King of All Songs, The

Once upon a time, all songs belonged to the Void Monkey. But Baloo, the chimp, yearned to be the owner of all songs known in the world, so he went to the Void monkey with the request that he be named King Of All Songs.

The Void Monkey told Baloo that many people had come to him offering to buy the songs and musics, but they were unable to meet his demands. The Chiefs, Great Warriors, Rich and Powerful families had not been able to pay the Void Monkey or meet his demands.

He asked Baloo, "what makes you think that you will be able to do it? Do you think you can do it?"

Baloo replied, "I can do it. What is the price?"

The Void Monkey, then said to Baloo, "you could get the title only if you could catch Osebo, the Lion with teeth like daggers, Mmoboro, the Scorpion whose sting is like fire, and Onini, the great Wolf. For these things I will give you the title of King Of All Songs and the right to sing all the songs."

"Very well," Baloo said. "I shall bring them to you."

#### Mmoboro - the Scorpion

Baloo went home and made his plans. He first cut a gourd from a vine and made a small hole in it. He then took a large bowl, filled it with water and went to the tree where the scorpions lived. He poured some of the water over himself, so that he was dripping. He then threw some water over the Scorpions, so that they would think it was raining.

Then he put the bowl on his head, as though to protect himself from a storm, and called out to the scorpions, "are you foolish people? Why do you stay in the rain that is falling?"

The scorpions answered, "where shall we go?"

"Come here, in this dry gourd." Baloo told them.

The scorpions thanked him and crawled into the gourd through the small hole. When the last of them had entered, Baloo plugged the hole with a ball of grass, saying, "Oh, yes, but you are really foolish people!" He felt pleased with himself: 'Baloo has tricked Mmoboro into pretending it's raining and offered them a hiding place in a calabash.'

Baloo took his gourd full of scorpions to the Void Monkey and he accepted them with surprise, but then said, "there are two more things." Baloo nodded. Baloo returned to the forest and cut a long bamboo pole and some strong vines. At a nearby river, he sat on a log; he waited and waited until a wolf came along.

#### Onini - the Wolf

Then he walked toward Onini, the great Wolf, talking to himself in a very loud voice and pretending to be arguing with someone. "I say he is longer and stronger. My wife says he is shorter and weaker. I give him more respect. She gives him less respect. Is she right or am I right? I am right, he is longer. I am right, he is stronger."

When Onini, the wolf, heard Baloo talking to himself he said, "why are you arguing this way with yourself? What's wrong?"

Baloo replied, "Ah, I have had a dispute with my wife. She says you are shorter and weaker than this bamboo pole. I say you are longer and stronger."

Onini said, "it is useless and silly to argue when you can find out the truth. Bring the pole and we will measure."

So Baloo laid the pole on the ground, and the wolf came and stretched himself out beside it.

"You seem a little short." Baloo said. The wolf stretched further.

"A little more." Baloo said.

"I can stretch no more." Onini replied.

"When you stretch at one end, you get shorter at the other end." Baloo said. "Let me tie you at the front so you don't slip."

Baloo tied Onini's head to the pole. Then he went to the other end and tied the tail to the pole. He wrapped the vine all around Onini, until the wolf couldn't move.

"Onini," Baloo said, "it turns out that my wife was right and I was wrong. You are shorter than the pole and weaker. My opinion wasn't as good as my wife's. But you were even more foolish than I, and you are now my prisoner."

Baloo carried the wolf to the Void Monkey, who was pleased. "Baloo, I'm impressed," he said, "you've done two of the three. Now bring me the Osebo, the lion and the songs are freed." Baloo nodded and, again, rushed home and started to plot.

#### Osebo - the Lion

Baloo went into the forest and dug a deep pit where the leopard liked to walk. He covered it with small branches and leaves and put dust on it, so that it was impossible to tell where the pit was. The he went away and hid. When Osebo came prowling in the black of night, he stepped into the trap Baloo had prepared and fell to the bottom of the pit. Baloo heard the sound of the lion falling and said, "Ah, Osebo, you are half-foolish."

When morning came, Baloo went to the pit and saw the lion still there. "Osebo," he asked, "what are you doing in this hole?"

"I have fallen into a trap." Osebo said. "Help me out." "I would gladly help you," Baloo said, "but I'm sure that if I bring you out, I will have no thanks for it. You will get hungry and later on you will be wanting to eat me and my children."

"I promise it won't happen!" Osebo said.

"Very well." Baloo said. "Since you promise it, I will take you out." He then bent a tall green tree toward the ground, so that its top was over the pit, and he tied it that way. Then he tied a rope to the top of the tree and dropped the other end of it into the pit.

"Tie this to your tail." He said. Osebo tied the rope to his tail.

"Is it well tied?" Baloo asked.

"Yes, it is well tied." The lion said.

"In that case," Baloo said, "you are not merely half-foolish, you are all-foolish."

And he took his knife and cut the other rope, the one that held the tree bowed to the ground. The tree straightened up with a snap, pulling Osebo out of the hole. He hung in the air head downward, twisting and turning. As he twisted and turned, he got so dizzy that Baloo had no trouble tying the lion's feet with vines.

Baloo took the dizzy lion, all tied up, to the Void Monkey, saying, "Here's the third thing. Now I have paid the price."

#### The King of All Songs

The Void Monkey said to him, "Baloo, great warriors and chiefs have tried, but they have been unable to do it. You have done it. Therefore, I will give you the songs. From this day onward, all songs belong to you and, whenever a man sings a song, he must acknowledge that it is Baloo's, the King of All Songs."