Outa Karel's Stories Part 10

"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.