One day Hare said to Galago, “Let’s play a game.” Galago agreed. Their game was to see which of them could resist the most fire. One of them was to hide somewhere, and then the other set fire to the hiding place.
Hare found a patch of dry grass, around which the ground had been burned. He went into this patch of grass and hid in a burrow. When Hare had hidden, Galago set fire to the grass on all sides. When the grass had burned, Hare came out of the burrow and said, “Galago, don’t you see that we hares do not burn?”
Galago answered, “That seems to be true. Now, let me hide in another patch of grass, and you can fire it to find wheeher we galagos burn.” Hare agreed.
Galago chose a patch of dry grass, went into it, climbed up a tree, and concealed himself among the leaves. Hare took a firebrand and set fire to every side of the patch of dry grass. A strong wind came and caused the grass to burn fast and blaze up high. Flames licked up into the tree and burned up the leaves in which Galago had hidden. Galago was cooked in an instant, fell to the ground, and popped.
When Hare saw this happening, he shouted: “Let my little white horn stay, and the black horn go away.”
When Hare examined the corpse of Galago, he found a little white horn. When he blew upon the horn, it gave a musical note: “Pey!” Hare sang a funeral song for Galago:
Dear Galago is but ashes - pey, pey, peyko.
To the woods we went together - pey, pey, peyko.
To the stream we went together - pey, pey, peyko.
To the fields we went together - pey, pey, peyko.
Dear Galago is but ashes - pey, pey, peyko.
Woe is me that you are ashes - pey, pey, peyko.
On a later day, Duyker came to Hare and said, “O Hare, let us exchange horns. Trade me your little horn for this small horn of mine you see here. It is a good one.”
Hare said, “Your horns are very poor, Duyker, and I will not touch them. I do not want to trade.”
Then Duyker said, “If you feel that way, I see that you will not trade. But please, just let me look at your horn.”
Hare said, “All right.”
When Duyker examined the white horn, he saw that it was very fine, so he started running away with it. But Hare threw his bolas, and they wrapped around Duyker’s legs so that he could not run. Then Duyker cried out, “O Hare, come and release me from your bolas.”
Hare said, “First give me back my little white horn, and then I shall release you.” Duyker gave up the horn and was released from the bolas.
Once again Hare blew his horn, “Pey!” All the animals of the bush came to Hare, and one by one they tried to exchange something for the little white horn, as Duyker had tried to do. And like Duyker, each of them tried running away with the horn, when he could not get it by trading. But each time, Hare brought down the running animal with his bolas before the horn was lost.
Crocodile came last of all and said, “Let us make an exchange, Hare. I will give you a basket of fish for your horn.” When Hare would not trade, Crocodile said, “If you will not trade, then let me just look at it.”
Hare let Crocodile take the horn to look at it. When Crocodile saw how beautiful the horn was, he started to make off with it. Hare threw his bolas at Crocodile, but the bolas did not stop him, and Crocodile went into the water with the horn.
Hare pondered what to do. Hare had a beehive in a tree that stood near Crocodile’s river, upstream from Crocodile. Hare sat down by this bee tree and waited.
Later, Crocodile sent his children out to gather firewood. While gathering wood, the children saw the hive and saw that bees were in it. They said to each other, “That hive is ready to be eaten. When we go home, we must tell father about it.” When the children came to their father, they told him about the hive.
Crocodile said, “If that hive is upstream, it belongs to Hare and is private property. When you go out for wood tomorrow, go downstream, and if you should find another hive of that sort there, we shall eat it.”
While Crocodile was talking, Hare was listening to what he was saying. He went away and moved the hive from its tree to another tree downstream from Crocodile.
The next morning, Crocodile said to his children, as he sent them for firewood, “Go and get firewood, but look for it downstream today.”
The children went downstream looking for firewood and saw the beehive with bees in it. When they came back home, they told their father, “Today we found another beehive that is ready to be eaten.”
Their father said, “Let us go and eat it.”
When they came to the hive, the father climbed up the tree to the hive and lowered the hive to the ground. He began to break the bark bands which held the hive together. Then Hare jumped out from his hiding place and sank his teeth into Crocodile’s arm. Crocodile yelled. Hare said, “Bring me my little horn and then I shall let you go.”
