92 



Gogga Brown 



The Lightning Bird— A Basuto Myth. 



In days long past the birds met to choose a 

 king and to find out in what way they should 

 do so. As the affair was of very great importance, 

 it was agreed that on choosing the king they 

 would have a great feast, and preparation was 

 made for it. On the opening of the meeting the 

 ostrich proposed that the one which could run 

 farthest should be king, thinking he would outrun 

 them all. He had no sooner spoken than the birds 

 made fun of the ostrich and said, " How can 

 you run? You have no wings. We birds don't 

 run with legs, we go swiftly with wings. You 

 are a fool ! You are a fool ! " they said, and the 

 ostrich has been called a fool ever since. 



After a great palaver, one proposing this and 

 another proposing that, the small birds proposed 

 that the one should be king who could fly straight 

 up the farthest. On hearing this the eagle made 

 sure he would win, for who could fly so straight 

 up and so high as he. " But," thought the lark, 

 " I see a chance of getting higher up than the 

 eagle," and he decided to watch his chance and 

 get on the eagle's tail. The birds agreed that 

 the one which went the highest up should shout, 

 and they started off. On this the lark contrived 

 to hide himself in the eagle's tail and away they 



