Persons

NOTE

The reason is here given why the turtle tribe of tortoises likes to live only in water; viz., their fear of the vengeance of the descendants of Leopard the King, because of the whipping to which he was subjected by the trick of the ancestor of the tortoises.

In the Ancient days, there were Mankind and all the Tribes of the Animals living together in one country. They built their towns, and they dwelt together in one place. In the country of King Maseni, Tortoise and Leopard occupied the same town; the one at one end of the street, and the other at the other.

Leopard married two women; Tortoise also his two.

It happened that a time of famine came, and a very great hunger fell on the Tribes covering that whole region of country. So, King Maseni issued a law, thus:—“Any person who shall be found having a piece of food, he shall he brought to me.” (That is, for the equal distribution of that food.) And he appointed police as watchmen to look after that whole region.

The famine increased. People sat down hopelessly, and died of hunger. Just as, even today, it destroys the poor; not only of Africa, but also in the lands of Manga-Manene (White Man’s Land). And, as the days passed, people continued sitting in their hopelessness.

One day, Tortoise went out early, going, going and entering into the jungles, to seek for his special food, mushrooms. He had said to his wife, “I am going to stroll on the beach off down toward the south.” As he journeyed and journeyed, he came to a river. It was a large one, several hundred feet in width. There he saw a coco-nut tree growing on the river-bank. When he reached the foot of the tree, and looked up at its top, he discovered that it was full of very many nuts. He said to himself. “I’m going up there, to gather nuts; for, hunger has seized me.” He laid aside his traveling-bag, leaving it on the ground, and at once climbed the tree, expecting to gather many of the nuts. He plucked two, and threw them to the ground. Plucking another, and attempting to throw it, it slipped from his hand, and fell into the stream running below.

Then he exclaimed, “I’ve come here in hunger; and does my coco-nut fall into the water to be lost?” He said to himself, “I’ll leave here, and drop into the water, and follow the nut.” So, he plunged down, splash! into the water. He dove down to where the nut had sunk, to get it. And he was carried away by the current. Following the nut where the current had carried it, he came to the landing-place of a strange Town, where was a large House. People were there in it. And other people were outside, playing. They called to him. From the House, he heard a Voice, saying “Take me! take me! take me!” (It was a Drum that spoke.)

At the landing-place was a woman washing a child. The woman said to him, “What is it that brought you here? And, Kudu, where are you going?” He replied, “There is great hunger in our town. So, on my way, I came seeking for my mushrooms. Then it was that I saw a coco tree; and I climbed it; for, I am hungry and have nothing to eat. I threw down the nuts. One fell into the river. I followed it; and I came hither.” Then the woman said, “Now then, you are saved.” And she added, “Kudu! go to that House over there. You will see a Thing there. That Thing is a Drum. Start, and go at once to where the Drums are.”

Others of those people called out to him, “There are many such Things there. But, the kind that you will see which says, ‘Take me! take me!’ do not take it. But, the Drum which is silent and does not speak, but only echoes, ‘wo-wo-wo,’ without any real words, you must take it. Carry it with you, and tie it to that coco tree. Then you must say to the Drum, ‘NgÂmÂ! speak as they told to you!’ ” So, Tortoise went on, and on, to the House, and took the Drum, and, carrying it, came back to the river bank where the Woman was. She said to him, “You must first try to learn how to use it. Beat it!” He beat it. And, a table appeared with all kinds of food! And, when he had eaten, he said to the Drum, “Put it back!” And the table disappeared.

He carried the Drum with him clear back to the foot of the coco tree. He tied it with a rattan to the tree, and then said to the Drum, “NgÂmÂ! do as they said!” Instantly, the Drum set out a long table, and put on all sorts of food. Tortoise felt very glad and happy for the abundance of food. So he ate and ate, and was satisfied. Again he said, “NgÂmÂ! do as they said!” And Drum took back the table and the food to itself up the tree, leaving a little food at the foot; and then came back to the hand of Tortoise. He put this little food in his traveling-bag, and gathered from the ground the coco-nuts he had left lying there in the morning, and started to go back to his town. He stopped at a spot a short distance in the rear of the town. So delighted was he with his Drum that he tested it again. He stood it up, and with the palm of his hand struck it, tomu! A table at once stood there, with all kinds of food. Again he ate, and also filled his traveling-bag. Then he said to a tree that was standing near by, “Bend down!” It bowed; and he tied the Drum to its branch; and went off into the town. The coco-nuts and the mushrooms he handed to his women and children. After he had entered his house, his chief wife said to him, “Where have you been all this long while since the morning?” He replied evasively, “I went wandering clear down to the beach to gather coco-nuts. And, this day I saw a very fine thing. You, my wife, shall see it!” Then he drew out the food from the bag, potatoes, and rice, and beef. And he said, “The while that we eat this food, no one must show any of it to NjÂ.” So, they two, and his other wife and their family of children ate.

