{"collection":"African","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/afr/yl/yl24.htm","path":"afr/yl/yl24.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/afr/yl/yl24.htm","text":"Sacred-Texts African Index Previous Next\nTHERE was a certain lazy and disagreeable man whom everyone called \u201cOle,\u201d or \u201cLazy one.\u201d He liked to profit by the work of others, and was also very inquisitive about other people\u2019s affairs.\nOnce he saw that the ants had begun building a pillar in the compound of his house. But though the ants destroyed p. 41 all the plants in the compound, and stripped all the trees, Ole would not trouble to kill them, or to break down their pillar.\nInstead, he thought to himself: \u201cWhen the ants have made this pillar very high, I will sit on the top of it, and then I shall be able to see all that my neighbours are doing without leaving my compound.\u201d\nThis thought pleased him, and he was glad that the ants swarmed in his compound. Each day the pillar grew higher, and at last the ants ceased their building and began again elsewhere. Ole then climbed up on to the pillar and spent the whole day observing the doings of his neighbours, and laughing at their activity.\n| \u201cHere sit I like a great Chief, And I see all things!\u201d | \nsang Ole.\nBut while he sat on the pillar, the ants began to demolish his house and all that it contained, and in a short time there was nothing left of all his food and possessions.\nOle thus became the laughing-stock of the village, and everyone who saw him p. 42 cried: \u201cKu ijoko!\u201d or \u201cGreetings to you on your sitting!\u201d\nSoon afterwards he died, and it is not known to this day whether he died of shame or of laziness.","title":"XXII OLE AND THE ANTS","type":"page"}