710 BANTU NEGROES 



" I must pay you a visit. No, listen. Come back here to-morrow, p-nd I will 

 marry you." 



" Very well," replied the boy. 



The mother returned with the pot, and the exchange was made. The boy 

 returned to his hut, and put the pot inside. 



" ^Vhat did you say to the boy while I was away 1 " asked the mother, when she 

 was alone with her daughter. 



"Oh, I told him on no account to propose to me — that if he did, I should 

 certainly refuse him." 



"■ AVhat did he say 1 " 



" He said, ' What a charming woman your mother is ! ' " 



" He did, did he ? I hope you asked him to come back to-morrow." 



" He said he was coming to-morrow," and the conversation came to an end. 



The boy, as he sat outside his hut, heard a chomping and chewing going on 

 inside, so he guessed the leopard had returned. He went inside, and the leopard 

 said : " I see you have bought the pot." 



" I have something nice to tell you," said the boy, thinking of the girl's proposal in 

 the garden. 



" Don't, don't, and ' webale ' " (" thank you ") said the leopard. He thought the boy 

 referred to the white ants again. 



" They were so nice and kind," said the boy, " I must tell you about them." 



" Not whilst I live," said the leopard, and again he uttered abusive words, meant 

 for the white ants. 



" I was talking to them just now, and one of them said " 



" Have they learned to talk, then 1 " 



" Of course they have. One of them said she would marry me to-morrow. Her 

 mother sold me the pot." 



" Oh, I thought you were talking of the white ants." 



" I guessed you misunderstood." 



" Listen, I have something nice to tell you," said the leopard. 



" I know it, you.are going to tell me about that stone again." 



'■■ No," said the leopard. " Look at this." And he dragged out another goat from a 

 corner. " That is Kamswaga's best," said he. " Look at his horns, and see the size of 

 his head, I found him easily enough. He was wandering round, wanting to fight, 

 when I seized his neck and dragged him here. Take off his skin, and in the morning 

 take some of his flesh and go again to the women and buy some bananas to make beer." 



Next day the slave boy visited the garden, bought the bananas, and the girl came 

 home with him. The leopard returned late that night, and he was a little uneasy when 

 he heard voices in the hut. When the boy explained that it was a wife, he came in, 

 and a long talk followed, in which he advised Sikllya Mun^ku and his wife to go next 

 day out in the open country, build a reed house, and make a plot of tillage. This was 

 done, and as the soil was rich, a plentiful crop was the result. Other people, on seeing 

 the good crop, came and asked permission to build and cultivate adjoining plots, and 

 in course of time there were many people, and Sikilya Mun4ku was recognised as 

 " Mwauii" (chief). 



Some time after this the leopard paid a visit to the chief, and ordered him to make 

 a feast and have a beer dance. He added that he was to call in the people of the whole 

 village, and that they were to remain all night in the chief's house : the other houses 

 of the village were to be closed, and the doors tied with rope, and no one was to enter 

 them for that night. 



The dance proceeded, and at midnight one man, who was tipsy, left the chief's house, 



