But sometimes, even now, when the Lion, the Buffalo, and the Hyena meet, they discuss the question whether there is any such thing as a log with smooth bark, or a banana tree whose leaves fall when they are just coming out, or a spring with spouting waters.
All the listeners laughed as loud and long as the Rabbit and the King of the Monkeys. Then they began to argue the question who was really the king of all the animals, and from that they discussed who would be the headman of the caravan when it should start out. The Alo Man got up and shook the rattles on his drum.
“They will meet some one at the end of the first day’s journey who will make them all run,—headman and porter, sick and well alike,” he said.
There were various guesses, but nobody guessed right.
“The Hill-that-goes-down-quick,” said the Alo Man, holding his hand at a slope of about half a right angle, and there was a general shout, for everybody remembered the steep hill just beyond the bridge. Truly, as the Alo Man said, that would make any man run.
In the middle of the night, when everybody was asleep, Mpoko awoke suddenly and sat straight up. At first he thought he must be dreaming of the Elephant and the other animals, for he could hear chewing and trampling and thrashing about in the edge of the forest. Peering out in the moonlight, he could see big shadowy backs moving about near the granary, and it did not take him a second to run out, shouting “Njoku! Njoku!”
The Alo Man heard him and was out in a minute. His father heard him and snatched up his spear and ran out, knocking up the other men. Almost before the dogs could begin to bark, the little village was as lively as an ant-hill.
Now the elephant, for all his size, is not a ferocious animal, and these elephants had come across that village only by accident. The three or four that were browsing about in the hope of finding something good were more surprised by the people than the people had been by them. In no very great time they went off, splashing and trampling and trumpeting through the forest. They left the maize field, however, in bad shape, and some of the huts were in worse shape still, for the elephants had gone right through them. When the timbers and thatch pricked the big creatures, they were more than ever willing to go away from that place at once.
The hunters of the village had no mind to lose this chance. Waiting only to provide themselves with food, they set off on the trail, and managed during the next day to head the elephants round toward a pit they knew of which made a most effective elephant trap. Here they caught two large elephants with splendid tusks, and they came home in triumph with news of meat enough to provide a feast for the whole village, and a store of ivory for the king which was worth many brass rods.