--- title: Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · full text with trees description: Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell., «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: The hare (_asima bieso_, native name) was known to everyone as a very cunning anim --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tor… # Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell. Ii.--the Cunning Hare; Or, Why the Tortoise Has a Patched Shell. of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell: the whole text, 111 sentences and 2964 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/page/2/) The hare (\_asima bieso\_, native name) was known to everyone as a very cunning animal.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") He was very fond of meat, although he was unable to kill anything himself.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") He therefore thought out a scheme by which he would be able to obtain meat without any trouble.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") The first thing the hare did was to call all the animals together, and when they arrived, he said: “We ought to have a king over us,” to which the animals agreed, and, after some discussion, the elephant was chosen.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") A law was also passed, at the hare’s suggestion, that a piece of ground at the roadside should be set aside for the king’s own private use, and that if anyone was caught defiling this piece of ground in any way he should be killed and eaten.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") In the night time the hare went to the king’s private piece of ground and made a mess there.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") When the morning came he hid himself in the bush near the place, in order to see who might be the first animal to pass the piece of ground, so that he could give false information against him.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") After he had been waiting for a short time, a bush cat passed on his way to the farm, whereupon the hare jumped up and said: “Have you visited the king’s piece of ground this morning?”[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") Upon the bush cat saying “No,” the hare ordered him to go there at once.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") He did so, and returned saying that the place was very dirty indeed.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") The hare then said: “How is that possible?[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") I visited the place myself this morning, and it was quite clean then.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") You must have defiled it yourself, and I shall report you.”[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") The hare then ran into the town and told the people what he had seen.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") The big wooden drum was then beaten, and when all the animals had come together the bush cat was put upon his defence.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") The bush cat told the people what had happened, and that he had nothing to do with the matter.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") But the hare stood up as the accuser, and the people decided that the bush cat was guilty, and the king ordered him to be killed, and said that the meat was to be dried by Keroho and brought to him in the morning.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") Now, Keroho is a fruit-eating animal, who is very lazy, and sleeps most of the day.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") He always seems tired, and after he has taken a few steps he lies down, and sleeps for a time.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") The hare had suggested to the king that Keroho should be told to dry and guard the meat, and said to the king that, as Keroho only eat fruit, he would not be likely to steal any of the meat.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") In reality the hare suggested Keroho for a very different reason, and that reason was that Keroho was a fat animal in good condition, and far too lazy and sleepy to guard the meat properly.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") When the evening came, Keroho made a fire and cut up the body of the bush cat and set it out to dry.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") He then went to sleep.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") The hare, being very greedy and fond of meat, wanted to have it all to himself, so, when all the people had gone to bed, he slipped out of his house by the back way, and very soon had taken the dried meat out of Keroho’s yard and returned to his house, where he made a good meal, and buried what he could not eat.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") Early in the morning the hare went and beat the big drum to call the animals together at the king’s house.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") Keroho, hearing the drum, got up and went to the fire in his back yard, where he had left the meat drying, and, to his intense astonishment, found that it had vanished.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") He was very frightened at this, and went to the meeting trembling in every limb.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") He tried to explain that he had left the meat before the fire when he went to bed, but the hare got up at once and said, “Do not believe him, most likely he has sold the meat to get some money.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") I propose that Keroho be killed so that we shall not lose our meat.”[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") All the people agreed to this, so Keroho was killed and cut up, the meat being given to the bush cow to keep.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") The hare, in order to make himself acquainted with the bush cow’s house, waited until sundown, and then went to the bush cow’s house with a large calabash of strong tombo.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") The hare was careful to drink only a little himself, and very soon the bush cow had finished the whole calabash.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") That night the bush cow slept very soundly, and at midnight, when nothing could be heard but the occasional hoot of an owl or the croaking of the frogs in the marsh, the hare went very quietly and stole the meat from the bush cow’s fire and took it home with him, as before.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") The following morning he beat the drum as usual, and the people met together.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") The bush cow, failing to produce the meat, was killed by the king’s order and his meat given to another animal to dry.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") As usual, the hare stole the meat at night and the animal was killed the next day.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") This went on until there were only seven animals left.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") The meat of the last animal that was killed was handed over to the tortoise.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") The tortoise at once placed his wife on guard over the meat, and went off into the bush to cut rubber.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") Now, the tortoise was looked upon as one of the wisest of all animals.[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") For some time it had seemed to him very curious that every night the meat should disappear and another animal should be killed.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") He therefore determined that, when it became his turn to dry and guard the meat, he would take every precaution possible, and would try to catch whoever it was who always removed the meat at night, as he had no intention that his body should supply food for the remaining six animals.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") Before going into the bush, he gave his wife strict injunctions not to let the meat out of her sight.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") When he returned in the evening, he cut up the meat, saying as he did so: “Ah, there goes another poor animal.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") I wonder whose turn it will be to-morrow, but it shall not be mine if I can help it.”[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") So he made a big fire and put the meat on, and then covered it all over with the rubber he had brought back with him from the bush.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") The tortoise then told his wife that he was tired, and went to bed pretending to be asleep, but he had one eye open all the time, and that eye he kept fixed upon the meat, as he was not going to take any risks, knowing full well that, if the meat disappeared, as it had a habit of doing, he himself would be the next victim.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") When all was quiet, and the hare thought everybody had gone to sleep, he went round to the back of the tortoise’s house and put his right hand out to take the meat, but when his hand closed on the rubber, he found that he could not remove it because the rubber was so sticky.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") He tried his hardest to get his hand away, but without success.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") He then called out softly, because he was afraid of waking the tortoise, “Let me go\![50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") Let me go!” but the rubber never answered, and held on tighter than ever.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") This made the hare angry, so he whispered to the rubber, “Look here, if you don’t let my right hand go at once I will hit you very hard with my left hand, and then you will be sorry.”[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") He got no reply, but thought he heard a laugh somewhere.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") The hare then hit the rubber with his disengaged hand as hard as he was able, and that hand also stuck fast.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the hare heard the tortoise murmur, “Yes, to-morrow I will discover that rat who is always stealing the king’s meat.”[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") At length the hare became absolutely terrified, and kicked the rubber hard with one of his feet, which became as fast as his hands were, and very shortly the other foot also became caught up, so that he was held quite securely.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") When the morning came, the tortoise called his wife to help him, and together they put the meat and rubber into a basket with the hare on top, and carried them all to the king’s house.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") When the drum was beaten, the people assembled as usual, and discussed amongst themselves to whom the meat of the tortoise should be given when he was killed.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") In the middle of the discussion, the tortoise appeared carrying the meat with the hare on top.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/4/page/2/) - ← previous: [E. 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