Once upon a time there was a snake who bit a girl and the men of the village were very angry.
So they chased him and chased him; and they chased him all the way down to the river.
Now, there was a man in a boat, and the snake said, “Quick! Take me across to the other side”
“What is your hurry?” said the man.
“Never you mind/1 I’ll ell you afterwards,” said the snake.
So the man took him across the river.
“Now tell me, what was your hurry?’ said the man.
“Oh, me?” said the snake. “I bit a girl and the men were chasing me, and now I am going to bite you too”
“Ah, you wouldn’t do that,” said the man. “I’ve just taken you across the river!”
“Oh yes, I would” said the snake “There are no good men anywhere.”
“No good men? But there must be some good men”
“Ah no! There are not” said the snake. “If you don’t believe me, you go and ask that old Fig Tree over there.”
So the man went to ask the Fig Tree.
“Fig Tree,” he said. “There’s a serpent here down by the river who says there are no good men. What do you think?”
“Good men?” said the Fig Tree, “Of course there are no good men. Look at me! Every time I have any figs the men come and take them all. Of course there are no good men!”
“Oh!” said the man, and went back to the river.
“Well! What does the old Fig Tree say?”
“The Fig Tree says there are no good men”
“There you are! What did I tell you? Now I’m going to bite you”
“Ah no, no! Give me another chance” said the man.
“Very good,” said the snake. “Go and as that wild Plum Tree over there”
So the man went to ask the wild Plum Tree.
“Plum Tree,” he said. “There’s a serpent here down by the river who says there are no good men. What do you think?”
“Good men?” said the Fig Tree, “Of course there are no good men. Look at me! Half of me has been cut down and turned into firewood already, and as for what is left, if I have any plums the men come and take them all. Of course there are no good men!”
“Oh!” said the man, and went back to the river.
“Well! What does the wild Plum Tree say?”
“The wild Plum Tree says there are no good men”
“There you are! What did I tell you? Now I’m going to bite you”
“Ah no, no! Give me another chance” said the man.
“Well and who would you like to ask this time?” said the snake.
“I think I would like to ask my wife, “said the man.
So the man went up the path to his hut to ask his wife.
“You know,” he said. “I met a serpent today down by the river and he said there were no good men. What do you think?”
“No good men? Of course there are no good men. But somehow, we cant help loving some of you, sometimes.”
“Oh!” said the man. “The snake told me that if you said there were no good men then we was certainly going to bite me.”
“Bite you?” she said, “I’ll see to that.”
Now she was cooking a little pot of special musese porridge on the fire, and it was very hot. And she said to herself, “That I’ll do.”
So she picked it up, put it onto her head, and said “Come along”
So the man and his wife went down to the river.
“Here’s my wife,” said the man.
“Well, what did she day?”
“She says there are no good men.”
“There you are! What did I tell you? Now I am going to bite you.”
“Ah, no-no” said the girl. “Look! I’ve brought a present for you.”
She put the bowl of porridge down onto the ground and scooped her little finger round the edge where it was cool, held it up and said, “Here take this.”
She poured a drop of porridge onto the snake’s tongue.
“Mm, good porridge,” said the snake. “Very good porridge!’
“Yes, “ she said, “I brought it specially for you.”
Then she tilted the bowl over towards the snake.
“There,” she said.
He wriggled up, plunged his head right into the bowl of hot porridge and was all …. Burned … up.
And that was the end of that story!
Stories and pictures reproduced from the book ‘The Lion on the Path and other African stories’ told by Hugh Tracey
