But Obe killed all the seven children in one day. Then he said: “Look here, bush rat”; so the bush rat answered: “How, you will say my tail humbugs you.” Then the snake nearly caught the rat and the rat ran to the Oko tree and asked if he could have a house in the roof; but the tree said if he did, he would cut a hole in the roof and he (the tree) would die. But the rat said: “No,” so the tree agreed. So the bush rat dug his house till he found a small roof and said: “Is this the roof of Oko? I must cut it.” So he cut it and Oko died.
When the francolin went to market he picked leaves from the top of Oko and ate, but when he came back Oko was dead, so he asked what had happened; so Oko explained and the francolin shouted: “Paxwá, paxwá” (war, war). When Okiukiu heard this, he started to shout: “Okwonọ, okwonọ” (war, war), and the monkey heard it and got ready to come down from the top of the tree. Oviedegbe, the son of Osa, was washing his feet, for he had a sore foot; when he saw the monkey he said: “Don’t break the tree and hurt my sore foot.” But the monkey broke the tree and hurt his foot. Now Oviedegbe had night and day in his power; so when the branch fell, he stopped night and day and Osa sent to ask why. So Oviedegbe reported that his sore foot was hurt; Ibidie was jumping about; so I stopped them. Then Osa sent to the monkeys and asked why they hurt Oviedegbe’s sore; so the monkey said: “Okiukiu called ‘War, war,’ and I broke the stick by accident.” Then Osa called Okiukiu and he said the francolin had called war; and the francolin said he had seen Oko tree dead; and Oko tree said the bush rat killed him; and the rat said war had driven him away; and the snake said the squirrel had driven him to attack bush rat; and the squirrel said the leopard frightened him; and the leopard said the mosquito frightened him. So the mosquito was called and he begged the wind to take him away, and Osa asked what he meant and he said “Erialue” (so we
