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diff --git a/38992.txt b/38992.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a2384b --- /dev/null +++ b/38992.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4989 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Black Tales for White Children, by +C. H. Stigand and Mrs. C. H. Stigand + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Black Tales for White Children + +Author: C. H. Stigand + Mrs. C. H. Stigand + +Illustrator: John Hargrave + +Release Date: February 26, 2012 [EBook #38992] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK TALES FOR WHITE CHILDREN *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +BLACK TALES FOR WHITE CHILDREN + +_These_ BLACK TALES _for_ WHITE CHILDREN, _being a collection of Swahili +Stories, have been translated and arranged by Capt._ C. H. STIGAND, +_interpreter in Swahili and author of "The Land of Zinj," and Mrs._ C. +H. STIGAND, _and have been illustrated by_ JOHN HARGRAVE, _author of_ +"LONECRAFT." + +[Illustration: Lion hunters] + +BOSTON & NEW YORK: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +_First published 1914_ + + + + +FOREWORD + + +Many hundreds of years ago Arab sailors began to explore the east coast +of Africa, being driven southwards in their sailing vessels by the +northerly winds or monsoons of one part of the year and returning to +their homes by the help of the southerly winds of the other half of the +year. + +[Illustration: Austriches] + +As trade with the coast grew, Persians and Arabs founded settlements on +the coast, and the numerous islands and towns and kingdoms grew up. +These original settlers mixed with the black races of the interior, and +it is from this mixture that the people now called Swahili have sprung. +The word Swahili, or Sawaheli, comes from the Arabic word Sawahil, +meaning coast, and hence the east coast of Africa. + +A language derived partly from Arabic and partly from several African +Bantu tongues came into being. This is called Kisawaheli, or the Swahili +language, and different dialects of it are spoken practically the whole +length of the East African coast and the islands close to it. + +The stories which follow are drawn from a number heard at different +times and in different places, and they have been written down as nearly +as possible as told by the Swahili himself. Some were told by +story-tellers in the coast towns, others were overheard on the march in +the interior or round the camp-fire at night. + +These stories have not been kept in any book or written document, but +have been repeated from mouth to mouth, perhaps for hundreds of years. +Either they are narrated by a professional story-teller of a coast town, +who hands on his stock of them to his son after him, or they are told by +mothers to their children almost from the time they can toddle. These +children, when they grow up, tell them, in their turn, to their +children, but the story is always told in the evening. + +During the day-time there is work to do and no good woman has time to +waste in idleness. She must go out into the fields with her baby +strapped on her back and hoe and weed the crops in the hot sun, she must +grind the maize or millet into flour between two stones, winnow the +grain, cook her husband's dinner, draw the water, collect firewood, and +perform many other duties. + +When the day's work is done and the evening meal is finished they sit +round the fire outside the hut, for they have no lamps or even electric +light. Perhaps they sit in a little courtyard, surrounded by a high +palisade, for fear of the lions, or perhaps, no lions having been heard +of late, they sit in the cleared space in the centre of the village, +each family by its little fire. Then the mother tells her stories to the +children, who soon get to know them all by heart, yet never tire of +hearing them again and again. "Tell us, mother, the story of Nunda, so +that we may join in the chorus-- + + "Siye mwanangu siye, siye Nunda mlawatu." + (It is not he, my child, not Nunda the eater of folk.) + +Or it may be on a journey after a long and tiring day's march, the +evening meal is cooked and eaten, and then the tired porters lie round +the camp-fire and call on one of their number to tell a story, "So that +we may forget the toil of the day." + +As the Swahili is himself a mixture of the Arab and the African, so his +stories form a curious combination of the elements of both races. The +finer and more witty points are generally of Arab origin, whilst the +more homely and jungle scenes are drawn from Africa. The jin or fairy, +both good and bad, has been brought from Arabia with the Sultan and the +idea of wealth and precious stones. + +The folk-lore, certain kinds of demons, and the jungle folk are entirely +African. + +Such stories as "The Cat's Tail," "The Fools," and "Shani and Tabak" +were told in the dialects of Shela, Pate and Lamu, in which places there +is a greater proportion of Arab blood. "Kajikarangi," "The Hunters and +the Big Snake," and "Segu" are types of tales told by more African +natives in the dialect of Zanzibar and the Mgao and Mrima coasts. + +The Sultan is the king or chief. As the African coast kingdoms were +often very small he was, as often as not, the chief of only one town or +island, whilst in the next town another Sultan reigned. + +The Wazir, or Vizier of Turkey, is his prime minister or head man. + +Where one Sultan reigned over several towns or islands he used to put +into each a governor, called Wali or Liwali. + +The elephant, from his size, is to the native a creature inspiring awe, +who eats and tramples down his crops and breaks his fences. + +The hyaena is harmless, and so only a subject for derision. + +Over the whole of Central Africa the hare is considered as the most +cunning of all the animals. African slaves have even brought tales of +his wiles to America, where, under the name of "Brer Rabbit," he has +retained his African reputation for guile. + +[Illustration: Person, jars, giraffes] + +I must acknowledge my indebtedness to my mother for arranging the rhymes +which occur from time to time in the text. + + C. H. STIGAND. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + + + FOREWORD v + + I THE LION OF MANDA 1 + + II PEMBA MUHORI 7 + + III THE CAT'S TAIL 22 + + IV THE YOUNG THIEF 25 + + V THE TRAPPER, THE LION AND THE HARE 35 + + VI NUNDA THE SLAYER 44 + + VII THE WOODCUTTER AND HIS DONKEY 51 + + VIII KITANGATANGA OF THE SEA 58 + + IX THE LION'S TALISMAN 65 + + X KIBARAKA 66 + + XI THE FOOLS 72 + + XII THE HYAENA AND THE MOONBEAM 82 + + XIII THE SNAKE-CHILD 83 + + XIV THE POOR MAN AND HIS WIFE OF WOOD 93 + + XV BINTI ALI THE CLEVER 97 + + XVI SEGU 109 + + XVII LILA AND FILA 111 + + XVIII THE HUNTERS AND THE SNAKE 118 + + XIX ALI OF THE CROOKED ARM 122 + + XX FEEDING THE HUNGRY 137 + + XXI SHANI AND TABAK 140 + + XXII A MAN AND HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW 150 + + XXIII THE JACKAL, THE HARE AND THE COCK 153 + + XXIV THE MAGIC DATE TREES 161 + + XXV PAKA THE CAT 172 + + XXVI THE OIL MERCHANT 178 + + XXVII BATA THE DUCK 190 + + XXVIII THE SULTAN'S DAUGHTER 196 + + XXIX THE LION, THE HYAENA AND THE HARE 198 + + + + +I + +THE LION OF MANDA + + +Once upon a time there was a lion who lived on the island called Manda, +which is opposite Shela town, and the people of Shela heard it roaring +nightly. In Shela was a rich merchant, and one day he gave out in the +bazaar: "I will pay one hundred dollars to whosoever will go and sleep +alone one night on the opposite shore, in Manda island." But for fear of +the lion no man would do this. + +[Illustration: Lions] + +Now in that same town was a youth and his wife who were very poor, for +they had nothing. When this youth heard the talk of the town, he came to +his wife and said, "There is a man who will give a hundred dollars to +any one who will sleep on the opposite side one night. I will go and +sleep there." + +His wife said to him, "Do not go, my husband, the lion will eat you." + +He said, "Let me go, for if Allah loves me I will not die, and by this +means we will get the wherewithal to buy some food." + +Then she said to him, "Go. May Allah preserve you." + +So that youth, when evening fell, took a canoe and paddled over to +Manda, and there lay down on the shore. + +Now, when the youth had gone, his wife there behind him was sad because +she had let him go, and her heart was very heavy with fear for her +husband. So she took some embers and some sticks of wood and went down +on to Shela beach, and there she kindled a little fire and tended it all +night, so that her young man on the opposite side might see it and not +be afraid. + +In the morning he returned safely to Shela and went to claim his hundred +dollars. But the merchant said, "You have not earned them, for you saw +the fire that your wife made, and so you were not afraid." + +The youth, when he heard those words, was very angry, and went to +accuse the merchant before the Sultan. + +[Illustration: Young man] + +So the Sultan called that merchant and asked him why he had not paid the +youth his hundred dollars. + +The merchant said, "Truly, I did not pay him the dollars because he did +not earn them, for he had a fire to comfort him the whole night long. +Now, Sultan, see if my words are not true and judge between us." + +The Sultan then asked the youth, "Did you have a fire?" The youth +replied that his wife had made a fire, so the Sultan, who wished to +favour the rich merchant, said, "Then you did not earn the money." + +As that youth went forth from the presence of the Sultan, he jostled +against a sage, who asked him his news; so he told him how he had been +defrauded of his hundred dollars. + +Then said the sage, "If I get your money for you, what will you give +me?" The youth said, "I will give you a third." So they agreed together +after that manner. + +The youth then went his way, and the sage came to the Sultan and said to +him, "I invite you to food at noon to-morrow in my plantation." The +Sultan replied, "Thank you, I will come." + +Then the sage returned to his house and made ready. He slaughtered an ox +and prepared the meat in pots, but did not cook it. When the Sultan +arrived next day at noon, the sage had the pots of meat placed in one +place apart, and he had fires made in other places, far away from where +he had put the pots. Then, having told his servants what to do, he came +and sat on the verandah with the Sultan, and they conversed with one +another. + +After a while he arose and shouted to his servants, "Oh, Bakari and +Sadi, stoke well the fires and turn over the meat." + +When twelve o'clock had long passed the Sultan, feeling hungry, asked +the sage, "Is not the food yet ready?" + +The sage answered, "The meat is not yet done." So they continued to +converse, till the Sultan became very cross owing to his hunger, and +said, "Surely the food must be ready now." So the sage called out, "Oh, +Bakari, and oh, Sadi, is not the food ready?" + +They answered him, "Not yet, master." He then said, "Stoke up the fires +well and turn the meat, that we may soon get our food;" and they +answered him, "We hear and obey, master." + +The Sultan then said, "Surely the meat must be cooked _now_, after all +this time." So he arose to look for himself, and behold! he saw the +fires all on one side of the courtyard, with servants busily feeding +them, and the cooking pots all on the other side, also with servants +tending them. + +[Illustration: THE FIRE-DRILL] + +[Illustration: TWIRLING-STICKS] + +[Illustration: THE FIRE.] + +He turned to the sage and said, "How is the meat to become cooked, and +the pots are in one place and the fires in another?" The sage replied, +"They will cook like that, my master." + +Then was the Sultan very wroth and said, "It is impossible to cook food +like that." + +"Indeed no," gravely answered the sage; "for is not the case the same +between those cooking pots and their fires and the youth to whom you +yesterday refused his hundred dollars and his fire, which was on the +opposite shore?" + +The Sultan then said, "Your words are true, oh sage! The youth did earn +his hundred dollars. Send and tell the merchant to pay him at once." + +[Illustration: Lion] + +So the youth got his dollars for sleeping on the island of Manda, and +the sage did not accept from him the fee he had asked for. This is the +story of the lion of Manda. + + + + +II + +PEMBA MUHORI + + +There was once upon a time a man and his wife, and the wife gave birth +to seven sons, and the seventh was called Hapendeki, and he was the +last. + +And these sons grew and grew till one day the youngest, Hapendeki, said +to his father and mother, "What goal is there in life for a man?" and +they answered, "The goal in life for a man is to find a nice woman and +marry her and rest in peace." + +So he said, "If that indeed be the aim of man you must look for a wife +for me." + +And they said to him, "You are too young, you will not be able to manage +a wife." + +And he said, "Never mind, look for a wife for me." + +And they said, "No, you are not old enough yet." + +So he answered them, "All right, if you won't get me a wife I will look +for one for myself." + +So he went and searched till he found a wife, and then there were shouts +and trills as he brought her home and married her. + +So they stayed indoors the appointed time of the honeymoon, and when it +was nearly accomplished his wife said to Hapendeki, "Now that the +honeymoon is nearly over I want some nice clothes to show myself in when +the honeymoon is completed and I go out once more." + +So the husband went out and sought all the Indians' and Banyans' shops, +and bought all the best clothes he could in the town, and brought home +one man's load of different kinds of clothes. And he said to her, "Here, +my wife, look at the clothes I have brought you." + +So she opened the parcel and looked at the things and said, "Do you call +these clothes, my husband? Do you think that I could go out in such +things, my husband?" + +So the husband took ship and went to Maskat, and there he bought all the +most beautiful clothes he could find, and dresses of silk and all kinds +of garments, two bales full, and with these he returned home. + +[Illustration: Woman sorting clothes] + +So he took ship with his two bales of clothes and arrived home again, +and had them carried up to his house. + +When he came into the house his wife cooked food for him, and he sat +down and ate, and when he had finished he said to his wife, "Now open +those two bales and see the clothes I have brought you." So she opened +the bales and looked at the clothes and said, "Do you call these +clothes? you must be a fool to have bought things like these. Are these +things fit for your wife to wear? Do you wish me to wear grass and bark +cloth? Do you imagine that I could wear things like these?" + +So he said, "My wife, these are the best that I could find, now say, +what sort of clothes are those that you want?" + +So she said to him, "My husband, the only clothes fit for me to wear are +clothes made of the skin of Pemba Muhori, the great sea serpent." + +Next day he went to his father and mother and told them how he had +bought every kind of expensive clothes for his wife, but that she +refused to wear anything but the skin of Pemba Muhori. + +His father and mother said to him, "Did not we tell you that you would +not be able to manage a wife?" and his elder brothers said, "You, the +youngest, must needs marry before us, your elder brothers, and this is +what comes of it." + +So Hapendeki said to his mother, "I do not want words or advice, all I +want you to do is to make seven loaves for me, and to make up a parcel +for me containing these seven loaves and seven cigarettes and seven +matches." + +So his mother baked seven loaves and made up the parcel, and next day he +took his sword and the parcel and set out. He travelled and travelled +through plains and forests, plains and forests, for one month, till at +the end of the month he came to a big lake. He sat down on the shore and +ate one loaf and lit one cigarette and smoked it and thought, "Pemba +Muhori must be in this lake," so he sang-- + + "Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there? + My wife has sent for your skin to wear." + +All was silent, so he picked up his load and journeyed on through desert +and hills, desert and hills, till he came to a lake larger still, at the +end of the second month, and he sat down and ate a loaf and smoked a +cigarette and sang-- + + "Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there? + My wife has sent for your skin to wear." + +All was silent, so he travelled on and on till he came to a third and +bigger lake, and now he had spent three months in the way. + +So he sat down on the shore and ate a loaf and smoked a cigarette and +sang again, but all was silent, so he travelled on, and at the end of +each month he came to a bigger lake, and he ate one loaf and smoked one +cigarette. + +Till, at the end of the sixth month, he came to an enormous lake, bigger +than any before, and its breadth was the distance of Tabora from the +coast. + +And he said, "Pemba Muhori can hardly miss being in here," so he ate a +loaf and lit and smoked a cigarette and then he sang-- + + "Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there? + My wife has sent for your skin to wear." + +But all was silent, so he picked up his load and went on and on, and now +he had only one loaf and one cigarette and one match left. + +At the end of the seventh month he came to a lake as broad as from Ujiji +to Zanzibar, and on its shores was white sand, white like bleached +calico. + +So he sat down and thought, "Now I have come to the last of my food. +What am I to do if I miss Pemba Muhori here?" + +So he ate his last loaf and tried to light his last cigarette, but the +match went out, so he threw it into the lake saying, "What matter? Now I +have nothing." + +Then he sang-- + + "Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there? + My wife has sent for your skin to wear." + +Then there was a noise like thunder, and great waves went foaming away +to the shores, and Pemba Muhori appeared with his seven heads and said, +"Who is making use of my name?" + +[Illustration: Pemba Muhori with his seven heads] + +So he answered, "It is I, Hapendeki," and took his sword and smote off +one head, and picking it up he put it on one side. Then the snake came +and said, "Who are you that are not worth eating at a mouthful?" + +Hapendeki took his sword and cut off another head and the snake +disappeared in the water again, and he took the head and laid it on one +side. + +And so the snake came at him again till he had cut off the third, fourth +and fifth head and put them on one side. + +Then the snake said, "What sort of witchcraft is this, that you who are +so small think you can kill me?" and he rushed at him again, and +Hapendeki cut off his sixth head and put it on one side. Then the snake +rose up and came at him, and Hapendeki cut off his seventh head and ran +away. + +Then the snake's body writhed and twisted, and he lashed so with his +tail that the mountains fell into the lake and the waves tore up the +hillsides. + +When all was still again, Hapendeki returned and picked up the heads, +which were a heavy load, and as he picked up the sixth he staggered, but +he said to himself, "I must take them all home to show my wife." So he +made an effort and picked up the seventh head, and when he had them all, +he suddenly looked round and behold, he found that his journey home was +finished and that he was already in his house. + +His wife was astonished to see him and said, "My husband, how did you +return?" and he answered, "By the grace of God." + +Then she cooked food for him and said, "Now eat." And he said to her, +"Last time I ate here you told me that I was a fool for not getting you +the clothes you wanted, now look first in the parcel I have brought and +see if they are indeed the clothes you want before I eat." + +So his wife looked at the load and was astonished, and the neighbours +came and looked and were astonished, for there were the seven heads of +Pemba Muhori. + +Then that youth thought to himself, "I must now teach my wife a lesson, +as she has put me to a lot of trouble and worry;" so he told her to +prepare a large feast for the next day, and he invited all his friends +to come. + +Next day his friends came and they all ate till they were full, and he +then said to his wife, "My wife, bring me water that I may drink." + +His wife brought him water, and he looked at it and said to her, "Do you +call this water, do you think that this is fit for your husband to +drink?" + +So she went away and brought him milk, and he said to her, "What is this +you have brought me? Am I a baby that you think that I can drink this?" + +So she went and brought him honey-wine, and he said to her, "Am I a +drunkard that when I ask for water you bring me wine?" + +So she said to him, "My husband, what kind of water do you want? tell +me, that I may get it for you." + +So he said, "That water you brought me smelt of frogs. I want water from +a lake in which there are no frogs." + +So she took a water jar, and putting it on her head went forth, and he, +taking his sword and putting it over his shoulder, went after her, and +followed at a distance to see what she would do. + +And she travelled on and on till she came to a big lake and said to +herself, "Perhaps this water will do." So she sang-- + + "My husband has sent me out to draw + Water no frog has touched with his claw." + +And the frogs answered, "K--r--r--r, K--r--r--r." + +So she took her water jar and travelled on and on till she came to +another big lake and sang again-- + + "My husband has sent me out to draw + Water no frog has touched with his claw." + +"K--r--r--r, K--r--r--r." + +So she travelled on and on, and her husband followed, watching from +behind, and every lake she came to and sang the frogs only answered, +"K--r--r--r, K--r--r--r." + +At last she came to a great lake, and there she sang-- + + "My husband has sent me out to draw + Water no frog has touched with his claw." + +All was silent, so she said, "This must indeed be the water my husband +wants." So she filled her water jar, and, turning round to go home, she +saw a huge demon coming forth saying, "I smell man, I smell man." + +Her husband behind, who knew how to talk to demons, called out, + + "Demon bwe! bwe! bwe! + Demon bwe! bwe! bwe! + My wife run quickly past