And so we come to the final tour from Dangerous Creatures. There is one more, called Really Difficult Shots, but that one relies very heavily on the pictures that accompany each caption, so there’s not much point in trying to convey it through text alone.
Next time, we start on the animal fact pages themselves. But for now, enjoy the final tour. :)
In the beginning, the Sky God owned all the stories that would ever be told. So say the Ashanti people of Ghana in west Africa. But Anansi the spider, who was the cleverest of the animals, bought them for a gourd full of hornets, a python and a leopard. Now, as I am a storyteller, I may borrow some stories from Anansi.
When the lion roars, he is saying, “This is my hunting ground!” All over Africa, he is considered to be the king of beasts. Even the elephant believes this, though he is huge and the lion is small. Here is a story about how the lion came to rule over the elephant…
One day, when Bushbuck comes home, there is someone in his house. Bushbuck does not go in, because the voice from inside promises to eat him. Bushbuck, who has no courage, sits down and cries. And then he calls his huge friend Elephant. And the voice promises to eat Elephant, so Elephant calls his friend Lion – whom the voice also promises to eat. Lion has no patience for this, so he roars and throws the door open. What do you think he finds inside the house?
A frog! Nothing but a fat old frog, holding his sides and laughing! Lion thinks this is a good joke, and he tells all the animals how an elephant was scared by a frog. Elephant, as you can imagine, was very much embarrassed.
And that is why, even though he is so much bigger than Lion, Elephant thinks Lion is better than he is. All because Elephant was scared by a little frog, and Lion was not.
So it is that Elephant and Lion are not the best of friends, because Lion laughed at Elephant.
Hyena and Lion also used to be friends. But one day, Lion fell into Hyena’s fire and was burnt to death. This happened in the dreamtime of the Coycoy, a group of people who have lived in South Africa since ancient times.
The Ambundu people of Angola tell a story of how dogs came out of the bush to live with humans.
One day, Dog’s friend Jackal said, “Dog, go to the village and get fire. Then we can burn the grass and drive out grasshoppers to eat.”
But when Dog went into the village, a woman was feeding her child porridge, and she gave Dog the leftovers. Dog said to himself, “Why should I live in the bush and eat grasshoppers when I can live with people and eat good food?”
As you know, he stayed with people to be their friend.
The Ambundu people also tell a story of how the wild boar and the house pig used to live together in the forest.
One day, the pig said, “Boar, let me move to the village, where they will feed me.”
The boar said, “Don’t go!”
But the pig left. And the people killed and ate the pig.
And now, when pigs squeal, they are saying, “Boar, you were right! I should have listened!”
You know that the hippopotamus lives in the water. But the Matabili people in southern Africa say that he used to live in the forest. At that time, he had a beautiful coat of brown fur. “How beautiful I am!” he would say.
Hare grew tired of listening to Hippo, and set him on fire. Hippo’s ears, tail and beautiful fur got burnt off. When he saw his reflection in the water, he was so ashamed that he slid under the surface to hide, and he has been hiding there ever since. Poor Hippo.
That was not the only trick that Hare played on him.
Hare once challenged Hippo to a tug-of-war. But he tied the other end of the rope to a sleeping rhinoceros. Before this time, Rhino was a fine, friendly fellow. But then, Hare treated him badly.
Before Hare woke Rhino, he poured a handful of ants – the kind that bite – into Rhino’s ear. Then, when Rhino felt those ants, he ran, dragging Hippo with him.
And to this day, the ants live in Rhino’s ears, which is why Rhino is so bad-tempered. As you can imagine, ants in the ears would make anyone irritable!
Never let it be said that Anansi himself is above a practical joke. One day, he fell into a river as thick with crocodiles as a termite mound is full of termites. But they did not eat clever Anansi, for he convinced them that he was their grandfather. The crocodiles were so anxious to please their new “grandfather” that they let him sleep in the nursery with their eggs. Anansi had a delicious feast that night, eating all of the eggs. And by the time the crocodiles discovered the poor empty eggshells, Anansi was long gone.
And now, I must leave you. As the Haustha in west Africa say, “Off with the rat’s head.” That means, “If you don’t like the story, then don’t blame the storyteller. Take it out on the rat.”
But remember, when you tell stories, you must say that they belong to Anansi the spider.
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