The people loaded themselves with their great nets, and first chose the district where the Gorilla Father lived. They set their nets around a wide space, and then the beaters were directed to make a large sweep and drive all the game towards the nets, and here and there where the netting was weak, the hunters stood behind a thick bush, their heavy spears ready for the fling.
Well, it just happened that at that very time the Father of the Gorillas was holding forth to his kinsmen, and the first they knew of the hunt, and that a multitude of men were in the woods, was when they heard the horrid yells of the beaters, the sound of horns, the jingle of iron, and the all-round swish of bushes.
The fisherman, like the rest of his friends, was well armed, and he was as keen as the others for the hunt, but soon after he heard the cries of the beaters, he saw a large gorilla rushing out of the bushes, and knew him instantly for his friend, and he cried out “Tu-wheli! Tu-wheli!” At the sound of it the gorilla led his kinsmen towards him, and passed the word to those behind, saying, “Ah, this is our friend. Do not hurt him.”
The gorillas passed in a long line of mighty fellows, close by the fisherman, and as they heard the voice of their father, they only whispered to him, “Tu-wheli, Tu-wheli,” but the last of all was a big, sour-faced gorilla, who, when he saw that the pass was only guarded by one man, made a rush at him. His roar of rage was heard by the father, and turning back he knew that his human brother was in danger, and he cried out to those nearest to part them, “The man is our brother;” but as the fierce gorilla was deaf to words, the father loped back to them, and slew him, and then hastened away as the hunters were pressing up.
These, when they came up and observed that the fisherman’s spear was still in his hand, and not painted with blood, were furious, and they agreed together that he should not have a share of the meat, “For,” said they, “he must have been in a league against us.” Neither did he obtain any share of the spoil.
A few days after this the fisherman was proceeding through a part of the forest, and a gorilla met him in the path, and said:
“Stay, I seem to know thee. Art thou not our brother?”
“Tu-wheli, Tu-wheli!” he cried.
“Ah, it is true, follow me;” and they went together to the gorilla’s nesting-tree, where the fisherman was feasted on ripe bananas, berries, and nuts, and juicy roots, and he was shown which roots and berries were sweet, and which were bitter, and so great was the variety of food he saw, that he came to know that though lost in the forest a wise man need not starve.