CHAPTER XV
THE NGOMBA, OR PORCUPINE—THE IZOMBA, OR TURTLE—THE IPI, OR ANT-EATER
One day an izomba (turtle) was walking in the forest, when suddenly she heard a noise, and became suspicious; as the noise came nearer, she drew her head, her four feet, and tail under her shell, and said, “Now I am safe.”
It happened that an ipi had made the noise that scared the turtle. The ipi stopped and looked at the turtle with great curiosity. Then she, too, heard a noise and became suspicious in her turn, coiled round and made her scales as tight against each other as she could, and said also, “Now I am safe.”
The noise had been made by a porcupine whose coat had the longest, hardest quills that porcupines have. It happened that he came between the ipi and the izomba. When he saw them, he stood still and looked at them both with great curiosity.
Suddenly he heard a crash through the jungle. A dead branch of a tall tree had broken off and had fallen on the ground. He in his turn was so scared that he rolled himself up and put his quills out, for he thought njokoos had made the noise, and then he, too, exclaimed, “Now I am safe.”
The three remained thus for sometime, feeling sure that so they were safe. At last, hearing no noise, the turtle peeped out slowly, her head and her four feet and tail issuing from her shell. The ipi, hearing no noise, unrolled herself, and so did the porcupine. Then the three looked at each other and wondered at their coats. The ipi said to the izomba, and to the porcupine, “Do not be afraid of me. I do not bite. I have no teeth and feed only on ants, so I cannot do you any harm.”
Next the porcupine said to the turtle and to the ipi: “Don’t be afraid. I am a rodent. I feed on roots, fruit, and nuts which I find on the ground. It is true I can bite, but I do not feed on blood and flesh; besides, my teeth could not go through your coats.”
Then the turtle, looking at the ipi and the porcupine, said: “Do not be afraid. I am enclosed in a hard shell-like coat—this is to protect me. I live chiefly on leaves. I can bite terribly, but how could I ever bite you with the grand coats you have.”
But, as it happened, the three did not understand one another, for each had a different language which belonged to their species. They kept talking nevertheless, each expressing his thoughts in his own way.