{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_77175/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_77175","id":"gutenberg_77175","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77175","summary":null,"tags":["Fairy tales -- Africa"],"text":"ALTEMUS\u2019 FAIRY TALES SERIES\n\n                            The MAN ELEPHANT\n                           A Book of African\n                              Fairy Tales\n\n                      EDITED with an INTRODUCTION\n                           By Hartwell James\n\n                        WITH FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS\n                            By JOHN R. NEILL\n\n                              PHILADELPHIA\n                         HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nA series of fairy tales from different countries would be incomplete\nwithout a book of stories from Africa, which for many years was called\nthe \u201cDark Continent.\u201d\n\nWe are very largely indebted to travelers, explorers, and missionaries\nfor African legends and stories. Those in this book were told to them\nby the natives themselves in dark and gloomy forests, and by the great,\nbrown rivers of that wonderful land. They are not so much about princes\nand princesses as are the fairy tales of other countries, but are more\nabout animals\u2014elephants, and lions, and jackals.\n\nThere is plenty of magic in these stories, however. Ramil, the witch\nmother, used it on her elephant son; the hunter\u2019s wife in \u201cThe Master\nWeaver\u201d rubbed a stronger magic \u201cmedicine\u201d on her husband\u2019s spear than\nhe had been using, and so had her way about things; and The Flying Lion\nnever would have lost the power of using his wings if the beautiful\ngirl with red flowers in her hair and a gold bracelet on her arm had\nnot learned how to make an invisible robe for herself. \u201cKing Mungo\u201d is\na very funny story, and in \u201cUncle Lion\u201d we are told how the phrase\n\u201ctaking the lion\u2019s share\u201d originated. All of these tales are extremely\ninteresting.\n\nThe borders and other decorations in the book will be of great interest\nto young people, for they represent musical instruments, headdresses,\nwar clubs, war drums, spears, belts, idols, and other rude objects used\nby African tribes hundreds of years ago.\n\n\nH. J.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    The Man Elephant        13\n    The Master Weaver       39\n    The Flying Lion         53\n    King Mungo              75\n    Uncle Lion              91\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                             Page\n    \u201c\u2018Let me go with you and hunt the elephant\u2019\u201d     Frontispiece\n    \u201cLed her on to talk of the river\u201d                          15\n    \u201cHe was twelve feet high as she had said\u201d                  19\n    \u201c\u2018I want them all cooked\u2019\u201d                                 23\n    \u201c\u2018Save me from the elephant!\u2019\u201d                             25\n    \u201cHow she did have to work\u201d                                 26\n    \u201cPut her right up on top of a tree\u201d                        28\n    \u201cHe sniffed suspiciously around the hut\u201d                   29\n    \u201cParle remembered a spell\u201d                                 31\n    \u201cHe saw a spider making a net\u201d                             38\n    \u201cMalla was a great hunter\u201d                                 42\n    \u201cThe bush-cow rushed furiously upon him\u201d                   43\n    \u201cA kind of coarse cloth made of bark\u201d                      45\n    \u201cAll the other women envied her\u201d                           46\n    \u201c\u2018He taught me all I know\u2019\u201d                                47\n    \u201cLighted by fire-flies and glow-worms\u201d                     52\n    \u201cThe Flying Lion was a terrible beast\u201d                     55\n    \u201c\u2018There is some secret about his wings\u2019\u201d                   59\n    \u201cSometimes she had to creep over fallen trees\u201d             61\n    \u201c\u2018Human beings are queer creatures\u2019\u201d                       63\n    \u201cThe Great Frog was sunning himself\u201d                       65\n    \u201c\u2018Nothing would give me more pleasure\u2019\u201d                    67\n    \u201cThe frog was too quick for him\u201d                           68\n    \u201cThe largest was an elephant\u201d                              74\n    \u201cSwing himself from one branch to another\u201d                 76\n    \u201cThey lived in peace and harmony\u201d                          77\n    \u201cA piece of cloth with six holes in it\u201d                    79\n    \u201cPulled out his thimble and thread\u201d                        81\n    \u201c\u2018Here, dog, bite the cat\u2019\u201d                                83\n    \u201cHad to go on all fours\u201d                                   85\n    \u201c\u2018I am glad to see you, Kanja\u2019\u201d                            90\n    \u201c\u2018What is your idea of the lion\u2019s share?\u2019\u201d                 92\n    \u201c\u2018What seems to be the matter?\u2019\u201d                           93\n    \u201cThey rushed on and on\u201d                                    96\n    \u201c\u2018His skin will make a nice cloak\u2019\u201d                        97\n    \u201c\u2018They are no more your fish than mine\u2019\u201d                   99\n    \u201c\u2018Are you sure you laid perfectly still?\u2019\u201d                102\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES FROM AFRICA\n\nTHE MAN ELEPHANT\n\n    Parle deserved a better husband than the Man Elephant, but one\n    of Ramil\u2019s spells, happily remembered, clears up the situation;\n    and Lomi, by inference, cooks his own fish.\n\n\nParle was a very pretty girl who lived with her father and mother and\ntwo brothers in a hut by the side of an African river.\n\nIt was not a pleasant river at all, for it was brown in color, and\nflowed through a dark and gloomy forest of great trees and closely\nwoven vines. There were crocodiles, too, in the ugly black river, and\nParle was afraid to bathe in it.\n\nAlthough one would hardly believe it, Parle grew up very happily in\nthis little clearing by the river, and never had a real grief until her\ntwo brothers left home to go hunting, and would not take her with them.