will assist me," said the Elephant, "I will become your slave, and my
descendants shall be your slaves forever." "Very well, it that is the
case, I will assist you," said the Mouse-deer. "Go and look for a jar
full of molasses." Friend Elephant promised to do so, and went to look
for it at the house of a maker of palm-wine. The owner of the house
fled for his life, and the jar fell into Friend Elephant's possession,
who bore it back to the Mouse-deer.

Then Friend Mouse-deer said, "When does your promise expire?" and
Friend Elephant replied, "To-morrow." So when next morning arrived
they started, and the Mouse-deer said, "Now pour the molasses over your
back and let it spread and spread and run down your legs." Friend
Elephant did as he was ordered. Friend Mouse-deer then instructed the
Elephant as follows: "As soon as I begin to lick up the molasses on
your back, bellow as loud as you can and make believe to be hurt, and
writhe and wriggle this way and that."

And presently Friend Mouse-deer commenced to lick hard, and Friend
Elephant writhed and wriggled and made believe to be hurt, and made a
prodigious noise of trumpeting. In this way they proceeded and Friend
Mouse-deer got up and sat astride upon Friend Elephant's back. And the
Elephant trumpeted and trumpeted all the way till they met with Friend
Tiger. At this Friend Mouse-deer exclaimed, "A single Elephant is very
short commons; if I could only catch that big and fat old Tiger there,
it would be just enough to satisfy my hunger."

Now when Friend Tiger heard these words of the Mouse-deer, he said to
himself, "So I suppose if you catch me, you'll eat me into the bargain,
will you?" And Friend Tiger stayed not a moment longer, but fled for
his life, fetching very lofty bounds.

And soon he met with the Black Ape, and Friend Ape asked, "Why running
so hard, Friend Tiger? Why so much noise, and why, just when the Rains
are upon us, too, do you go fetching such lofty bounds?" Friend Tiger
replied, "What do you mean by 'so much noise'? What was the Thing that
was got upon Friend Elephant's back, that had caught Friend Elephant
and was devouring him so that he went writhing and wriggling for the
pain of it, and the blood went streaming down in floods? Moreover the
Thing that was got on Friend Elephant's back said, to my hearing, that
a single Elephant was very short commons: but if It could catch a fat
old Tiger like myself that would be just enough