476 Pokomo Folklore.
rhino said to Mwakatsoo, — " Come ! strike up the song of the dance ! " He struck up the song, and said : —
"All you elephants, all you hippos, when you dance, you will dance in the inner house.
All you buffalos, etc., etc.
All you crocodiles, etc., etc.
This is the tooth, the tooth, the tooth, the tooth of a camel !
As for me and the civet-cat, we will dance in the outer house.
Come, all you elephants, etc. {da capo)"
All the animals believed him, and went on singing, " This is the tooth, the tooth of a camel,"' etc."
The singing was continued for some time, the above words being repeated indefinitely. Then the old man showed in pantomime how the Lion burst from the ground with a ' R-R-R-R ! ' Then a young man sitting by took up the tale, and he, Mpongwa, and the rest somehow finished it between them.
" While they were singing this, the Lion came out from the sand and sprang on the animals, seized them, and killed them. Mwakatsoo had shut the door, and he and the civet-cat ran away. Afterwards, when the Lion had finished eating the animals, Mwakatsoo came and opened the door for him, and he came out."
This story was also told me in Swahili by Muhamadi bin Abubakari at Lamu, but with the hyaena in place of the lion. One hears curiously little about the hyaena among the Pokomo, — but this is a subject which would require a paper to itself!
A. Werner.
