Tortoise and Bush Cat

Tortoise and Bush Cat went to wrestle in the land of Tortoise’s mother. Tortoise made a deal: whatever goats they won would be theirs, and whatever they lost they would pay. Bush Cat did the wrestling while Tortoise sang to urge him on, and Bush Cat threw one man after another and won goat after goat. When Tortoise finally tried a match himself, he was thrown, and was tied to a tree because he had no goat to pay with. Bush Cat gave up one of his own goats to free him.

At last Tortoise beat a small boy and was given a small goat. Ashamed of how little it was, he told Bush Cat to cut off one of its ears for them to eat on the road. Bush Cat held his half in his cheek without swallowing, and at the river Tortoise poured water into his mouth until the ear went down.

Tortoise then demanded the ear back, claiming that it would have grown into a great ram and, in time, a flock. Bush Cat refused, so Tortoise led his people to strip Bush Cat’s house.

Bush Cat went to the river and told what Tortoise had done. The river rose, swept away Tortoise’s house and everything in it, and Tortoise and his people with it.