Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/149

 Rh the bow and arrow. Several shots were exchanged, both receiving severe wounds; finally, one lost courage and fled; the other's blood being up, he drew a bow on the fugitive, killing him. So chagrined were the relations of the coward that they refrained from even claiming blood-money!

Another anecdote shows they have a due sense of the depravity of procrastination; while at the same time the low value set on human life is lamentably depicted:—

A couple of warriors from a certain village laid a wager with two of another tribe that, on a day named, they would come and kill several of their people in spite of any efforts the challenged might make to prevent them. The bet was accepted, and, on the day appointed, the takers kept watch and watch. Very soon the one on guard came and told the other that their adversaries were in sight; but the latter, feeling drowsy, remarked that as they came so openly they could hardly mean mischief, and, closing his eyes, asked his comrade to rouse him up if anything happened. Very soon a sound of loud lamentation awoke him, and, rushing out, he found that, while his friend had been attacked by one warrior and had had enough to do to hold his own, the other, unopposed, had killed ten women and children in the outskirts of the village!

A favourite theme with story-tellers is the adventures of a certain individual who fell down from the sky. Drawing on their imagination they embellish the original, and bring the hero through all kinds of complications, finding full scope for a lavish introduction of well-pointed satire, of which frail woman and certain callings receive a full share. The story, as it is supposed to have been originally related, runs somewhat as follows:—

A young man, living beyond the sky, was playing with a ball, which unfortunately rolled into a rather deep crevice. The player took a spear and poked about for it; in trying to push the spear-point into the ball, he pressed rather heavily on his weapon, drove the ball through the sky, and, losing his own balance, came tumbling down after. Two girls were spreading millet at the time to dry in the sun; hearing a rushing noise they thought it was about to rain, and ran to house the seed; looking up, however, they saw the man and his