[From Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell, 1910. See item
[From Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell, 1910. See item #67 in the Bibliography. The photo of metal currency from Nigeria comes from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art.]
Many years ago there was a Calabar hunter called Effiong who lived in the bush, killed plenty of animals, and made much money. Everyone in the country knew him, and one of his best friends was a man called Okun, who lived near him.
But Effiong was very extravagant and spent much money in eating and drinking with everyone, until at last he became quite poor, so he had to go out hunting again, but now his good luck seemed to have deserted him, for although he worked hard and hunted day and night, he could not succeed in killing anything.
One day, as he was very hungry, he went to his friend Okun and borrowed two hundred rods from him and told him to come to his house on a certain day to get his money, and he told him to bring his gun, loaded, with him.
Now, some time before this Effiong had made friends with a leopard and a bush cat whom he had met in the forest whilst on one of his hunting expeditions, and he had also made friends with a goat and a rooster at a farm where he had stayed for the night. But though Effiong had borrowed the money from Okun, he could not think how he was to repay it on the day he had promised. At last, however, he thought of a plan, and on the next day he went to his friend the leopard and asked him to lend him two hundred rods, promising to return the amount to him on the same day as he had promised to pay Okun, and he also told the leopard that if he were absent when he came for his money, he could kill anything he saw in the house and eat it. The leopard was then to wait until the hunter arrived, when he would pay him the money, and to this the leopard agreed.
The hunter then went to his friend the goat and borrowed two hundred rods from him in the same way. Effiong also went to his friends the bush cat and the rooster, and borrowed two hundred rods from each of them on the same conditions, and told each one of them that if he were absent when they arrived, they could kill and eat anything they found about the place.
When the appointed day arrived the hunter spread some corn on the ground, and then went away and left the house deserted. Very early in the morning, soon after he had begun to crow, the rooster remembered what the hunter had told him and walked over to the hunter’s house, but found no one there. On looking round, however, he saw some corn on the ground and, being hungry, he commenced to eat.
About this time the bush cat also arrived and, not finding the hunter at home, he too looked about and very soon he espied the rooster, who was busy picking up the grains of corn. So the bush cat went up very softly behind, and pounced on the rooster, and killed him at once, and began to eat him.
By this time the goat had come for his money, but not finding his friend, he walked about until he came upon the bush ca