Squirrel, from the tree-top, shouted after dead Adder, "You have seen my promised Ikundu." (Another play on words; either--"You saw my child;" or, "You see my Vengeance.") TALE 11 THE MAGIC DRUM Persons Kudu (Tortoise) King Maseni, A Man Njâ (Leopard) Ngâmâ (A Magic Drum) NOTE The reason is here given why the turtle tribe of tortoises likes to live only in water; viz., their fear of the vengeance of the descendants of Leopard the King, because of the whipping to which he was subjected by the trick of the ancestor of the tortoises. In the Ancient days, there were Mankind and all the Tribes of the Animals living together in one country. They built their towns, and they dwelt together in one place. In the country of King Maseni, Tortoise and Leopard occupied the same town; the one at one end of the street, and the other at the other. Leopard married two women; Tortoise also his two. It happened that a time of famine came, and a very great hunger fell on the Tribes covering that whole region of country. So, King Maseni issued a law, thus:--"Any person who shall be found having a piece of food, he shall he brought to me." (That is, for the equal distribution of that food.) And he appointed police as watchmen to look after that whole region. The famine increased. People sat down hopelessly, and died of hunger. Just as, even today, it destroys the poor; not only of Africa, but also in the lands of Manga-Manene (White Man's Land). And, as the days passed, people continued sitting in their hopelessness. One day, Tortoise went out early, going, going and entering into the jungles, to seek for his special food, mushrooms. He had said to his wife, "I am going to stroll on the beach off down toward the south." As he journeyed and journeyed, he came to a river. It was a large one, several hundred feet in width. There he saw a coco-nut tree growing on the river-bank. When he reached the foot of the tree, and looked up at its top, he discovered that it was full of very many nuts. He said to himself. "I'm going up there, to gather nuts; for, hunger has seized me." He laid aside his traveling-bag, leaving it on the ground, and at once climbed the tree, expecting to gather many of the nuts. He plucked two, and threw them to the ground. Plucking another, and attempting to throw it, it slipped from his hand, and fell into the stream running below.