Then Crocodile said to one of his children, “Go fetch the horn! You know it, the little white one.” Since his father was crying out with pain, the child went in great haste, picked up a duyker horn, and came running back with it.
When Hare saw the duyker horn, he braced himself and began to bite harder, and Gocodile began to yell louder. Then Crocodile sent the child back once more to fetch the little white horn. This time the child came with the horn of a roan antelope. When Hare saw this, he began to bite harder.
This went on and on until the child had brought the horns from all sorts of horned animals. Finally, when there was no other horn left, the child brought the right horn and gave it to Hare. In the meantime, Hare had bitten and bitten, until he had cut Crocodile’s arm completely off with his teeth.
Crocodile, maimed, considered what he could do to even matters with Hare. He said to himself, “I shall arrange a party with dancing and eating and ask all the people to come. Hare will not come to the party because he has cut my arm off, but if he does come I shall grab him.”
When the people met for the party, Leopard was the drummer. When the dancers gathered on the dance floor, the song they sang was this:
Where is Uncle Hare? He doesn’t dareOne who listened well could hear Hare, who was hidden in the drum, singing this song:
To the dancing come, at the music of the drum,
For he chewed off the arm of Grandfather Crock.
Hare is here, Hare is here,While the others were dancing and singing, Crocodile heard what the drum was saying and was annoyed by it. Crocodile took up his razor and threw it into the maw of the drum. Hare caught the razor and put it aside, and the razor did not cut him.
In the belly of the drum.
Hare did no wrong.
Uncle Hare, sir, he is right.
Then the dancers sang again:
Where is Uncle Hare? He doesn’t dare
To the dancing come, at the music of the drum,
For he chewed off the arm of Grandfather Crock.
And to anyone who listened, the drum was saying:
Hare is here, Hare is here,
In the belly of the drum.
Hare did no wrong.
Uncle Hare, sir, he is right.
As Crocodile listened, he became so annoyed that he got some hot water and poured it into the drum. This brought Hare out of the drum fast. When the drummer, Leopard, saw Hare jump out, he chased after him, for he was afraid that Crocodile would be angry and say that he had plotted with Hare.
Hare went into a burrow and hid himself underground. When he was down in the burrow, he shaved off all his hair with Crocodile’s razor. In the meantime, Leopard was digging and digging. When Hare had shaved off all his hair, he shaped it into a mock-up of himself, and placed within it the razor which Crocodile had thrown at him.
When Hare had done all this, he spoke eo Leopard and said, “Ancestral noble, please lee me pass. We are the smooth hares. We have no fellowship with the hairy hares.”
When Leopard saw Hare all red and bare, he thought, “This is not the hare that I chased,” so he asked, “Is the hare with the hair in there?”
Hare replied, “He is still in there.”
So Leopard let Hare pass by and then continued his digging. As he was digging, Leopard caught sight of the mock-up. He looked at it hard and thought that it was that very Hare he had been chasing. He said to it, “Hare, now I have caught you!” Then he thrust forward his paws with their claws extended, saying, “Now is the time that I kill you!” Leopard grabbed the bunch of hair - Pooma! All his fingers were slashed by the razor hidden inside. Then Leopard yelled, “O you Hare, someday I’ll catch you. You just wait!”
On a later day, Leopard found Hare taking down a beehive, and Leopard said, “Hare, remember what I said that day when I did not catch you?”
Hare said, “All right, Uncle, today you will eat me, but before you eat me, just taste a little of this honey, the kind I’m in the habit of eating.” Then Hare took up a piece of comb with honey in it and said to Leopard, “Please, just take a bite of it.”
Leopard ate the piece of honey and found it very tasty. He liked it so much that he asked Hare, “Is this the sort of food that you eat right along?”
Hare replied, “Yes, and if you would like more of it, just send me two empty gourds, so that when I come to your house, I may bring you a lot of it. Then you, Uncle, and my aunt, may have a feast. So that folks shall not peek in at you and see what you have to eat, go now and plaster up every hole in your house, so that there will be no peepholes.”
Leopard promised to do this. He went home, and they shut up every hole in their house, just as Hare had directed. Leopard sent two large empty zourds to Hare. When Hare got the gourds, he filled them nearly full with bees. He covered the bees over with grass, and put some honey on top of the grass.
