spot, however, he was seized by the lioness, who bound him to the tree once more and then beat him to death.

After this the lioness returned to her cave and said, “Stone, open.” When the stone had rolled aside and she had entered, she said, “Stone, close,” and it closed again.

[ MASAI ]

Many years ago there was a great famine throughout the land and all the people were starving. The yam crop had failed entirely, the plantains did not bear any fruit, and the corn never came to a head; even the palm-oil nuts did not ripen, and the peppers and okras also failed.

The leopard, who lived entirely on meat, did not care for any of these things, and although some of the animals who lived on corn and the growing crops began to get rather skinny, he did not really mind very much.

However, in order to save himself trouble, since everybody was complaining of the famine, the leopard called a meeting of all the animals. He told them that, as they all knew, he was very powerful and must have food, that the famine did not affect him, as he lived only on flesh, and that as there were plenty of animals about, he did not intend to starve. He then told all thew animals present at the meeting that, if they themselves did not wish to be killed, they must bring their grandmothers to him for food, and that when the grandmothers were finished, he would feed off their mothers. The animals might bring their grandmothers in succession, and he would take them in turn, so that, as there were many different animals, it would probably be some time before their mothers were eaten. By that time it was possible that the famine would be over. But, in any case, the leopard warned them that he was determined to have sufficient food for himself and that, if the grandmothers or mothers were not forthcoming, he would turn upon the young people themselves and kill and eat them. For this, of course, the young generation, who had attended the meeting, had little liking, and in order to save their own skins why agreed to supply the leopard with his daily meal.

The first to appear with his aged grandmother was the squirrel. The grandmother was a poor decrepit old thing with a mangy tail, and the leopard swallowed her at one gulp and then looked round for more. In an angry voice he growled out, “This is not the proper food for me; I must have more at once.”

Then a bush cat pushed his old grandmother in front of the leopard, but he snarled at her and said, “Take the nasty old thing away; I want some sweet food.”

It was then the turn of a bush buck and, after a great deal of hesitation, a wretchedly poor and thin old doe tottered and fell in front of the leopard, who immediately dispatched her and, although the meal was very unsatisfactory, declared that his appetite was appeased for that day.

The next day a few more animals brought their old grandmothers, until at last it became the turn of the tortoise; but, being very cunning, he produced witnesses to prove that his grandmother was dead, and so the leopard excused him.

After a few days all the animals’ grandmothers were exhausted, and it was necessary that the mothers be sacrificed to supply food for the ravenous leopard. Now, although most of the young animals did not mind getting rid of their grandmothers, whom they had scarcely even known, many of them had very strong objections to providing their mothers, of whom they were very fond , as food for the leopard. Among the strongest objectors were the squirrel and the tortoise. The tortoise had thought the whole thing out. As everyone knew that his mother was alive, she being rather an amiable old person and friendly with all, he was aware that the same excuse would not avail him a second time. He therefore told his mother to climb up a palm tree, and he would provide her with food until the famine was over. He instructed her to let down a basket every day and said that he would place food in it for her. The tortoise made the basket for his mother and attached it to a long string of tie-tie. The string was so strong that she could haul her son up when ever he wished to visit her.

All went well for some days, as the tortoise used to go at daybreak to the bottm of the tree where his mother lived and place her food in the basket. Then the old lady would pull the basket up and have her food, and the tortoise would depart on his daily round in his usual leisurely manner.

In the meantime, the leopard had to have his daily food. The squirrel’s turn came first, after the grandmothers had finished, and as he was poor, weak thing and not possed of any cunning, he was forced to produce his mother for the leopard to eat. The squirrel was, however, very fond of his mother, and after she had been eaten he remembered that the tortoise had not produced his grandmother or his mother for the leopard’s food. He therefore determined to set a watch on the movements of the tortoise.

The very next morning, while he was gathering nuts, the squirrel saw the tortoise walking very slowly through the bush and, being high up in the trees and able to travel very fast, he had no difficulty in keeping the tortoise in sight without being noticed. When the tortoise arrived at the foot of the tree where his mother lived, he placed the food in the basket which his mother had already let down by the tie-tie and, having got into the basket and given a pull at the string to signify that everything was right, was hauled up and after a time was let down again in the basket. The squirrel was watching all the time and, as soon as the tortoise had gone, he jumped from branch to branch to branch of the trees and very soon arrived at the place where the leopard was napping.

When the leopard woke up, the squirrel said, “You have eaten my grandmother and my mother, but the tortoise has not provided any food for you. It is now his turn, and he has hidden his mother away in a tree.”

Hearing this, the leopard was very angry and told the squirrel to lead him at once to the tree where the tortoise’s mother lived.

But the squirrel said, “The tortoise only goes at daybreak when his mother lets down a basket; so if you go early in the morning, she will pull you up, and you can then kill her.”

To this the leopard agreed, and the next morning the squirrel came at cockcrow and led the leopard to the tree where the tortoise’s mother was hidden. The old lady had already let down the basket for her daily supply of food. The leopard got into it and gave the line a pull, but except for a few small jerks nothing happened. as the old mother tortoise was not strong enough to pull a heavy leopard off the ground. When the leopard saw that he was not going to be pulled up, being an expert climber, he scrambled up the tree. When he got to the top he found the poor old tortoise whose shell was so tough that he thought she was not worth eating, so in a violent temper he threw her down on the ground and then came down himself and went home.

