Page:Where Animals Talk (West African folk lore tales).djvu/225

 other, and the other tried the same. Ekwamekwa held him, and was about to throw him on the ground. The other jumped to one side, and stood, his muscles quivering, po! po! po! tensely. Ekwamekwa seized him about the waist and loins. The people all were saying, "Let no one shout!" (lest Ekwamekwa be confused). They said, "Make no noise! He is soon going to be eaten!" And it was a woman who said, "Get ready the kettle!"

Ekwamekwa still held him by the loins. So, they called out, "Down with him! Down with him!" But Mbuma-tyĕtyĕ shouted, "I'm here!" He put his foot behind Ekwamekwa's leg, and lifted him, and threw him into the pit, kodom!

Then there was a shout of distress by the people, "Â! â! â! â!' and Ekwamekwa called out, "Catch him! catch him!" Mbuma-tyĕtyĕ, lifting his feet, ran to his father-in-law's end of the town, and all the men came after him. His father-in-law protected him, and said to them, "You can do nothing with this stranger!"

At night, the Chief said to him, "Sir, you may go away tomorrow."

At daybreak, food was cooked. The Chief Njambu-ya-Mekuku, put his daughters into large chests. In one was a lame one; another, covered with skin disease; and another, with a crooked nose; and others, with other defects in other chests, each in her own chest. But, he put the wife into a poor chest all dirty outside with droppings of fowls, and human excrement, and ashes. In it also, he placed a servant and all kinds of fine clothing. Then said he to Mbuma-tyĕtyĕ, "Choose which chest contains your wife."

The Gourd at once called him, and It said to him, "Lift me up!" It whispered to him, "The chest which is covered with dirt and filth, it is the one which contains your wife. Even if they say, 'Ha! ha! he has had all his trouble for nothing; he has left his wife,' do you nevertheless carry it, and go on with your journey."

He came to the spot where the chests were. The Chief said again, "Choose, from the chests, the one which contains your wife." Mbuma-tyĕtyĕ picked up the poor one. They shouted. But, he at once started on his journey, and on, until he came to the river, stepped into a canoe, paddled to the other side, landed, and went on, carrying the chest.