Very early in the next morning, Crocodile's doubts having increased, she rose up without calling her people. And she went slowly alone to peep through a crack into the room of Tortoise. She saw only the piles of egg-shells; and she wondered, "Where are the little ones?" Then she went softly back to her own room; and she told the townspeople, "Get up! Let us open the room of Kudu!" They all got up, and they went to the house. They broke the room door by force; and they found Tortoise sitting among the scattered shells of the eggs. The Crocodile exclaimed, "Kudu! have you deceived me? Your life too ends today!" They tied Tortoise, and put him in the kettle; and they killed him there. They divided his flesh onto their plates. And Crocodile and her people ate Tortoise. This is the end of the lies of Tortoise. TALE 13 "DEATH BEGINS BY SOME ONE PERSON": A PROVERB Persons Kâ (A Very Big Snail) Ngâmbi (Igwana) Kudu (Tortoise) Lonâni (Birds) Kema (Monkeys) A Man NOTE Trouble came to all these animals, even to the innocent, through the noise of some of them. Igwanas are supposed, by the natives, to be deaf. Snail, Igwana and Tortoise all lived together in one village. One day, Tortoise went to roam in the forest. There he found a large tree called Evenga. He said to himself, "I will stay at the foot of this tree, and wait for the fruit to fall." During two days, he remained there alone. On the third day, Igwana said to Snail, "I must go and search for our Chum Kudu, wherever he is." So, Igwana went; and he found Tortoise in a hole at the foot of that tree. Igwana said to him, "Chum! for two days I haven't seen you!" Tortoise replied, "I shan't go back to the village; I will remain here." Then Igwana said to him, "Well, then; let us sit here together in the same spot." Tortoise objected, "No!" So Igwana climbed up the trunk a very short distance, and clung there. After two days, Snail, who had been left alone, said to himself, "I must follow my friends, and find where they are." So, Snail journeyed, and found Tortoise and Igwana there at that tree. Looking at the tree, he exclaimed, "Ah! what a fine tree under which to sit!" The others replied, "Yes; stay here!" So Snail said to Igwana, "I will stay near you, Chum Ngâmbi, where you are." But Igwana objected, "No!" There was a vine hanging down from the treetop to the ground, and Snail climbed up the vine. Thus the three friends were arranged; Tortoise in the hole at the foot of the tree, Igwana up the trunk a short way, and Snail on the vine half-way to the top. Igwana held on where he was, close to the bark of the tree. He was partly deaf, and did not hear well.