THE STORY OF KASANKE, THE LITTLE RED BIRD

ONCE upon a time, a lioness and a cow were great friends. They even lived together in a house, which they had built for themselves. The lioness had a cub and the cow had a calf. These two baby animals grew up together and played together every day. The lion cub was a gentle, obedient little creature, but the calf gave great trouble to his mother. Near the house was a well of fresh water, clear and sweet. Every day the calf played near the well and stirred up the mud. And every day he was punished for doing so. One day the gentle lion cub tried to stop the calf from stirring up the mud by the well. This made the calf so angry that he pushed the cub into the well and the cub drowned. When the calf saw what he had done, he was frightened! He ran to find his mother and tell her about it. The cow was very frightened, too. She said, "We must both run away! The cubfs mother, the lioness, will kill us." So the cow and the calf ran to an antelope who lived near by. The antelope said to them, "I will protect you. Am I afraid of a lioness? If she comes here, I will drive her away with my sharp horns!" When the lioness got home, she found the house empty and no one in the garden. As she was very tired, she went to the well to drink. There she found the body of her cub. Then the lioness understood that the cow and the calf had run away because they were afraid. She was very angry and decided to find them and kill them! The lioness first looked for them in the antelope's house, roaring all the way. When the antelope heard the loud roars, she forgot all about her horns. She said to the cow, "Run away! If the lioness finds you here she will kill us all." So the cow and her calf ran on, and they came to the buffalo's house. "I will defend you," said the buffalo. "If the lioness comes here, I will trample her with my strong hoofs!" Soon, the lioness came along the road, roaring with rage. When the buffalo heard her, he forgot all about his hoofs. He said to the cow, "Run away quickly! If the lioness finds you here she will kill us all." Then the cow and her calf ran on and came to the elephant's house. The elephant said to them, "I will protect you. Am I afraid of a lioness? I will wind my trunk round her and throw her up in the air, and all her bones will break!" But then the elephant heard the lioness coming nearer and nearer. He swayed from side to side, first on one foot and then on the other. He got so frightened that his trunk rolled up in a big curl, and he said to the cow, "Run away! If the lioness finds you here she will kill us all." By then, the poor cow and her calf were so, so tired. They ran a little way and then fell down by the roadside. Just then, Kasanke, the Little Red Bird, came by and pitied the poor tired cow and her calf. The cow told the bird their story. In the distance, they could hear the lioness roaring. Every moment, the roars were coming nearer and nearer! But Kasanke was not afraid. She told the cow and her calf to hide in the bushes by the road. Then Kasanke flew quickly to a banana garden and picked a large seed-pod which was dark red and shaped like a heart. She found a bowl and milked the cow till the bowl was filled. Into the milk, she squeezed some red juice from the seed-pod so it looked like a bowl of blood. By this time the lioness was very near, and Kasanke flew to meet her. "Why are you making such a noise?" she asked the lioness. "Cheeky bird," answered the lioness, "I will eat you!" Kasanke pounced down on the head of the lioness and pecked her eye. The lioness roared with pain and beat the air with her paws. Kasanke then pecked the lionessf other eye. Kasanke flew above, threw the bowl of blood-red milk over the lioness and the seed-pod at her feet and twittered, "Look, I have killed you! Your heart has fallen out Š you will bleed to death!" The lioness could not see very well, for her eyes hurt so much. But when she saw what looked like her blood and her heart on the ground, she was very frightened! She ran away and did not stop running till she reached her home. The cow thanked Kasanke, the Little Red Bird, and said, "For ever and ever the cows will love you! You may come in and out of the kraals as you like. Every kraal shall be your home." So now, all through the country of Uganda, when the cows come into the kraal in the evening to be milked, Kasanke, the Little Red Bird, follows them. The cowherds always pour a little milk on the ground before they fill the pails, and the cows turn their heads to see them do it. They are glad, for they know that the milk is for Kasanke, the Little Red Bird, who had more courage than all the big animals when the lioness wanted to kill the cow many long years ago.