A traveller was once walking through a forest carrying a hide when he saw a lame hartebeest running along.
So that he could run more quickly, the man placed his hide on the ground and set off in pursuit of the hartebeest. He chased the hartebeest all day long until he was exhausted; finally he gave up.
When he returned to the place where he had left the hide, it was gone; someone had carried it away.
In the end, the traveller had nothing.
Hence the proverb: Take care so that you don’t mourn for the hartebeest and the hide.
Inspired by: "Mourning for the Hartebeest and the Hide" in Sechuana Reader by Daniel Jones and S. T. Plaatje, 1915.
Notes: You can read the original story online, and you can see the Tswana version also.
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