HOW THE TOAD BECAME THE KING OF THE RIVERS AND SWAMPS

Once upon a time, all animals lived together with people everywhere and were understanding themselves very well and were also helping each other. The elephant used to be their king at that time. So, there came a day the elephant thought to himself that, “It would be good that all the rivers and the swamps have their king who can announce to the whole village when the rainy season will come so that they can beforehand prepare their crops, hoes and cutlasses to work their farms with.” So the king sent out his slave the cockroach to pass the announcement to all animals that, “He who wants to be the king of all rivers and swamps should come to ‘ndaw tsə̀’ (traditional council) in my compound in the morning.” The cockroach passed the announcement exactly as the king said to the whole village.

In the morning, Mbee the elephant entered ndaw tsə̀ and met many different kinds of animals sitted already and very eager to take the possition he publicised. Amongst the animals that were there were the cat, the monkey, the frog, the toad and the crab. So mbee began looking round at them one after another.

 He started with the cat and told the cat that, “Cat, you don’t even like water, you hate rain as the prisoner out of the prison hates the prison. How can I make you king of the rivers and swamps?” So, he cancelled out his name in the position. 

He went to the monkey and said, “Monkey, I am so happy to see you here. The only issue with you is that you love playing too much and you easily forget things. I am afraid that you may forget your assignment because when it comes to you, play always comes first. So I cannot put you in that position.” So, he cancelled the monkey’s name from that position.

He came to the crab and said to it, “Crab, my friend! How do you want me to make you the king of the rivers and swamps? In the first place, you do not have a head! How are we going to wear your crown? I think you cannot be the king of the rivers and swamps.” So, he cancelled out his name from the position.

So, it was only the toad and the frog that were left. The elephant crashed his head in confusion and said to them, “My friends, I cannot just say who among the two of you can be the king because the two of you are really fit for the position. The only issue is that I need just one person for the position. You also have very good voices. I cannot just select.” But the cockroach said to mbee, “Mbee, I think we should ask them to run, the one who will reach the river first, will be the king.” So, mbee accepted the proposal of the cockroach without hesitation. When they prepared the race, they began running in front of ndaw tsə̀ going towards the river.