Why the Bat Flies at Night

Retold from a legend of the Kono people of Sierra Leone, Africa

Long ago, when first the earth was new, it was never dark or old.  All day long, the sun would shine, warming and lighting all the creatures.  All night long, the moon glowed, making twilight almost as light as day. 

Then, one day, Bat accepted a mission.  He was to carry a mysterious basket to the moon.  The basket contained darkness, but Bat did not know this.  

Bat took off to fly to the moon, with the basket on his back.  But the moon is very far, and the basket grew heavy.  Bat stopped to rest, and, as long as he was resting, he thought he would find himself something to eat.  So he set the basket down and went to find food and a place to rest.

While Bat was away, some other animals approached the basket, which looked abandoned.  

"That's a very large basket," said one. "Such a large basket must hold many good things to eat."

"Lets open it and see," said another.
 

So the animals peeked under the lid of the basket.  Just then, Bat returned.  But he was too late.   Darkness had escaped from the basket.

Ever since that day, Bat rests by day so he is ready to fly at twilight. At night, you can see him rushing about everywhere. 

He is trying to catch all the pieces of dark to put back in the basket, so he can take it to the moon. But somehow he is never able to capture every bit of darkness.  

Bats, bats, and more bats in both my eBay and etsy stores.

The Hippopotamus and the Tortoise

A Folktale from Nigeria

Many years ago the hippopotamus, whose name was Isantim, was one of the biggest kings on the land, second only to the elephant. 

The hippo had seven wives, all of them large and quite fat.  He was very fond of all of them. 

He was also fond of entertaining.  Now and then he put on a big feast for many guests.  But, as good a host as he was, and as appreciative as his guests were, no one, with the exception of the seven wives, knew the hippo's name. 

One evening, as the guests were about to sit down to the feast, the hippo made an announcement.  "You have come to dine at my table, yet not one of you knows my name.  You must tell me my name, or you shall have to leave without your dinner."

Dinner was looking very tasty.  And the guests were very hungry, having starved themselves all day so that they could better enjoy that night's feast.  But, alas, not one knew the hippo's name.

Hippo sent them away, their stomachs rumbling, looking back sadly at the table, which was heaped with delicious food and tombo [palm wine].

As he was leaving, the tortoise stopped to ask the hippo what he would do if he told him his name at the next gathering.  So the hippo replied that he would be quite ashamed of himself.  So ashamed, in fact, that he and his whole family would leave the land and go to dwell in the water for all eternity.  The tortoise thanked him and left.

The hippo and his wives had a custom.  Every morning, and every evening, they would go down to the river to wash themselves and have a drink.  The tortoise knew of this habit.


In their trek to the river, the hippo always walked in the lead, with his seven wives following him.  One day when they had gone down to the river to bathe, the tortoise made a small hole in the middle of the path.  Then he hid and waited.

When the hippo and his wives returned, two of the wives were lagging behind.  The tortoise crawled out from his hiding place and half-crawled into the hole, leaving his shell exposed.

One of the hippo wives hit her foot against the tortoise's shell.  She called out to her husband, "Oh! Isantim, my husband! I have hurt my foot."


The tortoise was so happy to hear this that he almost leaped out of the hole immediately, but he waited. 

A few days later the hippo again put on a feast for his guests, and again he cautioned them, "You must tell me my name, or you shall have to leave without your dinner."

The tortoise stood up, and said, "I will tell you your name, but first you must promise not to kill me for knowing it."  The hippo solemnly promised.


Then the tortoise shouted, at the top of his voice, "Your name is Isantim!" A cheer went up from all the guests.  And then they all sat down to dinner. 

When the feast was over, as per his promise, the hippo, followed by his seven wives, went down to the river, where they have lived ever since. 

And, while they do come out to feed at night, you will never find them on shore in the daytime.  And you will never be invited to another hippo feast. 

Hippos and tortoises can be found here and here.

The Tale of Hare, Elephant, and Hippo... as Told by Charms

One day, Hare looked out over his field. If he was going to have enough food to eat, he would have to plant a crop. But if he was going to plant a crop, first he would have to clear the field. And that was a lot of work ~ far more work than Hare wanted to do.

But Hare was clever.  He sat down to think.  He thought and thought and thought, until he came up with a big idea.  First he dragged a length of rope into the field.  Then he waited patiently.  Pretty soon a  big African elephant came lumbering along.

Hare hopped up to make a deal with Elephant.  He bet Elephant that he could beat Elephant at tug-of-war. Elephant laughed at the idea.  How could a little animal like Hare beat him at a game of tug-of-war?  It sounded like a no-brainer.  Quickly he scooped up the rope with his trunk.

Hare picked up the other end and hopped through the bushes, across the field.  There he hid behind a row of bushes and waited.

Soon Hippopotamus waddled through.

Hare hopped up to Hippo and dared Hippo to beat him at tug-of-war. Hippo, without another thought, picked up the end of the rope with his teeth.

Then Hare hopped into the bushes and gave the rope a tug.

When Elephant and Hippo felt the rope move, they each started to pull.  They were both strong and big and powerful.  Back and forth they dragged the rope. Back and forth.  Back and forth.  The sun rose in the sky, and started to dip down.  At last night fell.

Still Elephant and Hippo pulled at the rope.

Back and forth.  Back and forth.

And each time the rope moved, it plowed another row in the field.

Hare never had a finer harvest.

 
Hare, Hippo, and Elephant can be found here and here.

To see Hare's field, you will have to travel to Africa.