Soon day darkened; and they all went to go to sleep. And soon another day began to break. At day-break, Tortoise started to go off to the place where was the Drum. Arrived there, he went to the tree, and said to the Drum, “NgÂmÂ! do as they said!” The Drum came rapidly down to the ground, and put out the table all covered with food. Tortoise took a part, and ate, and was satisfied. Then he also filled the bag. Then said he to the Drum, “Do as you did!” And Drum took back the things, and went up the tree. On another day, at day-break, he went to the tree and did the same way.

On another day, as he was going, his eldest son, curious to find out where his father obtained so much food, secretly followed him. Tortoise went to where the Drum was. The child hid himself, and stood still. He heard his father say to the tree, “Bend!” And its top bent down. The child saw the whole process, as Tortoise took the Drum, stood it up, and with the palm of his hand, struck it, ve! saying, “Do as you have been told to do!” At once a table stood prepared, at which Tortoise sat down and ate. And then, when he had finished, saying, “Tree! bend down,” it bent over for Drum to be tied to it. He returned Drum to the branch; and the tree stood erect.

On other days, Tortoise came to the tree, and did the same way, eating; and returning to his house; on all such occasions, bringing food for his family. One day, the son, who had seen how to do all those things, came to the tree, and said to it, “Bow down.” It bowed; and he did as his father had done. So Drum spread the table. The child ate, and finished eating. Then said he to Drum, “Put them away!” And the table disappeared. Then he took up the Drum, instead of fastening it to the tree, and secretly carried it to town to his own house. He went to call privately his brothers, and his father’s women, and other members of the family. When they had come together in his house, at his command, the Drum did as usual; and they ate. And when he said to the Drum, “Put away the things!” it put them away.

Tortoise came that day from the forest where he had been searching for the loved mushrooms for his family. He said to himself, “Before going into the town, I will first go to the tree to eat.” As he approached the tree, when only a short distance from it, the tree was standing as usual, but the Drum was not there! He exclaimed, “Truly, now, what is this joke of the tree?” As he neared the foot of the tree, still there was no Drum to be seen! He said to the tree, “Bow down!” There was no response! He passed on to the town, took his axe, and returned at once to the tree, in anger saying, “Lest I cut you down, bend!” The tree stood still. Tortoise began at once with his axe chopping, Ko! ko! The tree fell, toppling to the ground, tomu! He said to it, “You! produce the Drum, lest I cut you in pieces!” He split the tree all into pieces; but he did not see the Drum. He returned to the town; and, as he went, he walked anxiously saying to himself, “Who has done this thing?” When he reached his house, he was so displeased that he declined to speak. Then his eldest son came to him, and said, “O! my father! why is it that you are silent and do not speak? What have you done in the forest? What is it?” He replied, “I don’t want to talk.” The son said, “Ah! my father! you were satisfied when you used to come and eat, and you brought us mushrooms. I am the one who took the Drum.” Tortoise said to him, “My child, now bring out to us the Drum.” He brought it out of an inner room. Then Tortoise and the son called together all their people privately, and assembled them in the house. They commanded the Drum. It did as it usually did. They ate. Their little children took their scraps of potatoes and meat of wild-animals, and, in their excitement, forgot orders, and went out eating their food in the open street. Other children saw them, and begged of them. They gave to them. Among them were children of Leopard, who went and showed the meat to their father.

All suddenly, Leopard came to the house of Tortoise, and found him and his family feasting. Leopard said, “Ah! Chum! you have done me evil. You are eating; and I and my family are dying with hunger!” Tortoise replied, “Yes, not today, but tomorrow you shall eat.” So, Leopard returned to his house.

After that, the day darkened. And they all went to lie down in sleep. Then, the next day broke.

Early in the morning, Tortoise, out in the street, announced, “From my house to NjÂ’s there will be no strolling into the forest today. Today, only food.”

Tortoise then went off by himself to the coco tree (whither he had secretly during the night carried the Drum). Arrived at the foot of the tree, he desired to test whether its power had been lost by the use of it in his town. So, he gave the usual orders; and they were, as usually obeyed. Tortoise then went off with the Drum, carrying it openly on his shoulder, into the town, and directly to the house of Leopard, and said to him, “Call all your people! Let them come!” They all came into the house; and the people of Tortoise also. He gave the usual commands. At once, Drum produced abundance of food, and a table for it. So, they all ate, and were satisfied. And Drum took back the table to itself. Drum remained in the house of Leopard for about two weeks. It ended its supply of food, being displeased at Leopard’s rough usage of itself; and there was no more food. Leopard went to Tortoise, and told him, “Drum has no more food. Go, and get another.” Tortoise was provoked at the abuse of his Drum, but he took it, and hung it up in his house.