\n\n\u201cYou will see the moon rise and set many times before we come back,\u201d\nthey said, \u201cbut when we come, we will find you a good husband, and we\nwill dance merrily at your wedding.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me go with you, and hunt the elephant,\u201d she pleaded. \u201cI don\u2019t want\na husband; I want to go with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe cooking-pot is better than the spear for girls,\u201d said the older\nbrother decidedly, \u201cand you must stay at home.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I want to go so much,\u201d still pleaded the girl, \u201cfor you may find\nthe great river Ramil has told us about so often.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat river is that?\u201d they asked.\n\n\u201cWhy Ramil says the first men who were ever made, lived by the side of\na great river\u2014up there,\u201d she answered, pointing vaguely towards the\nnorth.\n\n\u201cShe says the men were all black; but some of them swam across to the\nother side, and the water washed them white. Since then the white men\nare always stretching out their hands and calling to the blacks to come\nacross to them.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that Ramil is full of silly stories,\u201d said the older brother. \u201cI\ndon\u2019t believe them.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut the white men do come from over there,\u201d persisted Parle, gazing\nnorthward as if she could see the river in the distance. \u201cI should like\nto swim across and be washed white, too!\u201d\n\nThe younger brother thought this the most foolish speech he had ever\nheard. \u201cWell,\u201d he said, \u201cthere is no accounting for some people\u2019s\ntastes!\u201d\n\nThen the brothers rubbed their spears with some kind of grease which\nthey believed would kill elephants, and as they did so they sang:\n\n\n        \u201cWhen mine enemy thou shalt see,\n        Black and tall like an ebony-tree,\n        Sing softly, softly, little spear,\n        As to his heart thou drawest near.\u201d\n\n\nEarly the next morning the two brothers started on the expedition,\nleaving their sister behind. In her loneliness, she visited the\nwitch-doctress, Ramil, oftener than she had ever done before, and led\nher on to talk of the river far away beyond the forest, and the white\nmen on the other side of it.\n\n\u201cThe best thing for you to do,\u201d said Ramil, \u201cthat is, if you really\nwant to go there, is to marry my son. Then he can carry you on his back\nthrough the forest.\u201d\n\n\u201cI should be too heavy,\u201d said Parle, shaking her pretty head; \u201cand\nbesides, I don\u2019t want to marry anyone.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou could not be too heavy for my son,\u201d replied the witch. \u201cHis legs\nare as thick as tree-trunks, and he stands twelve feet high at least.\n\n\u201cAs for not wanting a husband,\u201d continued Ramil; \u201cthat is what all\ngirls say, but they don\u2019t mean it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to marry a giant,\u201d said Parle.\n\n\u201cOh, he isn\u2019t a giant. He is\u2014but never mind\u2014wait till you see him,\u201d\nreplied Ramil mysteriously, for she was determined to marry Parle to\nher son, if possible.\n\nSo that evening, when the moon was shining softly through the trees,\nshe stole away to the place where her son was usually to be found at\nnight, and by and by she came across him at the edge of a swamp, where\nhe had been rolling about in the muddy water.\n\nHe was twelve feet high, and had legs like tree-trunks, as she had\nsaid; for Ramil\u2019s son was nothing more nor less than a big black\nelephant, and that very day he had nearly been killed by Parle\u2019s\nbrothers.\n\n\u201cWhat do you want of me now, little mother?\u201d he asked, rubbing himself\ngently against a tree.\n\n\u201cIt is time you had a wife,\u201d she replied. \u201cI have found the prettiest\nlittle wife for you, but she will never consent to marry an elephant.\nYou will have to let me turn you into a bushman for a little while.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow will you do it? and why is it necessary?\u201d asked her son\nsuspiciously. You see, he knew his mother was a witch.\n\n\u201cIf you eat one of these,\u201d replied his mother, showing him some leaves\nshe had picked on her way through the forest, \u201cyou will become a\nhandsome young bushman, who can woo the girl and marry her.\n\n\u201cThen when you have carried off your bride, you can eat another leaf,\nand then you will be changed into an elephant again.\u201d\n\n\u201cCan she cook fish and make cakes?\u201d asked the elephant; \u201cand is she\nreally a pretty girl, my mother?\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed she is pretty,\u201d said Ramil, noticing that her son\u2019s eyes\ntwinkled. \u201cShe is as sweet as the wild mango blossoms when they fall to\nthe ground in the spring.\n\n\u201cAnd as to her cooking,\u201d she went on; \u201cI have tasted her baked fish and\nher broth.\u201d And Ramil rolled her eyes, remembering how good they had\nbeen, and pleased to see a look of satisfaction stealing over her son\u2019s\nface.\n\n\u201cI do get so tired of plantain leaves,\u201d said the elephant plaintively.\n\n\u201cNo wonder. That\u2019s because your mother wasn\u2019t an elephant. Well, she\nwill need a big cooking-pot! One baked fish will never satisfy you.\u201d\n\nSo Ramil persuaded her son to eat one of the leaves, and as soon as he\nhad done it his four legs became two, and his clumsy body changed into\nthat of a tall, well-made young bushman.\n\nThen he took a spear in his hand and went with his mother to the door\nof Parle\u2019s hut, who thought he was the handsomest young man she had\never seen.\n\n\u201cBut you said he was twelve feet high, and that his legs were like\ntree-trunks,\u201d she cried.\n\nAnd the cunning old woman answered, \u201cThat was because he was under a\nspell. He is cured now.\u201d So Parle promised to be his wife, and after\nthey were married he took her away with him into the forest.\n\nBut they did not travel north as he had promised, towards the great\nriver which washed black people white. Instead, they went south, always\nsouth, towards the plains where the elephant hunters were few, and\nwhere her husband thought he might live in peace with his wife.