And the people bowed down to the
boy and gave him presents, and loved him, because he had delivered them
from the bondage of fear, and had slain the Nunda.

(Adapted from Swahili Tales.)

THE STORY OF HASSEBU

Once upon a time there lived a poor woman who had only one child, and
he was a little boy called Hassebu. When he ceased to be a baby, and
his mother thought it was time for him to learn to read, she sent him
to school. And, after he had done with school, he was put into a shop
to learn how to make clothes, and did not learn; and he was put to do
silversmith's work, and did not learn; and whatsoever he was taught, he
did not learn it. His mother never wished him to do anything he did not
like, so she said: 'Well, stay at home, my son.' And he stayed at home,
eating and sleeping.

One day the boy said to his mother: 'What was my father's business?'

'He was a very learned doctor,' answered she.

'Where, then, are his books?' asked Hassebu.

'Many days have passed, and I have thought nothing of them. But look
inside and see if they are there.' So Hassebu looked, and saw they were
eaten by insects, all but one book, which he took away and read.

He was sitting at home one morning poring over the medicine book, when
some neighbours came by and said to his mother: 'Give us this boy, that
we may go together to cut wood.' For wood-cutting was their trade, and
they loaded several donkeys with the wood, and sold it in the town.

And his mother answered, 'Very well; to-morrow I will buy him a donkey,
and you can all go together.'

So the donkey was bought, and the neighbours came, and they worked hard
all day, and in the evening they brought the wood back into the town,
and sold it for a good sum of money. And for six days they went and did
the like, but on the seventh it rained, and the wood-cutters ran and
hid in the rocks, all but Hassebu, who did not mind wetting, and stayed
where he was.

While he was sitting in the place where the wood-cutters had left him,
he took up a stone that lay near him, and idly dropped it on the ground.
It rang with a hollow sound, and he called to his companions, and said,
'Come here and listen; the ground seems hollow!'

'Knock again!' cried they. And he knocked and listened.

'Let us dig,' said the boy. And they dug, and found a large pit like a
well, filled with honey up to the brim.

'This is better than firewood,' said they; 'it will bring us more money.
And as yo