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
On the fifth day, they went to the brook again, to their fruitless
work of pulling at the so-called ivory. The same things happened as
before; Rat remembers that he has forgotten something; has to go in
haste to the camp; rapidly changes the bundles on his and Leopard's
frames; returns to the brook; they all come back to the camp to eat;
and there were repeated Leopard's surprise, and his questions to
Rat about the kinds of meat they were eating. Thus they continued;
on alternate days hunting, and working at the ivory that was stuck
immovably fast in the mud; and Rat stealing; and Leopard complaining.
Finally, Leopard became tired of his losses; and, one day, without
letting anyone know what he intended doing, he said, "I will take a
little walk." Rat says, "You go alone? May I accompany you?" Leopard
said, "No! I go alone; I won't be long away; and I do not go far."
So Leopard went to the wizard Ra-Marânge, whom as soon as he saw him,
exclaimed, "What are you come for? Are you in trouble?" Leopard told
him the matter of the losses of the meat. Then Ra-Marânge jumped into
his fire, and emerged powerful and wise. And he said, "I will make
for you something that will find out for you who it is that takes
your meat."
So Ra-Marânge made a little image of a man, and conferred on it
wisdom and power, and gave it to Leopard, who took it to his camp,
and hid it in his hut.
The next day they all resumed the work at the brook, with the
ivory. There was the same diving, the same fruitless pulling,
Rat's same need of going back to the camp, and his same attempts at
stealing. While he was doing this, he sees something like a little
man standing near him. Rat puts out his hand to take from Leopard's
bundles as usual, and the image catches him by the wrist of that
hand. Rat indignantly says, "You! this little fool! leave me! What do
you catch me for?" But the image was silent; nor did it let go its
hold. So Rat struck at it with his other hand. And the image caught
that hand with its other hand. Then Rat was angry and kicked with one
foot at a leg of the image. And that foot was retained by that leg of
the image. Rat kicked with his remaining foot; it also was retained
by the image's other leg. He was thus held in the power of the image.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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