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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Outa Karel's Stories, by Sanni Metelerkamp
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Outa Karel's Stories
+       South African Folk-Lore Tales
+
+Author: Sanni Metelerkamp
+
+Illustrator: Constance Penstone
+
+Release Date: March 12, 2011 [EBook #35557]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTA KAREL'S STORIES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net for Project
+Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously
+made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          OUTA KAREL'S STORIES
+
+                     South African Folk-Lore Tales
+
+                                   By
+                           SANNI METELERKAMP
+
+                With illustrations by Constance Penstone
+
+
+
+                       Macmillan and Co., Limited
+                      St. Martin's Street, London
+                                  1914
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                            To all children
+                             young and old
+                       who love a folk-lore story
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD.
+
+
+My thanks are due to Dr. Maitland Park, Editor of The Cape Times, and
+Adv. B. K. Long, M.L.A., Editor of The State, for their kind permission
+to republish such of these tales as have appeared in their papers.
+
+For the leading idea in "The Sun" and "The Stars and the Stars'
+Road," I gladly acknowledge my indebtedness to that monument of
+patient labour and research, "Specimens of Bushman Folk-lore," by
+the late Dr. Bleek and Miss Lucy Lloyd.
+
+Further, I lay no claim to originality for any of the stories in this
+collection--at best a very small proportion of a vast store from which
+the story-teller of the future may draw, embodying the superstitions,
+the crude conceptions, the childish ideas of a primitive and rapidly
+disappearing people. They are known in some form or other wherever
+the negro has set foot, and are the common property of every country
+child in South Africa.
+
+I greatly regret that they appear here in what is, to them, a foreign
+tongue. No one who has not heard them in the Taal--that quaint,
+expressive language of the people--can have any idea of what they lose
+through translation, but, having been written in the first instance
+for English publications, the original medium was out of the question.
+
+Clear cold evenings, with a pleasant tang of frost in the air,
+figure here and there in these pages, but as I write other scenes,
+too, flit across the lighted screen of Memory--noontides of tropic
+heat with all the world sunk in a languorous slumber, glowing sunsets,
+throbbing summer nights when the stars seemed to tremble almost within
+one's reach, moonlit spaces filled with soft mystery and the thousand
+seductive voices of the pulsing southern night. And always, part and
+parcel of the passing panorama, the quaint figure of the old Native
+with his little masters....
+
+It is nearly three years now since "Old Friend Death" took him gently
+by the hand and led him away to that far, far country of which he had
+such vague ideas, so he tells no more stories by the firelight in the
+gloaming; and his little masters--children no longer--are claimed
+by graver tasks and wider interests. But in the hope that others,
+both little ones and children of a larger growth, may find the same
+pleasure in these tales of a childlike race, they are sent out to
+find their own level and take their chance in the workaday world.
+
+
+    S. M.
+
+        Cape Town, January, 1914.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                Page
+       I. The Place and the People                 1
+      II. How Jakhals Fed Oom Leeuw               12
+     III. Who was King?                           29
+      IV. Why the Hyena is Lame                   43
+       V. Who was the Thief?                      47
+      VI. The Sun                                 54
+     VII. The Stars and the Stars' Road           63
+    VIII. Why the Hare's Nose is Slit             70
+      IX. How the Jackal got his Stripe           78
+       X. The Animals' Dam                        88
+      XI. Saved by his Tail                      101
+     XII. The Flying Lion                        108
+    XIII. Why the Heron has a Crooked Neck       118
+     XIV. The Little Red Tortoise                128
+      XV. The Ostrich Hunt                       139
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                                 Page
+    Outa Karel and Little Jan--The Little Red Tortoise   Frontispiece
+    "The Stars' Road"                                              64
+    "The women with their babies on their backs, flew"             81
+    The punishment of Broer Babiaan                                99
+    "'Do you know, little Red Tortoise, in one moment I
+      could swallow you.'"                                        136
+    "The Ostriches ran faster and faster"                         144
+
+
+
+
+
+
+GLOSSARY.
+
+
+Awa-skin, skin slung across the back to carry babies in.
+Askoekies, cakes baked in the ash.
+
+Baas, master.
+Baasje (pronounced Baasie), little master.
+Babiaan, baboon.
+Berg schilpad, mountain tortoise.
+Biltong, strips of sun-dried meat.
+Bolmakissie, head over heels.
+Bossies, bushes.
+Broer, brother.
+Buchu, an aromatic veld herb.
+
+Carbonaatje, grilled chop.
+
+Dassie, rock-rabbit.
+
+Eintje, an edible veld root.
+
+Gezondheid! Your health!
+
+Haasje, little hare.
+Hamel, wether.
+
+Jakhals draaie, tricky turns.
+
+Kaross, skin rug.
+Kierie, a thick stick.
+Klein koning, little king.
+Kneehaltered, hobbled.
+Kopdoek, turban.
+Kopje, hill.
+Krantz, precipice.
+Kraal, enclosure.
+
+Lammervanger, eagle.
+Leeuw, lion.
+
+Maanhaar, mane.
+Mensevreter, cannibal.
+
+Neef, nephew.
+Nooi, lady or mistress.
+Nonnie, young lady, miss.
+
+Oom, uncle.
+Outa, old man, prefix to the name of old natives.
+
+Pronk, show off.
+
+Reijer, heron.
+Riem, leathern thong.
+Rustband, couch.
+
+Sassaby or Sessebe, a South African antelope.
+Schelm, rogue; sly.
+Schilpad, tortoise.
+Sjambok, whip of rhino or hippo hide.
+Skraal windje, fine cutting wind.
+Skrik, to be startled; also fright.
+Slim, cunningly clever.
+Smouse, pedlar.
+Soopje, tot.
+
+Taai, tough.
+Tante, aunt.
+Tarentaal, Guinea fowl.
+Tover, toverij, witchcraft.
+
+Vaabond, vagabond.
+Vlakte, plain.
+Voertsed, jumping aside suddenly and violently.
+Volk, coloured farm labourers.
+Volstruis, ostrich.
+Vrouw, wife.
+Vrouwmens, woman.
+
+Zandkruiper, sand-crawler.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE PLACE AND THE PEOPLE.
+
+
+It was winter in the Great Karroo. The evening air was so crisp
+and cutting that one seemed to hear the crick-crack of the frost,
+as it formed on the scant vegetation. A skraal windje blew from the
+distant mountains, bringing with it a mingled odour of karroo-bush,
+sheep-kraals, and smoke from the Kafir huts--none, perhaps,
+desirable in itself, but all so blent and purified in that rare,
+clear atmosphere, and so subservient to the exhilarating freshness,
+that Pietie van der Merwe took several sniffs of pleasure as he peered
+into the pale moonlight over the lower half of the divided door. Then,
+with a little involuntary shiver, he closed the upper portion and
+turned to the ruddy warmth of the purring fire, which Willem was
+feeding with mealie-cobs from the basket beside him.
+
+Little Jan sat in the corner of the wide, old-fashioned rustbank, his
+large grey eyes gazing wistfully into the red heart of the fire, while
+his hand absently stroked Torry, the fox terrier, curled up beside him.
+
+Mother, in her big Madeira chair at the side table, yawned a little
+over her book; for, winter or summer, the mistress of a karroo farm
+leads a busy life, and the end of the day finds her ready for a
+well-earned rest.
+
+Pietie held his hands towards the blaze, turning his head now and again
+towards the door at the far end of the room. Presently this opened
+and father appeared, comfortably and leisurely, as if such things as
+shearing, dipping, and ploughing were no part of his day's work. Only
+the healthy tan, the broad shoulders, the whole well-developed physique
+proclaimed his strenuous, open-air life. His eye rested with pleasure
+on the scene before him--the bright fire, throwing gleam and shadow
+on painted wall and polished woodwork, and giving a general air of
+cosiness to everything; the table spread for the evening meal; the
+group at the fireside; and his dear helpmate who was responsible for
+the comfort and happiness of his well-appointed home.
+
+He was followed in a moment by Cousin Minnie, the bright-faced young
+governess. Their coming caused a stir among the children. Little Jan
+slowly withdrew his gaze from the fire, and, with more energy than
+might have been expected from his dreamy look, pushed and prodded
+the sleeping terrier along the rustbank so as to make room for
+Cousin Minnie.
+
+Pietie sprang to his father's side. "Now may I go and call Outa
+Karel?" he asked eagerly, and at an acquiescent "Yes, my boy," away
+he sped.
+
+It was a strange figure that came at his bidding, shuffling, stooping,
+halting, and finally emerging into the firelight. A stranger might have
+been forgiven for fleeing in terror, for the new arrival looked like
+nothing so much as an ancient and muscular gorilla in man's clothes,
+and walking uncertainly on its hind legs.
+
+He was not quite four feet in height, with shoulders and hips
+disproportionately broad, and long arms, the hands of which reached
+midway between knee and ankle. His lower limbs were clothed in
+nondescript garments fashioned from wildcat and dassie skins; a
+faded brown coat, which from its size had evidently once belonged
+to his master, hung nearly to his knees; while, when he removed his
+shapeless felt hat, a red kopdoek was seen to be wound tightly round
+his head. No one had ever seen Outa Karel without his kopdoek, but
+it was reported that the head it covered was as smooth and devoid of
+hair as an ostrich egg.
+
+His yellow-brown face was a network of wrinkles, across which his flat
+nose sprawled broadly between high cheekbones; his eyes, sunk far back
+into his head, glittered dark and beady like the little wicked eyes
+of a snake peeping from the shadow of a hole in the rocks. His wide
+mouth twisted itself into an engaging grin, which extended from ear
+to ear, as, winking and blinking his bright little eyes, he twirled
+his old hat in his claw-like hands and tried to make obeisance to
+his master and mistress.
+
+The attempt was unsuccessful on account of the stiffness of his
+joints, but it never failed to amuse those who, times without number,
+had seen it repeated. To those who witnessed it for the first time it
+was something to be remembered--the grotesque, disproportionate form;
+the ape-like face, that yet was so curiously human; the humour and
+kindness that gleamed from the cavernous eyes, which seemed designed
+to express only malevolence and cunning; the long waving arms and
+crooked fingers; the yellow skin for all the world like a crumpled
+sheet of india-rubber pulled in a dozen different directions.
+
+That he was a consummate actor, and, not to put too fine a point on
+it, an old humbug of the first water, goes without saying, for these
+characteristics are inherent in the native nature. But in spite of
+this, and the uncanniness of his appearance, there was something
+about Outa Karel that drew one to him. Of his real devotion to his
+master and the "beautiful family Van der Merwe," there could be no
+question; while, above everything, was the feeling that here was
+one of an outcast race, one of the few of the original inhabitants
+who had survived the submerging tide of civilization; who, knowing
+no law but that of possession, had been scared and chased from their
+happy hunting grounds, first by the Hottentots, then by the powerful
+Bantu, and later by the still more terrifying palefaced tribes from
+over the seas. Though the origin of the Bushman is lost in the mists
+of antiquity, the Hottentot conquest of him is a matter of history,
+and it is well known that the victors were in the habit, while killing
+off the men, to take unto themselves wives from among the women of the
+vanquished race. Hence the fact that a perfect specimen of a Bushman
+is a rara avis, even in the localities where the last remnants are
+known to linger.
+
+Outa Karel could hardly be called a perfect specimen of the original
+race, for, though he always spoke of himself as wholly Bushman, there
+was a strong strain of the Hottentot about him, chiefly noticeable
+in his build.
+
+He spoke in Dutch, in the curiously expressive voice belonging to
+these people, just now honey-sweet with the deference he felt for
+his superiors.
+
+"Ach toch! Night, Baas. Night, Nooi. Night, Nonnie and my little
+baasjes. Excuse that this old Bushman does not bend to greet you;
+the will is there, but his knees are too stiff. Thank you, thank you,
+my baasje," as Pietie dragged a low stool, covered with springbok skin,
+from under the desk in the recess and pushed it towards him. He settled
+himself on it slowly and carefully, with much creaking of joints and
+many strange native ejaculations.
+
+The little group had arranged itself anew. Cousin Minnie was in the
+cosy corner of the rustbank near the wall, little Jan next her with
+his head against her, and Torry's head on his lap--this attention to
+make up for his late seeming unkindness in pushing him away.
+
+Pappa, with his magazine, was at the other end of the rustbank where
+he could, if he chose, speak to Mamma in a low tone, or peep over to
+see how her book was getting on. Willem had pushed the basket away
+so as to settle himself more comfortably against Cousin Minnie's knee
+as he sat on the floor, and Pietie was on a small chair just in front
+of the fire.
+
+The centre of attention was the quaint old native, who, having
+relegated his duties to his children and grandchildren, lived as
+a privileged pensioner in the van der Merwe family he had served so
+faithfully for three generations. The firelight played over his quaint
+figure with the weirdest effect, lighting up now one portion of it,
+now another, showing up his astonishingly small hands and crooked
+fingers, as he pointed and gesticulated incessantly--for these people
+speak as much by gesture as by sound--and throwing exaggerated shadows
+on the wall.
+
+This was the hour beloved by the children, when the short wintry
+day had ended, and, in the interval between the coming of darkness
+and the evening meal, their dear Outa Karel was allowed in to tell
+them stories.
+
+And weird and wonderful stories they were--tales of spooks and giants,
+of good and bad spirits, of animals that talked, of birds, beasts
+and insects that exercised marvellous influence over the destinies
+of unsuspecting mankind. But most thrilling of all, perhaps, were
+Outa Karel's personal experiences--adventures by veld and krantz with
+lion, tiger, jackal and crocodile, such as no longer fall to the lot
+of mortal man.
+
+The children would listen, wide-eyed and breathless, and even their
+elders, sparing a moment's attention from book or writing, would feel
+a tremor of excitement, unable to determine where reality ended and
+fiction began, so inextricably were they intermingled as this old
+Iago of the desert wove his romances.
+
+"Now, Outa, tell us a nice story, the nicest you know," said little
+Jan, nestling closer to Cousin Minnie, and issuing his command as
+the autocrat of the "One Thousand and One Nights" might have done.
+
+"Ach! but klein baas, this stupid old black one knows no new stories,
+only the old ones of Jakhals and Leeuw, and how can he tell even those
+when his throat is dry--ach, so dry with the dust from the kraals?"
+
+He forced a gurgling cough, and his small eyes glittered
+expectantly. Then suddenly he started with well-feigned surprise and
+beamed on Pietie, who stood beside him with a soopje in the glass
+kept for his especial use.
+
+This was a nightly performance. The lubrication was never forgotten,
+but it was often purposely delayed in order to see what pretext
+Outa would use to call attention to the fact of its not having been
+offered. Sore throat, headache, stomach-ache, cold, heat, rheumatism,
+old age, a birthday (invented for the occasion), the killing of a
+snake or the breaking-in of a young horse--anything served as an
+excuse for what was a time-honoured custom.
+
+"Thank you, thank you, mij klein koning. Gezondheid to Baas, Nooi,
+Nonnie, and the beautiful family van der Merwe." He lifted the glass,
+gulped down the contents, and smacked his lips approvingly. "Ach! if
+a Bushman only had a neck like an ostrich! How good would the soopje
+taste all the way down! Now I am strong again; now I am ready to tell
+the story of Jakhals and Oom Leeuw."
+
+"About Oom Leeuw carrying Jakhals on his back?" asked Willem.
+
+"No, baasje. This is quite a different one."
+
+And with many strange gesticulations, imitating every action and
+changing his voice to suit the various characters, the old man began:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+HOW JAKHALS FED OOM LEEUW.
+
+
+"One day in the early morning, before any people were awake, Jakhals
+was prowling round and prowling round, looking for something to
+eat. Jakhals is not fond of hunting for himself. Oh, no! he likes to
+wait till the hunt is over, so that he can share in the feast without
+having had any of the work. He had just dragged himself quietly
+to the top of a kopje--so, my baasjes, so--with his stomach close
+to the ground, and his ears moving backwards and forwards"--Outa's
+little hands, on either side of the kopdoek, suited the action to the
+word--"to hear the least sound. Then he looked here, he looked there,
+he looked all around, and yes, truly! whom do you think he saw in
+the kloof below? No other than Oom Leeuw himself, clawing a nice big
+hamel he had just killed--a Boer hamel, baasjes, with a beautiful
+fat tail. Oh yes, Oom Leeuw had picked out a good one.
+
+"'Arré!' thought Jakhals, 'this is luck,' and he sat still for
+a minute, wondering how he could get some of the nice meat for
+himself. He soon made a plan. A white thing fluttered in a little
+bush near him. It was a piece of paper. He picked it up and folded
+it--so--and so--and so--" the crooked fingers were very busy--"till
+it looked like a letter. Then he ran down the kopje in a great hurry
+and called out, 'Good morning, Oom.'
+
+"'Morning, Neef.'
+
+"'I see Oom has killed a Boer hamel.'
+
+"'Yes, Neef, a big fat one.'
+
+"'Well, here is a letter from Tante,' said Jakhals, giving the piece
+of paper to Leeuw. 'As I was passing she asked me to give it to Oom.'
+
+"Leeuw took it and turned it this way, that way. He held it far from
+him, he held it close to his eyes, but he couldn't make it out at
+all. See, baasjes, Leeuw was one of the old-fashioned sort. He grew
+up before there were so many schools and good teachers"--here Outa's
+bright eyes winked and blinked flatteringly on Cousin Minnie and her
+pupils--"he was not clever; he could not read. But he didn't want
+anyone to know it, so he said:
+
+"'Jakhals, Oom has forgotten his spectacles; you had better read
+it out."
+
+"'Hm, hm, hm,' said Jakhals, pretending to read. 'Tante says Oom must
+kill a nice fat Boer hamel and send it home at once by me. She and
+the children are hungry.'
+
+"'Well, that's all right. Here is the very thing. Tante is not very
+well. The Jew smouse's donkey she ate the other day disagreed with
+her, so we must coax her a little. I don't want to say anything, but
+you know a vrouwmens is a dangerous thing when she is in a temper. So
+you had better take this hamel to her at once, and then you can have
+the offal for your trouble."
+
+"'Thank you, noble Oom, King of Beasts,' said Jakhals in a fawning
+voice, promising himself at the same time that he would have something
+more than the offal. 'How fortunate am I, poor humble creature,
+to have the King for my uncle,' and off he trotted with the sheep.
+
+"Leeuw prowled further up the kloof, waving his tail from side to
+side." Had Outa had a tail he would have wagged it, but, as he had
+not, his right arm was slowly flourished to and fro to give point
+to his description. "Here comes a little Steenbokje on its way to a
+veld dam for water. Ach! but it is pretty! It looks here, it looks
+there, with its large soft eyes. One little front foot is in the air;
+now it is down; the other goes up; down again. On it comes, slowly,
+slowly"--Outa's hands, bunched up to resemble the buck's feet,
+illustrated each step, the children following his movements with
+breathless interest. "Now it stops to listen." Outa was rigid as he
+bent forward to catch the least sound. Suddenly he started violently,
+and the children involuntarily did the same. "Hark! what was that? What
+is coming? Ach! how Steenbokje skriks and shivers! A terrible form
+blocks the way! Great eyes--cruel eyes burn him with their fire. Now
+he knows. It is Leeuw!--Leeuw who stands in the path! He growls
+and glares at Steenbokje. Steenbokje cannot turn away. They stare
+at each other--so--just so--" Outa glares at each fascinated child
+in turn. "Steenbokje cannot look away, cannot move. He is stiff with
+fright. His blood is cold. His eyes are starting out of his head. And
+then--voops!"--the listeners jump as Outa's long arms suddenly swoop
+towards them--"one spring and Leeuw is on him. Steenbokje blares--meh,
+meh, meh--but it is no good. Leeuw tears him and claws him. Tip, tip,
+tip, the red blood drips down; s-s-s-s-s, it runs out like a stream,
+and Leeuw licks it up. There lies pretty little Steenbokje, dead,
+dead." Outa's voice trails away faintly.
+
+The children heave big sighs. Little Jan's grey eyes are full of
+tears. The old native's graphic description has made them feel as
+though they had been watching round a death-bed.
+
+"Yes, baasjes, Leeuw killed Steenbokje there in the kloof. He tore
+the skin off--skr-r-r-r--and bit through the bones--skrnch, skrnch,
+skrnch--and ate little Steenbokje for his breakfast. Then he went to
+the krantzes to sleep, for the day was coming and the light began to
+hurt his eyes.
+
+"When he awoke it was evening, and he felt refreshed and rather
+hungry. My baasjes know a steenbokje is nothing for a meal for Oom
+Leeuw. But before hunting again he thought he would go home and see
+how Tante and the children were getting on, and whether they had
+feasted well on the nice fat hamel.
+
+"But, dear land! What did poor Oom Leeuw find? The children crying,
+Tante spluttering and scratching with rage, everything upside down,
+and not even the bones of the hamel to be seen.
+
+"'Ohé! ohé! ohé!' cried Tante. 'The bad, wicked Jakhals! Ach, the low,
+veld dog!'
+
+"'But what is the matter?' asked Leeuw. 'Where is Jakhals?'
+
+"'Where is he? How should I know? He has run off with the nice fat
+hamel, and me--yes, me, the King's wife--has he beaten with the
+entrails! Ohé! ohé!'
+
+"'And boxed my ears!' cried one of the cubs. 'Wah! wah! wah!'
+
+"'And pinched my tail,' roared the other. 'Weh! weh! weh!'
+
+"'And left us nothing but the offal. Oh, the cunning, smooth-tongued
+vagabond!'
+
+"And all three fell to weeping and wailing, while Leeuw roared aloud
+in his anger.
+
+"'Wait a bit, I'll get him,' he said. 'Before the world wakes to-morrow
+he'll see who's baas.'
+
+"He waved his tail to and fro and stuck out his strong claws. His eyes
+glared like fire in a dark kloof when there is no moon, and when he
+brulled it was very terrible to hear--hoor-r-r-r-r, hoor-r-r-r-r,"
+and Outa gave vent to several deep, blood-curdling roars.
+
+"Very early the next morning, when only a little grey in the sky
+shewed that the night was rolling round to the other side of the
+world, Leeuw took his strongest sjambok and started off to look for
+Jakhals. He spied him at last on the top of a krantz sitting by a
+fire with his wife and children.
+
+"'Ah! there you are, my fine fellow,' he thought. 'Well and happy
+are you? But wait, I'll soon show you!'
+
+"He began at once to try and climb the krantz, but it was very
+steep and high, and so smooth that there was nothing for him to hold
+to. Every time he got up a little way, his claws just scratched along
+the hard rock and he came sailing down again. At last he thought,
+'Well, as I can't climb up, I'll pretend to be nice and friendly,
+and then perhaps Jakhals will come down. I'll ask him to go hunting
+with me.'"
+
+Here Outa's beady little eyes danced mischievously. "Baasjes know,
+the only way to get the better of a schelm is to be schelm, too. When
+anyone cheats, you must cheat more, or you will never be baas. Ach,
+yes! that is the only way."
+
+(Cousin Minnie would not disturb the course of the tale, but she
+mentally prescribed and stored up for future use an antidote to this
+pagan and wordly-wise piece of advice to her pupils.)
+
+"So Leeuw stood at the foot of the krantz and called out quite friendly
+and kind, 'Good morning, Neef Jakhals.'
+
+"'Morning, Oom.'
+
+"'I thought you might like to go hunting with me, but I see you
+are busy.'
+
+"At any other time Jakhals would have skipped with delight, for it was
+very seldom he had the honour of such an invitation, but now he was
+blown up with conceit at having cheated Oom and Tante Leeuw so nicely.
+
+"'Thank you, Oom, but I am not in want of meat just now. I'm busy
+grilling some nice fat mutton chops for breakfast. Won't you come
+and have some, too?'
+
+"'Certainly, with pleasure, but this krantz is so steep--how can I
+get up?'
+
+"'Ach! that's quite easy, Oom. I'll pull you up in an eye-wink. Here,
+vrouw, give me a nice thick riem. That old rotten one that is nearly
+rubbed through,' he said in a whisper to his wife.
+
+"So Mrs. Jakhals, who was as slim as her husband, brought the bad riem,
+and they set to work to pull Oom Leeuw up. 'Hoo-ha! hoo-ha!' they
+sang as they slowly hauled away.
+
+"When he was about ten feet from the ground, Jakhals called out,
+'Arré! but Oom is heavy,' and he pulled the riem this way and
+that way along the sharp edge of the krantz"--Outa vigorously
+demonstrated--"till it broke right through and--kabloops!--down fell
+Oom Leeuw to the hard ground below.
+
+"'Oh! my goodness! What a terrible fall! I hope Oom is not hurt. How
+stupid can a vrouwmens be! To give me an old riem when I called for
+the best! Now, here is a strong one. Oom can try again.'
+
+"So Leeuw tried again, and again, and again, many times over, but
+each time the rope broke and each time his fall was greater, because
+Jakhals always pulled him up a little higher, and a little higher. At
+last he called out:
+
+"'It's very kind of you, Jakhals, but I must give it up.'
+
+"'Ach! but that's a shame!' said Jakhals, pretending to be sorry. 'The
+carbonaatjes are done to a turn, and the smell--alle wereld! it's
+fine! Shall I throw Oom down a piece of the meat?'
+
+"'Yes please, Jakhals,' said Leeuw eagerly, licking his lips. 'I have
+a big hole inside me and some carbonaatjes will fill it nicely.'
+
+"Ach! my baasjes, what did cunning Jakhals do? He carefully raked a
+red-hot stone out of the fire and wrapped a big piece of fat round
+it. Then he peered over the edge of the krantz and saw Leeuw waiting
+impatiently.
+
+"'Now Oom,' he called, 'open your mouth wide and I'll drop this
+in. It's such a nice big one, I bet you won't want another.'
+
+"And when he said this, Jakhals chuckled, while Mrs. Jakhals and the
+little ones doubled up with silent laughter at the great joke.
+
+"'Are you ready, Oom?'
+
+"'Grr-r-r-r-r!' gurgled Leeuw. He had his mouth wide open to catch
+the carbonaatje, and he would not speak for fear of missing it.
+
+"Jakhals leaned over and took aim. Down fell the tit-bit
+and--sluk! sluk!--Leeuw had swallowed it.
+
+"And then, my baasjes, there arose such a roaring and raving and
+groaning as had not been heard since the hills were made. The dassies
+crept along the rocky ledges far above, and peeped timidly down; the
+circling eagles swooped nearer to find out the cause; the meerkats
+and ant-bears, the porcupines and spring-hares snuggled further into
+their holes; while the frightened springboks and elands fled swiftly
+over the plain to seek safety in some other veld.
+
+"Only wicked Jakhals and his family rejoiced. With their bushy tails
+waving and their pointed ears standing up, they danced round the fire,
+holding hands and singing over and over:
+
+
+
+    "'Arré! who is stronger than the King of Beastland?
+    Arré! who sees further than the King of Birdland?
+    Who but thick-tailed Jakhals, but the Silver-maned One?
+    He, the small but sly one; he, the wise Planmaker.
+    King of Beasts would catch him; catch him, claw him, kill him!
+    Ha! ha! ha! would catch him! Ha! ha! ha! would kill him!
+    But he finds a way out; grills the fat-tailed hamel,
+    Feeds the King of Beastland with the juicy tit-bits;
+    Eats the fat-tailed hamel while the King lies dying;
+    Ha! ha! ha! lies dying! Ha! ha! ha! lies dead now!'"
+
+
+
+Outa crooned the Jakhals' triumph song in a weird monotone, and on
+the last words his voice quavered out, leaving a momentary silence
+among the small folk.
+
+Pietie blinked as though the firelight were too much for his
+eyes. Little Jan sighed tumultuously. Willem cleared his throat.
+
+"But how did Jakhals know that Oom Leeuw was dead?" he asked suddenly.
+
+"He peeped over the krantz every time between the dancing and
+singing--like this, baasje, just like this." Outa's eyes, head and
+hands were at work. "The first time he looked, he saw Oom Leeuw rolling
+over and over; the next time Leeuw was scratching, scratching at the
+rocky krantz; then he was digging into the ground with his claws;
+then he was only blowing himself out--so--with long slow breaths;
+but the last time he was lying quite still, and then Jakhals knew."
+
+"Oh! I didn't want poor Steenbokje to die," said little Jan. "He
+was such a pretty little thing. Outa, this is not one of your nicest
+stories."
+
+"It's all about killing," said Pietie. "First Leeuw killed poor
+Steenbokje, who never did him any harm, and then Jakhals killed Oom
+Leeuw, who never did him any harm. It was very cruel and wicked."
+
+"Ach yes, baasjes," explained Outa, apologetically, "we don't know
+why, but it is so. Sometimes the good ones are killed and the bad
+ones grow fat. In this old world it goes not always so's it must go;
+it just go so's it goes."
+
+"But," persisted Pietie, "you oughtn't to have let Jakhals kill
+Oom Leeuw. Oom Leeuw was much stronger, so he ought to have killed
+naughty Jakhals."
+
+Outa's eyes gleamed pityingly. These young things! What did they know
+of the ups and downs of a hard world where the battle is not always
+to the strong, nor the race to the swift?
+
+"But, my baasje, Outa did not make up the story. He only put in little
+bits, like the newspaper and the spectacles and the Jew smouse, that
+are things of to-day. But the real story was made long, long ago,
+perhaps when baasje's people went about in skins like the Rooi Kafirs,
+and Outa's people were still monkeys in the bushveld. It has always
+been so, and it will always be so--in the story and in the old wicked
+world. It is the head, my baasjes, the head," he tapped his own, "and
+not the strong arms and legs and teeth, that makes one animal master
+over another. Ach yes! if the Bushman's head had been the same as the
+white man's, arré! what a fight there would have been between them!"
+
+And lost in the astonishing train of thought called up by this
+idea, he sat gazing out before him with eyes which saw many strange
+things. Then, rousing himself, with a quick change of voice and
+manner, "Ach! please, Nooi!" he said in a wheedling tone, "a span of
+tobacco--just one little span for to-night and to-morrow."
+
+His mistress laughed indulgently, and, unhooking the bunch of keys
+from her belt, handed them to Cousin Minnie. "The old sinner!" she
+said. "We all spoil him, and yet who could begin to be strict with
+him now? Only a small piece, Minnie."
+
+"Thank you, thank you, my Nonnie," said the old man, holding out both
+hands, and receiving the coveted span as if it were something very
+precious. "That's my young lady! Nonnie can have Outa's skeleton when
+he is dead. Yes, it will be a fine skeleton for Nonnie to send far
+across the blue water, where she sent the old long-dead Bushman's
+bones. Ach foei! all of him went into a little soap boxie--just to
+think of it! a soap boxie!"
+
+He started as a young coloured girl made her appearance. "O mij
+lieve! here is Lys already. How the time goes when a person is with
+the baasjes and the noois! Night, Baas; night, Nooi; night, Nonnie and
+little masters. Sleep well! Ach! the beautiful family Van der Merwe!"
+
+His thanks, farewells and flatteries grew fainter and fainter, and
+finally died away in the distance, as his granddaughter led him away.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+WHO WAS KING?
+
+
+"Once upon a time," began Outa Karel, and his audience of three looked
+up expectantly.
+
+"Once upon a time, Oom Leeuw roared and the forest shook with the
+dreadful sound. Then, from far away over the vlakte, floated another
+roar, and the little lion cubs jumped about and stood on their heads,
+tumbling over each other in their merriment.
+
+"'Hear,' they said, 'it is Volstruis, old Three Sticks. He tries
+to imitate the King, our father. He roars well. Truly there is no
+difference.'
+
+"When Leeuw heard this he was very angry, so he roared again, louder
+than ever. Again came back the sound over the veld, as if it had been
+an echo.
+
+"'Ach, no! this will never do,' thought Leeuw. 'I must put a stop to
+this impudence. I alone am King here, and imitators--I want none.'
+
+"So he went forth and roamed over the vlakte till he met old Three
+Sticks, the Ostrich. They stood glaring at each other.
+
+"Leeuw's eyes flamed, his mane rose in a huge mass and he lashed
+his tail angrily. Volstruis spread out his beautiful wings and
+swayed from side to side, his beak open and his neck twisting like
+a whip-snake. Ach! it was pretty, but if baasjes could have seen his
+eyes! Baasjes know, Volstruis's eyes are very soft and beautiful--like
+Nonnie's when she tells the Bible stories; but now there was only
+fierceness in them, and yellow lights that looked like fire.
+
+"But there was no fight--yet. It was only their way of meeting. Leeuw
+came a step nearer and said, 'We must see who is baas. You, Volstruis,
+please to roar a little.'
+
+"So Volstruis roared, blowing out his throat, so,
+'Hoo-hoo-hoor-r-r-r!' It was a fearsome sound--the sort of sound
+that makes you feel streams of cold water running down your back
+when you hear it suddenly and don't know what it is. Yes, baasjes,
+if you are in bed you curl up and pull the blankets over your head,
+and if you are outside you run in and get close to the Nooi or Nonnie."
+
+A slight movement, indicative of contradiction, passed from one to
+another of his small hearers, but--unless it was a free and easy,
+conversational evening--they made it a point of honour never to
+interrupt Outa in full career. This, like other things, could await
+the finish of the story.
+
+"Then Leeuw roared, and truly the voices were the same. No one
+could say, 'This is a bigger voice,' or 'That is a more terrifying
+voice.' No, they were just equal.
+
+"So Leeuw said to Volstruis, 'Our voices are alike. You are my equal
+in roaring. Let it then be so. You will be King of the Birds as I am
+King of the Beasts. Now let us go hunting and see who is baas there.'
+
+"Out in the vlakte some sassaby [1] were feeding, big fat ones, a nice
+klompje; so Leeuw started off in one direction and Volstruis in the
+other, but both kept away from the side the wind came from. Wild bucks
+can smell--ach toch! so good. Just one little puff when a hunter is
+creeping up to them, and at once all the heads are in the air--sniff,
+sniff, sniff--and they are off like the wind. Dust is all you see,
+and when that has blown away--ach no! there are no bucks; the whole
+veld is empty, empty!"
+
+Outa stretched out his arms and waved them from side to side with an
+exaggerated expression of finding nothing but empty space, his voice
+mournful with a sense of irreparable loss.
