Outa Karel's Stories Part 4

"It was Tante Hyena that Jakhals cheated more than anyone," said Outa. "She always forgot about the last time he had played a trick on her, so she was quite ready to believe him when he came along with another story. Some people are so, my baasjes. P'raps it's kindness, p'raps it's only stupidness; Outa doesn't know.

"One day Jakhals and Hyena were out walking together when a white cloud came up behind the kopjes and floated over the veld quite close to them. It was a nice thick cloud, just like white fat, and Jakhals climbed on to it and sat looking down over the edge. Then he bit pieces out of it, and ate them.

"'Arre! but this white fat is nice,' he said. 'N-yum, n-yum, n-yum,'

and he chewed round the cloud like a caterpillar chews a leaf.

"Hyena licked her lips and looked up at him.

"'Throw me down some, please,' she said.

"'Ach! my Brown Sister, will I then be so greedy as to throw you down little bits? Wait till I get down, and then I'll help you up to eat for yourself. But come a little nearer so that you can catch me when I jump.'

"So Hyena stood ready, and Jakhals jumped in such a way that he knocked her into the sand. He fell soft, because he was on top, but foei! poor Hyena had all the breath knocked out of her and she was covered with dust.

"'Ach! but I am clumsy!' said Jakhals; 'but never mind, now I'll help you.'

"So when she had got up and dusted herself, he helped her to climb on to the cloud. There she sat, biting pieces off and eating them, 'N-yum, n-yum, n-yum, it's just like white fat!'

"After a time she called out, 'Grey Brother, I've had enough. I want to come down. Please catch me when I jump.'

"'Ach, certainly Brown Sister, come on. Just see how nicely I'll catch you. So-o-o.'

"He held out his arms, but just as Hyena jumped he sprang to one side, calling out, 'Ola! Ola! a thorn has p.r.i.c.ked me. What shall I do? what shall I do?' and he hopped about holding one leg up.

"Woops! Down fell Brown Sister, and as she fell she put out her left leg to save herself, but it doubled up under her and was nearly broken. She lay in a bundle in the sand, crying, 'My leg is cracked! my leg is cracked!'

"Jakhals came along very slowly--jump, jump, on three legs. Surely the thorn, that wasn't there, was hurting him very much!

"'Oo! oo!' cried Hyena, 'help me up, Grey Brother. My leg is broken.'

"'And mine has a thorn in it. Foei toch, my poor sister! How can the sick help the sick? The only plan is for us to get home in the best way we can. Good-bye, and I will visit you to-morrow to see if you are all right.'

"And off he went--jump, jump, on three legs--very slowly; but as soon as Old Brown Sister could not see him, he put down the other one and--sh-h-h-h--he shot over the veld and got home just in time to have a nice supper of young ducks that Mrs. Jakhals and the children had caught at Oubaas van Niekerk's dam.

"But poor Brown Sister lay in the sand crying over her sore places, and from that day she walks lame, because her left hind foot is smaller than the right one." [2]

V.

WHO WAS THE THIEF?

"Yes, my baasjes, so was Oom Jakhals: he always made as if he forgot all about what he had done, and he made as if he thought all the others forgot too, quick-quick. He is maar so schelm."

Here Outa took full advantage of the pinch of snuff he held between his right forefinger and thumb, sneezed with evident enjoyment two or three times, and continued:

"When Jakhals thought Hyena was quite well, he went to visit her.

"'It's very dull here in the veld,' he said, 'and food is so scarce, so I'm going to hire myself to a farmer. He'll give me lots to eat and drink, and when I'm nice and fat I'll come home again. Would you like to go too, Brown Sister?'

"Hyena smacked her lips when she heard about the nice things to eat. She thought it a very good plan. So they went to a farm, and Jakhals talked so nicely that the farmer hired them both to work for him.

"Ach! it was a beautiful place; lots of chickens and little ducks, and Afrikander sheep with large fat tails that could be melted out for soap and candles, and eggs, and doves and pigeons--all things that Jakhals liked. He just felt in his stomach that he was going to have a jolly life.

"During the day Jakhals peeped all about, in this corner, in that corner, and he found out where the farmer kept the nice fat that was melted out of the sheep's tails. In the middle of the night, when all the people were fast asleep, he got up and went quietly, my baasjes, quietly, like a shadow on the ground, to the place where the fat was. He took a big lump and smeared it all over Brown Sister's tail while she was asleep. Then he ate all that was left--n-yum, n-yum, n-yum--and went to sleep in the waggon-house.

"Early in the morning, when the farmer went out to milk the cows, he missed the fat.

"'Lieve land! Where is all my fat?' he said. 'It must be that vagabond Jakhals. But wait, I'll get him!'

"He took a thick riem and his sjambok, and went to the waggon-house to catch Jakhals and give him a beating. But when he asked about the fat, Jakhals spoke in a little, little voice.

"'Ach no, Baas! Would I then do such an ugly thing? And look at my tail. There's no fat on it. The one whose tail is full of fat is the thief.'

"He turned round and waved his tail in the farmer's face, and anyone could easily see that there was no fat on it.

"'But the fat is gone,' said the farmer, 'someone must have stolen it,'

and he went on hunting, hunting in the waggon-house.

"At last he came to where Hyena was sleeping, just like a baby, baasjes, so nicely, and snoring a little: not the loud snoring like sawing planks--gorr-korrr, gorr-korr--but nice soft snoring like people do when they sleep very fast--see-uw, see-uw. It is the deepest sleep when a person snores see-uw, see-uw. Hyena's head was on some chaff, and her tail was sticking out behind her, stiff with fat!

"'Aha! here is the thief,' said the farmer, and he began to tie the riem round her.

"Old Brown Sister sat up and rubbed her eyes. 'What's the matter?' she asked. 'I had a beautiful dream. I dreamt I was eating fat the whole night, and----'

"'And so you were--my fat,' said the farmer, and he pulled the rope tighter. 'And now I'm going to teach you not to steal again.'

"Poor old Brown Sister jumped about when she found out what he was going to do; she ran round and round the waggon-house trying to get away; she called out, and she called out that she did not know about the fat, that she had never tasted it, and had never even seen it. But it was no good.

"'Look at your tail,' said the farmer. 'Will you tell me that your tail went by itself and rubbed itself in the fat?'

"So he tied her to the waggon wheel and beat her, and beat her--ach! she was quite sore--and she screamed and screamed, and at last he drove her away from the farm.

"Poor old Brown Sister! She didn't even have the fat from her tail to eat, because, baasjes see, with the running round and the beating, it was all rubbed off. But she never went to live on a farm again; the veld was quite good enough for her."

"Is that the end, Outa?" asked Willem.

"Yes, my baasje. It's a bad end, but Outa can't help it. It does maar end so."

"And where was Jakhals all the time?" enquired Pietie, severely.

"Jakhals, my baasje, was sitting on the waggon saying his prayers--so, my baasjes." Outa put his crooked hands together and cast his twinkling eyes upwards till only the yellows showed.