AFRICAN LEGENDS. 
113 
Another of their notions is that though the lion 
from its great strength is enabled to bear away on 
his back an ox, or one of the larger of the antelope 
tribe, in like manner as the fox a goose—yet, if it 
happens to be a sheep that he has slain, he is inca¬ 
pable, from some unexplained cause, of thus remov¬ 
ing the animal from the spot, but is necessitated 
to drag it along the ground. 
Singularly enough, the like belief prevails amongst 
the Arabs of Algeria, who, according to General 
Dumas, account for this peculiarity in the following 
amusing manner :— 
44 In relating what his strength enabled him to 
effect, the lion said one day : 
44 4 An cha Allah /’—that is, if it pleases God,— 6 I 
shall carry off the horse without inconvenience. 
44 4 An cha Allah ! whenever I please I shall bear 
away a heifer, and her weight will not prevent me 
from bounding or running. 5 
44 When, however, he caught the sheep, he put it 
so under him that he forgot the religious formula : 
4 If it pleases God I and God, to punish him, decreed 
that he should never be able to carry away the sheep 
otherwise than by dragging it along the ground! 9 
During his journeyings in Great Namaqua-land, 
Sir James Alexander was told by the natives that the 
Bush-women have it in their power to change their 
forms into lions, hyaenas, and other beasts of prey. 
The following legend illustrates this superstition :—• 
44 Once on a time, a certain Nam aqua was travel¬ 
ling in company with a Bushwoman carrying a child 
on her back. They had proceeded some distance 
i 
