A She-goat and her Children
Once upon a time a she-goat told her children that they would go out into the world to seek their fortune.
They set out and reached a cave when night came. When they entered the cave in order to find shelter for the night, they met a hyena inside.
“Welcome to you,” said the hyena. “I will give you food and water.”
The she-goat thanked the hyena.
“I will go to fetch water for you,” said the hyena.
The she-goat thanked the hyena again, but said that she and her children had decided not to drink.
“I will grind corn for you,” said the hyena. The she-goat thanked the hyena, but said she would grind it herself.
The she-goat started to grind corn on a stone and as she worked she sang a song.
“My teeth are blunt,” she sang, “and my mouth is tired, because I have been eating elephant and lion today.
Hyena, I come to you.
What would you have me do to you?”
When the hyena heard this song, she ran out of the cave and into the bush. Then the she-goat said to her children, “If I had not played this trick, the hyena would have killed us.”
After eating their meal, the she-goat and her children lay down on the floor of the cave and went to sleep.
The next morning they got up and travelled all day along the road until night came. Again they found a cave and entered it in order to shelter for the night. But inside the cave there was a lioness.
When the lioness saw the she-goat and her children, she roared; she roared because she thought she would kill the she-goat and her children.
Then the she-goat started to sing.
“My teeth are blunt,” she sang, “and my mouth is tired, because I have been eating elephant and lion today.
Lioness, I come to you.
What would you have me do to you?”
The children of the she-goat also started to sing.
“To be able to fight,” they sang,
“To fight is our great delight.
We made the hyena run from us yesterday.”
When the lioness heard this, she ran out of the cave and into the bush. Then the she-goat and her children ate the food of the lioness.
“We should thank ourselves,” said the she-goat, “for playing this trick. Otherwise the lioness would have killed us.”
They lay down on the floor of the cave and went to sleep.
The next morning they got up and travelled all day along the road until night came, when they reached a certain town where all the women were wicked. They entered the compound of the oldest, most wicked woman in the town.
“Welcome,” said the wicked old woman, “and spend the night in my house. I will give you food to eat and water to drink.”
The she-goat and her children thanked the wicked old woman and entered her compound.
“Here is guinea corn and here is a grinding stone,” said the wicked old woman. “You must grind the corn so that you will have food to eat.”
Then the she-goat started to sing.
“My teeth are blunt,” she sang, “and my mouth is tired, because I have been eating elephant and lion today.
Wicked old woman, I come to you.
What would you have me do to you?”
The children of the she-goat also started to sing.
“To be able to fight,
To fight is our great delight.
We made the lioness run from us yesterday.”
When the wicked old woman heard this she went everywhere in the town saying that the she-goat and her children had eaten elephant and lion and had made the lioness run away. Then the wicked old woman and all the people heard the she-goat and her children sing another song:
“Run away, run away,” they sang.
“It is men and wicked women,
We shall eat today.”
The people of the town became very frightened. Then, seizing their belongings, they left the town and scattered. They left the town to the she-goat and her children.
The she-goat said to her children, “If we had not played this trick, the wicked old woman would have killed us; she would have eaten our meat and made our skins into mats for the floor of her compound.”
Then the she-goat and her children went to live in the deserted town, and ate the food that was there. They made their homes there, because they had succeeded in their cleverness.