TALE 12

The Lies of Tortoise

Persons

Njâ (Leopard) Kudu (Tortoise) Etoli (Rat) Embonda (Prairie Antelope) Ihĕli (Gazelle) Ngando (Crocodile) Ngomba (Porcupine)

NOTE

African natives climb the palm-tree, cut out a cavity in the heart at the leafy top, and fasten a vessel below the cavity, to catch the sweet, milky juice that exudes. This is unintoxicating. But, like cider, it becomes intoxicating if kept a few days. The cutting destroys the tree in two or three months.

The beginning of this tale is that Leopard went to the forest, to cut an itutu tree (bamboo-palm) for palm-wine. After he had fastened the bowl at the cavity he had cut at the top in the heart of the tree, then he came back to town.