Outa Karel's Stories Part 8

"And why was it, my baasjes? Because from under the baby's arms streamed brightness and hotness, and out of the baby's eyes came streaks of fire, so that Jakhals winked and blinked, and tried to make himself small in the sand. Every time he opened his eyes a little, just like slits, there was the baby sitting straight in front of him, staring at him so that he had to shut them again quick, quick.

"'Come and punish me,' said the baby.

"'No, baasje, ach no!' said Jakhals in a small, little voice, 'why should I punish you?'

"'Come and bite me,' said the baby.

"'No, baasje, no, I could never think of it.' Jakhals made himself still a little smaller in the sand.

"'Come and gobble me up,' said the baby.

"Then Jakhals gave a yell and tried to crawl further back.

"'Such a fine little child,' he said, trying to make his voice sweet, 'who would ever do such a wicked thing?'

"'You would,' said the little Sun. 'When you had carried me safely to your krantz, you would have gobbled me up. You are toch so clever, Jakhals, but sometimes you will meet your match. Now, look at me well.'

"Jakhals didn't want to look, my baasjes, but it was just as if something made his eyes go open, and he lay there staring at the baby, and the baby stared at him--so, my baasjes, just so"--Outa stretched his eyes to their utmost and held each fascinated child in turn.

"'You'll know me again when you see me,' said the baby, 'but never, never again will you be able to look me in the face. And now you can go.'

"Fierce light shot from his eyes, and he blew at Jakhals with all his might; his breath was like a burning flame, and Jakhals, half dead with frightenness, gave a great howl and fled away over the vlakte.

"From that day, my baasjes, he has a black stripe right down his back to the tip of his tail. And he cannot bear the Sun, but hides away all day with shut eyes, and only at night when the Old Man with the bright armpits has gone to sleep, does he come out to hunt and look for food, and play tricks on the other animals."

X.

THE ANIMALS' DAM.

"Ach! it was dry," said Outa, "as dry as last year's springbok biltong. For a long time the Old Man in the sky shot down strong light and sucked all the water out of the veld. From morning to night he poured down hotness on the world, and when he rolled round to sleep, a hot wind blew--and blew--and blew--till he woke to s.h.i.+ne again. The karroo bushes dried up, the rivers had no water, and the poor animals began to die from thirst. It was such a drought, my little masters, as you have never seen.

"At last Oom Leeuw called the animals together to make a plan.

"The Sun had gone under, and the Lady Moon was sailing in the sky--beautiful, as she always is, and looking down on the hot world. Oom Leeuw sat under a krantz on the morning side of a kopje, where it was a little cool, and the others sat round him like a watermelon slice. Leopard, Hyena, Babiaan, Jakhals, Hare and Tortoise were in front; they were the chief ones. The smaller ones, like Da.s.sie, Mierkat, and Hedgehog, were at the sides; and Zebra, Springbok, Ostrich and Giraffe waited in the veld to hear the news. They pretended to be eating, but all the time their ears went backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards--so, my baasjes,--to catch every little sound, and they were ready at the first sign of danger to race away, kicking up the dust so that Oom Leeuw would not be able to see them.

"But they needn't have been afraid. Oom Leeuw was too hot and tired and weak to catch anything. He just sat against the krantz with his dry tongue hanging out, and the others just lay round about in the watermelon slice with their dry tongues hanging out, and every time they looked at the sky to see if any clouds were coming up. But no! The sky was just like a big, hot soap-pot turned over above their heads, with the Lady Moon making a silver road across it, and the little stars s.h.i.+ning like bits broken off the big, hot Sun. There was nothing that even looked like a cloud.

"At last Oom Leeuw pulled in his tongue and rolled it about in his mouth to get the dryness off. When it stopped rattling, he began to talk.

"'Friends and brothers and nephews,' he said--yes, just like that Oom Leeuw began; he was so miserable that he felt friendly with them all. 'Friends and brothers and nephews, it is time to make a plan. You know how it is with a drought; when it is at its worst, the bottom of the clouds falls out, and the water runs away fast, fast, to the sea, where there is too much water already, and the poor karroo is left again without any. Even if a land-rain comes, it just sinks in, because the ground is too loose and dry to hold it, so we must make a plan to keep the water, and my plan is to dig a dam. But it's no use for one or two to work; everyone must help. What do you say?'

"'Certainly,' said Leopard.

"'Certainly,' said Hyena.

