mother-in-law, and arranged for another journey. He called to his
relative, "Brother" Wild-Goat, "Come, escort me to the town of my
marriage." Wild Goat consented; and they started. They came to the
River; and, as in the case of Rat, Leopard said to Goat, "You will
first throw away your knife, before you can cross this river." Goat
actually did so; Leopard pretending to do so. Continuing their
journey, they came to that Kuda tree. Leopard was careful to stand on
a side of the tree opposite to Goat, as they gathered the nuts. But,
he said provokingly, "One can not eat kuda without a knife." Wild
Goat innocently replied, "But, you, Njâ, you are eating nuts! Did
you bring two knives?" They journeyed on, and came to the Medicine
tree. And Leopard gave to Goat the same directions about it as he
had given to Rat.
When they reached the marriage town, food was set before them. But
Leopard immediately began to groan and scream, "I'm dead! I'm
dead! I'm dead with pain!" Wild Goat sympathisingly inquired, "What
shall I do to help you?" Leopard replied, as in the case of Rat,
"Go back to that tree, and get its bark as a medicine for me." Wild
Goat went; and while he was away, Leopard ate the food, leaving very
little of it. On his return, Wild Goat protested at so little being
given him. Leopard explained, "In my great suffering from tooth-ache,
I ate nothing. Perhaps it was the town's-people who ate up the food,
leaving you only these pieces."
After they had eaten, they were called to the reception-house, and
spent the evening in conversation with the people of the town. Then,
they were shown to the house in which they were to sleep. It was
the one with the pit-fall inside the door-way. Leopard, of course,
jumped over it; but Wild Goat fell into it. And, as in the case of Rat,
Leopard called out, "People of the town! This is your dowry-goods! I
have brought it to you!" The next morning, Leopard took his journey,
and came back home. When the people of his town asked him, as in the
case of Rat, "Where is the friend you took with you?" he made the
same reply, "Don't ask me! He is entangled off there with women."
On a third journey, Leopard called Antelope to accompany him. Antelope
agreed. They came to the River; and as before Leopard told how that
river could not be crossed by travelers unless their knives were
thrown away. This, Antelope did.
Then, they came to the Kuda tree. There, Antelope heard Leopard
splitting the nuts, and asked him. "Did you not throw away your
knife? Do you travel with two?" Leopard answered, "Yes! I always
travel with two." Then, they came to the Medicine tree. And Leopard
explained about its bark being the cure for his frequent tooth-aches,
when eating at his father-in-law's town.
They came to the town. And when food was brought to them, Leopard
cried out, "O! my tooth! my tooth!" Antelope asked, "Where is your
medicine that you said you use?" Leopard answered, "At the tree
which I showed you on the way. Go, and get it." While Antelope was
gone, Leopard ate up almost all the food. On returning, Antelope
exclaimed "What! only this little food for me?" Leopard explained,
"With my great tooth-ache, I ate none. Nothing happened, except
that the town's-people came, and were eating up the food; and I,
in my kindness for you, begged them to leave at least a little for
you." Antelope handed him the medicine, and Leopard said, "Put it
down there"; and he threw it away, while Antelope's back was turned.
After they had eaten, they went to their room for the night. Leopard,
as usual, jumped over the pit; but Antelope fell in. And Leopard
gave his shout to the people to come and take the Dowry-goods he had
brought. The next morning, after breakfast, Leopard again started on
his home journey. There, again he was anxiously asked, "But, those
whom you take with you don't come back! Why?" He made the same reply,
"They know why! Off there are damsels and dancing; and they were
unable to return."