me, + Demon bwe! bwe! bwe!" + +[Illustration: "DEMON BWE! BWE! BWE!"] + +So his wife ran past him, and as the demon followed after her he cut off +his tail, and at that moment he found himself in his house again and his +wife found herself on the threshold. + +She tried to take the water jar from her head to pass in at the door, +but she found that it had stuck there, and she was not able to move it. + +Then a neighbour came forward and tried to pull it off, but he could +not, then came two men and then five and then twenty, but they could not +get the water jar off. Then fifty tried, but failed, and at last five +hundred men tried to pull it off, but it was of no avail. + +Then came out the husband and said, "My wife, put down that water jar," +and he slapped her in the face and at that moment the water jar fell +off. + +His wife said to him, "What do you strike me for?" and her husband said, +"My wife, do you not see that that was the medicine that broke the charm +and released you from the water jar? Did you not see that five hundred +men were unable to get it off, and that I, by just slapping you, was +able to get it off?" But the woman would not be satisfied, so went off +to the Sultan and accused her husband before the Sultan of beating her. +So the Sultan sent his soldiers to fetch Hapendeki, and when he was +brought said to him, "How is this that you have beaten this woman your +wife?" + +So Hapendeki told him the story from first to last, and the Sultan said +to him, "Have you the heads of Pemba Muhori?" + +He answered and said, "They are there in my house." + +So the Sultan said, "Bring them here that I may know that your story is +true." + +So Hapendeki said, "I will bring them here at eight o'clock to-night, +but I want you to turn out all the lights when I come and only turn them +on when I tell you." + +So at eight o'clock Hapendeki brought the seven heads, and all the +lights were turned out, and he arranged them in front of the Sultan's +palace, which was seven storied, one head he put on the roof and one +head on every storey. + +When the lights were turned on everybody fell back in fear and +astonishment, for there, shining and glittering in the light, were the +seven heads of Pemba Muhori. + +So the trumpets pealed and the cannons roared and there was great +rejoicing, and the Sultan gave his daughter in marriage to Hapendeki. + +[Illustration: Rhino] + +And this is the end of the story, and whether it is good or whether it +is bad I do not know, but if it is good, its goodness belongs to all, +and if it is bad, its badness belongs to him who tells it alone. + + + + +III + +THE CAT'S TAIL + + +At a place called Lamu lived a woman and her husband. One day, whilst +they were at meal, a cat came in and looked at them. Now these two +people loved to disagree with each other. + +So that woman said to the man, "I say that the tail of a cat is stuck +in." + +The man said to his wife, "No, it is not stuck in; it sprouts out." + +So they wrangled together about this matter for many days. At last they +disputed so noisily that their neighbours threatened to drive them out +of the village. Then, as neither the husband nor the wife would give in, +they decided to seek the wise man who lived at Shela, for sure he would +know and could settle this great question. + +So they each took a dollar and tied it in the corner of their robes and +set out for Shela, quarrelling so hard all the way that everybody turned +round to stare at them. + +At last they arrived at the town of Shela and found the wise man at his +house. When he saw the big round dollars bulging out of their clothes he +smiled upon them and invited them in. + +[Illustration: THE WISE MAN WHO LIVED AT SHELA.] + +Then the woman asked him, "Look up for us in your learned books whether +a cat's tail is stuck in or whether it sprouts out." + +The man said, "No. Look up whether it does not sprout out or whether it +is stuck in." + +The wise man saw that they were fools, so he replied-- + +"Give me my fee: one dollar for the answer to the question as to whether +the cat's tail is stuck in or whether it sprouts out, and one dollar for +the answer as to whether it sprouts out or is stuck in." + +So they each gave him a dollar, and the wise man made great pretence at +looking through his books. Finally he said, "You are both wrong; the +cat's tail is neither stuck in nor does it sprout out, and it neither +sprouts out nor is it stuck in, but it is just stuck on." + +They then returned home in silence, and the wise man stuck to their +dollars. + + + + +IV + +THE YOUNG THIEF + + +Once upon a time there was a man and he wished to marry. So he went to +the Seers and asked them to foretell his future. + +The Seers looked at their books and said to him, "If you marry you will +certainly have a child, a very beautiful boy, but with one blemish; he +will be a thief, the biggest thief that ever was." + +So that man said, "Never mind, even if he be a thief; I should like to +have a son." + +So he married, and in due time a child was born, a beautiful boy. + +The child was carefully brought up till he was old enough to have a +teacher. Then the father engaged a professor to come and teach him every +day. He built a house a little distance from the town and put him in it, +and that professor came every morning and taught him during the day, and +in the evening returned home. Now the father ordered the professor never +to let his son see any other soul but himself, and he thought by that +means that his son would escape the fate that had been decreed by the +Seers; for if he never saw any other person he could have no one to +teach him to steal. + +One day the professor came, and he told the lad about a horse of the +Sultan's, which used to go out to exercise by itself and return by +itself, and was of great strength and speed. + +Then that youth asked where was the Sultan's palace, and his professor +took him up on to the flat roof and pointed out to him the palace and +its neighbourhood. + +That night, after the professor left, the youth slipped out and came to +the Sultan's stables, stole the horse, and returned home with it. + +[Illustration: The young thief] + +Next day the professor was a little late in coming, so the lad asked +him, "Sheikh, why have you delayed to-day?" The professor said, "I +stayed to hear the news. Behold, some one has stolen the Sultan's horse +which I told you about yesterday." + +Then that lad asked, "What does the Sultan propose to do?" + +The old man replied, "He thought of sending out his soldiers, but then +he heard of a seer who is able to detect a thief by looking at his +books, so he is going to ask him first." + +So the youth asked, "Where does that seer live?" + +The professor then pointed out the seer's house and its neighbourhood. + +That night the youth slipped out and came to the seer's house and found +that the seer was out. He saw his wife and said to her-- + +"My mistress, the seer has sent me to fetch his box of books." + +So the wife brought out the box containing all his books of magic and +gave them to him, and he took them and returned with them to his house. + +Next day his professor was late, and when he came he said to him, +"Father, why have you delayed?" + +The old man said, "I stopped to hear the news. Do you remember the seer +of whom I told you yesterday, who was to find out the thief for the +Sultan? Well, he has now been robbed of his books of magic." + +The youth asked, "What does the Sultan intend to do?" + +The old man replied, "He was about to send out his soldiers, and then he +heard that there was a magician who is able to detect a thief by casting +charms, so he is going to consult him." + +Then the youth asked, "Where does the magician live?" + +So the old man took him on the roof and pointed out the magician's house +and its neighbourhood. + +That night, after the professor had gone, the youth went out and came to +the house of the magician. He found him out, but saw his wife and said +to her, "Mother, I fear to ask you, for was not the seer robbed in like +manner yesterday? but the magician has sent me to fetch his bag of +charms." + +That woman said, "Have no fear; the thief's not you, my child;" and she +gave him the bag of charms, and he took them and went to his house. + +Next day, when the professor came, he asked for the news, and he said, +"Did I not tell you yesterday that the Sultan was going to get a +magician to tell him the thief by casting his charms? Well, last night +the magician had his bag of charms stolen." + +Then the youth asked, "What is the Sultan going to do?" + +The old man answered, "He was going to send out his soldiers to catch +the thief, but he heard that a certain woman said she knew who the thief +was, and so he is going to pay her to tell him." + +The youth asked where the woman lived, and the old man pointed out her +house to him. + +That evening the youth went out, and came to the house of that woman and +found her outside, and he said to her, "Mother, I am thirsty; give me a +drink of water." + +So she went to the well to draw some water, and the youth came behind +her and pushed her in. Then he went into the house and took her clothes +and jewellery and brought them back to his house. + +Next day, when the professor came, he asked the news, and he said, "My +son, I told you yesterday that there was a woman who said that she could +tell the Sultan the name of the thief. Well, last night the thief came +and pushed her into the well and stole her things." + +Then that youth asked, "What does the Sultan propose to do?" + +The old man replied, "He is sending his soldiers out to look for the +thief." + +That night, after the professor had gone, the youth dressed up as a +soldier, and went out and met the soldiers of the Sultan looking for the +thief. + +He said to them, "That is not the way to look for a thief. The way to +look for a thief is to sit down very quietly in a place, and then +perhaps you will see or hear him." + +So he brought them all to one place and made them sit down, and one by +one they all fell asleep. When they were all asleep he took their +weapons and all their clothes he could carry and came with them to his +house. + +Next day, when the professor came, he asked him the news, and he said, +"Last night the Sultan sent his soldiers out to look for the thief and +behold, the thief stole their arms and their clothes, so that they +returned naked." + +Then the youth asked, "And now, what does the Sultan propose to do?" + +The old man said, "To-night the Sultan goes himself to look for the +thief." + +The youth said, "That is good, for the wisdom of Sultans is great." + +That night the youth dressed up as a woman and scented himself and went +out. He saw in the distance a lamp, and knew that it was the Sultan +looking for the thief, so he passed near. When the Sultan smelt those +goodly scents he turned round to see whence they came, and he saw a very +beautiful woman. + +He asked, "Who are you?" + +The lad replied, "I was just returning home when I saw your light, so I +stepped aside to let you pass." + +The Sultan said, "You must come and talk with me a little." + +That lad said, "No, I must go home." + +They were just outside the prison, so at last the youth consented to go +in and talk for a little while with the Sultan. + +When they got inside the courtyard, the youth took a pair of leg-irons +and asked the Sultan, "What are these?" + +The Sultan replied, "Those are the leg-irons with which we fasten our +prisoners." + +Then that youth said, "Oh, fasten them on me, that I may see how they +work." + +The Sultan said, "No, you are a woman, but I will put them on to show +you," and he put them on. + +The youth looked up and saw a gang-chain and asked, "What is that?" + +The Sultan said, "That is what we put round their necks, and the end is +fastened to the wall." + +So the youth said, "Oh, put it on my neck, that I may see what it is +like." + +The Sultan replied, "No, you are a woman, but I will put it on my neck +to show you;" so he put it on. + +Then the youth took the key of the leg-irons and of the gang-chain, and +looked up and saw a whip and said, "What is that?" + +"That," said the Sultan, "is a whip with which we whip our prisoners if +they are bad." + +So the youth picked up the whip and began beating the Sultan. After the +first few strokes the Sultan said, "Stop, that is enough fun-making." + +But the youth went on and beat him soundly, and then went out, leaving +the Sultan in chains and chained to the wall, and he also locked the +door of the prison and took the key and went home. Next day the Sultan +was found to be in the prison, and they could not get in to let him out +or free him. + +So a crier was sent round the town to cry, "Any one who can deliver the +Sultan from prison will be given a free pardon for any offence he has +committed." + +So, when the cries came to that youth's house, he said, "Oho, I want +that as a certificate in writing before I will say what I know." + +When these words were brought to the Wazir, he had a document drawn up, +giving a free pardon to any one who would deliver the Sultan. Then he +brought it round to the prison for the Sultan's signature, and as they +could not get it in they pushed it through the window on the end of a +long pole. Then the Sultan signed it, and it was given to that youth, +who handed over the key of the prison and of the chains and fetters. +After the Sultan had been released he called that youth to his palace, +and the youth took the horse, and the sage's books of magic, and the +magician's bag of charms, and the woman's clothes and jewellery, and the +soldiers' arms and clothes, and came to the palace. + +When the Sultan heard his story he said that he was indeed a very clever +youth, so he made him his Wazir. + +This is the story of the man who would have a child, even though he +should be a thief. + + + + +V + +THE TRAPPER, THE LION AND THE HARE + + +Once upon a time there was a man, and his work was to set traps. Every +morning he went out and set his traps for game, and in the evening he +returned to his house, for he was a poor man, and there was no money in +the house, and so this was, indeed, his manner of living. + +One day he went forth, and when he came to his traps he met a lion. + +And the lion said to him, "Have you not heard that this forest belongs +to me, and that there is no leave to hunt here? for I am the only person +who hunts here, and now, you son of Adam, you have come to hunt in my +forest. Do you not know that I have the strength of forty men?" + +And the man answered him, "Oh, master, I had not the news that this was +your forest, so now make what plan you like, for I can do nothing." + +Then the lion said to him, "We will make this arrangement together. You +may hunt game here, but of every animal you catch you must give me the +heart, the liver and the entrails, but the meat you may take yourself." + +[Illustration: The trapper, the lion, and the hare] + +So they made this arrangement together, and every day the man set his +traps, and of the game he caught he gave the lion the heart, liver and +entrails, but the meat he took home, and his wife was glad. + +Till one day his wife said to him, "How is it that of all the game you +bring here, you bring the meat only, but the entrails you leave there in +the bush? Now I am feeling sick, and the liver of game is what I long +for." + +The man said, "Do you not know that the entrails of all the game belong +to the lion, who is, indeed, the master of the forest?" + +And his wife said to him, "I know very well that you give the heart +and the liver to another woman every day, and if it indeed be the lion +who takes them, I will follow you to-morrow and see." + +[Illustration: "See, that stone is falling, it will kill us both."] + +So the man said, "My wife, you must not come with me to the forest, for +in the forest are fierce animals and thorns and difficulties and +dangers." + +So they slept, and in the morning the man went off to his work, and when +he had gone his wife followed him in the way and came to the first and +the second trap, but she entered into the third trap and was caught. + +When the man returned from the woods he did not find his wife, and he +looked for her till one of the neighbours said, "I saw your wife follow +you in the way this morning." + +And the man thought to himself, "My wife must surely have followed me to +see where the entrails of the game went to." + +So he took the way and came to the first and the second trap, but at the +third he saw his wife caught, and beside her sat the lion. + +And the lion said, "See what a nice animal you have caught to-day; be +quick and cut it up that I may get my share." + +The man said, "I cannot cut her up, for she is my wife." + +The lion said, "Was not our agreement that I should have the entrails of +every animal you caught? Now give me my share or I will kill you." + +At that moment there came forth a hare, and when he had heard the case +he said to the lion, "This man speaks not truly when he says that this +animal is his wife, he only wishes to get all the meat for himself. Now +my plan is that you and the man follow me, and I will show you that this +is not his wife." + +So the man and the lion followed the hare, and the hare and the man +passed the second trap, but the lion entered in, and was caught up by +the noose in the air. + +Then the hare said to the man, "Now take your wife quickly and run away, +for if he gets out he will kill us both." + +So the man took his wife and ran away quickly. + +Now the lion stayed in the trap, but after some time the rope rotted and +he got out, but he was weak and maimed and thin. After several days he +caught a pala, and then he caught a zebra, and then he grew strong +again. + +Then he said, "Now I will go and kill that hare who took me in." So he +went to the house of the hare, which was under a big rock, and seized +the hare. + +Now over the rock was a great boulder poised, and the hare said to the +lion, "See, that stone is falling, it will kill us both." The lion +looked up and saw the boulder and leaped from under it, but when he +found that it did not fall he looked for the hare, but the hare had +gone. + +Then he sought for the hare many days, and at last he found where he +lived in a cave, so he went in and sat there to wait for him till he +returned. + +And as the hare returned he saw the footprints of the lion on the path +leading to his house, so he went and stood near the house and said, +"Salaam, oh house." But the lion was not to be deceived, and he answered +not. + +Then the hare said again, "Salaam, house," and again the lion was +silent. + +So the hare said to himself, "Every day when I pass here and say, +'Salaam, oh house,' the house answers and says, 'And to you salaams,' +but to-day it is silent; perhaps there is some one inside." + +So the lion answered from inside, "And to you salaams." And the hare +said, "Oh, lion, I hear your voice you have come here to kill me." + +Then the hare ran off, and the lion came out and went his way. Some time +afterwards the hare met the lion in the way, and seeing that he could +not escape he said, "I am tired of running away from you, old lion, so +now I will come with you and be your servant." + +The lion agreed, and the hare followed the lion. + +Shortly afterwards the lion killed a zebra, and he said to the hare, +"Now, my servant, cook the fat, that I may eat." + +So the hare collected firewood and made a fire, and putting a little fat +in the fire, said, "Open your mouth, old lion, and taste." + +And the lion tasted the fat and saw that it was sweet and good, and +said, "Hurry up and cook the rest, that I may eat." + +The hare ran off and fetched a stone and put it in the fire till it was +red hot and then, taking hold of it with two sticks, said, "Open your +mouth, old lion." + +The lion opened his mouth and the hare popped the stone in; the lion +gulped it down and it burnt his inside and killed him. + +The hare then skinned the lion, and taking the skin he went his way till +he came to a cave where thirty hyaenas were holding a dance. + +The hare took the lion's skin and propped it up against the entrance to +the cave, and tied it with string to one of the hyaena's tail. + +When the hyaenas smelt the smell of a lion they looked round and saw a +lion crouching at the entrance. + +They took counsel together and said, "It were better that we remain +inside here, for if we go out we will certainly be killed, and after a +little time he will go away." + +They waited the first and the second day, but when the third day came +and the lion did not go away they took counsel together again, saying, +"We will all die of hunger here. It were better that we eat one of our +number that the rest may live." + +So they ate one of their number, and the next day they did likewise, and +so on every day, till at last there was only one left alive, and this +was the one with the skin tied to his tail. + +And he thought to himself, "If I stay here I shall die of hunger. It +would be better if I tried to rush past the lion and get away." + +So he rushed out of the cave across the plain, and the skin followed +him, till at last the rope broke, and he looked round and saw the hare +coming to pick up the skin. + +Then was the hyaena very angry, and rushed after the hare and caught +him. + +The hare said, "I am but a small mouthful. If you leave me, I will show +you where a whole rhino has just died." + +So the hyaena let go and said to him, "I will follow you and see; but if +you have deceived me I will kill you." + +So the hare led him down to the stream and said, "He fell in here this +morning. If you put your nose in the water you will smell him." + +So the hyaena put his nose in the water to smell if the rhino was there, +and he was seized by the crocodiles and dragged into the river and +eaten. + +This is the end of the story of the hunter and the lion and the hare, +which ends here. + + + + +VI + +NUNDA THE SLAYER AND THE ORIGIN OF THE ONE-EYED + + +Once upon a time there was a Sultan, and he had seven sons, and he gave +them ships, and they all went abroad to trade, and came back with much +wealth, all except the youngest, who brought back only a dog and a cat, +and he kept the dog and the cat till they grew and grew, and at last the +dog died. + +Then he kept the cat, and it grew and grew, till at last one day it ate +a whole goat. + +[Illustration: "HE KEPT THE CAT AND IT GREW AND GREW"] + +And it still grew, till one day the son said to the