“Yes, my son; your brother is sick. The goat came just a while ago and told me you had medicine that would make my little one well.”
The Fox meets the Leopard.
“Yes,” said the fox, “I have medicine that will cure your little one, but I must have a little goat horn to put in it. If you get me a goat horn I will let you have the medicine.”
“Which way did the goat go?” asked the leopard.
“I left him up there,” replied the fox.
“You wait here with my little one, and I will bring you the horn,” said the leopard.
“All right,” said the fox, and away went the leopard.
In a little while the leopard killed the goat and returned with his horns to the fox. You are liable to fall in the trap you set for someone else.
Wit of Africans
Ordinary people are as common as grass, But good people are dearer than the eye.
A matter dealt with gently is sure to prosper, But a matter dealt with violently causes vexation.
Familiarity breeds contempt, But distance secures respect.
Anger does nobody good, But patience is the father of kindness.
Anger draws arrows from the quiver,
But good words draw kola-nuts from the bag.
A fruitful woman is the enemy of the barren, And an industrious man is the foe of the lazy.
Beg for help, and you will meet with refusals; Ask for alms and you will meet with misers.
Today is the elder brother of tomorrow, And a heavy dew is the elder brother of rain.
Birth does not differ from birth; As the free man was born so was the slave.
My badness is more manifest than my goodness; You look up my goodness in the room,
And you sell my badness in the market.
Know thyself better than he who speaks of thee. Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.
Why Goats Live with Man
The goat and his mother lived alone in their village. He said to her, “I have here a magic-medicine to make one strong in wrestling. There is no one who can overcome me, or cast me down; I can overcome any other person.”
The other beasts heard of this boast; and they took up the challenge. First, house-rats, hundreds of them, came to the goat’s village, to wrestle with him. He overcame two hundred of them one by one. The rats, then, went back to their places, saying that they were not able to overcome the goat.
Then the forest-rats came to wrestle with the goat. He overcame them also in the same way. And they went back to their own place defeated.
Then the antelopes came to wrestle with the goat. He overcame all the antelopes, every one of them; not one was able to throw the goat to the ground. And they also went back to their places disappointed.
Also, the elephant with all the elephants came on that same mission. The goat overcame all the elephants; and they, too, went back to their place defeated.
Thus, all the beasts came, in the same way, and were also overcome by the goat, and went back surprised at the goat’s strength.
The Goat and the Mother
But there still remained one beast, only one, the leopard. He had not made the attempt. He said he would go, as he was sure he could overcome. He came, but the goat overcame him also. It was proved, then, that not a single beast could withstand the goat. This made the goat think that he was king.
Then the father of all the leopards said: “I am ashamed that this beast should overcome me. I will kill him!”
And he thought of a plan to do so. He went to the spring where mankind got their drinking water and stood, hiding at the spring. When men of the town went to the spring to get water the leopard killed two of them.
The people went to tell the goat, “Go away from here, for the leopard is killing mankind on your account.”
The mother of the goat said to him, “If that is so, let us go to my brother, the antelope.” So they both went to the uncle antelope.
When they came to his village, they told him their errand.
He bravely said, “Remain here! Let me see the leopard come here with his boldness!”
They were then at the antelope’s village about two days. On the third day, about eight o’clock in the morning, the leopard came there as if for a walk. When the antelope saw him, the goat and his mother hid themselves; and the antelope asked the leopard, “What is your anger? Why are you angry with my nephew?”
At that very moment, while the antelope was speaking, the leopard seized him on the ear. The antelope cried out, “What are you killing me for?”
The leopard replied, “Show me the place where the goat and his mother are.”
So the antelope, being afraid, said, “Come tonight, and I will show you where they sleep. And you may kill them; but don’t kill me.”
While he was saying this, the goat overheard, and said to his mother, “We must flee, lest the leopard kill us.”
At sundown, then, that evening, the goat and his mother fled to the village of the elephant.
About midnight, the leopard came to the antelope’s village, as he had been told, and looked for the goat, but did not find him. The leopard went to all the houses of the village, and when he came to the antelope’s home, in his disappointment he killed him.
The leopard kept up his search, and set out to find where the goat had gone. Following the footprints, he came to the village of the elephant.
When he arrived there, the elephant demanded, “What’s the matter?”
And the same conversation followed, as at the antelope’s village, and with the same result. The elephant was killed by the leopard, for the goat and his mother had fled, and had gone to the village of the ox.
The leopard followed, and came to the village of the ox. There all the same things happened, as in the other villages. The goat and his mother fled, and the ox was killed by the leopard.
