It is told that a tortoise called Miyub was walking along the side of the road when she saw an old woman called Agadi. She drew near her and called out, saying: Agadi... Agadi... what have you done to yourself? You look thin and wasted.

Agadi looked at Miyub and said: That is only nat-ural... Have you not heard that all the people, King Benin among them, are fasting seven days and seven nights?... This is the sixth day, and I feel a fierce hunger. Said the tortoise: Can nothing be done for your sake? The old woman answered: Nothing, my daughter... nothing at all. At that, sorrow showed on the tortoise's face, and she stood silent at her side.

That night the old woman allowed the tortoise to sleep in her hut, and told her wondrous tales of the great city, and told her that the king would give a splendid banquet at the end of the fast, which would be filled with every kind of gaiety and delight.

The tortoise wanted to attend that banquet, but when she asked the old woman to show her the way to the city, she answered her: No, my dear Miyub, it is very far, and you will never be able to reach it... you would have to pass through a thick and fearful forest... and besides, the banquet is for human beings only, not for animals.

But Miyub had made up her mind to attend it. So she began her journey and set out walking in earnest. After a little while she met, at the side of the road, Ini the gazelle, and she called to him at the top of her voice: Ini... Ini... you swift runner... you handsome and comely one — wait, for I have glad news for you.

Ini stopped and pricked up his ears, and Miyub began to sing as though she were the happiest of creatures... Then Ini came up to her and said: Why are you so happy, Miyub, and where are you going? She answered him: Have you not heard that the king is giving a banquet for all the animals? I am on my

way to it... The gazelle cried: Good heavens! Then I shall go too. Said Miyub: Will you carry me? You are swift of foot, and I can show you the way.

So the gazelle carried her on his back and traveled with her a long distance. After a few hours Ini and Miyub felt a sharp hunger; but Miyub the tortoise contrived, by her cunning and deceit, to lead the gazelle to the leopard's den.

When Olu the leopard saw the two of them approaching his den, he crouched back and roared. Ini stopped in his tracks, seized with fear and alarm, and Miyub leapt from his back and hid herself in a burrow... The leopard roared once more, then sprang upon poor Ini and tore him to pieces. Then Miyub put her head out of the burrow and said: O leopard Olu, I have brought you Ini, the swift and beautiful; if you eat him all and overlook my share in him, you will be a greedy glutton and an ingrate. Olu growled, but he divided the gazelle's flesh with the tortoise. When they had eaten their fill, Miyub said to Olu: I have come to you with a glad message: the king has invited all the animals to a banquet. If you carry me on your back, I will show you the way, and we shall arrive there at the end of the days of fasting, before the hour of the banquet.

Olu was greedy by nature, so he accepted the tortoise's proposal and carried her on his back, and traveled with her until they came to the bank of a river. Then Miyub said to Olu: I fear the water and dread it, so I beg you not to leap across the river with me, lest I fall in and drown... An idea has come to me... Do you see that huge tree on the opposite bank? A rope hangs caught in it, and on one of its branches perches Uzu the bat. I will ask him to bring me the other end of the rope; then I will tie it around your neck and walk along it across the river. The foolish leopard quickly agreed to this idea; the bat brought the end of the rope, and the tortoise crossed