Outa Karel's Stories Part 11

"'It's no good hopping away, Brother Bullfrog,' they said. 'Oom Leeuw will find you wherever you are, and with one blow of his iron claws he will kill you.'

"But old Brother Big Bullfrog didn't take any notice. He just hopped on, and when he came to his dam he sat back at the edge of the water and blinked the beautiful eyes in his ugly old head, and said: 'When Oom Leeuw comes tell him I am the man who broke the bones. Tell him I live in this dam, and if he wants to see me he must come here.'

"The White Crows were very cross. They flew down quickly to peck Brother Big Bullfrog, but they only dug their beaks into the soft mud, because Brother Big Bullfrog wasn't sitting there any longer. Kabloops! he had dived into the dam, and the White Crows could only see the rings round the place where he had made a hole in the water.

"Oom Leeuw was far away in the veld, waiting for food, waiting for food. At last he saw a herd of zebras--the little striped horses that he is very fond of--and he tried to fly up so that he could fall on one of them, but he couldn't. He tried again, but no, he couldn't. He spread out his wings and flapped them, but they were quite weak, like baasjes' umbrella when the ribs are broken.

"Then Oom Leeuw knew there must be something wrong at his house, and he was toch too angry. He struck his iron claws into the ground and roared and roared. Softly he began, like thunder far away rolling through the kloofs, then louder and louder, till--hoor-rr-rr-rr, hoor-rr-rr-rr--the earth beneath him seemed to shake. It was a terrible noise.

"But all his roaring did not help him, he couldn't fly, and at last he had to get up and walk home. He found the poor White Crows nearly dead with fright, but they soon found out that he could no longer fly, so they were not afraid of him.

"'Hoor-rr-rr-rr, hoor-rr-rr-rr!' he roared. 'What have you done to make my wings so weak?'

"And they said: 'While Oom was away someone came and broke all the bones.'

"And Oom Leeuw said: 'You were put here to watch them. It is your fault that they are broken, and to punish you I am going to bite your stupid white heads off. Hoor-rr-rr-rr!'

"He sprang towards them, but now that they knew he couldn't fly they were not afraid of him. They flew away and sailed round in the air over his head, just too high for him to reach, and they called out: 'Ha! ha! ha! Oom cannot catch us! The bones are broken, and his wings are useless. Now men and animals can live again. We will fly away and tell them the good news.'

"Oom Leeuw sprang into the air, first to one side and then to the other, striking at them, but he couldn't reach them, and when he found all his efforts were in vain, he rolled on the ground and roared louder than ever.

"The White Crows flew round him in rings, and called out: 'Ha! ha! ha! he can no longer fly! He only rolls and roars! The man who broke the bones said: "If Oom Leeuw wants me he can come and look for me at the dam." Craw, craw,' and away they flew.

"Then Oom Leeuw thought: 'Wait, I'll get hold of the one who broke the bones. I'll get him.' So he went to the dam, and there was old Brother Bullfrog sitting in the sun at the water's edge. Oom Leeuw crept up slowly, quietly, like a skelm, behind Brother Bullfrog.

"'Ha! now I've got him,' he thought, and made a spring, but Brother Bullfrog said, 'Ho!' and dived in--kabloops!--and came up at the other side of the dam, and sat there blinking in the sun.

"Oom Leeuw ran round as hard as he could, and was just going to spring, when--kabloops!--Brother Bullfrog dived in again and came up at the other side of the dam.

"And so it went on. Each time, just when Oom Leeuw had nearly caught him, Brother Bullfrog dived in--kabloops!--and called out 'Ho!' from the other side of the dam.

"Then at last Oom Leeuw saw it was no use trying to catch Brother Bullfrog, so he went home to see if he could mend the broken bones. But he could not, and from that day he could no longer fly, only walk upon his iron claws. Also, from that day he learned to creep quietly like a skelm after his game, and though he still catches them and eats them, he is not as dangerous as he was when he could fly.

"And the White Crows can no longer speak. They can only say, 'Craw, craw.'

"But old Brother Big Bullfrog still goes hop-hop-hoppity-hop round about the dam, and whenever he sees Oom Leeuw he just says 'Ho!' and dives into the water--kabloops!--as fast as he can, and sits there laughing when he hears Oom Leeuw roar with anger."

XIII.

WHY THE HERON HAS A CROOKED NECK.

The flames leapt gaily upward in the wide fireplace, throwing strange shadows on the painted walls and gleaming on the polished wood of floor and beam and cupboard. Little Jan basked contentedly in the warmth, almost dozing--now absently stroking the terrier curled up beside him, now running his fingers through the softer fur of the rug on which he lay. It was made of silver-jackal skins--a dozen of them, to judge from the six bushy tails spread out on either side; and as Outa Karel's gaze rested on them, he remarked reminiscently--

"Arre! but Oom Jakhals was a slim kerel! No one ever got the better of him without paying for it."

