Black Tales for White Children Part 19

There was once upon a time a man, and he took an axe and went into the forest to look for honey. He found a bees' nest in a tree, so he climbed up and began to cut a hole to get at the honey.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Caracal.]

Whilst he was in the tree a second man came up; he was a hunter, and he had been looking for game, but had found none. When the hunter saw that man in the tree he asked him, "What are you cutting?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Feeding the Hungry]

The man replied, "I am looking for honey. If you want any, sit down there and wait for it."

So the hunter sat down, and presently a buffalo came up and, seeing the man in the tree, asked, "What are you doing?"

He replied, "I am looking for honey. If you want any, sit down there beside the hunter."

So the buffalo sat down, and presently a lion came up, and he, too, asked what the man was doing, and the man told him to sit down on one side and wait.

Presently an eland came along and asked the man what he was doing in the tree. He answered, "I am looking for honey. If you want any, sit down there by the lion and wait for it."

So the eland sat down, and presently a leopard came along, and he also the man told to sit on one side and wait for the honey.

Then came up a bushbuck, and the man told him to sit down by the leopard and wait.

Then a gennet came up and asked the man what he was doing. The man replied, "I am looking for honey. If you want any, sit over there by yourself and wait for it."

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Gennet.]

So the gennet sat down and waited, and presently a guinea fowl came along and asked the man what he was doing. The man said, "I am looking for honey. If you want any, sit down by the gennet and wait for it."

After that the man went on cutting the tree, and at last made a hole and looked in, and he found that there was no honey in the nest.

All those sitting round asked him, "When are you going to give us our honey?"

The man said, "There is no honey in this nest, but there is no need for you to go hungry. If you are fools it is your own faults."

Then that hunter turned and killed the buffalo, and the lion seized the eland, and the leopard caught the bushbuck, and the gennet got the chicken.

So they were very glad, and said to that man, "You have done very wisely to-day."

That is all.

XXI

SHANI AND TABAK

This is a story about a woman and man who were of like wisdom, and so were suited to each other.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Wali and Shani walking together]

Now the beginning of this history is what I will now write. A certain stranger said to his parents, "I am going to journey forth to look for a woman of like wit to myself. If I find her I will marry her, but if I do not find her I will return."

So that man set out, and when he got outside the town he met another man walking. Now this man was the Wali of the town to which he was going, but he did not know that. The Wali called to him, "Wait for me; as we are going the same way let us walk together." That stranger agreed, and both walked together. After they had gone about twenty paces he said to the Wali, "Will you carry me, or shall I carry you?" The Wali did not answer him, for he thought, "For what reason should he carry me or I carry him, when each one has his own legs?"

They walked on some way, till they arrived at some cultivation. Then the stranger asked, "That millet there, has it been harvested yet or not?"

Now that millet was standing in the stalk with the ears there on them.

The Wali thought, "Surely this man is a fool or blind. How can he ask if this millet has been harvested, and there it is standing?" So he did not reply.

As they came near the town to which they were going they met a funeral coming forth, on its way to the cemetery.

The stranger asked, "Is that man in the bier dead, or is he still alive?"

The Wali thought, "Surely his foolishness is increasing." So he did not reply.

So they entered the town, and the Wali went to his house, whilst the other went to the mosque, for he was a stranger, and knew no one in that town with whom he might stay.

The Wali, after he had arrived at his house, rested awhile, and then said to his wife, "I met a stranger coming here, and I walked with him as far as the town, but that man was a fool, he had no wit; his folly increased at every stage of the journey." Then he told her the words of that man.

The Wali's daughter, who was present, said to him, "My father, you made a mistake leaving that man, you should have brought him here, for he is a man of great understanding."

The father said, "For what reason, my daughter, when his words were as of a madman or a fool?"

His daughter said, "Listen to me and I will explain to you the meaning of his words from first to last.

"The first words which he said to you, were they not, 'Will you carry me, or must I carry you?'

"His meaning was as if he said to you, 'You, will you tell me a story, or shall I tell you one, that we may be beguiled in the way, and that we may not perceive the length of the journey?' That was what he meant by 'Shall I carry you, or will you carry me?'

"His next words were, 'Has this millet been harvested or not yet harvested?' His meaning was, 'Has the owner of that millet planted or cultivated his field without having to borrow money to do so? If he has had to borrow the wherewithal with which to cultivate, surely he has already harvested his field, for he has to pay away his profit.'

"Lastly, when he saw the bier and asked, 'Is that man dead or alive?' he meant, 'Has that man any children? If he has left a child he is alive although he is dead, for his name is still there. If he has no child he himself is dead, and his name also is dead.'

"Those were the meanings of his words, so, father, you did wrong to let him go away by himself to the mosque."

But her father, the Wali, would not believe that, and said, "No, he is only a fool, and his words have no meaning."

Then his daughter said to him, "Wait, I will show you that my words are true, and that this is a man of great wisdom."

Then she took a large round loaf, and she prepared a fowl, and put all over it chopped eggs, and poured out a jug brimful of sweetened milk.

She gave these to a slave girl and said to her, "Take these, and bear them to the stranger in the mosque, and say to him, 'My mistress greets you, and sends you word that the moon is full, the tides are spring tides, and that there are many stars in the heavens.'"

So the slave came to the mosque, and the stranger ate, and when he had finished he gave back the plates and said to her, "Give your mistress my greetings, and tell her that the day is the thirteenth of the lunar month, and that the tides are neap tides, and that the stars are only one by one in the heavens."

The slave returned and gave her mistress the stranger's message.

Then the girl said to her father, "This slave girl has thieved, she has broken off a piece of the bread, taken some of the eggs, and drunk some of the milk."