Page:Where Animals Talk (West African folk lore tales).djvu/246

 Uhingi". (They were the younger men who chose to pick it up and eat it.)

He then took up the jomba of the Snake. And he said, "Come ye! and take of the jomba of Edubu." (Those who took it were the youngest.)

After awhile they all finished their work at the bellows. They still left their tools lying on the ground, and came near to the Bird, and they said, as on other occasions, "Show us who is the eldest."

Then Tortoise at the request of the Bird, announced the decision, as if it was its own, "Ye who ate of the Njâbâ are the ones who are oldest; ye who ate of Uhingi are the ones who are younger men; and ye who ate of the Edubu are the ones who are the youngest."

So, they assented to the decision, and took away their belongings.

The Man's patience finally brought to him the Plenty which was promised him.

"Bwinge" might be the name of a person or of a thing; or, it could be the "abundance" for which the hunter hoped.

There was a certain Man who was very poor; he had no goods with which to buy a wife. He went one day into the