+
+"But"--he took up his tale with renewed energy--"Leeuw and Volstruis
+were old hunters. They knew how to get nearer and nearer without
+letting the bucks know. Leeuw trailed himself along slowly, slowly,
+close to the ground, and only when he was moving could you see which
+was Leeuw and which was sand: the colour was just the same.
+
+"He picked out a big buck, well-grown and fat, but not too old to
+be juicy, and when he got near enough he hunched himself up very
+quietly--so, my little masters, just so--ready to spring, and then
+before you could whistle, he shot through the air like a stone from
+a catapult, and fell, fair and square, on to the sassaby's back,
+his great tearing claws fastened on its shoulders and his wicked
+teeth meeting in the poor thing's neck.
+
+"Ach! the beautiful big buck! Never again would his pointed horns
+tear open his enemies! Never again would he lead the herd, or pronk
+in the veld in mating time! Never again would his soft nostrils scent
+danger in the distance, nor his quick hoofs give the signal for the
+stampede! No, it was really all up with him this time! When Oom Leeuw
+gets hold of a thing, he doesn't let go till it is dead.
+
+"The rest of the herd--ach, but they ran! Soon they were far away,
+only specks in the distance; all except those that Volstruis
+had killed. Truly Volstruis was clever! Baasjes know, he can run
+fast--faster even than the sassaby. So when he saw Leeuw getting
+ready to spring, he raced up-wind as hard as he could, knowing that
+was what the herd would do. So there he was waiting for them, and
+didn't he play with them! See, baasjes, he stood just so"--in his
+excitement Outa rose and struck an attitude--"and when they streaked
+past him he jumped like this, striking at them with the hard, sharp
+claws on his old two toes." Outa hopped about like a fighting bantam,
+while the children hugged themselves in silent delight.
+
+"Voerts! there was one dead!"--Outa kicked to the right. "Voerts! there
+was another!"--he kicked to the left--"till there was a klomp of bucks
+lying about the veld giving their last blare. Yes, old Two Toes did
+his work well that day.
+
+"When Leeuw came up and saw that Volstruis had killed more than he had,
+he was not very pleased, but Volstruis soon made it all right.
+
+"Leeuw said, 'You have killed most, so you rip open and begin to eat.'
+
+"'Oh no!' said Volstruis, 'you have cubs to share the food with,
+so you rip open and eat. I shall only drink the blood.'
+
+"This put Leeuw in a good humour; he thought Volstruis a noble,
+unselfish creature. But truly, as I said before, Volstruis was
+clever. Baasjes see, he couldn't eat meat; he had no teeth. But he
+didn't want Leeuw to know. Therefore he said, 'You eat; I will only
+drink the blood.'
+
+"So Leeuw ripped open--sk-r-r-r-r, sk-r-r-r-r--and called the cubs,
+and they all ate till they were satisfied. Then Volstruis came along
+in a careless fashion, pecking, pecking as he walked, and drank the
+blood. Then he and Leeuw lay down in the shade of some trees and went
+to sleep.
+
+"The cubs played about, rolling and tumbling over each other. As they
+played they came to the place where Volstruis lay.
+
+"'Aha!' said one, 'he sleeps with his mouth open.'
+
+"He peeped into Volstruis's mouth. 'Aha!' he said again, 'I see
+something.'
+
+"Another cub came and peeped.
+
+"'Alle kracht!' he said, 'I see something too. Let us go and tell
+our father.'
+
+"So they ran off in great excitement and woke Leeuw. 'Come, come
+quickly,' they said. 'Volstruis insults you by saying he is your
+equal. He lies sleeping under the trees with his mouth wide open,
+and we have peeped into it, and behold, he has no teeth! Come and
+see for yourself.'
+
+"Leeuw bounded off quick-quick with the cubs at his tail.
+
+"'Nier-r-r-r,' he growled, waking Volstruis, 'nier-r-r-r. What is
+the meaning of this? You pretend you are my equal, and you haven't
+even got teeth.'
+
+"'Teeth or no teeth,' said Volstruis, standing up wide awake,
+'I killed more bucks than you did to-day. Teeth or no teeth, I'll
+fight you to show who's baas.'
+
+"'Come on,' said Leeuw. 'Who's afraid? I'm just ready for you. Come
+on!'
+
+"'No, wait a little,' said Volstruis. 'I've got a plan. You see that
+ant-heap over there? Well, you stand on one side of it, and I'll stand
+on the other side, and we'll see who can push it over first. After
+that we'll come out into the open and fight.'
+
+"'That seems an all-right plan,' said Leeuw; and he thought to himself,
+'I'm heavier and stronger; I can easily send the ant-heap flying on
+to old Three Sticks, and then spring over and kill him.'
+
+"But wait a bit! It was not as easy as he thought. Every time he sprang
+at the ant-heap he clung to it as he was accustomed to cling to his
+prey. He had no other way of doing things. And then Volstruis would
+take the opportunity of kicking high into the air, sending the sand and
+stones into Leeuw's face, and making him howl and splutter with rage.
+
+"Sometimes he would stand still and roar, and Volstruis would send
+a roar back from the other side.
+
+"So they went on till the top of the ant-heap was quite loosened
+by the kicks and blows. Leeuw was getting angrier and angrier,
+and he could hardly see--his eyes were so full of dust. He gathered
+himself together for a tremendous spring, but, before he could make
+it, Volstruis bounded into the air and kicked the whole top off the
+ant-heap. Arré, but the dust was thick!
+
+"When it cleared away, there lay Leeuw, groaning and coughing, with
+the great heap of earth and stones on top of him.
+
+"'Ohé! ohé!' wailed the cubs, 'get up, my father. Here he comes, the
+Toothless One! He who has teeth only on his feet! Get up and slay him.'
+
+"Leeuw shook himself free of the earth and sprang at Volstruis, but his
+eyes were full of sand; he could not see properly, so he missed. As he
+came down heavily, Volstruis shot out his strong right leg and caught
+Leeuw in the side. Sk-r-r-r-r! went the skin, and goops! goops! over
+fell poor Oom Leeuw, with Volstruis's terrible claws--the teeth of
+old Two Toes--fastened into him.
+
+"Volstruis danced on him, flapping and waving his beautiful black
+and white wings, and tearing the life out of Oom Leeuw.
+
+"When it was all over, he cleaned his claws in the sand and waltzed
+away slowly over the veld to where his mate sat on the nest.
+
+"Only the cubs were left wailing over the dead King of the Forest."
+
+
+
+The usual babel of question and comment broke out at the close of the
+story, till at last Pietie's decided young voice detached itself from
+the general chatter.
+
+"Outa, what made you say that about pulling the blankets over one's
+head and running to get near Mammie if one heard Volstruis bellowing
+at night? You know quite well that none of us would ever do it."
+
+"Yes, yes, my baasje, I know," said Outa, soothingly. "I never meant
+anyone who belongs to the land of Volstruise. But other little masters,
+who did not know the voice of old Three Sticks--they would run to
+their mam-mas if they heard him."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Pietie, accepting the apology graciously. "I was
+sure you could not mean a karroo farm boy."
+
+"Is your story a parable, Outa?" asked little Jan, who had been doing
+some hard thinking for the last minute.
+
+"Ach! and what is that, my little master?"
+
+"A kind of fable, Outa."
+
+"Yes, that's what it is, baasje," said Outa, gladly seizing on the
+word he understood, "a fable, a sort of nice little fable."
+
+"But a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, and when
+Cousin Minnie tells us parables she always finds the meaning for
+us. What is the heavenly meaning of this, Outa?"
+
+Little Jan's innocent grey eyes were earnestly fixed on Outa's face,
+as though to read from it the explanation he sought. For once the
+old native was nonplussed. He rubbed his red kopdoek, laid a crooked
+finger thoughtfully against his flat nose, scratched his sides,
+monkey-fashion, and finally had recourse once more to the kopdoek. But
+all these expedients failed to inspire him with the heavenly meaning
+of the story he had just told. Ach! these dear little ones, to think
+of such strange things! There they all were, waiting for his next
+words. He must get out of it somehow.
+
+"Baasjes," he began, smoothly, "there is a beautiful meaning to the
+story, but Outa hasn't got time to tell it now. Another time----"
+
+"Outa," broke in Willem, reprovingly, "you know you only want to get
+away so that you can go to the old tramp-floor, where the volk are
+dancing to-night."
+
+"No, my baasje, truly no!"
+
+"And I wouldn't be surprised to hear that you had danced, too, after
+the way you have been jumping about here."
+
+"Yes, that was fine," said Pietie, with relish. "'Voerts! there is
+one dead! Voerts! there is another!' Outa, you always say you are so
+stiff, but you can still kick well."
+
+"Aja, baasje," returned Outa, modestly; "in my day I was a great
+dancer. No one could do the Vastrap better--and the Hondekrap--and
+the Valsrivier. Arré, those were the times!"
+
+He gave a little hop at the remembrance of those mad and merry days,
+and yet another and another, always towards the passage leading to
+the kitchen.
+
+"But the meaning, Outa, the heavenly meaning!" cried little Jan. "You
+haven't told us."
+
+"No, my little baas, not to-night. Ask the Nonnie; she will tell
+you. Here she comes."
+
+And as Cousin Minnie entered the room, the wily old native, with
+an agility not to be expected from his cramped and crooked limbs,
+skipped away, leaving her to bear the brunt of his inability to
+explain his own story.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+WHY THE HYENA IS LAME.
+
+
+"It was Tante Hyena that Jakhals cheated more than anyone," said
+Outa. "She always forgot about the last time he had played a trick
+on her, so she was quite ready to believe him when he came along with
+another story. Some people are so, my baasjes. P'raps it's kindness,
+p'raps it's only stupidness; Outa doesn't know.
+
+"One day Jakhals and Hyena were out walking together when a white
+cloud came up behind the kopjes and floated over the veld quite close
+to them. It was a nice thick cloud, just like white fat, and Jakhals
+climbed on to it and sat looking down over the edge. Then he bit
+pieces out of it, and ate them.
+
+"'Arré! but this white fat is nice,' he said. 'N-yum, n-yum, n-yum,'
+and he chewed round the cloud like a caterpillar chews a leaf.
+
+"Hyena licked her lips and looked up at him.
+
+"'Throw me down some, please,' she said.
+
+"'Ach! my Brown Sister, will I then be so greedy as to throw you down
+little bits? Wait till I get down, and then I'll help you up to eat
+for yourself. But come a little nearer so that you can catch me when
+I jump.'
+
+"So Hyena stood ready, and Jakhals jumped in such a way that he
+knocked her into the sand. He fell soft, because he was on top, but
+foei! poor Hyena had all the breath knocked out of her and she was
+covered with dust.
+
+"'Ach! but I am clumsy!' said Jakhals; 'but never mind, now I'll
+help you.'
+
+"So when she had got up and dusted herself, he helped her to climb
+on to the cloud. There she sat, biting pieces off and eating them,
+'N-yum, n-yum, n-yum, it's just like white fat!'
+
+"After a time she called out, 'Grey Brother, I've had enough. I want
+to come down. Please catch me when I jump.'
+
+"'Ach, certainly Brown Sister, come on. Just see how nicely I'll
+catch you. So-o-o.'
+
+"He held out his arms, but just as Hyena jumped he sprang to one side,
+calling out, 'Ola! Ola! a thorn has pricked me. What shall I do? what
+shall I do?' and he hopped about holding one leg up.
+
+"Woops! Down fell Brown Sister, and as she fell she put out her
+left leg to save herself, but it doubled up under her and was nearly
+broken. She lay in a bundle in the sand, crying, 'My leg is cracked! my
+leg is cracked!'
+
+"Jakhals came along very slowly--jump, jump, on three legs. Surely
+the thorn, that wasn't there, was hurting him very much!
+
+"'Oo! oo!' cried Hyena, 'help me up, Grey Brother. My leg is broken.'
+
+"'And mine has a thorn in it. Foei toch, my poor sister! How can the
+sick help the sick? The only plan is for us to get home in the best
+way we can. Good-bye, and I will visit you to-morrow to see if you
+are all right.'
+
+"And off he went--jump, jump, on three legs--very slowly; but as
+soon as Old Brown Sister could not see him, he put down the other
+one and--sh-h-h-h--he shot over the veld and got home just in time to
+have a nice supper of young ducks that Mrs. Jakhals and the children
+had caught at Oubaas van Niekerk's dam.
+
+"But poor Brown Sister lay in the sand crying over her sore places,
+and from that day she walks lame, because her left hind foot is
+smaller than the right one." [2]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+WHO WAS THE THIEF?
+
+
+"Yes, my baasjes, so was Oom Jakhals: he always made as if he forgot
+all about what he had done, and he made as if he thought all the
+others forgot too, quick-quick. He is maar so schelm."
+
+Here Outa took full advantage of the pinch of snuff he held between
+his right forefinger and thumb, sneezed with evident enjoyment two
+or three times, and continued:
+
+"When Jakhals thought Hyena was quite well, he went to visit her.
+
+"'It's very dull here in the veld,' he said, 'and food is so scarce,
+so I'm going to hire myself to a farmer. He'll give me lots to eat
+and drink, and when I'm nice and fat I'll come home again. Would you
+like to go too, Brown Sister?'
+
+"Hyena smacked her lips when she heard about the nice things to
+eat. She thought it a very good plan. So they went to a farm, and
+Jakhals talked so nicely that the farmer hired them both to work
+for him.
+
+"Ach! it was a beautiful place; lots of chickens and little ducks,
+and Afrikander sheep with large fat tails that could be melted out
+for soap and candles, and eggs, and doves and pigeons--all things
+that Jakhals liked. He just felt in his stomach that he was going to
+have a jolly life.
+
+"During the day Jakhals peeped all about, in this corner, in that
+corner, and he found out where the farmer kept the nice fat that was
+melted out of the sheep's tails. In the middle of the night, when all
+the people were fast asleep, he got up and went quietly, my baasjes,
+quietly, like a shadow on the ground, to the place where the fat
+was. He took a big lump and smeared it all over Brown Sister's tail
+while she was asleep. Then he ate all that was left--n-yum, n-yum,
+n-yum--and went to sleep in the waggon-house.
+
+"Early in the morning, when the farmer went out to milk the cows,
+he missed the fat.
+
+"'Lieve land! Where is all my fat?' he said. 'It must be that vagabond
+Jakhals. But wait, I'll get him!'
+
+"He took a thick riem and his sjambok, and went to the waggon-house
+to catch Jakhals and give him a beating. But when he asked about the
+fat, Jakhals spoke in a little, little voice.
+
+"'Ach no, Baas! Would I then do such an ugly thing? And look at my
+tail. There's no fat on it. The one whose tail is full of fat is
+the thief.'
+
+"He turned round and waved his tail in the farmer's face, and anyone
+could easily see that there was no fat on it.
+
+"'But the fat is gone,' said the farmer, 'someone must have stolen it,'
+and he went on hunting, hunting in the waggon-house.
+
+"At last he came to where Hyena was sleeping, just like a baby,
+baasjes, so nicely, and snoring a little: not the loud snoring like
+sawing planks--gorr-korrr, gorr-korr--but nice soft snoring like people
+do when they sleep very fast--see-uw, see-uw. It is the deepest sleep
+when a person snores see-uw, see-uw. Hyena's head was on some chaff,
+and her tail was sticking out behind her, stiff with fat!
+
+"'Aha! here is the thief,' said the farmer, and he began to tie the
+riem round her.
+
+"Old Brown Sister sat up and rubbed her eyes. 'What's the matter?' she
+asked. 'I had a beautiful dream. I dreamt I was eating fat the whole
+night, and----'
+
+"'And so you were--my fat,' said the farmer, and he pulled the rope
+tighter. 'And now I'm going to teach you not to steal again.'
+
+"Poor old Brown Sister jumped about when she found out what he was
+going to do; she ran round and round the waggon-house trying to get
+away; she called out, and she called out that she did not know about
+the fat, that she had never tasted it, and had never even seen it. But
+it was no good.
+
+"'Look at your tail,' said the farmer. 'Will you tell me that your
+tail went by itself and rubbed itself in the fat?'
+
+"So he tied her to the waggon wheel and beat her, and beat
+her--ach! she was quite sore--and she screamed and screamed, and at
+last he drove her away from the farm.
+
+"Poor old Brown Sister! She didn't even have the fat from her tail to
+eat, because, baasjes see, with the running round and the beating,
+it was all rubbed off. But she never went to live on a farm again;
+the veld was quite good enough for her."
+
+"Is that the end, Outa?" asked Willem.
+
+"Yes, my baasje. It's a bad end, but Outa can't help it. It does maar
+end so."
+
+"And where was Jakhals all the time?" enquired Pietie, severely.
+
+"Jakhals, my baasje, was sitting on the waggon saying his prayers--so,
+my baasjes." Outa put his crooked hands together and cast his twinkling
+eyes upwards till only the yellows showed.
+
+
+        "'Bezie, bezie, brame,
+        Hou jouw handjes same.' [3]
+
+
+"And every time Hyena screamed, Jakhals begged her not to steal again,
+but to try and behave like a good Christian."
+
+"But Jakhals was the thief," said little Jan, indignantly. "He was
+always the wicked one, and he was never punished. How was that, Outa?"
+
+A whimsical smile played over the old man's face, and though his eyes
+danced as wickedly as ever, his voice was sober as he answered.
+
+"Ach! my little master, how can Outa tell? It is maar so in this
+old world. It's like the funny thing Baas Willem saw in the Kaap,
+[4] that runs down a place so quickly that it just runs up on the
+other side, and then it can't stop, but it has to run down again,
+and so it keeps on--up and down, up and down."
+
+"You mean the switchback?" asked Willem.
+
+"Ach, yes! baasje, Outa means so. And in the world it is the same--up
+and down, up and down. And often the good ones are down and the bad
+ones are up. But the thing--Outa can't get the name right--goes on,
+and it goes on, and by-and-by the good ones are up and the bad ones
+are down."
+
+"But Jakhals seemed always to be up," remarked Willem.
+
+"Yes, my baasje," said the old man, soberly. "Jakhals seemed always to
+be up. It goes so sometimes, it goes so," but his eyes suddenly had
+a far-away look, and one could not be certain that he was thinking
+of Jakhals.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE SUN.
+
+A BUSHMAN LEGEND.
+
+
+Outa, having disposed of his nightly tot, held his crooked hands
+towards the cheerful blaze and turned his engaging smile alternately
+on it and his little masters.
+
+"Ach! what it is to keep a bit of the Sun even when the Sun is
+gone! Long ago Outa's people, the Bushmen, did not know about fire. No,
+my baasjes, when the Big Fire, that makes the world warm and bright,
+walked across the sky, they were happy. They hunted, and danced,
+and feasted. They shot the fine big bucks with their little poisoned
+arrows, and they tore pieces off and ate the flesh with the red blood
+dripping from it: they had no fire to make it dry up. And the roots
+and eintjes that they dug out with their sharp stones--those, too, they
+ate just as they were. They did not cook, for they did not know how to
+make fire. But when the white man came, then they learnt. Baasjes see,
+Outa's head is big--bigger than the Baas's head--but that does not
+help. It's the inside that matters, and the white man's head inside
+here"--Outa tapped his wrinkled forehead--"Alla! but it can hold a lot!
+
+"In the olden days, when Outa's people were cold they crept into
+caves and covered themselves with skins, for they had no fire to sit
+by. Yes, they were sorry when the Old Man in the sky put down his
+arms and lay down to sleep."
+
+"What Old Man?" asked Pietie. "Do you mean the Sun?"
+
+"Aja! Don't baasjes then know that the Sun was once a man? It was
+long, long ago, before Outa's people lived in the world: perhaps in
+the days of the Early Race that were before even the Flat Bushmen,
+who were the first people we really know anything about. In those
+days at a certain place lived a man, from whose armpits brightness
+streamed. When he lifted one arm, the place on that side of him was
+light; when he lifted the other arm, the place on that side of him
+was light; but when he lifted both arms, the light shone all around
+about him. But it only shone around the place where he lived; it did
+not reach to other places.
+
+"Sometimes the people asked him to stand on a stone, so that his light
+could go farther; and sometimes he climbed on a kopje and lifted up
+his arms: ach! then the light streamed out far, far, and lighted up
+the veld for miles and miles. For the higher he went, the farther
+the light shone.
+
+"Then the people said: 'We see now, the higher he goes the farther
+his light shines. If only we could put him very high, his light would
+go out over the whole world.'
+
+"So they tried to make a plan, and at last a wise old woman called the
+young people together and said: 'You must go to this man from whose
+armpits the light streams. When he is asleep, you must go; and the
+strongest of you must take him under the armpits, and lift him up,
+and swing him to and fro--so--so--and throw him as high as you can
+into the sky, so that he may be above the kopjes, lifting his arms
+to let the light stream down to warm the earth and make green things
+to grow in summer.'
+
+"So the young men went to the place where the man lay sleeping. Quietly
+they went, my baasjes, creeping along in the red sand so as not
+to wake him. He was in a deep sleep, and before he could wake the
+strong young men took him under the armpits and swung him to and fro,
+as the wise old woman had told them. Then, as they swung him, they
+threw him into the air, high, high, and there he stuck.
+
+"The next morning, when he awoke and stretched himself, lifting up
+his arms, the light streamed out from under them and brightened all
+the world, warming the earth, and making the green things grow. And
+so it went on day after day. When he put up his arms, it was bright,
+it was day. When he put down one arm, it was cloudy, the weather
+was not clear. And when he put down both arms and turned over to go
+to sleep, there was no light at all: it was dark; it was night. But
+when he awoke and lifted his arms, the day came again and the world
+was warm and bright.
+
+"Sometimes he is far away from the earth. Then it is cold: it is
+winter. But when he comes near, the earth gets warm again; the green
+things grow and the fruit ripens: it is summer. And so it goes on to
+this day, my baasjes: the day and night, summer and winter, and all
+because the Old Man with the bright armpits was thrown into the sky."
+
+"But the Sun is not a man, Outa," said downright Willem, "and he
+hasn't any arms."
+
+"No, my baasje, not now. He is not a man any more. But baasjes
+must remember how long he has been up in the sky--spans, and spans,
+and spans of years, always rolling round, and rolling round, from
+the time he wakes in the morning till he lies down to sleep at the
+other side of the world. And with the rolling, baasjes, he has got
+all rounder and rounder, and the light that at first came only from
+under his arms has been rolled right round him, till now he is a big
+ball of light, rolling from one side of the sky to the other."
+
+Cousin Minnie, who had been listening in a desultory way to the
+fireside chatter, as she wrote at the side-table, started and leant
+toward the little group; but a single glance was enough to show that
+so interested were the children in the personal aspect of the tale
+that there was no fear of confusion arising in their minds from Outa's
+decided subversion of an elementary fact which she had been at some
+pains to get them to understand and accept.
+
+"And his arms, Outa," inquired little Jan, in his earnest way,
+"do they never come out now?"
+
+Outa beamed upon him proudly. "Ach! that is my little master! Always
+to ask a big thing! Yes, baasje, sometimes they come out. When it is
+a dark day, then he has put his arms out. He is holding them down,
+and spreading his hands before the light, so that it can't shine on
+the world. And sometimes, just before he gets up in the morning, and
+before he goes to sleep at night, haven't baasjes seen long bright
+stripes coming from the round ball of light?"
+
+"Yes, yes," assented his little listeners, eagerly.
+
+"Those are the long fingers of the Sun. His arms are rolled up inside
+the fiery ball, but he sticks his long fingers out and they make
+bright roads into the sky, spreading out all round him. The Old Man
+is peeping at the earth through his fingers. Baasjes must count them
+next time he sticks them out, and see if they are all there--eight
+long ones, those are the fingers; and two short ones for the thumbs."
+
+Outa's knowledge of arithmetic was limited to the number of his
+crooked digits, and the smile with which he announced the extent
+of his mathematical attainments was a ludicrous cross between proud
+triumph and modest reluctance.
+
+"When he lies down, he pulls them in. Then all the world grows dark
+and the people go to sleep."
+
+"But, Outa, it isn't always dark at night," Pietie reminded him. "There
+are the Stars and the Moon, you know."
+
+"Ach, yes! The little Stars and the Lady Moon. Outa will tell the
+baasjes about them another night, but now he must go quick--quick and
+let Lys rub his back with buchu. When friend Old Age comes the back
+bends and the bones get stiff, and the rheumatism--foei! but it can
+pinch! Therefore, my baasjes, Outa cooks bossies from the veld to rub
+on--buchu and kookamakranka and karroo bossies. They are all good,
+but buchu is the best. Yes, buchu for the outside, and the Baas's
+fire-water for the inside!"
+
+He looked longingly at the cupboard, but wood and glass are
+unresponsive until acted on by human agency; so, possessing no "Open,
+Sesame" for that unyielding lock, Outa contented himself by smacking
+his lips as he toddled away.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+THE STARS AND THE STARS' ROAD.
+
+
+Darkly-blue and illimitable, the arc of the sky hung over the great
+Karroo like a canopy of softest velvet, making a deep, mysterious
+background for the myriad stars, which twinkled brightly at a frosty
+world.
+
+The three little boys, gathered at the window, pointed out to each
+other the constellations with which Cousin Minnie had made them
+familiar, and were deep in a discussion as to the nature and number
+of the stars composing the Milky Way when Outa shuffled in.
+
+"Outa, do you think there are a billion stars up there in the Milky
+Way?" asked Willem.
+
+"A billion, you know," explained Pietie, "is a thousand million,
+and it would take months to count even one million."
+
+"Aja, baasje," said the old man readily, seizing, with native
+adroitness, the unknown word and making it his own, "then there will
+surely be a billion stars up there. Perhaps," he added, judicially
+considering the matter, "two billion, but no one knows, because no
+one can ever count them. They are too many. And to think that that
+bright road in the sky is made of wood ashes, after all."
+
+He settled himself on his stool, and his little audience came to
+attention.
+
+"Yes, my baasjes," he went on, "long, long ago, the sky was dark at
+night when the Old Man with the bright armpits lay down to sleep,
+but people learned in time to make fires to light up the darkness;
+and one night a girl, who sat warming herself by a wood fire, played
+with the ashes. She took the ashes in her hands and threw them up to
+see how pretty they were when they floated in the air. And as they
+floated away she put green bushes on the fire and stirred it with a
+stick. Bright sparks flew out and went high, high, mixing with the
+silver ashes, and they all hung in the air and made a bright road
+across the sky. And there it is to this day. Baasjes call it the
+Milky Way, but Outa calls it the Stars' Road.
+
+"Ai! but the girl was pleased! She clapped her hands and danced,
+shaking herself like Outa's people do when they are happy, and
+singing:--
+
+
+        'The little stars! The tiny stars!
+        They make a road for other stars.
+        Ash of wood-fire! Dust of the Sun!
+        They call the Dawn when Night is done!'
+
+
+"Then she took some of the roots she had been eating and threw them
+into the sky, and there they hung and turned into large stars. The
+old roots turned into stars that gave a red light, and the young
+roots turned into stars that gave a golden light. There they all
+hung, winking and twinkling and singing. Yes, singing, my baasjes,
+and this is what they sang:--
+
+
+        'We are children of the Sun!
+          It's so! It's so! It's so!
+        Him we call when Night is done!
+          It's so! It's so! It's so!
+        Bright we sail across the sky
+        By the Stars' Road, high, so high;
+        And we, twinkling, smile at you,
+        As we sail across the blue!
+          It's so! It's so! It's so!'
+
+
+"Baasjes know, when the stars twinkle up there in the sky they are
+like little children nodding their heads and saying, 'It's so! It's
+so! It's so!'" At each repetition Outa nodded and winked, and the
+children, with antics of approval, followed suit.
+
+"Baasjes have sometimes seen a star fall?" Three little heads nodded
+in concert.
+
+"When a star falls," said the old man impressively, "it tells us
+someone has died. For the star knows when a person's heart fails and
+the person dies, and it falls from the sky to tell those at a distance
+that someone they know has died. [5]
+
+"One star grew and grew till he was much larger than the others. He
+was the Great Star, and, singing, he named the other stars. He called
+each one by name, till they all had their names, and in this way they
+knew that he was the Great Star. No other could have done so. Then
+when he had finished, they all sang together and praised the Great
+Star, who had named them. [6]
+
+"Now, when the day is done, they walk across the sky on each side
+of the Stars' Road. It shows them the way. And when Night is over,
+they turn back and sail again by the Stars' Road to call the Daybreak,
+that goes before the Sun. The Star that leads the way is a big bright
+star. He is called the Dawn's-Heart Star, and in the dark, dark hour,
+before the Stars have called the Dawn, he shines--ach! baasjes, he
+is beautiful to behold! The wife and the child of the Dawn's-Heart
+Star are pretty, too, but not so big and bright as he. They sail on
+in front, and then they wait--wait for the other Stars to turn back
+and sail along the Stars' Road, calling, calling the Dawn, and for the
+Sun to come up from under the world, where he has been lying asleep.
+
+"They call and sing, twinkling as they sing:--
+
+
+        'We call across the sky,
+        Dawn! Come, Dawn!
+        You, that are like a young maid newly risen,
+        Rubbing the sleep from your eyes!
+        You, that come stretching bright hands to the sky,
+        Pointing the way for the Sun!
+        Before whose smile the Stars faint and grow pale,
+        And the Stars' Road melts away.
+        Dawn! Come Dawn!
+        We call across the sky,
+        And the Dawn's-Heart Star is waiting.
+          It's so! It's so! It's so!'
+
+
+"So they sing, baasjes, because they know they are soon going out.
+
+"Then slowly the Dawn comes, rubbing her eyes, smiling, stretching out
+bright fingers, chasing the darkness away. The Stars grow faint and
+the Stars' Road fades, while the Dawn makes a bright pathway for the
+Sun. At last he comes with both arms lifted high, and the brightness,
+streaming from under them, makes day for the world, and wakes people
+to their work and play.
+
+"But the little Stars wait till he sleeps again before they begin
+their singing. Summer is the time when they sing best, but even now,
+if baasjes look out of the window they will see the Stars, twinkling
+and singing."
+
+The children ran to the window and gazed out into the starlit
+heavens. The last sight Outa had, as he drained the soopje glass
+the Baas was just in time to hand him, was of three little heads
+bobbing up and down in time to the immemorial music of the Stars,
+while little Jan's excited treble rang out: "Yes, it's quite true,
+Outa. They do say, 'It's so! It's so! It's so!'"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+WHY THE HARE'S NOSE IS SLIT.
+
+
+The curtains had not yet been drawn nor the shutters closed, and little
+Jan looked with wide serious eyes at the full moon sailing serenely in
+the cold sky. Then he sighed as though thoughts too big for expression
+stirred within him, and turned absently towards the purring fire.
+
+"And why does the big man make such a sighing?" asked Outa Karel. "It
+is like the wind in the mealie land at sun-under."
+
+Little Jan's eyes slowly withdrew their gaze from some inward vision
+and became conscious of the old native. "Outa," he said, "why is the
+moon so far away, and so beautiful, and so golden?"
+
+"Ach! to hear him now! How can Outa tell? It is maar so. Just like
+grass is green and fire is hot, so the Moon is far away and beautiful
+and golden. But she is a cruel lady sometimes, too, and it is through
+her that the poor Little Hare runs about with a slit in his nose
+to-day."
+
+"Tell us, Outa." Little Jan dropped on to the rug beside the basket
+of mealie-cobs, and the others edged nearer.
+
+"And why do you call the Moon a lady?" asked Pietie of the inquiring
+mind.
+
+"But doesn't baasje know that the Moon is a lady? O yes, and for all
+her beauty she can be cross and cruel sometimes like other ladies,
+as you will hear."
+
+"Long, long ago, when the world was quite young, the Lady Moon wanted
+someone to take a message to Men. She tried first one creature and then
+another, but no! they were all too busy, they couldn't go. At last
+she called the Crocodile. He is very slow and not much good, but the
+Lady Moon thought she would pinch his tail and make him go quickly. So
+she said to him: 'Go down to Men at once and give them this message:
+"As I die and, dying, live, so also shall you die, and, dying, live."'
+
+"Baasjes know how the Moon is sometimes big and round----so"--and
+Outa's diminutive hands described a wide circle and remained
+suspended in the air--"like she is now in the sky. Then every night
+she gets smaller and smaller, so--so--so--so--so----till----clap!"--the
+crooked fingers come together with a bang--"there's no more Moon: she
+is dead. Then one night a silver horn hangs in the sky--thin, very
+thin. It is the new Moon that grows, and grows, and gets beautiful
+and golden." By the aid of the small claw-like hands the moon grew to
+the full before the children's interested eyes. "And so it goes on,
+always living, and growing, and dying, and living again.
+
+"So the Lady Moon pinched old Oom Crocodile's tail, and he gave one
+jump and off he started with the message. He went quickly while the
+Moon watched him, but soon he came to a bend in the road. Round
+he went with a great turn, for a Crocodile's back is stiff like
+a plank, he can't bend it; and then, when he thought he was out
+of sight, he went slower and slower--drif-draf-drippity-drif-draf,
+drif-draf-drippity-drif-draf, like a knee-haltered horse. He was toch
+too lazy.
+
+"All of a sudden there was a noise--sh-h-h-h-h--and there was the
+Little Hare. 'Ha! ha! ha!' he laughed, 'what is the meaning of this
+drif-draf-drippity-drif-draf? Where are you going in such a hurry,
+Oom Crocodile?'
+
+"'I can't stop to speak to you, Neef Haasje,' said Oom Crocodile,
+trying to look busy and to hurry up. 'The Lady Moon has sent me with
+a message to Men.'
+
+"'And what is the message, Oom Crocodile?'
+
+"'It's a very important one: "As I die and, dying, live, so also
+shall you die and, dying, live."'
+
+"'Ach, but that is a stupid message. And you can't ever run, Oom,
+you are so slow. You can only go drif-draf-drippity-drif-draf like
+a knee-haltered horse, but I go sh-h-h-h-h like the wind. Give the
+message to me and I will take it.'
+
+"'Very well,' said the lazy Crocodile, 'but you must say it over
+first and get it right.'
