Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore TalesNassau, Robert Hamill
Philosophy
Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales
Nassau, Robert Hamill
Animals -- Folklore; Tales -- Africa, West
Arrived at the brook, Rat says, "You all come on, and dive." Leopard
asks, "My son! is it still there?" Rat, pointing, answers, "Yes! my
ivory is there." Leopard, looking down in the water says, "I see no
ivory!" Rat, still pointing, replies, "There! Those white things! Don't
you see them?" Leopard says, "I never saw ivory look like logs." Rat
answered, "No? But this is a new kind. I assure you they are ivory! I
have been down there, and I cleaned the mud off of them." Leopard
was satisfied, and said, "Good! come on!" And they all dived. They
laid hold of the supposed ivory, and pulled, and pushed, and lifted,
and worked. But it was stuck fast, and they could not move it.
While they were thus working, Rat suddenly cried out, "Njegâ! O! I
forgot something! I must go quickly back to the olako. I will not be
gone long. I shall return soon."
Rat came out of the brook; ran to the camp; took of his own bundles of
bones and scraggy pieces, and put them on Leopard's drying-frames,
and took the same number of bundles of good meat from Leopard's
frames. Then he ran back to the brook, to continue the work at the
so-called ivory.
Soon after that, Rat says, "Mwe Njegâ! it is time to return to the
olako; we have worked long; I am hungry." Leopard says, "Good! come
on!" So they returned to the camp to eat.
Rat says, "Njegâ! as I am so hungry, I will not wait with you, but
will go to my own olako at once. And I will put up a curtain between
us, as it is a shame for one to eat in the presence of his elder."
So Rat put up a curtain; and opened a bundle of nice meat; and he
and his people began to eat.
When Leopard took down one of his bundles, and opened it to share
with his women, he was amazed, and said, "See! only bones and mean
pieces! Ah! what is this matter!" And he called out to the other camp,
"Ntori! Tata!" Rat responds, "Eh! Mwe Njegâ?" Leopard inquires,
"What kind of meat are you eating?" Rat answers, "My own, from
my own bundles. But what kind have you, Mwe Njegâ?" Leopard says,
"My women prepared meat that was nice; but now I have only bones. I
am surprised at that."
The next, the fourth day, Rat said to Leopard, "I think we better
change from the hard work on the ivory. Let us go hunting today;
and tomorrow we will resume the ivory." Leopard assented "Good! come
on!" And they started out to hunt. They were successful again as on
the previous days. At the time of the division of the meat, Rat showed
no displeasure at Leopard's taking the best pieces; as he had now his
own artifice to get them back. And the meats of the day were placed
on their owners' respective drying-frames. By this day's doings,
many of Leopard's baskets were full, ready to be taken to town,
while most of Rat's were still empty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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