When Hyrax's mother died, Leopard helped Hyrax bury her.
Then, Hyrax saw Leopard crying. "What wrong, friend?" he asked.
"My mother is dying," said Leopard. "You must come help me bury her."
"Let me go get my pipe," Hyrax said, "but I'll be there soon."
Hyrax climbed up his tree, and Leopard went back home.
Leopard waited and waited, but Hyrax didn't come, so he went to Hyrax's tree. "Come down and help me!" he shouted.
Hyrax shouted back, "Women no good! Women no good!"
Listen now; you'll hear Hyrax shrieking those same words: "Women no good! Women no good!"
Inspired by: "The Sloth and the Leopard" in We Two in West Africa by Decima Moore and F. G. Guggisberg, 1909.
Notes: You can read the original story online; this Fante story is written out in an English creole. You can read more the Fante people at Wikipedia. Although the author uses the word "sloth" here, there are no sloths in Africa, but we get a clue from another story in the book where she calls the animal "owea," which is a hyrax. Both this story and the other story in this book explain why Hyrax's cry sounds like "Women no good! Women no good!" The Ghana tree hyrax was even in the news recently: Scientists discover new tree hyrax species in Ghana.
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