The world of the great forest

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

When he approached the village, his searching eyes saw fires burning in the street, and he heard the human beings talk. Then he went back to the forest to wait, and after a while returned to spy. This time everybody was asleep; there was no more noise. The dogs had gone inside the houses, or were also asleep. It was so quiet that only the wind passing through the branches of the trees could be heard by the night prowlers.

The oshingi entered the village slyly, walking at first behind the houses, then in the street. He came to several chicken-coops; but there was no way of getting in, for they were very tightly made, the people having had their chickens killed by oshingis before. He walked several times around each, and noticed a dog asleep in the street. “I must keep out of the way of this ugly dog,” he said. “Happily they cannot see me when it is so dark; besides, they do not suspect my presence, and they cannot hear me walk.” He did not want to run any risks, and walked toward the end of the street. Suddenly he stopped, for he scented another chicken-coop. The scent was very strong, for the coop was full of chickens.

He approached it and walked round it. To his joy, he found a little opening through which he could push himself. As soon as he had entered, he saw quantities of chickens perched on sticks, and his eyes glared like fire with hungry anticipation. In an instant the chickens were aware of the presence of one of their most inveterate enemies, and, much frightened, flew from one place to another, cackling very loud.

The oshingi first caught the big rooster by the neck, cut its jugular vein and drank its blood, then did likewise with the other chickens, and did not go until they were all dead. He had hardly time to get through the hole, when the men, hearing the noise made by the chickens, rose and called their dogs. These dogs knew at once what they were wanted for, and hunted all round. The oshingi had just time to escape with his life.

The people of the village were very angry when they saw the havoc the oshingi had wrought, and said, “Let us make traps to catch him.” The following day, they set traps outside the village, and put chickens in each of them. But the oshingi did not come back. He knew too much.

The oshingis are very cunning, and it is very seldom that they return to a village where they have committed depredations. They wait a long while before coming again.

One night the oshingi came to a river bank and spied on the water a flock of ducks in the midst of the thick darkness. His eyes followed the ducks swimming up and down the stream as the fancy took them. They were very shy, and once in a while through the deep silence of the forest they uttered subdued quacks, which were warnings to those of the flock who were approaching too near the shore not to go nearer. Their leader constantly uttered the note of warning which meant, “Keep in the middle of the stream.” He feared danger, for two or three weeks before, one night while feeding quietly on the grass growing on the low bank of the river, an oshingi had suddenly seized one of the ducks, and the flock flew away in great fright. The ducks had not forgotten this event and had been timid ever since.

The oshingi, tired of waiting, became impatient, and said to himself: “When are those ducks coming ashore? I am hungry, and I want a meal. Surely they will land soon.” He did not know that the ducks had such good memories. But at last several of the ducks came dangerously near the shore. When the oshingi saw this, he left his hiding-place, and crawled toward the water through the shrubbery, his belly touching the ground. He was very cautious in all his movements. The subdued quacking of the ducks increased his ferocity and appetite.

At last, to the great joy of the oshingi, some of the ducks came within a few feet of the shore. When he saw this, he said: “Surely I am soon to have a meal.” But he was again disappointed, for suddenly they veered round and swam back toward the middle of the stream. Their leader had given a peculiar quack which called them back; and, when they approached, he scolded them for being so imprudent, saying also: “Do you not remember the ferocious oshingi that pounced upon us some time ago? Do you wish the same fate as our comrade?”