At this time, the watchmen heard of the supply of food at Leopard’s house, and they asked him about it. He denied having any. They asked him, “Where then did you get this food which we saw your children eating?” He said, “From the children of Kudu.” The officers went at once to King Maseni, and reported, “We saw a person who has food.” He inquired, “Who is he?” They replied, “Kudu.” The King ordered “Go ye, and summon Kudu.” They went and told Tortoise, “The King summons you.” Tortoise asked, “What have I done to the King? Since the King and I have been living in this country, he has not summoned me.” Nevertheless, he obeyed and journeyed to the King’s house. The King said to him, “You are keeping food, while all the Tribes are dying of hunger? You! bring all those foods!” Tortoise replied, “Please excuse me! I will not come again today with them. But, tomorrow, you must call for all the tribes.”

The next morning, the King had his bell rung, and an order announced, “Any person whatever, old or young, come to eat!” The whole community assembled at the King’s house. Tortoise also came from his town, holding his Drum in his hand. The distant members of that Tribe, (not knowing and not having heard what that Drum had been doing) twitted him, “Is it for a dance?”

Entering into the King’s house, Tortoise stood up the Drum; with his palm he struck it, ve! saying, “Let every kind of food appear!” It appeared. The town was like a table, covered with every variety of food. The entire community ate, and were satisfied; and they dispersed. Tortoise took the Drum, and journeyed back to his town. He spoke to his hungry family, “Come ye!” They came. They struck the Drum; it was motionless; and nothing came from it! They struck it again. Silent! (It was indignant at having been used by other hands than those of Tortoise.) So, they sat down with hunger.

The next day, Tortoise went rapidly off to the coco tree, climbed it, gathered two nuts, threw one into the river, dropped into the stream, and followed the nut as he had done before. He came as before to that landing-place, and to the Woman, and told her about the failure of the Drum. She told him that she knew of it, and directed him to go and take another. He went on to that House, and to those People. And they, as before, asked him, “Kudu! whither goest thou?” He replied, “You know I have come to take my coco-nut.” But they said, “No! leave the nut, and take a Drum.” And, as before, they advised him to take a silent one. So, he came to the House of Drums. These called to him, “Take me! take me!” Then, he thought to himself, “Yes! I’ll take one of those Drums that talk. Perhaps they will have even better things than the other.” So, he took one, and came out of the House, and told those People “I have taken. And, now, for my journey.”

He started from the landing-place, and on up the river, to the foot of the coco-tree. He tied the Drum to the tree with a cord, as before, set it up, and gave it a slap, ve! And a table stood there! He said, “NgÂmÂ! do as you usually do!” Instantly, there were thrown down on the table, mbwÂ! whips instead of food. Tortoise, surprised, said, “As usual!” The Drum picked up one of the whips, and beat Tortoise, ve! He cried out with pain, and said to the Drum, “But, now do also as you do. Take these things away.” And Drum returned the table and whips to itself. Tortoise regretfully said to himself, “Those People told me not to take a Drum that talked; but my heart deceived me.”

However, a plan occurred to him by which to obtain a revenge on Leopard and the King for the trouble he had been put to.

So, taking up the Drum, he came to his own town, and went at once to the house of Leopard. To whom he said, “To-morrow come with your people and mine to the town of King Maseni.” Leopard rejoiced at the thought, “This is the Drum of food!”

Then Tortoise journeyed to the King’s town, and said, “I have found food, according to your order. Call the people tomorrow.”

In the morning, the King’s bell was rung, and his people, accompanied by those of Tortoise and Leopard, came to his house. Tortoise privately spoke to his own people, “No one of you must follow me into the house. Remain outside of the window.”

Tortoise said to the King, “The food of today must be eaten only inside of your house.” So, the King’s people, with those of Leopard, entered into the house. There, Tortoise said, “We shall eat this food only if all the doors and windows are fastened.” So, they were fastened (excepting one which Tortoise kept open near himself). Then, the Drum was sounded, and Tortoise commanded it, “Do as you have said.” And, the tables appeared. But, instead of food, were whips. The people wondered, “Ah! what do these mean? Where do they come from?” Tortoise stationed himself by the open window, and commanded the Drum, “As usual!” Instantly the whips flew about the room, lashing everybody, even the King, and especially Leopard. The thrashing was great, and Leopard and his people were crying with pain. Their bodies were injured, being covered with cuts.

But, Tortoise had promptly jumped out of the window. And, standing outside, he ordered, “NgÂmÂ! do as you do!” And the whips and tables returned to it, and the whipping ceased. But, Tortoise knew that the angry crowd would try to seize and kill him. So, taking advantage of the confusion in the house, he and his people fled to the water of the river, and scattered, hiding among the logs and roots in the stream. As he was disappearing, Leopard shouted after him, “You and I shall not see each other! If we do, it will be you who will be killed!”