+
+"So Neef Haasje said the message over and over, and
+then--sh-h-h-h-h--he was off like the wind. Here he was! there he
+was! and you could only see the white of his tail and his little
+behind legs getting small in the distance.
+
+"At last he came to Men, and he called them together and said:
+'Listen, Sons of the Baboon, a wise man comes with a message. By
+the Lady Moon I am sent to tell you: "As I die and, dying, perish,
+so shall you also die and come wholly to an end."'
+
+"Then Men looked at each other and shivered. All of a sudden the
+flesh on their arms was like goose-flesh. 'What shall we do? What
+is this message that the Lady Moon has sent? "As I die and, dying,
+perish, so shall you also die and come wholly to an end."'
+
+"They shivered again, and the goose-flesh crept right up their backs
+and into their hair, and their hair began to rise up on their heads
+just like--ach no, but Outa forgets, these baasjes don't know how it
+is to feel so." And the wide smile which accompanied these words hid
+the expression of sly teasing which sparkled in Outa's dancing black
+eyes, for he knew what it was to be taken to task for impugning the
+courage of his young listeners.
+
+"But Neef Haasje did not care. He danced away on his behind legs,
+and laughed and laughed to think how he had cheated Men.
+
+"Then he returned again to the Moon, and she asked: 'What have you
+said to Men?'
+
+"'O, Lady Moon, I have given them your message: "Like as I die and,
+dying, perish, so also shall you die and come wholly to an end,"
+and they are all stiff with fright. Ha! ha! ha!' Haasje laughed at
+the thought of it.
+
+"'What! cried the Lady Moon, 'what! did you tell them that? Child of
+the devil's donkey! [7] you must be punished.'
+
+"Ach, but the Lady Moon was very angry. She took a big stick, a
+kierie--much bigger than the one Outa used to kill lions with when he
+was young--and if she could have hit him, then"--Outa shook his head
+hopelessly--"there would have been no more Little Hare: his head would
+have been cracked right through. But he is a slim kerel. When he saw
+the big stick coming near, one, two, three, he ducked and slipped away,
+and it caught him only on the nose.
+
+"Foei! but it was sore! Neef Haasje forgot that the Moon was a Lady. He
+yelled and screamed; he jumped high into the air; he jumped with all
+his four feet at once; and--scratch, scratch, scratch, he was kicking,
+and hitting and clawing the Moon's face till the pieces flew.
+
+"Then he felt better and ran away as hard as he could, holding his
+broken nose with both hands.
+
+"And that is why to-day he goes about with a split nose, and the
+golden face of the Lady Moon has long dark scars.
+
+"Yes, baasjes, fighting is a miserable thing. It does not end when
+the fight is over. Afterwards there is a sore place--ach, for so
+long!--and even when it is well, the ugly marks remain to show what
+has happened. The best, my little masters, is not to fight at all."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+HOW THE JACKAL GOT HIS STRIPE.
+
+
+"The Sun was a strange little child," said Outa. "He never had any
+Pap-pa or Mam-ma. No one knew where he came from. He was just found
+by the roadside.
+
+"In the olden days when the men of the Ancient Race--the old, old
+people that lived so long ago--were trekking in search of game, they
+heard a little voice calling, calling. It was not a springbokkie,
+it was not a tarentaal, it was not a little ostrich. They couldn't
+think what it was. But it kept on, it kept on." Outa's head nodded
+in time to his repetitions.
+
+"Why didn't they go and look?" asked Willem.
+
+"They did, my baasje. They hunted about amongst the milk-bushes by
+the roadside, and at last under one of them they found a nice brown
+baby. He was lying quite still looking about him, not like a baby,
+baasjes, but like an old child, and sparks of light, as bright as the
+sparks from Outa's tinderbox, seemed to fly out of his eyes. When he
+saw the men, he began calling again.
+
+"'Carry me, carry me! Pick me up and carry me!'
+
+"'Arré! he can talk,' said the man. 'What a fine little child! Where
+have your people gone? and why did they leave you here?'
+
+"But the little Sun wouldn't answer them. All he said was, 'Put me
+in your awa-skin. I'm tired; I can't walk.'
+
+"One of the men went to take him up, but when he got near he said,
+'Soe! but he's hot; the heat comes out of him. I won't take him.'
+
+"'How can you be so silly?' said another man. 'I'll carry him.'
+
+"But when he got near, he started back. 'Alla! what eyes! Fire comes
+out of them.' And he, too, turned away.
+
+"Then a third man went. 'He is very small,' he said; 'I can easily put
+him in my awa-skin.' He stooped and took the little Sun under his arms.
+
+"'Ohé! ohé! ohé!' he cried, dropping the baby on to the red sand. 'What
+is this for toverij! It is like fire under his arms. He burns me when
+I take him up.'
+
+"The others all came round to see. They didn't come too near, my
+baasjes, because they were frightened, but they wanted to see the
+strange brown baby that could talk, and that burned like a fire.
+
+"All on a sudden he stretched himself; he turned his head and put up
+his little arms. Bright sparks flew from his eyes, and yellow light
+streamed from under his arms, and--hierr, skierr--the Men of the
+Early Race fell over each other as they ran through the milk-bushes
+back to the road. My! but they were frightened!
+
+"The women were sitting there with their babies on their backs,
+waiting for their husbands.
+
+"'Come along! Hurry! hurry! See that you get away from here,' said
+the men, without stopping.
+
+"The women began to run, too.
+
+"'What was it? What did you find?'
+
+"'A terrible something,' said the men, still running. 'It pretends
+to be a baby, but we know it is a mensevreter. There it lies in the
+sand, begging one of us to pick it up and put it in his awa-skin,
+but as soon as we go near, it tries to burn us; and if we don't make
+haste and get away from here, it will certainly catch us.'
+
+"Then they ran faster than ever. Baasjes know--ach no!" corrected Outa,
+with a sly smile; "Outa means baasjes don't know--how frightenness
+makes wings grow on people's feet, so that they seem to fly. So the
+Men of the Early Race, and the women with their babies on their backs,
+flew, and very soon they were far from the place where the little
+Sun was lying.
+
+"But someone had been watching, my baasjes, watching from a bush
+near by. It was Jakhals, with his bright eyes and his sharp nose,
+and his stomach close to the ground. When the people had gone, he
+crept out to see what had made them run. Hardly a leaf stirred, not
+a sound was heard, so softly he crept along under the milk-bushes to
+where the little Sun lay.
+
+"'Ach, what a fine little child has been left behind by the men!' he
+said. 'Now that is really a shame--that none of them would put it
+into his awa-skin.'
+
+"'Carry me, carry me! Put me in your awa-skin,' said the little Sun.
+
+"'I haven't got an awa-skin, baasje,' said Jakhals, 'but if you can
+hold on, I'll carry you on my back.'
+
+"So Jakhals lay flat on his stomach, and the little Sun caught hold
+of his maanhaar, and rolled round on his back.
+
+"'Where do you want to go?' asked Jakhals.
+
+"'There, where it far is,' said the baby, sleepily.
+
+"Jakhals trotted off with his nose to the ground and a sly look in his
+eye. He didn't care where the baby wanted to go; he was just going
+to carry him off to the krantz where Tante and the young Jakhalses
+lived. If baasjes could have seen his face! Alle wereld! he was
+smiling, and when Oom Jakhals smiles, it is the wickedest sight in the
+world. He was very pleased to think what he was taking home; fat brown
+babies are as nice as fat sheep-tails, so he went along quite jolly.
+
+"But only at first. Soon his back began to burn where the baby's arms
+went round it. The heat got worse and worse, until he couldn't hold
+it out any longer.
+
+"'Soe! Soe! Baasje burns me,' he cried. 'Sail down a little further,
+baasje, so that my neck can get cool.'
+
+"The little Sun slipped further down and held fast again, and Jakhals
+trotted on.
+
+"But soon he called out again, 'Soe! Soe! Now the middle of my back
+burns. Sail down still a little further.'
+
+"The little Sun went further down and held fast again. And so it went
+on. Every time Jakhals called out that he was burning, the baby slipped
+a little further, and a little further, till at last he had hold of
+Jakhals by the tail, and then he wouldn't let go. Even when Jakhals
+called out, he held on, and Jakhals's tail burnt and burnt. My! it
+was quite black!
+
+"'Help! help!' he screamed! 'Ach, you devil's child! Get off! Let
+go! I'll punish you for this! I'll bite you! I'll gobble you up! My
+tail is burning! Help! Help!' And he jumped, and bucked, and rushed
+about the veld, till at last the baby had to let go.
+
+"Then Jakhals voertsed [8] round, and ran at the little Sun to bite
+him and gobble him up. But when he got near, a funny thing happened, my
+baasjes. Yes truly, just when he was going to bite, he stopped halfway,
+and shivered back as if someone had beaten him. At first he had
+growled with crossness, but now he began to whine from frightenness.
+
+"And why was it, my baasjes? Because from under the baby's arms
+streamed brightness and hotness, and out of the baby's eyes came
+streaks of fire, so that Jakhals winked and blinked, and tried to make
+himself small in the sand. Every time he opened his eyes a little,
+just like slits, there was the baby sitting straight in front of him,
+staring at him so that he had to shut them again quick, quick.
+
+"'Come and punish me,' said the baby.
+
+"'No, baasje, ach no!' said Jakhals in a small, little voice, 'why
+should I punish you?'
+
+"'Come and bite me,' said the baby.
+
+"'No, baasje, no, I could never think of it.' Jakhals made himself
+still a little smaller in the sand.
+
+"'Come and gobble me up,' said the baby.
+
+"Then Jakhals gave a yell and tried to crawl further back.
+
+"'Such a fine little child,' he said, trying to make his voice sweet,
+'who would ever do such a wicked thing?'
+
+"'You would,' said the little Sun. 'When you had carried me safely
+to your krantz, you would have gobbled me up. You are toch so clever,
+Jakhals, but sometimes you will meet your match. Now, look at me well.'
+
+"Jakhals didn't want to look, my baasjes, but it was just as if
+something made his eyes go open, and he lay there staring at the baby,
+and the baby stared at him--so, my baasjes, just so"--Outa stretched
+his eyes to their utmost and held each fascinated child in turn.
+
+"'You'll know me again when you see me,' said the baby, 'but never,
+never again will you be able to look me in the face. And now you
+can go.'
+
+"Fierce light shot from his eyes, and he blew at Jakhals with all his
+might; his breath was like a burning flame, and Jakhals, half dead
+with frightenness, gave a great howl and fled away over the vlakte.
+
+"From that day, my baasjes, he has a black stripe right down his back
+to the tip of his tail. And he cannot bear the Sun, but hides away
+all day with shut eyes, and only at night when the Old Man with the
+bright armpits has gone to sleep, does he come out to hunt and look
+for food, and play tricks on the other animals."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+THE ANIMALS' DAM.
+
+
+"Ach! it was dry," said Outa, "as dry as last year's springbok
+biltong. For a long time the Old Man in the sky shot down strong light
+and sucked all the water out of the veld. From morning to night he
+poured down hotness on the world, and when he rolled round to sleep,
+a hot wind blew--and blew--and blew--till he woke to shine again. The
+karroo bushes dried up, the rivers had no water, and the poor animals
+began to die from thirst. It was such a drought, my little masters,
+as you have never seen.
+
+"At last Oom Leeuw called the animals together to make a plan.
+
+"The Sun had gone under, and the Lady Moon was sailing in the
+sky--beautiful, as she always is, and looking down on the hot
+world. Oom Leeuw sat under a krantz on the morning side of a kopje,
+where it was a little cool, and the others sat round him like a
+watermelon slice. Leopard, Hyena, Babiaan, Jakhals, Hare and Tortoise
+were in front; they were the chief ones. The smaller ones, like Dassie,
+Mierkat, and Hedgehog, were at the sides; and Zebra, Springbok, Ostrich
+and Giraffe waited in the veld to hear the news. They pretended to
+be eating, but all the time their ears went backwards and forwards,
+backwards and forwards--so, my baasjes,--to catch every little sound,
+and they were ready at the first sign of danger to race away, kicking
+up the dust so that Oom Leeuw would not be able to see them.
+
+"But they needn't have been afraid. Oom Leeuw was too hot and tired
+and weak to catch anything. He just sat against the krantz with his
+dry tongue hanging out, and the others just lay round about in the
+watermelon slice with their dry tongues hanging out, and every time
+they looked at the sky to see if any clouds were coming up. But no! The
+sky was just like a big, hot soap-pot turned over above their heads,
+with the Lady Moon making a silver road across it, and the little stars
+shining like bits broken off the big, hot Sun. There was nothing that
+even looked like a cloud.
+
+"At last Oom Leeuw pulled in his tongue and rolled it about in his
+mouth to get the dryness off. When it stopped rattling, he began
+to talk.
+
+"'Friends and brothers and nephews,' he said--yes, just like that
+Oom Leeuw began; he was so miserable that he felt friendly with them
+all. 'Friends and brothers and nephews, it is time to make a plan. You
+know how it is with a drought; when it is at its worst, the bottom
+of the clouds falls out, and the water runs away fast, fast, to the
+sea, where there is too much water already, and the poor karroo is
+left again without any. Even if a land-rain comes, it just sinks in,
+because the ground is too loose and dry to hold it, so we must make
+a plan to keep the water, and my plan is to dig a dam. But it's no
+use for one or two to work; everyone must help. What do you say?'
+
+"'Certainly,' said Leopard.
+
+"'Certainly,' said Hyena.
+
+"'Certainly,' said Ant-bear.
+
+"'Certainly,' said Jakhals, but he winked his eye at the Lady Moon,
+and then put his nose into the warm sand so that no one could see
+his sly smile.
+
+"All the other animals said 'Certainly,' and then they began to talk
+about the dam. Dear land! A person would never have said their throats
+were dry. Each one had a different plan, and each one talked without
+listening to the other. It was like a Church bazaar--yes, baasjes,
+long ago when Outa was young he was on a bazaar in the village, but
+he was glad, my baasjes, when he could creep into the veld again and
+get the noise out of his ears.
+
+"At last the Water Tortoise--he with the wise little head under his
+patchwork shell--said, 'Let us go now while it is cool, and look for
+a place for the dam.'
+
+"So they hunted about and found a nice place, and soon they began
+to make the dam. Baasjes, but those animals worked! They scratched,
+they dug, they poked, they bored, they pushed and they rolled; and
+they all did their best, so that the dam could be ready when the rain
+came. Only lazy Jakhals did not work. He just roamed round saying to
+the others, 'Why don't you do this?' 'Why don't you do that?' till
+at last they asked, 'Why don't you do it yourself?'
+
+"But Jakhals only laughed at them. 'And why should I be so foolish
+as to scratch my nails off for your old dam?' he said.
+
+"'But you said "Certainly," too, when Oom asked us, didn't you?' they
+asked.
+
+"Then Jakhals laughed more than ever. 'Ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha! Am I then
+a slave of my word? That was last night. Don't you know yet that a
+thing is one colour by moonlight, and quite another colour when the
+sun shines on it? Ha! ha! ha!'
+
+"So he went about bothering the poor animals that were working so hard,
+and laughing at them when they got hot and tired.
+
+"'What's the use of working so hard? Those who do not work will
+also drink.'
+
+"'How do you know?' they asked.
+
+"'Wait a bit, you'll see,' said sly Jakhals, winking his eye again.
+
+"At last the dam was finished, and that very night the rain began. It
+kept on and on, till the dam was quite full and the water began to
+run away over the veld, down to the great big dam called the Sea,
+that is the Mother of all water, and so broad, my baasjes, that truly
+you can't see the wall at the other side, even when you stand on a
+high kopje. Yes, so Outa has heard from truth-telling people. The
+milk-bushes and karroo-bushes grew green again, and the little veld
+flowers burst out of the hard ground, and opened their white, and
+blue, and pink, and purple eyes to look at the Sun. They were like
+variegated karosses spread out on the veld, and the Old Man in the
+sky was not so fierce any more; he did not burn them with his hotness,
+but looked at them kindly.
+
+"And the animals were toch so glad for the water! From far and near
+they came to the dam to drink.
+
+"But Jakhals was before them all. Soon after the Sun went down--baasjes
+know, the wild animals sleep in the daytime and hunt in the night--he
+went to the dam and drank as much water as he wanted, and filled his
+clay pot with some to take home. Then he swam round and round to get
+cool, making the water muddy and dirty, and when the other animals
+came to drink, he slipped over the dam wall and was lost in the veld
+as if he had been a large pin.
+
+"My! but Oom Leeuw was very angry!
+
+"'Hoorr-rr-rr,' he roared, 'hoorr-rr-rr! What is this for a thing? Does
+the lazy one think he can share with the workers? Who ever heard of
+such a thing? Hoorr-rr-rr! Here, Broer Babiaan, take this big kierie
+and hide yourself by the dam to-night, so that you can catch this
+Vagabond, this Water-stealer.'
+
+"Early that night, there was Jakhals again. He peeped this way and
+that way--so, my baasjes,--and, yes truly, there was old Broer Babiaan
+lying amongst the bushes. But Jakhals was too schelm for him. He
+made as if he didn't see him. He danced along on his hind legs,
+all in the round, all in the round, at the edge of the dam, singing:--
+
+
+        'Hing-ting-ting! Honna-mak-a-ding!
+          My sweet, sweet water!'
+
+
+"He sang this over and over, and every time he came to the end of a
+line, he dipped his fingers into his clay pot and sucked them.
+
+"'Aha! but my honey is nice,' he said, licking his lips. 'What do I
+want with their old dirty water, when I have a whole potful of nice
+sweet water!'
+
+"Baasjes know, baboons will do anything for honey, and when old Broer
+Babiaan heard Jakhals he forgot he was there to guard the dam. He
+crept out from his hiding-place, a little nearer, and a little nearer,
+and at last he couldn't keep quiet any longer. When Jakhals came
+dancing along again, he called out in a great hurry, 'Good evening,
+Jakhals! Please give me a little of your sweet water, too!'
+
+"'Arré!' said Jakhals, jumping to one side and pretending to be
+startled. 'What a schrik you gave me! What are you doing here,
+Broer Babiaan?'
+
+"'Ach no! Jakhals, I'm just taking a little walk. It's such a fine
+night.'
+
+"'But why have you got that big kierie?'
+
+"'Only to dig out eintjes.'
+
+"'Do you really want some of my sweet water?'
+
+"'Yes, please, Jakhals,' said Broer Babiaan, licking his lips.
+
+"'And what will you give me for it?'
+
+"'I'll let you fill your pot with water from the dam.'
+
+"'Ach! I don't want any of that dirty old dam water, but I know
+how fond you are of this sweet water, Broer, so I'll let you drink
+some. Here, I'll hold your kierie while you drink.'
+
+"Boer Babiaan was in such a hurry to get to the honey that he just
+threw the kierie to Jakhals, but just as he was going to put his
+fingers into the pot, Jakhals pulled it away.
+
+"'No, wait a bit, Broer,' he said. 'I'll show you a better way. It
+will taste much nicer if you lie down.'
+
+"'Ach no! really, Jakhals?'
+
+"'Yes, really,' said Jakhals. 'And if you don't lie down at once,
+you won't get a drop of my sweet water.'
+
+"He spoke quite crossly, and Babiaan was so tame by this time that
+he was ready to believe anything, so he lay down, and Jakhals stood
+over him with his knapsack riem.
+
+"'Now, Brother, first I'll tie you with my riem, and then I'll feed
+you with the honey.'
+
+"'Yes, yes,' said Broer Babiaan quickly.
+
+"His mouth was watering for the honey; he couldn't think of anything
+else, and he had long ago forgotten all about looking after the
+dam. It goes so, my baasjes, when a person thinks only of what he
+wants and not of what he must. So he let Jakhals tie his hands and
+feet, and even his tail, and then he opened his mouth wide.
+
+"But Jakhals only danced round and round, sticking his fingers into
+the pot and licking them, and singing:
+
+
+        'Hing-ting-ting! Honna-mak-a-ding!
+          My sweet, sweet water!'
+
+
+"'Where's mine?' called Broer Babiaan. 'You said you would feed
+me. Where's my sweet water?'
+
+"'Here's all the sweet water you'll get from me,' said Jakhals,
+and--kraaks--he gave poor Broer Babiaan a hard hit with the kierie.
+
+"'Borgom! Borgom! Help!' screamed Broer Babiaan, and tried to roll
+away. But there was no one to help him, so he could only scream and
+roll over, and each time he rolled over, Jakhals hit him again--kraaks!
+
+"At last he squeezed the clay pot--and baasjes can believe me it
+had never had any honey in it at all--over Broer Babiaan's head,
+while he ran off and drank as much water as he wanted, and swam, and
+stirred up the mud. Then he took the clay pot off Broer Babiaan's head,
+filled it with water, and danced off, singing:
+
+
+        'Hing-ting-ting! Honna-mak-a-ding!
+          My sweet, sweet water!'
+
+
+"'Good-bye, Brother,' he called out. 'I hope you'll enjoy the sweet
+water you'll get from Oom Leeuw when he sees how well you have looked
+after the dam.'
+
+"Poor Old Broer Babiaan was, ach! so miserable, but he was even more
+unhappy after Oom Leeuw had punished him and set him on a large stone
+for the other animals to mock at. Baasjes, it was sad! They came in a
+long string, big ones and little ones, and each one stopped in front
+of the big stone and stuck out his tongue, then turned round and stuck
+out his tail--yes, so rude they were to Broer Babiaan, till the poor
+old animal got ashameder and ashameder, and sat all in a heap, hanging
+down his head and trying not to see how they were mocking at him.
+
+"When all the animals had passed on and drunk water, Oom Leeuw untied
+Broer Babiaan and let him go, and off he went to the krantzes as fast
+as he could, with his tail between his legs.
+
+"And that is all for to-night, my baasjes. It is too long to finish
+now. See, here comes Lys with the baasjes' supper, and Outa can smell
+that his askoekies are burning by the hut."
+
+Evading the children's detaining hands, Outa sidled away, turning in
+the passage doorway to paw the air with his crooked fingers in token
+of a final farewell.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+SAVED BY HIS TAIL.
+
+
+"The end, Outa, please," said little Jan, "the end of The Animals'
+Dam. You said it was too long to finish last night."
+
+"Aja, my baasje, it's full of jakhals draaie, and that's why it is
+so long, but it's near the end now.
+
+"The night was old by the time the animals had finished with old Broer
+Babiaan, and the stars were going out. Only the Big Star, that lasts
+the longest, was travelling quickly by the Stars' Road to call the
+Dawn. It began to get light already at the place where the shining
+Old Man gets up every day, and that meant it was time for the animals
+to fade away to their sleeping-places.
+
+"Oom Leeuw looked round on them. 'Who will look after the dam
+to-night?' he asked.
+
+"'I will,' said a little voice, quickly. 'Peep! peep!'
+
+"'And who is this that speaks from the ground?' asked Oom. 'Let us
+find this brave one.'
+
+"They looked about in the sand, and there, under a milk-bush near
+the dam, sat the Water Tortoise. He was nice and big, baasjes, as big
+as the lid of the soap-pot, and his skinny legs were very strong. He
+stretched out his skinny neck and twinkled his little black eyes.
+
+"'I'll look after the dam, Oom, and I'll catch the Water-Spoiler
+for you.'
+
+"'Ha! ha! ha! How will you do that?' asked Oom Leeuw.
+
+"'If Oom will just let someone rub my back with the sticky black
+stuff from the floor of the hives, then Oom will see what will happen.'
+
+"'This is a wise little man,' said Oom Leeuw, and he ordered Old
+Brown Sister Hyena--she with the limp in the left hind leg--to rub
+the Water Tortoise with the sticky stuff.
+
+"That night, my baasjes, when Jakhals went to the dam to drink,
+he peeped about, but no! there was no one to guard the dam; only a
+large black stone lay near the edge of the water.
+
+"'Arré! this is lucky,' said Jakhals. 'Such a nice large stone! I'll
+stand on it while I drink.'
+
+"He didn't know that the stone had a strong skinny neck, and, on
+the end of the neck, a head with little bright eyes that could see
+everything that was going on. So he gave a jump, and--woops!--down
+he came on to the stone with his two front feet, and there they stuck
+fast to the sticky black stuff, and he could not move them. He tried,
+and he tried, but it was no use.
+
+"'Toever!' he screamed, 'toever! Let me go!'
+
+"'Peep! peep!' said a little voice, 'don't be frightened.'
+
+"'Who says I'm frightened, you old toever stone?' asked
+Jakhals. 'Though my front feet are fast, I can still kick with my
+hind feet.'
+
+"'Kick, kick, kick, and stick fast,' said the little voice.
+
+"So Jakhals kicked and kicked, and his hind feet stuck fast.
+
+"There was a funny sound under the water, like water bubbling through
+a reed. It was the Water Tortoise laughing.
+
+"'Nier-r-r! nier-r-r!' said Jakhals, getting very cross; 'I've still
+got a tail, and I'll beat you with it.'
+
+"'Beat, beat, beat, and stick fast,' said the little voice.
+
+"So Jakhals beat and beat, and his tail stuck fast.
+
+"'Nier-r-r!' he said again, very angry; 'I've still got a mouth,
+and I'll bite you with it.'
+
+"'Bite, bite, bite, and stick fast,' said the little voice.
+
+"Jakhals opened his mouth, and bit and bit, and his mouth stuck
+fast. There he was, all in a bundle, sticking altogether fast to the
+black stone, and the more he tried to get free, the more he stuck fast.
+
+"'Peep, peep!' said the Water Tortoise, poking up his head and
+laughing. Then he marched to the top of the dam-wall where everyone
+could see the strange sight, and there he sat, all quiet and good,
+till the other animals came.
+
+"'Arré! they were glad when they saw Jakhals sticking to the Water
+Tortoise. They held a Council and ordered him to be killed, and Broer
+Hyena--old Brown Sister's husband--was to be the killer.
+
+"They loosened Jakhal's mouth from the sticky stuff, so that he could
+talk for the last time. He was very sorry for himself. His voice was
+thick with sorriness, and he could hardly get the words out.
+
+"'Thank you, Oom,' he said. 'I know I'm a wicked creature. It's better
+for me to die than to live and trouble everyone so much.'
+
+"Oom Leeuw and the other animals were wondering what kind of death
+the Water-stealer should die.
+
+"'Chop my head off,' said Jakhals; 'throw me in the fountain, but
+please, ach! please don't shave my tail and hit me on the big stone.'
+
+"Oom Leeuw and the others were still putting their heads together.
+
+"'Beat me with kieries, drown me in the dam,' said Jakhals, 'but don't,
+ach! please don't smear my tail with fat and hit me on the big stone.'
+
+"Oom Leeuw and the others made as if they were taking no notice of him.
+
+"'Chop me in little pieces, beat me with thorn branches,' said Jakhals,
+'but please, ach! please don't take me by the tail and hit me on the
+big stone.'
+
+"At last Oom Leeuw turned round.
+
+"'Just as you say, it shall be done. Shave his tail,' he said to the
+others, 'smear it with fat, and hit his head on the big stone. Let
+it be done.'
+
+"So it was done, and Jakhals stood very still and sad while his tail
+was being shaved and smeared. But when Hyena swung him round--one,
+two, three, pht!--away he slipped and ran over the veld as fast as
+he could. All the others ran after him, but they were only running
+to catch and he was running to live, so he went like the wind, and
+soon they were left far behind.
+
+"He never stopped till he came to a mountain where a krantz hung over
+and made a kind of cave, and in he crept. The first to come after him
+was Oom Leeuw, who had run faster than the others. Jakhals watched
+Oom crawling in, and when Oom's head touched the top of the cave,
+he ran out, calling:
+
+"'Oom, Oom, the krantz is falling. If you don't hold it up, you'll
+be crushed to death. I'll run and get a pole to prop it up, but Oom
+must please wait till I come back.'
+
+"He left Oom plastering his head against the krantz to hold it up,
+while--pht!--he shot away, and never stopped till he got safe home,
+where he rolled bolmakissie over and over, laughing to think how he
+had cheated all the animals again."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+THE FLYING LION.
+
+
+"Once upon a time," remarked Outa, thoughtfully, "Oom Leeuw used
+to fly."
+
+"O-o-o-oh!" said the children all together, and their eyes widened
+with terror at the picture called up by Outa's words.
+
+"Yes, my baasjes, and then nothing could live before him. His wings
+were not covered with feathers: they were like the wings of Brother
+Bat, all skin and ribs; but they were very big, and very thick,
+and very strong, and when he wasn't flying they were folded flat
+against his sides. When he was angry he let the points down to the
+ground--tr-r-r-r--like Oubaas Turkey when he gobble-gobble-gobbles
+and struts before his wives--tr-r-r-r, and when he wanted to rise from
+the ground he spread them out and flapped them up and down slowly at
+first--so, my baasjes; then faster and faster--so, so, so--till he
+made a big wind with them and sailed away into the air."
+
+Outa, flapping his crooked arms and puffing out his disproportionate
+chest, seemed about to follow suit, but suddenly subsided again on
+to his stool.
+
+"Ach, but it was a terrible sight! Then, when he was high above the
+earth, he would look down for something to kill. If he saw a herd of
+springbokke he would fly along till he was just over them, and pick
+out a nice fat one; then he would stretch out his iron claws, fold
+his wings and--woops!--down he would fall on the poor bokkie before
+it had time to jump away. Yes, that was the way Oom Leeuw hunted in
+the olden times.
+
+"There was only one thing he was afraid of, and that was that the
+bones of the animals he caught and ate would be broken to pieces. No
+one knew why, and everyone was too frightened of Oom Leeuw to try and
+find out. He used to keep them all at his home in the krantzes, and he
+had crows to look after them, two at a time--not like the ugly black
+crows that build in the willow-trees near the dam, but White Crows,
+the kind that come only once in many years. As soon as a white crow
+baby was found it was taken to Oom Leeuw--that was his order; then he
+kept it in the krantzes of the mountains and let it grow big; and when
+the old White Crows died the next eldest became watchmen, and so there
+were always White Crows to watch the bones when Oom Leeuw went hunting.
+
+"But one day while he was away Brother Big Bullfrog came along,
+hop-hop-hoppity-hop, hop-hop-hoppity-hop, and said: 'Why do you sit
+here all day, you Whitehead Crows?'
+
+"And the White Crows said: 'We sit here to look after the bones for
+Oom Leeuw.'
+
+"'Ach, but you must be tired of sitting!' said Brother Big Bullfrog,
+'You fly away a little and stretch your wings. I will sit here and
+look after the bones.'
+
+"The White Crows looked this way and that way, up and down and
+all round, but no! they couldn't see Oom Leeuw, and they thought:
+'Now is our chance to get away for a fly.'
+
+"So they said 'Cr-r-raw, cr-r-raw!' and stretched out their wings
+and flew away.
+
+"Brother Big Bullfrog called out after them: 'Don't hurry back. Stay
+as long as you like. I will take care of the bones.'
+
+"But as soon as they were gone he said: 'Now I shall find out why Oom
+Leeuw keeps the bones from being broken. Now I shall see why men and
+animals can live no longer.' And he went from one end to the other
+of Oom Leeuw's house at the bottom of the krantz, breaking all the
+bones he could find.
+
+"Ach, but he worked quickly! Crack! crack, crack, crack! Wherever
+he went he broke bones. Then when he had finished he hopped away,
+hop-hop-hoppity-hop, hop-hop-hoppity-hop, as fast as he could. When
+he had nearly reached his dam in the veld, the White Crows overtook
+him. They had been to the krantz and, foei! they were frightened when
+they saw all the broken bones.
+
+"'Craw, craw!' they said, 'Brother Big Bullfrog, why are you so
+wicked? Oom Leeuw will be so angry. He will bite off our nice white
+heads--craw, craw!--and without a head, who can live?'
+
+"But Brother Big Bullfrog pretended he didn't hear. He just hopped
+on as fast as he could, and the White Crows went after him.
+
+"'It's no good hopping away, Brother Bullfrog,' they said. 'Oom Leeuw
+will find you wherever you are, and with one blow of his iron claws
+he will kill you.'
+
+"But old Brother Big Bullfrog didn't take any notice. He just hopped
+on, and when he came to his dam he sat back at the edge of the water
+and blinked the beautiful eyes in his ugly old head, and said: 'When
+Oom Leeuw comes tell him I am the man who broke the bones. Tell him
+I live in this dam, and if he wants to see me he must come here.'
+
+"The White Crows were very cross. They flew down quickly to peck
+Brother Big Bullfrog, but they only dug their beaks into the
+soft mud, because Brother Big Bullfrog wasn't sitting there any
+longer. Kabloops! he had dived into the dam, and the White Crows
+could only see the rings round the place where he had made a hole in
+the water.
+
+"Oom Leeuw was far away in the veld, waiting for food, waiting for
+food. At last he saw a herd of zebras--the little striped horses that
+he is very fond of--and he tried to fly up so that he could fall on
+one of them, but he couldn't. He tried again, but no, he couldn't. He
+spread out his wings and flapped them, but they were quite weak,
+like baasjes' umbrella when the ribs are broken.
+
+"Then Oom Leeuw knew there must be something wrong at his house, and he
+was toch too angry. He struck his iron claws into the ground and roared
+and roared. Softly he began, like thunder far away rolling through the
+kloofs, then louder and louder, till--hoor-rr-rr-rr, hoor-rr-rr-rr--the
+earth beneath him seemed to shake. It was a terrible noise.
+
+"But all his roaring did not help him, he couldn't fly, and at last
+he had to get up and walk home. He found the poor White Crows nearly
+dead with fright, but they soon found out that he could no longer fly,
+so they were not afraid of him.
+
+"'Hoor-rr-rr-rr, hoor-rr-rr-rr!' he roared. 'What have you done to
+make my wings so weak?'
+
+"And they said: 'While Oom was away someone came and broke all
+the bones.'
+
+"And Oom Leeuw said: 'You were put here to watch them. It is your
+fault that they are broken, and to punish you I am going to bite your
+stupid white heads off. Hoor-rr-rr-rr!'
+
+"He sprang towards them, but now that they knew he couldn't fly they
+were not afraid of him. They flew away and sailed round in the air
+over his head, just too high for him to reach, and they called out:
+'Ha! ha! ha! Oom cannot catch us! The bones are broken, and his wings
+are useless. Now men and animals can live again. We will fly away
+and tell them the good news.'