\n\nBy and by they came to a beautiful country covered with green grass and\nflowers, for it was early spring, and there he built her a hut. \u201cNow I\nwill go fishing,\u201d he said, \u201cand you shall cook my supper when I come\nback.\u201d\n\nWhen he came back, he brought with him thirty fish; and when Parle saw\nthem, she said, \u201cthree would have been enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cI want them all cooked,\u201d replied her husband. \u201cThirty will not be too\nmany.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut see how large they are!\u201d insisted his wife.\n\n\u201cThat makes no difference. Do as I tell you!\u201d he answered sternly.\n\nSo Parle began to cook them, while her husband went behind the hut and\nate the second leaf his mother had given him.\n\nAnd as soon as he had done this, his nose grew into a trunk and his\nteeth into tusks, while his body changed into that of a huge elephant,\nstanding four feet above the roof!\n\nParle looked up from her cooking and gave a scream. \u201cOh, Lomi! Lomi!\u201d\nshe called out. \u201cSave me from the elephant!\u201d\n\n\u201cI am Lomi, your husband,\u201d he replied, talking to her across the roof\nof the hut. \u201cDon\u2019t be frightened.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I am frightened!\u201d cried the poor girl, crouching on the ground and\nholding her face in her hands, while her husband told her the story of\nthe trick he had played on her.\n\n\u201cNow all you have to do is to please me,\u201d he went on, \u201cor it will be\nthe worse for you.\n\n\u201cI am tired of elephant food, and want broth, baked meat, plenty of\nfish, and all the good things bushmen eat. I will go and hunt for them,\nand it will be your business to see that they are properly cooked.\u201d\n\nSo poor Parle had to cook from morning until night to satisfy her\nhusband\u2019s appetite. He brought home springbok and gemsbok\u2014small deer\nwhich roamed about the plains\u2014and she made broths and stews of them, as\nher mother had taught her.\n\nHow she did have to work! Instead of running out in the morning to\ngather flowers, she had to go fishing, or to collect eggs to put into\nthe soups. She grew so ill and thin that none would have known her for\nthe same pretty girl who had left home with the young bushman.\n\nBut every day, when she came out of her hut, she shaded her eyes from\nthe sun, and looked across the plain to see if there were any travelers\ncoming from the north. \u201cSome day my brothers may find me,\u201d she thought.\n\nSo the days went on until one morning her husband\u2019s breakfast did not\nplease him, and he was so angry that he snatched her up in his trunk\nand put her right up on top of a tree which grew near the hut. \u201cYou\nshall stay there until I come back,\u201d he said.\n\nIt was not much of a punishment, and his wife did not mind it at all,\nfor it was rather pleasant than otherwise. There was no cooking to be\ndone up there, and she could see much farther over the plain from the\ntop of the tree.\n\nSo Parle looked and looked, always to the north, all the morning, but\nin vain. At last, about noon, two black dots appeared on the line where\nthe plain met the sky, and Parle forgot how hungry she was as she\nwatched the dots grow larger and larger.\n\n\u201cI wonder if they are lions,\u201d she thought. \u201cNo, they are men!\u201d she\ncried aloud. In an hour she could see that they were bushmen, coming\nswiftly across the plains; and in a little while she recognized her\nbrothers, who had traveled all this way to find her and hear if she was\nhappy.\n\nIt did not take long for the oldest brother to climb the tree and bring\nher down. And then how glad they were to see each other! Parle cooked\nthem some food and while they were eating it she told them how unhappy\nshe was, and made them promise to take her away.\n\nThen they planned how to get away. \u201cWe must wait until night, or Lomi\nwill catch us,\u201d she told them. \u201cI will hide you until it is safe to\nstart.\u201d\n\nThere was a raised wooden platform behind the hut, and underneath it\nParle kept firewood, rugs to sleep on, and all kinds of things for\nwhich there was not room in the hut. So she stowed away her brothers in\nthere; and when Lomi came home, although he sniffed suspiciously around\nthe hut, he did not catch a glimpse of them.\n\nThen at midnight when Lomi was fast asleep, his wife roused her\nbrothers, and they prepared to leave. \u201cWe are going to kill the\nelephant,\u201d whispered the older brother.\n\n\u201cIndeed, you must not,\u201d replied Parle decidedly.\n\n\u201cIf you won\u2019t let us kill the elephant, you must let us take his\ncattle, at least,\u201d said the younger brother.\n\nSo they set out, driving the cattle before them; but Parle left behind\none cow, one sheep, and one goat, telling them to make as much noise as\nthey could during the night.\n\nLomi waked several times after they had gone, but when he heard the\nnoises the cow, the goat, and the sheep made, he concluded that all his\ncattle were safe, and went to sleep again each time.\n\nEarly in the morning he found out his mistake, but by this time Parle\nand her brothers were far away across the plain. Soon he was in pursuit\nof them, and how fast he did tear over the ground!\n\nDriving the cattle before them, Parle and her brothers flew on and on;\nbut the terrible elephant got over the ground much more quickly than\nthey could, and at last was only a half a mile away.\n\nAnd as if to make it worse, right ahead of them were great rocks, too\nsteep to climb, and so high they seemed to touch the sky. Then they\ngave themselves up for lost.\n\nBut just then Parle remembered a spell which Ramil, the witch, had\ntaught her, and cried out:\n\n\n        \u201cBy the lilies which grow\n          On the still lagoon,\n        All silver-white\n          Under the moon,\n        Stone of my fathers,\n          Divide! Divide!\n        Let us pass through\n          To the other side.\u201d\n\n\nAs the words ceased, the rocks opened, and Parle with her brothers and\nthe cattle went safely through.\n\nAnd how angry Lomi was when he saw the rocks close behind them!\n\nOn the other side there was a beautiful lagoon shining in the silvery\nmoonlight, with white lilies floating on the water, and it looked so\nbeautiful that Parle ran, with a cry of joy, to bathe her face and\nhands in it.