THE HARE'S CHARM 379 



returned to where her httle friend was waiting 

 on the path, and advised her to go and stay with 

 her relations in a neighbouring village until her 

 mother's anger was forgotten. So the little girl 

 went off to stay with her grandmother, and as she 

 went along the path a hare with a small piece of 

 stick in his mouth suddenly jumped out upon her 

 and said, " Take me up in your arms, and climb a 

 tree quickly, for a lion is following me and wants 

 to eat me." So the little girl climbed up a tree, 

 and immediately afterwards a lion came and looked 

 up at her and said, " Throw the hare down, little girl, 

 for I am hungry." But she refused, whereupon 

 the lion said, " Oh, very well, 1 will wait here until 

 you come down, and then I will eat you too." 

 The httle girl was dreadfully afraid when she 

 heard the Uon say that, but the hare said, " Do 

 not be alarmed, little girl. You see the piece of 

 stick I am carrying in my mouth ? That is medi- 

 cine, but only for the men-people ; hares cannot 

 use it, but you can. So take it in your fingers 



and say, 



" Pwete,* come and help me ; 



Pwete, come and help me ; 



Pwete, come quickly.''' 



So she took the stick from him, and repeated the 

 words, and suddenly, with a tremendous rush, a 

 great big rhinoceros came crashing through the 

 forest towards them. The Hon jumped up, but 

 before he could get away, the rhinoceros had 

 pierced him through and through with his horn, 

 and galloped off. So the little girl and the hare 



* Chi-Lena for Rhinoceros. 