+
+"Oom Leeuw sprang into the air, first to one side and then to the
+other, striking at them, but he couldn't reach them, and when he
+found all his efforts were in vain, he rolled on the ground and roared
+louder than ever.
+
+"The White Crows flew round him in rings, and called out:
+'Ha! ha! ha! he can no longer fly! He only rolls and roars! The man
+who broke the bones said: "If Oom Leeuw wants me he can come and look
+for me at the dam." Craw, craw,' and away they flew.
+
+"Then Oom Leeuw thought: 'Wait, I'll get hold of the one who broke
+the bones. I'll get him.' So he went to the dam, and there was old
+Brother Bullfrog sitting in the sun at the water's edge. Oom Leeuw
+crept up slowly, quietly, like a skelm, behind Brother Bullfrog.
+
+"'Ha! now I've got him,' he thought, and made a spring, but Brother
+Bullfrog said, 'Ho!' and dived in--kabloops!--and came up at the
+other side of the dam, and sat there blinking in the sun.
+
+"Oom Leeuw ran round as hard as he could, and was just going to spring,
+when--kabloops!--Brother Bullfrog dived in again and came up at the
+other side of the dam.
+
+"And so it went on. Each time, just when Oom Leeuw had nearly caught
+him, Brother Bullfrog dived in--kabloops!--and called out 'Ho!' from
+the other side of the dam.
+
+"Then at last Oom Leeuw saw it was no use trying to catch Brother
+Bullfrog, so he went home to see if he could mend the broken bones. But
+he could not, and from that day he could no longer fly, only walk upon
+his iron claws. Also, from that day he learned to creep quietly like a
+skelm after his game, and though he still catches them and eats them,
+he is not as dangerous as he was when he could fly.
+
+"And the White Crows can no longer speak. They can only say, 'Craw,
+craw.'
+
+"But old Brother Big Bullfrog still goes hop-hop-hoppity-hop round
+about the dam, and whenever he sees Oom Leeuw he just says 'Ho!' and
+dives into the water--kabloops!--as fast as he can, and sits there
+laughing when he hears Oom Leeuw roar with anger."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+WHY THE HERON HAS A CROOKED NECK.
+
+
+The flames leapt gaily upward in the wide fireplace, throwing strange
+shadows on the painted walls and gleaming on the polished wood of
+floor and beam and cupboard. Little Jan basked contentedly in the
+warmth, almost dozing--now absently stroking the terrier curled up
+beside him, now running his fingers through the softer fur of the
+rug on which he lay. It was made of silver-jackal skins--a dozen of
+them, to judge from the six bushy tails spread out on either side;
+and as Outa Karel's gaze rested on them, he remarked reminiscently--
+
+"Arré! but Oom Jakhals was a slim kerel! No one ever got the better
+of him without paying for it."
+
+In an instant little Jan was sitting bolt upright, every symptom
+of sleep banished from his face; the book from which Willem had been
+laboriously trying to gain some idea of the physical features of Russia
+was flung to the far end of the rustbank; while Pietie, suspending
+for a brief moment his whittling of a catapult stick, slid along the
+floor to get within better sight and sound of the story-teller.
+
+"Yes, my little masters, sometimes it was Oom Leeuw he cheated,
+sometimes it was Oubaas Babiaan or Oom Wolf, and once it was the
+poor little Dove, and that is what made me think of how he was
+cheated himself."
+
+"Did the little Dove cheat him?" asked Pietie eagerly.
+
+"No, baasje, the Dove is too frightened--not stupid, baasje, but like
+people are when they are too gentle and kind and believe everything
+other people tell them. She was sitting on her nest one day singing
+to her little children, 'Coo-oo, coo-oo coo-oo,' when Oom Jakhals
+prowled along under the tree and heard her.
+
+"'Alla wereld! Now I'll have a nice breakfast,' he thought, and he
+called out, 'Good morning, Tante. I hear you have such pretty little
+children. Please bring them down for me to see.'
+
+"But the Tante was frightened of Jakhals, and said, 'I'm sorry, Oom,
+they are not well to-day, and I must keep them at home.'
+
+"Then Jakhals lost his temper, and called out, 'Nonsense, I'm hungry
+and want something to eat, so throw down one of your little children
+at once.'
+
+"Baasjes know, sometimes crossness drives away frightenness; and Tante
+was so cross with Oom Jakhals for wanting to eat one of her little
+children that she called out, 'No, no, you bad Jakhals, I shall do
+nothing of the sort. Go away and look for other food.'
+
+"'If you don't, I'll fly up and eat them all,' said Jakhals. 'Throw
+one down at once.' And he stamped about and made such a horrible noise
+that the poor Tante thought he was really flying up. She looked at
+her babies: there wasn't one she wanted to give, but it was better to
+lose one than have them all eaten; so she shut her eyes and fluttered
+about the nest till one of them fell out, and Jakhals caught it in
+his mouth and carried it off to his hole to eat.
+
+"Ach! but the poor Tante was sad! She spread her wings over her other
+children and never slept all night, but looked about this way and
+that way with her soft eyes, thinking every little noise she heard was
+Oom Jakhals trying to fly up to her nest to gobble up all her babies.
+
+"The next morning there was Oom Jakhals again. 'Tante, your child
+was a nice, juicy mouthful. Throw me down another. And make haste,
+do you hear? or I'll fly up and eat you all.'
+
+"'Coo-oo, coo-oo, coo-oo,' said Tante, crying, 'no, I won't give
+you one.' But it was no use, and in the end she did what she had
+done before--just shut her eyes and fluttered round and round till
+a baby fell out of the nest. She thought there was no help for it,
+and, like some people are, she thought what the eye didn't see the
+heart wouldn't feel; but her heart was very sore, and she cried more
+sadly than ever, and this time she said, 'Oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo!' It
+was very sad and sorrowful to listen to 'Oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo!'
+
+"Here came old Oom Reijer. He is a kind old bird, though he holds
+his neck so crooked and looks like there was nothing to smile at in
+the whole wide world.
+
+"'Ach! why do you cry so sadly, Tante? It nearly gives me a stitch
+in my side.'
+
+"'Oo-oo! I'm very miserable. Oom Jakhals has eaten two of my little
+children, and to-morrow he will come for another, and soon I shall
+have none left.'
+
+"'But why did you let him eat them?'
+
+"'Because he said if I didn't give him one he would fly up and eat
+them all. Oo-oo-oo!'
+
+"Then Oom Reijer was very angry. He flapped his wings, and stretched
+out his long neck--so, my baasjes, just so" (the children hugged
+themselves in silent delight at Outa's fine acting)--"and he opened
+and shut his long beak to show how he would like to peck out Oom
+Jakhals's wicked eyes if he could only catch him.
+
+"'That vervlakste Jakhals!' he said. 'To tell such lies! But, Tante,
+you are stupid. Don't you know Oom Jakhals can't fly? Now listen to
+me. When he comes again, tell him you know he can't fly, and that
+you won't give him any more of your children.'
+
+"The next day there came Oom Jakhals again with his old story, but
+Tante just laughed at him.
+
+"'Ach, no! you story-telling Bushytail!' she said, 'I won't give you
+any more of my little children, and you needn't say you'll fly up
+and eat them, because I know you can't.'
+
+"'Nier-r-r, nier-r-r!' said Oom Jakhals, growling, 'how do you
+know that?'
+
+"'Oom Reijer told me, so there!' said Tante. 'And you can just go to
+your mother!'
+
+"My! but Tante was getting brave now that she knew she and her little
+children were safe. That was the worst insult you can ever give a
+grown-up jakhals, and Oom Jakhals growled more than ever.
+
+"'Never mind,' he said at last, 'Tante is only a vrouwmens; I won't
+bother with her any more. But wait till I catch Oom Reijer. He'll
+be sorry he poked his long nose into my business, the old meddler,'
+and he trotted off to look for him.
+
+"He hunted and hunted, and at last he found him standing on one leg
+at the side of the river, with his long neck drawn in and his head
+resting on his shoulders.
+
+"'Good day, Oom Reijer,' he said politely. 'How is Oom to-day?'
+
+"'I'm all right,' answered Oom Reijer shortly, without moving an inch.
+
+"Jakhals spoke in a little small voice--ach! toch so humble. 'Oom,
+please come this way a little: I'm so stupid, but you are so wise
+and clever, and I want to ask your advice about something.'
+
+"Oom Reijer began to listen. It is maar so when people hear about
+themselves. He put down his other leg, stretched out his neck, and
+asked over his shoulder, 'What did you say, eh?'
+
+"'Come toch this way a little; the mud over there is too soft for me
+to stand on. I want your valuable advice about the wind. The other
+people all say I must ask you, because no one is as wise as you.'
+
+"Truly Jakhals was a slim kerel! He knew how to stroke Oom Reijer's
+feathers the right way.
+
+"Oom Reijer came slowly over the mud--a person mustn't show he is
+too pleased: he even stopped to swallow a little frog on the way,
+and then he said, carelesslike, 'Yes, I can tell you all about the
+wind and weather. Ask what you like, Jakhals.' His long neck twisted
+about with pride.
+
+"Oom, when the wind is from the west, how must one hold one's head?'
+
+"'Is that all?' said Oom Reijer. 'Just so.' And he turned his head
+to the east.
+
+"'Thank you, Oom. And when the wind is from the east?'
+
+"'So.' Oom Reijer bent his neck the other way.
+
+"'Thank you, Oom,' said the little small voice, so grateful and
+humble. 'But when there is a storm and the rain beats down, how then?'
+
+"'So!' said Oom Reijer, and he bent his neck down till his head nearly
+touched his toes.
+
+"My little masters, just as quickly as a whip-snake shoots into his
+hole, so Jakhals shot out his arm and caught Oom Reijer on the bend of
+his neck--crack!--and in a minute the poor old bird was rolling in the
+mud with his neck nearly broken, and so weak that he couldn't even lift
+his beak to peck at the false wicked eyes that were staring at him.
+
+"O! how glad was cruel Jakhals! He laughed till he couldn't any
+more. He screamed and danced with pleasure. He waved his bushy tail,
+and the silver mane on his back bristled as he jumped about.
+
+"'Ha! ha! ha! Oom thought to do me a bad turn, but I'll teach
+people not to interfere with me. Ha! ha! ha! No one is as wise as
+Oom Reijer, eh? Then he will soon find out how to mend his broken
+neck. Ha! ha! ha!'
+
+"Jakhals gave one last spring right over poor Oom Reijer, and danced
+off to his den in the kopjes to tell Tante Jakhals and the little
+Jakhalsjes how he had cheated Oom Reijer.
+
+"And from that day, baasjes, Oom Reijer's neck is crooked: he can't
+hold it straight; and it's all through trying to interfere with
+Jakhals. That is why I said Jakhals is a slim kerel. Whether he walks
+on four legs or on two, the best is maar to leave him alone because
+he can always make a plan, and no one ever gets the better of him
+without paying for it in the end."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+THE LITTLE RED TORTOISE.
+
+
+"No Jakhals story to-night, please, Outa," said little Jan, as they
+gathered round the fire. "We all think Jakhals was a cruel horrid
+creature, eating the poor little Doves and cracking the good Heron's
+neck."
+
+"Yes," chimed in Pietie, "he was always playing wicked tricks, so no
+more Jakhals for us. What will you tell us to-night, Outa?"
+
+"Something really nice," suggested Willem, "and not unkind."
+
+Outa's beady black eyes twinkled from one to another of his little
+masters, while an affectionate smile spread over his yellow face,
+accentuating the wrinkles which criss-crossed it in every direction.
+
+"Ach! the soft young hearts! Outa's heart was like that once, too,
+but"--he shook his head--"if the heart doesn't get a little taai like
+a biltong, it is of no use to a person in this old hard world." He
+deposited his shapeless hat on the floor, tapped his red kopdoek with
+a clawlike forefinger, and waited for an inspiration. It came from
+an unexpected quarter, for suddenly there was a commotion at the end
+of his old coat, the tails of which hung down nearly to the floor,
+and, diving into his pocket, the old man triumphantly produced a
+squirming tortoise.
+
+"See what Outa caught for the baasjes near the Klip Kop this
+afternoon--a nice little berg schilpad. [9] Now Baas Willem can put
+it in his kraal with the others and let it lay eggs. It is still
+young, but it will grow--yes, so big." A cart-wheel might have been
+comfortably contained in the circle described by Outa's arms.
+
+It was a knobbly, darkly-marked tortoise, quite unlike those the
+little boys generally found in the veld near the house, and they took
+possession of it with delight and suggestions as to a name. After
+discussion, honours were equally in favour of "Piet Retief" and
+"Mrs. Van Riebeeck," and it was decided that the casting vote should
+be left to Cousin Minnie, the children's governess.
+
+For a long time they had kept tortoises of all sorts and sizes
+in their schilpad-kraal, and so tame and intelligent had some of
+these creatures grown that they would come when called, and big old
+"Woltemade" roamed about at will, often disappearing for a time,
+and returning to his companions after a few days in the veld.
+
+Outa turned the new acquisition on its back on the jackalskin
+rug, where it lay wriggling and going through the strangest
+contortions. "Ach! the wise little man. Is it there its mother
+sprinkled it with buchu, [10] there, just under its arm?" He touched
+the skinny under-side of one of its forelegs. "Here, Baas Willem,
+put it in the soap-boxie till to-morrow. Ach! if only it had been a
+red tortoise, how glad Outa would have been!"
+
+"A red tortoise!" echoed Pietie and little Jan, while Willem hurried
+back from the passage to hear all about it.
+
+"And have the baasjes then never heard of a red tortoise? Yes,
+certainly, sometimes a red one is born, but not often--only once in a
+thousand years; and when this happens the news is sent round, because
+it is such a wonderful thing; and the whole nation of Schilpads--those
+frogs with bony shields and hard beaks--are glad because they know
+the little red one has come to help them against their enemies.
+
+"Once a long, long time ago a mother Schilpad laid an egg in a shallow
+hole in the sand, just where the sun could warm it all the day, and
+she scraped a little sand over it, so that no one could see it. See
+baasjes, she was afraid of thieves. It was white and round, and so
+large that she felt very proud of it, and she often went to see how
+it was getting on. One day, as she got near the place she heard a
+little voice: 'Peep! Peep! Mam-ma, mam-ma, come and find me.'
+
+"So she called out, 'Kindje, kindje, here's your mam-ma.' My! but
+she walked fast! Her short legs just went so"--Outa's arms worked
+vigorously--"and when she got to the karroo-bush where she had put
+the egg the shell was broken and a little Red Tortoise was sitting
+alongside of it!
+
+"His shell was soft, and you could see everything inside of him,
+and how the blood went this way and that way: but never mind, it is
+maar so with little tortoises. He was fine and healthy, and everything
+about him was quite red. Alle wereld! old Mam-ma was proud! She went
+and told all her friends, and they came from all sides to see the
+little Red Tortoise. There were berg tortoises, and vlakte tortoises,
+and zand-kruipers, and even water tortoises, young and old, and they
+all sat round and praised him and gave him good advice and nice things
+to eat.
+
+"He listened to everything and ate all the nice things, and grew
+bigger and redder and harder, but he didn't talk much, and the Old
+Ones nodded to each other and said, 'Ach, but he is sensible!' But
+the Young Ones said, 'Ach, but he is stuck-up!' and they went away
+and crawled in the red clay to make themselves red. But it was no
+good. In a little while it all rubbed off.
+
+"At last all the visitor Schilpads went home again. But the little
+Red Tortoise stayed with his Mam-ma, and went on growing bigger and
+redder and harder, and his Mam-ma was toch so proud of him!
+
+"When he walked in the veld and the other young tortoises said to him,
+'Come, we'll show you the way to do things; you must do so, and you
+must do so,' he said, 'You can do so if you like, but I'll do things
+my own way!' And they said 'Stuck-up Red Thing! Wait, Oubaas Giraffe
+will get you!' But they left him alone, and although they all wished
+they were red, they did not crawl in the clay any more: they knew
+it was no good. It was only from outside, so it soon rubbed off,
+but the little Red One's redness was from inside; and baasjes know,
+for a thing to be any good it must be on the inside." He glanced
+involuntarily at the wall-cupboard where his soopje was safely locked
+up: it would certainly not be any good, in his opinion, till it was
+on the inside of him.
+
+"But when the Old Tortoises gave him advice, the little Red Tortoise
+listened and thanked them. He was a wise little man. He knew when to
+speak and when to hold his tongue.
+
+"At that time, my baasjes, the whole Tortoise nation was having a
+hard time with Oubaas Giraffe--that old horse with the long neck and
+the unequal legs, who is all white and black like a burnt thornbush
+[11] with crows sitting on it. He gives blue ashes when he is burnt,
+therefore is he called the Blue One.
+
+"He had taken to eating tortoises. They didn't know what to do. They
+tried to make a plan, but no! they could find no remedy. Whenever
+Oubaas Giraffe saw a nice young tortoise that he could easily swallow,
+he picked it up in his mouth, and from fright it pulled its head
+and all its feet into its shell, and--goops!--one swallow and it had
+sailed down the Blue One's long throat, just like baasjes sail down
+the plank at the side of the skeer-kraal.
+
+"The little Red Tortoise listened to the plans that were made, and
+at last he thought of a plan. He was not sure how it would go, but he
+was a brave little one, and he thought by himself, 'If it goes wrong,
+there will be no more little Red Tortoise: but if it goes right,
+then the whole Tortoise nation will be able to live again.'
+
+"So what did he do, my baasjes? He crawled out far in the veld and sat
+in the path where the Old Blue One liked to walk. Soon he heard goof,
+goof, goof, coming nearer and nearer. Then the noise stopped. The
+little Red One peeped from under his shell. Yes, there was the great
+Blue One, standing over him and looking very fierce.
+
+"Do you know, little Red Tortoise, in one moment I could trample you
+to death?'
+
+"The little Red One was very frightened, for this was not his plan,
+but he said nothing.
+
+"'Do you know, little Red Tortoise, in one moment I could swallow you?'
+
+"Ach! how glad was the little Red Tortoise! But he only said in a
+small little voice, 'Yes, noble Blue One, I belong to the nation whom
+it is the custom to swallow. Please swallow me!'
+
+"Oubaas Giraffe picked him up and gave a little gulp, and the little
+Red Tortoise slipped half-way down his long throat. But ojé! here a
+strange thing happened. The little Red One would go no further. Instead
+of drawing in his head and legs and slipping down like a stone, like
+all the other tortoises had done, he wanted to see where he was going,
+so he stuck out his head, and fastened his sharp little nails into
+Oubaas Giraffe's gullet, and there he hung like a bat on a wall.
+
+"'Go down, go down, little Tortoise! You choke me!' The Old Blue One
+could hardly speak; his throat was so full of tortoise.
+
+"'Peep! peep!' said the little Red One, and held on more tightly
+than ever.
+
+"'Come up, come up, little Tortoise! You kill me!' The Old Blue One
+was stamping and gurgling now.
+
+"'Peep! peep!' said the little Red One, and hung on with his hard bent
+beak as well. He thought, 'No! too many of my nation have sailed down
+this red sloot. I won't let go.'
+
+"I tell you, baasjes, Oubaas Giraffe danced and pranced over the veld;
+he screamed and bellowed; he gurgled and swallowed; he tried to get
+the little Red Tortoise down, and he tried to get him up; but it was
+no use. The little Red One clung fast to him till he was quite choked,
+and sank down in the sand and died.
+
+"Then the little Red Tortoise crawled out, and went home to tell his
+Mam-ma that he had killed Oubaas Giraffe and that his nation could
+have peace again. Ach! but she was proud of him!
+
+"'It's not for nothing you were born red,' she said. 'Come here,
+my little Crab, that I may put buchu under your arm. Come, my
+crooked-legged little one, let your mother sprinkle you with buchu!'
+
+"When she had sprinkled him with buchu, they went and told their
+friends, and all the Tortoise nation rejoiced and went and had a
+great feast off Oubaas Giraffe as he lay dead in the veld.
+
+"And they thought more of the little Red Tortoise than ever. Even
+the Young Ones, who had been angry with him, said, 'He is wiser than
+we are. We will listen to what he says. P'r'aps, after all, there is
+something in being born a certain colour.'"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+THE OSTRICH HUNT.
+
+
+The next day all the time that was not given to lessons and
+meals was spent by the little boys in scouring the veld for a red
+tortoise. Disappointment at their fruitless search found vent in no
+measured terms when Outa Karel appeared in the dining-room at his
+usual hour.
+
+"Ach, to hear them now!" he said, regarding them with his wide-mouthed
+smile of amused tolerance. "Does it then rain red tortoises? And how
+can the baasjes think they will find at the first shot a thing that
+only comes once in a thousand years?"
+
+"Well," said Willem, stoutly, "it might just have been the time for
+one. How were we to know?"
+
+"Outa," asked little Jan, earnestly, "do you know when it will be
+red tortoise time again?"
+
+"Aja, baasjes," said Outa readily, "it won't be long now. Let Outa
+think." He performed a tattoo on the red kopdoek--a sure sign that
+he was in the thick of mental gymnastics. "What comes just before a
+thousand, my baasjes?"
+
+"Nine hundred and ninety-nine," answered Pietie, who was good at
+arithmetic.
+
+"Now, yes," said Outa, triumphantly, "I knew it must be nearly time. It
+is nine hundred and ninety-nine years since there was a red tortoise,
+so next year this time baasjes can begin to look for one. Only begin,
+my baasjes, because it will only be creeping out of the egg then. And
+p'r'aps it won't be in this veld. It might be far, far away where
+people don't know about a red tortoise, and so no one will look for
+him. Must Outa tell another story about him?"
+
+The sly old man had taken the best way of escaping more questions. The
+little boys gathered round and listened wide-eyed as he told the
+story of the Tortoises hunting the Ostriches.
+
+"After Oubaas Giraffe was dead, the Tortoises had a nice life for
+a long time, and then there came into their veld Old Three Sticks,
+the Ostrich, with his mam-ma and pap-pa, and his wives, and uncles,
+and aunties, and children, and friends. Alla! there were a lot of
+Ostriches! The whole veld was full of them, and they all began eating
+tortoises wherever they could find them. It was just the same like
+when Oubaas Giraffe used to go about. And the tortoises thought and
+thought, and they talked and talked, but they couldn't make a plan
+that would drive the Ostriches away.
+
+"The little Red Tortoise was thinking, too, but he didn't talk till
+he had his plan ready. Then he called all the Tortoises together. The
+Old Ones came because they wanted to hear what the wise little Red One
+had to say, and the Young Ones came because ever since he had killed
+Oubaas Giraffe they had listened to him. When they were all together
+he said, 'It now goes on too long, this hunting of the Tortoises by
+Old Three Sticks and his friends. Let us change places and let us,
+the Tortoise people, go and hunt Ostriches.'
+
+"'Peep! peep!' cried all the young Tortoises: they were quite
+ready. But the Old Ones said, 'Is this the wise little Red One? How
+is it possible for us to hunt Ostriches?'
+
+"'It is possible, because Ostriches never run straight, but always
+a little in the round, and a little in the round, so that in the
+end if they run long enough they come again to the place they began
+from. Now yes, on a certain day let us then go into the veld where the
+Ostriches like to hunt, and let us make two long rows, not straight
+out but always in the round; one ring, very large, outside, and the
+other, smaller, inside. Then when Old Three Sticks and his friends
+come we will call one to the other and drive them on, and they will
+flee through the midst of us, round and round and round till they
+can flee no longer.'
+
+"'Peep! peep!' said the young Tortoises, and the Old Ones joined
+in. They saw that it was a good plan, so they all went to the hunting
+veld of Old Three Sticks and his friends and spread themselves out,
+as the little Red Tortoise had said.
+
+"Soon the Ostriches came, pecking, pecking, as they walked.
+
+"The Tortoises sat very still, waiting, my baasjes, just waiting,
+till the Ostriches were right in the middle of the two rings. Then
+the little Red Tortoise gave the signal, 'Peep! Peep!' and at once
+the calling began.
+
+"'Are you there?' called the first Tortoise.
+
+"'I am here,' said the next, and so it went on all round the circle,
+one calling to the other.
+
+"'What are you doing?' called the first one.
+
+"Hunting Ostriches,' said the next, and so it went on all round the
+circle again, one calling to the other.
+
+"The Ostriches could see nothing. They could only hear voices
+calling. They looked at each other and said, 'What are these voices? It
+is surely a great army come to hunt us. Let us get away.'
+
+"They were very frightened and began to run, and as far as they ran
+they heard:--
+
+"'Are you there?'
+
+"'I am here.'
+
+"'What are you doing?'
+
+"'Hunting Ostriches.'
+
+"So it went on, over and over again. The Tortoises never moved,
+only kept calling out. And the Ostriches ran faster and faster, all
+in the round, till at last they were so tired they couldn't run any
+more. First one fell, and then another, and another, and another,
+till there were heaps of them lying about, and just where they fell
+they lay quite still. They were too tired to move.
+
+"Then the Tortoises gathered together--they were very many--and they
+bit Old Three Sticks and all his family and friends on their long
+necks and killed them.
+
+"Since then the Tortoises have had peace from the Long-necked
+People--Oubaas Giraffe and old Three Sticks. It is only the Things
+of the Air, like Crows and Lammervangers, that still hunt them, and
+baasjes know how they do? They catch a poor Tortoise in their claws
+and fly away with him, high up over a kopje, and then they drop him on
+the stones--kabloops!--and there he lies with his shell all broken, and
+without a shell how can a Tortoise live? And then the Thing of the Air
+comes and eats him up, and that is the end of the poor Tortoise. But
+a Red Tortoise they never touch. It is his colour, baasjes, that
+frightens them. So the Young Tortoises were right when they said,
+'There is something, after all, in being born a certain colour.'
+
+"After the Ostrich hunt, the little Red Tortoise was sprinkled with
+buchu under both arms, and his Mam-ma sang him this song:--
+
+
+        The little crook-legged one! I could sprinkle it,
+        Sprinkle it with buchu under its arms.
+
+        The little red crab! The little Wise One!
+        I sprinkle the buchu under both arms.
+
+        For the Long-necks, they that ate us,
+        It has found a way to kill them;
+
+        So we sprinkle it, the little Red One,
+        Sprinkle the buchu under both arms."
+
+
+The usual discussion took place when Outa had finished, and at last
+Pietie said, "If I had to be a Tortoise, I'd be a red one."
+
+"Why, my little master?"
+
+"Because the Crows and Lammervangers don't catch it. To be swallowed
+by an ostrich or stick in a giraffe's throat would not be so bad,
+but I'd hate to be broken on the stones."
+
+"Ach! my baasje, no matter how Old Friend Death comes, we are never
+ready for him. When Outa was young he was nearly killed by a troop
+of springbucks, and he thought, 'No, not toch trampled to death; to
+be carried down the river is better.' But when the flood came and the
+river carried Outa away, he fought for his life just as hard as when
+the springbucks were on him. It was the same when the hut was burnt,
+and when the mad bull chased Outa across the veld. Over and over
+again the same. Always another sort of death seems better. Always
+Old Friend Death finds a man not quite ready for him."
+
+"And now how would you like him to find you, Outa?" asked Willem with
+much interest.
+
+A whimsical smile spread over the old man's face. "Ach! to hear
+him! Just sitting in the sun, my baasje, by the skeer-kraal wall,
+where I have sat for so many, many years. When he comes I will say,
+'Morning, Old Friend, you have been a long time on the road--ach! so
+long, that I am tired of waiting. Let us go at once.' A person needn't
+pack up for that trek, baasjes. I'll just drop my old sheepskin kaross,
+and take Old Friend Death's hand and let him show me the way. It is
+far, my baasjes, far to that land, and no one ever comes back from
+it. Then someone else will tell the stories by the fire: there will
+be no Outa any more to talk to the little masters." His voice had
+dropped to a musing tone.
+
+"Don't! Don't!" cried Pietie in a choked voice.
+
+"Outa, you mustn't say such things," said Willem, and they each seized
+one of Outa's crooked hands, while little Jan clung to his old coat
+as though he would never let it go.
+
+"I want my Outa," he cried. "He mustn't go away. I want my Outa Karel!"
+
+The old man's eyes glistened with a moisture not often seen in
+them. "Still! still! my little baasjes," he said, stroking first one
+and then another. "Outa doesn't want to make them sad. He is not
+going yet. He will sit here and tell his foolish stories for many
+nights yet." A caressing smile broke over his grotesque face. "And
+do they then want to keep their Outa? Ach! to think of it! The kind
+little hearts! But what will the Nooi say if the eyes are juicy? No,
+Outa only said about the skeer-kraal and sitting in the sun because it
+sounds so nice and friendly. Look how lively and well Outa is--like a
+young bull-calf!" He pretended playfully to toss them. "That's right,
+my children, now you laugh again. But young bull-calves must also go
+in the kraal, and the hut is calling Outa. Night, my baasjes, night,
+night. Sleep well. To-morrow Outa will tell them another beautiful
+story. Ach, the dear little ones! So good to their ugly Outa!"
+
+Followed by a chorus of "good-nights" from the children; the old man
+shuffled away, not knowing that he had spoken with prophetic voice,
+and that Friend Death would find him, even as he wished, sitting in
+the sun by the skeer-kraal.
+
+But that was not yet awhile, and he told many stories before setting
+out on the Great Trek for the Unknown Veld whence no traveller returns.
+
+
+
+Glasgow: Printed at the University Press by Robert Maclehose and
+Co. Ltd.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+
+[1] Sassaby (also spelt Sesseby) or Bastard Hartebeest are much
+smaller than the Hartebeest proper, and are found in open veld near
+forest country.
+
+[2] The Hyena, on first starting, appears lame in the hind legs--a
+fact accounted for by the Hottentots in the foregoing fable.
+
+[3]     "Berry, berry, blackberry,
+        Hold your hands together."
+
+[4] The Kaap--Cape Town.
+
+[5] It is both curious and interesting to find the identical belief
+obtaining amongst races so widely different as the Scandinavians of
+Northern Europe and the Bushmen of South Africa.--See Hans Andersen's
+Little Match Girl: "Her Grandmother had told her that when a star
+fell down a soul mounted up to God."
+
+[6] "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
+shouted for joy."--Job xxxviii. 7.
+
+[7] According to a Hottentot legend, the hare is related to the donkey.
+
+[8] Voertsed.--Evidently a word of Outa's coining, meaning to jump
+round suddenly and violently.
+
+[9] Mountain tortoise.
+
+[10] An aromatic veld herb, from which a decoction is made. Sprinkling
+buchu under the arm is a Hottentot custom in token of approval.
+
+[11] The Mimosa, which is white when burnt by the sun.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+OTHER FOLK-LORE TALES
+
+
+FAIRY TALES FROM SOUTH AFRICA. Collected and arranged by
+Mrs. E. J. Bourhill and Mrs. J. B. Drake. Illustrated by W. Herbert
+Holloway. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
+
+    ATHENAEUM.--"A charming collection of stories which would
+    make a capital gift-book for children.... The illustrations by
+    Mr. W. H. Holloway are exceedingly good."
+
+    OUTLOOK.--"Not only are the stories admirably related and of
+    absorbing interest, as true folk-tales should be, but they are
+    materially aided by Mr. Holloway's splendid black-and-whites."
+
+
+THE CROCK OF GOLD. By James Stephens. Crown 8vo.  5s. net.
+
+    EVENING STANDARD.--"A delicate fairy extravaganza, difficult to
+    class with any other book. It has extraordinary flashes of beauty,
+    any amount of whimsical humour, and ends in an ecstasy that has
+    about it a touch of Borrow and a note from the very flute of Pan."
+
+    PUNCH.--"A fairy fantasy, elvish, grotesque, realistic,
+    allegorical, humorous, satirical, idealistic, and poetical by
+    turns ... and very beautiful."
+
+
+FOLK TALES OF BREFFNY. By B. Hunt. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    SPECTATOR.--"Wholly delightful volume.... These folk-tales are
+    rich in the qualities of poetry, wit, and intelligence, and though
+    the part which Miss Hunt has played is not that of a creator,
+    her versions are marked by such unfailing charm, such happy and
+    characteristic turns of phrase, that she deserves to rank with
+    those musicians like Francis Korbay, who have lent fresh lustre
+    to folk tunes by the beauty and picturesqueness of their settings."
+
+
+FOLK TALES OF BENGAL. By the Rev. Lal Behari Day. Crown
+8vo. 4s. 6d. Also with 32 Illustrations in Colour by Warwick
+Goble. Crown 4to. 15s. net. Edition de Luxe. Demy 4to. 42s. net.
+
+    MORNING POST.--"As a faithful mirror of Bengali beliefs by
+    no means extinct, they can be cordially recommended to lovers
+    of supernatural romance. Mr. Warwick Goble has provided them
+    also with charming illustrations, in which the lines and folds
+    of Eastern drapery, the blues and greens of forests and skies,
+    together with the dignity and simplicity of the figures, make up
+    an enchantment which few will be able to resist."
+
+
+PAPUAN FAIRY TALES. By Annie Ker. Illustrated. Extra Crown 8vo.
+5s. net.
+
+    WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.--"Some of the charm of the stories is without
+    a doubt due to the charm of Miss Ker's manner of retelling the
+    tales; but she had fair material to work upon, and the volume,
+    with its photographic illustrations of native life, is quite
+    delightful, and will interest general readers as well as
+    specialists in folk-lore."
+
+
+TALES OF OLD JAPAN. By Lord Redesdale. Illustrated. Crown
+8vo. 3s. 6d. Globe 8vo.  1s. net.
+
+    NOTES AND QUERIES.--"By far the most striking, instructive, and
+    authentic book upon Japan and the Japanese which has ever been
+    laid before the English reader."
+
+
+CHINESE FOLK-LORE TALES.  By Rev. J. Macgowan, D.D. Crown 8vo.
+3s. net.
+
+    DAILY NEWS.--"This is a most interesting volume of stories.... A
+    book which has given us great pleasure."
