Central Africa, and may be called: "The Son who tried to Outwit his Father." The first version runs thus:[1]
A son said to his father one day: "I will hide, and you will not be able to find me." The father replied: "Hide wherever you like," and he went into the house to rest. The son saw a three-kernel pea-nut, and changed himself into one of the kernels; a fowl coming along picked up the pea-nut, and swallowed it; a wild bush-cat caught and ate the fowl; and a dog met and chased and ate the bush-cat. After a little time the dog was swallowed by a python, that, having eaten its meal went to the river, and was snared in a fish-trap.
The father searched for his son, and not seeing him, went to look at the fish-trap. On pulling it to the river side, he found a large python in it. He opened it, and saw a dog inside, in which he found a bush-cat, and on opening that he discovered a fowl, from which he took the pea-nut, and breaking the shell, he then revealed his son. The son was so dumbfounded that he never again tried to outwit his father.
In the course of twenty reproductions this quite straight-forward narrative became:
A small boy, having got into some kind of mischief, wished to hide himself from his father. He happened to be standing under a tree when an acorn fell to the ground, and he immediately determined to hide himself within it. He accordingly concealed himself within the kernel. Now a cat chanced to be passing along that way, and when she saw the acorn she forthwith swallowed it. Not long afterwards a dog killed and ate the cat. Finally the dog himself was devoured by a python.
The father of the boy was out hunting one day, when he met the python, and attacked and slew it. On cutting the beast open, he discovered the dog inside it, and inside the dog the cat, and inside the cat the acorn. Within the acorn he discovered his long-lost son. The son was overjoyed on seeing his father once more, and promised him that he would never again conceal anything from him. He said he would submit to the punishment he deserved, whatever his crime might be.
- ↑ Congo Life and Folklore, by J. H. Weeks, London, 1911, p. 462.