\n\n\u201cI wonder if Ramil\u2019s spell brought it here? Or was it here all the\ntime?\u201d she cried in bewilderment.\n\nSo Parle and her brothers rested there for a time, and then went on\nagain to try and find the river of which Ramil had told them so often.\nIt would be nice to know whether they found it or not, and were washed\nwhite in its waters, but you will have to decide that for yourselves.\n\nThere is one thing quite sure, however, and that is, Lomi never saw\nParle again, which served him quite right.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES FROM AFRICA\n\nTHE MASTER WEAVER\n\n    It is unwise to change the medicine on one\u2019s husband\u2019s spear,\n    as Sassa found out to her sorrow. Still, she acquired a much\n    handsomer frock as a resultant occurrence.\n\n\nUntil he married Sassa, Malla was a great hunter\u2014the greatest in his\ntribe, for he never failed to bring home game when he went hunting in\nthe bush.\n\nMalla used to put medicine on his spear\u2014at least that is what he called\nit\u2014but it was only a kind of grease, and then he would hold up his\nspear in front of him and say:\n\n\n        \u201cKill, kill, spear of mine,\n        Earth-pig and porcupine,\n        Bush-cow and bush-deer,\n        Kill, kill, little spear.\u201d\n\n\nIt was very odd, but after he married Sassa, his spear was always\ngetting fast in the trees, or gliding past the bush-cows without\ntouching them. The fact was, Sassa did not want him to go hunting, and\nas she knew a better charm than his, she rubbed a different medicine\nonto the spear after he had finished with it. And this is what she\nwould say:\n\n\n        \u201cBush-deer and bush-cow,\n        Say, who shall hurt you now?\n        By my spell you shall be\n        Safe and free, safe and free.\u201d\n\n\nMalla did not know this, of course, and one day he went out after a\nbig, savage bush-cow. He threw his spear as skilfully as usual, but it\npassed through the animal\u2019s horns and struck a tree. Then the bush-cow\nrushed furiously upon him, and gored him, injuring him so much that he\ncould hardly creep home.\n\nAs he lay in his hut, in great pain, his friends found out that it was\nSassa\u2019s fault that he got hurt, and they punished her for it. They need\nnot have done so, for Sassa was punished sufficiently by seeing her\nhusband in pain, and she nursed him very tenderly.\n\nOne day she said to him, \u201cI witched your spear to make you give up\nhunting, because it is so dangerous.\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall never give it up while I can drag myself into the bush,\u201d said\nher husband. \u201cOnce a hunter, always a hunter, Sassa.\u201d\n\nLong before he had recovered from his wounds, and while he was too weak\nto walk, he would creep on his hands and knees into the bush, and lie\nthere all day. His wife tried to persuade him to stay in the hut, but\nhe said if he couldn\u2019t hunt the animals, he could at least watch them.\n\nOne day as Malla was lying on his back, looking up at the trees, he saw\na spider making a net, so he said to him, \u201cYou also, my lord spider,\nare a great hunter.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you had made a trap like this, and caught the bush-cow in it, you\nwould not have been hurt,\u201d replied the spider.\n\n\u201cIt would have been much better,\u201d Malla agreed. \u201cI think I will make a\nnet of bush-rope.\u201d\n\nNow bush-rope is the stem of a creeping plant which grows in African\nforests, and is very strong and tough; so Malla took the thickest he\ncould find, and made a net, and put it between two bushes.\n\nThen in the morning when he went to look at it, he found bush-deer,\nearth-pigs, and porcupines struggling in it. \u201cI told you it would be a\ngood thing,\u201d said the spider.\n\nThen Malla made another net, and it was made better than the first, and\nthen he made a third one which was better still, and made of finer\nrope.\n\nOne day Sassa said to him, \u201cIf you could weave a very fine net, I would\nwear it;\u201d for like all the other women who lived in the forest, she had\nnothing to wear but a kind of coarse cloth made of bark, which shrank\nwhen it was wet.\n\nMalla said he was willing to try, but he could not make the cloth of\nthe right shape, and so he went to the spider again.\n\n\u201cI make my net on sticks,\u201d said the spider; \u201cand you must do the same\nthing. But why should you, who are a mighty hunter, waste your time\nmaking dresses for your wife?\u201d\n\nThen Malla hunted around until he found some very fine rope, and fixed\nhis sticks near the spider\u2019s web, so he could see just how he made it.\nThen he wove a piece of cloth which was the right shape, and pleased\nSassa very much.\n\nOne day she showed him a place where some long, silky grass grew, and\nthen said to him, \u201cIf you can make the cloth of this grass, instead of\nthe bush-rope, it would be finer still.\u201d\n\nSo Malla showed some of it to the spider. \u201cI have made nets of thick\nbush-rope and thin bush-rope. Can I make one out of this?\u201d he asked.\n\nThen the spider growled out, \u201cWomen are never satisfied,\u201d but he was a\ngood-natured spider on the whole, and showed Malla how to weave a fine,\nbeautiful cloth of grass, of which Sassa was very proud.\n\nAll the other women envied her as she wrapped herself in it and walked\npast the other huts. \u201cHow lucky she is,\u201d they said. \u201cHer husband is not\nonly a mighty hunter, but he can make finer cloth than anyone else.\u201d\n\nMalla continued to make bush-rope nets to catch game, and was so\nsuccessful that he and his friends feasted all the year round.\n\nBoth he and Sassa lived to a great age, and saw their grandchildren and\ngreat-grandchildren. Even when he was old and grey-headed, he was\ncalled \u201cThe Great Hunter;\u201d but when they called him, in addition, \u201cThe\nMaster Weaver,\u201d he would point to the bush where the spider wove his\nsilvery web:\n\n\u201cHe taught me all I know,\u201d he said. \u201cHe is the Master Weaver!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES FROM AFRICA\n\nTHE FLYING LION\n\n    The wonder is that the Great Frog did not meet a princess with\n    gold bracelets on her arms and red flowers in her hair, sooner\n    than he did. However, it is an excellent story.