Once upon a time, long ago, there was a terrible famine. The crops had failed and there was no food to be had on either land or water. Spider and his family had finished their store of food and were beginning to feel the first pangs of starvation.<\/p>\n
One day, Spider went to see Elephant and said, \u201cI wish you a long life. Sarkin Ruwa, the Hippopotamus, has asked me to visit you. He says that if you let him have one hundred baskets of corn now, he will give you a fine black bull when the harvest comes round. But Hippo insists that this agreement is to be just between the two of you, great ones, and that no one else must hear of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFair enough,\u201d replied Elephant, and he gave orders for one hundred baskets of corn to be brought out. The young elephants picked them up and carried them to the water\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut them down here,\u201d said Spider. \u201cYou have done more than your fair share of the work and can go home now. I will get Hippopotamus to send his youngsters to collect the corn. It will be quite all right here \u2013 no one else will take it.\u201d<\/p>\n
As soon as the young elephants had gone, Spider called his family and together they carried the corn to their home and stored it away.<\/p>\n
The next morning Spider went to the river\u2019s edge and down into the water to the bottom of the river. He made his way to Hippopotamus\u2019 dwellings, passed all his subjects, and entered the private rooms. Here Spider bowed deeply to Hippopotamus and said, \u201cI wish the Chief a long life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, Gizo, where have you come from and what brings you here?\u201d asked Hippopotamus.<\/p>\n
\u201cI come to act as a go-between,\u201d said Spider. \u201cSarkin Tudu, the Elephant, has sent me with a message for you. He wishes me to tell you that he has plenty of corn for making meal, but nothing tasty to eat with it. So he wants you to let him have one hundred baskets of fish now, and when harvest time comes he will give you a fine black bull.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat seems a fair bargain,\u201d said Hippopotamus.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe also says that this is an agreement just between you two great ones,\u201d added Spider, \u201cand that you must on no account tell anyone else about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right,\u201d said Hippopotamus, and with that he gave orders for one hundred baskets of fish to be collected. The young hippopotamuses brought them up to the riverbank.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can go now,\u201d said Spider. \u201cI will call the young elephants to collect them and take them to Elephant\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if we leave them here,\u201d said one of the young hippos, \u201cwhat happens if somebody else comes and takes them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not worry about that,\u201d said Spider. \u201cNo one will touch them here. But we simply cannot have the young men of two different chiefs congregating in the same place. If you were to stay here until the young elephants turned up, goodness knows what bickering there would be between you \u2013 and then perhaps you would set your chiefs against each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cTruly,\u201d Spider continued, \u201cthey say it is the young men who eat the beans, but the elders who get the bellyache!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is true enough!\u201d said the eldest of the young hippos. \u201cWe had better go home.\u201d<\/p>\n
When they had gone, Spider called his family again and together they picked up the fish, carried it home, dried it in the sun, and stored it away. Now Spider and his family had no more worries about food. From then until harvest time, Spider kept all his family busy plaiting a rope which was very, very long and very, very strong.<\/p>\n
Then one day, after the harvest had been gathered and after the brush had been burnt in readiness for the next sowing, Elephant remembered the agreement and said, \u201cGo and fetch Spider.\u201d And so Spider was brought before Elephant.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, Gizo!\u201d said Elephant. \u201cIs Hippopotamus doing anything about the agreement you made between us?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sure that you need not worry,\u201d said Spider. \u201cI will go right away and see him about it, and be back the day after tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Spider went off and was away for three days. What he really did, though, was go to the riverbank, where he marked out an enormous tree and tied the middle part of his rope around the trunk. Then he returned to Elephant, bringing with him one end of the rope, and said, \u201cHere is the tethering rope of the big black bull which Hippopotamus is giving you. At daybreak tomorrow they will bring him out of the water, and as soon as you see the leaves of that tree over there shaking, your young elephants are to pull on the rope.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that is how it is to be,\u201d said Elephant.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d said Spider.<\/p>\n
