Page:Where Animals Talk (West African folk lore tales).djvu/185

 The mother exclaimed, "My son! the animals have finished all my food of the gardens; everything is lost! Why is this?" He replied, "Yes, it is so! And when they come again tomorrow, I know what I will do to them!"

When they came the next day, he went into the house, took the spear, flung it; and it flew from beast to beast, piercing all of them in succession. Then it went off, flying into the forest, as before. He called after it to return. The Spear heard, and obeyed, and came back to the house.

Then he and his mother sat down in the house, complaining of their hunger, and how the animals had spoiled their gardens. So the mother went out, and gathered up what little remained, brought it into the house, and cooked it, leaves and all.

When the mother had planted a third garden, and it had grown, a herd of elephants came to destroy it. She cried out, "All! Njâku! what shall I do? You have come to destroy all my gardens! Shall I die with hunger?" The son brought out his Spear, and shouting at the elephants, threatened to kill them all. But the herd laughed and said, "When you throw that spear, only one of us shall fall." He threw the spear at the one that spoke. It struck him and all the elephants in succession; and they all died. The Spear kept on in its flight into the forest. The young man cried after it, "Spear! Spear! come back, come back!" And it came to him again.

Each time that the Spear had thus gone through the forest, it had mowed down the trees in its path; and thus was made the clearing which the mother had at once utilized for the planting of her successive gardens.

After the elephants, mother and son sat down again in their hunger; they had nothing to eat but leaves. These she cooked; and they ate them all at once.

Then she planted another garden, thinking that now there were no more beasts who would come to ravage. But she did not know that there was still left in the forest one very, very large Elephant that had not been in the company of the herd that the son had killed.

There was also, in that forest, one very, very large Ox. When the gardens had grown, that Ox came, and began to destroy. The young man hurled his Spear at the Ox. It