\n\n\nOne of the most clever girls who ever lived was a king\u2019s daughter named\nPearl Blossom. She was so clever that every one came to her for advice.\n\nShe knew what medicine to give people when they were sick, the kind of\nherbs and plants which were good to eat, and the crops which would grow\nbest in different kinds of soil.\n\nShe could tell when it was going to rain, and when the rain would\nclear; and she understood what animals said to each other. There was\njust one thing she did not know, and that was how to get rid of the\nFlying Lion.\n\nNow the Flying Lion was a very terrible beast. He devoured everything\nhe came across; and had built himself a house, or palace, of the bones\nof the creatures he had eaten.\n\nPearl Blossom would have been perfectly happy if it had not been for\nthe Flying Lion, for the very thought of him made her sad.\n\n\u201cHe is like a cloud hanging over our village,\u201d she said to her father,\none day. \u201cWhen the women go to the river to wash, or the children go\noutdoors to play, no one knows how many will come back.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is a terrible thing to think about, of course,\u201d replied her father.\n\u201cSome one should get rid of him, but a woman cannot do it. Don\u2019t think\nabout the Flying Lion.\u201d\n\nYou see, the old King had no great opinion of his daughter\u2019s abilities,\nand he thought her rather spoiled by the fuss his people made over her.\nBut this was not so. Pearl Blossom was too sensible to be conceited.\nShe was kind and good, and wanted to help others as much as possible.\n\nOne morning, Pearl Blossom went into the forest to gather roots, and\npretty soon came to a place where a tall woman was sitting at the foot\nof a cotton-tree.\n\nThe woman was fair of face, with hair like red gold, and she wore a\nlong, trailing white garment. \u201cWho are you?\u201d asked Pearl Blossom. \u201cI\nnever saw you before.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou haven\u2019t seen me before, although I have always been here,\u201d the\nwoman replied. \u201cI whispered in your ear all you know about the things\nin the forest. How did you think you learned so much about animals and\nplants?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, I just thought about them as I sat under the trees,\u201d said Pearl\nBlossom, after a little pause.\n\n\u201cIt was I who taught you,\u201d said the woman. \u201cMy name is Gulu, and I live\ninside the cotton-tree. Would you like to see my home?\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed I would,\u201d said Pearl Blossom.\n\nSo Gulu led her through the door into the tree, and there was the\nloveliest little house she had ever seen. The carpet was green moss,\nthe walls were covered with beautiful flowers, and it was lighted by\nfire-flies and glow-worms.\n\nPearl Blossom was delighted with what she saw, and said so. Then she\nand Gulu sat down and began to talk. \u201cWe are old friends; for although\nyou have never seen me, I have told you nearly all my secrets. Is there\nanything else you want to know?\u201d\n\n\u201cI want to know how to get rid of the Flying Lion,\u201d replied Pearl\nBlossom. \u201cCan you tell me how to do it?\u201d\n\nGulu was silent for quite a little while. Then at length she said: \u201cIt\nwill be rather difficult; yes, the most difficult thing you could have\nasked me. But if you will stay with me for three months, it can be\ndone.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy must I stay three whole months?\u201d asked Pearl Blossom.\n\n\u201cBecause, in the first place it will take you a month to weave an\ninvisible robe for yourself; and unless you have one, you can\u2019t meddle\nwith the Flying Lion.\u201d\n\n\u201cI suppose if he should see me, that would be the end of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed it would, and of you, too,\u201d said Gulu. \u201cThen after the robe is\nmade, you will have to learn the language of the crows and the frogs.\nThat will take two months, because they are more difficult to\nunderstand than the rest of the animals.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I must go home first and tell my parents where I am.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed you must not,\u201d replied Gulu. \u201cNo one must know where you are,\nor the Flying Lion will hear of it and know what you are doing.\u201d\n\n\u201cI must get rid of the Flying Lion,\u201d said Pearl Blossom; \u201cso it will be\nbest for me to stay.\u201d\n\nBut the King and Queen were distracted with grief when night came and\nthe Princess had not come back from the forest, so they sent the\nbushmen in every direction in search of her. They sought for many days,\nbut could not find her, and every one thought the Flying Lion had eaten\nher.\n\nAll this time Pearl Blossom sat in the cotton-tree house weaving\nherself a robe which would make her invisible wherever she went. And\nwhen it was finished she learned the language of the crows and the\nfrogs.\n\nThen, when the three months were at an end, Gulu told her she would\nbetter go and listen to the crows in the forest and find out what to do\nabout the Flying Lion.\n\nSo Pearl Blossom put on her invisible robe and crept up close to the\ncrows to hear what they had to say.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know just what it is,\u201d said one of them, \u201cbut there is some\nsecret about his wings. The white crows know it, but they dare not\ntell.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe leaves two white crows to guard the bones every day when he goes\nhunting,\u201d said a young crow. \u201cThere are piles and piles of them, and he\nwon\u2019t have one of them broken. I have seen them,\u201d he added proudly.\n\n\u201cWhat is all this about bones?\u201d asked a very old crow. He could not fly\nas far as the younger ones, and was inclined not to pay much attention\nto their wonderful tales.\n\n\u201cWhy, the bones of the creatures the Flying Lion has eaten,\u201d replied\nthe young crow. \u201cHe has built a house with them over there where the\nsun goes down,\u201d nodding towards the west. \u201cI know it, for I have seen\nit,\u201d he added, puffing out his breast with a great deal of importance.\n\n\u201cI must see that house myself,\u201d thought Pearl Blossom; \u201cand I must hear\nwhat the white crows say to each other. Perhaps they will let out the\nsecret.