--- title: Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grassho… — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · full text with trees description: Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper., «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: Long ago the spider and the grasshopper were good friends. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/) [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/) / Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Sp… # Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper. Vii.--how Two Friends Fell Out: the Spider and the Grasshopper. of «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell: the whole text, 124 sentences and 3597 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/pg70959/6/page/2/) Long ago the spider and the grasshopper were good friends.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") Unfortunately the spider was intensely greedy, and this led to much unpleasantness.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Now the spider wanted to go some distance from his house to marry a wife in a strange country, so he called upon his friend the grasshopper to accompany him.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") They started off together in the morning before the sun was hot, and when they had gone some little way, the spider said to his friend, “While we are away together, I want you to call me ‘Stranger,’ and I will call you ‘Dabi.’[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") We must not call one another by our proper names, as I do not want the people to know who we really are.”[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") To this the grasshopper readily consented, little knowing what he was letting himself in for.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") Shortly afterwards they arrived at the first town, and were welcomed by the chief.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") The grasshopper said he was called Dabi, and introduced his friend as “Stranger.”[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief then ordered food to be placed before them, but the spider, whilst thanking the chief for his kindness, said: “Surely the custom of the country is, when a stranger arrives in a town, to first of all offer him ‘the peace dish,’ consisting of dried meat and kola nuts, to show that he is welcome, and that there is peace between them.”[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") The chief replied, “Yes, there is certainly that custom here, but as I thought you were hungry after your long walk, I ordered the food to be brought at once.”[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") He then told one of his slaves to bring the dried meat and kola, and when it was brought, the spider eat all the meat and kola except two nuts, one of which he returned to the chief, and the other he gave to the grasshopper, saying, “You must wait, my friend Dabi, for your food, as this meat and kola was brought for the stranger, and your name was not mentioned.”[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") Later on the general supply of food was passed round, a certain amount being set on one side for the strangers.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") This the spider also eat, saying, “I am sorry, Dabi, but there is no food for you, as this was brought for the stranger, and that is my name.”[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") The next day they resumed their journey, and when they arrived at the town where the girl lived whom the spider was about to marry, he went to his future father-in-law’s house, whose name was Tawn, and said, “Tawn, I have come to marry your daughter.”[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") Now Tawn had a wife called Osegi, who was a very good-natured woman, which was lucky for the grasshopper as things turned out.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") When Tawn had embraced his future son-in-law, he ordered a cow to be killed to welcome him.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") And when the people brought the food, they said, “Here is the stranger’s portion.”[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") Immediately the spider said to his friend, “Did you hear that, Dabi?[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") Your name was not mentioned, so you have no right to this food, which is all for me, ‘the stranger.’”[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") But the grasshopper kept quiet and never said a word to anyone, although he was very hungry.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") The marriage between the spider and Chief Tawn’s daughter was celebrated the following day.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") All the people were called together to dance and play, guns were fired off in the town, and Chief Tawn killed four more cows for the strangers who had come from a distance.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") The grasshopper longed to eat the food, but did not see how he could manage it, as he was known as Dabi, and his name was never called.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") The spider therefore ate his own share and the grasshopper’s as well, while the poor grasshopper sat down by himself, feeling very sad, and not speaking to anyone.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") When he had finished the food the spider went out to dance and play with his new wife, but the grasshopper did not go, as he was very hungry and weak, and not feeling at all up to singing and dancing.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") After he had been alone for a little while, the Chief’s wife Osegi came in, and seeing the grasshopper looking so miserable, went up to him and said, “Why are you so silent and sad at my daughter’s wedding, when all the other people are feasting and dancing?”[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") At this the grasshopper could contain himself no longer, and burst into tears saying, “Three days ago, when we left our home, the spider asked me to call him ‘Stranger’ and said he would call me ‘Dabi.’[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") During all this time I have been starving, and I am very hungry indeed, as all the food has been brought for ‘the Stranger,’ and the spider has eaten it because my name is Dabi, and I was never mentioned.”[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") Then Osegi said she would tell the people what their proper names were so that when the food was brought the grasshopper would have his share.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") Osegi then went out and gave the necessary orders, and told her slaves to be most particular to call the grasshopper’s name the next time there was food so that he should be able to eat.