For his next journey, Leopard asked Red Antelope, who heartily
replied, "Yes, come on! There is nothing to prevent my going on a
journey!" They journeyed, and they came to the River. There, Leopard
made his statement about the necessity of throwing their knives into
the river. Red Antelope wondered a little, but he consented saying,
"Yes, but what is that to me?" Said Leopard, "Well, then, shut your
eyes, and I will be the first to throw, lest you say I am deceiving
you." Said Red Antelope, "Yes." And he shut his eyes tightly. Then
Leopard, having a stone in his hand, flung it into the water, saying,
"I've thrown mine; throw also yours!" Red Antelope demanded, "But,
you must shut your eyes also." Leopard half-closed his eyes, and Red
Antelope, knife in hand, flung it into the water. Then, wading across,
they went on and on to the base of the Kuda tree. Said Leopard,
"Mr. Ehibo, this Kuda is eaten of here only by each person on his
own side of the trunk." Red Antelope assented; and they turned,
this one to one side, and that one to the other side. There, as Red
Antelope was vainly trying to crack the nuts with his teeth, Leopard
was deriding him while himself was comfortably using his knife.
Then, Leopard said, "Let us go on; for, the day is declining." Red
Antelope agreed. As they went, they came to an Ebwehavu tree. And
Leopard said, "Let us climb for Bebwehavu fruits. But, when we
climb this particular tree, it is the practice here, to climb, one
by one. While the one is climbing, the other has his eyes shut; and,
the climbing is done, not by the trunk, but by this adjoining Bongo
tree which you see here. But, first, close your eyes, and I will
go up." (The Bongo's trunk is covered with hard sharp thorns.) Red
Antelope stood, with his eyes tightly closed. Leopard grasped a vine;
and, with one swing, he at once was up the tree. Red Antelope began
climbing that Bongo, creeping slowly to the top, his whole body
spoiled, and nothing on him but blood and blood.
Said Leopard, "This Ebwehavu is accustomed to be plucked only the green
unripe, but the dark ripe ones are to be left." That seemed strange to
Red Antelope, nevertheless he said, "Yes." But Leopard was plucking
the ripe and leaving the green. When they had finished plucking,
Leopard said, "Ehibo! shut eyes! that I may descend!" Red Antelope
shut his eyes. Leopard grasped the vine; and, with one spring, was on
the ground. Then, he said, "Now, Ehibo, descend." Red Antelope began
descending by the Bongo, down, down, landing finally on the ground.
Leopard waited for him; and then said, "Having no fire, how shall we
cook those green bebwehavu?" Just then, he saw a Fire-fly passing;
and he said. "Mr. Ehibo! Pursue! That's fire passing there!" Red
Antelope bent in rapid pursuit. Leopard turned to the base of the tree,
gathered dried fire-wood, struck his flint, lighted a fire, cooked
his fruits, ate them, finished, and put out his fire. Red Antelope,
back again, said, "I did not reach it, I'm tired." Leopard said,
"Well, let it go. I chewed mine uncooked. But, let us journey; and,
as you go, you chew yours." They went on, and came to the town of the
marriage. Food was cooked and set for them in their room. Said Leopard,
"Ehibo, sit you on the floor, while I eat at the table. And, while I
eat the flesh, you eat the bones." Red Antelope had become so utterly
wearied and humiliated that he did not resent this indignity. They
ate. And then Leopard said, "Ehibo, sweep up the scraps, and go and
throw them into the back yard." (Immediately on his arrival at the
town, Leopard had gone alone to his father-in-law, and said, "I have
brought you an animal. But, let another pit, this time, be dug in
the back yard of the room where we shall be. And, do you put spears
and daggers and all kinds of sharp sticks there. When I shall send
him to throw away the sweepings, and he shall fall in, kill ye him.")
Red Antelope swept, and scraped up the sweepings, and threw them into a
basket. He turned with them to the back yard, to fling them away. As he
was about to do so, he slipped down to the bottom of the pit. Impaled
on the spears, he was unable to jump out. When the town's-people
arrived, they thrust him through with sharp poles; and he lay dead.
When Leopard returned home, Red Antelope's people asked, "Where is
Ehibo?" Leopard made his former answer, "Ehibo was hindered by the
hospitality of that marriage town, with its food and its women; and,
he said, 'I won't go back!'"
