Page:Where Animals Talk (West African folk lore tales).djvu/132

 went slowly alone to peep through a crack into the room of Tortoise. She saw only the piles of egg-shells; and she wondered, "Where are the little ones?" Then she went softly back to her own room; and she told the townspeople, "Get up! Let us open the room of Kudu!"

They all got up, and they went to the house. They broke the room door by force; and they found Tortoise sitting among the scattered shells of the eggs. The Crocodile exclaimed, "Kudu! have you deceived me? Your life too ends today!"

They tied Tortoise, and put him in the kettle; and they killed him there. They divided his flesh onto their plates. And Crocodile and her people ate Tortoise.

This is the end of the lies of Tortoise.

Trouble came to all these animals, even to the innocent, through the noise of some of them. Igwanas are supposed, by the natives, to be deaf.

Snail, Igwana and Tortoise all lived together in one village. One day, Tortoise went to roam in the forest. There he found a large tree called Evenga. He said to himself, "I will stay at the foot of this tree, and wait for the fruit to fall." During two days, he remained there alone.