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."