A man was carrying a honeycomb when a huge monitor-lizard confronted him. The man dropped the honeycomb and climbed a tree to escape. Then the lizard took the honeycomb and ran.
"Stop!" the man yelled. "That's mine!"
"If it were yours, it wouldn't be so far behind you," replied the lizard.
The man followed the lizard and when it crawled into its hole, he grabbed the tail.
"That's my tail!" shouted the lizard.
"If it were yours, it wouldn't be so far behind you," replied the man.
Afraid the man would cut off his tail, the lizard returned the honeycomb.
Inspired by: "Honey Gatherer and Lizard" in Talking Animals by Wilfrid Hambly, 1949. Hambly does not give the origin of this story, but it is probably from Angola (the book contains stories from Angola and from Nigeria).
Notes: You can read the original story online. The original story is a bit more complicated with the lizard hiding in a hole to escape a forest fire; I couldn't fit that into this small story. The monitor lizard is the longest lizard in Africa.
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