“When you cannot suck the breasts of your mother, you must suck those of your grandmother.”
“When a man has eaten his hatchet and his axe, he is not likely to sputter much over broiled pea-nuts.”
“A stick may rot in the water, but that does not make it a crocodile.”
“There is the skin of a sheep and the skin of a cow, but there is always a skin.”
Thanks to Osman, Bluzet had unearthed a cobbler or garanké, a native of Mossi. He was a very worthy fellow, but, it seems to me, most of his fellow-countrymen are equally estimable. The Mossi, at least those we knew, were all very easily intimidated, but honest and trustworthy. At first Bluzet had a good deal of trouble to get any information out of this Mossi, but when he gained a little confidence he got on apace, and used to indulge on occasion in long monologues, as when he treated us to the following little tale, which he related to us all in Mossi in Bluzet’s hut.
“One day, a woman going along the road to Say, taking some milk to market, sat down at the foot of a tree and fell asleep.
“Presently three young men came up, and when they saw the woman one of them said to the others—
“‘Follow me, and imitate everything I do.’
“They approached her cautiously, making a détour round the brushwood. ‘Hu! hu!’ cried the leader, when he got close to the sleeper, and the others shouted after him, ‘Hu! hu!’
“The woman started up terrified, and ran away, leaving the calabash of milk on the ground.