s
Brother Possum's feet and mouth, thus proving the latter to be the
rogue. Hlakanyana also eats all the meat in the pot, and smears fat on
the mouth of a sleeping old man. Hlakanyana's feat of pretending to cure
an old woman, by cooking her in a pot of boiling water, is identical
with the negro story of how Brother Rabbit disposes of Grinny-Granny
Wolf. The new story of Brother Terrapin and Brother Mink, relating how
they had a diving-match, in order to see who should become the possessor
of a string of fish, is a variant of the Kaffir story of Hlakanyana's
diving-match with the boy for some birds. Hlakanyana eats the birds
while the boy is under water, and Brother Terrapin disposes of the fish
in the same way; but there is this curious difference: while Hlakanyana
has aided the boy to catch the birds, Brother Terrapin has no sort of
interest in the fish. The negro story of how Brother Rabbit nailed
Brother Fox's tail to the roof of the house, and thus succeeded in
getting the Fox's dinner, is identical with Hlakanyana's feat of sewing
the Hyena's tail to the thatch. When this had been accomplished,
Hlakanyana ate all the meat in the pot, and threw the bones at the
Hyena.

But the most curious parallel of all exists between an episode in
"The Story of Hlakanyana," and the story of how the Bear nursed the
Alligators (p. 344). This story was gathered by Mrs. Helen S. Barclay,
of Darien, Georgia, whose appreciative knowledge of the character and
dialect of the coast negro has been of great service to the writer.
Hlakanyana came to the house of a Leopardess, and proposed to take care
of her children while the Leopardess went to hunt animals. To this the
Leopardess agreed. There were four cubs, and, after the mother was gone,
Hlakanyana took one of the cubs and ate it. When the Leopardess
returned, she asked for her children, that she might suckle them.
Hlakanyana gave one, but the mother asked for all. Hlakanyana replied
that it was better one should drink and then another; and to this the
Leopardess agreed. After three had suckled, he gave the first one back a
second time. This continued until the last cub was eaten, whereupon
Hlakanyana ran away. The Leopardess saw him, and gave pursuit. He ran
under a big rock, and began to cry for help. The Leopardess asked him
what the matter was. "Do you not see that this rock is falling?" replied
Hlakanyana. "Just hold it up while I get a prop and put under it." While
the Leopardes