+
+
+                    LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Outa Karel's Stories, by Sanni Metelerkamp
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Outa Karel's Stories, by Sanni Metelerkamp
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Outa Karel's Stories
+       South African Folk-Lore Tales
+
+Author: Sanni Metelerkamp
+
+Illustrator: Constance Penstone
+
+Release Date: March 12, 2011 [EBook #35557]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTA KAREL'S STORIES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net for Project
+Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously
+made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          OUTA KAREL'S STORIES
+
+                     South African Folk-Lore Tales
+
+                                   By
+                           SANNI METELERKAMP
+
+                With illustrations by Constance Penstone
+
+
+
+                       Macmillan and Co., Limited
+                      St. Martin's Street, London
+                                  1914
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                            To all children
+                             young and old
+                       who love a folk-lore story
+
+
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD.
+
+
+My thanks are due to Dr. Maitland Park, Editor of The Cape Times, and
+Adv. B. K. Long, M.L.A., Editor of The State, for their kind permission
+to republish such of these tales as have appeared in their papers.
+
+For the leading idea in "The Sun" and "The Stars and the Stars'
+Road," I gladly acknowledge my indebtedness to that monument of
+patient labour and research, "Specimens of Bushman Folk-lore," by
+the late Dr. Bleek and Miss Lucy Lloyd.
+
+Further, I lay no claim to originality for any of the stories in this
+collection--at best a very small proportion of a vast store from which
+the story-teller of the future may draw, embodying the superstitions,
+the crude conceptions, the childish ideas of a primitive and rapidly
+disappearing people. They are known in some form or other wherever
+the negro has set foot, and are the common property of every country
+child in South Africa.
+
+I greatly regret that they appear here in what is, to them, a foreign
+tongue. No one who has not heard them in the Taal--that quaint,
+expressive language of the people--can have any idea of what they lose
+through translation, but, having been written in the first instance
+for English publications, the original medium was out of the question.
+
+Clear cold evenings, with a pleasant tang of frost in the air,
+figure here and there in these pages, but as I write other scenes,
+too, flit across the lighted screen of Memory--noontides of tropic
+heat with all the world sunk in a languorous slumber, glowing sunsets,
+throbbing summer nights when the stars seemed to tremble almost within
+one's reach, moonlit spaces filled with soft mystery and the thousand
+seductive voices of the pulsing southern night. And always, part and
+parcel of the passing panorama, the quaint figure of the old Native
+with his little masters....
+
+It is nearly three years now since "Old Friend Death" took him gently
+by the hand and led him away to that far, far country of which he had
+such vague ideas, so he tells no more stories by the firelight in the
+gloaming; and his little masters--children no longer--are claimed
+by graver tasks and wider interests. But in the hope that others,
+both little ones and children of a larger growth, may find the same
+pleasure in these tales of a childlike race, they are sent out to
+find their own level and take their chance in the workaday world.
+
+
+    S. M.
+
+        Cape Town, January, 1914.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                                Page
+       I. The Place and the People                 1
+      II. How Jakhals Fed Oom Leeuw               12
+     III. Who was King?                           29
+      IV. Why the Hyena is Lame                   43
+       V. Who was the Thief?                      47
+      VI. The Sun                                 54
+     VII. The Stars and the Stars' Road           63
+    VIII. Why the Hare's Nose is Slit             70
+      IX. How the Jackal got his Stripe           78
+       X. The Animals' Dam                        88
+      XI. Saved by his Tail                      101
+     XII. The Flying Lion                        108
+    XIII. Why the Heron has a Crooked Neck       118
+     XIV. The Little Red Tortoise                128
+      XV. The Ostrich Hunt                       139
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+                                                                 Page
+    Outa Karel and Little Jan--The Little Red Tortoise   Frontispiece
+    "The Stars' Road"                                              64
+    "The women with their babies on their backs, flew"             81
+    The punishment of Broer Babiaan                                99
+    "'Do you know, little Red Tortoise, in one moment I
+      could swallow you.'"                                        136
+    "The Ostriches ran faster and faster"                         144
+
+
+
+
+
+
+GLOSSARY.
+
+
+Awa-skin, skin slung across the back to carry babies in.
+Askoekies, cakes baked in the ash.
+
+Baas, master.
+Baasje (pronounced Baasie), little master.
+Babiaan, baboon.
+Berg schilpad, mountain tortoise.
+Biltong, strips of sun-dried meat.
+Bolmakissie, head over heels.
+Bossies, bushes.
+Broer, brother.
+Buchu, an aromatic veld herb.
+
+Carbonaatje, grilled chop.
+
+Dassie, rock-rabbit.
+
+Eintje, an edible veld root.
+
+Gezondheid! Your health!
+
+Haasje, little hare.
+Hamel, wether.
+
+Jakhals draaie, tricky turns.
+
+Kaross, skin rug.
+Kierie, a thick stick.
+Klein koning, little king.
+Kneehaltered, hobbled.
+Kopdoek, turban.
+Kopje, hill.
+Krantz, precipice.
+Kraal, enclosure.
+
+Lammervanger, eagle.
+Leeuw, lion.
+
+Maanhaar, mane.
+Mensevreter, cannibal.
+
+Neef, nephew.
+Nooi, lady or mistress.
+Nonnie, young lady, miss.
+
+Oom, uncle.
+Outa, old man, prefix to the name of old natives.
+
+Pronk, show off.
+
+Reijer, heron.
+Riem, leathern thong.
+Rustband, couch.
+
+Sassaby or Sessebe, a South African antelope.
+Schelm, rogue; sly.
+Schilpad, tortoise.
+Sjambok, whip of rhino or hippo hide.
+Skraal windje, fine cutting wind.
+Skrik, to be startled; also fright.
+Slim, cunningly clever.
+Smouse, pedlar.
+Soopje, tot.
+
+Taai, tough.
+Tante, aunt.
+Tarentaal, Guinea fowl.
+Tover, toverij, witchcraft.
+
+Vaabond, vagabond.
+Vlakte, plain.
+Voertsed, jumping aside suddenly and violently.
+Volk, coloured farm labourers.
+Volstruis, ostrich.
+Vrouw, wife.
+Vrouwmens, woman.
+
+Zandkruiper, sand-crawler.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE PLACE AND THE PEOPLE.
+
+
+It was winter in the Great Karroo. The evening air was so crisp
+and cutting that one seemed to hear the crick-crack of the frost,
+as it formed on the scant vegetation. A skraal windje blew from the
+distant mountains, bringing with it a mingled odour of karroo-bush,
+sheep-kraals, and smoke from the Kafir huts--none, perhaps,
+desirable in itself, but all so blent and purified in that rare,
+clear atmosphere, and so subservient to the exhilarating freshness,
+that Pietie van der Merwe took several sniffs of pleasure as he peered
+into the pale moonlight over the lower half of the divided door. Then,
+with a little involuntary shiver, he closed the upper portion and
+turned to the ruddy warmth of the purring fire, which Willem was
+feeding with mealie-cobs from the basket beside him.
+
+Little Jan sat in the corner of the wide, old-fashioned rustbank, his
+large grey eyes gazing wistfully into the red heart of the fire, while
+his hand absently stroked Torry, the fox terrier, curled up beside him.
+
+Mother, in her big Madeira chair at the side table, yawned a little
+over her book; for, winter or summer, the mistress of a karroo farm
+leads a busy life, and the end of the day finds her ready for a
+well-earned rest.
+
+Pietie held his hands towards the blaze, turning his head now and again
+towards the door at the far end of the room. Presently this opened
+and father appeared, comfortably and leisurely, as if such things as
+shearing, dipping, and ploughing were no part of his day's work. Only
+the healthy tan, the broad shoulders, the whole well-developed physique
+proclaimed his strenuous, open-air life. His eye rested with pleasure
+on the scene before him--the bright fire, throwing gleam and shadow
+on painted wall and polished woodwork, and giving a general air of
+cosiness to everything; the table spread for the evening meal; the
+group at the fireside; and his dear helpmate who was responsible for
+the comfort and happiness of his well-appointed home.
+
+He was followed in a moment by Cousin Minnie, the bright-faced young
+governess. Their coming caused a stir among the children. Little Jan
+slowly withdrew his gaze from the fire, and, with more energy than
+might have been expected from his dreamy look, pushed and prodded
+the sleeping terrier along the rustbank so as to make room for
+Cousin Minnie.
+
+Pietie sprang to his father's side. "Now may I go and call Outa
+Karel?" he asked eagerly, and at an acquiescent "Yes, my boy," away
+he sped.
+
+It was a strange figure that came at his bidding, shuffling, stooping,
+halting, and finally emerging into the firelight. A stranger might have
+been forgiven for fleeing in terror, for the new arrival looked like
+nothing so much as an ancient and muscular gorilla in man's clothes,
+and walking uncertainly on its hind legs.
+
+He was not quite four feet in height, with shoulders and hips
+disproportionately broad, and long arms, the hands of which reached
+midway between knee and ankle. His lower limbs were clothed in
+nondescript garments fashioned from wildcat and dassie skins; a
+faded brown coat, which from its size had evidently once belonged
+to his master, hung nearly to his knees; while, when he removed his
+shapeless felt hat, a red kopdoek was seen to be wound tightly round
+his head. No one had ever seen Outa Karel without his kopdoek, but
+it was reported that the head it covered was as smooth and devoid of
+hair as an ostrich egg.
+
+His yellow-brown face was a network of wrinkles, across which his flat
+nose sprawled broadly between high cheekbones; his eyes, sunk far back
+into his head, glittered dark and beady like the little wicked eyes
+of a snake peeping from the shadow of a hole in the rocks. His wide
+mouth twisted itself into an engaging grin, which extended from ear
+to ear, as, winking and blinking his bright little eyes, he twirled
+his old hat in his claw-like hands and tried to make obeisance to
+his master and mistress.
+
+The attempt was unsuccessful on account of the stiffness of his
+joints, but it never failed to amuse those who, times without number,
+had seen it repeated. To those who witnessed it for the first time it
+was something to be remembered--the grotesque, disproportionate form;
+the ape-like face, that yet was so curiously human; the humour and
+kindness that gleamed from the cavernous eyes, which seemed designed
+to express only malevolence and cunning; the long waving arms and
+crooked fingers; the yellow skin for all the world like a crumpled
+sheet of india-rubber pulled in a dozen different directions.
+
+That he was a consummate actor, and, not to put too fine a point on
+it, an old humbug of the first water, goes without saying, for these
+characteristics are inherent in the native nature. But in spite of
+this, and the uncanniness of his appearance, there was something
+about Outa Karel that drew one to him. Of his real devotion to his
+master and the "beautiful family Van der Merwe," there could be no
+question; while, above everything, was the feeling that here was
+one of an outcast race, one of the few of the original inhabitants
+who had survived the submerging tide of civilization; who, knowing
+no law but that of possession, had been scared and chased from their
+happy hunting grounds, first by the Hottentots, then by the powerful
+Bantu, and later by the still more terrifying palefaced tribes from
+over the seas. Though the origin of the Bushman is lost in the mists
+of antiquity, the Hottentot conquest of him is a matter of history,
+and it is well known that the victors were in the habit, while killing
+off the men, to take unto themselves wives from among the women of the
+vanquished race. Hence the fact that a perfect specimen of a Bushman
+is a rara avis, even in the localities where the last remnants are
+known to linger.
+
+Outa Karel could hardly be called a perfect specimen of the original
+race, for, though he always spoke of himself as wholly Bushman, there
+was a strong strain of the Hottentot about him, chiefly noticeable
+in his build.
+
+He spoke in Dutch, in the curiously expressive voice belonging to
+these people, just now honey-sweet with the deference he felt for
+his superiors.
+
+"Ach toch! Night, Baas. Night, Nooi. Night, Nonnie and my little
+baasjes. Excuse that this old Bushman does not bend to greet you;
+the will is there, but his knees are too stiff. Thank you, thank you,
+my baasje," as Pietie dragged a low stool, covered with springbok skin,
+from under the desk in the recess and pushed it towards him. He settled
+himself on it slowly and carefully, with much creaking of joints and
+many strange native ejaculations.
+
+The little group had arranged itself anew. Cousin Minnie was in the
+cosy corner of the rustbank near the wall, little Jan next her with
+his head against her, and Torry's head on his lap--this attention to
+make up for his late seeming unkindness in pushing him away.
+
+Pappa, with his magazine, was at the other end of the rustbank where
+he could, if he chose, speak to Mamma in a low tone, or peep over to
+see how her book was getting on. Willem had pushed the basket away
+so as to settle himself more comfortably against Cousin Minnie's knee
+as he sat on the floor, and Pietie was on a small chair just in front
+of the fire.
+
+The centre of attention was the quaint old native, who, having
+relegated his duties to his children and grandchildren, lived as
+a privileged pensioner in the van der Merwe family he had served so
+faithfully for three generations. The firelight played over his quaint
+figure with the weirdest effect, lighting up now one portion of it,
+now another, showing up his astonishingly small hands and crooked
+fingers, as he pointed and gesticulated incessantly--for these people
+speak as much by gesture as by sound--and throwing exaggerated shadows
+on the wall.
+
+This was the hour beloved by the children, when the short wintry
+day had ended, and, in the interval between the coming of darkness
+and the evening meal, their dear Outa Karel was allowed in to tell
+them stories.
+
+And weird and wonderful stories they were--tales of spooks and giants,
+of good and bad spirits, of animals that talked, of birds, beasts
+and insects that exercised marvellous influence over the destinies
+of unsuspecting mankind. But most thrilling of all, perhaps, were
+Outa Karel's personal experiences--adventures by veld and krantz with
+lion, tiger, jackal and crocodile, such as no longer fall to the lot
+of mortal man.
+
+The children would listen, wide-eyed and breathless, and even their
+elders, sparing a moment's attention from book or writing, would feel
+a tremor of excitement, unable to determine where reality ended and
+fiction began, so inextricably were they intermingled as this old
+Iago of the desert wove his romances.
+
+"Now, Outa, tell us a nice story, the nicest you know," said little
+Jan, nestling closer to Cousin Minnie, and issuing his command as
+the autocrat of the "One Thousand and One Nights" might have done.
+
+"Ach! but klein baas, this stupid old black one knows no new stories,
+only the old ones of Jakhals and Leeuw, and how can he tell even those
+when his throat is dry--ach, so dry with the dust from the kraals?"
+
+He forced a gurgling cough, and his small eyes glittered
+expectantly. Then suddenly he started with well-feigned surprise and
+beamed on Pietie, who stood beside him with a soopje in the glass
+kept for his especial use.
+
+This was a nightly performance. The lubrication was never forgotten,
+but it was often purposely delayed in order to see what pretext
+Outa would use to call attention to the fact of its not having been
+offered. Sore throat, headache, stomach-ache, cold, heat, rheumatism,
+old age, a birthday (invented for the occasion), the killing of a
+snake or the breaking-in of a young horse--anything served as an
+excuse for what was a time-honoured custom.
+
+"Thank you, thank you, mij klein koning. Gezondheid to Baas, Nooi,
+Nonnie, and the beautiful family van der Merwe." He lifted the glass,
+gulped down the contents, and smacked his lips approvingly. "Ach! if
+a Bushman only had a neck like an ostrich! How good would the soopje
+taste all the way down! Now I am strong again; now I am ready to tell
+the story of Jakhals and Oom Leeuw."
+
+"About Oom Leeuw carrying Jakhals on his back?" asked Willem.
+
+"No, baasje. This is quite a different one."
+
+And with many strange gesticulations, imitating every action and
+changing his voice to suit the various characters, the old man began:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+HOW JAKHALS FED OOM LEEUW.
+
+
+"One day in the early morning, before any people were awake, Jakhals
+was prowling round and prowling round, looking for something to
+eat. Jakhals is not fond of hunting for himself. Oh, no! he likes to
+wait till the hunt is over, so that he can share in the feast without
+having had any of the work. He had just dragged himself quietly
+to the top of a kopje--so, my baasjes, so--with his stomach close
+to the ground, and his ears moving backwards and forwards"--Outa's
+little hands, on either side of the kopdoek, suited the action to the
+word--"to hear the least sound. Then he looked here, he looked there,
+he looked all around, and yes, truly! whom do you think he saw in
+the kloof below? No other than Oom Leeuw himself, clawing a nice big
+hamel he had just killed--a Boer hamel, baasjes, with a beautiful
+fat tail. Oh yes, Oom Leeuw had picked out a good one.
+
+"'Arre!' thought Jakhals, 'this is luck,' and he sat still for
+a minute, wondering how he could get some of the nice meat for
+himself. He soon made a plan. A white thing fluttered in a little
+bush near him. It was a piece of paper. He picked it up and folded
+it--so--and so--and so--" the crooked fingers were very busy--"till
+it looked like a letter. Then he ran down the kopje in a great hurry
+and called out, 'Good morning, Oom.'
+
+"'Morning, Neef.'
+
+"'I see Oom has killed a Boer hamel.'
+
+"'Yes, Neef, a big fat one.'
+
+"'Well, here is a letter from Tante,' said Jakhals, giving the piece
+of paper to Leeuw. 'As I was passing she asked me to give it to Oom.'
+
+"Leeuw took it and turned it this way, that way. He held it far from
+him, he held it close to his eyes, but he couldn't make it out at
+all. See, baasjes, Leeuw was one of the old-fashioned sort. He grew
+up before there were so many schools and good teachers"--here Outa's
+bright eyes winked and blinked flatteringly on Cousin Minnie and her
+pupils--"he was not clever; he could not read. But he didn't want
+anyone to know it, so he said:
+
+"'Jakhals, Oom has forgotten his spectacles; you had better read
+it out."
+
+"'Hm, hm, hm,' said Jakhals, pretending to read. 'Tante says Oom must
+kill a nice fat Boer hamel and send it home at once by me. She and
+the children are hungry.'
+
+"'Well, that's all right. Here is the very thing. Tante is not very
+well. The Jew smouse's donkey she ate the other day disagreed with
+her, so we must coax her a little. I don't want to say anything, but
+you know a vrouwmens is a dangerous thing when she is in a temper. So
+you had better take this hamel to her at once, and then you can have
+the offal for your trouble."
+
+"'Thank you, noble Oom, King of Beasts,' said Jakhals in a fawning
+voice, promising himself at the same time that he would have something
+more than the offal. 'How fortunate am I, poor humble creature,
+to have the King for my uncle,' and off he trotted with the sheep.
+
+"Leeuw prowled further up the kloof, waving his tail from side to
+side." Had Outa had a tail he would have wagged it, but, as he had
+not, his right arm was slowly flourished to and fro to give point
+to his description. "Here comes a little Steenbokje on its way to a
+veld dam for water. Ach! but it is pretty! It looks here, it looks
+there, with its large soft eyes. One little front foot is in the air;
+now it is down; the other goes up; down again. On it comes, slowly,
+slowly"--Outa's hands, bunched up to resemble the buck's feet,
+illustrated each step, the children following his movements with
+breathless interest. "Now it stops to listen." Outa was rigid as he
+bent forward to catch the least sound. Suddenly he started violently,
+and the children involuntarily did the same. "Hark! what was that? What
+is coming? Ach! how Steenbokje skriks and shivers! A terrible form
+blocks the way! Great eyes--cruel eyes burn him with their fire. Now
+he knows. It is Leeuw!--Leeuw who stands in the path! He growls
+and glares at Steenbokje. Steenbokje cannot turn away. They stare
+at each other--so--just so--" Outa glares at each fascinated child
+in turn. "Steenbokje cannot look away, cannot move. He is stiff with
+fright. His blood is cold. His eyes are starting out of his head. And
+then--voops!"--the listeners jump as Outa's long arms suddenly swoop
+towards them--"one spring and Leeuw is on him. Steenbokje blares--meh,
+meh, meh--but it is no good. Leeuw tears him and claws him. Tip, tip,
+tip, the red blood drips down; s-s-s-s-s, it runs out like a stream,
+and Leeuw licks it up. There lies pretty little Steenbokje, dead,
+dead." Outa's voice trails away faintly.
+
+The children heave big sighs. Little Jan's grey eyes are full of
+tears. The old native's graphic description has made them feel as
+though they had been watching round a death-bed.
+
+"Yes, baasjes, Leeuw killed Steenbokje there in the kloof. He tore
+the skin off--skr-r-r-r--and bit through the bones--skrnch, skrnch,
+skrnch--and ate little Steenbokje for his breakfast. Then he went to
+the krantzes to sleep, for the day was coming and the light began to
+hurt his eyes.
+
+"When he awoke it was evening, and he felt refreshed and rather
+hungry. My baasjes know a steenbokje is nothing for a meal for Oom
+Leeuw. But before hunting again he thought he would go home and see
+how Tante and the children were getting on, and whether they had
+feasted well on the nice fat hamel.
+
+"But, dear land! What did poor Oom Leeuw find? The children crying,
+Tante spluttering and scratching with rage, everything upside down,
+and not even the bones of the hamel to be seen.
+
+"'Ohe! ohe! ohe!' cried Tante. 'The bad, wicked Jakhals! Ach, the low,
+veld dog!'
+
+"'But what is the matter?' asked Leeuw. 'Where is Jakhals?'
+
+"'Where is he? How should I know? He has run off with the nice fat
+hamel, and me--yes, me, the King's wife--has he beaten with the
+entrails! Ohe! ohe!'
+
+"'And boxed my ears!' cried one of the cubs. 'Wah! wah! wah!'
+
+"'And pinched my tail,' roared the other. 'Weh! weh! weh!'
+
+"'And left us nothing but the offal. Oh, the cunning, smooth-tongued
+vagabond!'
+
+"And all three fell to weeping and wailing, while Leeuw roared aloud
+in his anger.
+
+"'Wait a bit, I'll get him,' he said. 'Before the world wakes to-morrow
+he'll see who's baas.'
+
+"He waved his tail to and fro and stuck out his strong claws. His eyes
+glared like fire in a dark kloof when there is no moon, and when he
+brulled it was very terrible to hear--hoor-r-r-r-r, hoor-r-r-r-r,"
+and Outa gave vent to several deep, blood-curdling roars.
+
+"Very early the next morning, when only a little grey in the sky
+shewed that the night was rolling round to the other side of the
+world, Leeuw took his strongest sjambok and started off to look for
+Jakhals. He spied him at last on the top of a krantz sitting by a
+fire with his wife and children.
+
+"'Ah! there you are, my fine fellow,' he thought. 'Well and happy
+are you? But wait, I'll soon show you!'
+
+"He began at once to try and climb the krantz, but it was very
+steep and high, and so smooth that there was nothing for him to hold
+to. Every time he got up a little way, his claws just scratched along
+the hard rock and he came sailing down again. At last he thought,
+'Well, as I can't climb up, I'll pretend to be nice and friendly,
+and then perhaps Jakhals will come down. I'll ask him to go hunting
+with me.'"
+
+Here Outa's beady little eyes danced mischievously. "Baasjes know,
+the only way to get the better of a schelm is to be schelm, too. When
+anyone cheats, you must cheat more, or you will never be baas. Ach,
+yes! that is the only way."
+
+(Cousin Minnie would not disturb the course of the tale, but she
+mentally prescribed and stored up for future use an antidote to this
+pagan and wordly-wise piece of advice to her pupils.)
+
+"So Leeuw stood at the foot of the krantz and called out quite friendly
+and kind, 'Good morning, Neef Jakhals.'
+
+"'Morning, Oom.'
+
+"'I thought you might like to go hunting with me, but I see you
+are busy.'
+
+"At any other time Jakhals would have skipped with delight, for it was
+very seldom he had the honour of such an invitation, but now he was
+blown up with conceit at having cheated Oom and Tante Leeuw so nicely.
+
+"'Thank you, Oom, but I am not in want of meat just now. I'm busy
+grilling some nice fat mutton chops for breakfast. Won't you come
+and have some, too?'
+
+"'Certainly, with pleasure, but this krantz is so steep--how can I
+get up?'
+
+"'Ach! that's quite easy, Oom. I'll pull you up in an eye-wink. Here,
+vrouw, give me a nice thick riem. That old rotten one that is nearly
+rubbed through,' he said in a whisper to his wife.
+
+"So Mrs. Jakhals, who was as slim as her husband, brought the bad riem,
+and they set to work to pull Oom Leeuw up. 'Hoo-ha! hoo-ha!' they
+sang as they slowly hauled away.
+
+"When he was about ten feet from the ground, Jakhals called out,
+'Arre! but Oom is heavy,' and he pulled the riem this way and
+that way along the sharp edge of the krantz"--Outa vigorously
+demonstrated--"till it broke right through and--kabloops!--down fell
+Oom Leeuw to the hard ground below.
+
+"'Oh! my goodness! What a terrible fall! I hope Oom is not hurt. How
+stupid can a vrouwmens be! To give me an old riem when I called for
+the best! Now, here is a strong one. Oom can try again.'
+
+"So Leeuw tried again, and again, and again, many times over, but
+each time the rope broke and each time his fall was greater, because
+Jakhals always pulled him up a little higher, and a little higher. At
+last he called out:
+
+"'It's very kind of you, Jakhals, but I must give it up.'
+
+"'Ach! but that's a shame!' said Jakhals, pretending to be sorry. 'The
+carbonaatjes are done to a turn, and the smell--alle wereld! it's
+fine! Shall I throw Oom down a piece of the meat?'
+
+"'Yes please, Jakhals,' said Leeuw eagerly, licking his lips. 'I have
+a big hole inside me and some carbonaatjes will fill it nicely.'
+
+"Ach! my baasjes, what did cunning Jakhals do? He carefully raked a
+red-hot stone out of the fire and wrapped a big piece of fat round
+it. Then he peered over the edge of the krantz and saw Leeuw waiting
+impatiently.
+
+"'Now Oom,' he called, 'open your mouth wide and I'll drop this
+in. It's such a nice big one, I bet you won't want another.'
+
+"And when he said this, Jakhals chuckled, while Mrs. Jakhals and the
+little ones doubled up with silent laughter at the great joke.
+
+"'Are you ready, Oom?'
+
+"'Grr-r-r-r-r!' gurgled Leeuw. He had his mouth wide open to catch
+the carbonaatje, and he would not speak for fear of missing it.
+
+"Jakhals leaned over and took aim. Down fell the tit-bit
+and--sluk! sluk!--Leeuw had swallowed it.
+
+"And then, my baasjes, there arose such a roaring and raving and
+groaning as had not been heard since the hills were made. The dassies
+crept along the rocky ledges far above, and peeped timidly down; the
+circling eagles swooped nearer to find out the cause; the meerkats
+and ant-bears, the porcupines and spring-hares snuggled further into
+their holes; while the frightened springboks and elands fled swiftly
+over the plain to seek safety in some other veld.
+
+"Only wicked Jakhals and his family rejoiced. With their bushy tails
+waving and their pointed ears standing up, they danced round the fire,
+holding hands and singing over and over:
+
+
+
+    "'Arre! who is stronger than the King of Beastland?
+    Arre! who sees further than the King of Birdland?
+    Who but thick-tailed Jakhals, but the Silver-maned One?
+    He, the small but sly one; he, the wise Planmaker.
+    King of Beasts would catch him; catch him, claw him, kill him!
+    Ha! ha! ha! would catch him! Ha! ha! ha! would kill him!
+    But he finds a way out; grills the fat-tailed hamel,
+    Feeds the King of Beastland with the juicy tit-bits;
+    Eats the fat-tailed hamel while the King lies dying;
+    Ha! ha! ha! lies dying! Ha! ha! ha! lies dead now!'"
+
+
+
+Outa crooned the Jakhals' triumph song in a weird monotone, and on
+the last words his voice quavered out, leaving a momentary silence
+among the small folk.
+
+Pietie blinked as though the firelight were too much for his
+eyes. Little Jan sighed tumultuously. Willem cleared his throat.
+
+"But how did Jakhals know that Oom Leeuw was dead?" he asked suddenly.
+
+"He peeped over the krantz every time between the dancing and
+singing--like this, baasje, just like this." Outa's eyes, head and
+hands were at work. "The first time he looked, he saw Oom Leeuw rolling
+over and over; the next time Leeuw was scratching, scratching at the
+rocky krantz; then he was digging into the ground with his claws;
+then he was only blowing himself out--so--with long slow breaths;
+but the last time he was lying quite still, and then Jakhals knew."
+
+"Oh! I didn't want poor Steenbokje to die," said little Jan. "He
+was such a pretty little thing. Outa, this is not one of your nicest
+stories."
+
+"It's all about killing," said Pietie. "First Leeuw killed poor
+Steenbokje, who never did him any harm, and then Jakhals killed Oom
+Leeuw, who never did him any harm. It was very cruel and wicked."
+
+"Ach yes, baasjes," explained Outa, apologetically, "we don't know
+why, but it is so. Sometimes the good ones are killed and the bad
+ones grow fat. In this old world it goes not always so's it must go;
+it just go so's it goes."
+
+"But," persisted Pietie, "you oughtn't to have let Jakhals kill
+Oom Leeuw. Oom Leeuw was much stronger, so he ought to have killed
+naughty Jakhals."
+
+Outa's eyes gleamed pityingly. These young things! What did they know
+of the ups and downs of a hard world where the battle is not always
+to the strong, nor the race to the swift?
+
+"But, my baasje, Outa did not make up the story. He only put in little
+bits, like the newspaper and the spectacles and the Jew smouse, that
+are things of to-day. But the real story was made long, long ago,
+perhaps when baasje's people went about in skins like the Rooi Kafirs,
+and Outa's people were still monkeys in the bushveld. It has always
+been so, and it will always be so--in the story and in the old wicked
+world. It is the head, my baasjes, the head," he tapped his own, "and
+not the strong arms and legs and teeth, that makes one animal master
+over another. Ach yes! if the Bushman's head had been the same as the
+white man's, arre! what a fight there would have been between them!"
+
+And lost in the astonishing train of thought called up by this
+idea, he sat gazing out before him with eyes which saw many strange
+things. Then, rousing himself, with a quick change of voice and
+manner, "Ach! please, Nooi!" he said in a wheedling tone, "a span of
+tobacco--just one little span for to-night and to-morrow."
+
+His mistress laughed indulgently, and, unhooking the bunch of keys
+from her belt, handed them to Cousin Minnie. "The old sinner!" she
+said. "We all spoil him, and yet who could begin to be strict with
+him now? Only a small piece, Minnie."
+
+"Thank you, thank you, my Nonnie," said the old man, holding out both
+hands, and receiving the coveted span as if it were something very
+precious. "That's my young lady! Nonnie can have Outa's skeleton when
+he is dead. Yes, it will be a fine skeleton for Nonnie to send far
+across the blue water, where she sent the old long-dead Bushman's
+bones. Ach foei! all of him went into a little soap boxie--just to
+think of it! a soap boxie!"
+
+He started as a young coloured girl made her appearance. "O mij
+lieve! here is Lys already. How the time goes when a person is with
+the baasjes and the noois! Night, Baas; night, Nooi; night, Nonnie and
+little masters. Sleep well! Ach! the beautiful family Van der Merwe!"
+
+His thanks, farewells and flatteries grew fainter and fainter, and
+finally died away in the distance, as his granddaughter led him away.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+WHO WAS KING?
+
+
+"Once upon a time," began Outa Karel, and his audience of three looked
+up expectantly.
+
+"Once upon a time, Oom Leeuw roared and the forest shook with the
+dreadful sound. Then, from far away over the vlakte, floated another
+roar, and the little lion cubs jumped about and stood on their heads,
+tumbling over each other in their merriment.
+
+"'Hear,' they said, 'it is Volstruis, old Three Sticks. He tries
+to imitate the King, our father. He roars well. Truly there is no
+difference.'
+
+"When Leeuw heard this he was very angry, so he roared again, louder
+than ever. Again came back the sound over the veld, as if it had been
+an echo.
+
+"'Ach, no! this will never do,' thought Leeuw. 'I must put a stop to
+this impudence. I alone am King here, and imitators--I want none.'
+
+"So he went forth and roamed over the vlakte till he met old Three
+Sticks, the Ostrich. They stood glaring at each other.
+
+"Leeuw's eyes flamed, his mane rose in a huge mass and he lashed
+his tail angrily. Volstruis spread out his beautiful wings and
+swayed from side to side, his beak open and his neck twisting like
+a whip-snake. Ach! it was pretty, but if baasjes could have seen his
+eyes! Baasjes know, Volstruis's eyes are very soft and beautiful--like
+Nonnie's when she tells the Bible stories; but now there was only
+fierceness in them, and yellow lights that looked like fire.
+
+"But there was no fight--yet. It was only their way of meeting. Leeuw
+came a step nearer and said, 'We must see who is baas. You, Volstruis,
+please to roar a little.'
+
+"So Volstruis roared, blowing out his throat, so,
+'Hoo-hoo-hoor-r-r-r!' It was a fearsome sound--the sort of sound
+that makes you feel streams of cold water running down your back
+when you hear it suddenly and don't know what it is. Yes, baasjes,
+if you are in bed you curl up and pull the blankets over your head,
+and if you are outside you run in and get close to the Nooi or Nonnie."
+
+A slight movement, indicative of contradiction, passed from one to
+another of his small hearers, but--unless it was a free and easy,
+conversational evening--they made it a point of honour never to
+interrupt Outa in full career. This, like other things, could await
+the finish of the story.
+
+"Then Leeuw roared, and truly the voices were the same. No one
+could say, 'This is a bigger voice,' or 'That is a more terrifying
+voice.' No, they were just equal.
+
+"So Leeuw said to Volstruis, 'Our voices are alike. You are my equal
+in roaring. Let it then be so. You will be King of the Birds as I am
+King of the Beasts. Now let us go hunting and see who is baas there.'
+
+"Out in the vlakte some sassaby [1] were feeding, big fat ones, a nice
+klompje; so Leeuw started off in one direction and Volstruis in the
+other, but both kept away from the side the wind came from. Wild bucks
+can smell--ach toch! so good. Just one little puff when a hunter is
+creeping up to them, and at once all the heads are in the air--sniff,
+sniff, sniff--and they are off like the wind. Dust is all you see,
+and when that has blown away--ach no! there are no bucks; the whole
+veld is empty, empty!"
+
+Outa stretched out his arms and waved them from side to side with an
+exaggerated expression of finding nothing but empty space, his voice
+mournful with a sense of irreparable loss.
