A FIGHT FOR MISS NGOOBOO
Time went on, and Miss Ngooboo as she grew up became more and more
beautiful and attractive in the eyes of the young ngooboos.
On the two other shoals were young ngooboos who fell very much in love
with her. They would come before her shoal, swim, dive, give snorts or
grunts, telling her how much they loved her; but Papa and Mamma Ngooboo
watched her carefully when she would go out to swim and would themselves
swim between her and her two admirers. She was too young yet, the old
folks thought, to be taken away from them.
Day after day her two admirers would display themselves before her, show
her how they could dive and swim, each trying to surpass the other in
these accomplishments. Miss Ngooboo looked at them complacently,
enjoying the fun. But before very long the two admirers began to be very
jealous of each other, and uttering grunts of defiance and hatred, dared
each other to a fight. When they came together in swimming they would
look at each other fiercely and say, “If you do not stop coming, I will
give you a trouncing.” “I dare you,” would answer the other. So the days
passed.
[Illustration: “_Then ensued a terrible fight_”]
One day Miss Ngooboo seemed to show preference for the one whose shoal
was the nearest to hers. The rejected rival became furious. He shouted
with terrific and angry snorts that Miss Ngooboo was to be his, and that
he would fight for possession of her. The other said he would do
likewise, for she was to be his. Both went back to their shoals full of
fight and hating each other more than ever.
The next day, as Miss Ngooboo was on her shoal by the side of her mamma
and papa, the young ngooboo admirer that was her neighbor left his shoal
and swam toward her.
When his rival, who was watching him with jealous eyes, saw this, he
left his shoal and swam toward her also, with fight in his eyes. He had
made up his mind to settle the quarrel that day ngooboo fashion, and
decide by single combat to which of the two rivals Miss Ngooboo was to
belong. He was very sly and swam under the water.
His rival was so busy making love to Miss Ngooboo that he had not seen
him leave his shoal, neither did Miss Ngooboo, who was standing on her
shoal by the side of her parents, who now thought she was big enough to
attend to herself and choose her own mate.
Suddenly there surged from under the water ngooboo number two, having
inflicted a severe gash with his crooked teeth on his rival, who had not
known of his presence before the attack. Then ensued a terrible fight
for the possession of Miss Ngooboo. The two ngooboos rushed at each
other, opening their huge and hideous mouths, and showing their crooked
tusks, with which they inflicted fearful gashes. Sometimes one dodged
the onslaught by diving, then the other, furious at missing his
antagonist, would dive and pursue him under the water, and there a great
fight would take place which no one could witness. Then both would
reappear, giving grunts of rage and defiance.
The water around where they fought was a mass of white foam. There was
great excitement among all the ngooboos of the colony at the sight.
Grunts were heard everywhere, but they remained neutral. Miss Ngooboo,
from her shoal, was looking on, perfectly mute, not a grunt coming from
her mouth.
Often the two rivals advanced and retreated, watching their opportunity
to strike without being hurt in return. The water became red with their
blood. After a long and terrible fight one of the two showed signs of
fatigue. His body was fearfully lacerated. At last he fled, swimming and
diving in the direction of his shoal, pursued by his enemy. He had been
thoroughly vanquished.
The victor returned to Miss Ngooboo and ascended her shoal, and was
received by the old folks as worthy of the hand of their daughter. After
this, every time his vanquished rival saw him, he fled out of his way.
The colony of ngooboos had increased so that all the shoals were taken.
The young couple, seeing that there was no room for them, decided to
migrate to some other part of the river or to some other country. So
they bade good-by to the old folks, and to the other ngooboos, and went
in search of a new home. There was a great concert of grunts when they
said farewell.
Ascending the river they searched for shoals, but could not find there
what they wanted. At night they would go and graze on the prairie. The
ngooboos have the great gift of scenting water a long way off. As they
found no home on the river, they entered the forest and crossed some
small rivers and came to a prairie, where they scented water. They
proceeded toward it, and after a while beheld a beautiful little lake,
at which they were greatly delighted. Soon after, they were swimming in
its cool water. There were no shoals in the lake, but its shores were
not abrupt; they sloped gently. The young couple said to each other:
“This is a good place; let us settle here. There is plenty of grass
around us. In the water we shall be protected during the day, and at
night we shall find plenty to eat.”
The next day they saw a large herd of elephants coming toward the lake,
and they dived under the water. The njokoos took a bath and went away.
Every day kambis and many animals came to drink, but the ngooboos were
not disturbed by the sight.
There they lived happily for many years and raised a family of their
own.