Story, story! Let it go, let it come!
This is a tale about a forest giant, and a man who called himself A-Man-among-Men.
In the days of old, there lived a certain man whose name was A-Man-among-Men. Whenever he returned from the bush, he would lift a heavy tree trunk, throw it to the ground with a crash, and declare, "I am A-Man-among-Men!"
His wife would say to him, "Come now, leave off saying you are a-man-among-men. If you ever saw the true Man-among-Men, you would run."
But he replied, "It is a lie."
It was always so. If he brought in wood, he would throw it down with force and say, "I am A-Man-among-Men." And his wife would warn him, "If you have seen the true Man-among-Men, you would run." But he said, "It is a lie."
Now, one day his wife went to the stream. She came to a certain well where the bucket was so heavy that ten men were needed to draw it up. She arrived but could not draw the water, so she turned back. On her way home, she met another woman carrying a child on her back.
The second woman asked, "Where are you going with a calabash, with no water?"
She replied, "I came to the well. I could not draw the bucket; that is why I turned back."
The woman with the child said, "Let us return, that you may find water."
She said, "All right."
So they returned together to the well. The woman with the child told her boy to lift the bucket. Now, the boy was small, not past the age when he was carried on his mother's back. Yet, he lifted the bucket then and there, put it in the well, and drew up the water. They filled their large water-pots, bathed, washed their clothes, and lifted the water to go home. The wife of A-Man-among-Men was astonished.
She saw that the woman with the boy turned off the path and entered the bush. The wife asked, "Where are you going?"
She said, "I am going home, where else?"
"Is that the way to your home?"
"Yes."
"Whose home is it?"
"The home of A-Man-among-Men."
Then she was silent. She did not say anything until she got home. She told her husband what she had seen. He said that tomorrow she must take him there. She replied, "May Allah give us a tomorrow."
Next morning, he was the first to rise from sleep. He took the weapons of the chase and slung them over his shoulder. He put his axe on his shoulder and wakened his wife. He said, "Get up, let us go. Take me that I may see this one who calls himself A-Man-among-Men."
She got up, lifted her large water-pot, and passed on in front. He followed her until they got to the edge of the well. Now they found what they sought. As they were coming, the wife of the true A-Man-among-Men came up, both she and her son. They greeted her, and the wife showed the visitor the bucket and said to her son, "Lift it and draw water for me."
So the boastful man went and lifted the bucket in a rage to prove himself, but the bucket pulled him, and he would have fallen into the well. The little boy seized him, both him and the bucket, and drew them out and threw them to one side. Then the boy lifted the bucket, put it in the well, drew water, and filled their water-pots.
His wife said, "You have said you are going to see him called A-Man-among-Men. You have seen this is his wife and son. If you still want to go, you can go together. As for me, I am not going."
The boy's mother said, "Oh, what is the matter? You had better not come."
But he said he would come. So she said, "Let us be off."
They set out. When they arrived at the house, she showed him a place for storing meat, and he got inside. Now, the master of the house was not at home; he had gone to the bush. She said, "You have seen he has gone to the bush; but you must not stir if he comes."
He sat inside until evening came.
The master of the house returned. He kept saying, "I smell the smell of a man."
His wife said, "Is there another person here? It is not I. If you want to eat me up, well and good, for there is no one else but I."
Now he was a huge man, his words like a tornado; ten elephants he would eat. When dawn came, he made his morning meal of one elephant. Then he went to the bush, and if he should see a person there, he would kill him.
Now the boastful man was in the store-house, hidden. The man's wife told him, saying, "You must not move till he is asleep. If you see the place dark, he is not asleep; if you see the place light, that is a sign he is asleep. Come out and fly."
Shortly after, he saw the place become light like day, so he came out.
He was running, running until dawn. He was running till the sun rose; he did not stand. Then the giant woke from sleep and said, "I smell the smell of a man! I smell the smell of a man!"
He rose up and followed where the man had gone. He was running. The other man was also running, until he met some people who were clearing the ground for a farm. They asked what had happened.
He said, "Someone is chasing me."
They said, "Stand here till he comes."
A short time passed, and the wind caused by the giant came; it lifted them and cast them down. The runaway said, "Yes, that is it, the wind he makes running; he himself has not yet come. If you are able to withstand him, tell me. If you are not able, say so."
And they said, "Pass on."
So he ran off and came to meet some people hoeing. They said, "What is chasing you?"
He replied, "Someone is pursuing me."
They said, "What kind of man chases one such as you?"
He said, "Someone who says he is A-Man-among-Men."
They said, "Not a man-among-men, a man-among-women. Stand till he comes."
He stood. Here he was when the wind of the giant came, pushing about the men who were hoeing. So he said, "You have seen, that is the wind he makes; he has not yet come himself. If you are a match for him, tell me; if not, say so."
And they said, "Pass on."
Off he ran. He came across some people sowing. They said, "What are you running for?"
He said, "Someone is chasing me."
And they said, "What kind of man is it who chases the like of you?"
He said, "His name is A-Man-among-Men."
They said, "Sit here till he comes."
He sat down. In a short time, the wind he made came and lifted them and cast them down. And they said, "What kind of wind is that?"
The man who was being pursued said, "It is his wind."
And they said, "Pass on." They threw away the sowing implements, went into the bush, and hid. But that one was running on.
He came and met a certain huge man who was sitting alone at the foot of a baobab tree. He had killed elephants and was roasting them. As for him, twenty elephants he could eat; in the morning, he broke his fast with five. His name was 'The Giant of the Forest.'
The runaway questioned him and said, "Where are you going in all this haste?"
And he said, "A-Man-among-Men is chasing me."
And the Giant of the Forest said, "Come here, sit down till he comes."
He sat down. They waited a little while. Then a wind made by A-Man-among-Men came and lifted the runaway, about to carry him off, when the Giant of the Forest shouted to him to come back.
The runaway said, "It is not I myself who am going off; the wind caused by the man is taking me away."
At that, the Giant of the Forest got in a rage. He got up, caught the runaway's hand, and placed it under his thigh to hold him fast.
He was sitting until A-Man-among-Men came up and said, "You sitting there, are you of the living, or of the dead?"
And the Giant of the Forest said, "You are interfering."
And A-Man-among-Men said, "If you want to find health, give up to me what you are keeping there."
And the Giant of the Forest said, "Come and take him."
At that, A-Man-among-Men flew into a rage, sprang, and seized him. They were struggling together.
When they had twisted their legs round one another, they leaped up into the heavens. Till this day, they are wrestling there. When they are tired out, they sit down and rest. If they rise up to struggle, that is the thunder you are wont to hear in the sky; it is they struggling.
He also, that other one (the boastful man), found himself escaped, and went home, and told the tale.
And his wife said, "That is why I was always telling you: whatever you do, make little of it. Whether you excel in strength, or in power, or riches, or poverty, and are puffed up with pride, it is all the same; someone is better than you. You said it was a lie. Behold, your own eyes have seen."
Off with the rat's head.