Sultan, "My father, +give me an ox for my cat to eat," and he gave him an ox, and the cat +grew and grew, till at last he finished all the camels and oxen of the +Sultan. + +So the Sultan said to his son, "You must turn that cat out of the town, +as it has eaten all our wealth." + +So that cat was turned out and went to live in the bush, and there it +grew and grew, and it was called Nunda. + +Till one day it came into the town and ate everybody in that town, all +the people and the Sultan himself and all his sons; but the Sultan's +wife was upstairs, and she shut the door and was saved, but everybody +else in the town was eaten. + +And when the Nunda thought that he had finished everybody he went again +into the bush and there he lived. + +And the Sultan's wife stayed in the upper storey, and there she gave +birth to a son, and she called him Mohammed. + +And Mohammed grew up, till one day he said to his mother, "How is it +that we two sit alone and there are no other people here?" + +And his mother said to him, "Go and open the window and look out." And +he opened the window and looked out. + +And she said to him, "What do you see?" And he said, "I see many +houses." + +Then she said to him, "All those houses were once full of people, but +the Nunda has killed and eaten them all, even your father and brothers +he has eaten." + +So Mohammed said, "Did my father have any weapons?" And his mother said, +"He used to go to war, and guns and spears and bows and arrows and +shields were the weapons he had." + +Mohammed said to her, "Bows and arrows are the weapons I want." + +So he took a bow and three hundred arrows and set forth, and travelled +through the bush, on and on, till one day he met a rhino. + +He said to himself, "This must be the Nunda," so he shot his arrows and +shot and shot till he had used all his three hundred arrows and the +rhino fell dead. + +Then he cut off a leg and set out for home, carrying it with him. When +he got near the house he sung, "This is Nunda, this is Nunda who kills +people." + +And his mother, looking out from the upper storey, sang, "My child, that +is not Nunda who kills people." + +When he came into the house she said, "My son, that is not Nunda; it is +a rhino." + +So he said, "I will sleep here to-night, and to-morrow I will set out +again." + +In the morning he took seven bows and one thousand arrows and set out, +and travelled and travelled, through forests and plains, till he came to +a garden, and there he sat down. + +Presently a great dust arose in the hills and came down into the plains. + +So Mohammed climbed a tree and waited, saying, "This indeed must be +Nunda." + +Presently a great animal came out of the dust and came down to the +garden to drink, and he drank from three o'clock in the afternoon to six +o'clock in the evening. + +And Mohammed, up in the tree, said to himself, "If I am to die I am +already dead, and if I am to escape I have already escaped;" so he +started shooting his arrows, and when he had shot five hundred the +animal looked up from drinking, but he did not yet know that he was hit. + +So Mohammed took his other five hundred arrows and shot and shot till he +had used them all, and then he threw away his bow. + +Then the animal arose and went to the tree where Mohammed sat, and +jumped and bounded in his pain, but he did not reach him, and in the +morning when Mohammed looked down he saw that the animal was dead. Then +he descended and cut off a leg, and taking it started for home. + +When he got near home he sang, "This is Nunda, this is Nunda who kills +people." + +And his mother looked out from the upper storey and sang, "My child, +that is he, Nunda who eats people." + +And she came down to meet him and said, "Hang the leg up in the +verandah, and I will go and get you water to wash with." + +So he hung up the leg and went inside to wash himself. + +And the leg said, "By Allah, I feel cold here." And his mother called +out, "Mohammed." "Yes, mother." "Why is the leg talking there in the +verandah?" + +So Mohammed came out from the bathroom and took the leg and hung it up +at the top of the house, and went back to wash. + +Presently the leg said, "I hear some one washing there." And his mother +called out, "That leg is still talking upstairs." + +And Mohammed came out again and said, "Give me my knife; I will cut it +open and see what is inside." + +So he took his knife and cut open the leg, and there he found his father +and brothers and all the people of that town inside the leg; but in +cutting it open he stabbed one man in the face and put out his eye. + +And this man, when he came out from the leg, was very angry indeed and +said, "Why have you put out my eye? See, you have let all the other +people out quite whole; but me, you have put out my eye." + +And Mohammed said, "I am very sorry. I did not know what was in the leg, +and my knife slipped in cutting it open, so now be content that you have +escaped and forgive me." + +But the man said, "I will not forgive you. You have put out my eye and +now you must let me put out your eye." + +Mohammed said, "I do not agree." + +The man said, "If you don't agree to my putting out your eye we must +fight." + +Mohammed said, "I don't want many words, so now listen to what I have +got to say. Let one of us take a rifle and five cartridges and the +other stones, and let us go down to the shore and fight. So now choose +which you will take." + +So One-eye chose to take the rifle and five rounds, and Mohammed took a +cloth and filled it with stones, and they went down to the shore. + +And Mohammed said, "Now, One-eye, you have the rifle, you begin." + +So One-eye fired the first round and missed, and the second and missed, +and so on all five rounds. + +Then Mohammed came near with his bag of stones, and hit him here and +there and all over, and came closer and stoned him, and hit him in the +other eye, putting that out, till he went down on his knees and said, "I +repent; I am satisfied." + +And this is the beginning of all one-eyed and blind men in the world, +and this is how they began. + + + + +VII + +THE WOODCUTTER AND HIS DONKEY + + +Once upon a time there was a poor woodcutter, and his work was to go out +every day into the forest and cut wood. In the evening he used to load +up his donkey with the wood he had cut and return to the town, where he +sold it. The money he got each day was only sufficient for the food of +himself and his wife for that day. + +[Illustration: The woodcutter and his donkey] + +They lived like that many months and many days, and they were very, +very poor; till one day the woodcutter went out to the forest as usual +to cut wood. As he was at work he looked up and saw a number of birds +sitting on the top of a tree, with their beaks wide open. And there was +a cloud of insects about the tree, and they fell into the birds' mouths. + +Then the woodcutter said to himself, "Behold these birds, they sit on +the top of a tree with their mouths open, and God feeds them by bringing +insects to fall into their mouths. They do not have to work or even to +move from their perch; they just open their mouths and are fed. Why +should I have to work hard all day and then only get just enough to eat? +Why should not God feed me like that?" + +So he loaded up his donkey with the wood he had already cut and returned +to the town. When he reached his house he went in and got into bed. + +His wife went out and sold the wood, and then bought some food and +returned home. When she found her husband in bed she said, "My husband, +are you ill?" + +He replied, "No, my wife, I am waiting for God to feed me as I saw Him +feed the birds to-day." + +So she cooked the food and then called to him, "The food is ready, my +husband." + +He replied, "No. To-day I saw that God fed the birds without them having +to move. They just opened their mouths and the food dropped in, so now I +am not going to move out of bed, but am just going to wait here in bed +to be fed also." + +So his wife brought his food in to him there in bed and he ate and +slept. Next morning his wife said to him, "Arise, my husband, for it is +time that you went to work." + +He replied, "No, I am not going to work; I am just going to stop here in +bed and wait to be fed." + +His wife said, "But, my husband, we have no food and no money in the +house. What are we to do if you do not go and work?" + +He answered, "Never mind. God is able to feed the birds when they are +hungry, and so He is able to feed me." + +So he stopped there in bed. Now a neighbour of his had a vision that +night that in a certain cave was a great treasure stored. He wanted to +go and search for it, and when he heard that the woodcutter was not +going to work that day he thought that he would borrow his donkey to +bring back the wealth, if his vision came true. + +So he came to borrow the donkey; but as he was a very mean man he did +not want to tell of his vision or for what purpose he wanted the donkey. +He knocked at the door, and the wife came and opened it, and he asked to +see the woodcutter. + +The wife went to call her husband, but he said, "Tell him to come in +here; I will not get up." + +So the neighbour came in and asked the woodcutter to lend him his +donkey, and said, "If I have a prosperous journey I will give you a few +coppers." + +The woodcutter agreed, and he took the donkey and went to the place +about which he had dreamed. There he found the cave, and when he entered +he saw piles of money, gold, silver and copper. + +So he gathered up first all the gold and then all the silver and filled +the donkey's saddle-bags, till at last they would hold no more. + +He was loth to leave the copper, so he left the donkey outside the cave +and went back and began to stuff his clothes with the copper coins. +Whilst he was doing this the mouth of the cave fell in, and he was +unable to get out. + +The donkey waited and waited till at last, when evening was near, seeing +no one coming, it set off and returned home, and came to the door of the +house. The wife heard a noise at the door and said, "My husband, there +is some one at the door; get up and open it to see who it is." + +He replied, "No, my wife, I am going to stop just here in bed till God +brings me my food." + +So the wife opened the door, and the donkey walked in to where the +woodcutter was lying in bed. When he looked at it he saw that the +saddle-bags were stuffed full of gold and silver. + +The man and his wife waited for the return of the neighbour, but when he +did not come back they made plans together what they should do. + +The husband said to his wife, "Behold, my wife, the neighbours all know +that we are very poor and have no money in the house. Even if we were +to take a little money and buy food to-morrow they will say that we have +stolen it, so how are we to spend all this wealth? Even if we go away +they will know that we have not the money to expend on a journey, so +what shall we do?" + +[Illustration: AFRICAN SPEARS] + +So they planned together, and then they crept out, when everybody was +asleep, and put a little money on the doorstep of each house near them. +On one they put ten reals, on another five, and so on. + +In the morning when every one opened their doors, behold, some silver +coins on the doorstep. So the neighbours said to one another, "I got +five reals; what did you get?" and so on. Another said, "Surely some Jin +must have put all this money here in the night." + +Then were the neighbours not surprised when they saw that the woodcutter +and his wife had a little money wherewith to buy food. So the woodcutter +said to his neighbours, "I found twenty reals on my doorstep this +morning, and I and my wife are going to expend this money on travelling +to a far country, where perhaps we will meet with better fortune than +here." + +[Illustration: HUNTING THE RHINO] + +So they bought the necessaries for a long journey with a little of that +money, and then the greater part they packed up on the donkey and +journeyed off. + +They travelled on and on, till at last they came to a country where they +were not known, and there they bought a house and settled down, and the +people said, "Behold, these must be some rich folk who have come from a +far country." + +So they lived there in great splendour, and spent their money and gave +praise to God. + +This is the story of the woodcutter who had trust in God, and it +finishes here. + + + + +VIII + +KITANGATANGA OF THE SEA + + +There was once a man, and he lived at Kilwa. And that man married a +wife, and built a hut, in which they stayed. Everything that woman asked +for he gave her, only that hut he had built without a door. + +[Illustration: Hut without a door] + +He himself, when he went abroad and returned, used to climb up a ladder +and get in at the window, and when he went away he took away the ladder. +So that woman stayed in that hut and was not able to go out, not even +for a little, and so she was sick of heart. + +Now when her mother heard about this she came and dug a hole under the +wall, so that she was able to come and see her daughter whenever the +husband had gone out. The mouth of that hole the woman covered over with +matting, so that that man, her husband, did not get to see it. + +Now that man was a merchant, and used to trade up and down the coast +even as far as Maskat. + +One day he came home to his wife and said to her, "My wife, it is time +that I went up the coast trading, so in a week's time I will start and +will go to Zanzibar and Maskat, and then, after the space of one year, I +will return again." + +So his wife said to him, "It is well, my husband; may you go and return +in safety." + +When her husband went away again she got out quickly by her tunnel and +came to her mother and said, "My mother, my husband is going to travel +away for a year and leave me in my hut. Now you must go quickly and get +a fast ship ready for me and tell no one." + +Then she returned and sat in the hut, and in the evening her husband +returned and climbed in by that window of his. + +After a week had passed the husband took leave of his wife and went down +to the harbour, got on board his ship and set sail for Zanzibar. + +[Illustration: Sailing boat] + +After he had gone, the wife came out quickly and went down to the +harbour and got on board the vessel her mother had prepared for her and +set sail behind him. + +In the middle of the ocean that boat of hers passed his. He looked at it +and called out, "Who is that in the ship that is passing me?" + +She answered, "It is I, my name is Kitangatanga of the sea." + +She arrived at Zanzibar, moored her vessel and went ashore, and found +that house where he stayed and entered it and sat down. Presently her +husband arrived, moored his boat and went up to that house. + +When he saw that woman he was surprised and said to her, "How like you +are to my wife whom I left in Kilwa!" + +So he talked to her for a while and then asked, "Are you married?" + +She replied, "No, I am a widow." + +Then he said, "If you will marry me I will settle on you a hundred +reals." + +So that woman agreed, and they were married, and they stayed together. +After two weeks he said to her, "My wife, I must continue my journey to +Maskat now; but in the space of six months I will return and stay with +you." + +She said, "It is well, my husband; go, and return in safety." + +So he got in his boat and set sail for Maskat. After he had gone she got +in her boat and set sail behind him. In the middle of the sea her vessel +passed his, and he called out, "Who is that who is passing me?" + +She replied, "It is I, Kitangatanga of the sea." She arrived first in +Maskat and found that house where he stopped and went and sat in it. +Presently her husband arrived, moored his ship and went up to the house. + +When he saw that woman sitting there he was very surprised and said, +"How like you are to my wife whom I left in Kilwa, and also to that +woman I married in Zanzibar." + +Then he asked her, "Are you married?" + +She replied, "No, I am a widow." So he said, "I will marry you for one +hundred reals." + +She agreed, and they were married, and he stayed with her six months +there in Maskat. At the end of that time he said, "My wife, I must now +return home. I will stay a year, and then I will return to you." + +She said, "Go, and return in peace, my husband." + +So he set sail from Maskat, and that woman set sail after him. In the +midst of the ocean she passed him again, and when he asked who it was, +she replied, "It is I, Kitangatanga of the sea." + +She arrived at Zanzibar and went up to that house. + +Presently her husband arrived, and she said, "Welcome, stranger; what is +the news?" + +He replied, "The news is that I have made a prosperous journey to +Maskat, and that there I met a woman just like the wife I left at Kilwa +and also like you, and I married her." + +She replied, "It is well, my husband." + +After he had stopped several weeks he said to her, "My wife, I must now +return home. I will stop one year, and then I will return to you." + +So she said, "May your journey be prosperous, my husband, and may you +return in safety." + +So he set sail for Kilwa, and she set sail after him. In the midst of +the ocean she passed him again, and when he asked who it was, she +replied, "It is I, Kitangatanga of the sea." + +When she arrived in Kilwa she moored her vessel and went up to her +house. She entered by her underground doorway and sat down. After a +while her husband arrived and climbed in by his window. She said, +"Welcome, my husband." + +Then she cooked food for him, and when he had eaten she asked him, "What +is the news of there where you have been?" + +He replied, "I made a good voyage to Zanzibar, and there I met a woman +just like you. I married her for one hundred reals, and stayed with her +for two weeks. Then I went on to Maskat, and there I met a woman exactly +like you and like that woman I married in Zanzibar. I married her, too, +for a hundred reals, and stopped with her six months. + +"Then I returned to Zanzibar and stayed with my wife there a few weeks, +then set out for home, and here I am. Now what is the news here of this +place whilst I have been away?" + +That wife replied, "The news is this, my husband. I was angered because +you put me in a hut without a door, so I made this underground door +which you see there. + +"Then, when you set sail, I set sail after you, and I passed you in the +sea; and when you asked who I was, I replied, 'Kitangatanga of the sea!' + +"I came first to Zanzibar, and it was I whom you married there for a +hundred reals. + +"When you left for Maskat, I set sail behind you, and arrived there +first. It was I also whom you married in Maskat for one hundred reals. +That is my news, my husband." + +When her husband heard that, he said, "Indeed, this is true. Now I will +build you a very fine hut with a door in it, so that you may go out when +you please." + +So he built her a splendid hut with a door and put her into it, and +there they lived happily. + +[Illustration: AFRICAN "PIANO" WITH GOURD RESONATOR] + +[Illustration: AFRICAN LIZARD-SKIN DRUM] + +[Illustration: PLAYING THE "PIANO"] + +[Illustration: BEATING THE TOM-TOM] + +[Illustration: SMALL BOY SINGING] + +[Illustration: "BANJO" N.E. CENTRAL AFRICA] + + + + +IX + +THE LION'S TALISMAN + + +The talisman of the lion is like that of cattle; it is a hairy pellet, +and he carries it about with him in his mouth. + +When he goes out to hunt he digs a hole in the ground and hides it +there. Then he goes to hunt, and when he has finished hunting and eating +meat till he is satisfied, he comes back to that place where he has hid +his charm and digs it up and swallows it. + +When he sees that he is about to die, he throws it far away, so that it +may not be found at his death. + +[Illustration: BLESBOK] + +Should a man get it, he becomes possessed of great good fortune. If he +wishes he can put it away and keep it, or if he desires he can sell it +for much money, or he can make it into a charm and wear it himself. If a +man wearing this charm meets with a lion, that lion is unable to do +anything to him, by reason of that charm. + + + + +X + +THE STORY OF KIBARAKA AND THE BIRD + + +Once upon a time there was a Sultan, and he had one son, a very handsome +youth, called Hasani. + +Every day at noon the Sultan and his son used to go to the mosque to +pray. After they had gone the Sultan's wife used to sort out the seeds +of every kind of grain in the Sultan's store. Those that needed drying +she gave to a slave, called Kibaraka, to put out in the sun to dry. + +One day, after the Sultan and his son had gone to prayer, she called to +the slave, "Kibaraka, take these seeds and put them out in the sun." +Kibaraka took the grain and spread it out to dry, each kind by itself. + +Suddenly a wondrously fine bird came and sat down by the grain and +called out-- + +"Kibaraka! Kibaraka!" + +[Illustration: The bird] + +He answered, "Here, lady, here." + +Then the bird sang-- + + _Bird._ "Shall I eat of this wheat? + Or shall I not eat? + Or shall I eat millet?" + + _Kibaraka._ "Eat, Lady, I will it." + + _Bird._ "Shall I eat rape instead? + Or must I not be fed? + Shall I eat maize to-day?" + + _Kibaraka._ "Eat, Lady, eat, I pray." + + _Bird._ "Shall I eat all the grain? + Or must I now refrain? + Shall I eat rice to-day?" + + _Kibaraka._ "Eat, Lady, eat, I pray." + + _Bird._ "Where has your master gone to-day?" + + _Kibaraka._ "Gone to the mosque to read and pray." + + _Bird._ "My greetings to the Sultan give + When he returns. Long may he live." + +At that it flew away. + +On the next day and the day after the bird came again and sung the same +song. + +Till one day Kibaraka told his young master Hasani, "Master, every day +at one o'clock, when you are at the mosque, a lovely bird comes here." + +Hasani asked, "What kind of bird is this?" + +Kibaraka said, "All ordinary wonders are surpassed by this bird, for it +sings a very beautiful song," and he told his master of the song. + +At these words the Sultan's son perceived that this bird was of the +daughters of the Jins, and he fell in love with her. + +Then he said to Kibaraka, "See here, I have given you your freedom, you +are no longer a slave, and now you must catch this bird for me." + +After that Hasani was seized with a grievous illness because of his +longing for that bird till, on the third day at one o'clock, the Sultan +went out to look for all the wisest of the medicine men to attend to his +son. + +Whilst he was gone that bird came and sat by the