Bessi-Bird and Capped Diaba lived together in one place at first and ate out of one dish. Bessi-Bird was the elder, Diaba the younger. They set their minds on going to hunt for honey, and it happened when they arrived in the vicinity of the honey that Bessi-Bird said, “Smile, Diaba, when you see where the honey is.” Diaba smiled, but he did not see the honey. When Bessi-Bird smiled he had really seen it. That is what they did, and then they returned home leaving the honey behind, but Diaba quietly disappeared and went off to steal the honey.

Next morning Bessi-Bird said, “Let us go to our honey.” There they found a bit of bare honeycomb mangled and thrown about, so he asked Diaba about it, and Diaba replied, “My brother, I have seen neither it nor him who has stolen the honey. Since we came out yesterday nobody has come back hereto demolish the honey in this way.” And once again Diaba said to Bessi-Bird, “As for me, I could not eat any of this honey unless you had given it tome.”

So then Bessi-Bird said no more, and they went out again looking for honey. Once more they found some honey. Bessi-Bird saw it before Diaba did, and he tested Diaba by saying, “Smile.” Diaba said, “I cannot see the honey, smile yourself, my brother.” Bessi-Bird: “No, child, smile.” So Diaba smiled and he saw the honey; then Bessi-Bird asked him, “What do you see?”

Diaba said, “It looks as if it might be flies fluttering before the eyes.”

Bessi-Bird said, “Haven’t you seen it?”

But Diaba was deceiving him, for he saw the honey all the time. When Bessi-Bird was about to smile, he saw the honey and said, “Let us cut down the tree to get it.”

Diaba refused, saying, “No, as you said yesterday that I stole the honey, well, I am Diaba! Let us bring some bird-lime and set a trap beside the honey, then if it be I who steal the honey you will catch me.”

“Good business,” replied Bessi-Bird.

They went off to get some bird-lime from the human beings. Then when they arrived at their village, Bessi-Bird said, “We will come tomorrow to set the trap.” But after a time Bessi-Bird quietly disappeared and went off to set the bird-lime at the honey. Said Diaba to himself, “Let me go quietly and eat the honey.” But the bird-lime was set already, although he did not notice it. When he thought of sitting down beside the honey, he sat on the bird-lime. Said he, “I will strike it with my wing,” but he stuck to it. And when he struck with his tail he stuck to it. When he wanted to draw back his right wing, it was stuck fast. He tried to strike it with his breast but he stuck. When he attempted to bite it with his beak, he bit the bird-lime. then he simply died for lack of breath.

When Bessi-Bird appeared on the scene, after he had looked for him at the village, he found him already dead. Then he mocked him, saying, “Diaba, smile!” As he was dried up, he said that was the reward of thievery. “From today you will not steal any more. The chieftainship is mine over honey and to be extolled by people! As for you, from today your portion shall be bird-lime already spread, and thus will you be killed by people.”

Now since they separated there on account of thievery, Biaba belongs to bird-lime and Bessi-Bird is still extolled. While he talked like this, Bessi-Bird was standing upon the corpse of Diaba. They became distinct in other directions, while their cry remianed the same and, to this day, Diaba’s portion is bird-lime and to be entrapped by men.

[ BAILA ]