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How the Turtle Outwitted the Pig · African Jungle Tales

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  Section twenty one of African Jungle Tales by Carl Bender. This LibriVox recording is
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  in the public domain. How the Turtle outwitted the Pig. Missus Turtle one
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  day heard of a dance which was to take place in a neighboring town.
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  She was very anxious to go, but had no necklace to put on.
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  After thinking over the matter, she went to her friend, Missus Pig,
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  who lived at the other end of the town, to borrow her necklace.
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  Her friend was only too glad to help her out, and with great expectations
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  of a jolly good time, Missus Turtle hurried off. During the dance,
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  and in the midst of all the excitement, the necklace was stolen from Missus
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  Turtle. This greatly troubled her mind and caused her to leave the dance before
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  time. On her way home, she stopped in at Missus Piggs's place.
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  Have you come back with my necklace? Missus Pigg asked, They have stolen
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  it from me, replied Missus Turtle in a sorrowful tone, Then you shall
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  pay for it, indignantly, answered Missus Pigg. Several moons had passed.
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  During all this time, nothing was seen of missus turtle. So missus Pig
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  one day said to her husband, Grunty, you had better go to the
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  hut of the turtle and see about the payment for my necklace. I must
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  have another in time for the big dance at the next full moon. You
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  had better be up in doing. There is no time to be lost.
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  So Grunty went to the hut of the turtle. When the turtle saw Grunty
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  the pig coming toward his hut, he said to his wife, if the
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  pig comes in here, you tell him that I am not at home.
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  Then he threw himself down, bottom side up and pulled in his head and
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  legs. In this position, he looked very much like a whetstone. After
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  the pig had entered, he asked, where is the turtle. He is
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  not in the turtle's wife lied. On hearing this, the pig got very
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  angry, and noticing what he supposed to be a whetstone lying on the floor,
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  he said, I'm going to take his whetstone, and he picked up
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  the imaginerry whetstone, not knowing that it was the turtle, turned bottom side
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  up and with it left the hut. He hid the imaginary whetstone in the
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  grass by the wayside and marked the place with a stick. Then he went
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  back to the hut of the turtle to await his return. Immediately after Grunty
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  the pig had left him, the turtle righted himself and walked off. In
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  the meantime, the pig was impatiently awaiting the turtle's return. After some time,
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  the turtle returned to his hut and there met Grunty the pig. The
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  pig, on seeing the turtle, at once blurted out, pay me for
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  the necklace which her wife has borrowed and lost. Just at this moment,
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  Missus Turtle, who was in an adjoining room and had heard the words of
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  the pig, stuck her head through the door and said, the pig took
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  your whetstone away while you were gone. Then the turtle said to the pig,
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  first bring back my wetstone if you want me to pay you. And
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  the pig went back to the place where he hid the whetstone, only to
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  discover that the whetstone was gone. He searched all over the place but could
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  not find it. The pig was in a rather gloomy mood when he came
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  back to the hut of the turtle and said, some one must have stolen
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  the whetstone. I had hidden it in the grass, but it is no
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  longer there. In some mysterious way, it has disappeared, and I cannot
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  find it. When the turtle heard this, he said to the pig,
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  do not think for a moment that you can get your necklace before you have
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  returned my whetstone. The pig is still looking for the whetstone. So anxious
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  is he to find it that he has even taught his children to grub up
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  the ground. Author's note Wa Kwaiti, end of section twenty one, read
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  by Lord Gibbs