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]