Then the mother, wearying of flight and sorry that she had caused their friends to be killed, said, “My child! if we continue to flee to the villages of other beasts the leopard will follow, and will kill them. Let us flee to the homes of mankind.”
They fled again, then, and came to the town of man, and told him their story. He received them kindly. He took the goat and his mother as guests, and gave them a house to live in.
Not long afterward the leopard came to the town of man looking for the goat.
But the man said to the leopard, “Those beasts whom you killed failed to find a way in which to kill you. But, if you come here, we will find a way.”
So that night, then, the leopard went back to the village. The man then made a big trap for the leopard, with two rooms in it. He took the goat and put him in one room of the trap.
He saw an open way to a small house.
Night came. The leopard left his village, still going to seek the goat; and he came again to the town of man. The leopard stood still, listened, and sniffed the air. He smelled the odor of the goat, and was glad, and said, “So! this night I will get him!”
He saw an open way to a small house. He thought it was a door. He entered, and was caught in the trap. He could see the goat through the cracks of the wall, but could not get at him.
The goat jeered at him, “My friend! you were about to kill me, but you are unable.”
Daybreak came. And people of man’s town found the leopard in the trap, caught fast. They took machetes and guns, and killed him.
Then man said to the goat, “You shall not go back to the forest; remain here always. Some friend or relative of the leopard may try to kill you.”
This is the reason that goats like to live with mankind, through fear of leopards.
Hints to the Wise
The sun is the king of torches.
Ashes fly back in the face of him that throws them.
When the cat dies the mice rejoice.
A man falls into the trap he sets for others.
Faults are like a hill; you stand on your own and you talk about those of other people.
Do not repair another man’s fence until you have seen to your own.
The Lion, the Leopard, and the Dog
The lion, the leopard, and the dog were living together. They heard the news that the goat had built a big town.
The lion said to the leopard, “We had better wage war on that town, as we have nothing to eat.”
So the two joined and carried on war against goat-town. They fought a whole day but were unable to take the town and were driven back.
They went back and told the dog of their misfortune and that he must join them in another attempt to take goat-town. The next morning the three went, and after fighting all day they took the town.
When they went into the town they found only one goat and one cat. The lion caught the goat and the cat and said they were going to carry them away. The cat did not wish to be tied, and asked to be left untied so that he could dance.
The lion said, “All right.”
Then the goat said, “You should leave me untied as I am a doctor.”
So they left both untied.
“Let me see you dance now,” said the lion. The cat began to dance and he danced well.
Then he said, “I can jump.”
“Jump then,” said the lion. The cat jumped over the barricade and ran into the bush.
The lion turned to the goat and said, “You say you are a doctor. Well, the cat has run away. I want you to try your medicine, so that we can catch him.”
Then the lion, the leopard, and the dog all closed up around the goat to prevent his getting away as the cat had done.
Then the Lion, the Leopard, and the Dog all closed up around the Goat.
The goat told the lion to bring him one large pot. The pot was brought. The goat put his hand in his bag, and he took out one bottle filled with honey. He placed the honey in the pot.
“You must put a cloth over me and the pot,” said the goat.
The lion did not know that the goat had honey; he thought it was water in the pot.
The goat took a spoon and gave the lion some of the honey in the pot, saying, “This is some of the water my medicine gave me.”
When the lion tasted the honey he said, “Oh, you are a doctor for true.”
The lion said, “I know you are a doctor now, so make me some medicine to wear around my neck.”
The goat told the lion that the medicine they wear around the neck is put up in leopard skin, and that he must kill the leopard so he could get some of the skin.
“All right,” said the lion.
The lion started after the leopard, and the leopard ran, and the lion after him, and the dog followed. So the goat made his escape back the other way.
So the lion dislikes the leopard, the leopard dislikes the goat, and the goat dislikes the dog.
More Words of Wisdom
There is no medicine for hate.
He is a heathen who bears malice.
Wrangling is the father of fighting.
Men despise what they do not understand.
He who injures another brings injury upon himself.
Hate the evil which a man does but do not hate the man himself.
The evil doer is ever anxious.
If you love yourself others will hate you; If you humble yourself others will love you.
The Leopard, the Tortoise, and the Bush Rat
Once there was a great famine on earth, and all the animals were very thin and weak from want of food; but there was one exception, and that was the tortoise and all his family. They were very fat, and did not seem to suffer at all. Even the leopard was very thin, in spite of the promise of animals to bring him other animals for food.