Thus, with each journey, Leopard called for another animal. They went,
over the same route; and the same things happened each time. So,
matters went on for a long while. But, Gazelle, a very smart beast,
began to suspect, observing that none of Leopard's travel-companions
ever came back. In his heart, he thought to himself, "Leopard deceives
people!" He determined to find out, by offering to go, and watch for
himself. At last, he said, "Uncle Njâ, let me go to escort you to the
town of your marriage. When next you go on your journey, call me to go
with you." Said Leopard, "I don't want you." (He suspected Gazelle's
smartness.) Gazelle insisted, "Uncle, as to these others whom you
have invited to go with you, and not the rather me, your relative?"
So, Leopard agreed, "Yes, let us go." By the next morning they started
on their journey, going on and on, clear to the big River. There,
as usual, Leopard told about knives to be thrown into the river; and
he said, "Nephew Iheli, you first throw your knife." Said Gazelle,
"First, you throw yours, then I will throw mine also." Said Leopard,
"Well! shut your eyes!" Gazelle half-closed his hands on his eyes, and
was peeping. He saw Leopard seize a chunk of wood and fling it in the
water. Then he said, "Shut eyes! Let me also throw mine!" Leopard's
eyes shut tight. Gazelle, seizing a stick, flung it into the
water. Then, they crossed the river, and went on and on, until they
came to the base of the Kuda tree. Leopard made his usual statement
about parties eating the nuts on opposite sides of the tree. Gazelle,
with apparent obedience, said, "Yes." Leopard, with knife drawn,
began to hack and split the nuts, throwing the kernels into his mouth,
and making his usual derisive remark, "By the truth! a person without
a knife can not eat the kernels of kuda." Gazelle also, hacking his,
and throwing them into his mouth, said, "Just exactly so! a person
without a knife can not eat the kernel of kuda-nut!" Leopard exclaimed,
"What are you doing? Have you two knives?" Gazelle replied, "But,
what are you doing? Had you two knives?" Leopard answered, "Yes,
for, I am the senior." Gazelle responded, "And I also carry two
knives; for, I also am an adult." Leopard only said, "Iheli! Come
on!" They went on, until they came to the Ebwehavu tree. There,
Leopard made his usual explanation of climbing only by means of the
Bongo tree. Gazelle agreed, and said, "Yes; climb you first." Leopard
said, "Shut your eyes." Gazelle stood, with eyes apparently tightly
closed. With one swing on a vine, Leopard is up the tree. Said Gazelle,
"You also, shut your eyes. Let me go up." Leopard pretended to shut
his eyes. And Gazelle, with one swing, was also up the tree. Leopard
made his usual statement about plucking only the green fruit. To which,
Gazelle seemed to assent.
And they descended the tree, without Leopard attempting to deceive
Gazelle about the Bongo tree.
But, Leopard seeing the sun going down, said, "Iheli! Pursue! that's
fire that's going there!" But, Gazelle showed he was not deceived,
by simply saying, "That's not fire!" So, Leopard gathered fire-wood;
and they cooked and ate their bebwehavu.
