The Lion, it is said, was ill, and they all went to see him in his suffering. But the Jackal did not go, because the traces of the people who went to see him did not turn back. Thereupon, he was accused by the Hyena, who said, “Though I go to look, yet the Jackal does not want to come and look at the man’s sufferings.”

Then the Lion let the Hyena go, in order that she might catch the Jackal; and she did so, and brought him.

The Lion asked the Jackal: “Why did you not come here to see me?” The Jackal said, “Oh no! when I heard that my uncle was so very ill, I went to the witch (doctor), to consult him, whether and what medicine would be good for my uncle against the pain. The doctor said to me, ‘Go and tell your uncle to take hold of the Hyena and draw off her skin, and put it on while it is still warm. Then he [[52]]will recover.’ The Hyena is one who does not care for my uncle’s sufferings.”

The Lion followed his advice, got hold of the Hyena, drew the skin over her ears, whilst she howled with all her might, and put it on. [[53]]

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11. THE DOVE AND THE HERON.

(The original, in the Hottentot language, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, G. Krönlein’s Manuscript, pp. 13, 14.)

The Jackal, it is said, came once to the Dove, who lived on the top of a rock, and said, “Give me one of your little children.” The Dove answered: “I shall not do anything of the kind.” The Jackal said, “Give it me at once! Otherwise, I shall fly up to you.” Then she threw one down to him.

He came back another day, and demanded another little child, and she gave it to him. After the Jackal had gone, the Heron came, and asked, “Dove, why do you cry?” The dove answered him: “The Jackal has taken away my little children; it is for this that I cry.” He asked her, “In what manner can he take them?” She answered him: “When he asked me I refused him; but when he said, ‘I shall at once fly up, therefore give it me,’ I threw it down to him.” The Heron said, “Are you such a fool as to give your children to the Jackals, who cannot fly?” Then, with the admonition to give no more, he went away. [[54]]

The Jackal came again, and said, “Dove, give me a little child.” The Dove refused, and told him that the Heron had told her that he could not fly up. The Jackal said, “I shall catch him.”