8 THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 



the python seized her, she managed to shriek for help 

 before those cruel coils smothered her. Hearing her cry 

 of distress, we rushed to her aid and attacked the python. 

 Before we could kill him, he managed to squash one of our 

 number, who died a few hours afterwards. 



Several times our children mysteriously disappeared, 

 for, contrary to our commands, they would often creep 

 away and go hunting about for scorpions and beetles and 

 berries, on their own account. We thought it was a 

 leopard who was carrying them off, but it wasn't so in this 

 case. One day the youngsters came scrambling over the 

 rocks screaming in mortal fear. We hurried up, thinking 

 they were being chased. They told us they had spied a 

 huge python lying asleep amongst the rocks. They led us 

 to the spot, and sure enough, there lay a terrible-looking 

 snake. We got above him and began pushing rocks down 

 on him. He awoke, and raising his head, hissed dreadfully. 

 Then he tried to crawl away, but we saw he was very slow 

 and didn't make much headway ; so, thinking he wouldn't 

 be able to make much of a fight, we grew bolder and closed 

 in on him. We feared at first to attack him, for we well 

 knew that at least one of us would be likely to be crushed 

 to pulp. However, an old warrior-baboon, with grizzled 

 hair and great tusks, made a dash, and we all followed. 



We tore that python almost to pieces. When we were 

 venting our rage on the body by biting pieces out of it, 

 one of our womenfolk gave a terrible shriek, and jumping 

 forward, seized an arm which stuck out of the python's 

 torn body. She pulled and drew out the remains of one 

 of our little folk. It was her own child. She hugged the 

 dead slimy body to her breast and moaned and crooned and 

 shrieked. We tried to take the body away from her, but 

 she wouldn't let us, and scrambled away off amongst the 

 rocks. Two days afterwards she came back and joined 

 us, looking sad and miserable. She had left her child's 