Then, they resumed their journey, and came to the Medicine tree. There
Leopard told his usual story about the bark of that tree being his
great cure-all. Gazelle quietly said, "Yes." But, when they left
the tree, and had gone a short distance farther, he exclaimed, "O! I
forgot my staff! I must go back and get it!" He went back to the tree,
stripped bark from it, put it into his traveling-bag, and overtook
Leopard. And they came on together to the town. After they had entered
their house, Gazelle remarked to Leopard, "Let me go out and see the
other fellows, who came with you on your previous journeys, and who,
you said, had stayed here with the women." He went out; and returned,
saying, "I saw the women, but none of those fellows." Food was cooked
for them, and they sat down to eat. But, suddenly, Leopard broke out
in groans, "Iheli! I feel a pain in my stomach; go, get bark of that
tree I showed you. The medicine! Get the medicine!" Gazelle answered
"Yes, but just wait until I finish my plate;" and he continued eating
rapidly. Leopard was distressed to see the food disappearing; but,
as he had pretended sickness, he did not dare begin to eat. When,
finally there was but little food left, Gazelle introduced his
hand into his bag, and, handing out the pieces of bark, said,
"Here's your medicine! That's it!" Leopard said, "Yes, just leave
it there. I do not need the medicine now. The pain has ceased. Let
us first eat. We will eat together." After finishing their eating,
Gazelle swept up the scraps, and placed them in a basket. Said Leopard,
"Come, I will go with you to show you the place where sweepings are
to be thrown." Gazelle was about to fling the basket, as Leopard came
to push him into the pit. But, Gazelle lightly leaped across to the
other side of it, and cried out, "Uncle! what do you want to do to
me?" Leopard said, "That's nothing!"
It being night, they went to their sleeping-room, Leopard accompanied
by his wife. He and she carefully jumped over the other pit that was
inside of the door-way of that house. Gazelle also jumped, with careful
observation, the while that people stood outside expecting him to fall
into it. They retired for the night, Leopard and his wife on the bed;
Gazelle on a mat on the floor. Said Gazelle, "Uncle, if you hear me
stertorously snoring, then I am awake; but, if silently, then I am
asleep." In a little while, Gazelle feigned gentle snoring. Leopard
thinking Gazelle was asleep, took an iron rod, and thrust it into the
fire. Gazelle saw what he was doing. When it was red-hot, he removed
it, and, stepping softly, was about to stab Gazelle with it; who,
quickly moving aside, exclaimed, "Eh! what are you doing?" Leopard
coolly replied, "Nothing; I was only brushing away an insect that was
biting you." Gazelle thought within himself, "Njâ will surely kill
me to-night." So, he took chalk, and secretly marked circles around
his eyes, making himself look as if his eyes were open and he awake,
even if he should actually be asleep. After a while, Leopard slept,
sound asleep with his wife. Then Gazelle passed over to Leopard's bed,
and lifting the woman (unconscious in her sleep) to his mat on the
floor, laid down in her place, beside Leopard in the bed. During the
night, Leopard awoke, and, not noticing, in the darkness, the change
at his side, went with the rod, to the mat where he supposed Gazelle
was sleeping, and stabbed the woman to death.
Then Gazelle (who had remained awake) cried out, "Eh! you kill
another person? You are killing your wife!" Leopard exclaimed,
"Umph! Is that you? I said to myself that this was you!" Gazelle said,
"Yes! what did you go to my bed for? So, then! I am the one you wanted
to kill!" Leopard confessed, "It is true that I came here to kill you,
thinking this was you. But, as the matter is thus, say no more about
it. Let us cut up and eat this woman. Come, cut up!" But, Gazelle said,
"I? When the town's-people hear the chopping, then won't they say,
'What animal has Iheli killed in his brother-in-law's town, that he
is cutting it up at night?' Yourself, cut her to pieces."
So, Leopard said, "Well, leave the work on the body of the woman to
me; but, do you attend to the cooking." Said Gazelle, "I? When the
town's people shall hear the kettle boiling, then will they say,
'Whom has Iheli killed in the town of his brother-in-law, that he
cooks at night?'"
Leopard boiled the kettle. It was cooked; and he said to Gazelle, "Go,
cut down a bunch of plantains, out there in the back-yard." (This he
said, hoping that Gazelle would fall into that pit, either in going
out or coming in.) But, Gazelle said, "I? When the town's people hear
the strokes of the machete, and the crash of the fall of the bunch,
then, will they not suspect me, and say, 'What meat has Iheli killed,
that he is cutting down a plantain at night?' Cut it yourself." Leopard
went and cut down a bunch of plantains, and said to Gazelle, "Now,
come and peel the plantains, and cook them." Gazelle refused, "No;
do you peel and cook. I'm in bed. I'll eat only greens." Then Leopard
said (making a last effort to get Gazelle into the pit), "Well, go to
the back-yard, and pluck pepper for the soup." Gazelle again refused,
"No; when the town's-people hear the plucking of the pods, will they
not say, 'What animal has Iheli killed that he is gathering pepper
for the soup?'"
