Rabbit ran into Lion. "Hide!"said Rabbit. "Man's coming."
They hid in the bushes.
"I've never seen Man," said Lion in excitement.
Then Man walked by with his dog-pack. He carried a gun, and a horn hung from his shoulder.
"What that hanging from his shoulder?" asked Lion.
"It controls those imps all around him, and the stick he carries can make fire. Lay low," said Rabbit, "lay low, Lion!"
But Lion roared and jumped out.
The imps bit him and the fire-stick exploded in his face. Lion barely got away.
"I tried to warn you," Rabbit said. "Best lay low."
Inspired by: Every Tongue Got to Confess, stories collected by Zora Neale Hurston (from a manuscript thought lost, but now found and published).
Notes: This story starts on p. 241, "The Lion and the Rabbit." William Jones tells this story as a continuation of Rabbit and Lion in the Cave, but I've made it freestanding. The story also has a boy walking by (Rabbit calls him Will-be-Man), but I left that out.
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