Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/191

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Folklore of the Banyanja.
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asks the Lion to give him a little stick to drive them away. The Lion says, "Very well," and gives him a switch. Then they come near to the town and all the Men come out and see the Hare riding on the Lion's back and beating him with a switch. He says, "Hi! hi! didn't I say you were my horse?"


The Small Wild Fowl and the Large Fowl.

A small wild fowl said to a large one, "Come, let us be friends; you come and eat at my house and I shall eat at yours." The big one said, "Very well"; and several times they ate at each other's houses. At last the big one said, "You must only come twice more to my house." He said, "Very well." Twice the little fowl went and the third time he went he found the big fowl with its head under its wing. He thought its head was cut off and said, "What is this?" He told him, " Nothing, I always do this." Another time he came and the large bird was showing its head again. The small bird said, "Last time you had no head." He said, "Yes, this time I have put it on." The little bird went home and said to his brother, "When my big brother comes to eat here; cut my head off; he does so." His brother said, "I think you will die." He said, "No, do it and say to him 'Go in there; your little brother is in there.'" When the large bird came he saw the brother, who said, "Go in there; your little brother is in there." He did so, and found the little one dead.


"The Valley of Reeds."

There was a boy and he found a nest with ten eggs in it in a tree which hung over a river. He took two eggs home. There was a woman who said, "Go and get me two more." He went and took two more, leaving six only. When he was not looking, the woman took a stone and broke the top