BOOTCHUANA TALES. 
367 
came a company of baboons, who overheard what the 
tortoises had said; on which they remarked, that if the 
tortoises have said he is alive, we may believe them, 
wherefore they also retired from the carcase. After- 
wards many elks came to the spot, who said to each 
other that the lion was dead, but immediately on their 
saying so, he sprang up and killed them all ; then choos- 
ing the fattest for himself, he left the remainder to the 
hare. 
The hare was offended with the lion for this conduct, 
and caused it to rain. When the clouds were gathering, the 
hare said to the lion, " Come, and let us make a house." 
This they began directly, and when the hare was thatch- 
ing the roof, he purposely fell from it several times. On 
seeing this apparent awkwardness of the hare, the lion 
said to him, " You are good for nothing, let me do it." 
While the lion was busily employed on the roof, the hare 
began to cook some meat, during which he secretly 
made a cord from the sinews of the animal he was 
cooking. The lion, observing what he was about, de- 
sired some food to be handed up to him. While doing 
this, the hare unobservedly tied the cord round part of his 
body and pulled it tight ; on which the lion said, " My 
brother, you hurt me !" but after denying that he had 
done it, the hare gave a violent pull, and the lion fell 
dead to the ground. 
The hare being convinced that the lion was dead, 
flayed him, and, leaping into his skin, seemed changed 
into a lion. Going off in the lion's skin, he advanced 
towards some wolves, who, when they saw him coming, 
said, " There comes our king !" and they prepared for 
him their best food, which was stewed meat. 
'I'he hare was accustomed sometimes, during the day, 
to creep out of the skin. On one of those occasions a 
wolf inquired what footsteps those were which he saw. 
".I thought," said he, " we had no stranger with us but 
a lion." This observation made them suspicious, and 