+
+"But"--he took up his tale with renewed energy--"Leeuw and Volstruis
+were old hunters. They knew how to get nearer and nearer without
+letting the bucks know. Leeuw trailed himself along slowly, slowly,
+close to the ground, and only when he was moving could you see which
+was Leeuw and which was sand: the colour was just the same.
+
+"He picked out a big buck, well-grown and fat, but not too old to
+be juicy, and when he got near enough he hunched himself up very
+quietly--so, my little masters, just so--ready to spring, and then
+before you could whistle, he shot through the air like a stone from
+a catapult, and fell, fair and square, on to the sassaby's back,
+his great tearing claws fastened on its shoulders and his wicked
+teeth meeting in the poor thing's neck.
+
+"Ach! the beautiful big buck! Never again would his pointed horns
+tear open his enemies! Never again would he lead the herd, or pronk
+in the veld in mating time! Never again would his soft nostrils scent
+danger in the distance, nor his quick hoofs give the signal for the
+stampede! No, it was really all up with him this time! When Oom Leeuw
+gets hold of a thing, he doesn't let go till it is dead.
+
+"The rest of the herd--ach, but they ran! Soon they were far away,
+only specks in the distance; all except those that Volstruis
+had killed. Truly Volstruis was clever! Baasjes know, he can run
+fast--faster even than the sassaby. So when he saw Leeuw getting
+ready to spring, he raced up-wind as hard as he could, knowing that
+was what the herd would do. So there he was waiting for them, and
+didn't he play with them! See, baasjes, he stood just so"--in his
+excitement Outa rose and struck an attitude--"and when they streaked
+past him he jumped like this, striking at them with the hard, sharp
+claws on his old two toes." Outa hopped about like a fighting bantam,
+while the children hugged themselves in silent delight.
+
+"Voerts! there was one dead!"--Outa kicked to the right. "Voerts! there
+was another!"--he kicked to the left--"till there was a klomp of bucks
+lying about the veld giving their last blare. Yes, old Two Toes did
+his work well that day.
+
+"When Leeuw came up and saw that Volstruis had killed more than he had,
+he was not very pleased, but Volstruis soon made it all right.
+
+"Leeuw said, 'You have killed most, so you rip open and begin to eat.'
+
+"'Oh no!' said Volstruis, 'you have cubs to share the food with,
+so you rip open and eat. I shall only drink the blood.'
+
+"This put Leeuw in a good humour; he thought Volstruis a noble,
+unselfish creature. But truly, as I said before, Volstruis was
+clever. Baasjes see, he couldn't eat meat; he had no teeth. But he
+didn't want Leeuw to know. Therefore he said, 'You eat; I will only
+drink the blood.'
+
+"So Leeuw ripped open--sk-r-r-r-r, sk-r-r-r-r--and called the cubs,
+and they all ate till they were satisfied. Then Volstruis came along
+in a careless fashion, pecking, pecking as he walked, and drank the
+blood. Then he and Leeuw lay down in the shade of some trees and went
+to sleep.
+
+"The cubs played about, rolling and tumbling over each other. As they
+played they came to the place where Volstruis lay.
+
+"'Aha!' said one, 'he sleeps with his mouth open.'
+
+"He peeped into Volstruis's mouth. 'Aha!' he said again, 'I see
+something.'
+
+"Another cub came and peeped.
+
+"'Alle kracht!' he said, 'I see something too. Let us go and tell
+our father.'
+
+"So they ran off in great excitement and woke Leeuw. 'Come, come
+quickly,' they said. 'Volstruis insults you by saying he is your
+equal. He lies sleeping under the trees with his mouth wide open,
+and we have peeped into it, and behold, he has no teeth! Come and
+see for yourself.'
+
+"Leeuw bounded off quick-quick with the cubs at his tail.
+
+"'Nier-r-r-r,' he growled, waking Volstruis, 'nier-r-r-r. What is
+the meaning of this? You pretend you are my equal, and you haven't
+even got teeth.'
+
+"'Teeth or no teeth,' said Volstruis, standing up wide awake,
+'I killed more bucks than you did to-day. Teeth or no teeth, I'll
+fight you to show who's baas.'
+
+"'Come on,' said Leeuw. 'Who's afraid? I'm just ready for you. Come
+on!'
+
+"'No, wait a little,' said Volstruis. 'I've got a plan. You see that
+ant-heap over there? Well, you stand on one side of it, and I'll stand
+on the other side, and we'll see who can push it over first. After
+that we'll come out into the open and fight.'
+
+"'That seems an all-right plan,' said Leeuw; and he thought to himself,
+'I'm heavier and stronger; I can easily send the ant-heap flying on
+to old Three Sticks, and then spring over and kill him.'
+
+"But wait a bit! It was not as easy as he thought. Every time he sprang
+at the ant-heap he clung to it as he was accustomed to cling to his
+prey. He had no other way of doing things. And then Volstruis would
+take the opportunity of kicking high into the air, sending the sand and
+stones into Leeuw's face, and making him howl and splutter with rage.
+
+"Sometimes he would stand still and roar, and Volstruis would send
+a roar back from the other side.
+
+"So they went on till the top of the ant-heap was quite loosened
+by the kicks and blows. Leeuw was getting angrier and angrier,
+and he could hardly see--his eyes were so full of dust. He gathered
+himself together for a tremendous spring, but, before he could make
+it, Volstruis bounded into the air and kicked the whole top off the
+ant-heap. Arre, but the dust was thick!
+
+"When it cleared away, there lay Leeuw, groaning and coughing, with
+the great heap of earth and stones on top of him.
+
+"'Ohe! ohe!' wailed the cubs, 'get up, my father. Here he comes, the
+Toothless One! He who has teeth only on his feet! Get up and slay him.'
+
+"Leeuw shook himself free of the earth and sprang at Volstruis, but his
+eyes were full of sand; he could not see properly, so he missed. As he
+came down heavily, Volstruis shot out his strong right leg and caught
+Leeuw in the side. Sk-r-r-r-r! went the skin, and goops! goops! over
+fell poor Oom Leeuw, with Volstruis's terrible claws--the teeth of
+old Two Toes--fastened into him.
+
+"Volstruis danced on him, flapping and waving his beautiful black
+and white wings, and tearing the life out of Oom Leeuw.
+
+"When it was all over, he cleaned his claws in the sand and waltzed
+away slowly over the veld to where his mate sat on the nest.
+
+"Only the cubs were left wailing over the dead King of the Forest."
+
+
+
+The usual babel of question and comment broke out at the close of the
+story, till at last Pietie's decided young voice detached itself from
+the general chatter.
+
+"Outa, what made you say that about pulling the blankets over one's
+head and running to get near Mammie if one heard Volstruis bellowing
+at night? You know quite well that none of us would ever do it."
+
+"Yes, yes, my baasje, I know," said Outa, soothingly. "I never meant
+anyone who belongs to the land of Volstruise. But other little masters,
+who did not know the voice of old Three Sticks--they would run to
+their mam-mas if they heard him."
+
+"Oh, I see," said Pietie, accepting the apology graciously. "I was
+sure you could not mean a karroo farm boy."
+
+"Is your story a parable, Outa?" asked little Jan, who had been doing
+some hard thinking for the last minute.
+
+"Ach! and what is that, my little master?"
+
+"A kind of fable, Outa."
+
+"Yes, that's what it is, baasje," said Outa, gladly seizing on the
+word he understood, "a fable, a sort of nice little fable."
+
+"But a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, and when
+Cousin Minnie tells us parables she always finds the meaning for
+us. What is the heavenly meaning of this, Outa?"
+
+Little Jan's innocent grey eyes were earnestly fixed on Outa's face,
+as though to read from it the explanation he sought. For once the
+old native was nonplussed. He rubbed his red kopdoek, laid a crooked
+finger thoughtfully against his flat nose, scratched his sides,
+monkey-fashion, and finally had recourse once more to the kopdoek. But
+all these expedients failed to inspire him with the heavenly meaning
+of the story he had just told. Ach! these dear little ones, to think
+of such strange things! There they all were, waiting for his next
+words. He must get out of it somehow.
+
+"Baasjes," he began, smoothly, "there is a beautiful meaning to the
+story, but Outa hasn't got time to tell it now. Another time----"
+
+"Outa," broke in Willem, reprovingly, "you know you only want to get
+away so that you can go to the old tramp-floor, where the volk are
+dancing to-night."
+
+"No, my baasje, truly no!"
+
+"And I wouldn't be surprised to hear that you had danced, too, after
+the way you have been jumping about here."
+
+"Yes, that was fine," said Pietie, with relish. "'Voerts! there is
+one dead! Voerts! there is another!' Outa, you always say you are so
+stiff, but you can still kick well."
+
+"Aja, baasje," returned Outa, modestly; "in my day I was a great
+dancer. No one could do the Vastrap better--and the Hondekrap--and
+the Valsrivier. Arre, those were the times!"
+
+He gave a little hop at the remembrance of those mad and merry days,
+and yet another and another, always towards the passage leading to
+the kitchen.
+
+"But the meaning, Outa, the heavenly meaning!" cried little Jan. "You
+haven't told us."
+
+"No, my little baas, not to-night. Ask the Nonnie; she will tell
+you. Here she comes."
+
+And as Cousin Minnie entered the room, the wily old native, with
+an agility not to be expected from his cramped and crooked limbs,
+skipped away, leaving her to bear the brunt of his inability to
+explain his own story.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+WHY THE HYENA IS LAME.
+
+
+"It was Tante Hyena that Jakhals cheated more than anyone," said
+Outa. "She always forgot about the last time he had played a trick
+on her, so she was quite ready to believe him when he came along with
+another story. Some people are so, my baasjes. P'raps it's kindness,
+p'raps it's only stupidness; Outa doesn't know.
+
+"One day Jakhals and Hyena were out walking together when a white
+cloud came up behind the kopjes and floated over the veld quite close
+to them. It was a nice thick cloud, just like white fat, and Jakhals
+climbed on to it and sat looking down over the edge. Then he bit
+pieces out of it, and ate them.
+
+"'Arre! but this white fat is nice,' he said. 'N-yum, n-yum, n-yum,'
+and he chewed round the cloud like a caterpillar chews a leaf.
+
+"Hyena licked her lips and looked up at him.
+
+"'Throw me down some, please,' she said.
+
+"'Ach! my Brown Sister, will I then be so greedy as to throw you down
+little bits? Wait till I get down, and then I'll help you up to eat
+for yourself. But come a little nearer so that you can catch me when
+I jump.'
+
+"So Hyena stood ready, and Jakhals jumped in such a way that he
+knocked her into the sand. He fell soft, because he was on top, but
+foei! poor Hyena had all the breath knocked out of her and she was
+covered with dust.
+
+"'Ach! but I am clumsy!' said Jakhals; 'but never mind, now I'll
+help you.'
+
+"So when she had got up and dusted herself, he helped her to climb
+on to the cloud. There she sat, biting pieces off and eating them,
+'N-yum, n-yum, n-yum, it's just like white fat!'
+
+"After a time she called out, 'Grey Brother, I've had enough. I want
+to come down. Please catch me when I jump.'
+
+"'Ach, certainly Brown Sister, come on. Just see how nicely I'll
+catch you. So-o-o.'
+
+"He held out his arms, but just as Hyena jumped he sprang to one side,
+calling out, 'Ola! Ola! a thorn has pricked me. What shall I do? what
+shall I do?' and he hopped about holding one leg up.
+
+"Woops! Down fell Brown Sister, and as she fell she put out her
+left leg to save herself, but it doubled up under her and was nearly
+broken. She lay in a bundle in the sand, crying, 'My leg is cracked! my
+leg is cracked!'
+
+"Jakhals came along very slowly--jump, jump, on three legs. Surely
+the thorn, that wasn't there, was hurting him very much!
+
+"'Oo! oo!' cried Hyena, 'help me up, Grey Brother. My leg is broken.'
+
+"'And mine has a thorn in it. Foei toch, my poor sister! How can the
+sick help the sick? The only plan is for us to get home in the best
+way we can. Good-bye, and I will visit you to-morrow to see if you
+are all right.'
+
+"And off he went--jump, jump, on three legs--very slowly; but as
+soon as Old Brown Sister could not see him, he put down the other
+one and--sh-h-h-h--he shot over the veld and got home just in time to
+have a nice supper of young ducks that Mrs. Jakhals and the children
+had caught at Oubaas van Niekerk's dam.
+
+"But poor Brown Sister lay in the sand crying over her sore places,
+and from that day she walks lame, because her left hind foot is
+smaller than the right one." [2]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+WHO WAS THE THIEF?
+
+
+"Yes, my baasjes, so was Oom Jakhals: he always made as if he forgot
+all about what he had done, and he made as if he thought all the
+others forgot too, quick-quick. He is maar so schelm."
+
+Here Outa took full advantage of the pinch of snuff he held between
+his right forefinger and thumb, sneezed with evident enjoyment two
+or three times, and continued:
+
+"When Jakhals thought Hyena was quite well, he went to visit her.
+
+"'It's very dull here in the veld,' he said, 'and food is so scarce,
+so I'm going to hire myself to a farmer. He'll give me lots to eat
+and drink, and when I'm nice and fat I'll come home again. Would you
+like to go too, Brown Sister?'
+
+"Hyena smacked her lips when she heard about the nice things to
+eat. She thought it a very good plan. So they went to a farm, and
+Jakhals talked so nicely that the farmer hired them both to work
+for him.
+
+"Ach! it was a beautiful place; lots of chickens and little ducks,
+and Afrikander sheep with large fat tails that could be melted out
+for soap and candles, and eggs, and doves and pigeons--all things
+that Jakhals liked. He just felt in his stomach that he was going to
+have a jolly life.
+
+"During the day Jakhals peeped all about, in this corner, in that
+corner, and he found out where the farmer kept the nice fat that was
+melted out of the sheep's tails. In the middle of the night, when all
+the people were fast asleep, he got up and went quietly, my baasjes,
+quietly, like a shadow on the ground, to the place where the fat
+was. He took a big lump and smeared it all over Brown Sister's tail
+while she was asleep. Then he ate all that was left--n-yum, n-yum,
+n-yum--and went to sleep in the waggon-house.
+
+"Early in the morning, when the farmer went out to milk the cows,
+he missed the fat.
+
+"'Lieve land! Where is all my fat?' he said. 'It must be that vagabond
+Jakhals. But wait, I'll get him!'
+
+"He took a thick riem and his sjambok, and went to the waggon-house
+to catch Jakhals and give him a beating. But when he asked about the
+fat, Jakhals spoke in a little, little voice.
+
+"'Ach no, Baas! Would I then do such an ugly thing? And look at my
+tail. There's no fat on it. The one whose tail is full of fat is
+the thief.'
+
+"He turned round and waved his tail in the farmer's face, and anyone
+could easily see that there was no fat on it.
+
+"'But the fat is gone,' said the farmer, 'someone must have stolen it,'
+and he went on hunting, hunting in the waggon-house.
+
+"At last he came to where Hyena was sleeping, just like a baby,
+baasjes, so nicely, and snoring a little: not the loud snoring like
+sawing planks--gorr-korrr, gorr-korr--but nice soft snoring like people
+do when they sleep very fast--see-uw, see-uw. It is the deepest sleep
+when a person snores see-uw, see-uw. Hyena's head was on some chaff,
+and her tail was sticking out behind her, stiff with fat!
+
+"'Aha! here is the thief,' said the farmer, and he began to tie the
+riem round her.
+
+"Old Brown Sister sat up and rubbed her eyes. 'What's the matter?' she
+asked. 'I had a beautiful dream. I dreamt I was eating fat the whole
+night, and----'
+
+"'And so you were--my fat,' said the farmer, and he pulled the rope
+tighter. 'And now I'm going to teach you not to steal again.'
+
+"Poor old Brown Sister jumped about when she found out what he was
+going to do; she ran round and round the waggon-house trying to get
+away; she called out, and she called out that she did not know about
+the fat, that she had never tasted it, and had never even seen it. But
+it was no good.
+
+"'Look at your tail,' said the farmer. 'Will you tell me that your
+tail went by itself and rubbed itself in the fat?'
+
+"So he tied her to the waggon wheel and beat her, and beat
+her--ach! she was quite sore--and she screamed and screamed, and at
+last he drove her away from the farm.
+
+"Poor old Brown Sister! She didn't even have the fat from her tail to
+eat, because, baasjes see, with the running round and the beating,
+it was all rubbed off. But she never went to live on a farm again;
+the veld was quite good enough for her."
+
+"Is that the end, Outa?" asked Willem.
+
+"Yes, my baasje. It's a bad end, but Outa can't help it. It does maar
+end so."
+
+"And where was Jakhals all the time?" enquired Pietie, severely.
+
+"Jakhals, my baasje, was sitting on the waggon saying his prayers--so,
+my baasjes." Outa put his crooked hands together and cast his twinkling
+eyes upwards till only the yellows showed.
+
+
+        "'Bezie, bezie, brame,
+        Hou jouw handjes same.' [3]
+
+
+"And every time Hyena screamed, Jakhals begged her not to steal again,
+but to try and behave like a good Christian."
+
+"But Jakhals was the thief," said little Jan, indignantly. "He was
+always the wicked one, and he was never punished. How was that, Outa?"
+
+A whimsical smile played over the old man's face, and though his eyes
+danced as wickedly as ever, his voice was sober as he answered.
+
+"Ach! my little master, how can Outa tell? It is maar so in this
+old world. It's like the funny thing Baas Willem saw in the Kaap,
+[4] that runs down a place so quickly that it just runs up on the
+other side, and then it can't stop, but it has to run down again,
+and so it keeps on--up and down, up and down."
+
+"You mean the switchback?" asked Willem.
+
+"Ach, yes! baasje, Outa means so. And in the world it is the same--up
+and down, up and down. And often the good ones are down and the bad
+ones are up. But the thing--Outa can't get the name right--goes on,
+and it goes on, and by-and-by the good ones are up and the bad ones
+are down."
+
+"But Jakhals seemed always to be up," remarked Willem.
+
+"Yes, my baasje," said the old man, soberly. "Jakhals seemed always to
+be up. It goes so sometimes, it goes so," but his eyes suddenly had
+a far-away look, and one could not be certain that he was thinking
+of Jakhals.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE SUN.
+
+A BUSHMAN LEGEND.
+
+
+Outa, having disposed of his nightly tot, held his crooked hands
+towards the cheerful blaze and turned his engaging smile alternately
+on it and his little masters.
+
+"Ach! what it is to keep a bit of the Sun even when the Sun is
+gone! Long ago Outa's people, the Bushmen, did not know about fire. No,
+my baasjes, when the Big Fire, that makes the world warm and bright,
+walked across the sky, they were happy. They hunted, and danced,
+and feasted. They shot the fine big bucks with their little poisoned
+arrows, and they tore pieces off and ate the flesh with the red blood
+dripping from it: they had no fire to make it dry up. And the roots
+and eintjes that they dug out with their sharp stones--those, too, they
+ate just as they were. They did not cook, for they did not know how to
+make fire. But when the white man came, then they learnt. Baasjes see,
+Outa's head is big--bigger than the Baas's head--but that does not
+help. It's the inside that matters, and the white man's head inside
+here"--Outa tapped his wrinkled forehead--"Alla! but it can hold a lot!
+
+"In the olden days, when Outa's people were cold they crept into
+caves and covered themselves with skins, for they had no fire to sit
+by. Yes, they were sorry when the Old Man in the sky put down his
+arms and lay down to sleep."
+
+"What Old Man?" asked Pietie. "Do you mean the Sun?"
+
+"Aja! Don't baasjes then know that the Sun was once a man? It was
+long, long ago, before Outa's people lived in the world: perhaps in
+the days of the Early Race that were before even the Flat Bushmen,
+who were the first people we really know anything about. In those
+days at a certain place lived a man, from whose armpits brightness
+streamed. When he lifted one arm, the place on that side of him was
+light; when he lifted the other arm, the place on that side of him
+was light; but when he lifted both arms, the light shone all around
+about him. But it only shone around the place where he lived; it did
+not reach to other places.
+
+"Sometimes the people asked him to stand on a stone, so that his light
+could go farther; and sometimes he climbed on a kopje and lifted up
+his arms: ach! then the light streamed out far, far, and lighted up
+the veld for miles and miles. For the higher he went, the farther
+the light shone.
+
+"Then the people said: 'We see now, the higher he goes the farther
+his light shines. If only we could put him very high, his light would
+go out over the whole world.'
+
+"So they tried to make a plan, and at last a wise old woman called the
+young people together and said: 'You must go to this man from whose
+armpits the light streams. When he is asleep, you must go; and the
+strongest of you must take him under the armpits, and lift him up,
+and swing him to and fro--so--so--and throw him as high as you can
+into the sky, so that he may be above the kopjes, lifting his arms
+to let the light stream down to warm the earth and make green things
+to grow in summer.'
+
+"So the young men went to the place where the man lay sleeping. Quietly
+they went, my baasjes, creeping along in the red sand so as not
+to wake him. He was in a deep sleep, and before he could wake the
+strong young men took him under the armpits and swung him to and fro,
+as the wise old woman had told them. Then, as they swung him, they
+threw him into the air, high, high, and there he stuck.
+
+"The next morning, when he awoke and stretched himself, lifting up
+his arms, the light streamed out from under them and brightened all
+the world, warming the earth, and making the green things grow. And
+so it went on day after day. When he put up his arms, it was bright,
+it was day. When he put down one arm, it was cloudy, the weather
+was not clear. And when he put down both arms and turned over to go
+to sleep, there was no light at all: it was dark; it was night. But
+when he awoke and lifted his arms, the day came again and the world
+was warm and bright.
+
+"Sometimes he is far away from the earth. Then it is cold: it is
+winter. But when he comes near, the earth gets warm again; the green
+things grow and the fruit ripens: it is summer. And so it goes on to
+this day, my baasjes: the day and night, summer and winter, and all
+because the Old Man with the bright armpits was thrown into the sky."
+
+"But the Sun is not a man, Outa," said downright Willem, "and he
+hasn't any arms."
+
+"No, my baasje, not now. He is not a man any more. But baasjes
+must remember how long he has been up in the sky--spans, and spans,
+and spans of years, always rolling round, and rolling round, from
+the time he wakes in the morning till he lies down to sleep at the
+other side of the world. And with the rolling, baasjes, he has got
+all rounder and rounder, and the light that at first came only from
+under his arms has been rolled right round him, till now he is a big
+ball of light, rolling from one side of the sky to the other."
+
+Cousin Minnie, who had been listening in a desultory way to the
+fireside chatter, as she wrote at the side-table, started and leant
+toward the little group; but a single glance was enough to show that
+so interested were the children in the personal aspect of the tale
+that there was no fear of confusion arising in their minds from Outa's
+decided subversion of an elementary fact which she had been at some
+pains to get them to understand and accept.
+
+"And his arms, Outa," inquired little Jan, in his earnest way,
+"do they never come out now?"
+
+Outa beamed upon him proudly. "Ach! that is my little master! Always
+to ask a big thing! Yes, baasje, sometimes they come out. When it is
+a dark day, then he has put his arms out. He is holding them down,
+and spreading his hands before the light, so that it can't shine on
+the world. And sometimes, just before he gets up in the morning, and
+before he goes to sleep at night, haven't baasjes seen long bright
+stripes coming from the round ball of light?"
+
+"Yes, yes," assented his little listeners, eagerly.
+
+"Those are the long fingers of the Sun. His arms are rolled up inside
+the fiery ball, but he sticks his long fingers out and they make
+bright roads into the sky, spreading out all round him. The Old Man
+is peeping at the earth through his fingers. Baasjes must count them
+next time he sticks them out, and see if they are all there--eight
+long ones, those are the fingers; and two short ones for the thumbs."
+
+Outa's knowledge of arithmetic was limited to the number of his
+crooked digits, and the smile with which he announced the extent
+of his mathematical attainments was a ludicrous cross between proud
+triumph and modest reluctance.
+
+"When he lies down, he pulls them in. Then all the world grows dark
+and the people go to sleep."
+
+"But, Outa, it isn't always dark at night," Pietie reminded him. "There
+are the Stars and the Moon, you know."
+
+"Ach, yes! The little Stars and the Lady Moon. Outa will tell the
+baasjes about them another night, but now he must go quick--quick and
+let Lys rub his back with buchu. When friend Old Age comes the back
+bends and the bones get stiff, and the rheumatism--foei! but it can
+pinch! Therefore, my baasjes, Outa cooks bossies from the veld to rub
+on--buchu and kookamakranka and karroo bossies. They are all good,
+but buchu is the best. Yes, buchu for the outside, and the Baas's
+fire-water for the inside!"
+
+He looked longingly at the cupboard, but wood and glass are
+unresponsive until acted on by human agency; so, possessing no "Open,
+Sesame" for that unyielding lock, Outa contented himself by smacking
+his lips as he toddled away.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+THE STARS AND THE STARS' ROAD.
+
+
+Darkly-blue and illimitable, the arc of the sky hung over the great
+Karroo like a canopy of softest velvet, making a deep, mysterious
+background for the myriad stars, which twinkled brightly at a frosty
+world.
+
+The three little boys, gathered at the window, pointed out to each
+other the constellations with which Cousin Minnie had made them
+familiar, and were deep in a discussion as to the nature and number
+of the stars composing the Milky Way when Outa shuffled in.
+
+"Outa, do you think there are a billion stars up there in the Milky
+Way?" asked Willem.
+
+"A billion, you know," explained Pietie, "is a thousand million,
+and it would take months to count even one million."
+
+"Aja, baasje," said the old man readily, seizing, with native
+adroitness, the unknown word and making it his own, "then there will
+surely be a billion stars up there. Perhaps," he added, judicially
+considering the matter, "two billion, but no one knows, because no
+one can ever count them. They are too many. And to think that that
+bright road in the sky is made of wood ashes, after all."
+
+He settled himself on his stool, and his little audience came to
+attention.
+
+"Yes, my baasjes," he went on, "long, long ago, the sky was dark at
+night when the Old Man with the bright armpits lay down to sleep,
+but people learned in time to make fires to light up the darkness;
+and one night a girl, who sat warming herself by a wood fire, played
+with the ashes. She took the ashes in her hands and threw them up to
+see how pretty they were when they floated in the air. And as they
+floated away she put green bushes on the fire and stirred it with a
+stick. Bright sparks flew out and went high, high, mixing with the
+silver ashes, and they all hung in the air and made a bright road
+across the sky. And there it is to this day. Baasjes call it the
+Milky Way, but Outa calls it the Stars' Road.
+
+"Ai! but the girl was pleased! She clapped her hands and danced,
+shaking herself like Outa's people do when they are happy, and
+singing:--
+
+
+        'The little stars! The tiny stars!
+        They make a road for other stars.
+        Ash of wood-fire! Dust of the Sun!
+        They call the Dawn when Night is done!'
+
+
+"Then she took some of the roots she had been eating and threw them
+into the sky, and there they hung and turned into large stars. The
+old roots turned into stars that gave a red light, and the young
+roots turned into stars that gave a golden light. There they all
+hung, winking and twinkling and singing. Yes, singing, my baasjes,
+and this is what they sang:--
+
+
+        'We are children of the Sun!
+          It's so! It's so! It's so!
+        Him we call when Night is done!
+          It's so! It's so! It's so!
+        Bright we sail across the sky
+        By the Stars' Road, high, so high;
+        And we, twinkling, smile at you,
+        As we sail across the blue!
+          It's so! It's so! It's so!'
+
+
+"Baasjes know, when the stars twinkle up there in the sky they are
+like little children nodding their heads and saying, 'It's so! It's
+so! It's so!'" At each repetition Outa nodded and winked, and the
+children, with antics of approval, followed suit.
+
+"Baasjes have sometimes seen a star fall?" Three little heads nodded
+in concert.
+
+"When a star falls," said the old man impressively, "it tells us
+someone has died. For the star knows when a person's heart fails and
+the person dies, and it falls from the sky to tell those at a distance
+that someone they know has died. [5]
+
+"One star grew and grew till he was much larger than the others. He
+was the Great Star, and, singing, he named the other stars. He called
+each one by name, till they all had their names, and in this way they
+knew that he was the Great Star. No other could have done so. Then
+when he had finished, they all sang together and praised the Great
+Star, who had named them. [6]
+
+"Now, when the day is done, they walk across the sky on each side
+of the Stars' Road. It shows them the way. And when Night is over,
+they turn back and sail again by the Stars' Road to call the Daybreak,
+that goes before the Sun. The Star that leads the way is a big bright
+star. He is called the Dawn's-Heart Star, and in the dark, dark hour,
+before the Stars have called the Dawn, he shines--ach! baasjes, he
+is beautiful to behold! The wife and the child of the Dawn's-Heart
+Star are pretty, too, but not so big and bright as he. They sail on
+in front, and then they wait--wait for the other Stars to turn back
+and sail along the Stars' Road, calling, calling the Dawn, and for the
+Sun to come up from under the world, where he has been lying asleep.
+
+"They call and sing, twinkling as they sing:--
+
+
+        'We call across the sky,
+        Dawn! Come, Dawn!
+        You, that are like a young maid newly risen,
+        Rubbing the sleep from your eyes!
+        You, that come stretching bright hands to the sky,
+        Pointing the way for the Sun!
+        Before whose smile the Stars faint and grow pale,
+        And the Stars' Road melts away.
+        Dawn! Come Dawn!
+        We call across the sky,
+        And the Dawn's-Heart Star is waiting.
+          It's so! It's so! It's so!'
+
+
+"So they sing, baasjes, because they know they are soon going out.
+
+"Then slowly the Dawn comes, rubbing her eyes, smiling, stretching out
+bright fingers, chasing the darkness away. The Stars grow faint and
+the Stars' Road fades, while the Dawn makes a bright pathway for the
+Sun. At last he comes with both arms lifted high, and the brightness,
+streaming from under them, makes day for the world, and wakes people
+to their work and play.
+
+"But the little Stars wait till he sleeps again before they begin
+their singing. Summer is the time when they sing best, but even now,
+if baasjes look out of the window they will see the Stars, twinkling
+and singing."
+
+The children ran to the window and gazed out into the starlit
+heavens. The last sight Outa had, as he drained the soopje glass
+the Baas was just in time to hand him, was of three little heads
+bobbing up and down in time to the immemorial music of the Stars,
+while little Jan's excited treble rang out: "Yes, it's quite true,
+Outa. They do say, 'It's so! It's so! It's so!'"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+WHY THE HARE'S NOSE IS SLIT.
+
+
+The curtains had not yet been drawn nor the shutters closed, and little
+Jan looked with wide serious eyes at the full moon sailing serenely in
+the cold sky. Then he sighed as though thoughts too big for expression
+stirred within him, and turned absently towards the purring fire.
+
+"And why does the big man make such a sighing?" asked Outa Karel. "It
+is like the wind in the mealie land at sun-under."
+
+Little Jan's eyes slowly withdrew their gaze from some inward vision
+and became conscious of the old native. "Outa," he said, "why is the
+moon so far away, and so beautiful, and so golden?"
+
+"Ach! to hear him now! How can Outa tell? It is maar so. Just like
+grass is green and fire is hot, so the Moon is far away and beautiful
+and golden. But she is a cruel lady sometimes, too, and it is through
+her that the poor Little Hare runs about with a slit in his nose
+to-day."
+
+"Tell us, Outa." Little Jan dropped on to the rug beside the basket
+of mealie-cobs, and the others edged nearer.
+
+"And why do you call the Moon a lady?" asked Pietie of the inquiring
+mind.
+
+"But doesn't baasje know that the Moon is a lady? O yes, and for all
+her beauty she can be cross and cruel sometimes like other ladies,
+as you will hear."
+
+"Long, long ago, when the world was quite young, the Lady Moon wanted
+someone to take a message to Men. She tried first one creature and then
+another, but no! they were all too busy, they couldn't go. At last
+she called the Crocodile. He is very slow and not much good, but the
+Lady Moon thought she would pinch his tail and make him go quickly. So
+she said to him: 'Go down to Men at once and give them this message:
+"As I die and, dying, live, so also shall you die, and, dying, live."'
+
+"Baasjes know how the Moon is sometimes big and round----so"--and
+Outa's diminutive hands described a wide circle and remained
+suspended in the air--"like she is now in the sky. Then every night
+she gets smaller and smaller, so--so--so--so--so----till----clap!"--the
+crooked fingers come together with a bang--"there's no more Moon: she
+is dead. Then one night a silver horn hangs in the sky--thin, very
+thin. It is the new Moon that grows, and grows, and gets beautiful
+and golden." By the aid of the small claw-like hands the moon grew to
+the full before the children's interested eyes. "And so it goes on,
+always living, and growing, and dying, and living again.
+
+"So the Lady Moon pinched old Oom Crocodile's tail, and he gave one
+jump and off he started with the message. He went quickly while the
+Moon watched him, but soon he came to a bend in the road. Round
+he went with a great turn, for a Crocodile's back is stiff like
+a plank, he can't bend it; and then, when he thought he was out
+of sight, he went slower and slower--drif-draf-drippity-drif-draf,
+drif-draf-drippity-drif-draf, like a knee-haltered horse. He was toch
+too lazy.
+
+"All of a sudden there was a noise--sh-h-h-h-h--and there was the
+Little Hare. 'Ha! ha! ha!' he laughed, 'what is the meaning of this
+drif-draf-drippity-drif-draf? Where are you going in such a hurry,
+Oom Crocodile?'
+
+"'I can't stop to speak to you, Neef Haasje,' said Oom Crocodile,
+trying to look busy and to hurry up. 'The Lady Moon has sent me with
+a message to Men.'
+
+"'And what is the message, Oom Crocodile?'
+
+"'It's a very important one: "As I die and, dying, live, so also
+shall you die and, dying, live."'
+
+"'Ach, but that is a stupid message. And you can't ever run, Oom,
+you are so slow. You can only go drif-draf-drippity-drif-draf like
+a knee-haltered horse, but I go sh-h-h-h-h like the wind. Give the
+message to me and I will take it.'
+
+"'Very well,' said the lazy Crocodile, 'but you must say it over
+first and get it right.'
