Page:Folklore1919.djvu/591

Rh saying that the king wanted them. When he returned he told the king, and said he must call a meeting. So he said he had been to the sky and called them; and one said, “To-morrow morning,” and the other said, “To-morrow evening.” So they all said he was Ilefo. Then the king divided his property and gave half to the boy and made him a chief. So at dawn we see the sun come and in the evening the moon.

The tortoise has more sense than all the animals; one day Ulo (? chimpanzee) sent to the animals to come and salute him; and when they got there, he took ọxọya and gave it to them for kola. When they were sharing it the tortoise said he was small and would take last, and others could break the fruit for him and give him half; so each broke ọxọya and took his own and gave the tortoise half. So the tortoise got more than any one, as much as all the others put together.

Owo of Ime was a doctor, and there was no medicine he did not know. He could cut open his belly and rub it with medicine, and the wound left no mark; and could take anything out of his body. One day he called the town together and began to dance. He said he could do anything by means of medicine, but he had never been to the sky; and the people said those who went there never came back. So he said he would try, and if he succeeded he would tell them what elimi was like. So he said, “If the rain there is white, elimi is better; if not, this world is better.” So he took a spindle and beat a drum, and said that as he was doing, so they must do after he was gone, and continue doing so as long as they could see him. So