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") In the afternoon this was done, but when the spider heard his friend’s name called out, he was so angry that he would not eat.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") The second day the servants did the same, and the spider again refused the food when it was brought.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") Early in the morning of the third day the spider told his father-in-law that he was going home, and that he would leave his wife for a time, and come back for her later.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") Tawu then said he would make another feast to celebrate their departure, and that he should like to see his son-in-law dance once more before he returned home; so the people were called to another play, and the chief milked one more cow for their food.[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") When the food was ready the spider said to his friend, “Come on, Dabi, let us go and dance.”[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") But the grasshopper refused and said, “No, you go and dance, and I will join you later.”[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") So the spider went by himself, leaving the grasshopper in the room where the food was.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") Seeing there was no one about, he took his outside skin off very quickly and hung it up on a peg on the wall, making it look just like a living grasshopper; he then went out and joined the dancers.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") When the spider saw the grasshopper had arrived and was busily engaged dancing, being very hungry he stole off by himself to the room where the food was and put his hand into the pot.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") But, just as he was going to take out a piece of meat, he happened to look up and saw the skin of the grasshopper, which was so lifelike that it deceived him into thinking that it really was his friend on the wall, so he pulled his hand out of the pot and said, trying to laugh, “It is all right, Dabi, my friend, I was not going to eat anything, I just came in to see what the food was like.”[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") He then went out again to where the people were dancing, and to his great surprise he saw the grasshopper, where he had left him, dancing and enjoying himself with some pretty young girls.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") The spider could not understand how it was that the grasshopper had managed to get back to the play so quickly, but, as he saw him there, he was too hungry to trouble much about that, and went back again to get the food he was so much in need of.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") Everything was quiet when he returned, so he lifted the lid again, and took out a large piece of yam, and had only taken one bite, when his eye was caught by the grasshopper’s skin in the same place where he had seen it before.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") The spider was amazed at this, and thought there must be some ju-ju in it, so he put the yam down and ran out of the house, shouting as he went, “All right, Dabi, I only thought I would like to taste the food to see that it was good.”[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") But when he got to the dance he again saw, to his intense astonishment, that the grasshopper was dancing away as merrily as before.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") The spider then went up to his father-in-law and asked him to stop the dance, as he wished to go home at once.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") This was done, and they all went back to the chief’s house together.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") Chief Tawu then gave both the spider and the grasshopper a dog each as a present, and shortly afterwards they started off together on their-return journey.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") After walking a short distance outside the town, the spider was so hungry that he stopped and killed the dog his father-in-law had given, and very soon had eaten the whole of it.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") He then tried to get the grasshopper to kill his dog, but he refused, saying, “The dog was given to me by the chief as a present and not for food.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") I shall take it home with me.”[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") When the spider had finished eating his dog, he put the skull of the dog in his bag, and asked the grasshopper to go in front of him.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") Shortly after this, the dog, scenting some game, dived into the bush, and very soon returned to the path with a small bush buck in his mouth.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") As the grasshopper had gone on in front and had not waited for his dog, the spider took the buck, and, having cut its head off and put it in his bag next to the dog’s skull, he sat down and eat the body.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") When he rejoined the grasshopper later in the day, he produced his bag, and took out the buck’s head, and told the grasshopper that his dog’s skull was very clever, and had killed the buck.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") Although the grasshopper knew quite well what had happened, he did not say anything, but walked on again in front with his dog as he had done before.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") That night they slept in the bush, and the next day, when they got near the first town they had passed through when leaving home, the dog again dashed off into the forest, and chased a bush cow which he bit very badly in the leg.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") When they reached the town, the spider told the people that the grasshopper’s dog had chased one of the chief’s cows and bitten it very badly.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") This made the people angry, and they all turned out with sticks to beat the grasshopper, but when he saw them coming, he called out to them and soon convinced them that his dog had not bitten the chief’s cow, but had chased a bush cow and had wounded it badly.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") He then offered to show the hunters where the place was, and they gladly accepted his offer.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") The hunters then got their bows and arrows, and having been shown the tracks of the bush cow by the grasshopper, they had little difficulty in tracking it by its blood, and eventually killed it.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/6/page/2/) - ← previous: [Iv.--how Elili of Inkum Died, and Was Brought Back to 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