The Flying Lion

: Outa Karel's Stories

"Once upon a time," remarked Outa, thoughtfully, "Oom Leeuw used

to fly."



"O-o-o-oh!" said the children all together, and their eyes widened

with terror at the picture called up by Outa's words.



"Yes, my baasjes, and then nothing could live before him. His wings

were not covered with feathers: they were like the wings of Brother

Bat, all skin and ribs; but they were very big, and very thick,
br />
and very strong, and when he wasn't flying they were folded flat

against his sides. When he was angry he let the points down to the

ground--tr-r-r-r--like Oubaas Turkey when he gobble-gobble-gobbles

and struts before his wives--tr-r-r-r, and when he wanted to rise from

the ground he spread them out and flapped them up and down slowly at

first--so, my baasjes; then faster and faster--so, so, so--till he

made a big wind with them and sailed away into the air."



Outa, flapping his crooked arms and puffing out his disproportionate

chest, seemed about to follow suit, but suddenly subsided again on

to his stool.



"Ach, but it was a terrible sight! Then, when he was high above the

earth, he would look down for something to kill. If he saw a herd of

springbokke he would fly along till he was just over them, and pick

out a nice fat one; then he would stretch out his iron claws, fold

his wings and--woops!--down he would fall on the poor bokkie before

it had time to jump away. Yes, that was the way Oom Leeuw hunted in

the olden times.



"There was only one thing he was afraid of, and that was that the

bones of the animals he caught and ate would be broken to pieces. No

one knew why, and everyone was too frightened of Oom Leeuw to try and

find out. He used to keep them all at his home in the krantzes, and he

had crows to look after them, two at a time--not like the ugly black

crows that build in the willow-trees near the dam, but White Crows,

the kind that come only once in many years. As soon as a white crow

baby was found it was taken to Oom Leeuw--that was his order; then he

kept it in the krantzes of the mountains and let it grow big; and when

the old White Crows died the next eldest became watchmen, and so there

were always White Crows to watch the bones when Oom Leeuw went hunting.



"But one day while he was away Brother Big Bullfrog came along,

hop-hop-hoppity-hop, hop-hop-hoppity-hop, and said: 'Why do you sit

here all day, you Whitehead Crows?'



"And the White Crows said: 'We sit here to look after the bones for

Oom Leeuw.'



"'Ach, but you must be tired of sitting!' said Brother Big Bullfrog,

'You fly away a little and stretch your wings. I will sit here and

look after the bones.'



"The White Crows looked this way and that way, up and down and

all round, but no! they couldn't see Oom Leeuw, and they thought:

'Now is our chance to get away for a fly.'



"So they said 'Cr-r-raw, cr-r-raw!' and stretched out their wings

and flew away.



"Brother Big Bullfrog called out after them: 'Don't hurry back. Stay

as long as you like. I will take care of the bones.'



"But as soon as they were gone he said: 'Now I shall find out why Oom

Leeuw keeps the bones from being broken. Now I shall see why men and

animals can live no longer.' And he went from one end to the other

of Oom Leeuw's house at the bottom of the krantz, breaking all the

bones he could find.



"Ach, but he worked quickly! Crack! crack, crack, crack! Wherever

he went he broke bones. Then when he had finished he hopped away,

hop-hop-hoppity-hop, hop-hop-hoppity-hop, as fast as he could. When

he had nearly reached his dam in the veld, the White Crows overtook

him. They had been to the krantz and, foei! they were frightened when

they saw all the broken bones.



"'Craw, craw!' they said, 'Brother Big Bullfrog, why are you so

wicked? Oom Leeuw will be so angry. He will bite off our nice white

heads--craw, craw!--and without a head, who can live?'



"But Brother Big Bullfrog pretended he didn't hear. He just hopped

on as fast as he could, and the White Crows went after him.



"'It's no good hopping away, Brother Bullfrog,' they said. 'Oom Leeuw

will find you wherever you are, and with one blow of his iron claws

he will kill you.'