"'Certainly,' said Ant-bear.

"'Certainly,' said Jakhals, but he winked his eye at the Lady Moon, and then put his nose into the warm sand so that no one could see his sly smile.

"All the other animals said 'Certainly,' and then they began to talk about the dam. Dear land! A person would never have said their throats were dry. Each one had a different plan, and each one talked without listening to the other. It was like a Church bazaar--yes, baasjes, long ago when Outa was young he was on a bazaar in the village, but he was glad, my baasjes, when he could creep into the veld again and get the noise out of his ears.

"At last the Water Tortoise--he with the wise little head under his patchwork sh.e.l.l--said, 'Let us go now while it is cool, and look for a place for the dam.'

"So they hunted about and found a nice place, and soon they began to make the dam. Baasjes, but those animals worked! They scratched, they dug, they poked, they bored, they pushed and they rolled; and they all did their best, so that the dam could be ready when the rain came. Only lazy Jakhals did not work. He just roamed round saying to the others, 'Why don't you do this?' 'Why don't you do that?' till at last they asked, 'Why don't you do it yourself?'

"But Jakhals only laughed at them. 'And why should I be so foolish as to scratch my nails off for your old dam?' he said.

"'But you said "Certainly," too, when Oom asked us, didn't you?' they asked.

"Then Jakhals laughed more than ever. 'Ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha! Am I then a slave of my word? That was last night. Don't you know yet that a thing is one colour by moonlight, and quite another colour when the sun s.h.i.+nes on it? Ha! ha! ha!'

"So he went about bothering the poor animals that were working so hard, and laughing at them when they got hot and tired.

"'What's the use of working so hard? Those who do not work will also drink.'

"'How do you know?' they asked.

"'Wait a bit, you'll see,' said sly Jakhals, winking his eye again.

"At last the dam was finished, and that very night the rain began. It kept on and on, till the dam was quite full and the water began to run away over the veld, down to the great big dam called the Sea, that is the Mother of all water, and so broad, my baasjes, that truly you can't see the wall at the other side, even when you stand on a high kopje. Yes, so Outa has heard from truth-telling people. The milk-bushes and karroo-bushes grew green again, and the little veld flowers burst out of the hard ground, and opened their white, and blue, and pink, and purple eyes to look at the Sun. They were like variegated karosses spread out on the veld, and the Old Man in the sky was not so fierce any more; he did not burn them with his hotness, but looked at them kindly.

"And the animals were toch so glad for the water! From far and near they came to the dam to drink.

"But Jakhals was before them all. Soon after the Sun went down--baasjes know, the wild animals sleep in the daytime and hunt in the night--he went to the dam and drank as much water as he wanted, and filled his clay pot with some to take home. Then he swam round and round to get cool, making the water muddy and dirty, and when the other animals came to drink, he slipped over the dam wall and was lost in the veld as if he had been a large pin.

"My! but Oom Leeuw was very angry!

"'Hoorr-rr-rr,' he roared, 'hoorr-rr-rr! What is this for a thing? Does the lazy one think he can share with the workers? Who ever heard of such a thing? Hoorr-rr-rr! Here, Broer Babiaan, take this big kierie and hide yourself by the dam to-night, so that you can catch this Vagabond, this Water-stealer.'

"Early that night, there was Jakhals again. He peeped this way and that way--so, my baasjes,--and, yes truly, there was old Broer Babiaan lying amongst the bushes. But Jakhals was too schelm for him. He made as if he didn't see him. He danced along on his hind legs, all in the round, all in the round, at the edge of the dam, singing:--

'Hing-ting-ting! Honna-mak-a-ding!

My sweet, sweet water!'

"He sang this over and over, and every time he came to the end of a line, he dipped his fingers into his clay pot and sucked them.

"'Aha! but my honey is nice,' he said, licking his lips. 'What do I want with their old dirty water, when I have a whole potful of nice sweet water!'

"Baasjes know, baboons will do anything for honey, and when old Broer Babiaan heard Jakhals he forgot he was there to guard the dam. He crept out from his hiding-place, a little nearer, and a little nearer, and at last he couldn't keep quiet any longer. When Jakhals came dancing along again, he called out in a great hurry, 'Good evening, Jakhals! Please give me a little of your sweet water, too!'

"'Arre!' said Jakhals, jumping to one side and pretending to be startled. 'What a schrik you gave me! What are you doing here, Broer Babiaan?'