but it’s too late for the chief to change your names. He can do that tomorrow morning when it is light and he can see what he is doing. I shall get some boys to show you to your sleeping quarters for the night.”

A tall boy came and took the elephant to the place where he was to sleep. Because he was so large, this had to be in a field. The boy wished the elephant a good night and then he took the hyena to his place. Not being so large, the hyena was able to sleep in a hut, and was given the skin of a water-buck with which to cover himself.

“At night there are only stars in the sky,” said the boy. “You will need this skin to keep you warm.”

The hyena thanked him and settled down in a corner of the hut and began to cover himself with the skin. The boy closed the door of the hut and went back to the chief’s messenger.

“Our guests have gone to bed,” he said.

“Good,” said the messenger. “They can speak to the chief when the sun comes up and he can change their names then. That will make them happy.”

Just before the first light of the morning, the hyena crept out of his hut and made his way to the elephant’s sleeping field. He walked low down, his head dropped, as if he were sneaking away in shame – just the way that all hyenas walk. Standing in the field, waiting for his friend, the elephant also had his head lowered, his tusks almost touching the ground.

“I am very ashamed of myself,” the elephant said, even before the hyena could wish him good morning. “They put me in this field of corn to sleep and during the night I ate it all.”

The hyena looked at the field. It was covered with the stalks of felled plants, as if a great wind had blown upon it during the night.

“I am also ashamed,” he said to the elephant. “They gave me a skin last night to cover myself and I ate it all up. Only the end of the tail is left.”

The two bad friends were now too ashamed to go before the chief to ask him to change their names. Instead they ran into the bush and found places far from people where they could live. They were still called elephant and hyena and all the other animals still said bad things about these names. That is why the elephant and the hyena live far away.

8

The Wife Who

Could Not Work

When Kumalo saw the beautiful girl at her father’s house he knew that he would have to marry her. The girl was shy and did not look at him, but he could tell that she was beyond doubt the most beautiful girl in that part of the country.

“How many cattle would I have to give you to marry your daughter?” he asked the father.

The father looked at Kumalo and could tell that he was a rich man.

“That girl is very beautiful,” he said.

“I can see that,” said Kumalo. “You must be proud of her.”

“The man who marries her will have to give me lots of cattle,” went on the father.

“How many?” asked Kumalo. “I am sure that I will have that many.”

“Fifty,” said the father.

Even for Kumalo that was a very large number of cattle, but he agreed with the father that he would give them to him in return for the privilege of marrying his daughter. The father seemed pleased and called other people across to witness the bargain.

“I must warn you about something,” he said after they had agreed on the day when the cattle would be delivered. “Many beautiful girls cannot work very hard. That girl is so beautiful that she cannot work at all.”

Kumalo was surprised by this, but quickly promised that the girl would never have to do any work in his household.

“That is good,” said the father. “She will be happy with you.”

There were other women who lived at Kumalo’s place. These were aunts and cousins and other relatives, and they all had large huts where they kept all their property and ate their meals at night. They were happy living with Kumalo and they were pleased when he told them that he would be getting married. They prepared a great feast for his new wife and when she arrived they all cried with joy when they saw how beautiful she was. On the