“The great Witch God gave back to the spirit of the dead mother the power that she had had on earth. And she transformed the young chief into a beautiful bird of many colors, and he flew to the pretty house in the blooming garden. He flew three times around the house and pecked on the door, and, the little girl opening it, he flew into the room where the old aunt was sleeping, and pecked the red mole from her throat and flew right out.
“And when the grandaunt woke she was frightened to see herself all shriveled up, wrinkled, and gray-haired. She looked at her throat and the mole was gone. She accused the little girl of taking it. The girl said she had not touched the mole.
“The grandaunt said she would put her through the trial by water. And she took the girl down to the Dry River. She put the girl in the middle of the river bed while she stood on the bank and worked her magic.
“And the girl sang, wailing:
“ ‘Aunty I didn’t do it,
Aunty I didn’t do it,
Aunty I didn’t do it oh. …
Water, stay, oh!’
“The grandaunt replied:
“ ‘My pickney, I never say’t was you,
My pickney, I never say’t was you,
My pickney I never say’t was you oh. …
Water, come, oh!’
“The river rose to the girl’s ankles. She sang again and her aunt replied. The water rose to her knees. The singing continued. The water rose to her waist. The girl’s singing grew weaker. The grandaunt’s reply grew stronger. The water was at the girl’s breast. She sang faintly:
“ ‘Aunty I didn’t do it. …
Water, stay, oh!’
“The grandaunt replied fiercely:
“ ‘Water, come, oh!’
“Now the water was at the girl’s throat and the grandaunt shrieked aloud, writhing her shriveled body like a black serpent:
“ ‘Water, come, oh!’
“And the river roared, flooding over the girl and sweeping her away. Far down its course the grandaunt saw a crocodile slip from the bank and gobble up the girl. And the grandaunt’s bones rattled with her thin witch laughter of joy.
“ ‘She stole the crocodile’s blood and the crocodile swallowed her up.’
“But when the grandaunt returned to her home, the house and the garden had disappeared and the people called her a bad witch and drove her from the land. She went wandering far away. And one beautiful sky-blue day the old withered thing came into a new country, and suddenly she found herself before the old garden with the pretty house. And standing at the gate was her grandniece, now a beautiful black princess, with the young chief, her husband, beside her.
“Hardly could the grandaunt recognize the stunted girl in the woman before her. But the princess said: ‘Aunt, you thought I was dead, but the crocodile was my husband.’
“The old thing fell on her knees and cried: ‘Give me to the leopards, my child, for I was a bad relative to you.’
“The princess replied: ‘No, aunt, we’re flesh and blood of the same family and you will come and live in this house and garden all the rest of your days.’ ”
When Ray had finished, nearly all the Senegalese wanted to tell a native story.
“We have the same kind of stories,” said the sergeant. “We have the trial by water and fire. … Let me tell a story.”
The sergeant said:
“Leopard was a terror all over the land. He was always setting traps for the other animals and getting the best of them. And the other animals were so afraid of him, they couldn’t move about with any freedom. They called secret meetings to make plans to get rid of leopard, but they were no match for him.
“One day leopard was trotting proudly along over the country when, passing under a tree, he heard a sweet musical sound above. Leopard stopped and looked up. He scrambled up the tree and found a hole out in the main limb from which the sound was coming. He put his hand in the hole and something grabbed it.
“ ‘Who’s holding me?’ leopard cried.
“ ‘Me, spinner,’ a voice replied from the hole.
“ ‘All right, spin let me see.’
“And suddenly leopard felt himself going round and round, round and round, until he was almost out of breath when he was let go hurtling through the air, to fall yards away in a clump of bushes. There leopard lay stunned for some time. When he was revived he carefully marked the exact spot where he had fallen. Then he went off to a blacksmith and ordered six steel prongs, stout and sharp.
“Leopard returned to the place to which he had been hurled and set up the steel prongs there. He went back under the tree and waited for the animals that passed by singly. First came bear. Leopard told bear that there was sweet stuff up there in the tree, and sent him up after it. When bear’s hand got caught, leopard told him to say just what he had said. And bear was spun round and round and sent whirling through the air to drop bellyways upon the steel prongs, and was instantly killed. Leopard ran to pick up the carcass and hide it away in the bushes.
“Cow passed by and also met his doom. Dog, pig, goat, rabbit, donkey, cat, gazelle—a troop of animals—all went the way of bear and cow. Then monkey came strutting along. Monkey had watched the whole affair from his perch in a treetop, and monkey was known as the one animal that could outwit leopard.
“When he came up to leopard he greeted him casually and was going by. But leopard stopped him.
“ ‘Hi, monkey, there’s sweet stuff up there!’
“ ‘Where?’ monkey asked.
“ ‘Up there in the tree. Don’t you hear the music? Go on up and see. There’s a hole full of sweet stuff. I tasted it.’
“Monkey ran nimbly up the tree and, leaping from branch to branch and looking round him, he declared he could not find any hole. Impatiently leopard climbed the tree and