grain and called, +"Kibaraka! Kibaraka!" + +Kibaraka cut a thin pole and made a noose at the end and set it near the +bullrush millet, the grain the bird loved best. + +When it had finished eating all the seeds it wished to fly away, but +one of its wings caught in the noose. + +Then it said to Kibaraka, "Please let me go and do not touch me, for you +will injure me. Take this feather of mine and carry it to your master, +and let it be my salaams to him." + +So Kibaraka brought the feather to the Sultan's son. Hasani was very +pleased. Then he said to him, "Kibaraka, my brother, why did not you +catch the owner of this feather?" + +Kibaraka said, "I was not able to catch it. When I saw it I fell down +seven times because of its light, and my wisdom forsook me." + +When the Sultan returned, his son said to him, "My father, you must +sound the pallaver-horn, that all the people may come before the +palace." The Sultan loved his son exceedingly, so he gathered all his +people together. Then Hasani said, "Tell the people that they must look +for this bird and bring it to me, and if they do not bring it I shall +die." So the Sultan gave out the order, "There is no leave to weave or +spin, to grind corn or pound grain, until this bird has been brought." + +At once all the people of that country went out into the jungles and +deserts to look for that bird. Every one who found a fine bird would +seize it and bring it to the Sultan's son, but to each he said, "This is +not the one." + +Till one day, as people were sitting in the Sultan's court holding a +pallaver, just after one o'clock had struck, they looked up and saw a +dustcloud coming like rain. + +Behold, it was that bird coming, and Kibaraka recognised its coming. + +When it came it sat down by the grain and ate all the seeds till, as it +came to the last, Kibaraka caught it and brought it to his master. When +Hasani looked on that bird, behold, it was a beautiful woman. + +He said, "Kibaraka, run quickly, go your way to the audience chamber and +tell my father that he must fire the cannons, for the thing I desired +has come to pass, and the request I made of Allah has been granted." + +So Kibaraka came and told the Sultan, and the cannons were fired, and +wedding festivities and feastings were held for nine years. + +After that Hasani and the fair Jin had a child, a boy like pearls and +precious stones. + +And Hasani loved his wife exceedingly, and the people of that country +saw wonders come to pass, for the second son was like the stars and the +moon. + +The house of that Sultan was greatly blessed, and the story ends here. + +[Illustration: AFRICAN OKAPI] + + + + +XI + +THE STORY OF THE FOOLS + + +Once upon a time there lived a man called Omari and his wife, and they +had a very fine fat black ox. So fat was this ox that all the young men +in the village wanted to eat it, but Omari would not part with it. + +Till one day he went away on a journey; then they thought, "Now we will +be able to get that ox and have a feast, for his wife is a great fool." + +So twenty men set out and came to the house of that woman, Omari's wife, +and they knocked on the door. + +"Hodi!" + +And she replied, "Come near." + +So they went in and told that woman, "We have had a vision, and in that +vision we saw that you were going to have a child, a beautiful boy, who +will be rich and clever, and will marry the daughter of the Wazir." + +Now when the woman heard this she was wondrously pleased, for she had no +child. + +Then these men said, "There was, in our dream, the sacrifice of a black +ox, before this came to pass." + +So she said, "Take my ox and sacrifice him, that the vision may come +true." + +They replied, "Shall we kill him, though, while your husband is away?" + +She said, "Take him, yes, take him, for my husband will be only too +pleased when he knows for what purpose the ox has been slain; and he, +too, desires a son." + +So the youths took away the ox and killed it and feasted and made merry. + +After three days the husband returned, and when he did not see his ox in +its stall he asked his wife, "Where is the ox?" + +She said to him, "It has been slaughtered." + +"Why?" + +She replied, "Men came who had dreamed a dream that we should have a +beautiful male child of great good fortune, and as the sacrifice of a +black ox was necessary to bring it true, I gave ours to them." + +Omari then said to his wife, "You are a fool. Now I am going out to +search for as great a fool as you are. If I cannot find any one who is +your equal in folly, I shall leave you; you will cease to be my wife." + +So Omari took his donkey and rode away till he came to the house of a +certain rich man, and this house had a verandah beneath it. Omari got +off his donkey, and as he stood there, a woman, one of the slaves of the +household, passed in, and said to him, "Master, where do you come from?" + +[Illustration: So Amari took his donkey and rode away.] + +Omari replied, "I come from the next world." + +Then was that slave very astonished, and she went upstairs to her +mistress and said to her, "There, below in the verandah, is a man who +comes from the next world." + +"Is that indeed so?" asked the mistress. + +"It is indeed true, and if you doubt me ask him yourself, for he is +there below," said the slave. + +So the mistress sent her slave down to call Omari up into the house, and +she came to him and said, "The mistress asks you to come upstairs." + +Omari replied, "I cannot come upstairs; I am afraid, because it is a +stranger's house." + +When the slave brought these words to her mistress, she herself came +down and called to Omari, "Do not be afraid; come upstairs; there is no +danger." + +So Omari went upstairs, and that woman asked him, "Master, where do you +come from?" + +Omari replied, "I come from the next world." + +"See," said the slave; "were not my words true?" + +Then was that mistress very amazed, and she asked him, "Why have you +left the next world?" + +"I have come to see my father," answered Omari. + +"My father, who is dead," said the woman; "have you met him there in the +next world?" + +"What is he called, and what is he like?" said Omari. + +"He is called so-and-so, son of so-and-so," said the woman, and she +described to him his appearance. + +Omari replied, "I have seen him." + +"And how is he?" + +At that Omari put on an air of grief and shook his head and sighed. + +"Oh, tell me, what is the matter with my father?" asked the woman. + +Omari replied, "He is in great trouble. He has no money or clothes or +food. Oh, his state is very bad!" + +When that woman heard these words she wept. Then she asked Omari, "When +do you return to the next world?" + +"I return to-morrow. First, I must see my father, who is still alive, +and then I go back." + +"Will you see my father when you return?" + +"Most certainly," said Omari. "Do I not live next door to him?" + +"Then," said that woman, "you must take him a present from me." + +So she went into an inner room and took out a bag of a thousand dollars, +and clothes, and a robe, and turbans, and came and gave them to Omari, +and said, "Take these and give them to my father, and say that they are +from his daughter, Binti Fatima." + +Then she went in and brought out another bag and said, "Take these +hundred dollars; they are a present for you, as you are taking these +things for my father." + +So Omari gathered up the bags of money and the clothes and left that +woman, and mounted his donkey and rode away. + +He had only just left when the husband of that woman in the house +returned home. He noticed that his wife was very joyful, so he asked +her, "My wife, why are you so glad to-day?" + +She said to him, "A man has just been here who has come from the next +world, and he has met my father there in great trouble. So I have given +him a thousand dollars and clothes to take to my father. That is why I +am so happy; for now the spirit of my father will be very pleased with +us, and it will bring us great good fortune." + +Now that man saw that his wife had been fooled, but he feared to say so, +in case his wife should tell him no more, and he wished to follow that +man and get the money back. + +So he said to her, "You are not a good wife, for when a man came from +the next world to tell you about your father you gave him an offering +to take back to him, but you never asked him about my father, or gave +him anything to take to him." + +Then the wife said, "Oh, forgive me, my husband, but as he has only just +left you may overtake him. He was riding a donkey, and he left by that +road." + +Then she described him. So the husband called for his horse, and the +wife ran in and brought out another bag of a thousand dollars, and as he +mounted she gave it to him, saying, "Take this, my husband, and give it +to him for your father, and if you gallop after him down that road you +will surely overtake him." + +Now Omari had ridden away on his donkey till he came to a plantation, +then he turned his head and saw, in the distance, the dust made by a +galloping horse. There was no one on that plantation except one male +slave, and so Omari said to him, "Do you see that dust? It is made by a +man of great violence. I am going to hide from him, and I advise you to +climb up into a coco-nut tree, lest he do you some harm. If he speaks to +you do not answer him, for it will only make him more angry." + +So that slave scrambled up a coco-nut palm as fast as he could, whilst +Omari hid himself and his donkey in a thicket close by. + +Presently the husband of the woman galloped up, and saw the slave +clambering up to the top of a tall coco-nut tree. + +He stopped and called out, "Have you seen a man riding a donkey pass +here?" + +The slave did not answer, but continued climbing higher and higher. He +asked him again and again, and the slave did not reply, but only made +more haste to get well out of reach. + +Then was that man very angry, and he got down from his horse and +divested himself of all his robes, except only an under-garment, and +placing them and the money on the ground, started climbing up after the +slave. + +Omari watched him from behind the thicket, and, when he had got well up +the tree, he came out and seized that man's money and clothes, as well +as those he already had, and then mounted his horse and galloped off. + +When that man came down from the tree he found all his clothes and his +money and his horse gone, and he was very ashamed. So he had to return +home wearing only a loin-cloth. + +When he came in his wife asked him, "My husband, why do you return naked +like that?" + +He was ashamed to tell her that he also had been fooled by that man, so +he said, "I met the man from the next world, who told me that my father +was in a very distressed condition, that he had no clothes, and was +dressed in rags. So when I heard that, I took off all my clothes and +gave them to that man to take to my father." + +Now Omari took all that money, and the clothes, and the horse, and came +back to his wife and told her, "I said that I would seek for a fool like +unto yourself, and if I did not find one that you would cease to be my +wife. Well, now I am content, for I have found two fools, each one more +foolish than you." + +So they lived together, Omari and his wife, and they spent the money and +were happy together. + +Here ends the story of the fools, the fool-wife, and the husband and +wife who were fooled. + + + + +XII + +THE HYAENA AND THE MOONBEAM + + +A hyaena went forth to drink water one day, and he came to a well and +stooped down to quench his thirst. Now where he stooped down there was a +moonbeam shining on the water. + +[Illustration: STRIPED HYAENA] + +The hyaena saw that moonshine there in the water and he thought it was a +bone. He tried to reach it, but he could not, so he said to himself, +"Now if I drink all this water I will get that bone which is at the +bottom." + +[Illustration: SPOTTED HYAENAS] + +So he drank and drank, and the water was not finished. So he drank and +drank again, till he was so full of water that he died. + + + + +XIII + +THE SULTAN'S SNAKE-CHILD + + +Once upon a time there was a Sultan and his Wazir, and those two men +were very rich with much wealth, but neither had a son. + +They took counsel together, "How will it be when we die? Who shall we +leave all this wealth to and we are without children?" + +The Sultan said to the Wazir, "We must go to a far country and look for +some wise man who will tell us what to do." + +[Illustration: Snake] + +So they went away, and wandered on and on for three years, till at last +they met an old woman, bent with the weight of many years. + +[Illustration: AT LAST THEY MET AN OLD WOMAN, BENT WITH THE WEIGHT OF +MANY YEARS.] + +That woman said to them, "My grandsons, I know what you have come for." + +Then she sank down to the bottom of a big lake, and when she came up +again out of the water she brought in her hands two charms, which were +two slimy roots; one for the Sultan and one for the Wazir. And she said, +"Take these, and when you return home you will find that your wish has +already been accomplished; but to these charms I give you there are +conditions attached. When you arrive in your town, you must tell no man +about it, and take heed that in the way you neither chirrup nor look +back." + +Then she shook her withered hand and said, "It has taken you three years +to come; you will return in one month. Farewell." + +Then the Sultan and the Wazir set off home. + +In the way the Wazir said, "Allah be praised that our wish has been +granted." The Sultan, forgetting the old woman's warning, chirruped, as +much as to say, "I will believe when I see." + +After one month they came to the gate of their town, and as they entered +the cannons sounded and the news spread forth, "There is an heir in the +palace of the Sultan, and there is an heir in the house of the Wazir." + +The Wazir returned to his house swiftly, and there he found a most +beautiful boy. + +The Sultan came to the palace, and there he found a snake. + +When he heard that the Wazir had a lovely child he was very pleased, and +he used to go every day to the Wazir's house to see that child, but he +told his people to throw that snake out of the palace. + +Now there was a slave girl in the palace called Mizi, and when she saw +them taking that snake to throw it in the river she said, "Give me that +snake, that I may bring him up as my child." + +So Mizi took that snake and wore him round her neck till he grew, and +then she came to the Sultan and said, "Build me a grass hut, that I may +live there with my child, the snake." + +So a hut was built for her, and she stayed there by herself with that +snake. She took her cooking pots there, and cooked food for herself and +the snake. Every day she fed that snake, and it grew and grew, till at +last it filled up the whole hut. + +Then that snake said to Mizi, "Go and tell the Sultan that his little +snake wants a stone house of seven storeys in which to live. He must +look for craftsmen who are not afraid, to come and build the house, and +what they ask must be given them." + +So Mizi came and told those words to the Sultan, and craftsmen who had +no fear were sought for. They came and built a house of seven storeys in +the space of seven days, and the wages they asked for were given them. + +When the house was finished, they said, "Go and tell the little snake +that the house is ready." + +Then Mizi and the snake moved into that house and lived there. Till one +day the snake said to Mizi, "Go and look for a sage who will teach me +learning, but he must be master of his heart and unafraid. He must come +of his own free will." + +So she went and sought a man of learning, but every one she asked to +come replied, "I am not going so as to be swallowed whole by that +snake." + +At last she found a sage who said, "I will go, for I see that Mizi lives +with this snake and is not devoured, so why should I be eaten?" + +So that professor came and taught the snake learning of every kind, and +when he had finished he went to the Sultan and received the pay he asked +for. + +So the snake and Mizi lived together, till one day that snake said to +her, "Now you must go and look for a wife for me; but she must come of +her own free will, and what money she wants she must have." + +So a wife for the snake was sought for in all the land, but none was +found; all said, "Who wants to go and be swallowed whole by a big +snake?" + +Now in that country was a very poor man who had seven daughters. When +the news came to them all refused, till the seventh and youngest was +asked, and she replied, "We are very poor; I will go and be eaten by +that snake. What matter?" + +So that girl was taken and decked out with pearls and precious stones +and clothes of silk, and then Mizi was called and told, "This is the +wife of your master, the snake. Take her." + +So Mizi took her and brought her to the snake, and he said, "Arrange +everything for her comfort." + +When night had come, Mizi slept with that girl till, when twelve o'clock +came, that snake came out from inside his skin. He put on wooden +sandals and went to the bathroom and made his ablutions. When he had +finished washing he took his prayer mat and spread it out and prayed and +read the Koran. + +After that he came and sat near that girl and looked at her and said, +"My wife is beautiful; she has beautiful eyes, lovely ears and long +straight hair. Hhum! Poor me, who am a snake. Sleep, my beautiful wife." + +Then he entered his skin again and slept. + +Seven days passed in this way, and on the eighth Mizi said to that girl, +"I will fasten a thread to your thumb; when I pull it open your eyes and +look at him." + +That night, at twelve o'clock, the snake came out of his skin, and then +Mizi pulled the thread and that girl awoke and opened her eyes and saw a +wondrously handsome Arab youth: in all that country there was no youth +so handsome as that son of the Sultan. + +The snake went to the bathroom and made his ablutions, and then returned +and prayed and read the Koran. + +At the time of the before dawn breezes he came and looked at his wife +and then returned to his skin. When dawn came Mizi and that girl took +counsel together, and then Mizi went to the Sultan and said to him, +"Give me three tins of oil and ten maunds of firewood." + +When she had got them she had them brought to the house. + +Then she said to that girl, "Now we must dig a pit here in the other +room." + +So they dug a pit and put in it the firewood and then poured the oil +over it. + +That night they watched till after midnight. When the youth went to the +bathroom they got up and seized on the skin and tried to drag it into +the pit, but it was too heavy for them. So they exerted all their +strength, till at last they managed to drag it into the pit. After that +they set fire to the wood and the oil. + +When its owner in the bathroom heard the skin crackling he ran in and +said to Mizi, "What have you done, taking away my clothes to put in the +fire?" Then he fell down, and did not regain consciousness till three +o'clock next day, for that youth did not know the world outside of his +skin. + +When he recovered Mizi cooked porridge for him, and when he had eaten +it he said to Mizi, "Go to the Sultan and tell him to make offerings, +nine shells full of alms; for the day after to-morrow I will go out." + +So Mizi went with the news to the Sultan, but he replied, "Go back and +get eaten by that snake. We do not want any more of your folly; for you +have taken the poor man's daughter and brought her to the snake, and she +has already been swallowed up. Now you in your turn will be eaten, and +to-day, I suppose, you have come to take leave of us." + +Mizi returned and said to that youth, "He will not give the offering." + +He replied, "Then leave him; he who has had no luck does not trust to +luck. On Friday I will come forth by the power of Allah, alone." + +When Friday came he decked his horse with pearls and precious stones and +rode off to the mosque to pray amongst all the people; but the Sultan +did not know that it was his son. + +Then Mizi came forth and trilled and shouted for joy, and told every one +in the mosque: "Look at me to-day, for it is to-day that my son, the +snake, has come to life." + +Many people thought that Mizi had gone mad. When the Sultan had finished +praying he came forth, and Mizi said to him, "To-day my child has come +forth." + +The Sultan said, "Peace be upon you;" and he followed that youth on his +horse and knew that it was his son, and rejoiced greatly. + +He said to his slaves, "Run to the palace, spread out diamonds and +cushions, carpets and mats; do not leave anything of any value, but +spread everything out." + +Then was the wedding of that girl, the poor man's daughter, and the +snake held with great festivity. So that snake and Mizi lived happily, +and he loved her as if she had been his own mother. When he became +Sultan he gave the kingdom to her, he gave Mizi what spoke and what did +not speak; it became her country, because she had nurtured that snake +from its infancy until it became a full-grown man of wisdom. + +Now this story comes from the Sultan and his Wazir. + + + + +XIV + +THE POOR MAN AND HIS WIFE OF WOOD + + +Once upon a time there was a poor man who used to beg. One day he sat +thinking to himself, "I am a poor man and have no wife. When I go out +begging there is no one to come back to in my house or to cook my food +for me whilst I am away." + +So he went out to the forest and cut down a tree and carved out of it a +woman of wood, and when he had finished he decorated her with jewels and +necklaces of wood, and then brought her back to his house. + +Then that tree turned into a woman, and he called her Mwanamizi, the +child of a root, and he lived with her many days. Till one day, when +that poor man had gone forth to beg, a slave girl ran out from the +palace of the Sultan in search of a brand with which to light the fire. + +She came and knocked at the poor man's door, and when she got no answer +she entered and went into the kitchen, and there she saw a lovely woman +decked out with pearls and jewels. She went running back to the Sultan +and said to him, "I have just seen the most wondrously beautiful woman +in the house of that beggar who lives near us." + +The Sultan then ordered his soldiers, "Go to fetch the wife of the +beggar, that I may see if the words of this slave are true or false." + +So they went and took Mwanamizi and brought her to the palace. When the +Sultan