Page:Where Animals Talk (West African folk lore tales).djvu/163

 She wondered that that plateful had not been sufficient; but, she made him more food. And she brought it to him into the room, but she did not see the Leopard; nor did the child tell her. She left the food there, and went out. The child was about to take the food to eat it, when Leopard again snatched it away. But, even then, the child, in fear, did not scream out. And Leopard ate all the food.

Then the child began to weep out aloud. The mother again asked, "What do you want?" The child answered, "I want food." The mother wondered much, and, hastening into the bedroom, she saw Leopard. Then she shouted, "Men! Here's Njâ!" The men came, and they killed Leopard.

All this while. Tortoise remained hidden in the bushes outside; and he heard all that was happening. He said to himself, "I'm going to town to tell the children of Njâ that he is dead." So, he went back to his town. At first, he told only his wife, "Men have killed Njâ." Then he said, "I must now call the children of Njâ."

So, he called all the people of Leopard. And he said to them, "I will tell you something; but, don't kill me for my evil news. So, I tell you, Njâ is dead!" They all laughed in derision, as if it was not possible, "We will know about that matter tomorrow!"

And that day darkened. In the evening. Tortoise told his wife and children, "We must flee to another place." For, he feared that Leopard's people would charge him with their father's death. So, that night they fled. And they built their town far away at another place.

When the children of Leopard saw that Tortoise had fled, they believed him guilty; and they said, "The day we shall see Kudu, we will kill him."

Tortoise and his family had been living at their new place only about a month, when, one day, he said to his family, "I'm going on a journey to the town of Mbâmâ." So he went to that town. He stayed there visiting about a week. While there, he said to Boa, "If a child of Njâ comes here, hide me." Shortly afterward, a child of Leopard did come. Boa took Tortoise, and set him for safety on a rock in the middle of the river. Tortoise sat there a long time; and, while there, he laid what looked like an egg. Surprised, he