After that, Spider went to see Hippopotamus, taking with him the other end of the rope.<\/p>\n
\u201cElephant has given me a big black bull to bring to you,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I am not strong enough to hold him, so I have left him tied to a tree on the bank. Here is the other end of the tethering rope. You had better send out your young hippos at daybreak to pull him in \u2013 but look out, for he is very wild and very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right,\u201d said Hippopotamus. \u201cWe will do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next morning, Elephant had all his young males lined up holding the rope and ready to pull. As soon as the young hippos began to pull on the rope, the tree shook as if it were coming up by the roots, and at that all the young elephants began hauling as well. It went on like that all day, with the elephants pulling at one end and the hippos pulling at the other. If the elephants gained any ground, the hippos pulled harder, and if the hippos gained any ground, the elephants did the same.<\/p>\n
They pulled and they tugged and they tugged and they pulled, and it was not until nightfall that the two teams stopped to lie down and rest.<\/p>\n
At daybreak the next morning, they all got up and started pulling again, the elephants at one end and the hippos at the other. Again, the two teams tugged and hauled. At last, when it was midday, Hippopotamus told his young hippos to stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo and ask Elephant,\u201d said their bewildered chief, \u201cwhat kind of bull this is that he has given me.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, Elephant was telling the young elephants to stop pulling and go and ask Hippopotamus what kind of bull he had given him.<\/p>\n
So both parties of young males set off, and it so happened that they met.
\u201cWhere are you all off to?\u201d asked the young elephants.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been sent to speak to the old Elephant,\u201d explained the young hippos, \u201cand ask what kind of bull it is that he has given our chief in settlement for one hundred baskets of fish. We have been pulling on the creature\u2019s rope all day yesterday and since daybreak today, and we are utterly worn out!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that is impossible!\u201d exclaimed the young elephants. \u201cWe have been sent to speak to the old Hippopotamus to ask him what kind of bull it is that he has given our<\/em> chief in settlement for one hundred baskets of corn. He promised us a bull, and we have been pulling at its rope all yesterday and since daybreak today, until there is no strength left in us!\u201d<\/p>\n The two parties of youngsters argued like this for some time and matters nearly came to blows. At last they realised that the old Elephant and the old Hippopotamus had not met when they made their agreements, and that it was Spider who had been the go-between. They realised that it was Spider who had made away with the one hundred baskets of corn and the one hundred baskets of fish.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, if that is how things are,\u201d they decided, \u201cwe had better go back and tell our chiefs that there is no bull here and it looks like one of Spider\u2019s tricks!\u201d<\/p>\n So both parties went back and told what had happened and what they believed Spider had been up to.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I do not owe Hippopotamus anything,\u201d protested Elephant when he heard the news. \u201cIt is he who is in debt to me!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am not in debt to Elephant,\u201d said Hippopotamus. \u201cIt is the other way round!\u201d<\/p>\n But at last the old Elephant and the old Hippopotamus realised that Spider had tricked them and had taken all their food. Hippopotamus accordingly sent a message to Elephant to say that they must not be angry with each other.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter all,\u201d Hippopotamus said, \u201cwe are among the great ones of the world, and if we fall out, the quarrel will not easily be repaired. Instead, it would be as well for us to lie in wait and catch Spider and teach him a lesson he will never forget for tricking us out of so much food!\u201d<\/p>\n Elephant agreed with the wisdom of this, and from then on both of them started hunting for Spider. But neither Elephant nor Hippopotamus was able to find him anywhere, because Spider was so good at hiding in many secret places.<\/p>\n From that day on, Spider has grown quite thin, as he is always hiding from the vengeance of Elephant and Hippopotamus.<\/p>\n (Folktale from the Hausa of West Africa)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once upon a time, long ago, there was a terrible famine. The crops had failed and there was no food to be had on either land or water. Spider and his family had finished their store of food and were beginning to feel the first pangs of starvation. 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