Then he stood up and saw the shadow do the same. He thought it was rising to come to him and was happy at the sight. Then he opened his mouth and said, “Whoe! whoe!” and he saw the image open its mouth. He became very eager and jumped up and down, and saw the image in the water do likewise. Then he said, “Nkengo dear, how happy I am to meet you!” And the form in the water made the same motions.
The nkengo was so glad to think that his lonely days had come to an end that he became much excited, and as he moved, the image moved also. When he shook his body, the reflection did the same, and it repeated whatever he did. Every time he opened his mouth to speak, or moved his arms, the supposed nkengo in the water did likewise. He could see the face plainly, the wrinkles, the eyes, the flat nose, the thin lips, the big ears,—in a word, the whole body; but he never thought it was his own image.
He extended his arms toward the shape, and the shape did likewise; he advanced to the very brink of the stream, and the image did the same. Then he thought, “The nkengo is coming toward me,” and moved his arm forward to caress his mate; but instead his hand touched the water and the ripples made by it hid the image for a while, and he thought his mate had disappeared. He did not know what to make of this. Then he yelled, his hair became erect on his body, and the water having become quiet again, he saw the image also yelling with its hair erect. That angered him and he said to himself, “This is a fighting nkengo, and cannot be my mate. We must fight.” Then he made another dash to seize his antagonist, and this time he dipped his arms deep into the water. At last he realized that the nkengo was his own image, and he went away much chapfallen, and resumed his wandering in search of a mate. Every day he called aloud continually, and one day he heard a response. He went toward the voice, and there saw a beautiful young nkengo, and said to her, “Will you be my mate?” She replied, “Yes,” and they lived happily, as did their old parents, and led the same kind of a life in their turn.
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE NGANDOS, OR CROCODILES
A troop of monkeys were looking down one day from the top of a tree at a lagoon studded with mud banks, and saw a large number of ngandos basking in the sun. They laughed at them, and said: “Ngandos are big and ugly; but they cannot climb trees, and come and gobble us into their big, ugly mouths. Strange it is that their enormous mouths are only good for eating; but this must be so, for we never hear them talk.” The crocodiles were very numerous, and could hardly be distinguished from the mud upon which they lay. Many of them were more than twenty feet in length.
The monkeys were making all kinds of disparaging remarks about the crocodiles, who could hear their chatter, but did not move or wink. “No creature,” said one of the monkeys, “looks as stupid and lazy as the ngandos. Look at them!” and all the monkeys laughed. The crocodiles did not understand the language of the monkeys, and even if they had been able to, they could not have gone to fight them, as they could not climb trees and jump from one limb to another. Had they even thought of trying, the monkeys would have laughed at them still more.
Every animal has a nature to suit his mode of life, and that of the crocodiles is not to climb trees to get food, but to wait for prey, hidden in the water or in the rushes. They are most cunning creatures.
Once in a while a huge ngando would open his long, pointed mouth, showing his fierce-looking jaws armed with sharp teeth, enough to make one shudder at the sight. “When I seize my prey, and shut my mouth and hold it there,” said one of them, “my long teeth sink into its flesh, and it cannot escape; besides, I drag it into the water, where it would drown anyhow. What a good thing it is that we ngandos have such powerful jaws, and can move so swiftly in the water! Our tails propel and steer us wherever we want to go, and our sharp-pointed heads allow us to cleave the water swiftly. We can also see well.”
Once in a while a crocodile’s head would appear suddenly on the surface of the water, and lie so still that it might have been taken for a big piece of wood or a dead tree floating; while other heads were seen moving in the direction of the mud banks, leaving an almost imperceptible ripple behind them; and when near the banks their huge dark bodies would gradually appear out of the water as they climbed on the mud. There they would lie perfectly motionless by the side of the others. They were then so quiet that they appeared as if they were dead. There were many crocodiles that were out of sight; these were hidden among the tall reeds growing on the muddy shores of the lagoon, and were resting among them.