The Pout

THE LION JEALOUS OF THE VOICE OF THE OSTRICH

This is the story of the Lions and the Ostrich.

The Lions were dissatisfied. The women had been praising the sweet voice of the Ostrich while they did not praise the call of the Lion. The Lions reflected that the Ostrich calls with his lungs and the sound moves into his throat giving it a more beautiful sound than the sound of the Lion who calls with his mouth and the sound is much rougher and louder. The Lions did not like this at all and they decided that something needed to be done. After much discussion they hatched a plan.

They would get the women to made a game of #gebbi-ggu. (The game of #gebbi-ggu is played around the fire. The Grass Bushmen will call to the women who sit around in a circle and clap their hands. Then the women will rise and dance. Then one woman will leave the dancing pretending to be weary and she will be replaced by two other women who will then dance. These two women will call very sweetly just like the ostrich while the men call and the women sing.)

The Lion’s plotted that during the game of #gebbi-ggu they would catch the Ostrich and kill it. They would then take out the Ostrich’s lungs and eat them and because they would have eaten the lungs of the Ostrich they would then be able to call sweetly just as the Ostrich does.

The Lions then slyly went to the women and asked them to play the game of #gebbi-ggu so that they could listen to the fine sounds of the Ostrich. 

The women then gathered around the fire and started clapping their hands and calling. The Ostrich was still far away and so the Lion called out to the Ostrich. But the women did not applaud the Lion’s call. As the Ostrich approached it started calling gently and beautifully and the women exclaimed that they wished that the Lion’s call was as soft and gentle as the Ostrich’s call for the Lion’s call was harsh and strident and sounded as it he had put his tail in his mouth while calling.

The Lion’s looked at each other and the Lion who was calling said “Do you not see that the women prefer the Ostrich? It is only the Ostrich that they cherish because of its sweet call?”

One of the Lions became very angry on account of the fact that the Ostrich was the one whom the women preferred. He sauntered on over to the Ostrich and then seemed to be walking on by but as he went by he struck out at the Ostrich and scratched and tore at the chest of the Ostrich. He mocked the Ostrich and sneered “Is this a thing that calls sweetly?” while he kicked the Ostrich’s chest. The Ostrich turned around and also kicked tearing at the Lion’s skin. The Ostrich then replied “This Lion, he is angry with me because he is the one who holds his tail in his mouth when he calls; this is why the women do not praise him; the women do not feel that he calls beautifully like I do. This is why the women will not make a #febbi-ggu for him”.

This is why we eat the Ostrich’s lungs which we do not cook. It is so that we can get a voice as sweet and low as the Ostrich. The mark on the Ostrich’s chest is there for always as it is the mark made by the Lion’s nail.

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