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222 the other and they fought. The chameleon said that when he was born the ground was soft, just new, and he asked Owuwu when he was born; and Owuwu said, “When I was born, there was no ground, and no sky.” “How were you born without ground?” “When my father died he was buried in my head; if there had been any ground, I should have buried him there.” So all believed Owuwu and said that he was the head man.

There were two boys who were friends, and they were poor and had no fathers or mothers, and they arranged to steal and sell the stolen property. One night they went out and came to a rich man’s door, and found a hole in the door in which to put the hand to withdraw the bar at the back; so one, boy put his hand in, and the owner saw it and took a cutlass and cut off the boy’s arm at the elbow. Then the boy told the other that the bar was too heavy; so he put his arm in and the owner cut his hand off too. So he asked the other boy why he had not told him and he said, “It’s no use for you to have two hands and me only one.” So each had only one hand.

There was once a boy without a name, so he called himself Ilefo (I know all) and his father agreed. One day the boy made a trap for animals and found a rat in it the next day; it was not dead, so he took it and let it go, because it was too nice to be killed. Then his father made palaver because he had let go a rat that he might have eaten. So he said he would catch another the next day. At daybreak he found a squirrel in the trap and the same thing happened; and a bush rat, a snake, and so on. Then his father fell sick, and said if his son did so, he would have no one to feed him; and his father died and the son buried him.