Finally, Leopard, having done all the work, and finished cooking,
and set the table, said, "Come, Iheli, I have finished all. Come, and
eat." Gazelle came, but said, "First, put out all the lights." Leopard
did so. And Gazelle added, "We will understand that whichever, at the
close of the meal, has the largest pile of bones by his plate, shall
be known as the one who killed the woman." Leopard agreed. The light
having been extinguished, they ate in darkness. But, while they were
eating, Gazelle chose only the bony pieces that had little meat; and,
having picked them, he quietly laid the bones by Leopard's plate. When
they had finished eating, the torches were re-lighted, and Gazelle
cried out at Leopard's big pile of bones. They were counted. And
Gazelle said, "Did you not say that whoever had the most bones would
prove himself the murderer? So! indeed! you are the one who killed
another person's child!"
Leopard evaded, and said, "But, Iheli, take a broom and sweep up the
scraps from the floor, and throw them into the yard." (Making thus a
final effort to get Gazelle into that pit.) But, Gazelle, refused,
"No; yourself do it. When the town's-people hear the bones falling
as they are thrown in the yard, will they not suspect me, and say,
'What animal has Iheli killed at night, that he is clearing away the
scraps?'" Leopard swept up the floor and table, and threw the pieces
into the backyard. As they were finishing, day began to dawn. Gazelle
said, "Njâ, the day is breaking; let us seek hiding-places; for, when
the people come in, in the morning, and find that their daughter
is dead, lest they kill us." So, they began to look around for
hiding-places. Gazelle said, "I shall hide in this big box on the
floor." But, Leopard objected, "No; that traveling-box befits me;
and, as the elder, I shall take it." Gazelle said, then, "Well,
I'll hide under the bed." But, Leopard again objected (hoping to
leave Gazelle without a place). "No; that also is my place; it suits
me." Gazelle protested, "You are claiming this and that place! Where
shall I go? Well! I see! I'll hide over the door." "Yes" said Leopard,
"that's the hiding-place for a young person like you." (This he said,
still thinking of the pit near the door.) Gazelle agreed, saying,
"I am here, by the door. You get into that box, and I'll tie it
with a string, as if no one was in it." Leopard objected, "But,
the string will hinder my breaking out." "No," replied Gazelle,
"it shall be a weak twine. You can easily burst it, when you fling
up the lid, and jump out, and run away."
Leopard got into the box, and Gazelle began to tie it with a heavy
chain. Leopard hearing the clanking, exclaimed, "With a chain,
Iheli?" Gazelle had the chain fast; and he coolly replied, "It's only
a little one." Then he piled heavy stones on the box. As day broke,
he took his stand among a bundle of dried plantain-leaves that was
over the door-way. The towns-people sent a child to open the door
of the strangers' house, to call them to eat. As the child was about
to enter, Gazelle struck him a blow on the head; and the child went
away wailing with pain. The child's father said to his family that
he would go to see what was the matter. As he pushed wide open the
door of the strangers' house, Gazelle slid down, sprang out, and ran
rapidly away, shouting, "Njâ is there! Njâ is in that box! He it is
who has killed your woman!" And the towns-people shouted after him,
"Is that so? Well, you're off, Iheli! Go!"
