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.