\u201d\n\nSo Pearl Blossom went away through the forest, and walked for a long\ntime before she reached the house where the white crows were.\n\nThe way through the forest was very difficult, too. Sometimes the\nbush-rope caught her feet and threw her down; sometimes she had to\ncreep over great fallen trees; and again she had to creep under bushes.\n\nIt was very fortunate that she could talk to the animals, for the\nbush-crows and the monkeys and the snails showed her the way, and were\nall very kind to her.\n\nIt took some time for them to get used to her way of appearing and\ndisappearing, and of course, it puzzled them, for she had to slip off\nher invisible robe while she spoke to them.\n\n\u201cHuman beings are queer creatures at the best of times,\u201d said the snake\nto the monkey. \u201cBeing a Princess makes her a little queerer, I\nsuppose.\u201d\n\nThe white crows were flying round and round the Flying Lion\u2019s house\nwhen Pearl Blossom got there. The house was very large, all built of\nbones, and there was a pile of bones in front of it three times as high\nas the Princess. After a while the white crows settled on a tree near\nher, and began to talk.\n\n\u201cI wish I knew one thing,\u201d said the first one. \u201cWhy doesn\u2019t he want any\nof the bones broken? Can you tell me that?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe only person who knows is the Great Frog,\u201d answered the other.\n\nPearl Blossom was disappointed. \u201cThey don\u2019t know the secret after all,\u201d\nshe said to herself.\n\n\u201cWhat Great Frog?\u201d asked one of the crows. \u201cDo you mean the Great Frog\nwho lives in the pond behind the house?\u201d\n\nThe other crow nodded his head.\n\n\u201cBut he won\u2019t tell it until he is asked by a Princess with gold\nbracelets on her arm and red flowers in her hair. I have heard that\never since I was born.\u201d\n\nThe moment Pearl Blossom heard this, she hurried away to the pond\nbehind the house, for she had gold bracelets on her arm and red flowers\nin her hair.\n\nThe Great Frog was sunning himself on the bank when the Princess came\nup. He was green in color, with a white chest, and he was three feet\nhigh and one foot broad.\n\nPearl Blossom, who never knew what it was to be afraid, slipped off her\ninvisible robe and went up to him.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d he said when he learned what Pearl Blossom wanted, \u201cif the\nFlying Lion is doing as much damage as that, it is time to stop him.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut can you do it?\u201d asked Pearl Blossom anxiously.\n\n\u201cAnyone can do it who knows the secret of the bones,\u201d replied the Great\nFrog. \u201cIf the bones are broken, he won\u2019t be able to fly any more.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen will you go and break them?\u201d asked the Princess.\n\n\u201cNothing would give me more pleasure,\u201d replied the frog politely, and\noff he went by leaps and bounds to the Flying Lion\u2019s house, and pulled\nit down and broke all the bones in pieces.\n\nThen he called out to the white crows: \u201cTell your master, if he wants\nme, to come to the pond and look for me!\u201d\n\nPretty soon the lion came crashing through the bushes in a great rage.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t fly!\u201d he cried out. \u201cWhat have you done that I can\u2019t fly?\u201d he\nasked the white crows.\n\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t done anything,\u201d they replied. \u201cThe Great Frog has been here\nand broken the bones. He says if you want him you may go to the pond.\u201d\n\nThen the lion stopped roaring and crept softly towards the water to\ncatch the frog, who was sitting on the bank. But the Great Frog slipped\ninto the water just as he was within a yard of him, and dived to the\nother side and sat there.\n\nThen the lion crept round to the other side, but again the frog was too\nquick for him, and he could not catch him. He tried time and time again\nto catch him, but at last had to give it up and go away.\n\nSince then lions have never had any wings, but are obliged to walk on\ntheir feet like other animals.\n\nAs for Pearl Blossom, the Great Frog had fallen so much in love with\nher that he wanted to marry her. She thanked him, but now that the lion\nhad lost his wings she must go back to her father and mother.\n\nAnd how delighted her parents were to see her; and when the people of\nthe village heard that the Flying Lion would trouble them no more,\nthere was great feasting and rejoicing in every house.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES FROM AFRICA\n\nKING MUNGO\n\n    Probably the mischief making propensities of the Jackal have\n    never been better set forth than in this relation of certain\n    happenings in the realm of King Mungo.\n\n\nA wise old baboon was King Mungo\u2014not quite so wise, perhaps, as he\nimagined, which is often the case with many of us; but quite sensible\nenough to be a good ruler over his part of the forest.\n\nHe could swing himself from one branch to another, by his long arms,\nnearly as quickly as lightning, and could run so fast and far that no\none could catch him.\n\nAt this time, King Mungo walked on two legs, and he was respected for\nthis more than anything else. But you will soon see that this is the\nsad story of how he, and all the baboons after him, lost the power of\nwalking erect, and had to go on all fours, like the rest of the\nanimals.\n\nOf all King Mungo\u2019s subjects, the largest was an elephant, and the\nsmallest one an ant. Besides these, his kingdom contained a dog, a cat,\na mouse, a pool of water, a stick, and a fire lit among the brambles.\n\nOf course, you have seen water put out fire, with a great fizz and\nsplutter; but the strange thing about King Mungo\u2019s fire was that\nhowever much water was thrown on the fire, the fire burned all the\nbetter for it. King Mungo said, \u201cThat\u2019s because they are friends.\u201d\n\nAnd so it went on. The cat would never bite the mouse; and the cat and\nthe dog played nicely together. The stick went quietly about its\nbusiness without beating the dog; and the ant never even dreamed of\ngiving the elephant a nip.\n\nThey all lived in peace and harmony together until one day a wretched\nlittle tailor, named Klit, came to the King to complain of the holes\nsome one had made in his cloth.