Leopard, when he heard that, made desperate efforts to get out of the
box. The town's-men entered the house and found the box with Leopard
tied in it. They fired their guns at him, and killed him. As they did
so, they reproached him, "Why did you kill our daughter, whom you came
to marry?" Then they gathered together a great pile of fire-wood in
the street, thrust on to it the dead body of Leopard, and burned him
there. Gazelle went back to the town of Beasts, and they asked him,
"Where is he with whom you went on your journey?" Gazelle told them,
"He is dead. He it was who killed the other Beasts who went with
him. And he is now killed by the relatives of the woman whom he was
to marry, but whom also he had murdered."
For this reason, that Gazelle informed on Leopard in the box, the
relatives of Leopard since then have no friendship with Gazelle, and
always pursue and try to kill him. The entire Leopard tribe have kept
up that feud with the Gazelle tribe, saying, "You caused our father's
death." And they carry on their revenge.
TALE 5
TORTOISE IN A RACE
Persons
Kudu (Tortoise)
Mbalanga (Antelope)
NOTE
Discussions about seniority are common causes of quarrel in Africa. The
reason assigned why tortoises are so spread everywhere is that the
antelope tribe, in public-meeting, recognized their superiority. At
Batanga, Gaboon, Ogowe, and everywhere on the equatorial west coast,
there are tortoises even in places where there are no other animals. On
account of this, the tortoise is given many names; and has many
nicknames in the native tribes, e.g., "Manyima," and "Evosolo."
Tortoise had formerly lived in the same town with several other
animals. But, after awhile, they had decided to separate, and each
built his own village.
One day, Tortoise decided to roam. So he started, and went on an
excursion; leaving his wife and two children in the village. On his
way, he came to the village of Antelope. The latter welcomed him,
killed a fowl, and prepared food for him; and they sat at the table,
eating.
When they had finished eating, Antelope asked, "Kudu! My friend,
what is your journey for?"
Tortoise answered, "I have come to inquire of you, as to you and me,
which is the elder?" Antelope replied, "Kudu! I am older than you!" But
Tortoise responded, "No! I am the elder!" Then Antelope said, "Show
me the reason why you are older than I!" Tortoise said, continuing the
discussion, "I will show you a sign of seniority. Let us have a race,
as a test of speed." Antelope replied derisively, "Aiye! how shall
I know to test speed with Kudu? Does Kudu race?" However, he agreed,
and said, "Well! in three days the race shall be made."
Tortoise spoke audaciously, "You, Mbalanga, cannot surpass me in a
race!" Antelope laughed, having accepted the challenge; while Tortoise
pretended to sneer, and said, "I am the one who will overcome!"
The course chosen, beginning on the beach south of Batanga, was more
than seventy miles from the Campo River northward to the Balimba
Country.
Then Tortoise went away, going everywhere to give directions, and
returned to his village. He sent word secretly to all the Tortoise
Tribe to call them. When they had come very many of them together,
he told them, "I have called my friend Mbalanga for a race. I know
that he can surpass me in this race, unless you all help me in my
plan. He will follow the sea-beach. You all must line yourselves
among the bushes at the top of the beach along the entire route all
the way from Campo to Balimba. When Mbalanga, coming along, at any
point, looks around to see whether I am following, and calls out,
'Kudu! where are you?' the one of you who is nearest that spot must
step out from his place, and answer for me, 'Here!'"
Thus he located all the other tortoises in the bushes on the entire
route. Also, he placed a colored mark on all the tortoises, making
the face of every one alike. He stationed them clear on to the place
where he expected that Antelope would be exhausted. Then he ended,
taking his own place there.
Antelope also arranged for himself, and said, to his wife, "My
wife! make me food; for, Kudu and I have agreed on a race; and it
begins at seven o'clock in the morning."
When all was ready, Antelope said, to (the one whom he supposed was)
Kudu, "Come! let us race!" They started. Antelope ran on and on,
and came as far as about ten miles to the town of Ubenji, among the
Igara people. At various spots on the way Tortoise apparently was lost
behind; but as constantly he seemed to re-appear, saying, "I'm here!"