AFRICAN FOLK LORE.

African Literature is very rich in fables of animals, which may be divided into the two categories of moral apologues and simple narrations. In the former such an identity is noticeable with stories of the peoples of Asia and Europe as almost to cause us to think that both proceed from a common source whence they were drawn in prehistoric times. To this may, however, be opposed the hypothesis of an original and simultaneous origin in different places; a question for the discussion of which we have not yet all the elements. One of the most brilliant of the African apologues comes from Somaliland, and is perhaps better than the corresponding European fable: "The Lion, the Hyena, and the Fox went hunting, and caught a Sheep. The Lion said, 'Let us divide the prey.' The Hyena said, 'I will take the hinder parts, the Lion the fore parts, and the Fox can have the feet and entrails.' Then the Lion struck the Hyena on the head so hard that one of its eyes fell out, then turned to the Fox and said, 'Now you divide it.' 'The head, the intestines, and the feet are for the Hyena and me; all the rest belongs to the Lion.' 'Who taught you to judge in that way?' asked the Lion. The Fox answered, 'The Hyena's eye.'"—Popular Science Monthly.

From col. F. M. Woodruff. RED SQUIRREL. ⅔ Life-size. Copyright by Nature Study Pub. Co., 1898, Chicago.