Near midnight, Tortoise, after a long effort, wriggled out of the coils of the cord. He came to the corner of the room where were the bodies of the other three Beasts. He said over Civet's body, "Did I not say to you, 'Begin no new matter on the way?' And now you are a corpse." And over Boa, he said, "You too; I told you not to begin a matter; and now you are a dead body. Had we not begun these matters on the way, we would have finished our journey safely." Then he scratched a hole under the wall of the house, and escaped to the forest. After that, the day broke. And the townspeople said among themselves, "Bring the Beasts outside of the house; let us cut them up." They did so with the three dead bodies. And they told a lad, "Bring the Kudu that is suspended from the rafters." The lad looked and reported, "I have seen no Kudu." They all went to look for it, and could see nothing of it. So, they said, "Let us eat these. Let the other go; for, it has run away." TALE 18 A PLEA FOR MERCY Persons Njâbu (Civet) Uhingi (Genet) Kuba (Chicken) Vyâdu (Antelope) Kudu (Tortoise) Ivenga, A Woman and Her Husband Njambo NOTE This Tale seems to be a version of No. 17. The plea of Tortoise that he did not spoil the fruits of plantations is true; it does not injure the gardens of the natives. These four Beasts were living in one town; Civet, in his own house; Tortoise in his; Antelope also in his; Genet too in his own. But their four houses opened on to one long street. One day, in the afternoon, they all were in that street, sitting down in conversation. Tortoise said to them, "I have here a word to say." They replied "Well! Speak!" At that time, their town had a great famine. So, Tortoise said, "Tomorrow, we will go to seek food." They replied, "Good! just as soon as the day, at its first break." Then they scattered, and went to their houses to lie down for sleep. Soon, the day broke. And they all got up, and were ready by sunrise at six o'clock. They all went on their journey to find food. They searched as they walked a distance of several miles. Then they came to a plantation of Njambo's wife Ivenga. It was distant from Njambo's town about one hour's walk. It had a great deal of sugar-cane; also of yams and cassava. It had also a quantity of sweet potatoes. There also, the chickens of Njambo were accustomed to go to scratch for worms among the plants. At once, Civet exclaimed, "I'll go no further! I like to eat sugar-cane!" So he went to the plot of cane. Antelope also said, "I too! I'll not go any further. I like to eat leaves of potato and cassava." So he went to the plot of cassava. And Genet said, "Yes! I see Kuba here! I like to eat Kuba! I'll go no further!" So, he went after the chickens.