Shortly after this, the tortoise arrived at the tree and, finding the basket on the ground, gave his usual tug at it but there was no answer. He then looked about and after a little while came upon the broken shell of his poor old mother who by this time was quite dead. The tortoise knew at once that the leopard had killed his mother and made up his mind that for the future he would live alone and have nothing to do with the other animals.

[ EFIK-IBIBIO ]

The gazelle said to the leopard, “It is now the dry season, and we should be cutting down the bush, so our women may plant as soon as the first rain come.”

“Well,” said the leopard, “I cannot go today, but you may as well go.”

The gazelle went; and all that hay he cut the bush, and cleared the ground for planting, and the next day he also went alone.

On the third day the leopard called on the gazelle and asked him to go to the plantation with him. But the gazelle said he was sick and could not go, so the leopard went by himself.

The next day the leopard again called for the gazelle, but he was not in.

“Where’s he gone?” inquired the leopard.

“Oh, he has gone to another part.”

And each day the leopard called upon the gazelle he was either sick or out of town; so that the leopard had nearly all the hard work himself.

When the women had planted, and the harvest was ripe, the gazelle went to look at the plantation. He was greatly pleased to find so much planted, and thought how pleased his friends would be if he invited them to a feast; so he called in all the antelopes and other beasts of the field, and they had a splendid feast.

By and by the leopard thought he would go and see how his plantation was getting on, and no sooner had he arrived there he exclaimed, “Hullo, who has been feeding on my plantation and eaten up my corn? Surely I will set a trap for them and catch the thieves.”

The next day the animals, led by the little gazelle, came again; and he warned them, saying, “Be careful, for the leopard will surely set a trap for us.” But the antelope became careless, and finally fell into the leopard’s trap. “There,” said the gazelle, “I told you to be careful. What shall we do? They have all run away and left us, and I am not strong enough to release you.”

Then the leopard came, and rejoiced greatly at having caught the thief. He took the antelope to his town. “Please, sire, the gazelle told me to go,” cried the antelope. “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

“How am I to catch the gazelle?” The leopard replied. “No, I must kill you.” And so he killed the antelope and ate him.

When the gazelle heard what the leopard had done, he was greatly annoyed, and declared that as the leopard was their chief, the animals were quite right in eating the food he had provided for them. Was it not the duty of the father to provide for his children? “Well, well, never mind, he will pay us for this.”

Then the gazelle made a drum, and beat it until all the animals came as if to a dance. When they were assembled, he told them that they must be revenged upon the leopard.

The leopard heard the drum, and said to his wife, “Let us go to the dance.” But his wife said she would rather stay at home, and did not go. The leopard went; but no sooner had he arrived than they all set upon him and killed him. And when the dance was over, the leopard’s wife wondered why he had not return. The gazelle sent her the head of her husband, skinned, as her part of the feast; and not knowing that it was her husband’s head, she ate it.

“Oh, for shame,” said the gazelle, “you have eaten your husband’s head.”

“Nay, sir, the shame rests with you; for you gave it to me to eat, after having murdered him.” And she wept and cursed the gazelle.

[ BAKONGO }

ONCE UPON A TIME a caterpillar entered the house of a hare when the owner was absent. On his return the hare noticed the marks on the ground, and cried out, “Who is in my house?”

The caterpillar replied in a loud voice, “I am the warrior son of the long one whose anklets have become unfastened in the fight in the Kurtiale country. I crush the rhinoceros to the earth and make cow’s dung of the elephant! I am invincible!”

The hare went away, saying, “What can a small animal like myself do with a person who tramples an elephant under foot like cow’s dung?”

On the road he met the jackal and asked him to return with him and talk with the big man who had taken possession of his house. The jackal agreed, and when they reached the place he barked loudly and said, “Who is in the house of my friend, the hare?”

The caterpillar replied, “I am the warrior son of the long one whose anklets have become unfastened in the fight in the Kurtiale country. I crush the rhinoceros to the earth and make cow’s dung of the elephant! I am invincible!’

On hearing this the jackal said, “I can do nothing against such a man,” and left.

The hare then fetched the leopard, whom he begged to go and talk with the person in his house. The pLeopard, on reaching the spot, grunted out, “Who is in the house of my friend, the hare?”

The caterpillar replied in the same manner as he had to the jackal, and the leopard said, “If he crushes the elephant and the rhinoceros, he will do the same to me.”

They went away again, and the hare sought out the rhinoceros. The latter, on arriving at the hare’s house, asked who was inside, but when he heard the caterpillar’s reply, he said, “What! He can crush me to earth! I had better go away then.”

The hare next tried the elephant and asked him to come to his assistance, but on hearing what the caterpillar has said, the elephant remarked that he had no wish to be trampled under foot like cow’s dung, and he departed.

A frog was passing at the time, and the hare asked him if he could make the man who had conquered all the animals leave his house. The frog went to the door and asked who was inside. He received the same reply as had been given to others, but, instead of leaving, he went nearer and said, “I, who am strong and a leaper, have come. My buttocks are like the post and God has made me vile.”

When the caterpillar heard this, he trembled, and as he saw the frog coming nearer, he said, “I am only the caterpillar.”

The animals who had collected nearby seized him and dragged him out; and they all laughed at the trouble he had given.

[ MASAI ]