Page:Swahili tales.djvu/395

Rh he said, "If you eat me my flesh is tough." And the lion asked him, "What am I to do with you then?" And he said, "Take hold of me by the tail and whirl me round, and then knock me on the ground, and so you shall eat me." And the lion was deceived, and whirled him round, and when he wanted to knock him, he slipped out of his paw, and ran off. And he lost the hare.

And he said to the tortoise, "You come down too." And he came down. And he said, "What am I to do with you?" And he said, "Put me in the mud, and rub me in this way till my shell comes off." And the lion took him, and went with him to the water, and rubbed him; and the tortoise got away, and the lion rubbed till his paws were raw. And he looked at his paws, and blood was coming from them; and he said, "The hare has done me to day." And he went looking for him.

And he asked, "Where is the hare's house?" And they told him, "We do not know." And the hare had said to his wife, "Let us remove from this house." And they removed. And the lion went asking, and people told him, "That is his house on the top of the mountain." And the lion went, and when he arrived, the hare was not there. And he said, "I will hide myself inside the house, till when the hare comes with his wife, I will eat them both."

And the hare came, he and his wife. He had heard nothing, till on the road he saw the lion's feet, and he said to his wife, "You go back, the lion has passed this way looking for me." And she said, "I will not go back, I will follow you, my husband." And he said, "You have friends to go to, go back." And she went back. And the hare went on and followed the feet, and saw that they went into his house. And he said, "Oho, lion! you are inside."