saw her he thought her very beautiful. + +So he said, "This woman is too beautiful for a beggar. I will take her +for my wife." + +Now when that poor man returned from begging he could not find his wife; +then the neighbours told him, "The woman has been taken by the Sultan to +his palace." + +So he threw down his bag and went round to the palace, and rushed in +before the Sultan and asked him, "Where is my wife whom you have taken?" + +The Sultan replied, "Get out of my sight, you foolish fellow, or I will +order my soldiers to beat you." + +Then he said, "If you will not give me back my wife, take off my +ornaments which she is wearing and return them to me, that I may go." + +At that the Sultan called his soldiers and had him turned out of the +palace. + +After that the poor man went under the Sultan's window and sang-- + + "Oh listen, master, unto me: + My wife I carved from yonder tree; + I carved her well, with zeal untold, + And decked her out with fetters gold. + These ornaments and jewels fine, + Oh, give them back, for they are mine; + And, Mwanamizi, let me go." + +When the woman heard the poor man's song she was bathed in tears. + +The Sultan then said to her, "Take off those silly ornaments and throw +them to him, that he may go away. I will give you things tenfold more +fine and rare." + +The woman did not want to take off those things. + +The poor man sang again-- + + "Oh listen, master, unto me: + I carved my wife from yonder tree." + +Then the woman took off her ornaments and threw them down to him, +saying-- + + "The ornaments are thine, + The golden fetters fine; + Take them, oh, take them, + Makami, and go." + +She cried then very much, and took off all her things, till there was +left a single charm round her neck. + +The Sultan said, "Take off all his ornaments quickly and throw them to +him, that he may go." But Mwanamizi did not want to take off that charm, +for it was her soul. Then the poor man sang again, and Mwanamizi +unfastened the charm from her neck and threw it to him, and at that +moment she turned into a tree there in the house of the Sultan. + +[Illustration: "AT THAT MOMENT SHE TURNED INTO A TREE"] + +The poor man sighed and went back to his house, but the Sultan in his +palace was seized with great fear. + +The telling of the story ends here. + + + + +XV + +BINTI ALI THE CLEVER + + +Once upon a time there was a Sultan and his Wazir, and that Sultan had +seven children, all sons, and that Wazir had seven children, all +daughters. + +[Illustration: Seven sons] + +Those daughters of the Wazir had no mother; their mother had died, and +they were very poor. + +The sons of the Sultan used to laugh at the daughters of the Wazir, +saying, "You poor people, what do you eat? It is our father who pays +your father his wages, and how do they suffice for you seven people who +are in one house? You poor creatures, you have not even a brother to +help you." + +Now those girls used to plait baskets and sell them. They lived for many +days like that, their work being to cry every day, and when they came +out of school they used to plait and sell their baskets. Till one day +the youngest daughter, who was called Binti Ali, was sitting with her +father, and she said to him, "What advice have you to give us, father?" + +Her father asked her, "Why, my child?" + +She said to him, "We are only seven girls; we have neither husbands nor +brothers. Should anything happen to you, who will be our headman? +Father, you must arrange to have a ship built for me, and it must be +ready in the space of three years." + +Her father said, "All this wealth, where shall I get it from, that I may +build a ship?" + +She answered him, "God, the merciful, will provide." + +In the morning the Wazir arose and went to the Sultan and said to him, +"Give me help, for my youngest child wants a vessel built for her." + +The Sultan brought out nine lakhs of rupees and gave them to his Wazir. +Then the Wazir sought for workmen, and told them to build a ship and +have it ready in three years' time. + +Now that child, Binti Ali, was very beautiful, more beautiful than all +her sisters. Many men had come to seek her in marriage, but she had +refused them, saying, "I am poor; my father has not wealth to suffice +for my wedding." + +At the end of three years the ship was ready, and her father called her, +"Eh, my child, Binti Ali." And she answered him, "Lebeka, father," which +means "Here I am" in the language of to-day; but long, long ago, Lebek +was the name of the god worshipped by the Phoenicians at the temple of +Baal-lebek (Bal bek). + +Her father said to her, "Your ship is finished and ready for you." + +So she went to see it, and found that it was built in a wondrously fine +way. When she returned she said to her father, "Now you must find me a +captain and sailors, and you must put on the vessel enough food to last +three years." + +So he found a crew for her, and provisioned the ship and returned. Then +she said, "Father, now you must buy for me fine raiment, a sultan's +turban, a shirt and coat, and a sword and dagger. Also you must get for +me sandals of gold braid and two men's gold rings." + +So her father searched for one hour and half a second, and then returned +and said, "My child, the things you want are ready." + +Then he asked her, "My child, where are you going to? Tell me." + +She said, "Father, have you no understanding? I am going to the country +of the Sultan Makami." + +Her father said to her, "My child, you are already lost. Do you not know +that a woman may not go to the country of Sultan Makami? Any other than +a male who enters the country is put to death." + +Binti Ali said to him, "Father, have you no wits, you, a full-grown man, +who rule all this land? Do you not see that all these clothes which you +have bought for me are men's clothes? I want to go and see Makami's +country." + +Her father said, "I do not approve of this journey you are setting out +upon." + +His daughter replied, "What becomes of me is in the hands of God." + +Then she entered the bathroom and washed herself, and when she came out +she was dressed as a man. Now that girl had wisdom more than all her +sisters, and she was well read in the Koran. + +She took her dog, whose name was Atakalo, and she entered the ship and +set sail. + +She travelled day and night for three years, and there in the midst of +the ocean she taught her dog till it attained great learning. + +At the end of the third year she drew near to the country of Sultan +Makami, and she ordered a salute to be fired, and the people on land +replied also with a salute. + +When her vessel drew near, the Sultan's son rowed out to meet her. He +climbed on board, and there he saw a handsome Arab youth sitting on the +deck. + +Binti Ali arose, and they greeted one another after the fashion of men: +"Peace be with you," "And with you peace." + +She went ashore with that son of the Sultan, and they came to the +palace. + +When they came to the palace he said to his father, the Sultan, "How +shall we see that this is a man and not a woman? Let us give him very +hot gruel, and if it is a woman she will not be able to drink it, and +then we will kill her." + +So they ordered food to be brought, and slaves were told: "Take matting +and platters, and very big trays and cups of gold, and place them ready +for the feast." + +When the food was ready they brought gruel for that foreign youth to +drink, and it was very hot. + +Binti Ali took it and threw it away, saying, "Am I a woman, that you +bring me cold gruel like that?" + +So they prepared fresh gruel, steaming hot, and gave it to her, and she +said, "Ah, that is more fit for a Sultan's son to drink." + +So she put it beside her, and her dog Atakalo blew on it, so that it +quickly cooled, and she drank it. + +Very good food was then brought, and they fed, and she returned to her +ship. + +The Sultan then said, "To-morrow we must take this foreigner to my store +of jewels and ornaments, and if it be a woman we will surely see, for +she will take delight in women's jewellery." + +All night long Binti Ali taught Atakalo what he should do, and in the +morning the Sultan's son came to fetch her. + +He said, "My father says that I am to take you to his store and show you +his treasures." + +So they went to the Sultan's treasure-house, where they showed her neck +chains and nose pendants, anklets and bracelets, women's gold rings and +ear ornaments. + +She said, "Have you in this country no men's ornaments, that you should +show me nothing but women's jewellery?" + +So they brought her to the next store, wherein were gold-hilted daggers +and all manner of arms, swords and pistols, guns and muskets. These she +admired, and meanwhile Atakalo went and swallowed all the gold ornaments +he could find and took them to the ship, till he had brought much wealth +aboard. + +Then the Sultan's son said to his father, "Now what shall we do, so +that we may kill her if she is a woman?" + +So the Sultan said, "Make him take off his turban, and then we will +surely see by the manner in which he ties it whether it is a woman or +not." + +So the Sultan's son said, "Now will you not wash?" + +Binti Ali said, "Thank you, I have already bathed on board." + +So he said, "If it is only your face, I beseech you to wash." + +So she said, "Certainly; but first you and your father must wash." + +So they took off their turbans and began to wash, when suddenly there +was a shout from outside: "The Sultan's house is on fire." + +Behold, that dog Atakalo had brought a brand and set fire to the palace. +Then the Sultan and his son and all the people in his house rushed out, +with their turbans in their hands, to see what was the matter and help +put out the flames. + +Binti Ali went down swiftly to her ship and got on board, and meanwhile +Atakalo had run round and bored a hole in the bottom of every boat and +ship in the Sultan's harbour. Then Atakalo came back to her vessel and +said, "Mistress, I have finished." + +[Illustration: Seven daughters] + +So she weighed anchor and changed into her woman's clothes. The Sultan +and his son and all the people, when they saw that she was sailing off, +rushed down to the beach and tried to row out and stop her, but every +boat they launched sunk; and so they were not able to get to her. + +Then they saw her come up on the deck. + +Then, changing her clothes as a woman, she sings-- + + "Makami, behold my bracelets and rings. + See my anklets, Makami. Aha, behold! + See the chain for my neck of beautiful gold. + Behold now my ear-rings and nose-stud see. + Lola, Makami, lola, look well at me. + I'm Binti Ali, the Wazir's daughter; + I came, Makami, from over the water. + We are seven in all, the last born am I. + Farewell, Makami, for I bid you good-bye. + Lola, Makami, lola, farewell." + +Then she said to the captain, "Set sail, and let us return home." + +When she arrived home there in her town her father and sisters were +holding a great mourning for her, for they said, "Our youngest one has +now been away many years; surely she must be dead." + +When they saw her their hearts were very glad, and a feast was made for +her for the space of three days. And the riches she brought with her, +which her dog Atakalo had taken from the Sultan's treasure house, were +brought to land; and when he saw them her father rejoiced greatly. + +After a space of ten days she said to her father, "I know that Sultan +Makami's son is making a plan to get me. If he comes here and asks for +me in marriage, do not refuse him, but agree. My cleverness, which I +have in my heart, is that which will save me." + +One day the Sultan of Makami's son arrived, and came to the Wazir and +said, "I want your daughter, Binti Ali, in marriage." + +So the Wazir agreed. + +Binti Ali took a large pumpkin and filled it with honey and placed it on +her bed, and she herself got under the bed. + +That night the Sultan of Makami's son came into her room and said, "Ee, +woman," and she replied, "Lebeka, master." + +Then he said, "You, woman, you think that you can come to our country +and cheat us, pretending that you are a man. Behold, to-day is your +last, so make profession of faith quickly, so that you may be prepared +for death." + +Binti Ali said, "I testify there is no God but one God, and Muhammad is +the prophet of God." + +So he drew his sword and struck a blow which cut the pumpkin in two, and +then he went out quickly and got on his ship and sailed away. When he +came to look at his sword, to wipe the blood off, he found no blood, but +only honey stuck all over it. + +[Illustration: Resting camel] + +This is the end of the story. The tale comes from the Wazir and his +daughter, the last born, who was called Binti Ali the Clever. + + + + +XVI + +SEGU THE HONEY-GUIDE + + +Segu is the honey-guide. His work is that he lives in the forest and +flies about looking for bees' nests, and when he finds one he goes to +look for men. When he finds them he says, "Che! che! che! che!" until +those sons of men look up and say, "Ah, there is Segu. Let us go with +him that he may show us honey." + +So these people follow Segu, who flies in front from tree to tree +saying, "Che! che! che! che!" + +When he comes to that tree where the honey is he flies round, saying, +"Che! che! che! che!" very fast, and then he goes and sits by himself. + +Then these men come to the tree and look up and see where the bees' nest +is; so they climb up with their axe and cut a hole and get out the +honey. + +They take that honey and are very pleased, but a little of it they leave +for Segu as his share. + +On these people going away, Segu comes out and finds the honey which +they have left him; so he sits and eats and fills himself, and arises +and flies away. This is, indeed, Segu's manner of living. + +Another day Segu sees a lion asleep, and he looks for people, and when +he finds them he twitters and says, "Che! che! che! che!" + +Then these people follow him thinking, "To-day Segu is going to show us +much honey." + +They follow him up there to where the lion is lying, and when they +suddenly see him they are unable to stand, if there is running away to +be done instead. + +The lion frightens these people, so they run swiftly away, saying, +"To-day Segu has done evil; every day he shows us honey, and to-day he +comes to show us a lion." + +That is all. + + + + +XVII + +LILA AND FILA + + +There were once upon a time two poor children, one was called Lila and +one was called Fila, and they were great friends. + +Fila said one day to Lila, "Our mothers are poor; what can we do for a +living, my friend? We have no money with which to repay them for the +kindness they have shown towards us. We have now become full-grown lads, +and have not yet earned any money to give them. I propose that we set +out on a journey and see what we can find." + +[Illustration: Lila and Fila] + +Lila agreed to the words of his friend, and so each one went to his +mother and said to her, "Mother, make me seven ladu-cakes, for I am +going on a journey to a very far country." + +And each mother replied, "Where are you going, my beloved child?" + +Lila's mother said to him, "Do not go with Fila." + +Lila answered, "I am not able to leave my friend Fila for half a +second." + +His mother said, "It is he that will leave you, and it is you that will +be lost." + +He replied, "If a man is lost for the sake of his friend it is well." + +So they had each one seven ladu-cakes made for him, and each one took a +gourd of water, and on the next day they set out. + +After they had gone a day's journey Fila said to Lila, "Bring out one of +your ladus, that we may break and eat it. We will eat yours first, and +when they are finished then will we eat mine." + +So they ate one of Lila's ladus. On the second day they did likewise, +and on the next and the next day, until, on the seventh day, all Lila's +ladus were finished. + +On the eighth day Lila said to Fila, "Bring out one of your ladus, my +friend, that we may break and eat it, for all mine are now finished, and +hunger is hurting me." + +Fila replied, "You must give me that Kanzu shirt of yours first, and +then I will give you a share of my ladu." + +So Lila took off his Kanzu and gave it to Fila, and then Fila broke off +a bit from one of his ladus and gave it to him. + +On the next day Lila said, "My friend, I am hungry; bring out the second +of your ladus, that we may eat it." + +Fila replied, "To-day if I am to give you some of my ladu you must give +me your vest." + +So Lila took off his vest and gave it to Fila, and received a piece of +ladu for it. + +On the next and the next day it was the same, till, on the twelfth day, +Fila had taken away all Lila's clothes. + +On the thirteenth day, when Lila asked for some ladu, Fila said, "You +must let me put out one of your eyes if you are to have any ladu +to-day." + +Lila replied, "I cannot refuse, for I am very hungry." + +So Fila put out one of his friend's eyes, and Lila said nothing; he put +all his misfortunes in the hand of God. + +On the fourteenth day Lila said to Fila, "My friend, have you not +treated me evilly? Have you not done wrong? I left my mother to follow +you, my friend, and you have deceived me. You have eaten my ladus till +they were finished, and now you have taken all my clothes and put out my +eye. Will you not to-day give me a piece of your ladu?" + +Fila said, "Yes, I will give you a piece of ladu if you agree to me +putting out your other eye." + +Lila said to him, "Go on, put out my other eye." + +So Fila put out his other eye, and then he sat him down under a tree and +put his gourd of water and a piece of ladu beside him and went his way, +leaving his friend blind and naked in the road. + +Lila sat there awhile, and then he ate his piece of ladu, drank his +water, gave praise to God and then slept. + +When it was midnight two birds came and perched on the tree, one on one +side and one on the other. + +The first said, "Eh, my friend, I have a song which I will sing." + +The other asked, "What song will you sing?" + +Then the first bird looked down and said, "Look, there is a human asleep +underneath." + +The other said, "Oh, that son of Adam is lying just where those jars of +money are buried; just opposite him is the tree whose roots are medicine +for mad people, and he is leaning against the eye medicine tree." + +Then they flew away; but Lila heard these words, and he groped and took +some of the bark of that tree and rubbed it on his eyes, and behold, he +could see; both his eyes were whole. + +Then he went to the other tree and dug up some of the roots, and after +that he dug down where he had been lying and found jars of money. He +took a little money, and the rest he covered up and left. + +Next day he took the road and journeyed on, and that day he arrived at a +town, and there he heard the news that the daughter of the Sultan had +been seized with madness. + +He was told, "No one is allowed to come to this country unless he knows +how to make medicine for the Sultan's daughter. This is now the seventh +year since she became mad, and the Sultan has made a vow that he who +cures her will marry her, and he who does not cure her will be killed." + +So Lila entered that town, and he was at once taken before the Sultan, +who asked him, "Can you cure my child?" + +He replied, "Master, I do not know medicines, but I will try." + +So he was taken in to the Sultan's daughter through seven doors, and he +saw her where she had been put. She was fastened with chains on hands +and feet. + +He gave her of that medicine, and immediately she became cured. + +Then the Sultan ordered a feast to be prepared, and he married Lila to +his daughter. He himself descended from the throne and put Lila in his +place. So Lila became the Sultan of that town. + +One day, as he looked out of the palace window, he saw a man passing, +and when he came near he recognised that it was his friend Fila. + +He told his soldiers to fetch him and bring him before him. + +When Fila was brought he said to him, "My friend, do you not recognise +me?" + +Fila replied, "I do not know you." + +Then Lila said, "Is it not I whose eyes you put out?" + +Then Fila was very afraid, and said, "Then it is you who will now put +out mine." + +Lila ordered his soldiers, "Take him out, put out his eyes and leave him +in the way." + +So they took him out and did as they were bid. After three days they +went to look for him and found that he had died. + +Lila and Fila, it was not possible for them to mix together, and even +to-day, if there are two people who cannot agree, or two things which +cannot go together, it is said of them: "They are like Lila and Fila." + + + + +XVIII + +THE STORY OF THE HUNTERS AND THE BIG SNAKE + + +Long ago there lived some hunters who one day took their bows and arrows +and went with their dogs to hunt in the forest. + +And those hunters walked very far, looking for game, and they caught +some animals, and then a very heavy rain fell upon them. So they looked +for a place in which they could sit and take shelter until the rain was +over, and they found a very big tree with a large hollow in it. Then +those hunters and their dogs entered into that tree and sat down. Now +that hole in the tree belonged to a large snake, and that snake had gone +out to look for game. + +[Illustration: Hunters] + +The snake hunted and did not find any game, so it returned home hungry +and annoyed. When it got near its hole it heard the voices of men +talking in its house. + +That snake was very surprised, and said to itself, "Who can it be +talking in my house?" Then it said in a loud voice, "Who speaks there in +my house?" + +Those men inside were astonished, and asked one another, "Who can that +be talking outside?" + +Before they could answer, or look outside, the snake itself arrived at +the entrance and blocked the way out. Then it said, "What sort of people +are you to come and sit in my house? This is my house in which I sit by +myself. Answer me quickly what you mean by going into it?" + +Those men answered, "Please, sir, we have come from our village looking +for game. We went very far and only caught some small animals, and then +it rained very hard, so we came in here to escape the rain. We did not +know that it was your house. Now we have nothing to say; we only ask +your leave to go out. If you say 'go out' we will go our way at once." + +The snake said, "You have no leave to go out." + +Then those men asked, "Then what do you wish us to do?" + +The snake said, "What you must do is that you must at once give that +game