+
+"So Neef Haasje said the message over and over, and
+then--sh-h-h-h-h--he was off like the wind. Here he was! there he
+was! and you could only see the white of his tail and his little
+behind legs getting small in the distance.
+
+"At last he came to Men, and he called them together and said:
+'Listen, Sons of the Baboon, a wise man comes with a message. By
+the Lady Moon I am sent to tell you: "As I die and, dying, perish,
+so shall you also die and come wholly to an end."'
+
+"Then Men looked at each other and shivered. All of a sudden the
+flesh on their arms was like goose-flesh. 'What shall we do? What
+is this message that the Lady Moon has sent? "As I die and, dying,
+perish, so shall you also die and come wholly to an end."'
+
+"They shivered again, and the goose-flesh crept right up their backs
+and into their hair, and their hair began to rise up on their heads
+just like--ach no, but Outa forgets, these baasjes don't know how it
+is to feel so." And the wide smile which accompanied these words hid
+the expression of sly teasing which sparkled in Outa's dancing black
+eyes, for he knew what it was to be taken to task for impugning the
+courage of his young listeners.
+
+"But Neef Haasje did not care. He danced away on his behind legs,
+and laughed and laughed to think how he had cheated Men.
+
+"Then he returned again to the Moon, and she asked: 'What have you
+said to Men?'
+
+"'O, Lady Moon, I have given them your message: "Like as I die and,
+dying, perish, so also shall you die and come wholly to an end,"
+and they are all stiff with fright. Ha! ha! ha!' Haasje laughed at
+the thought of it.
+
+"'What! cried the Lady Moon, 'what! did you tell them that? Child of
+the devil's donkey! [7] you must be punished.'
+
+"Ach, but the Lady Moon was very angry. She took a big stick, a
+kierie--much bigger than the one Outa used to kill lions with when he
+was young--and if she could have hit him, then"--Outa shook his head
+hopelessly--"there would have been no more Little Hare: his head would
+have been cracked right through. But he is a slim kerel. When he saw
+the big stick coming near, one, two, three, he ducked and slipped away,
+and it caught him only on the nose.
+
+"Foei! but it was sore! Neef Haasje forgot that the Moon was a Lady. He
+yelled and screamed; he jumped high into the air; he jumped with all
+his four feet at once; and--scratch, scratch, scratch, he was kicking,
+and hitting and clawing the Moon's face till the pieces flew.
+
+"Then he felt better and ran away as hard as he could, holding his
+broken nose with both hands.
+
+"And that is why to-day he goes about with a split nose, and the
+golden face of the Lady Moon has long dark scars.
+
+"Yes, baasjes, fighting is a miserable thing. It does not end when
+the fight is over. Afterwards there is a sore place--ach, for so
+long!--and even when it is well, the ugly marks remain to show what
+has happened. The best, my little masters, is not to fight at all."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+HOW THE JACKAL GOT HIS STRIPE.
+
+
+"The Sun was a strange little child," said Outa. "He never had any
+Pap-pa or Mam-ma. No one knew where he came from. He was just found
+by the roadside.
+
+"In the olden days when the men of the Ancient Race--the old, old
+people that lived so long ago--were trekking in search of game, they
+heard a little voice calling, calling. It was not a springbokkie,
+it was not a tarentaal, it was not a little ostrich. They couldn't
+think what it was. But it kept on, it kept on." Outa's head nodded
+in time to his repetitions.
+
+"Why didn't they go and look?" asked Willem.
+
+"They did, my baasje. They hunted about amongst the milk-bushes by
+the roadside, and at last under one of them they found a nice brown
+baby. He was lying quite still looking about him, not like a baby,
+baasjes, but like an old child, and sparks of light, as bright as the
+sparks from Outa's tinderbox, seemed to fly out of his eyes. When he
+saw the men, he began calling again.
+
+"'Carry me, carry me! Pick me up and carry me!'
+
+"'Arre! he can talk,' said the man. 'What a fine little child! Where
+have your people gone? and why did they leave you here?'
+
+"But the little Sun wouldn't answer them. All he said was, 'Put me
+in your awa-skin. I'm tired; I can't walk.'
+
+"One of the men went to take him up, but when he got near he said,
+'Soe! but he's hot; the heat comes out of him. I won't take him.'
+
+"'How can you be so silly?' said another man. 'I'll carry him.'
+
+"But when he got near, he started back. 'Alla! what eyes! Fire comes
+out of them.' And he, too, turned away.
+
+"Then a third man went. 'He is very small,' he said; 'I can easily put
+him in my awa-skin.' He stooped and took the little Sun under his arms.
+
+"'Ohe! ohe! ohe!' he cried, dropping the baby on to the red sand. 'What
+is this for toverij! It is like fire under his arms. He burns me when
+I take him up.'
+
+"The others all came round to see. They didn't come too near, my
+baasjes, because they were frightened, but they wanted to see the
+strange brown baby that could talk, and that burned like a fire.
+
+"All on a sudden he stretched himself; he turned his head and put up
+his little arms. Bright sparks flew from his eyes, and yellow light
+streamed from under his arms, and--hierr, skierr--the Men of the
+Early Race fell over each other as they ran through the milk-bushes
+back to the road. My! but they were frightened!
+
+"The women were sitting there with their babies on their backs,
+waiting for their husbands.
+
+"'Come along! Hurry! hurry! See that you get away from here,' said
+the men, without stopping.
+
+"The women began to run, too.
+
+"'What was it? What did you find?'
+
+"'A terrible something,' said the men, still running. 'It pretends
+to be a baby, but we know it is a mensevreter. There it lies in the
+sand, begging one of us to pick it up and put it in his awa-skin,
+but as soon as we go near, it tries to burn us; and if we don't make
+haste and get away from here, it will certainly catch us.'
+
+"Then they ran faster than ever. Baasjes know--ach no!" corrected Outa,
+with a sly smile; "Outa means baasjes don't know--how frightenness
+makes wings grow on people's feet, so that they seem to fly. So the
+Men of the Early Race, and the women with their babies on their backs,
+flew, and very soon they were far from the place where the little
+Sun was lying.
+
+"But someone had been watching, my baasjes, watching from a bush
+near by. It was Jakhals, with his bright eyes and his sharp nose,
+and his stomach close to the ground. When the people had gone, he
+crept out to see what had made them run. Hardly a leaf stirred, not
+a sound was heard, so softly he crept along under the milk-bushes to
+where the little Sun lay.
+
+"'Ach, what a fine little child has been left behind by the men!' he
+said. 'Now that is really a shame--that none of them would put it
+into his awa-skin.'
+
+"'Carry me, carry me! Put me in your awa-skin,' said the little Sun.
+
+"'I haven't got an awa-skin, baasje,' said Jakhals, 'but if you can
+hold on, I'll carry you on my back.'
+
+"So Jakhals lay flat on his stomach, and the little Sun caught hold
+of his maanhaar, and rolled round on his back.
+
+"'Where do you want to go?' asked Jakhals.
+
+"'There, where it far is,' said the baby, sleepily.
+
+"Jakhals trotted off with his nose to the ground and a sly look in his
+eye. He didn't care where the baby wanted to go; he was just going
+to carry him off to the krantz where Tante and the young Jakhalses
+lived. If baasjes could have seen his face! Alle wereld! he was
+smiling, and when Oom Jakhals smiles, it is the wickedest sight in the
+world. He was very pleased to think what he was taking home; fat brown
+babies are as nice as fat sheep-tails, so he went along quite jolly.
+
+"But only at first. Soon his back began to burn where the baby's arms
+went round it. The heat got worse and worse, until he couldn't hold
+it out any longer.
+
+"'Soe! Soe! Baasje burns me,' he cried. 'Sail down a little further,
+baasje, so that my neck can get cool.'
+
+"The little Sun slipped further down and held fast again, and Jakhals
+trotted on.
+
+"But soon he called out again, 'Soe! Soe! Now the middle of my back
+burns. Sail down still a little further.'
+
+"The little Sun went further down and held fast again. And so it went
+on. Every time Jakhals called out that he was burning, the baby slipped
+a little further, and a little further, till at last he had hold of
+Jakhals by the tail, and then he wouldn't let go. Even when Jakhals
+called out, he held on, and Jakhals's tail burnt and burnt. My! it
+was quite black!
+
+"'Help! help!' he screamed! 'Ach, you devil's child! Get off! Let
+go! I'll punish you for this! I'll bite you! I'll gobble you up! My
+tail is burning! Help! Help!' And he jumped, and bucked, and rushed
+about the veld, till at last the baby had to let go.
+
+"Then Jakhals voertsed [8] round, and ran at the little Sun to bite
+him and gobble him up. But when he got near, a funny thing happened, my
+baasjes. Yes truly, just when he was going to bite, he stopped halfway,
+and shivered back as if someone had beaten him. At first he had
+growled with crossness, but now he began to whine from frightenness.
+
+"And why was it, my baasjes? Because from under the baby's arms
+streamed brightness and hotness, and out of the baby's eyes came
+streaks of fire, so that Jakhals winked and blinked, and tried to make
+himself small in the sand. Every time he opened his eyes a little,
+just like slits, there was the baby sitting straight in front of him,
+staring at him so that he had to shut them again quick, quick.
+
+"'Come and punish me,' said the baby.
+
+"'No, baasje, ach no!' said Jakhals in a small, little voice, 'why
+should I punish you?'
+
+"'Come and bite me,' said the baby.
+
+"'No, baasje, no, I could never think of it.' Jakhals made himself
+still a little smaller in the sand.
+
+"'Come and gobble me up,' said the baby.
+
+"Then Jakhals gave a yell and tried to crawl further back.
+
+"'Such a fine little child,' he said, trying to make his voice sweet,
+'who would ever do such a wicked thing?'
+
+"'You would,' said the little Sun. 'When you had carried me safely
+to your krantz, you would have gobbled me up. You are toch so clever,
+Jakhals, but sometimes you will meet your match. Now, look at me well.'
+
+"Jakhals didn't want to look, my baasjes, but it was just as if
+something made his eyes go open, and he lay there staring at the baby,
+and the baby stared at him--so, my baasjes, just so"--Outa stretched
+his eyes to their utmost and held each fascinated child in turn.
+
+"'You'll know me again when you see me,' said the baby, 'but never,
+never again will you be able to look me in the face. And now you
+can go.'
+
+"Fierce light shot from his eyes, and he blew at Jakhals with all his
+might; his breath was like a burning flame, and Jakhals, half dead
+with frightenness, gave a great howl and fled away over the vlakte.
+
+"From that day, my baasjes, he has a black stripe right down his back
+to the tip of his tail. And he cannot bear the Sun, but hides away
+all day with shut eyes, and only at night when the Old Man with the
+bright armpits has gone to sleep, does he come out to hunt and look
+for food, and play tricks on the other animals."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+THE ANIMALS' DAM.
+
+
+"Ach! it was dry," said Outa, "as dry as last year's springbok
+biltong. For a long time the Old Man in the sky shot down strong light
+and sucked all the water out of the veld. From morning to night he
+poured down hotness on the world, and when he rolled round to sleep,
+a hot wind blew--and blew--and blew--till he woke to shine again. The
+karroo bushes dried up, the rivers had no water, and the poor animals
+began to die from thirst. It was such a drought, my little masters,
+as you have never seen.
+
+"At last Oom Leeuw called the animals together to make a plan.
+
+"The Sun had gone under, and the Lady Moon was sailing in the
+sky--beautiful, as she always is, and looking down on the hot
+world. Oom Leeuw sat under a krantz on the morning side of a kopje,
+where it was a little cool, and the others sat round him like a
+watermelon slice. Leopard, Hyena, Babiaan, Jakhals, Hare and Tortoise
+were in front; they were the chief ones. The smaller ones, like Dassie,
+Mierkat, and Hedgehog, were at the sides; and Zebra, Springbok, Ostrich
+and Giraffe waited in the veld to hear the news. They pretended to
+be eating, but all the time their ears went backwards and forwards,
+backwards and forwards--so, my baasjes,--to catch every little sound,
+and they were ready at the first sign of danger to race away, kicking
+up the dust so that Oom Leeuw would not be able to see them.
+
+"But they needn't have been afraid. Oom Leeuw was too hot and tired
+and weak to catch anything. He just sat against the krantz with his
+dry tongue hanging out, and the others just lay round about in the
+watermelon slice with their dry tongues hanging out, and every time
+they looked at the sky to see if any clouds were coming up. But no! The
+sky was just like a big, hot soap-pot turned over above their heads,
+with the Lady Moon making a silver road across it, and the little stars
+shining like bits broken off the big, hot Sun. There was nothing that
+even looked like a cloud.
+
+"At last Oom Leeuw pulled in his tongue and rolled it about in his
+mouth to get the dryness off. When it stopped rattling, he began
+to talk.
+
+"'Friends and brothers and nephews,' he said--yes, just like that
+Oom Leeuw began; he was so miserable that he felt friendly with them
+all. 'Friends and brothers and nephews, it is time to make a plan. You
+know how it is with a drought; when it is at its worst, the bottom
+of the clouds falls out, and the water runs away fast, fast, to the
+sea, where there is too much water already, and the poor karroo is
+left again without any. Even if a land-rain comes, it just sinks in,
+because the ground is too loose and dry to hold it, so we must make
+a plan to keep the water, and my plan is to dig a dam. But it's no
+use for one or two to work; everyone must help. What do you say?'
+
+"'Certainly,' said Leopard.
+
+"'Certainly,' said Hyena.
+
+"'Certainly,' said Ant-bear.
+
+"'Certainly,' said Jakhals, but he winked his eye at the Lady Moon,
+and then put his nose into the warm sand so that no one could see
+his sly smile.
+
+"All the other animals said 'Certainly,' and then they began to talk
+about the dam. Dear land! A person would never have said their throats
+were dry. Each one had a different plan, and each one talked without
+listening to the other. It was like a Church bazaar--yes, baasjes,
+long ago when Outa was young he was on a bazaar in the village, but
+he was glad, my baasjes, when he could creep into the veld again and
+get the noise out of his ears.
+
+"At last the Water Tortoise--he with the wise little head under his
+patchwork shell--said, 'Let us go now while it is cool, and look for
+a place for the dam.'
+
+"So they hunted about and found a nice place, and soon they began
+to make the dam. Baasjes, but those animals worked! They scratched,
+they dug, they poked, they bored, they pushed and they rolled; and
+they all did their best, so that the dam could be ready when the rain
+came. Only lazy Jakhals did not work. He just roamed round saying to
+the others, 'Why don't you do this?' 'Why don't you do that?' till
+at last they asked, 'Why don't you do it yourself?'
+
+"But Jakhals only laughed at them. 'And why should I be so foolish
+as to scratch my nails off for your old dam?' he said.
+
+"'But you said "Certainly," too, when Oom asked us, didn't you?' they
+asked.
+
+"Then Jakhals laughed more than ever. 'Ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha! Am I then
+a slave of my word? That was last night. Don't you know yet that a
+thing is one colour by moonlight, and quite another colour when the
+sun shines on it? Ha! ha! ha!'
+
+"So he went about bothering the poor animals that were working so hard,
+and laughing at them when they got hot and tired.
+
+"'What's the use of working so hard? Those who do not work will
+also drink.'
+
+"'How do you know?' they asked.
+
+"'Wait a bit, you'll see,' said sly Jakhals, winking his eye again.
+
+"At last the dam was finished, and that very night the rain began. It
+kept on and on, till the dam was quite full and the water began to
+run away over the veld, down to the great big dam called the Sea,
+that is the Mother of all water, and so broad, my baasjes, that truly
+you can't see the wall at the other side, even when you stand on a
+high kopje. Yes, so Outa has heard from truth-telling people. The
+milk-bushes and karroo-bushes grew green again, and the little veld
+flowers burst out of the hard ground, and opened their white, and
+blue, and pink, and purple eyes to look at the Sun. They were like
+variegated karosses spread out on the veld, and the Old Man in the
+sky was not so fierce any more; he did not burn them with his hotness,
+but looked at them kindly.
+
+"And the animals were toch so glad for the water! From far and near
+they came to the dam to drink.
+
+"But Jakhals was before them all. Soon after the Sun went down--baasjes
+know, the wild animals sleep in the daytime and hunt in the night--he
+went to the dam and drank as much water as he wanted, and filled his
+clay pot with some to take home. Then he swam round and round to get
+cool, making the water muddy and dirty, and when the other animals
+came to drink, he slipped over the dam wall and was lost in the veld
+as if he had been a large pin.
+
+"My! but Oom Leeuw was very angry!
+
+"'Hoorr-rr-rr,' he roared, 'hoorr-rr-rr! What is this for a thing? Does
+the lazy one think he can share with the workers? Who ever heard of
+such a thing? Hoorr-rr-rr! Here, Broer Babiaan, take this big kierie
+and hide yourself by the dam to-night, so that you can catch this
+Vagabond, this Water-stealer.'
+
+"Early that night, there was Jakhals again. He peeped this way and
+that way--so, my baasjes,--and, yes truly, there was old Broer Babiaan
+lying amongst the bushes. But Jakhals was too schelm for him. He
+made as if he didn't see him. He danced along on his hind legs,
+all in the round, all in the round, at the edge of the dam, singing:--
+
+
+        'Hing-ting-ting! Honna-mak-a-ding!
+          My sweet, sweet water!'
+
+
+"He sang this over and over, and every time he came to the end of a
+line, he dipped his fingers into his clay pot and sucked them.
+
+"'Aha! but my honey is nice,' he said, licking his lips. 'What do I
+want with their old dirty water, when I have a whole potful of nice
+sweet water!'
+
+"Baasjes know, baboons will do anything for honey, and when old Broer
+Babiaan heard Jakhals he forgot he was there to guard the dam. He
+crept out from his hiding-place, a little nearer, and a little nearer,
+and at last he couldn't keep quiet any longer. When Jakhals came
+dancing along again, he called out in a great hurry, 'Good evening,
+Jakhals! Please give me a little of your sweet water, too!'
+
+"'Arre!' said Jakhals, jumping to one side and pretending to be
+startled. 'What a schrik you gave me! What are you doing here,
+Broer Babiaan?'
+
+"'Ach no! Jakhals, I'm just taking a little walk. It's such a fine
+night.'
+
+"'But why have you got that big kierie?'
+
+"'Only to dig out eintjes.'
+
+"'Do you really want some of my sweet water?'
+
+"'Yes, please, Jakhals,' said Broer Babiaan, licking his lips.
+
+"'And what will you give me for it?'
+
+"'I'll let you fill your pot with water from the dam.'
+
+"'Ach! I don't want any of that dirty old dam water, but I know
+how fond you are of this sweet water, Broer, so I'll let you drink
+some. Here, I'll hold your kierie while you drink.'
+
+"Boer Babiaan was in such a hurry to get to the honey that he just
+threw the kierie to Jakhals, but just as he was going to put his
+fingers into the pot, Jakhals pulled it away.
+
+"'No, wait a bit, Broer,' he said. 'I'll show you a better way. It
+will taste much nicer if you lie down.'
+
+"'Ach no! really, Jakhals?'
+
+"'Yes, really,' said Jakhals. 'And if you don't lie down at once,
+you won't get a drop of my sweet water.'
+
+"He spoke quite crossly, and Babiaan was so tame by this time that
+he was ready to believe anything, so he lay down, and Jakhals stood
+over him with his knapsack riem.
+
+"'Now, Brother, first I'll tie you with my riem, and then I'll feed
+you with the honey.'
+
+"'Yes, yes,' said Broer Babiaan quickly.
+
+"His mouth was watering for the honey; he couldn't think of anything
+else, and he had long ago forgotten all about looking after the
+dam. It goes so, my baasjes, when a person thinks only of what he
+wants and not of what he must. So he let Jakhals tie his hands and
+feet, and even his tail, and then he opened his mouth wide.
+
+"But Jakhals only danced round and round, sticking his fingers into
+the pot and licking them, and singing:
+
+
+        'Hing-ting-ting! Honna-mak-a-ding!
+          My sweet, sweet water!'
+
+
+"'Where's mine?' called Broer Babiaan. 'You said you would feed
+me. Where's my sweet water?'
+
+"'Here's all the sweet water you'll get from me,' said Jakhals,
+and--kraaks--he gave poor Broer Babiaan a hard hit with the kierie.
+
+"'Borgom! Borgom! Help!' screamed Broer Babiaan, and tried to roll
+away. But there was no one to help him, so he could only scream and
+roll over, and each time he rolled over, Jakhals hit him again--kraaks!
+
+"At last he squeezed the clay pot--and baasjes can believe me it
+had never had any honey in it at all--over Broer Babiaan's head,
+while he ran off and drank as much water as he wanted, and swam, and
+stirred up the mud. Then he took the clay pot off Broer Babiaan's head,
+filled it with water, and danced off, singing:
+
+
+        'Hing-ting-ting! Honna-mak-a-ding!
+          My sweet, sweet water!'
+
+
+"'Good-bye, Brother,' he called out. 'I hope you'll enjoy the sweet
+water you'll get from Oom Leeuw when he sees how well you have looked
+after the dam.'
+
+"Poor Old Broer Babiaan was, ach! so miserable, but he was even more
+unhappy after Oom Leeuw had punished him and set him on a large stone
+for the other animals to mock at. Baasjes, it was sad! They came in a
+long string, big ones and little ones, and each one stopped in front
+of the big stone and stuck out his tongue, then turned round and stuck
+out his tail--yes, so rude they were to Broer Babiaan, till the poor
+old animal got ashameder and ashameder, and sat all in a heap, hanging
+down his head and trying not to see how they were mocking at him.
+
+"When all the animals had passed on and drunk water, Oom Leeuw untied
+Broer Babiaan and let him go, and off he went to the krantzes as fast
+as he could, with his tail between his legs.
+
+"And that is all for to-night, my baasjes. It is too long to finish
+now. See, here comes Lys with the baasjes' supper, and Outa can smell
+that his askoekies are burning by the hut."
+
+Evading the children's detaining hands, Outa sidled away, turning in
+the passage doorway to paw the air with his crooked fingers in token
+of a final farewell.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+SAVED BY HIS TAIL.
+
+
+"The end, Outa, please," said little Jan, "the end of The Animals'
+Dam. You said it was too long to finish last night."
+
+"Aja, my baasje, it's full of jakhals draaie, and that's why it is
+so long, but it's near the end now.
+
+"The night was old by the time the animals had finished with old Broer
+Babiaan, and the stars were going out. Only the Big Star, that lasts
+the longest, was travelling quickly by the Stars' Road to call the
+Dawn. It began to get light already at the place where the shining
+Old Man gets up every day, and that meant it was time for the animals
+to fade away to their sleeping-places.
+
+"Oom Leeuw looked round on them. 'Who will look after the dam
+to-night?' he asked.
+
+"'I will,' said a little voice, quickly. 'Peep! peep!'
+
+"'And who is this that speaks from the ground?' asked Oom. 'Let us
+find this brave one.'
+
+"They looked about in the sand, and there, under a milk-bush near
+the dam, sat the Water Tortoise. He was nice and big, baasjes, as big
+as the lid of the soap-pot, and his skinny legs were very strong. He
+stretched out his skinny neck and twinkled his little black eyes.
+
+"'I'll look after the dam, Oom, and I'll catch the Water-Spoiler
+for you.'
+
+"'Ha! ha! ha! How will you do that?' asked Oom Leeuw.
+
+"'If Oom will just let someone rub my back with the sticky black
+stuff from the floor of the hives, then Oom will see what will happen.'
+
+"'This is a wise little man,' said Oom Leeuw, and he ordered Old
+Brown Sister Hyena--she with the limp in the left hind leg--to rub
+the Water Tortoise with the sticky stuff.
+
+"That night, my baasjes, when Jakhals went to the dam to drink,
+he peeped about, but no! there was no one to guard the dam; only a
+large black stone lay near the edge of the water.
+
+"'Arre! this is lucky,' said Jakhals. 'Such a nice large stone! I'll
+stand on it while I drink.'
+
+"He didn't know that the stone had a strong skinny neck, and, on
+the end of the neck, a head with little bright eyes that could see
+everything that was going on. So he gave a jump, and--woops!--down
+he came on to the stone with his two front feet, and there they stuck
+fast to the sticky black stuff, and he could not move them. He tried,
+and he tried, but it was no use.
+
+"'Toever!' he screamed, 'toever! Let me go!'
+
+"'Peep! peep!' said a little voice, 'don't be frightened.'
+
+"'Who says I'm frightened, you old toever stone?' asked
+Jakhals. 'Though my front feet are fast, I can still kick with my
+hind feet.'
+
+"'Kick, kick, kick, and stick fast,' said the little voice.
+
+"So Jakhals kicked and kicked, and his hind feet stuck fast.
+
+"There was a funny sound under the water, like water bubbling through
+a reed. It was the Water Tortoise laughing.
+
+"'Nier-r-r! nier-r-r!' said Jakhals, getting very cross; 'I've still
+got a tail, and I'll beat you with it.'
+
+"'Beat, beat, beat, and stick fast,' said the little voice.
+
+"So Jakhals beat and beat, and his tail stuck fast.
+
+"'Nier-r-r!' he said again, very angry; 'I've still got a mouth,
+and I'll bite you with it.'
+
+"'Bite, bite, bite, and stick fast,' said the little voice.
+
+"Jakhals opened his mouth, and bit and bit, and his mouth stuck
+fast. There he was, all in a bundle, sticking altogether fast to the
+black stone, and the more he tried to get free, the more he stuck fast.
+
+"'Peep, peep!' said the Water Tortoise, poking up his head and
+laughing. Then he marched to the top of the dam-wall where everyone
+could see the strange sight, and there he sat, all quiet and good,
+till the other animals came.
+
+"'Arre! they were glad when they saw Jakhals sticking to the Water
+Tortoise. They held a Council and ordered him to be killed, and Broer
+Hyena--old Brown Sister's husband--was to be the killer.
+
+"They loosened Jakhal's mouth from the sticky stuff, so that he could
+talk for the last time. He was very sorry for himself. His voice was
+thick with sorriness, and he could hardly get the words out.
+
+"'Thank you, Oom,' he said. 'I know I'm a wicked creature. It's better
+for me to die than to live and trouble everyone so much.'
+
+"Oom Leeuw and the other animals were wondering what kind of death
+the Water-stealer should die.
+
+"'Chop my head off,' said Jakhals; 'throw me in the fountain, but
+please, ach! please don't shave my tail and hit me on the big stone.'
+
+"Oom Leeuw and the others were still putting their heads together.
+
+"'Beat me with kieries, drown me in the dam,' said Jakhals, 'but don't,
+ach! please don't smear my tail with fat and hit me on the big stone.'
+
+"Oom Leeuw and the others made as if they were taking no notice of him.
+
+"'Chop me in little pieces, beat me with thorn branches,' said Jakhals,
+'but please, ach! please don't take me by the tail and hit me on the
+big stone.'
+
+"At last Oom Leeuw turned round.
+
+"'Just as you say, it shall be done. Shave his tail,' he said to the
+others, 'smear it with fat, and hit his head on the big stone. Let
+it be done.'
+
+"So it was done, and Jakhals stood very still and sad while his tail
+was being shaved and smeared. But when Hyena swung him round--one,
+two, three, pht!--away he slipped and ran over the veld as fast as
+he could. All the others ran after him, but they were only running
+to catch and he was running to live, so he went like the wind, and
+soon they were left far behind.
+
+"He never stopped till he came to a mountain where a krantz hung over
+and made a kind of cave, and in he crept. The first to come after him
+was Oom Leeuw, who had run faster than the others. Jakhals watched
+Oom crawling in, and when Oom's head touched the top of the cave,
+he ran out, calling:
+
+"'Oom, Oom, the krantz is falling. If you don't hold it up, you'll
+be crushed to death. I'll run and get a pole to prop it up, but Oom
+must please wait till I come back.'
+
+"He left Oom plastering his head against the krantz to hold it up,
+while--pht!--he shot away, and never stopped till he got safe home,
+where he rolled bolmakissie over and over, laughing to think how he
+had cheated all the animals again."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+THE FLYING LION.
+
+
+"Once upon a time," remarked Outa, thoughtfully, "Oom Leeuw used
+to fly."
+
+"O-o-o-oh!" said the children all together, and their eyes widened
+with terror at the picture called up by Outa's words.
+
+"Yes, my baasjes, and then nothing could live before him. His wings
+were not covered with feathers: they were like the wings of Brother
+Bat, all skin and ribs; but they were very big, and very thick,
+and very strong, and when he wasn't flying they were folded flat
+against his sides. When he was angry he let the points down to the
+ground--tr-r-r-r--like Oubaas Turkey when he gobble-gobble-gobbles
+and struts before his wives--tr-r-r-r, and when he wanted to rise from
+the ground he spread them out and flapped them up and down slowly at
+first--so, my baasjes; then faster and faster--so, so, so--till he
+made a big wind with them and sailed away into the air."
+
+Outa, flapping his crooked arms and puffing out his disproportionate
+chest, seemed about to follow suit, but suddenly subsided again on
+to his stool.
+
+"Ach, but it was a terrible sight! Then, when he was high above the
+earth, he would look down for something to kill. If he saw a herd of
+springbokke he would fly along till he was just over them, and pick
+out a nice fat one; then he would stretch out his iron claws, fold
+his wings and--woops!--down he would fall on the poor bokkie before
+it had time to jump away. Yes, that was the way Oom Leeuw hunted in
+the olden times.
+
+"There was only one thing he was afraid of, and that was that the
+bones of the animals he caught and ate would be broken to pieces. No
+one knew why, and everyone was too frightened of Oom Leeuw to try and
+find out. He used to keep them all at his home in the krantzes, and he
+had crows to look after them, two at a time--not like the ugly black
+crows that build in the willow-trees near the dam, but White Crows,
+the kind that come only once in many years. As soon as a white crow
+baby was found it was taken to Oom Leeuw--that was his order; then he
+kept it in the krantzes of the mountains and let it grow big; and when
+the old White Crows died the next eldest became watchmen, and so there
+were always White Crows to watch the bones when Oom Leeuw went hunting.
+
+"But one day while he was away Brother Big Bullfrog came along,
+hop-hop-hoppity-hop, hop-hop-hoppity-hop, and said: 'Why do you sit
+here all day, you Whitehead Crows?'
+
+"And the White Crows said: 'We sit here to look after the bones for
+Oom Leeuw.'
+
+"'Ach, but you must be tired of sitting!' said Brother Big Bullfrog,
+'You fly away a little and stretch your wings. I will sit here and
+look after the bones.'
+
+"The White Crows looked this way and that way, up and down and
+all round, but no! they couldn't see Oom Leeuw, and they thought:
+'Now is our chance to get away for a fly.'
+
+"So they said 'Cr-r-raw, cr-r-raw!' and stretched out their wings
+and flew away.
+
+"Brother Big Bullfrog called out after them: 'Don't hurry back. Stay
+as long as you like. I will take care of the bones.'
+
+"But as soon as they were gone he said: 'Now I shall find out why Oom
+Leeuw keeps the bones from being broken. Now I shall see why men and
+animals can live no longer.' And he went from one end to the other
+of Oom Leeuw's house at the bottom of the krantz, breaking all the
+bones he could find.
+
+"Ach, but he worked quickly! Crack! crack, crack, crack! Wherever
+he went he broke bones. Then when he had finished he hopped away,
+hop-hop-hoppity-hop, hop-hop-hoppity-hop, as fast as he could. When
+he had nearly reached his dam in the veld, the White Crows overtook
+him. They had been to the krantz and, foei! they were frightened when
+they saw all the broken bones.
+
+"'Craw, craw!' they said, 'Brother Big Bullfrog, why are you so
+wicked? Oom Leeuw will be so angry. He will bite off our nice white
+heads--craw, craw!--and without a head, who can live?'
+
+"But Brother Big Bullfrog pretended he didn't hear. He just hopped
+on as fast as he could, and the White Crows went after him.
+
+"'It's no good hopping away, Brother Bullfrog,' they said. 'Oom Leeuw
+will find you wherever you are, and with one blow of his iron claws
+he will kill you.'
+
+"But old Brother Big Bullfrog didn't take any notice. He just hopped
+on, and when he came to his dam he sat back at the edge of the water
+and blinked the beautiful eyes in his ugly old head, and said: 'When
+Oom Leeuw comes tell him I am the man who broke the bones. Tell him
+I live in this dam, and if he wants to see me he must come here.'
+
+"The White Crows were very cross. They flew down quickly to peck
+Brother Big Bullfrog, but they only dug their beaks into the
+soft mud, because Brother Big Bullfrog wasn't sitting there any
+longer. Kabloops! he had dived into the dam, and the White Crows
+could only see the rings round the place where he had made a hole in
+the water.
+
+"Oom Leeuw was far away in the veld, waiting for food, waiting for
+food. At last he saw a herd of zebras--the little striped horses that
+he is very fond of--and he tried to fly up so that he could fall on
+one of them, but he couldn't. He tried again, but no, he couldn't. He
+spread out his wings and flapped them, but they were quite weak,
+like baasjes' umbrella when the ribs are broken.
+
+"Then Oom Leeuw knew there must be something wrong at his house, and he
+was toch too angry. He struck his iron claws into the ground and roared
+and roared. Softly he began, like thunder far away rolling through the
+kloofs, then louder and louder, till--hoor-rr-rr-rr, hoor-rr-rr-rr--the
+earth beneath him seemed to shake. It was a terrible noise.
+
+"But all his roaring did not help him, he couldn't fly, and at last
+he had to get up and walk home. He found the poor White Crows nearly
+dead with fright, but they soon found out that he could no longer fly,
+so they were not afraid of him.
+
+"'Hoor-rr-rr-rr, hoor-rr-rr-rr!' he roared. 'What have you done to
+make my wings so weak?'
+
+"And they said: 'While Oom was away someone came and broke all
+the bones.'
+
+"And Oom Leeuw said: 'You were put here to watch them. It is your
+fault that they are broken, and to punish you I am going to bite your
+stupid white heads off. Hoor-rr-rr-rr!'
+
+"He sprang towards them, but now that they knew he couldn't fly they
+were not afraid of him. They flew away and sailed round in the air
+over his head, just too high for him to reach, and they called out:
+'Ha! ha! ha! Oom cannot catch us! The bones are broken, and his wings
+are useless. Now men and animals can live again. We will fly away
+and tell them the good news.'
