A story, a story! Let it come, let it go.
There was a time when a great chief commanded that the grasslands be set ablaze. The hunters and warriors went forth in every direction, yet they found no game anywhere until all the grass had been consumed by the flames. Then a certain wicked boy noticed a hole in the scorched earth and began to dig with great eagerness. He found nothing at first, but when he dug deeper, an old woman emerged from within that hidden place.
As she climbed out, she screamed with terrible rage and declared, "The chief has burned the bush! Many have seen this hole before and passed by without disturbing it, but now you have exposed it. Today you shall see what you have done!"
With that, she lunged at the boy to seize him, but he struck her swiftly with his axe. She leaped high into the air and transformed herself into a fierce hawk. When she swooped down to attack him, he fired his arrow at her. Thus they fought, changing forms and weapons, until at last she overcame him. The boy turned and fled for his life.
As he ran through the land, desperate and exhausted, he came upon a wasp who was weaving cloth at his loom. The wasp asked him, "Where do you run to with such urgency?" The boy replied breathlessly, "An old woman pursues me with evil intent!" The wasp then said calmly, "Sit here and rest. When she arrives, I shall deal with her."
So the boy sat and waited.
Soon enough, the old woman appeared, rushing forward to capture the boy. But the wasp was swift and cunning he swallowed her whole in a single gulp! Then the wasp turned to the boy and lifted a single thread from his weaving. He gave it to the boy and instructed him, "You must bind this thread tightly around my middle."
The boy took the thread and wound it around the wasp's waist, pulling it tighter and tighter until the wasp's body was nearly cut in two. And thus it has remained to this very day. The wasp's belly is large and round, for the old woman dwells within it. His back has become as thin as thread, for the boy bound it so tightly at his middle, behind.
That is the end of the tale. Off with the rat's head!
The rat shall not eat my head, Rather shall I eat the rat's head instead.