you have caught to your dogs to eat, that they may get fat. Then +you must eat your dogs, so that you become very fat, and then I will eat +you." + +Those men said, "We are not able to eat dogflesh, master. If this is +indeed your house, perhaps you will eat us. No matter, it is the will of +Allah." + +Whilst they were talking thus to that big snake an elephant-nosed shrew +came out of the bush and heard them talking, and came near to the door +of the snake's house. + +Then he asked, "What does this snake say?" + +Those men said, "This snake is standing in the doorway and preventing us +from going out, and he tells us we must give our game to our dogs, and +then eat our dogs, that he may eat us. This is because we came to sit in +here to escape from the rain." + +The elephant-nosed shrew said, "Agree to what he says. When that snake +has eaten you and become very fat I will eat him." + +When that snake heard those words of the shrew it was very angry, and +chased the shrew, and the shrew ran off into the bush, and the snake +followed him very far, but did not catch him. + +Then those hunters were able to come forth from that hole and escape. So +they went out very quickly and ran back to their village. + +[Illustration: Hunters] + +When the snake came back to his house he found that those men had run +away. It was indeed the elephant-nosed shrew who had saved them. + + + + +XIX + +ALI OF THE CROOKED ARM + + +Long ago in olden days there was a country, and the Sultan of that +country had seven wives and the Wazir also had seven wives. + +And the seven wives of the Sultan had seven children, and the seven +wives of the Wazir had seven children, all boys. + +[Illustration: Ali Of The Crooked Arm] + +The seventh child of the Sultan had only one eye, but the seventh child +of the Wazir was wondrously beautiful. They called him Ali; but oh, +misfortune, one arm was crooked. + +Now all these fourteen children were brought up together till, by the +power of Allah, they grew up into youths. + +That seventh child of the Sultan, his companion was always Ali, the +seventh child of the Wazir. + +So those children grew up, and they were sent to school until they +finished learning. + +The Wazir's seventh child said to his father, "Buy me a white horse;" +and the Sultan's seventh son said to his father, "Buy me a white horse." + +So each one had a white horse given him with fine trappings. + +Then one day the crier was sent forth to beat his horn and proclaim, "On +Friday there is a meeting at the Sultan's. Every one must bring his +horse. There will be racing between the Sultan's son and the Wazir's +son." + +So people came with their horses, and the Wazir's son said, "I will go +first," and the Sultan's son said, "I will go first," till grown-up men +said, "Do not contend one against another like that." + +So the Sultan's son went first, and the Wazir's son followed behind him. +Then all who were present followed, every man on his horse, but the +horses of the Wazir's son and the Sultan's son leaped and soared like +kites, higher and higher. + +At half-past six o'clock they all returned safely. + +Next day Ali said to the Sultan's son, "Let us first go to the +plantation, and remain in the garden till four o'clock, and then let us +both go and play on horseback." + +So they went into the garden at noon and gathered pomegranates and ate. + +The Sultan's son said, "Let each one of us pluck a pomegranate and put +it in his pocket." + +So they each picked a pomegranate, but behold, in that one which Ali +took was living the Jin of Jehan, who carries off children from year to +year. + +After this they returned to the palace and found their horses already +saddled. + +They mounted, and the Wazir's son struck his horse with his whip, and it +soared over the clouds like a kite. And the Sultan's son followed his +companion, his horse leaping. He saw his friend soaring and flying away +in front till, as six o'clock struck, he saw him no more, so he returned +weeping and in great distress. + +Ali flew away on his horse till he found himself in the Jin's house, and +he lifted up his voice and cried, "Alas, I am already lost." + +That Jin sought a house, and told Ali, "Put your horse in here and +fasten it apart." + +On the second day he said to him, "Ali, do you see this big cooking-pot? +Your work will be to keep up the fire under it." + +On the third day the Jin gave into his hands all the keys of his house, +seven in all, and he said to him, "You may open this one room, but these +other six you may not open." + +The demon then set out to go and walk about, saying to Ali as he left, +"To-day I am going out to walk, and to-morrow I will return. You are to +look after this pot, but you must not lift the lid to see what is in +it." + +[Illustration: The Jin.] + +When the demon had gone Ali lifted up the lid to see what was in the +pot, and he saw human flesh stewing. + +Then Ali said to himself, "Ah! My father, the demon, eats human flesh." +Then he thought, "I, too, will be eaten. Whatever God wishes is best." +As he thought he played with a knife in his hand and cut his finger. + +In the evening the old demon returned and called out, "Hi, Ali!" and he +answered him, "Here, father." + +When he came to him the demon said, "Oh dog, what have you done to your +finger?" + +Ali said, "Father, why are you angry and speaking fiercely to me? I am +afraid." + +So the Jin said to him, "Come now, undo your finger that I may see." +Then he touched it and healed it up. + +They slept that night, and in the morning the Jin said to him, "Ali, I +am going out to walk about for the space of fourteen days, and then I +will return." + +Ali said to him, "Very good, father." + +When the Jin had gone Ali sat and thought out different plans, and he +said to himself, "My father, the demon, said that I must not open all +the rooms, but to-day I will open them and see what is in them." + +So he went and opened the first room, and saw an enormous horse, most +wondrously beautiful. + +When the horse saw Ali he neighed, and said to him, "What plan have you? +Father said good-bye to you like that, saying that he would return on +the fourteenth day, to deceive you. He will come back to eat you on the +eighth day." + +Then he said, "Go and open all the rooms, and then return here that I +may advise you." + +Ali went and opened the second room, and saw seven maidens, sitting each +one in a box and reading a Koran. Their hair was long and very +beautiful. + +Ali asked them, "How now?" + +Those maidens answered him, "We have been put here so that we may be +eaten together with you. We have been lost to our parents many years." + +He locked that room and went and opened the third. There he found swords +with jewelled hilts fighting in the air by themselves, and he was very +astonished. + +Ali locked up the third room again, and now there were three rooms he +had not yet opened. + +He opened the fourth room, and found it filled from top to bottom with +precious stones. Then he opened the fifth room, and found it full of +grain; this was the horse's food. + +He then went and unlocked the sixth room, and there he found the +horse's saddle and bridle, adorned with jewels, and he found seven +bottles; the first was full of sun, the second of rain, the third of +needles, the fourth of hail, the fifth of thorns, the sixth of mud, and +the seventh of sea. + +Then he returned to the horse's room, and when he saw Ali he neighed and +shook his head. + +The horse said to Ali, "We who are in this house are as if we were +already dead; we will all be eaten alike." + +Then he said, "Open the wheat store quickly, that I may eat, for the +time is nearly spent when that evil-disposed Jin will return." + +Ali went and brought a sack of grain and opened it, and the horse ate +and said, "Bring me a second sack, for I am not yet satisfied." + +He brought a second, and the horse ate and finished it, and said, "Bring +a third, for I am not yet full." + +So he ate a third sack, and then he said, "Bring a bucket of water, stir +it up with sugar, for that is the kind of water that I drink, and mix me +up another bucket with bhang." + +Then he said, "Now I am satisfied. Bring my saddle and the seven +bottles, and take bags and fill them with precious stones and fasten +them on quickly, that we may go." + +So Ali put all the valuables in the house in bags, and he took those +seven maidens and placed them in bags, and he saddled the horse and +fastened those bags on to him. + +Then the horse said, "Strap me up tight and with all your strength." + +So Ali strapped him up as tight as he could, till the horse said, "Stop +now; mount me for a little to try me." + +So Ali mounted and smacked him, and he soared up over the clouds. Then +he returned and said, "Now bring out another sack of grain, that I may +eat and be satisfied." + +So he gave him another sack, and then he said, "Now fasten another sack +of grain on to me, lest I grow hungry in the way." + +So Ali fastened on a sack of grain, and then the horse said, "Take a +crow-bar and dig there in the floor of the house." + +So Ali dug there and found more precious stones, and he put them in +bags, and brought them and fastened them to the saddle. + +Then the horse said, "Come on, Ali, mount me. We are going now, and +this advice I give you before we go. In the way we will meet with great +strife, so listen well, and do as I tell you." + +Then Ali mounted and smacked him, and the horse soared up over the +clouds, higher and higher. + +When they had gone a little way they met the Jin and a host of his +fellow demons, whom he had brought to feast on those eight people in his +house. One was taking an axe to chop up the meat, others carried +firewood and pots and water with which to cook the flesh. + +When those demons saw them they called out, "Look, there is the flesh +going off." + +The horse said to Ali, "Take the bottle of sun and break it." So Ali +broke it, and the sun shone on the demons and scorched them. + +But they pursued them, crying, "Our meat is going away, our meat is +going away." + +They ran after them, and as they came near the horse said, "Break the +bottle of rain." So Ali broke the bottle and rain poured on them, but +still they pursued. + +Ali looked round and said, "They are coming." So the horse said, "Break +the bottle of needles." + +Ali broke the bottle, and many got needles in their feet and could not +run quickly, but many escaped and came on swiftly, crying, "Hi there! Hi +there! our meat is escaping." + +Then the horse said, "Break the bottle of hail." So Ali broke the +bottle, and the hail poured down on them, and knocked many of them over, +but they got up again and ran on. + +The horse said, "Break the bottle of thorns." So Ali broke the bottle, +and the thorns got in their feet and delayed many of them, but the rest +came on. Ali called out, "There they come," and the horse said, "Break +the bottle of mud." + +So he broke the bottle, and the demons went slipping and falling about +in the mud till they got across it, and still pursued them. + +Then the horse said, "Break the bottle of sea." So Ali broke the bottle, +and the demons rushed into the sea, where many were drowned, and the +rest were unable to cross and turned back. + +The horse flew across to the opposite side and alighted, and said to +Ali, "Let us rest here now that we have crossed safely." + +Then he said, "Take out the sack of grain, for hunger is paining me." + +So Ali gave him the grain, and he ate till he could eat no more, and he +did not finish it, because he was so tired. + +Then he said, "When we have nearly arrived, stand in the midst of the +way, that I may give you advice." + +Ali replied to him, "Very good, father." + +After that they went on till they were nearly at their journey's end, +and then Ali stood still in the middle of the way, and the horse stood +still and said to Ali, "The first counsel I give you, that you must +take it to heart, is that when you arrive home you must speak to no one +for the space of seven days. If you want to do anything, first ask me, +that I may advise you whether to do it or not; and if you want to marry +a wife and place her in your house, you must first ask me. + +"And if, when you arrive home, you want to walk abroad, you must first +ask me, for I know all things great and small. If you walk out without +telling me, that Jin of Jehan will take you; you will return home no +more." + +Ali replied, "It is well, father; I have heard." + +Then they journeyed on and went their way. + +At three o'clock the people of that town saw a dust coming. + +There in the Wazir's house the Wazir himself was on the roof looking +out, and his middle son was there with him upstairs; he and his father +were looking out at that road by which Ali had been lost to them. + +That Wazir, his hair covered his face, as he had not cut it, and he +could not see for weeping for his son. + +Then the people of that town saw a wondrously big horse soaring and +soaring like a kite. + +Ali entered the town, but he spoke to no one. + +The door of his house had been left open since the day he had set out, +and he passed in, he and the horse, but he spoke to no one, and there +were great rejoicings at his return. + +Ali stayed for the space of seven days, neither speaking to any one, nor +drinking water, nor bathing, for fear of being bewitched by that Jin. If +he wanted food it was the horse who brought it to him, and if he wanted +water it was the horse who gave it to him. + +When the eighth day came there was a big festival at the Wazir's and at +the Sultan's, for the child who had been dead was alive, he who had been +lost to sight was restored to view. + +If Ali wanted to walk out it was necessary for him first to take counsel +of the horse. On the tenth day Ali brought all his riches downstairs and +filled ninety-nine store-rooms full. + +So Ali lived, he did not marry nor did he want a wife, and those seven +sisters of his, whom he had brought away from amongst the Jins, they +did not marry, but they read their Korans night and day. + +He built a house of seven storeys, and, in this house he put his seven +sisters who had come with him from the Jins. + +This is the end of the fable. + +[Illustration: THE MONKEY-PEOPLE OF THE FORESTS] + +[Illustration: WHITE BEARDED GNU. E. AFRICA.] + + + + +XX + +FEEDING THE HUNGRY + + +There was once upon a time a man, and he took an axe and went into the +forest to look for honey. He found a bees' nest in a tree, so he climbed +up and began to cut a hole to get at the honey. + +[Illustration: Caracal.] + +Whilst he was in the tree a second man came up; he was a hunter, and he +had been looking for game, but had found none. When the hunter saw that +man in the tree he asked him, "What are you cutting?" + +[Illustration: Feeding the Hungry] + +The man replied, "I am looking for honey. If you want any, sit down +there and wait for it." + +So the hunter sat down, and presently a buffalo came up and, seeing the +man in the tree, asked, "What are you doing?" + +He replied, "I am looking for honey. If you want any, sit down there +beside the hunter." + +So the buffalo sat down, and presently a lion came up, and he, too, +asked what the man was doing, and the man told him to sit down on one +side and wait. + +Presently an eland came along and asked the man what he was doing in the +tree. He answered, "I am looking for honey. If you want any, sit down +there by the lion and wait for it." + +So the eland sat down, and presently a leopard came along, and he also +the man told to sit on one side and wait for the honey. + +Then came up a bushbuck, and the man told him to sit down by the leopard +and wait. + +Then a gennet came up and asked the man what he was doing. The man +replied, "I am looking for honey. If you want any, sit over there by +yourself and wait for it." + +[Illustration: The Gennet.] + +So the gennet sat down and waited, and presently a guinea fowl came +along and asked the man what he was doing. The man said, "I am looking +for honey. If you want any, sit down by the gennet and wait for it." + +After that the man went on cutting the tree, and at last made a hole and +looked in, and he found that there was no honey in the nest. + +All those sitting round asked him, "When are you going to give us our +honey?" + +The man said, "There is no honey in this nest, but there is no need for +you to go hungry. If you are fools it is your own faults." + +Then that hunter turned and killed the buffalo, and the lion seized the +eland, and the leopard caught the bushbuck, and the gennet got the +chicken. + +So they were very glad, and said to that man, "You have done very wisely +to-day." + +That is all. + + + + +XXI + +SHANI AND TABAK + + +This is a story about a woman and man who were of like wisdom, and so +were suited to each other. + +[Illustration: The Wali and Shani walking together] + +Now the beginning of this history is what I will now write. A certain +stranger said to his parents, "I am going to journey forth to look for a +woman of like wit to myself. If I find her I will marry her, but if I do +not find her I will return." + +So that man set out, and when he got outside the town he met another man +walking. Now this man was the Wali of the town to which he was going, +but he did not know that. The Wali called to him, "Wait for me; as we +are going the same way let us walk together." That stranger agreed, and +both walked together. After they had gone about twenty paces he said to +the Wali, "Will you carry me, or shall I carry you?" The Wali did not +answer him, for he thought, "For what reason should he carry me or I +carry him, when each one has his own legs?" + +They walked on some way, till they arrived at some cultivation. Then the +stranger asked, "That millet there, has it been harvested yet or not?" + +Now that millet was standing in the stalk with the ears there on them. + +The Wali thought, "Surely this man is a fool or blind. How can he ask if +this millet has been harvested, and there it is standing?" So he did not +reply. + +As they came near the town to which they were going they met a funeral +coming forth, on its way to the cemetery. + +The stranger asked, "Is that man in the bier dead, or is he still +alive?" + +The Wali thought, "Surely his foolishness is increasing." So he did not +reply. + +So they entered the town, and the Wali went to his house, whilst the +other went to the mosque, for he was a stranger, and knew no one in that +town with whom he might stay. + +The Wali, after he had arrived at his house, rested awhile, and then +said to his wife, "I met a stranger coming here, and I walked with him +as far as the town, but that man was a fool, he had no wit; his folly +increased at every stage of the journey." Then he told her the words of +that man. + +The Wali's daughter, who was present, said to him, "My father, you made +a mistake leaving that man, you should have brought him here, for he is +a man of great understanding." + +The father said, "For what reason, my daughter, when his words were as +of a madman or a fool?" + +His daughter said, "Listen to me and I will explain to you the meaning +of his words from first to last. + +"The first words which he said to you, were they not, 'Will you carry +me, or must I carry you?' + +"His meaning was as if he said to you, 'You, will you tell me a story, +or shall I tell you one, that we may be beguiled in the way, and that we +may not perceive the length of the journey?' That was what he meant by +'Shall I carry you, or will you carry me?' + +"His next words were, 'Has this millet been harvested or not yet +harvested?' His meaning was, 'Has the owner of that millet planted or +cultivated his field without having to borrow money to do so? If he has +had to borrow the wherewithal with which to cultivate, surely he has +already harvested his field, for he has to pay away his profit.' + +"Lastly, when he saw the bier and asked, 'Is that man dead or alive?' he +meant, 'Has that man any children? If he has left a child he is alive +although he is dead, for his name is still there. If he has no child he +himself is dead, and his name also is dead.' + +"Those were the meanings of his words, so, father, you did wrong to let +him go away by himself to the mosque." + +But her father, the Wali, would not believe that, and said, "No, he is +only a fool, and his words have no meaning." + +Then his daughter said to him, "Wait, I will show you that my words are +true, and that this is a man of great wisdom." + +Then she took a large round loaf, and she prepared a fowl, and put all +over it chopped eggs, and poured out a jug brimful of sweetened milk. +She gave these to a slave girl and said to her, "Take these, and bear +them to the stranger in the mosque, and say to him, 'My mistress greets +you, and sends you word that the moon is full, the tides are spring +tides, and that there are many stars in the heavens.'" + +So the slave came to the mosque, and the stranger ate, and when he had +finished he gave back the plates and said to her, "Give your mistress my +greetings, and tell her that the day is the thirteenth of the lunar +month, and that the tides are neap tides, and that the stars are only +one by one in the heavens." + +The slave returned and gave her mistress the stranger's message. + +Then the girl said to her father, "This slave girl has thieved, she has +broken off a piece of the bread, taken some of the eggs, and drunk some +of the milk." + +Next day she sent another slave girl with food, as before, and gave her +the same message. The stranger answered as at first. + +Then the girl said to her father, "This slave has also stolen some of +the food like the first one did." + +On the third day she sent some food, as before, and the same message +with another slave girl. + +This time the stranger sent back the message, "To-day the moon is full, +the tides are spring tides, and there are many stars in the heavens." + +So she said to her father, "This one has not stolen." + +Her father asked her, "How do you know, my daughter?" + +She replied, "The meaning of the moon being full was that the big round +bread was whole. When the stranger replied that the day was the +thirteenth I knew that a piece of the bread was gone, and that it was as +the moon is on the thirteenth day of the lunar month. The meaning of the +many stars in the heavens was that the dish was covered with pieces of +chopped egg. When he told me that the stars were only one by one in the +heavens, I knew that some of the food had been taken, but when he said +that