Page:Where Animals Talk (West African folk lore tales).djvu/239



Gorilla, among all Beasts, was derided and jeered at by them. They called him "Broken-face."

So, he spoke to Ingenda of the Monkey Tribe, and ordered it, "Just examine for me this face of mine; whether it is really so, you tell me." The monkey was afraid to refuse, and afraid also to tell the truth. So it ascended a tree; and, as it went, it plucked the fruits. It said to Gorilla, "I must first eat before answering your question; I feel hungry." (As an excuse to give itself time to escape.)

So Ingenda went; and, by the time it had eaten two of the fruits, it was near the tree-top. Then it called to Gorilla "Look here! with your face turned upward." So the Gorilla looked, with its face upward. And Ingenda, being in a safe place, acknowledged, "It is really so, really so." Gorilla was angry; but was helpless to revenge itself on Ingenda for its candid statement; for, he had no way by which to catch him. And Ingenda went off, leaping as it went from tree-top to tree-top.