When Hare carried the gourds to the leopards, he told them, “Eat none until I have gone out the door. When I have shut the door, each one of you take a gourd, and then dash the gourds onto the floor. After that, you may eat as freely as you wish. I tell you to do this, lest the other people see me here, and come to beg honey from me.”
Hare went outside, locked the door with the key, and then called, “Now smash the gourds!” At the word, the two leopards smashed the gourds, and the bees swarmed out from the gourds and stung the leopards until the children died and also the wife. Leopard himself made a hole in the roof. He climbed through it and shouted, “Hare, where is the key?”
Hare answered, “There it is on the top of the pig’s hut.” Leopard unlocked the house, and the bees flew out and went away. Leopard was left weeping for his wife and children.
As Hare went away, he pondered over his feud with Leopard. He thought, “Now, what shall I do next?” Hare decided to go to Lion.
When he came to Lion, he said to her, “I have come to get work.”
Lion said to him, “You can have work. Your work will be to care for my children.”
The next day Lion went out into the bush to hunt animals, leaving her children in the care of Hare. After Lion had gone, Leopard came along, and when he found Hare there, he said, “Now Hare! Haven’t I found you? Today you will not escape me again, for I am going to eat you!”
Hare said, “Uncle, do not eat me right here. Give me time and I shall repay my debt to you.” Then Hare gave Leopard one of the children of Lion. Leopard ate the lion cub and then went away.
When the sun was about to set, Lion came back from hunting and said, “Hare, bring the children out, so they can suck.” Hare obeyed, but he brought out only one at a time. He brought one of them out twice, for there were only two of the three left.
Lion said, “That is the whole lot. Indeed, you have cared for them well.”
The next day Lion went away again to hunt in the woods. Later in the day, Leopard came along and said, “Hare! Haven’t I found you again?”
Hare said, “Uncle, do not eat me now. Give me time, and I shall repay my debt.” Hare gave Leopard another lion child, and Leopard ate it.
Later that afternoon, Lion came back and said to Hare, “Bring the children to suck.” Hare brought out the one remaining cub and said, “Do not let them eat too much at once, lest they mess up the cave.” As the cubs all looked alike, Lion did not notice that the same one had been brought out three times. Lion said to Hare, “You have been caring for them very well.”
Lion went hunting again the next morning. Soon after she left, Leopard came again and said, “Hare! Haven’t I found you again?”
Hare said, “Uncle, do not eat me right here. Give me time, and I shall repay my debt to you.” Hare brought out the last of the lion children and gave it to Leopard.
After this, Hare began to think about what he had done, and he said, “What am I going to do when Lion comes home?” Finally, he smeared some gum over his eyes so that they could not be opened. Then he flopped himself down at the door of the cave. When Lion came home she cried out, “What is this? Hare! What has happened?”
Hare told her, “Leopard came and found me playing with the children. He destroyed my eyes and left me thus. Then he caught the children and ate them. That is why I am weeping.” Lion passed one of her claws under the gum on one of Hare’s eyes, the gum came off, and Hare could see with one eye. She did the same for his other eye. Then Hare could see again.
Hare and Lion discussed the future. As they talked, Lioness said to Hare, “Let us go and build a big circular corral. I shall stay inside this corral, lying on the ground and playing that I am dead. Then you will go and invite all the animals to come, saying, ‘Let us all go weep for Lion, who is lying dead on the cold, cold ground.’” Then they went and prepared the corral, in the way that they had planned it.
Then Hare summoned all the animals to come, saying, “Let all come together to weep for Lion, who is now lying dead on the cold, cold ground.” All the animals, both large and small, were glad to hear this word, so they all came. When they had gathered inside the corral, they all did their weeping, and as they wept they sang:
Oh! Oh! Oh! Old Lion is lying dead
On the cold, cold ground. Be it her final bed!
While they were singing, Hare and Tortoise went outside the corral and shut the gate. They said that they did not wish to weep too much. When the gate had been shut, Hare shouted: “O Lion, wake up and eat!” At the word, Lion rose up and began to kill animals. Hare shouted to her: “Now, I have paid you my debt!”