\n\nYou know how often it is, just when we are enjoying ourselves most,\nsomebody comes and interferes, and spoils things. It was just like that\nin King Mungo\u2019s kingdom. They were all as happy as they could be, when\nKlit, the tailor, brought the King a piece of cloth with six holes in\nit.\n\n\u201cI must have satisfaction, Your Majesty,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought the mouse\nhad done this, but she blames the cat, and the cat says she saw my\ncloth in the dog\u2019s mouth.\n\n\u201cBut the dog says it was the stick; the stick declares it was the fire;\nand the fire says the water did it. The water denies it, and says the\nelephant tore the cloth; and the elephant lays the blame on the ant.\u201d\n\nKing Mungo put on his most judicial air. \u201cWell\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cAs long as they are all quarreling about it,\u201d continued the tailor, \u201cI\nsuggest, Your Majesty, that you bring them together and try them, so\nthat we may find out the truth.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear me! Quarreling? Why, such a thing has never happened before. Pray\ntake a seat; I will talk it over with my Prime Minister, and see what\ncan be done. Quarreling! Well!\u201d\n\nSo Klit sat down cross-legged on the grass, and pulled out his thimble\nand thread.\n\n\u201cHere, here! Don\u2019t darn the holes. What are you thinking about? If you\ndarn them, they\u2019ll say there never were any,\u201d said the wise baboon.\n\n\u201cWhatever you do, don\u2019t consult your Prime Minister,\u201d retorted the\ntailor. \u201cHe is sure to give you some foolish advice.\u201d\n\nNow King Mungo was very much annoyed at this. He had great faith in the\njackal, who was his Prime Minister; and besides, like other royal\npersonages, he did not like to be addressed in a rude and familiar\nmanner.\n\nHowever, what the tailor said was true. The jackal was a mischievous\nfellow, and people who took his advice were generally sorry for it\nafterwards.\n\nBut King Mungo told his Prime Minister what had happened, and they\nconsulted together for a long time. Then the King nodded his head, and\nthe jackal went off to assemble his subjects.\n\nSo they all appeared before the King. There was the little brown mouse,\nthe cat, the black curly dog, the stick, and next to the stick the fire\nwas burning, and at the other side of the fire was the pool of water.\nBeyond the water stood the elephant, and next to him, on the top of a\nblade of grass, was a tiny black ant.\n\nThen King Mungo began. \u201cKlit,\u201d he said, \u201chold up your cloth.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Your Majesty,\u201d and the tailor held up the cloth, and there were\nsix round holes in it.\n\n\u201cNow tell me which of you has done this,\u201d commanded the King.\n\n\u201cThe mouse!\u201d cried Klit.\n\n\u201cThe cat!\u201d squeaked the mouse.\n\n\u201cThe dog!\u201d said the cat.\n\n\u201cThe stick!\u201d growled the dog.\n\n\u201cThe fire!\u201d shouted the stick.\n\n\u201cThe water!\u201d hissed the fire.\n\n\u201cThe elephant!\u201d roared the water.\n\n\u201cThe ant!\u201d trumpeted the elephant.\n\n\u201cYour Majesty,\u201d said the jackal, \u201cyou see, none of them will confess.\u201d\n\n\u201cSilence!\u201d commanded the King. \u201cThe best thing will be for them to\npunish each other. Klit, you accuse the mouse?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do, Your Majesty,\u201d answered the tailor.\n\n\u201cThen, cat, bite the mouse!\u201d\n\nAnd the cat bit the mouse as hard as she could.\n\n\u201cWhere are you, mouse? Do you accuse the cat?\u201d\n\n\u201cI certainly do,\u201d squeaked the mouse.\n\n\u201cHere, dog, bite the cat!\u201d\n\nThe dog growled and buried his teeth in the cat\u2019s fur.\n\n\u201cNow, cat, you accuse the dog?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour Majesty, I accuse the dog.\u201d\n\n\u201cStick, beat the dog!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was the fire that did it,\u201d said the stick in a sulky tone.\n\n\u201cThen, fire, burn the stick!\n\n\u201cWater, put out the fire!\n\n\u201cElephant, drink the water!\n\n\u201cAnt, bite the elephant!\u201d commanded the King.\n\n\u201cJust think of it!\u201d cried the jackal, capering about with delight.\n\u201cThere will be no peace in this kingdom for many a long day.\u201d\n\nNow you see what a mischievous rascal the jackal was, for it turned out\njust as he wanted it to. From that time to this, the cat has always\nbitten the mouse; the dog the cat, and the ant the elephant; while fire\nhas burned wood, and water quenched fire.\n\n\u201cThanks to your advice, I have made a nice mess of it,\u201d said the King\nto his Prime Minister.\n\nBut that was not the worst of it. As a punishment for his foolishness,\nKing Mungo lost the power of walking on two legs, and had to go on all\nfours like the rest of the animals.\n\nHe lost his name of Mungo, too; and since then he and all of his race\nhave been called just baboons.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES FROM AFRICA\n\nUNCLE LION\n\n    Providing the circumstance from which the phrase \u201cTaking the\n    Lion\u2019s Share\u201d has been derived. Inferentially all other\n    accounts are inaccurate.\n\n\nAlways when the lion went out hunting he took Kanja, the jackal, with\nhim, for Kanja was a much better hunter than he.\n\nBut whenever the jackal had killed the game, he would say, \u201cThat is\nmine, Uncle Lion!\u201d Then the lion would look at him with such an angry\nglare that Kanja would contradict himself at once, and say, \u201cNo, it is\nyours, of course!\u201d Then Uncle Lion would eat it up, and Kanja would go\nhungry.\n\n\u201cYou see, I only take the lion\u2019s share,\u201d Uncle Lion would explain.\n\n\u201cYes, I have noticed it,\u201d replied the jackal.\n\n\u201cWhat is your idea of the lion\u2019s share?\u201d asked the lion, with one eye\non Kanja.\n\n\u201cEverything, Uncle Lion,\u201d answered poor Kanja.\n\n\u201cVery well. You shall hunt with me again to-morrow,\u201d said the lion\napprovingly.\n\nWhen the next day came, however, Kanja avoided Uncle Lion, and went off\nto hunt on his own account.\n\nAfter a while he met a friend of his, the leopard, flying across the\nplains as though a dozen hunters were after him.\n\n\u201cWhat seems to be the matter?\u201d asked the jackal.