Page:Swahili tales.djvu/449

Rh a great forest and a great wilderness, and he went on and met with that ape. The man was asked the news by the ape. And he asked him, "You son of Adam, where are you going?" And he said, "I am lost." And it said, "Rest your heart here, that I may repay you here to-day the good you did me the other day, and took me out of the trap; so be still and wait for me here."

And the ape went to people's plantations, and went and stole ripe papaws, and stole ripe bananas, and carried them to the man, and said to him, "Take this food, bananas and papaws," and it gave them to the man. And it said "What do you want? do you want water?" And it went and stole a calabash of water and gave to the man, and he drank; and when he had finished drinking they took leave of one another. And they said, "Good-bye; good-bye till we meet again." And he went his way.

When he arrived further on, he went on and met with the lion. When he met with it, the lion asked him, "Where do you come from, son of Adam?" The man answered the lion, "I am lost." The lion said to him, "Sit down here, that I may repay you that kindness of yours of the other day, when you helped me. Let me help you; sit here." And the man stayed still, and waited for the lion. The lion went and caught game and brought it to the man, and said, "You are lost, eat this food; let me come and repay you your goodness of the other day." And it gave him meat, and fire to roast the meat. And he roasted the meat and ate it. When he had eaten the meat, he took courage, and the man went his way.

When the man had gone away he went on and came out upon a plantation, where was an exceedingly old woman. And the man came out there, and she said to him, "There in our town there is a man who has fallen sick; if you can prepare medicine, we want you to prepare