“No, no,” loudly quacked all the ducks.
While the leader of the flock was talking, the oshingi was full of rage, and said: “Oh, how I hate the water! If it were not for the water, I should have had a meal of a duck by this time; but I did not dare to jump, for if I had I should have had to swim to the shore to save my life instead of catching ducks.”
The oshingi spent the whole night watching the ducks, and at last, as daylight was soon coming, he went back to his lair, saying, as he walked away: “Those wretched ducks were too knowing for me; but one of these days I will be more cunning than they are.”
The time came when the ducks build their nests, but these were on small islands where they knew the oshingis and other night prowlers could not reach them.
CHAPTER XXXVII
THE INSECTS, APILIBISHES, OR BUTTERFLIES, AND OSELIS, OR LIZARDS
One day there was a great uproar among the insects and butterflies. They had just escaped being devoured by the bashikouay ants and the birds which had followed them. They called out to one another in their dialect: “We have so many enemies of all kinds that we never know when we are to be pounced upon, killed, and eaten up. The birds are after us. The ants are prowling in every direction seeking our lives. The spiders, the lizards, the frogs and toads, and many other of our enemies are seeking for us. It is wonderful that we are able to live long enough to grow to our full size.”
An insect, looking toward another which was of the exact color of the dead leaves, observed: “You are lucky, for it is your good fortune to look like one of the dead leaves which are covering the ground. So you can escape the eyes of your enemies.”
“Well,” replied the insect to whom the remark was made, “do you think I am better off than you? What have you to complain of? Is not your body of the color of a dead tree limb?—and it takes a pretty cunning enemy to find you where you are. You are also a lucky fellow. But,” he added, mournfully, “in spite of our color, many of us have been caught; for our enemies are very cunning.”
A vengela, or grasshopper, said: “It is fortunate for me that I am of the color of the grass and of the green leaves, so that I am not easily seen by my enemies, the birds, and those horrid mogara and ozoni ants, who are always prowling around and seeking my life. How we dislike them! Also those long-legged cranes! How they pick us up with their long, pointed beaks, and how quick they are to espy us! I wonder that I have thus far escaped.”
Another grasshopper said: “And I am glad that I am gray, like the earth and the dry leaves and grass in which I live.”