36 34. How the Fox Followed the Elephant

[From Tales, Customs, Names and Dirges of the Tigre Tribes by Enno Littmann, 1915. See item #128 in the Bibliography.]

The fox and the elephant were together. When they started, the elephant said to the fox, “Where are you going, fox?” The fox answered him, “I am going with you.” The elephant, however, said to him, “Stay here; you cannot endure hunger and thirst.” But the fox said to him, “I can endure it; I shall not say to you that I am hungry or thirsty.” And the elephant said to him, “Very well then.” And they went together about a day’s journey.

Then the fox said to the elephant, “Uncle, I am thirsty!” But the elephant replied, “Didn’t you tell me you wouldn’t be thirsty? How is this now?” And the fox said to him, “When did I think that we should go through such a dry country?” The elephant said, “Go then, drink from that water-pit there and come back!” And the fox went and, after having drunk, he filled up the pit and returned to the elephant. And the elephant asked him, “Have you had a drink?” but the fox replied, “No, I found the pit filled up.”

Thereupon after they had marched awhile, the fox said to him, “Uncle, I am thirsty!” The elephant said, “Go then, drink from such and such a well; then come.” The fox went, drank, filled up the well, and said, “I found nothing in it; it was filled up.”

And again after they had marched on awhile, the fox said to him, “Uncle, I am thirsty!” The elephant said to him, “Go then and drink from such and such a well; then come!” And that one also the fox covered up and said, “I found nothing.”

While the fox spoke thus and the elephant showed him every well, they came into a country which the elephant did not know. The fox said to him, “Uncle, I am thirsty!” The elephant answered, “I do not know the wells of this country. But there is water within my belly; enter here through my behind, and when you’ve had a drink, come back without turning right or left.” So the fox entered through the behind of the elephant, drank from that water, and came back in his tracks.

Afterwards when they had marched on from there, the fox said to the elephant, “Uncle, I am thirsty!” And the elephant replied, “Enter into me as before, and when you’ve had a drink, come back! ” The fox entered into him, and on his return after he had drunk, he saw the fat in the belly of the elephant swinging; he tore a bite off from the fat and ate. The elephant said to the fox inside him, “Fox, how could you betray me? May you be betrayed likewise!” But the fox sat there inside the elephant in order to eat from the fat. The elephant said, “Why don’t you come out?” The fox said, “How am I supposed to come out?” The elephant replied, “Go out the way you came in!” The fox said, “If I do that, you’ll poop on me!” The elephant said, “Come out through my mouth!” The fox said, “Uncle, if I do that, you’ll break me into pieces with your tusks.” “Come out through my foot!” “If I do, you’ll squash me.” “Come out then through my ear!” “Then the wax of your ear will get all over me.” “Come out through my trunk!” “If I do, you’ll catch me with it.” And whatever way the elephant told him, the fox refused to come out.

The elephant said to him, “Now then, since you have refused to come out, I shall throw myself with you down from this precipice.” But the fox said to him, “What do I care? Throw yourself down!” And the elephant, intending to perish together with the fox, jumped from the precipice and all his bones broke into pieces. But the fox went out through his behind when the elephant began to jump down, and he was safe.

Thereupon the fox took out the elephant’s entrails and, while unrolling them and dragging them along, he was met by traveling merchants. And he recognized his cousin among the merchants, and they greeted each other. Said his cousin to him, “Where have you come from, fox?” And he told him his adventures and said to him, “To my luck and your luck, I have found an elephant fallen down.” So his cousin informed his company, and they asked the fox, “Where is the elephant?” The fox answered, “These, his entrails, will guide you; just follow them!” “But who will stay with our things for us?” said they. The fox replied, “I shall stay with them.”

And after they had gone to the elephant, the fox opened their skins and drank the melted butter that was in them; then he filled the skins with piss and poop, but from the skin of his cousin he kept away. And when they returned, they said to him, “You have stayed here for us, fox; you have done well.” And then they said, “Let’s make a meal for him!” And when they had made the meal for him, the fox asked them, “Make me butter-sauce out of the skin of my cousin; my aunt’s butter I know well — it is good.” So they made a sauce of it for him. And after he had eaten, he went away from them.

When the merchants entered the town, they opened their skins in order to sell the butter, but they found nothing but piss and poop in their skins; only the skin of the fox’s cousin was good. The merchants said, “The fox has done this to us,” and they went to seek him. But the fox had mixed with other foxes who were his friends, so they did not recognize him.

Then the merchants gathered all the foxes, planted a spear in the ground, and said to them, “Jump over it.” The other foxes jumped over it, but the fox who had drunk their melted butter could not jump. The merchants said, “It is he! Because he has drunk our butter, he is now unable to jump,” and they seized him. And after they had tied him to a tree, they went away with the words, “Let us fetch switches with which to scourge him!”

While he was thus tied, the jackal came to him, herding several goats and playing a song on his harp. He said to him, “Fox, what has happened to you? Why are you tied up?” The fox replied, “My family told me to become their chief, but I refused the chieftainship.” The jackal said, “Does he whom they tell to become chief ever refuse the chieftainship?” The fox replied, “If you want it, untie me, and I’ll give the chieftainship to you. I’ll tie you in my place, and when they come to lash you with switches, tell them: I will be chief; let me alone!” The jackal untied him, and after that the fox tied him to the tree. Then the fox went away, taking from the jackal his several goats and also his harp.

Now when the merchants returned and lashed the jackal with the switches, he said to them, “I will be chief; let me alone!” When they saw he was not the fox, they asked him, “Who are you? And who told you that you would become chief?” He answered, “I am the jackal, and the fox has betrayed me! He told me, ‘My family told me to become their chief, but I refused the chieftainship.’ And I said, ‘Does he whom they tell to become chief ever refuse the chieftainship?’ And he said, ‘If you want it, untie me, and I’ll give the chieftainship to you. I’ll tie you in my place, and when they come to lash you with switches, tell them: I will be chief; let me alone!’ And he took my several goats and my harp and went away.” Then they said, “The traitor has escaped us,” and they untied the jackal.

And in this way the fox escaped from them. This is what they say.