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diff --git a/old/35557-8.txt b/old/35557-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2276c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/35557-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3698 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTA KAREL'S STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 35557-8.txt or 35557-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/5/35557/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTA KAREL'S STORIES *** + +***** This file should be named 35557.txt or 35557.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/5/35557/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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