there were many stars, I knew that the food was covered all over +with the egg, and so that the chicken underneath was safe. + +"The meaning of the tides being spring tides was that the jug was +brimful of milk; but when he sent word that the tides were neap tides, I +knew that some of the milk had been taken. So you see, my father, that +this stranger is a man of wisdom." + +Then the Wali was very sorry that he had not understood the stranger's +words, and that he had not asked him to his house. So he went +straightway to the mosque to look for him, and when he had found him he +brought him home again and gave him food, and asked his pardon, saying, +"I did not at first understand your words, now I know their meaning." + +The stranger said to him, "How is it that now you know?" + +The Wali replied, "There in the road I was suffering from the length of +the journey and fatigue from the heat of the sun. After I had rested, +and been fanned by the cool breeze in my house, I came to understand." + +The stranger said, "Tell me then." + +So the Wali told him the meaning, and the stranger then said, "Tell me +truly, who was it who told you the meaning of my words?" and he pressed +him much, till at last the Wali said, "It was my daughter who told me." + +Then the stranger said, "That daughter of yours is my desire, she is the +one whom I would wish to put in my house. I have been looking for a +person like this your daughter, and now I have found her, ask of me +anything, that I may give it you, that you may marry me to her; for I +will have no life if I do not get a wife like that." + +The father said, "I must go and consult with my child herself." + +The stranger replied, "That is well, go and consult her, but what she +answers tell me truly, do not hide it from me." + +So the Wali went to his daughter and gave her all the news from first to +last. Then he said, "Now, my daughter, the counsel and the choice are +yours alone." + +She answered him, "And I, if I do not get a husband like that, I want no +other, and will choose to remain unmarried until I die. For if I do not +get a husband like that, to me there is no advantage; it will be like +two women marrying one another." + +So the Wali went and gave her answer to the stranger, and he rejoiced +greatly, for he had got his desire. + +So her father married her to him, and this is the end of the story. + +[Illustration: Giraffe] + +Now Shani was the name of that stranger, and Tabak was the name of that +woman who became his wife. Even now there are those who talk of Shani +and Tabak, meaning some one obtaining his heart's desire, as Shani got +Tabak, or who use these names for two people who are exactly suited to +one another, as Shani was to Tabak. + + + + +XXII + +A MAN AND HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW. + + +There was once a man, and he went and married a girl and went to live +with her in her village. + +One day that girl's mother came to him and said, "My son-in-law, I want +you to do something for me. See, all my maize is being broken by the +wind. You must go out and drive away the wind for me, so that it does +not break my maize." + +So that son-in-law went out into the fields and tried all day to drive +away the wind, but he was unable to; the wind got the better of him, and +in the evening he returned discomforted. + +[Illustration: "HE TRIED ALL DAY TO DRIVE AWAY THE WIND"] + +Then he thought to himself, "My mother-in-law is a very bad person. Who +would try to drive away the wind? It is not possible. Now I will find +something that she is unable to do, and tell her to do it, so that she +also will be discomforted." + +So he went out into the bush and killed an animal and brought it back to +the village. Then he called his wife and said to her, "Take this meat +and give it to your mother, and tell her to cook and eat all the meat, +but that she is to keep the gravy for me, and that she must spread out +the gravy on the matting, so as to be ready for me." + +So that girl brought the meat to her mother and gave her the message. +The mother-in-law then cooked and ate the meat, but left the gravy. Then +she took it and tried to spread it out on the matting for her +son-in-law, but it ran through. + +Then that girl came and told her husband, "That gravy is not spreadable. +Mamma has tried to spread it out on the mat for you, but it has all run +through." + +Her husband answered her, "Your mother is a very bad person. One day she +told me to drive away the wind from the maize, and I tried all day, and +it was not possible. So I, too, wished to tell your mother to do +something that was not possible; so I told her to spread out the gravy +on the mat. I knew that she would be defeated, even as I was defeated." + + + + +XXIII + +THE JACKAL, THE HARE AND THE COCK + + +Once upon a time there was a hare who was cunning with great guile. That +hare went to the jackal and said, "I want to make friends with you, +jackal. Our friendship will be that we walk about together and agree in +every matter. Everything that I do you must do also, and everything that +you do I must also do." + +[Illustration: The Jackal, the Hare and the Cock] + +When the jackal heard those words of the hare he was very pleased, and +he thought, "This will be very good to have the hare for a brother, for +he is very clever." + +So the jackal agreed to make friends with the hare, and they walked +about together. Till one day the hare said to the jackal, "To-day, my +brother, we will each take a knife and a spear, and we will go and kill +our mothers. I will go and kill mine, and you, jackal, must go and kill +yours." + +So they each took a spear and a knife and went their ways to kill their +mothers. The hare went to his mother and took her and hid her in a cave. +Then he went to a tree which is called Mtumbati and smeared his knife +and spear with the sap of that tree, which is red. Then he returned to +the place at which he had agreed to meet the jackal. + +Now the jackal was very grieved when he was told that he must kill his +mother, and being without guile he said to himself, "I will stay away +for a little while, and then say to my brother, the hare, that I have +killed my mother." + +So he went off, and returned again to the place of meeting, and there +met the hare. The hare asked him, "Have you killed your mother, my +brother?" + +The jackal said, "Yes, I have killed her." + +So the hare said, "Let me look at your spear and knife. See, here are +mine, and you can see that I have killed my mother, truly." + +Then was the jackal ashamed, and the hare said to him, "Oh, my brother, +you have deceived me. We agreed that each one must do as the other, and +now I have gone and killed my mother, and you have not done likewise. We +must both go and kill your mother, so that we may both be without our +mothers." + +So they went and killed the jackal's mother, and the jackal was very +sorry. + +After that the hare said to the jackal, "Now, my brother, we must eat +nothing but insects." So they went about the forest trying to catch +insects to eat, but when the jackal slept the hare used to run into that +cave where he had hidden his mother, and she fed him. + +The jackal lived with the hare, trying to catch enough insects to eat, +and he grew thinner and thinner, till at last he died. + +Now when all the animals heard how the hare had deceived the jackal, and +made him kill his mother, and how he had made him live on nothing but +insects till he died, they were very angry with the hare. Then they +held a meeting, and it was asked, "Who is a match for the hare in +cunning?" + +The cock said, "I am; I am able to deceive the hare and kill him." + +All those animals said to the cock, "You, cock, are not the equal of the +hare. What sort of cunning have you to match yourself against the hare?" + +The cock replied, "I know very well that I can get the better of the +hare. Now I am going off to see him, and you will all hear the news of +what has passed between the hare and me very soon." + +So the cock set forth and went to see the hare. + +The hare asked him, "How is it that you have never before walked out to +our house here? To-day is the first time that I have seen you, oh cock." + +The cock answered, "Your words are true. I have never yet walked as far +as your house. To-day I have come to ask your friendship, for I have no +friend. That is why I want your friendship. We will get on very well +together, and now I am going to return home. I will prepare food for +you, and to-morrow you must come and see me and we will have a talk." + +The hare replied, "It is well. To-morrow, if Allah pleases, I will come +to your house." + +The cock then returned home and told his wives, "To-morrow my friend the +hare is coming, so get food ready for him. When the hare comes I will +sit in the courtyard and hide my head under my wing. Serve up food to +the hare, and when he asks, 'Where is my friend the cock?' show him his +friend and say, 'There is his body lying in the courtyard, but he has +sent his head away to have audience of the Sultan, and to speak his +cases for him.' Tell the hare like that." + +So next day, when the hare came and asked for his friend the cock, the +cock's wives took him, and showed him the cock where he was lying with +his head under his wing, and they told him, as they had been taught, +that his head had gone away to speak his cases for him before the +Sultan. Then they took him on to the verandah and bade him sit down and +await his friend and eat the food that was ready for him. + +That hare was very astonished, and said to himself, "My friend the cock +must indeed be strong if he can send his head by itself all the way to +the Sultan's, to speak his cases alone without a body." + +They set much food before the hare, and he ate there in the verandah. +Presently the cock came round the corner and said to the hare, "Oh, my +friend, I am indeed sorry that I was not here to greet you, but I had to +send my head away to speak of some very important matter to the Sultan." + +The hare said, "It is well, my friend. I saw your body lying out there +in the courtyard, and now that your head has returned it is indeed +well." + +Shortly after that the hare took leave of the cock, and said to him, "I +am now going home, and to-morrow you must come and eat with me." + +The cock agreed, and the hare went off. When he arrived at his house he +said to his wives, "Prepare food, for to-morrow my friend the cock comes +to see me." So they prepared food for the cock, and next day the hare +said to them, "My friend the cock is very strong, he can send his head +all alone to the Sultan's. Now I want you, my wives, to cut off my head +and put it on one side, and when the cock comes show him my body, and +tell him that I have also important cases at the Sultan's, and have sent +my head off to see to them." + +His wives said, "You will certainly die, our husband." + +The hare said, "Why shall I die? My friend the cock cuts off his head, +and he does not die, so why should I? You must cut off my head, and +after the cock has sat down and begun to eat you must put it on again, +so that I may come and talk to him." + +His wives refused, but he pressed them much, till at last they agreed +and cut off his head. When the cock came and asked after the hare they +took him and showed him the hare's body, and told him as they had been +taught. When the cock looked at the hare's body he saw that his head +had really been cut off, so he said to those wives of the hare, "I am +not able to wait for your food, for to-day in your house there is a +great mourning, and it is I who have deceived the hare; so now I am +going home. Your husband is not able to rise again, for he is dead. +Good-bye." + +The cock went forth, and went his way to give the news to all the +animals who had laughed at him, and said to him, "You have no sort of +guile with which to deceive the hare." + +When the animals heard the news of how the cock had deceived the hare, +and when they heard that there was mourning in the house of the hare, +they said, "Truly the words of the cock are true; he has great cunning, +even more than the hare." + +[Illustration: AFRICAN BLACK-BACKED JACKALS] + +[Illustration: AFRICAN FLYING SQUIRREL] + + + + +XXIV + +THE MAGIC DATE TREES + + +Once upon a time there was a man, and he married a wife and had two +sons. + +After many days his wife died, and the man stayed awhile, and then he +married again. + +Those two sons grew up, till at last their father died. + +So their stepmother turned them out of the house and they travelled +away. + +Now they were very poor, and had no money, nor had they any food. + +So they travelled on, and by day they journeyed and ate of the fruits of +the forest, and at night they climbed into a tree and slept there, for +fear of the wild beasts of the jungle. + +[Illustration: Hippo] + +Till after many days they arrived at a town, and when they came there +the elder brother said to the younger, "You, my brother, sit here +outside the town while I go in and beg for food." + +Now it so perchanced that the chief of that town had just died and he +left no son. So the people of that place had gone to the astrologers and +soothsayers and had asked them, "How shall we choose another chief?" + +The astrologers had answered them, "Let there be a meeting of all the +people of the town, and let a lime be thrown into their midst. He on +whom this lime shall fall, take him and make him your chief." + +Now when the elder of the two brothers entered the town he found all the +people of that place assembled in the centre of that town. + +As he drew near to this congregation a lime hit him on the head, and all +the people turned and, rushing at him, seized him and placed him in +their midst. + +So he was greatly afeared. + +They took him, crying out, "This is our chief!" and they carried him to +the palace amidst general acclamation. + +So he sat there as chief of that town and during that day and the next +he was afraid to say that he had a brother outside the town awaiting for +his return. + +On the third day he sent soldiers to look for him, but they found him +not, for when he perceived that his brother did not return he was afraid +and went away. + +So the elder brother remained as chief of that place for many months, +and he sat with sorrow for the thought of his brother. + +Till one day he looked out of the window and saw below in the street a +poor man selling mats, and when he beheld him he recognised him as his +brother. + +So he sent out soldiers to bring him into the palace. + +When the younger brother saw the soldiers, and was told that the chief +of the town had sent for him, he feared exceedingly. + +He was brought into the palace, and his brother was very joyful to see +him again, and he honoured him greatly, and made him as his Wazir. + +So after that they lived together, and they ordered the affairs of that +town, and grew very prosperous. + +Now when the chief of that town had grown very rich he looked upon a +certain woman and beheld her very beautiful, and desired much to take +her for his wife. + +Outside the town there was a creek, and over this creek ran a bridge, +but at low tide there was no water under the bridge. + +The woman said to him, "Not till you pile up wealth from the ground +below the bridge up to its top, and give it all to me as my marriage +portion, will I marry you." + +So the chief collected all his wealth and piled it up from beneath the +bridge, and, when he had exhausted all his property, it just reached +level with the top of the bridge. + +So that woman said to him, "Give me a respite of four hours and then +will I marry you." + +So she went away, and she prepared a dish of chicken and eggs and curry, +and with it she mixed opium and Indian hemp, and she sent it to him as +he was awaiting her. + +He ate of this dish, and he lost consciousness from the strength of the +opium and Indian hemp. + +Then she came with her slaves, and some of them she ordered to take him +out to sea in a boat and cast him away, while the remainder took all the +wealth of the chief and put it in her house. + +So those slaves took him and, putting him in a boat, rowed him far out +to sea and cast him in. + +Now it so happened that he was washed on to a shoal, and when he +recovered his senses he found himself sitting on a sandspit. + +He gazed all round him, and could see no land in any direction. + +Then he looked behind him and saw that the sandspit came from a small +island, and on this island were two date trees. + +He came to the first tree, and he saw that there were growing dates on +it, but they were as yet unripe. + +As he felt the pangs of hunger he plucked a date from this tree and ate +it; immediately there grew out of his mouth two large tusks of ivory. +These were so heavy in his mouth that he could hardly stand. + +On the second tree he perceived that there were also dates and that +these were ripe. + +He thought to himself, "Here I am without food, and there is no land in +sight. I will most certainly die of hunger and thirst, and now, in +addition to all my troubles, I have two tusks growing from my mouth, and +they are of such a weight that I can scarcely move. Perhaps if I eat of +this second tree I will die, and then my troubles will be at an end." + +So he plucked a date from the second tree and ate it. Immediately he had +eaten it his tusks dropped off on to the ground. + +At that moment there appeared a shark who was swimming past in the sea, +and the shark stopped and asked him what he was doing. + +[Illustration: At that moment there appeared a shark.] + +He told him how he had found himself cast on this island, and asked the +shark to take him to the shore. The shark refused, saying, "You are my +enemy, and it is you sons of men who kill and eat me." + +So he said to the shark, "I am the Sultan of such and such a town, and +if you carry me away from this island I will give an order that the +fishermen of the town kill no more sharks." + +So they made an agreement after this manner, and the shark consented to +take him on his back. + +Then the man plaited two small baskets of date leaves, and the one he +filled with dates from the first tree, and the other he filled with +dates from the second. + +Then he took his two baskets and climbed on to the shark's back, and the +shark carried him till they arrived in sight of the shore. + +Then the shark said to him, "I am afraid to go any nearer the shore, for +if the sons of men see me they will kill me." + +So he called a Tewa fish and asked him to take the chief the remaining +distance to the shore. But the Tewa fish said to him, "You are one of +the sons of men, and you are our enemies, for it is you who kill and eat +us." + +So the man made a compact with the Tewa fish, that if he carried him +safely to the shore he would give out an order to the fishermen making +it unlawful to kill Tewa fish. + +So the Tewa agreed, and he climbed on to his back and was brought safely +to the shore. + +When he arrived he got off the Tewa's back and, taking his two little +baskets, came to his brother's house. + +Now there was no more wealth left to him, for all his property he had +given that woman. + +He said to himself, "Let me try now and see if these dates will do the +same to others as they did to me." + +So he took the basket of unripe dates and gave one to every one in the +house, and behold, they all grew tusks of great size. + +All of them were then very angry with him, but he took the second +basket, and when each had eaten one of the dates their tusks dropped +off. + +Then he called a slave of the household and gave him dates of the first +basket and told him, "Go and hawk these dates in the town, but you must +only sell to such and such a person," and he told him the name of the +woman whom he had wished to marry, and who had all his property. + +That woman was now exceedingly rich, and she had all his wealth and all +the properties and plantations of the town in her possession. + +Now as the slave passed her house she was looking out, with her head +outside the window; and she called the slave and asked what he was +selling. + +He replied, "I am selling these dates," and he offered her one, and +handed it up for her to taste. + +So she took it and ate it there as she was leaning out of the window, +and immediately there grew from her mouth two tusks of such size that +she was unable to withdraw her head from the window. + +So she remained there all that night, and on the next day she sent a +crier round the town saying, "Who will deliver me from here, where I am +fixed, I shall give him a great reward." + +On the next day she was still in the window, and she sent a crier round +the town to say, "Who will deliver me, I shall marry him and give him +half my property." + +On the third day she was still stuck there, and on this day she sent a +crier round to say, "Who will deliver me to-day I shall give him all my +property and I shall become his slave." + +The chief sent round a slave to say, "I want a signed document to this +effect." + +So the woman wrote and signed the document as required, while she was +still fixed there in the window, and it was taken to the chief. + +Then he came there and gave her a date of the second basket, and +immediately the tusks dropped off and she was freed. + +So the chief received back all his wealth and property, and he lived in +happiness and prosperity, he and his brother, while the woman became his +slave. + + + + +XXV + +PAKA THE CAT + + +This is the story of Paka the cat. + +If there are three or four men walking along and only one woman, the cat +will turn aside from the men and follow the woman. + +Now the reason for this is the story I am telling you. + +[Illustration: Paka the cat] + +In the beginning Paka sat in the bush, till one day she felt the pain of +hunger. + +So she came down to the shore, and there she met a serval, who was +hunting the crabs of the shore. So Paka went up to the serval and said, +"Good morning." + +And the serval said, "Who are you?" + +"It is I--Paka." + +"What do you want?" + +"I want to follow you about and so get food." + +So the serval said, "Very good then. Here, eat these crabs." + +So Paka ate of the crabs, and she followed the serval many days. + +Till one day there came a leopard and fought with the serval and killed +him. + +So Paka thought in her heart, "Now, this one was not a manly one: he who +is the man is the leopard." So Paka went up to the leopard and saluted +him, "Good morning." + +[Illustration: THE LEOPARD] + +So