One day an old woman set her rice on the fire to boil and went into her
outer room to pound oil seed. Apfuho came along carrying another man’s
dog which he had killed, and called out to the old woman, “Your rice is
boiling over.” When the old woman went back into the inner room to look
at her rice, Apfuho put the dog which he was carrying on her pounding
table and called out, “A dog is eating your oil seed, old woman.” Then
the old woman came running out to see, and hit the dead dog which
Apfuho had put on the pounding table. At this Apfuho cried out, “Oh
dear, oh dear, you have killed another man’s dog. If you do not give me
your pig I will tell the owner.” So the old woman said, “I will give
you my pig. Do not tell the owner.” At dusk when Apfuho came to fetch
the pig he fixed lighted torches all along the path, and said to the
old woman, “Give me your pig. Look how many men are coming with the
owner of the dog, carrying lighted torches in their hands.” To this the
old woman replied, “I will give you my pig. Go and tell them not to
come.” So he went and put out the torches and threw them away, and came
back and took the pig. But as he was taking the pig away he murmured,
“What a fool of an old woman.” Her daughter heard this and said, “He
called you an old fool, mother.” But Apfuho heard her say this and
replied. “I only said ‘oo,’ girl,” [195] and the mother said, “Yes,
yes, Apfuho only said ‘oo’.” So Apfuho went off with the pig. [196]
Apfuho and the Tiger.
This is a tale of the olden days when men could understand the talk of
animals. Apfuho and the tiger went across a river to hollow out vats
from a log on the other side. When they had finished their vats and the
time came to return, the tiger asked Apfuho the best way to carry his
vat across the river. Apfuho told him to carry it rim upwards, [197]
and the tiger did as Apfuho told him. But Apfuho carried his own vat
upside down and was able to cross the river, while the tiger, try as he
would, could not cross the river with his vat rim upwards. Apfuho
called out, “I will pull you out,” but instead of doing so he threw
stones into the tiger’s vat and pushed him away from land with a forked
stick so that he was washed right downstream. Then Apfuho went along to
see if the tiger was drowned or not, and found him lower down by the
water’s edge. When the tiger saw Apfuho he cried, “Here is my enemy,”
and tried to devour him. But Apfuho espied a hornets’ nest by the water
and said, “The men of the ‘morung’ have set me to watch the ‘morung’
drum, father tiger, and see that no stranger beats it.” Then the tiger
said, “May I beat it and see what it is like?” and Apfuho replied, “I
will ask the men of the ‘morung.’ You stay here, and if they say you
may beat it, I will shout and tell you.” So he went a long way off and
shouted back, “They say you may beat it.” Then when the tiger hit the
hornets’ nest all the hornets attacked and stung him, [198] and he ran