FISHES IN FABLE AND FAIRY-TALE. 63 



large herds of cattle and flocks of goats, just as you see 

 Uhha to-day. On this plain there was a very large 

 town, and in it lived a man and his wife, who possessed a 

 deep well which contained countless fish, that furnished 

 both the man and his wife with an abundant supply for 

 their wants ; but as their possession of these treasures 

 depended upon the secrecy which they preserved respect- 

 ing them, no one outside their family circle knew anything 

 of them. A tradition was handed down for ages through 

 the family, from father to son, that on the day they showed 

 the well to strangers they would be ruined and destroyed. 

 It happened, however, that the wife, unknown to her hus- 

 band, loved another man in the town, and bye-and-bye, her 

 passion increasing, she conveyed to him by stealth some of 

 the delicious fish from the wonderful well, and afterwards, 

 when her husband had gone, she took him to the enclosure 

 and showed him what appeared a circular pool of deep 

 clear water, which bubbled upwards from the depths, and 

 she said, * Behold ! this is our wondrous fountain ; is it not 

 beautiful ? And in this fountain are the fish.' The man 

 had never seen such things in his life, for there were no 

 rivers in the neighbourhood, except that which was made by 

 this fountain. His delight was very great, and he sat for 

 some time watching the fish, and bye-and-bye one of the 

 boldest of the fish came near where he was sitting, and he 

 suddenly put forth his hand to catch it. But that was the 

 end of all ! for the Muzimu, the spirit, was angry. And the 

 world cracked asunder, the plain sank lower and lower and 

 lower the bottom cannot now be reached by our longest 

 lines and the fountain overflowed and filled the great gap 

 that was made by the earthquake, and now what do you 

 see ? The Tanganika ! All the people of that great plain 

 perished, and all the houses and fields and gardens, the 



