“Thank you,” replied the Gazelle; “my mother has every kind of medicine in her house.”
“Come down,” shouted the Leopard, “and I’ll cure you of the shakes.”
“My mother has a remedy for that complaint,” responded the Gazelle, but he continued, “I’ll come down, and when you hear a thud you will know I have alighted on the ground, but when you hear a patter you will know it is my bag.”
The Gazelle threw his bag, and it fell with a thud, and the Leopard, thinking it was the Gazelle, rushed out to find only the bag, while the Gazelle jumped down the other side and got away.
The Palm-rat tried to follow the tricky example of the Gazelle, but not being clever threw himself down with a thud, and was caught and punished by the Leopard. The Gazelle played off this trick on several other animals, who were caught one by one by the Leopard and punished for stealing his plums.
One day the Gazelle took the Nkumbi[[77]] with him to rob the plum-tree. On reaching it he told the Nkumbi to shut his eyes while he climbed the tree, but the Nkumbi only pretended to do so, and, seeing the means by which the Gazelle mounted the tree, he followed in the same way by the hanging rope.
The Gazelle tied up the bottom of his bag, the Nkumbi did the same; the Gazelle plucked the ripe plums, so did the Nkumbi. The ’cuteness of the Nkumbi was equal to the smartness of the Gazelle.
Says the Gazelle: “Let us throw some plums into that nest.” They did so, and roused the Squirrel, who cried out to the Leopard. The Leopard came quickly. “Come down here, and I’ll teach you,” he shouted.
“Oh no,” said the Gazelle, “my mother is able to teach me; but if you hear a thud, you will know it is I, and if a patter, it is my bag.”
Again the Gazelle escaped by this ruse, leaving the Nkumbi in the plum-tree. The Nkumbi, however, deceived the Leopard by the same trick, and got safely out of the tree to the ground; but the Leopard chased him to the mouth of his hole, and then began to dig the Nkumbi out with his claws, but was not able to do so; and seeing a Frog he said: “You are very strong, are you not?”