Page:Where Animals Talk (West African folk lore tales).djvu/19



A story of the treachery of the Leopard as matched by the duplicity of the Rat.

In public mourning for the dead, it is the custom for the nearest relative or dearest friend to claim the privilege of sitting closest to the corpse, and nursing the head on his or her lap.

At a time long ago, the Animals were living in the Forest together. Most of them were at peace with each other. But Leopard was discovered to be a bad person. All the other animals refused to be friendly with him. Also, Wild Rat, a small animal, was found out to be a deceiver.

One day, Rat went to visit Leopard, who politely gave him a chair, and Rat sat down. "Mbolo!" "Ai, Mbolo!" each saluted to the other. Leopard said to his visitor, "What's the news?" Rat replied, "Njěgâ! news is bad.