In an instant little Jan was sitting bolt upright, every symptom of sleep banished from his face; the book from which Willem had been laboriously trying to gain some idea of the physical features of Russia was flung to the far end of the rustbank; while Pietie, suspending for a brief moment his whittling of a catapult stick, slid along the floor to get within better sight and sound of the story-teller.

"Yes, my little masters, sometimes it was Oom Leeuw he cheated, sometimes it was...o...b..as Babiaan or Oom Wolf, and once it was the poor little Dove, and that is what made me think of how he was cheated himself."

"Did the little Dove cheat him?" asked Pietie eagerly.

"No, baasje, the Dove is too frightened--not stupid, baasje, but like people are when they are too gentle and kind and believe everything other people tell them. She was sitting on her nest one day singing to her little children, 'Coo-oo, coo-oo coo-oo,' when Oom Jakhals prowled along under the tree and heard her.

"'Alla wereld! Now I'll have a nice breakfast,' he thought, and he called out, 'Good morning, Tante. I hear you have such pretty little children. Please bring them down for me to see.'

"But the Tante was frightened of Jakhals, and said, 'I'm sorry, Oom, they are not well to-day, and I must keep them at home.'

"Then Jakhals lost his temper, and called out, 'Nonsense, I'm hungry and want something to eat, so throw down one of your little children at once.'

"Baasjes know, sometimes crossness drives away frightenness; and Tante was so cross with Oom Jakhals for wanting to eat one of her little children that she called out, 'No, no, you bad Jakhals, I shall do nothing of the sort. Go away and look for other food.'

"'If you don't, I'll fly up and eat them all,' said Jakhals. 'Throw one down at once.' And he stamped about and made such a horrible noise that the poor Tante thought he was really flying up. She looked at her babies: there wasn't one she wanted to give, but it was better to lose one than have them all eaten; so she shut her eyes and fluttered about the nest till one of them fell out, and Jakhals caught it in his mouth and carried it off to his hole to eat.

"Ach! but the poor Tante was sad! She spread her wings over her other children and never slept all night, but looked about this way and that way with her soft eyes, thinking every little noise she heard was Oom Jakhals trying to fly up to her nest to gobble up all her babies.

"The next morning there was Oom Jakhals again. 'Tante, your child was a nice, juicy mouthful. Throw me down another. And make haste, do you hear? or I'll fly up and eat you all.'

"'Coo-oo, coo-oo, coo-oo,' said Tante, crying, 'no, I won't give you one.' But it was no use, and in the end she did what she had done before--just shut her eyes and fluttered round and round till a baby fell out of the nest. She thought there was no help for it, and, like some people are, she thought what the eye didn't see the heart wouldn't feel; but her heart was very sore, and she cried more sadly than ever, and this time she said, 'Oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo!' It was very sad and sorrowful to listen to 'Oo-oo, oo-oo, oo-oo!'

"Here came old Oom Reijer. He is a kind old bird, though he holds his neck so crooked and looks like there was nothing to smile at in the whole wide world.

"'Ach! why do you cry so sadly, Tante? It nearly gives me a st.i.tch in my side.'

"'Oo-oo! I'm very miserable. Oom Jakhals has eaten two of my little children, and to-morrow he will come for another, and soon I shall have none left.'

"'But why did you let him eat them?'

"'Because he said if I didn't give him one he would fly up and eat them all. Oo-oo-oo!'

"Then Oom Reijer was very angry. He flapped his wings, and stretched out his long neck--so, my baasjes, just so" (the children hugged themselves in silent delight at Outa's fine acting)--"and he opened and shut his long beak to show how he would like to peck out Oom Jakhals's wicked eyes if he could only catch him.

"'That vervlakste Jakhals!' he said. 'To tell such lies! But, Tante, you are stupid. Don't you know Oom Jakhals can't fly? Now listen to me. When he comes again, tell him you know he can't fly, and that you won't give him any more of your children.'

"The next day there came Oom Jakhals again with his old story, but Tante just laughed at him.

"'Ach, no! you story-telling Bushytail!' she said, 'I won't give you any more of my little children, and you needn't say you'll fly up and eat them, because I know you can't.'

"'Nier-r-r, nier-r-r!' said Oom Jakhals, growling, 'how do you know that?'

"'Oom Reijer told me, so there!' said Tante. 'And you can just go to your mother!'

"My! but Tante was getting brave now that she knew she and her little children were safe. That was the worst insult you can ever give a grown-up jakhals, and Oom Jakhals growled more than ever.