The
Dew Pond
A Sotho story
from the high Maluti Mountains of Lesotho
The land was dry. The drought had lasted for a long time and the animals
were suffering terribly. The
Elephant was Lord of the Land and was deeply worried. He called a council
of his subjects to discuss the problem and instructed them to dig a hole
to catch the morning dew. "All who have helped may then drink from
this pond!" he proclaimed.
But one animal, the
Spring-hare, refused to help. Instead he sat and laughed with glee at
the other animals discomfort as they worked in the hot sun.
The animals were furious
and decided to stand guard over the pond to prevent the lazy Hare from
drinking their water.The
Owl was chosen to guard on the first day, but alas the Owl only sees well
at night. During the day the Spring-hare stealthily crept in, having disguised
himself with grass. To the Owl's great dismay and disgrace the Spring-hare
had finished all the water, leaving only mud.
Next was the turn
of the Dassie who sat proudly on a nearby termite mound. The Spring-hare
arrived and without a word dug a hole. In a side tunnel he built a fire.
Intrigued, the Dassie asked what he was doing. "I am preparing to
play a game with you. Have a look in the hole and see." Laughing
at the prospect of a fine game the Dassie jumped in, not realising that
the Spring-hare had stocked up the fire. In a few minutes he became uncomfortably
hot. "Take me out now!" he shouted. "Oh no!' said the Spring-hare,
who quickly covered over the hole and suffocated the Dassie. The Spring-hare
then drank all the water for the second day running.
The animals were furious
and asked the Tortoise to help. First thing in the morning the Tortoise
walked into the forest and smeared his shell with sticky tree sap before
settling down at the waters edge, disguised as one of the many rocks.
A while later the Spring-hare, seeing no guards around, bounded from rock
to rock down to the waters edge. Standing on the Tortoise he bent down
to drink. "Got you at last!" shouted the Tortoise. Startled
the Spring-hare stood up and tried to turn around to see who had shouted,
only to find himself stuck fast.
No matter how hard
he struggled the glue held fast, until the other animals came to drink.
They beat the wicked Spring-hare badly and tied him up, hanging him from
a nearby tree as a lesson.
A more common
version of this story, which is widespread in southern Africa, has a Hare,
instead of a Spring-hare, as the lazy animal. Typically a wide variety
of animals feature in these different versions but always include the
Dassie and the Tortoise.
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