Once upon a time a certain Hottentot was travelling in company with a Bushwoman, carrying a child on her back. They had proceeded some distance on their journey, when a troop of wild horses appeared, and the Man said to the Woman, “I am hungry; and as I know you can turn yourself into a Lion, do so now, and catch us a wild horse, that we may eat.”
The Woman answered, “You will be afraid.”
“No, no,” said the Man; “I am afraid of dying of hunger, but not of you.”
Whilst he was yet speaking, hair began to appear at the back of the Woman’s neck; her nails gradually assumed the appearance of claws, and her features altered. She sat down the child.
The Man, alarmed at the change, climbed a tree close by. The Woman glared at him fearfully, and going to one side, she threw off her skin petticoat, when [[90]]a perfect Lion rushed into the plain. It bounded and crept among the bushes towards the wild horses, and springing on one of them, it fell, and the Lion lapped its blood. The Lion then came back to where the child was crying, and the man called from the tree, “Enough, enough! don’t hurt me. Put off your lion’s shape, I’ll never ask to see this again.”
The Lion looked at him and growled. “I’ll remain here till I die,” said the Man, “if you don’t become a woman again.” The mane and tail then began to disappear, the Lion went towards the bush where the skin petticoat lay; it was slipped on, and the woman, in her proper shape, took up the child. The Man descended and partook of the horse’s flesh, but never again asked the Woman to catch game for him. [[91]]
26. THE LION AND THE BUSHMAN.
[A Tale.]
(From Sir James E. Alexander’s “Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa,” vol. ii. p. 51.)