the leopard said, "And who are you?" + +"It is I--Paka." + +"What do you want?" + +"I want to follow you about and get food." + +So the leopard said, "Very good. Here, eat of this serval." + +So Paka followed the leopard many days and many weeks. + +Till one day came a lion, and he fell on the leopard and killed him. + +So Paka thought in her heart, "Now, this one also was not a manly one: +he who is the man is the lion." + +So she went to the lion and said, "Good morning." + +And the lion said, "Who are you?" + +"It is I--Paka." + +"What do you want?" + +So Paka said, "I want to follow you about that you may give me food." + +So the lion said, "Then eat of this leopard." + +So Paka ate of the leopard, and she followed the lion for many weeks and +many months, till one day there came an elephant. + +And the elephant came and struck the lion with his trunk, and the lion +died. + +So Paka said in her heart, "Now, this one, too, was not a manly one: he +who is the man is the elephant." + +So Paka went and greeted the elephant, "Good morning." + +The elephant said, "And who are you?" + +"It is I--Paka." + +"What do you want?" + +"I want to follow you about, that you may give me food." + +So the elephant said, "Then eat of this lion." + +So Paka ate of the lion, and she followed the elephant for many months +and many days. + +Till one day came a man; and that son of Adam came and he took his +matchlock and fired. + +And he hit the elephant, and the elephant ran away. + +After running a long way he fell down, and that son of Adam came and he +fired again and again, until the elephant was finished and he died. + +Now Paka said, "Behold, he also was not a manly one: he who is the man +is the son of Adam." + +So Paka went up and saluted him, saying, "Good morning." + +And the man said, "Who are you?" + +"It is I--Paka." + +"What do you want?" + +"I want to follow you about, that you may give me food." + +So the man said, "Then eat of the elephant." + +So Paka stayed with the man and ate of the elephant, while he was +cutting out the tusks. + +When the man had finished cutting out the tusks he wended his way home, +and came to his village. + +Now that man had two wives, and the one he loved and the other he loved +not. + +So he came first to the house of her whom he loved not, that he might +stay a short time, and go to the house of her whom he loved. + +So he came there and greeted the wife whom he loved not, and straightway +went on to the house of her whom he loved. + +When he had come there he said to her, "Oh, my wife whom I love, I have +done this on purpose. + +"I came first to the house of the other one, that I might come +straightway to you whom I love, and remain with you a long time." + +Now the woman was angry, in that he had gone first to the house of the +other, and she said to him, "What you say is false!" + +So she came up to him and struck him--pah! + +That man did not do anything; he turned round and left the hut. + +Then thought Paka, "Now, even this one is not the manly one. Why does he +go away? He who is the man is the woman." + +So she went up to the woman and said to her, "Good morning." + +The woman said, "And who are you?" + +"It is I--Paka." + +"What do you want?" + +"I want to follow you about, that you may give me food." + +So the woman said to her, "Very good. Sit here in my house." + +Now this is the story of Paka the cat, which comes from long ago, and +this is the reason why a cat will leave a man and follow a woman. + + + + +XXVI + +THE TALE OF THE MERCHANT AND HIS BAG OF GOLD + + +Once upon a time there was a merchant, and he resolved to go on a +journey to a far country to trade, that he might return with profit. + +Now this merchant took money needful for his journey, and of what he had +left he was afraid that in his absence it might be stolen. + +So he thought to himself, "If I leave this bag of gold in my house it +may be stolen, and if I give it to a friend to keep for me he may use it +for his own purposes." + +So he bethought himself of a stratagem. + +[Illustration: Standing camel] + +He poured all his gold into the bottom of a large leather skin. When he +had done this he took oil of coco-nuts and filled the skin with it and +fastened it securely at the mouth. + +Then he took the skin of oil to a neighbour, who was a friend of his, +and said to him, "Oh, my friend, I have resolved to go on a journey, +and wish to leave this skin of coco-nut oil with you. Will you keep it +safely for me, that I may find it on my return?" + +So the friend agreed, and he set out on his journey, and he journeyed to +a very far country. + +So the friend kept the skin of coco-nut oil for the first year and for +the second year. + +In the third year, however, he said to himself, "Surely my friend has +met with some evil happening on his journey and will come back no more. +It were better, then, that I open this skin and use the oil therein." + +So he opened the skin and used the oil for many months, till one day, +when he had nearly emptied the skin, he perceived that there was some +matter other than oil in the skin. + +He emptied out the remainder of the oil and behold, the bottom was full +of golden dinars. + +So he rejoiced exceedingly, and took the money and put it in a secret +place, and the skin he left there in his house. + +Now shortly after this the merchant, who had been delayed by +unfavourable winds, returned from his journey. + +He had been to many far countries and made traffic in merchandise, and +after many hardships and troubles he was enabled to return. + +Now when his friend heard of his return he was exceedingly troubled in +his heart. + +For he thought to himself, "What shall I do that I may keep all these +monies?" and he said to himself, "Now my friend did not say that he was +entrusting me with a skin of dinars, he said only that he had left a +skin of oil." + +So he went to the bazaar and sought for coco-nut oil and brought it to +his house, and he filled up the skin with the oil he had brought, and he +fastened it securely, after the same manner in which it had been done up +formerly. + +Now when the merchant had rested awhile he set off straightway to the +house of his friend, and he saluted him. His friend bade him draw nigh, +and he asked him for the news of his journey. + +So they conversed awhile, and then the merchant said, "The night is +closing in; I must with your permission now return to my house." + +As he took leave of him he feigned to have suddenly remembered the skin +which he had left in his house, and he said to him, "My friend, have +you that skin of oil I left with you?" + +So his friend said, "I had forgotten about it, but perhaps it will be in +my store, where it has lain since you left. I will go and look for it." + +So he entered into the house, and presently came forth with the skin and +said, "Here it is, my friend; I have found it safe and sound." + +So the merchant took his skin and went his way. + +When he reached his house he opened it with haste to look for his +dinars. + +[Illustration: The Merchant and his oil-skin.] + +He poured out the oil, but behold, the gold was not there. Then was he +seized with great wrath; so he poured back the oil and ran back to his +friend's house and asked him, "Where are the golden dinars I left with +you?" + +His friend asked him, "What golden dinars did you leave with me? You +left only that skin of oil, which I have now returned to you. I have +kept it all these days for you, and now you accuse me of having taken +some golden dinars." + +So the merchant said, "The golden dinars were in the bottom of that +skin of oil, but now they are not there." + +His friend said to him, "You are a very cunning man. You told me +yourself that it was only a skin of oil you left me. Now you say that it +was full of dinars, that I may be beaten and imprisoned without cause." + +Then was the merchant exceedingly angry, and went straightway to accuse +his friend before the Sultan. So the Sultan had his friend called and +asked him, "Did the merchant leave with you a skin full of dinars?" + +The friend replied, "No, by Allah, he left with me only a skin of oil, +and that I have returned." + +The merchant said, "By Allah, three years ago, when I left on a journey, +I entrusted him with a skin full of dinars, but my heart was afraid, and +so I told him that it was a skin of coco-nut oil. On my return, when I +searched in the skin, I found but oil, and that the dinars had been +extracted." + +The friend said, "By Allah, it was a skin of oil he left with me, and I +gave it him back unopened as I had received it." + +When the Sultan had heard the words of both men he was unable to decide +which of the two was in the wrong, and so he dismissed the case. Now the +merchant left the audience hall, and his heart was very sore at the loss +of his wealth. As he went forth he met an oil merchant of that town, and +he asked of him the news, and he told him the whole story from the +beginning to the end. + +When the oil merchant had heard his story he said to him, "Now if I am +able to make the Sultan decide the case in your favour what payment will +you make me?" + +So they agreed together, and he said, "I will give you the half of +whatever money is restored to me." + +So the oil merchant went quickly to his shop and poured out two bottles +of oil, and in the one bottle he left the oil as it was, while to the +second he added a little dye, which made its colour darker than the +first. + +Then he sought out a friend and told him the whole matter, promising him +half the reward if he would help him in the case. + +So the two went to the Sultan, and the oil merchant asked audience of +the Sultan. + +When he came before the Sultan he said to him, "Oh Sultan, I have a +complaint to make against this man. He is in my employ and comes daily +to work in my shop. + +"Now my trade is the crushing of coco-nuts and the retailing of oil, +which I sell at my shop, and in my store I have many vats of oil. + +"Now yesterday, after this man had left my shop, I noticed that the oil +was decreased in one of the vats, and I went to the house of this one +and I found him in the possession of a skin of oil." + +So the Sultan turned to the accused and said to him, "Are these words +true?" + +So the accused said, "No, they are false, for the oil which was found in +my house was oil which I had bought elsewhere and paid for with my own +money." + +So the Sultan turned to the oil merchant and said to him, "Do you hear +his words? Have you any proof that the oil you found in his house came +from your vat?" + +So the oil merchant said, "Yes, oh Sultan, I have proof, for the oil in +that vat was very old oil, three years in age, and therefore of a +different colour to the oil of this year. Now no other merchant in this +town has any oil of this age." + +Then he brought forth the two bottles of oil, and, taking the one he had +dyed, said, "Now this is oil from that same vat, and the oil found in +this man's house was of the same colour." + +Taking the second bottle he said, "This is oil of this year, and, as you +will perceive, it is of a lighter colour." + +Then the Sultan turned to the accused and said to him, "You have heard +his words; what words have you to answer him with?" + +Then the man fell on his face before the Sultan and said, "Oh, I repent, +my master; I did take the oil, for I am a poor man and have no money, so +forgive me, for I repent." + +Now when the Sultan heard that the oil of three years ago was of a +different colour, he bethought himself of the case of the merchant and +his friend, in which the merchant had entrusted his friend with the skin +of oil three years previously. So, telling the oil merchant to stand +aside, he sent quickly to recall the case. + +When they came before him he said to the merchant's friend, "When did +you say that it was that you were given that skin of oil by the +merchant?" + +He answered him, "It is now three years since." + +So the Sultan asked him, "Have you since then opened the skin or taken +any of the oil out?" + +He answered, "No, by Allah, I returned it just as he gave it to me." + +So the Sultan commanded the skin to be brought, and then he called for +the oil merchant to bring forth his two bottles of oil. + +When he compared the oil in the skin with that in the bottles he found +that it was like that of the lighter colour. + +So the Sultan said to the man, "How is this now, that if you received +this three years ago and have not opened it since, that the oil in the +skin is oil of this year?" + +Then was the man exceedingly afraid, and he trembled, for he knew that +he had put fresh oil in the skin. + +So the Sultan sent soldiers to his house, who found there the dinars he +had secreted away, and they were restored to their owner. + +Then the Sultan turned to the oil merchant and asked him, "Now is this +man truly as he says a poor man?" + +So the oil merchant replied, "Yes, truly, my master, he is a very poor +man, and I wish to do him no harm." + +So the Sultan said, "Then shall I pardon him of his offence." + +So the Sultan pardoned the accused, and gave to the oil merchant a +reward, in that he had shown him a way to prove the guilt of the +merchant's friend. + +So the oil merchant took that reward of the Sultan, and also half of the +dinars which had been restored to the merchant, as his fee for winning +the case for him. + +So he took these monies and shared them with the friend who helped him, +and they went their way rejoicing. + + + + +XXVII + +BATA THE DUCK + + +Once upon a time there was a duck called Bata, and she lived with her +husband, and they were very happy, for they had never seen the face of +man. Till one day there came a man to their home, and he fired his gun +and killed Bata's husband. + +When she saw that her husband was dead Bata was very unhappy, and flew +far, far away to a country where man had never come. + +There she met a peahen, and that peahen made friends with her and asked +her name. She said, "I am called Bata." + +Then she asked her, "Why are you trembling so?" + +Bata answered, "Do you know man?" + +The peahen said, "No, I have never seen one." + +Then said Bata, "I tremble to think of man and how he has made me a +widow, for he killed my husband." + +Then the peahen said, "I have a husband too, and he is very beautiful." + +So she took Bata to her husband the peacock, and when Bata saw him she +began to weep. That peacock said, "Why do you weep?" + +Bata answered, "I weep to see how beautiful you are, and to think that +if man sees you he will surely kill you." + +"What is this creature called man?" asked the peacock. + +"He is a creature of great guile," replied Bata. + +After that she travelled on till she came to a big river, and she swam +up and up the river till she came to a cave. She looked into the cave +and there she saw a lion. The lion asked, "Who are you?" + +She replied, "I am Bata the Duck." + +Then the lion asked her, "Why are you trembling?" + +She answered, "I am trembling to think of man." + +The lion asked, "What is this man?" + +Bata said, "He is a creature of great cunning, who is even able to kill +you." + +The lion said, "Then this man must be very big and strong." + +"No," said Bata, "he is neither big nor strong, but his guile is great." + +Just then a dikdik came running past. When it saw the lion it stopped +and greeted him. The lion asked, "What are you running from?" + +The dikdik said, "I am running away from man." + +"What is this man like?" said the lion. + +"Oh, he is very cunning," answered the dikdik, and scampered off. + +Presently a bushbuck came running up. When it saw the lion it stopped +and greeted him. Then the lion asked, "What are you running from?" + +The bushbuck said, "I am running from man." + +"What is he like?" said the lion. + +"Oh, he is very cunning," answered the bushbuck, and ran off. + +Next an eland came galloping up, and when he saw the lion he stopped and +greeted him. The lion asked, "And whom are you running away from? Is it +also this creature called man?" + +The eland answered, "Yes, I am running from man." + +The lion said, "This man must be a very big animal, that one of your +size should be afraid of him." + +"No, he is not big," said the eland, "but his guile is very great." + +[Illustration: AFRICAN ELAND] + +The eland galloped off, and presently a buffalo came tearing past. When +he saw the lion he drew up and greeted him. The lion asked, "And are you +also running away from this creature called man?" + +The buffalo said, "Yes, it is indeed he from whom I am running." + +Then said the lion, "This man must be a great and powerful creature, +that one of such a terrifying appearance as you are runs from him." + +The buffalo said, "No, he is small, but his guile is exceedingly great." + +Then the buffalo rushed off, and presently there came forth a man. Now +that man was a carpenter, and he carried planks under his arm and his +bag of tools over his shoulder. Suddenly he looked up and saw the lion, +and he said to himself, "Now I am indeed lost, for there is a lion, and +I have no weapons." + +That lion, when he saw the man, asked him, "Who are you who are walking +so slowly and carefully? All the animals who have passed here were +running away from the creature called man. How is it that you are not +afraid of him, that you do not make haste to escape?" + +Then that man saw that the lion did not recognise him for a man, so he +took heart, and said, "No, it is not man, but the elephant I am afraid +of, for I am the servant of the elephant, and he has called me to make a +house for him. For the elephant fears this man whom you speak of, so I +now go to make him a house, so that when he goes inside it man cannot +get him." + +The lion said, "First you must make such a house for me." + +That man said, "No, I cannot, for I have promised to make it for the +elephant." + +But that lion insisted on the man making him a house first, so that +carpenter put down his load and began making a box like a coffin. + +When he had finished it he made a door at one end, and then he said to +the lion, "Enter in, my master, and see if the house suits you." + +So the lion walked in, and the man shut the door and cried, "Now do you +know me? I am that creature called man." + +Then he took his axe and rained blows on the lion until he had killed +him. + +[Illustration: AFRICAN ORYX] + +When Bata saw this she flew away, and this was the beginning of her +sitting always on the water, even to sleeping on the water in the middle +of a pool, for fear of man who killed her husband. + + + + +XXVIII + +THE SULTAN'S DAUGHTER + + +Long ago in olden times there was a Sultan, and he had a daughter +beautiful as the moon at its fulness. + +[Illustration: The Sultan's Daughter] + +This Sultan said that he would only marry his daughter to a man of +wisdom. So to all who came to seek his daughter's hand he asked three +questions. + +The first was, "When famine comes to a place and leaves it again, where +does it go?" + +The second was, "When sickness comes to a place and leaves it again, +where does it go?" + +And the third was, "When war comes to a place and leaves it again, where +does it go?" + +No one was able to answer these questions for many months and many +years, till at last there came a man who said, "I will answer your +questions, oh Sultan." + +The Sultan replied, "Speak on, stranger." + +So that man said, "When famine comes to a country and leaves it again it +goes to the idle, for they make no profit and sit always with hunger for +a cup-fellow. + +"When sickness comes to a country and leaves it again it goes to the +aged, for they sit always with sickness and death for a companion. + +"When war comes to a country and leaves it again it goes to those men +who have more than one wife, for in their houses quarrels never cease." + +When the Sultan heard these words he was very pleased, and gave his +daughter to the stranger. + + + + +XXIX + +THE LION, THE HYAENA AND THE HARE + + +Once it happened that a lion, a hyaena and a hare set out on a journey +together. + +The way was long, and they suffered much from hunger. Till one day, when +they were as yet far distant from the end of the journey, they were so +sorely pressed by hunger that they gave up all hope of getting any +further. Then they took counsel together and said, "Now we shall all +die, and not one of us will escape. It were better that we eat one of +our number, so that the other two may get the strength to proceed." + +[Illustration: The lion, the hyaena and the hare] + +So they all agreed that this must be done, but they could not agree as +to who should be eaten and who should be saved. At last it was decided +that the youngest amongst them should be eaten by the other two. + +Then said the lion to the hare, "Now tell us your age, that we may +know." + +The hare replied, "Am I not the smallest and weakest here? It would not +be fitting for me to speak before the great ones. You, my masters, tell +your ages first, and then I will speak." + +So the lion turned to the hyaena and said, "You must then speak first." + +The hyaena thought awhile and then said, "My age is five hundred years +old." + +The lion then said to the hare, "You have heard the hyaena, now you must +speak." + +But the hare said, "How can I speak before you, my lord, have spoken?" + +The lion thought and then said, "I am two thousand years old." + +[Illustration: Spotted hyaena] + +When the hare heard these words he wept. The other two asked him why he +wept, and he said, "Oh, my friends, I weep to think of my eldest son, +my first born, for it was on a day just two thousand years ago that he +died." + +[Illustration: Lion] + +So the lion killed the hyaena, and when he and the hare had eaten him +they were able to get strength to go on, and they finished their journey +in safety. + + + + +RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LIMITED, BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E. +AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK + + + + +[Transcriber's note: The story "Kajikarangi" is mentioned in the +Foreword but not included here. In the Table of Contents, original +short entries, e.g. "KIBARAKA" were expanded to the full story title, +e.g. "THE STORY OF KIBARAKA AND THE BIRD." Original spelling +variations have not been standardized. Underscores have been used to +indicate _italic_ fonts.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Black Tales for White Children, by +C. H. Stigand and Mrs. C. H. 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