"But old Brother Big Bullfrog didn't take any notice. He just hopped

on, and when he came to his dam he sat back at the edge of the water

and blinked the beautiful eyes in his ugly old head, and said: 'When

Oom Leeuw comes tell him I am the man who broke the bones. Tell him

I live in this dam, and if he wants to see me he must come here.'



"The White Crows were very cross. They flew down quickly to peck

Brother Big Bullfrog, but they only dug their beaks into the

soft mud, because Brother Big Bullfrog wasn't sitting there any

longer. Kabloops! he had dived into the dam, and the White Crows

could only see the rings round the place where he had made a hole in

the water.



"Oom Leeuw was far away in the veld, waiting for food, waiting for

food. At last he saw a herd of zebras--the little striped horses that

he is very fond of--and he tried to fly up so that he could fall on

one of them, but he couldn't. He tried again, but no, he couldn't. He

spread out his wings and flapped them, but they were quite weak,

like baasjes' umbrella when the ribs are broken.



"Then Oom Leeuw knew there must be something wrong at his house, and he

was toch too angry. He struck his iron claws into the ground and roared

and roared. Softly he began, like thunder far away rolling through the

kloofs, then louder and louder, till--hoor-rr-rr-rr, hoor-rr-rr-rr--the

earth beneath him seemed to shake. It was a terrible noise.



"But all his roaring did not help him, he couldn't fly, and at last

he had to get up and walk home. He found the poor White Crows nearly

dead with fright, but they soon found out that he could no longer fly,

so they were not afraid of him.



"'Hoor-rr-rr-rr, hoor-rr-rr-rr!' he roared. 'What have you done to

make my wings so weak?'



"And they said: 'While Oom was away someone came and broke all

the bones.'



"And Oom Leeuw said: 'You were put here to watch them. It is your

fault that they are broken, and to punish you I am going to bite your

stupid white heads off. Hoor-rr-rr-rr!'



"He sprang towards them, but now that they knew he couldn't fly they

were not afraid of him. They flew away and sailed round in the air

over his head, just too high for him to reach, and they called out:

'Ha! ha! ha! Oom cannot catch us! The bones are broken, and his wings

are useless. Now men and animals can live again. We will fly away

and tell them the good news.'



"Oom Leeuw sprang into the air, first to one side and then to the

other, striking at them, but he couldn't reach them, and when he

found all his efforts were in vain, he rolled on the ground and roared

louder than ever.



"The White Crows flew round him in rings, and called out:

'Ha! ha! ha! he can no longer fly! He only rolls and roars! The man

who broke the bones said: "If Oom Leeuw wants me he can come and look

for me at the dam." Craw, craw,' and away they flew.



"Then Oom Leeuw thought: 'Wait, I'll get hold of the one who broke

the bones. I'll get him.' So he went to the dam, and there was old

Brother Bullfrog sitting in the sun at the water's edge. Oom Leeuw

crept up slowly, quietly, like a skelm, behind Brother Bullfrog.



"'Ha! now I've got him,' he thought, and made a spring, but Brother

Bullfrog said, 'Ho!' and dived in--kabloops!--and came up at the

other side of the dam, and sat there blinking in the sun.



"Oom Leeuw ran round as hard as he could, and was just going to spring,

when--kabloops!--Brother Bullfrog dived in again and came up at the

other side of the dam.



"And so it went on. Each time, just when Oom Leeuw had nearly caught

him, Brother Bullfrog dived in--kabloops!--and called out 'Ho!' from

the other side of the dam.



"Then at last Oom Leeuw saw it was no use trying to catch Brother

Bullfrog, so he went home to see if he could mend the broken bones. But

he could not, and from that day he could no longer fly, only walk upon

his iron claws. Also, from that day he learned to creep quietly like a

skelm after his game, and though he still catches them and eats them,

he is not as dangerous as he was when he could fly.



"And the White Crows can no longer speak. They can only say, 'Craw,

craw.'



"But old Brother Big Bullfrog still goes hop-hop-hoppity-hop round

about the dam, and whenever he sees Oom Leeuw he just says 'Ho!' and

dives into the water--kabloops!--as fast as he can, and sits there

laughing when he hears Oom Leeuw roar with anger."



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