+
+"Oom Leeuw sprang into the air, first to one side and then to the
+other, striking at them, but he couldn't reach them, and when he
+found all his efforts were in vain, he rolled on the ground and roared
+louder than ever.
+
+"The White Crows flew round him in rings, and called out:
+'Ha! ha! ha! he can no longer fly! He only rolls and roars! The man
+who broke the bones said: "If Oom Leeuw wants me he can come and look
+for me at the dam." Craw, craw,' and away they flew.
+
+"Then Oom Leeuw thought: 'Wait, I'll get hold of the one who broke
+the bones. I'll get him.' So he went to the dam, and there was old
+Brother Bullfrog sitting in the sun at the water's edge. Oom Leeuw
+crept up slowly, quietly, like a skelm, behind Brother Bullfrog.
+
+"'Ha! now I've got him,' he thought, and made a spring, but Brother
+Bullfrog said, 'Ho!' and dived in--kabloops!--and came up at the
+other side of the dam, and sat there blinking in the sun.
+
+"Oom Leeuw ran round as hard as he could, and was just going to spring,
+when--kabloops!--Brother Bullfrog dived in again and came up at the
+other side of the dam.
+
+"And so it went on. Each time, just when Oom Leeuw had nearly caught
+him, Brother Bullfrog dived in--kabloops!--and called out 'Ho!' from
+the other side of the dam.
+
+"Then at last Oom Leeuw saw it was no use trying to catch Brother
+Bullfrog, so he went home to see if he could mend the broken bones. But
+he could not, and from that day he could no longer fly, only walk upon
+his iron claws. Also, from that day he learned to creep quietly like a
+skelm after his game, and though he still catches them and eats them,
+he is not as dangerous as he was when he could fly.
+
+"And the White Crows can no longer speak. They can only say, 'Craw,
+craw.'
+
+"But old Brother Big Bullfrog still goes hop-hop-hoppity-hop round
+about the dam, and whenever he sees Oom Leeuw he just says 'Ho!' and
+dives into the water--kabloops!--as fast as he can, and sits there
+laughing when he hears Oom Leeuw roar with anger."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+WHY THE HERON HAS A CROOKED NECK.
+
+
+The flames leapt gaily upward in the wide fireplace, throwing strange
+shadows on the painted walls and gleaming on the polished wood of
+floor and beam and cupboard. Little Jan basked contentedly in the
+warmth, almost dozing--now absently stroking the terrier curled up
+beside him, now running his fingers through the softer fur of the
+rug on which he lay. It was made of silver-jackal skins--a dozen of
+them, to judge from the six bushy tails spread out on either side;
+and as Outa Karel's gaze rested on them, he remarked reminiscently--
+
+"Arre! but Oom Jakhals was a slim kerel! No one ever got the better
+of him without paying for it."
+
+In an instant little Jan was sitting bolt upright, every symptom
+of sleep banished from his face; the book from which Willem had been
+laboriously trying to gain some idea of the physical features of Russia
+was flung to the far end of the rustbank; while Pietie, suspending
+for a brief moment his whittling of a catapult stick, slid along the
+floor to get within better sight and sound of the story-teller.
+
+"Yes, my little masters, sometimes it was Oom Leeuw he cheated,
+sometimes it was Oubaas Babiaan or Oom Wolf, and once it was the
+poor little Dove, and that is what made me think of how he was
+cheated himself."
+
+"Did the little Dove cheat him?" asked Pietie eagerly.
+
+"No, baasje, the Dove is too frightened--not stupid, baasje, but like
+people are when they are too gentle and kind and believe everything
+other people tell them. She was sitting on her nest one day singing
+to her little children, 'Coo-oo, coo-oo coo-oo,' when Oom Jakhals
+prowled along under the tree and heard her.
+
+"'Alla wereld! Now I'll have a nice breakfast,' he thought, and he
+called out, 'Good morning, Tante. I hear you have such pretty little
+children. Please bring them down for me to see.'
+
+"But the Tante was frightened of Jakhals, and said, 'I'm sorry, Oom,
+they are not well to-day, and I must keep them at home.'
+
+"Then Jakhals lost his temper, and called out, 'Nonsense, I'm hungry
+and want something to eat, so throw down one of your little children
+at once.'
+
+"Baasjes know, sometimes crossness drives away frightenness; and Tante
+was so cross with Oom Jakhals for wanting to eat one of her little
+children that she called out, 'No, no, you bad Jakhals, I shall do
+nothing of the sort. Go away and look for other food.'
+
+"'If you don't, I'll fly up and eat them all,' said Jakhals. 'Throw
+one down at once.' And he stamped about and made such a horrible noise
+that the poor Tante thought he was really flying up. She looked at
+her babies: there wasn't one she wanted to give, but it was better to
+lose one than have them all eaten; so she shut her eyes and fluttered
+about the nest till one of them fell out, and Jakhals caught it in
+his mouth and carried it off to his hole to eat.
+
+"Ach! but the poor Tante was sad! She spread her wings over her other
+children and never slept all night, but looked about this way and
+that way with her soft eyes, thinking every little noise she heard was
+Oom Jakhals trying to fly up to her nest to gobble up all her babies.
+
+"The next morning there was Oom Jakhals again. 'Tante, your child
+was a nice, juicy mouthful. Throw me down another. And make haste,
+do you hear? or I'll fly up and eat you all.'
+
+"'Coo-oo, coo-oo, coo-oo,' said Tante, crying, 'no, I won't give
+you one.' But it was no use, and in the end she did what she had
+done before--just shut her eyes and fluttered round and round till
+a baby fell out of the nest. She thought there was no help for it,
+and, like some people are, she thought what the eye didn't see the
+heart wouldn't feel; but her heart was very sore, and she cried more
+sadly than ever, and this time she said, 'Oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo!' It
+was very sad and sorrowful to listen to 'Oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo!'
+
+"Here came old Oom Reijer. He is a kind old bird, though he holds
+his neck so crooked and looks like there was nothing to smile at in
+the whole wide world.
+
+"'Ach! why do you cry so sadly, Tante? It nearly gives me a stitch
+in my side.'
+
+"'Oo-oo! I'm very miserable. Oom Jakhals has eaten two of my little
+children, and to-morrow he will come for another, and soon I shall
+have none left.'
+
+"'But why did you let him eat them?'
+
+"'Because he said if I didn't give him one he would fly up and eat
+them all. Oo-oo-oo!'
+
+"Then Oom Reijer was very angry. He flapped his wings, and stretched
+out his long neck--so, my baasjes, just so" (the children hugged
+themselves in silent delight at Outa's fine acting)--"and he opened
+and shut his long beak to show how he would like to peck out Oom
+Jakhals's wicked eyes if he could only catch him.
+
+"'That vervlakste Jakhals!' he said. 'To tell such lies! But, Tante,
+you are stupid. Don't you know Oom Jakhals can't fly? Now listen to
+me. When he comes again, tell him you know he can't fly, and that
+you won't give him any more of your children.'
+
+"The next day there came Oom Jakhals again with his old story, but
+Tante just laughed at him.
+
+"'Ach, no! you story-telling Bushytail!' she said, 'I won't give you
+any more of my little children, and you needn't say you'll fly up
+and eat them, because I know you can't.'
+
+"'Nier-r-r, nier-r-r!' said Oom Jakhals, growling, 'how do you
+know that?'
+
+"'Oom Reijer told me, so there!' said Tante. 'And you can just go to
+your mother!'
+
+"My! but Tante was getting brave now that she knew she and her little
+children were safe. That was the worst insult you can ever give a
+grown-up jakhals, and Oom Jakhals growled more than ever.
+
+"'Never mind,' he said at last, 'Tante is only a vrouwmens; I won't
+bother with her any more. But wait till I catch Oom Reijer. He'll
+be sorry he poked his long nose into my business, the old meddler,'
+and he trotted off to look for him.
+
+"He hunted and hunted, and at last he found him standing on one leg
+at the side of the river, with his long neck drawn in and his head
+resting on his shoulders.
+
+"'Good day, Oom Reijer,' he said politely. 'How is Oom to-day?'
+
+"'I'm all right,' answered Oom Reijer shortly, without moving an inch.
+
+"Jakhals spoke in a little small voice--ach! toch so humble. 'Oom,
+please come this way a little: I'm so stupid, but you are so wise
+and clever, and I want to ask your advice about something.'
+
+"Oom Reijer began to listen. It is maar so when people hear about
+themselves. He put down his other leg, stretched out his neck, and
+asked over his shoulder, 'What did you say, eh?'
+
+"'Come toch this way a little; the mud over there is too soft for me
+to stand on. I want your valuable advice about the wind. The other
+people all say I must ask you, because no one is as wise as you.'
+
+"Truly Jakhals was a slim kerel! He knew how to stroke Oom Reijer's
+feathers the right way.
+
+"Oom Reijer came slowly over the mud--a person mustn't show he is
+too pleased: he even stopped to swallow a little frog on the way,
+and then he said, carelesslike, 'Yes, I can tell you all about the
+wind and weather. Ask what you like, Jakhals.' His long neck twisted
+about with pride.
+
+"Oom, when the wind is from the west, how must one hold one's head?'
+
+"'Is that all?' said Oom Reijer. 'Just so.' And he turned his head
+to the east.
+
+"'Thank you, Oom. And when the wind is from the east?'
+
+"'So.' Oom Reijer bent his neck the other way.
+
+"'Thank you, Oom,' said the little small voice, so grateful and
+humble. 'But when there is a storm and the rain beats down, how then?'
+
+"'So!' said Oom Reijer, and he bent his neck down till his head nearly
+touched his toes.
+
+"My little masters, just as quickly as a whip-snake shoots into his
+hole, so Jakhals shot out his arm and caught Oom Reijer on the bend of
+his neck--crack!--and in a minute the poor old bird was rolling in the
+mud with his neck nearly broken, and so weak that he couldn't even lift
+his beak to peck at the false wicked eyes that were staring at him.
+
+"O! how glad was cruel Jakhals! He laughed till he couldn't any
+more. He screamed and danced with pleasure. He waved his bushy tail,
+and the silver mane on his back bristled as he jumped about.
+
+"'Ha! ha! ha! Oom thought to do me a bad turn, but I'll teach
+people not to interfere with me. Ha! ha! ha! No one is as wise as
+Oom Reijer, eh? Then he will soon find out how to mend his broken
+neck. Ha! ha! ha!'
+
+"Jakhals gave one last spring right over poor Oom Reijer, and danced
+off to his den in the kopjes to tell Tante Jakhals and the little
+Jakhalsjes how he had cheated Oom Reijer.
+
+"And from that day, baasjes, Oom Reijer's neck is crooked: he can't
+hold it straight; and it's all through trying to interfere with
+Jakhals. That is why I said Jakhals is a slim kerel. Whether he walks
+on four legs or on two, the best is maar to leave him alone because
+he can always make a plan, and no one ever gets the better of him
+without paying for it in the end."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+THE LITTLE RED TORTOISE.
+
+
+"No Jakhals story to-night, please, Outa," said little Jan, as they
+gathered round the fire. "We all think Jakhals was a cruel horrid
+creature, eating the poor little Doves and cracking the good Heron's
+neck."
+
+"Yes," chimed in Pietie, "he was always playing wicked tricks, so no
+more Jakhals for us. What will you tell us to-night, Outa?"
+
+"Something really nice," suggested Willem, "and not unkind."
+
+Outa's beady black eyes twinkled from one to another of his little
+masters, while an affectionate smile spread over his yellow face,
+accentuating the wrinkles which criss-crossed it in every direction.
+
+"Ach! the soft young hearts! Outa's heart was like that once, too,
+but"--he shook his head--"if the heart doesn't get a little taai like
+a biltong, it is of no use to a person in this old hard world." He
+deposited his shapeless hat on the floor, tapped his red kopdoek with
+a clawlike forefinger, and waited for an inspiration. It came from
+an unexpected quarter, for suddenly there was a commotion at the end
+of his old coat, the tails of which hung down nearly to the floor,
+and, diving into his pocket, the old man triumphantly produced a
+squirming tortoise.
+
+"See what Outa caught for the baasjes near the Klip Kop this
+afternoon--a nice little berg schilpad. [9] Now Baas Willem can put
+it in his kraal with the others and let it lay eggs. It is still
+young, but it will grow--yes, so big." A cart-wheel might have been
+comfortably contained in the circle described by Outa's arms.
+
+It was a knobbly, darkly-marked tortoise, quite unlike those the
+little boys generally found in the veld near the house, and they took
+possession of it with delight and suggestions as to a name. After
+discussion, honours were equally in favour of "Piet Retief" and
+"Mrs. Van Riebeeck," and it was decided that the casting vote should
+be left to Cousin Minnie, the children's governess.
+
+For a long time they had kept tortoises of all sorts and sizes
+in their schilpad-kraal, and so tame and intelligent had some of
+these creatures grown that they would come when called, and big old
+"Woltemade" roamed about at will, often disappearing for a time,
+and returning to his companions after a few days in the veld.
+
+Outa turned the new acquisition on its back on the jackalskin
+rug, where it lay wriggling and going through the strangest
+contortions. "Ach! the wise little man. Is it there its mother
+sprinkled it with buchu, [10] there, just under its arm?" He touched
+the skinny under-side of one of its forelegs. "Here, Baas Willem,
+put it in the soap-boxie till to-morrow. Ach! if only it had been a
+red tortoise, how glad Outa would have been!"
+
+"A red tortoise!" echoed Pietie and little Jan, while Willem hurried
+back from the passage to hear all about it.
+
+"And have the baasjes then never heard of a red tortoise? Yes,
+certainly, sometimes a red one is born, but not often--only once in a
+thousand years; and when this happens the news is sent round, because
+it is such a wonderful thing; and the whole nation of Schilpads--those
+frogs with bony shields and hard beaks--are glad because they know
+the little red one has come to help them against their enemies.
+
+"Once a long, long time ago a mother Schilpad laid an egg in a shallow
+hole in the sand, just where the sun could warm it all the day, and
+she scraped a little sand over it, so that no one could see it. See
+baasjes, she was afraid of thieves. It was white and round, and so
+large that she felt very proud of it, and she often went to see how
+it was getting on. One day, as she got near the place she heard a
+little voice: 'Peep! Peep! Mam-ma, mam-ma, come and find me.'
+
+"So she called out, 'Kindje, kindje, here's your mam-ma.' My! but
+she walked fast! Her short legs just went so"--Outa's arms worked
+vigorously--"and when she got to the karroo-bush where she had put
+the egg the shell was broken and a little Red Tortoise was sitting
+alongside of it!
+
+"His shell was soft, and you could see everything inside of him,
+and how the blood went this way and that way: but never mind, it is
+maar so with little tortoises. He was fine and healthy, and everything
+about him was quite red. Alle wereld! old Mam-ma was proud! She went
+and told all her friends, and they came from all sides to see the
+little Red Tortoise. There were berg tortoises, and vlakte tortoises,
+and zand-kruipers, and even water tortoises, young and old, and they
+all sat round and praised him and gave him good advice and nice things
+to eat.
+
+"He listened to everything and ate all the nice things, and grew
+bigger and redder and harder, but he didn't talk much, and the Old
+Ones nodded to each other and said, 'Ach, but he is sensible!' But
+the Young Ones said, 'Ach, but he is stuck-up!' and they went away
+and crawled in the red clay to make themselves red. But it was no
+good. In a little while it all rubbed off.
+
+"At last all the visitor Schilpads went home again. But the little
+Red Tortoise stayed with his Mam-ma, and went on growing bigger and
+redder and harder, and his Mam-ma was toch so proud of him!
+
+"When he walked in the veld and the other young tortoises said to him,
+'Come, we'll show you the way to do things; you must do so, and you
+must do so,' he said, 'You can do so if you like, but I'll do things
+my own way!' And they said 'Stuck-up Red Thing! Wait, Oubaas Giraffe
+will get you!' But they left him alone, and although they all wished
+they were red, they did not crawl in the clay any more: they knew
+it was no good. It was only from outside, so it soon rubbed off,
+but the little Red One's redness was from inside; and baasjes know,
+for a thing to be any good it must be on the inside." He glanced
+involuntarily at the wall-cupboard where his soopje was safely locked
+up: it would certainly not be any good, in his opinion, till it was
+on the inside of him.
+
+"But when the Old Tortoises gave him advice, the little Red Tortoise
+listened and thanked them. He was a wise little man. He knew when to
+speak and when to hold his tongue.
+
+"At that time, my baasjes, the whole Tortoise nation was having a
+hard time with Oubaas Giraffe--that old horse with the long neck and
+the unequal legs, who is all white and black like a burnt thornbush
+[11] with crows sitting on it. He gives blue ashes when he is burnt,
+therefore is he called the Blue One.
+
+"He had taken to eating tortoises. They didn't know what to do. They
+tried to make a plan, but no! they could find no remedy. Whenever
+Oubaas Giraffe saw a nice young tortoise that he could easily swallow,
+he picked it up in his mouth, and from fright it pulled its head
+and all its feet into its shell, and--goops!--one swallow and it had
+sailed down the Blue One's long throat, just like baasjes sail down
+the plank at the side of the skeer-kraal.
+
+"The little Red Tortoise listened to the plans that were made, and
+at last he thought of a plan. He was not sure how it would go, but he
+was a brave little one, and he thought by himself, 'If it goes wrong,
+there will be no more little Red Tortoise: but if it goes right,
+then the whole Tortoise nation will be able to live again.'
+
+"So what did he do, my baasjes? He crawled out far in the veld and sat
+in the path where the Old Blue One liked to walk. Soon he heard goof,
+goof, goof, coming nearer and nearer. Then the noise stopped. The
+little Red One peeped from under his shell. Yes, there was the great
+Blue One, standing over him and looking very fierce.
+
+"Do you know, little Red Tortoise, in one moment I could trample you
+to death?'
+
+"The little Red One was very frightened, for this was not his plan,
+but he said nothing.
+
+"'Do you know, little Red Tortoise, in one moment I could swallow you?'
+
+"Ach! how glad was the little Red Tortoise! But he only said in a
+small little voice, 'Yes, noble Blue One, I belong to the nation whom
+it is the custom to swallow. Please swallow me!'
+
+"Oubaas Giraffe picked him up and gave a little gulp, and the little
+Red Tortoise slipped half-way down his long throat. But oje! here a
+strange thing happened. The little Red One would go no further. Instead
+of drawing in his head and legs and slipping down like a stone, like
+all the other tortoises had done, he wanted to see where he was going,
+so he stuck out his head, and fastened his sharp little nails into
+Oubaas Giraffe's gullet, and there he hung like a bat on a wall.
+
+"'Go down, go down, little Tortoise! You choke me!' The Old Blue One
+could hardly speak; his throat was so full of tortoise.
+
+"'Peep! peep!' said the little Red One, and held on more tightly
+than ever.
+
+"'Come up, come up, little Tortoise! You kill me!' The Old Blue One
+was stamping and gurgling now.
+
+"'Peep! peep!' said the little Red One, and hung on with his hard bent
+beak as well. He thought, 'No! too many of my nation have sailed down
+this red sloot. I won't let go.'
+
+"I tell you, baasjes, Oubaas Giraffe danced and pranced over the veld;
+he screamed and bellowed; he gurgled and swallowed; he tried to get
+the little Red Tortoise down, and he tried to get him up; but it was
+no use. The little Red One clung fast to him till he was quite choked,
+and sank down in the sand and died.
+
+"Then the little Red Tortoise crawled out, and went home to tell his
+Mam-ma that he had killed Oubaas Giraffe and that his nation could
+have peace again. Ach! but she was proud of him!
+
+"'It's not for nothing you were born red,' she said. 'Come here,
+my little Crab, that I may put buchu under your arm. Come, my
+crooked-legged little one, let your mother sprinkle you with buchu!'
+
+"When she had sprinkled him with buchu, they went and told their
+friends, and all the Tortoise nation rejoiced and went and had a
+great feast off Oubaas Giraffe as he lay dead in the veld.
+
+"And they thought more of the little Red Tortoise than ever. Even
+the Young Ones, who had been angry with him, said, 'He is wiser than
+we are. We will listen to what he says. P'r'aps, after all, there is
+something in being born a certain colour.'"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+THE OSTRICH HUNT.
+
+
+The next day all the time that was not given to lessons and
+meals was spent by the little boys in scouring the veld for a red
+tortoise. Disappointment at their fruitless search found vent in no
+measured terms when Outa Karel appeared in the dining-room at his
+usual hour.
+
+"Ach, to hear them now!" he said, regarding them with his wide-mouthed
+smile of amused tolerance. "Does it then rain red tortoises? And how
+can the baasjes think they will find at the first shot a thing that
+only comes once in a thousand years?"
+
+"Well," said Willem, stoutly, "it might just have been the time for
+one. How were we to know?"
+
+"Outa," asked little Jan, earnestly, "do you know when it will be
+red tortoise time again?"
+
+"Aja, baasjes," said Outa readily, "it won't be long now. Let Outa
+think." He performed a tattoo on the red kopdoek--a sure sign that
+he was in the thick of mental gymnastics. "What comes just before a
+thousand, my baasjes?"
+
+"Nine hundred and ninety-nine," answered Pietie, who was good at
+arithmetic.
+
+"Now, yes," said Outa, triumphantly, "I knew it must be nearly time. It
+is nine hundred and ninety-nine years since there was a red tortoise,
+so next year this time baasjes can begin to look for one. Only begin,
+my baasjes, because it will only be creeping out of the egg then. And
+p'r'aps it won't be in this veld. It might be far, far away where
+people don't know about a red tortoise, and so no one will look for
+him. Must Outa tell another story about him?"
+
+The sly old man had taken the best way of escaping more questions. The
+little boys gathered round and listened wide-eyed as he told the
+story of the Tortoises hunting the Ostriches.
+
+"After Oubaas Giraffe was dead, the Tortoises had a nice life for
+a long time, and then there came into their veld Old Three Sticks,
+the Ostrich, with his mam-ma and pap-pa, and his wives, and uncles,
+and aunties, and children, and friends. Alla! there were a lot of
+Ostriches! The whole veld was full of them, and they all began eating
+tortoises wherever they could find them. It was just the same like
+when Oubaas Giraffe used to go about. And the tortoises thought and
+thought, and they talked and talked, but they couldn't make a plan
+that would drive the Ostriches away.
+
+"The little Red Tortoise was thinking, too, but he didn't talk till
+he had his plan ready. Then he called all the Tortoises together. The
+Old Ones came because they wanted to hear what the wise little Red One
+had to say, and the Young Ones came because ever since he had killed
+Oubaas Giraffe they had listened to him. When they were all together
+he said, 'It now goes on too long, this hunting of the Tortoises by
+Old Three Sticks and his friends. Let us change places and let us,
+the Tortoise people, go and hunt Ostriches.'
+
+"'Peep! peep!' cried all the young Tortoises: they were quite
+ready. But the Old Ones said, 'Is this the wise little Red One? How
+is it possible for us to hunt Ostriches?'
+
+"'It is possible, because Ostriches never run straight, but always
+a little in the round, and a little in the round, so that in the
+end if they run long enough they come again to the place they began
+from. Now yes, on a certain day let us then go into the veld where the
+Ostriches like to hunt, and let us make two long rows, not straight
+out but always in the round; one ring, very large, outside, and the
+other, smaller, inside. Then when Old Three Sticks and his friends
+come we will call one to the other and drive them on, and they will
+flee through the midst of us, round and round and round till they
+can flee no longer.'
+
+"'Peep! peep!' said the young Tortoises, and the Old Ones joined
+in. They saw that it was a good plan, so they all went to the hunting
+veld of Old Three Sticks and his friends and spread themselves out,
+as the little Red Tortoise had said.
+
+"Soon the Ostriches came, pecking, pecking, as they walked.
+
+"The Tortoises sat very still, waiting, my baasjes, just waiting,
+till the Ostriches were right in the middle of the two rings. Then
+the little Red Tortoise gave the signal, 'Peep! Peep!' and at once
+the calling began.
+
+"'Are you there?' called the first Tortoise.
+
+"'I am here,' said the next, and so it went on all round the circle,
+one calling to the other.
+
+"'What are you doing?' called the first one.
+
+"Hunting Ostriches,' said the next, and so it went on all round the
+circle again, one calling to the other.
+
+"The Ostriches could see nothing. They could only hear voices
+calling. They looked at each other and said, 'What are these voices? It
+is surely a great army come to hunt us. Let us get away.'
+
+"They were very frightened and began to run, and as far as they ran
+they heard:--
+
+"'Are you there?'
+
+"'I am here.'
+
+"'What are you doing?'
+
+"'Hunting Ostriches.'
+
+"So it went on, over and over again. The Tortoises never moved,
+only kept calling out. And the Ostriches ran faster and faster, all
+in the round, till at last they were so tired they couldn't run any
+more. First one fell, and then another, and another, and another,
+till there were heaps of them lying about, and just where they fell
+they lay quite still. They were too tired to move.
+
+"Then the Tortoises gathered together--they were very many--and they
+bit Old Three Sticks and all his family and friends on their long
+necks and killed them.
+
+"Since then the Tortoises have had peace from the Long-necked
+People--Oubaas Giraffe and old Three Sticks. It is only the Things
+of the Air, like Crows and Lammervangers, that still hunt them, and
+baasjes know how they do? They catch a poor Tortoise in their claws
+and fly away with him, high up over a kopje, and then they drop him on
+the stones--kabloops!--and there he lies with his shell all broken, and
+without a shell how can a Tortoise live? And then the Thing of the Air
+comes and eats him up, and that is the end of the poor Tortoise. But
+a Red Tortoise they never touch. It is his colour, baasjes, that
+frightens them. So the Young Tortoises were right when they said,
+'There is something, after all, in being born a certain colour.'
+
+"After the Ostrich hunt, the little Red Tortoise was sprinkled with
+buchu under both arms, and his Mam-ma sang him this song:--
+
+
+        The little crook-legged one! I could sprinkle it,
+        Sprinkle it with buchu under its arms.
+
+        The little red crab! The little Wise One!
+        I sprinkle the buchu under both arms.
+
+        For the Long-necks, they that ate us,
+        It has found a way to kill them;
+
+        So we sprinkle it, the little Red One,
+        Sprinkle the buchu under both arms."
+
+
+The usual discussion took place when Outa had finished, and at last
+Pietie said, "If I had to be a Tortoise, I'd be a red one."
+
+"Why, my little master?"
+
+"Because the Crows and Lammervangers don't catch it. To be swallowed
+by an ostrich or stick in a giraffe's throat would not be so bad,
+but I'd hate to be broken on the stones."
+
+"Ach! my baasje, no matter how Old Friend Death comes, we are never
+ready for him. When Outa was young he was nearly killed by a troop
+of springbucks, and he thought, 'No, not toch trampled to death; to
+be carried down the river is better.' But when the flood came and the
+river carried Outa away, he fought for his life just as hard as when
+the springbucks were on him. It was the same when the hut was burnt,
+and when the mad bull chased Outa across the veld. Over and over
+again the same. Always another sort of death seems better. Always
+Old Friend Death finds a man not quite ready for him."
+
+"And now how would you like him to find you, Outa?" asked Willem with
+much interest.
+
+A whimsical smile spread over the old man's face. "Ach! to hear
+him! Just sitting in the sun, my baasje, by the skeer-kraal wall,
+where I have sat for so many, many years. When he comes I will say,
+'Morning, Old Friend, you have been a long time on the road--ach! so
+long, that I am tired of waiting. Let us go at once.' A person needn't
+pack up for that trek, baasjes. I'll just drop my old sheepskin kaross,
+and take Old Friend Death's hand and let him show me the way. It is
+far, my baasjes, far to that land, and no one ever comes back from
+it. Then someone else will tell the stories by the fire: there will
+be no Outa any more to talk to the little masters." His voice had
+dropped to a musing tone.
+
+"Don't! Don't!" cried Pietie in a choked voice.
+
+"Outa, you mustn't say such things," said Willem, and they each seized
+one of Outa's crooked hands, while little Jan clung to his old coat
+as though he would never let it go.
+
+"I want my Outa," he cried. "He mustn't go away. I want my Outa Karel!"
+
+The old man's eyes glistened with a moisture not often seen in
+them. "Still! still! my little baasjes," he said, stroking first one
+and then another. "Outa doesn't want to make them sad. He is not
+going yet. He will sit here and tell his foolish stories for many
+nights yet." A caressing smile broke over his grotesque face. "And
+do they then want to keep their Outa? Ach! to think of it! The kind
+little hearts! But what will the Nooi say if the eyes are juicy? No,
+Outa only said about the skeer-kraal and sitting in the sun because it
+sounds so nice and friendly. Look how lively and well Outa is--like a
+young bull-calf!" He pretended playfully to toss them. "That's right,
+my children, now you laugh again. But young bull-calves must also go
+in the kraal, and the hut is calling Outa. Night, my baasjes, night,
+night. Sleep well. To-morrow Outa will tell them another beautiful
+story. Ach, the dear little ones! So good to their ugly Outa!"
+
+Followed by a chorus of "good-nights" from the children; the old man
+shuffled away, not knowing that he had spoken with prophetic voice,
+and that Friend Death would find him, even as he wished, sitting in
+the sun by the skeer-kraal.
+
+But that was not yet awhile, and he told many stories before setting
+out on the Great Trek for the Unknown Veld whence no traveller returns.
+
+
+
+Glasgow: Printed at the University Press by Robert Maclehose and
+Co. Ltd.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+
+[1] Sassaby (also spelt Sesseby) or Bastard Hartebeest are much
+smaller than the Hartebeest proper, and are found in open veld near
+forest country.
+
+[2] The Hyena, on first starting, appears lame in the hind legs--a
+fact accounted for by the Hottentots in the foregoing fable.
+
+[3]     "Berry, berry, blackberry,
+        Hold your hands together."
+
+[4] The Kaap--Cape Town.
+
+[5] It is both curious and interesting to find the identical belief
+obtaining amongst races so widely different as the Scandinavians of
+Northern Europe and the Bushmen of South Africa.--See Hans Andersen's
+Little Match Girl: "Her Grandmother had told her that when a star
+fell down a soul mounted up to God."
+
+[6] "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God
+shouted for joy."--Job xxxviii. 7.
+
+[7] According to a Hottentot legend, the hare is related to the donkey.
+
+[8] Voertsed.--Evidently a word of Outa's coining, meaning to jump
+round suddenly and violently.
+
+[9] Mountain tortoise.
+
+[10] An aromatic veld herb, from which a decoction is made. Sprinkling
+buchu under the arm is a Hottentot custom in token of approval.
+
+[11] The Mimosa, which is white when burnt by the sun.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+OTHER FOLK-LORE TALES
+
+
+FAIRY TALES FROM SOUTH AFRICA. Collected and arranged by
+Mrs. E. J. Bourhill and Mrs. J. B. Drake. Illustrated by W. Herbert
+Holloway. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.
+
+    ATHENAEUM.--"A charming collection of stories which would
+    make a capital gift-book for children.... The illustrations by
+    Mr. W. H. Holloway are exceedingly good."
+
+    OUTLOOK.--"Not only are the stories admirably related and of
+    absorbing interest, as true folk-tales should be, but they are
+    materially aided by Mr. Holloway's splendid black-and-whites."
+
+
+THE CROCK OF GOLD. By James Stephens. Crown 8vo.  5s. net.
+
+    EVENING STANDARD.--"A delicate fairy extravaganza, difficult to
+    class with any other book. It has extraordinary flashes of beauty,
+    any amount of whimsical humour, and ends in an ecstasy that has
+    about it a touch of Borrow and a note from the very flute of Pan."
+
+    PUNCH.--"A fairy fantasy, elvish, grotesque, realistic,
+    allegorical, humorous, satirical, idealistic, and poetical by
+    turns ... and very beautiful."
+
+
+FOLK TALES OF BREFFNY. By B. Hunt. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. net.
+
+    SPECTATOR.--"Wholly delightful volume.... These folk-tales are
+    rich in the qualities of poetry, wit, and intelligence, and though
+    the part which Miss Hunt has played is not that of a creator,
+    her versions are marked by such unfailing charm, such happy and
+    characteristic turns of phrase, that she deserves to rank with
+    those musicians like Francis Korbay, who have lent fresh lustre
+    to folk tunes by the beauty and picturesqueness of their settings."
+
+
+FOLK TALES OF BENGAL. By the Rev. Lal Behari Day. Crown
+8vo. 4s. 6d. Also with 32 Illustrations in Colour by Warwick
+Goble. Crown 4to. 15s. net. Edition de Luxe. Demy 4to. 42s. net.
+
+    MORNING POST.--"As a faithful mirror of Bengali beliefs by
+    no means extinct, they can be cordially recommended to lovers
+    of supernatural romance. Mr. Warwick Goble has provided them
+    also with charming illustrations, in which the lines and folds
+    of Eastern drapery, the blues and greens of forests and skies,
+    together with the dignity and simplicity of the figures, make up
+    an enchantment which few will be able to resist."
+
+
+PAPUAN FAIRY TALES. By Annie Ker. Illustrated. Extra Crown 8vo.
+5s. net.
+
+    WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.--"Some of the charm of the stories is without
+    a doubt due to the charm of Miss Ker's manner of retelling the
+    tales; but she had fair material to work upon, and the volume,
+    with its photographic illustrations of native life, is quite
+    delightful, and will interest general readers as well as
+    specialists in folk-lore."
+
+
+TALES OF OLD JAPAN. By Lord Redesdale. Illustrated. Crown
+8vo. 3s. 6d. Globe 8vo.  1s. net.
+
+    NOTES AND QUERIES.--"By far the most striking, instructive, and
+    authentic book upon Japan and the Japanese which has ever been
+    laid before the English reader."
+
+
+CHINESE FOLK-LORE TALES.  By Rev. J. Macgowan, D.D. Crown 8vo.
+3s. net.
+
+    DAILY NEWS.--"This is a most interesting volume of stories.... A
+    book which has given us great pleasure."
+
+
+                    LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Outa Karel's Stories, by Sanni Metelerkamp
+
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