The Tortoise on the way
In the early days of the famine the leopard had killed the mother of the tortoise. The tortoise, then, was very angry with the leopard, and intended if possible to be even with him. The tortoise was very clever and had discovered a shallow lake full of fish in the middle of the forest. Every morning he used to go to the lake and bring back enough fish for himself and his family. One day the leopard met the tortoise and noticed how fat he was. As he was very thin himself he decided to watch the tortoise. The next morning, then, the leopard hid himself in the long grass near the home of the tortoise and waited, until the tortoise came along with a heavy basket. Then the leopard jumped out, and said to the tortoise:
“What have you in that basket?”
The tortoise did not want to lose his breakfast, and would not tell what he was carrying; but the leopard could easily tell things by smell. He knew at once that there was fish in the basket. He then said:
“I know there is fish in there, and I am going to eat it.”
The tortoise was afraid to refuse. As he was such a poor creature, he said:
“Very well. Let us sit down under this shady tree, and if you will make a fire I will go to my home and get pepper, oil, and salt, and then we will eat together. Isn’t that fair enough for both of us?”
The Leopard began to search about for dry wood.
The leopard agreed to do this and began to search about for dry wood to start the fire. While the leopard was doing this the tortoise moved slowly off to his house, and very soon came back with the pepper, salt, and oil. He also brought a long piece of cane tie-tie, which is very strong. He put this on the ground, and began boiling the fish. Then he said to the leopard:
“While we are waiting for the fish to cook, let us play at tying one another up to a tree. You may tie me up first, and when I say, ‘Tighten,’ you must loose the rope, and when I say ‘Loosen,’ you must tighten the rope.”
The leopard was very hungry, but he thought that this game would make the time pass more quickly while the fish was being cooked. He, therefore, agreed to play.
The tortoise then stood with his back to the tree and said: “Loosen the rope.” The leopard, as he had agreed, began to tie up the tortoise.
Very soon the tortoise cried out: “Tighten!” The leopard at once unfastened the tie-tie, and the tortoise was free.
The tortoise then said,
“Now, leopard, it is your turn.”
The leopard, then, stood up against the tree and called out to the tortoise to loosen the rope, and the tortoise at once very quickly passed the rope several times around the leopard and got him fast to the tree. Then the leopard said, “Tighten the rope.”
But instead of playing the game as he said he would, the tortoise ran faster and faster with the rope round the leopard. He took care to keep out of reach of the leopard’s claws, and very soon had the leopard fastened so tight that he could not get away.
All this time the leopard was crying out to the tortoise to let him go, as he was tired of the game; but the tortoise only laughed, and sat down at the fireside and commenced his meal. When he had finished eating all he wanted, he picked up the remainder of the fish for his family, and made ready to go. Before he started, however, he said to the leopard:
“You killed my mother and now you want to take my fish. It is not likely that I am going to the lake to get fish for you, so I shall leave you here to starve.”
All that day and throughout the night the leopard was yelling for some one to let him loose; but no one came, because the people and animals of the forest do not like to hear the leopard’s voice.
In the morning, when the animals began to go out to find food, the leopard begged every one he saw to come and untie him; but they all refused, as they knew that if they did so the leopard would most likely kill them at once and eat them.
At last a bush rat came by and saw the leopard tied up to the tree and asked him what his trouble was. The leopard told him that he had been playing a game of “tight” and “loose” with the tortoise, and that he had tied him up and left him there to starve. The leopard then begged the bush rat to cut the ropes with his sharp teeth.
The bush rat was very sorry for the leopard; but at the same time he knew that, if he let the leopard go, the leopard would most likely kill
and eat the one that had thus done him a kind act. He therefore hesitated, and said that he did not quite see his way clear to cut the ropes.
But this bush rat was very kind-hearted. He had had some experience with traps himself, and could sympathize with the leopard in his pain. The bush rat therefore thought for a time, and then made a plan. He first started to dig a hole under the tree. When he had finished the hole he came out and cut one of the ropes, and immediately ran into his hole, and waited there to see what would happen; but although the leopard struggled very much, he could not get loose, as the tortoise had tied him up so fast. After a time, when he saw that there was no danger, the bush rat crept out again and very carefully bit through another rope, and then came back to his hole as before. Again nothing happened, and he began to feel safe. He then bit several strands through one after the other until the last rope was cut and the leopard was free.
The Bush Rat
The leopard was wild with hunger. Instead of being grateful to the bush rat, as soon as the leopard was free he made a dash at the bush rat with his big paw, but just missed him, as the bush rat had dived for his hole. The bush rat, however, was not quick enough to escape the leopard’s paw, and the sharp claws scratched his back and left marks which all bush rats carry even to this day.
African Myths and Folk Tales Page 6
