The Populace and the Marine Turtle
The oceanic billows did inundate the land with repeated and relentless recurrence.
The populace was beset by despair and lamentation.
Quoth the Marine Turtle, with sagacity, ‘Establish palm-trees, forsooth. Their roots shall serve to bind the sands, and thus impede the progress of the waves. Your villages shall be rendered secure!’
The populace, duly heeding this counsel, did cultivate trees, and the Marine Turtle's pronouncements proved veracious: their villages were thenceforth shielded from the ocean's surging tides.
Yet, doth gratitude pervade the hearts of the populace? Nay, 'tis absent. They exhume the turtle's eggs from their sandy repose and consume them with rapacity. They ensnare turtles in the sea and devour them with equal lack of compunction.
Observe, if you will: captured turtles agitate their flippers against their breasts, as if to remonstrate, ‘A debt of gratitude is owed to us! Not this torment! Not this indignity!’
Grandmother Crocodile
In days of yore, a man did take a crocodile to wife, from whose union sprung our forebears. The people, in their parlance, did name her 'Grandmother Crocodile,' and they dwelt together in amity, both upon the land and within the waters.
Yet, it befell that one day a man did slay a juvenile crocodile and did partake of its flesh.
Grandmother Crocodile, overcome with grief, did lament before the people, declaring, 'Your grandchild hath devoured my own. Henceforth, we crocodiles shall retreat to the rivers, and we shall assail any person who doth venture into the water.'
Thereupon, the people retorted, 'We shall fashion spears and dispatch thee should we ever encounter thee upon the land.'
Thus it came to pass that crocodiles and people became adversaries.
The Tale of the Hippopotamus and the Crocodile
In days of yore, the Crocodile and Hippopotamus subsisted as adversaries, until such time as the Crocodile did propose an alliance betwixt them.
Quoth the Crocodile, 'Thou shalt hold dominion over the flowing waters, whilst I shall govern the marshes and pools. Furthermore, I shall permit thee to graze freely and partake of the grasses within my marshes and pools.'
The Hippopotamus enquired, 'And what, pray tell, is required of me in return for such munificence?'
The Crocodile did reply, 'I merely request that thou overturn the canoes of the populace, such that I may feast upon those who are cast into the flowing waters.'
Whereupon the Hippopotamus exclaimed, 'Verily, this scheme doth appeal to me!'
Thus it is that the Hippopotamus now submerges canoes, transforming their passengers into sustenance for his companion, the Crocodile.
The Triumvirate of Beings
In the nascent epoch of existence, there existed three distinct entities: Thunder, the Elephant, and Mankind.
Thunder, with sagacity, imparted unto the Elephant, “Be wary of Man, for he is fraught with peril.”
Furthermore, Thunder declared, “I shall ascend to the celestial sphere to elude the grasp of Man. Accompany me in this endeavour!”
The Elephant, in a display of mirth, retorted, “Man is possessed of diminutive stature; ergo, I harbour no apprehension towards him.”
Upon Thunder's departure to the heavens, Mankind exulted, proclaiming, “Thunder, the object of my trepidation, hath at long last absented himself!”
Subsequently, Man fashioned a bow and arrow, impregnating the projectile with venom, and discharged it towards the Elephant.
The Elephant, in a state of anguish, entreated, “Raise me aloft, Thunder!”
Thunder, with resolute refusal, proclaimed, “Nay, for I endeavoured to forewarn thee, yet thou didst disregard my counsel.”
Thus, the Elephant succumbed to mortality, and Mankind assumed dominion over the terrestrial realm.
The Ram and His Mother
There once existed a ram of exceedingly ill temper. Upon the occasion of any vexation, he was wont to set ablaze dwellings and to topple trees with considerable abandon.
'Compose thyself, my son!' exclaimed his mother, in tones of admonishment.
The ram, however, did elect to disregard her injunction.
The populace did lodge complaints before the King, who, in response, consigned the ram and the ewe to the wilderness; yet this proved an even more grievous state, for the irate ram did then ignite entire fields and forests with unbridled fervour.
Again, did the people implore the King, who then dispatched both ram and ewe to the celestial sphere: the ram was transformed into lightning, and the ewe into thunder.
Thunder doth yet beseech her son, Lightning, to conduct himself with propriety; yet he remains obdurate to her counsel.