28. The Man Who Loved Women

There was a man who loved women. He loved all the women! The man also wanted to make love to every single woman, but didn't want to marry.

The king summoned this man.

While the man waited to see the king, he made love to all the king's wives.

The king was furious!

"I'm going to sell you as a slave," proclaimed the king.

But when the king's soldiers went to grab the man, he turned into a bat. 

He flew away into the forest, where he hangs upside-down even now, swinging back and forth, shrieking, "No-no-no! No-no-no!"

[a Temne story from Sierra Leone]

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Inspired by: "Man Who Is Left Alone on Account of His Amorous nature" in Anthropological report on Sierra Leone: Stories (Temne) by Northcote Thomas, 1916.
Notes: You can read the original story online. There is the Temne text plus a literal word-for-word translation into English which is not easy to follow; I think I got the main idea of the story though.

(fruit bat)