Tag: Morality Tale

Leopard’s daughter Ji was the most beautiful of all the animals; the young male animals made love to her, and the other girls were jealous.

Leopard arranged that a great feast should be held in honor of his daughter, and at the feast Ji would choose the animal whom she wished to marry.

The animals washed and dressed in fine raiment and quarreled jealously among themselves as to which among them would win the fair Ji’s hand; there was palaver everywhere and no one’s head was safe.

For a long time Tortoise could not make up his mind whether to go or not; he was a humble animal but was becoming rather tired of being a rubbish heap for everyone else’s rude remarks. He knew he was ugly and did not mind very much. He just became tired of being told so.

But, since he secretly loved Ji, he finally decided he would go to the feast and pay her his respects, for even in affairs of the heart Tortoise was a gentleman. He bathed in a stream and scrubbed his back till it gleamed and glinted with a glass-like polish. He rubbed his paws and his head till they shone, perfumed his shell, and set off for the meeting.

Ji was dancing with Denyne the Antelope when Tortoise arrived, and when the music stopped Tortoise gave her his seat and gravely bowed to her with humble dignity. Among the bold and brash young animals who courted her, Tortoise’s polished manners stood out like flowers on rocky ground.

“A shy and retiring personality,” she thought, “but oh, such pretty manners!”

Antelope tried to talk with her, but she had eyes only for Tortoise’s shining shell. Antelope followed the direction of her gaze, and decided to bring shame on Tortoise. He quickly made up a song, and then began singing in a loud voice for everyone to hear.This was the song which Antelope sang:

“Ne Kwla na? Is this Tortoise? Nynepei wlala ti. All the animals are present. Tee Ji pe wlala ti. All the Leopards are present. Denynepo wlala ti, All the Antelopes are here, O Ji nyene pen. And he comes to look for a wife. A hji ne. All of you see him. Ne Kwla na, This Tortoise here, O sa ten ken. He has no pride.”

But even before Antelope had finished his song, Ji crossed over to Tortoise and put her arms around him. She turned to Father Leopard, saying

“Father, this is the animal I wish to marry . . . if he will agree. He is an animal of dignity and noble manners, and I beg that he will let me be his wife.”

So it was that Tortoise won the fair and lovely Ji, and the pride and vanity of other animals grew pale and died.

Two women called Tane and Bea were traveling through the forest. Each of them had a baby son, and the two sons were alike as a pair of eggs. They came to a river.

They were crossing the river in a canoe when the canoe sank. They both reached the shore, but only one of the babies was saved. The two women argued.

“He is mine!” Tane declared. “Give him to me!”

“Do I not know my own son?” cried Bea. “Such foolishness you talk!”

“Oh, for shame! You steal my child!”

They could not agree, so they went to a Wise Man. The Wise Man listened, and then said:

“It seems to me that the child belongs to both of you. Therefore it must be cut in half with a knife, and you will each receive a portion. Which half do you each want?”

Tane was silent, but Bea was big-eyed with anger.

“Would you kill the child?” she protested. “He belongs to me, but rather than see him killed I will give him whole to Tane.”

“Ha!” said the Wise Man. “Here we have a thing: one can begin to see the truth. Only she who was not the mother of the child could bear to have him cut in half. Tane is not the mother. The child belongs to Bea, who would rather lose him whole and alive then possess half of him dead.”

The night sky was bright with glowing stars and a small-small sea breeze was blowing inshore; the moon was a dull and misty orange slipping down behind the edge of the ocean.

Turtle looked outside and saw what a nice night it was, and decided to go for a walk along the beach and lay her eggs. She went quite a long way, waited quietly by a palm until she felt sure no one was watching, then dug a hole in the sand and began to lay her eggs.

Leopard happened to be walking along the beach too. He found Turtle’s tracks, and since he had nothing better to do he followed them to see where Turtle was going. He saw Turtle laying eggs, and began to wonder what the taste of such an egg might be. He crept silently up behind her, took an egg and tasted it.

Turtle’s eggs, Leopard thought, were very good to eat.

As fast as she could lay eggs Leopard ate them; but at last he became too greedy. He could not wait; he reached inside her to get eggs faster . . . Turtle suddenly snapped her shell down hard, and Leopard’s paw seemed to be trapped by jaws of bone.

She dragged him down the beach, into the water, and out among the waves.

Leopard could not escape. He drowned.

Antelope grew lonely living in the forest by himself, so he went to Deer to ask if he could have Deer’s daughter as a wife.

When he arrived at the house he was well received, and his request met with the approval of both Deer and his wife. They were quite willing to let Antelope marry their only daughter.

As was the custom, the prospective son-in-law was called on during the farming season to help clear the bush. Antelope arrived as night was falling, and Mother Deer offered him some beans. During the farming season when there is no rice, beans are the staple food; but

Antelope was vain, and would not eat the beans. He said he only ate white rice, and that common beans were not fit food for such superior animals as himself. Good Mother Deer apologized.
“I’m sorry, Antelope, we have nothing else.”

Antelope went to bed hungry; and when he rose in the morning he was much hungrier. He was in the kitchen early, watching Mother Deer preparing food. She put a pot of beans on the fire with palm oil, pepper, salt and leaves for seasoning, and then she went to fetch water with her little iron anklets singing ‘clink-clank.’

Antelope crossed to the fire, quietly lifted the palm-butter strainer off the pot, and sucked up bones as fast as he could, even though they were not properly cooked.

In a little while he heard Mother Deer’s anklets singing ‘clink-clank, clink-clank’ as she returned. Quickly he clapped his hat on the pot and put the palm-butter strainer on his head. He was so nervous he did not notice what he had done.

Mother Deer came in and he sat quietly and seriously opposite her with the palm-butter strainer on his head.
Mother Deer saw this, and was amazed.

“But my son!” she cried, “what do you have on your head?”

Suddenly Antelope realized what he had done. Such a fool he had made of himself! He ran out of the door and into the forest, and he never returned.

Those who put themselves in high places are in danger of falling down.