A woman was filling her ostrich eggshells with water at the spring.
A lion saw her and wanted to eat her. He crept up from behind.
Thinking she heard her friends, the woman called out, "Wait; I'm getting the water."
The woman didn't turn around; she didn't see the lion.
Then the lion roared, "LEAVE MY WATER TO ME!"
The woman jumped and ran into the bushes, and the lion smashed the eggshells, angry that she had gotten away.
Women don't go to the spring alone now; this is their song: "Lion said leave, leave, leave my water to me."
[a San story from southern Africa]
Inspired by: "The Lion's Cunning" in The Tati Bushmen (Masarwas) and their Language (in Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland) by S. S. Dornan, 1917.
Notes: You can read the original story online. You can read more about this use of ostrich eggs here, which is also the source for the image below: Safari Ostrich Farm.
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