FOLK TALES

Dad had had a complaint from a local village of a man-eating lion that was causing undue stress to their settlement and had already eaten two people. The first was a truck driver that had spent the night on the side of the road and the second was one of the villagers who had been sitting around the fire when someone had thrown a log on the fire causing sparks to fly up into the night sky.

Dad and two game scouts went to the village to try and kill this man-eater. When night fell the two game scouts sat with their back against the wall and they had a bicycle propped up against the hut next to them, while Dad sat in the vehicle. They had heard the lion calling on and off during the night. In the early hours of the morning the one game scout decided to have a cigarette and as he lit his match the lion attacked the bicycle. In the morning they saw the pug marks of the lion and the bicycle was a bit mangled.






So the next night they decided to set up a bait, and they bought a goat and tied it to a very heavy log ( it took both game scouts to carry it). They build a platform in a tree and one of the game scouts sat in wait there while the other joined Dad in the vehicle, so that he could quickly put the windscreen down and put the head lights on, and Dad would then shoot. They sat quietly anticipating every second that ticked by . Finally the game scout put his hand on Dad’s knee and whispered “It’s here!” The game scout put the windscreen down, Dad got his rifle ready and when they switched on the head lights the goat and the log had gone. Hmmmm….. The game scout on the platform heard nothing.

Dad then decided to get some traps and torches from Head Office. He explained to the Chief of his intentions and the Chief said that they would never get the lion as a man from the village had slept with his sister. Dad then enquired about the truck driver and the Chief explained that he was a distant relative, and the other chap was a closer relation and this was a warning that the culprit would be next. The Chief explained that the man had to pay ZW$10 to the Spirits of the Lions before it would end. Dad asked why this had not happened yet. The Chief explained that it was too far for him to go to pay the fine. Dad said that he was going in that direction and he would take the guilty man to the Spirit of the Lion to pay his fine.

When Dad got back to Head Office he was immediately sent off on another errand so a fellow colleague took over. They went back to the village and spent four nights there. They heard the lion nightly, but each night further away until eventually there was nothing and no-one else was eaten.