\n\n\u201cI am really in a hurry,\u201d replied the leopard. \u201cDon\u2019t stop me. There is\na terrible beast looking out of the door of a hut, a little way back!\nIt has great horns and is four times as big as you. I must be going.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut wait a minute!\u201d said the jackal, and caught hold of the leopard,\nand insisted on hearing more about the creature which had frightened\nhim.\n\nIn a minute he began to laugh. \u201cWhy, it is only a ram!\u201d he cried. \u201cHe\ncan\u2019t do you any harm. We will go and catch him for dinner. I am almost\nstarved.\u201d\n\nKanja found it rather hard work to persuade him, but at last, when the\nleopard heard how badly the lion had treated his friend the day before,\nhe agreed to go with him.\n\n\u201cBut you must tie me to you,\u201d said the leopard, with his teeth\nchattering. \u201cI shall be sure to run when I see him.\u201d\n\nSo Kanja fastened a leather thong around both their bodies, and dragged\nhim along at a great rate. \u201cDon\u2019t let Uncle Lion catch us,\u201d he\nwhispered, looking from side to side. \u201cIf he took the lion\u2019s share this\ntime, I should die of hunger.\u201d\n\nWhen the ram saw them coming, he was more frightened than the leopard\nhad been, so he ran back to the hut and told his wife.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what we are going to do,\u201d he cried. \u201cKanja and his friend\nthe leopard are coming to devour us!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that\u2019s nonsense!\u201d answered his wife. \u201cHere take the child and go\nout to meet them.\u201d Then she gave him their little kid, and told him to\npinch it and make it cry.\n\n\u201cBut I don\u2019t understand,\u201d said her husband, who was really very stupid.\n\n\u201cDo just as I tell you,\u201d said his wife. \u201cYou must shout in a terrible\ntone, \u2018Just in time! Just in time! My child is crying for food!\u2019 Then\nyou\u2019ll see what will happen!\u201d\n\nWhen the leopard saw the ram, with his terrible horns coming towards\nthem, he would have run away there and then if the jackal had not\npulled him forward. Just then the ram gave his child a pinch, and the\nlittle kid began to cry.\n\n\u201cI am glad to see you, Kanja,\u201d he cried. \u201cYou have brought the leopard\njust in time. My child is crying for food.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is no place for me!\u201d cried the leopard. \u201cLet us be off.\u201d And so\nthey both tugged at the leather thong, Kanja determined to go on, and\nthe leopard to go back.\n\nBut the leopard was much the stronger, and in a minute or two he was\ndragging the jackal along at a terrible pace. They rushed on and on,\nuntil they were out of sight of the ram, and then Kanja fell down\nexhausted. He was too faint with hunger to go any farther, but the\nleopard, who could not get over his fright, unfastened the thong and\nwent on.\n\nAfter a while, a wagon loaded with fish came past, and as it was going\nvery slowly, the jackal tried to jump into it from behind.\n\n\u201cEven fish is better than nothing,\u201d he said to himself, but he was too\nweak to manage it, and the wagon passed along.\n\nBut there was another following it at a little distance, and this time\nKanja stretched himself in front of it as though he were dead.\n\n\u201cWhat is this?\u201d said the driver, when he saw the jackal stretched out\nin the road. \u201cHis skin will make a nice cloak for my daughter.\u201d\n\nSo the driver picked him up and threw him into the wagon, which was\nexactly what Kanja wanted. He had no idea of being made into a cloak\nfor the driver\u2019s daughter, but he did wish to be near the fish.\n\nWhen Kanja had satisfied his hunger, he began to throw the fish out\ninto the road, one by one. The daylight failed and the moon rose, but\nhe was still busy with this, until the fishes lay like a silver streak\nas far along the track as he could see.\n\nAt last he jumped out of the wagon. \u201cFour hundred!\u201d he cried. \u201cOne for\nevery day in the year, and thirty-five over. Now I must carry them to a\nplace where Uncle Lion won\u2019t find them.\u201d\n\nBut while he was collecting them, a hyena came up and ate as many as\nshe wanted without asking his permission.\n\n\u201cHere, you! Leave my fish alone!\u201d cried Kanja angrily.\n\n\u201cThey are no more your fish than mine,\u201d replied the hyena. \u201cYour fish,\nindeed! Why they have fallen out of the wagon.\u201d\n\nKanja was too much annoyed to speak, so he went on gathering up the\nfish, and thinking of a way to punish her.\n\n\u201cThere is another wagon coming,\u201d he said at last. \u201cLie down in the\nroad, and you will get as many fish as I did.\u201d\n\nThe hyena opened her eyes. \u201cReally?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cReally. But you must keep perfectly still. Pretend to be dead.\u201d\n\nThe fur of a hyena is not soft and silky like that of a jackal, so when\nthe driver saw her stretched out in front of the wagon, he kicked her\nout of the way.\n\n\u201cGreat, ugly thing!\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is it doing here?\u201d Then he looked\naround for a stick to beat her with, and as she moved a little he cried\nout, \u201cOh, she\u2019s not dead at all. Get up, you stupid, and be off!\u201d\n\nAfter the wagon had gone on, the hyena limped away to tell Kanja what\nhad happened, \u201cThere was no fish,\u201d she said, \u201cand I am beaten to a\njelly.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou have probably made some mistake,\u201d said the jackal politely. \u201cAre\nyou sure you laid perfectly still?\u201d he asked, \u201cand right in the middle\nof the track?\u201d\n\n\u201cI lay perfectly still in the middle of the track,\u201d replied the hyena.\n\n\u201cThen it must be that the driver didn\u2019t think you handsome enough to\nmake a cloak. That\u2019s it, dear friend. Your want of beauty is your\nmisfortune and not your fault,\u201d said Kanja in a sympathetic tone.\n\n\u201cIt certainly is a great misfortune to be plain,\u201d sighed the hyena,\nwith tears in her eyes.\n\n\u201cBut it is a still greater one to be stupid!\u201d added Kanja, as he ran\noff with another fish in his mouth.\n\n\u201cI wonder what he meant?\u201d said the hyena to herself.","title":"The man elephant : $b A book of African fairy tales","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":8278}