before the Sultan, who orders him to be burned. He says,—"Do not tie me with coco-nut rope, but with banana-leaves, and I shall die as soon as you throw me down in the sun." Green banana-leaves are meant, which would become very brittle after drying in the sun, and, accordingly, after lying still for seven hours, the Hare "stretched himself hard, so that the mgomba gave way, and ran away at full speed," This version preserves the incident which Uncle Remus renders as Brer Rabbit's request not to throw him into the briar-patch, and the other version the trick attributed to Brer Terrapin. In Dr. Velten's Prosa und Poesie der Stiaheli, we have a third version, in which far more of the original character is lost. This is called " The Story of the Chief and the Hare." "The people and the animals of the forest" are summoned to dig wells in time of drought; the Hare refuses, and is debarred from drawing water. A succession of men are stationed to guard the well, all of whom are induced by fair words to let the Hare pass. Then the chief says,—"Now I will send the beasts of the forest," The lion tries, and is beguiled; then a girl volunteers, and is successful one day, but on the next the Hare comes back and overcomes her resistance with his winning ways, and the girl is dismissed. Finally he is caught by the Crab, who holds him fast by the tail. When taken before the chief he asks to be tied with green palm-branches and laid in the sun, with the result already described.[1]
I will now glance very shortly at the remaining animal stories in these three collections. "The Hare and the Kite" in Kibaraka is partly identical with "Le chacal, la colombe, et la panthere" in Jacottet's collection of Suto tales, and "The Dove and the Heron" in Bleek's Reynard
- ↑ Captain Barrett has collected a variant of this tale, containing the incident of the banana-leaves, among the Wa-Sania, a tribe, whose origin is at present uncertain, living some distance to the north-west of Mombasa.
