The World of the Great Forest

An enormous-sized ombama, about thirty feet long, said to himself one day: "I am so big now that I do not feed on small game. I like to feed on kambis and ncheris. I am so hungry that I must find out a good place to coil myself in and there wait for prey that may pass by me. " He wanted a tree having a bark near the color of his skin.

As he crawled along, he looked for such a tree. He passed hundreds of trees, nay, thousands. Some of them were nearly of his color, but he thought that he would find more deceiving ones still, so that when he was coiled round their trunks, the antelopes, the gazelles, the boars, and other animals could not detect him. So he went on his way, meeting many snakes. Some said, "I am journeying toward the villages of men, and intend to stay in a house and watch for rats. " Others said, "I am going for ducks, chickens, and hen's eggs; but if I can get a goat, I will coil round and swallow him. " But the big ombama had made up his mind to have a kambi for a meal.