Once upon a time, a man and a woman had seven sons. They behaved very foolishly.

The boys lost the family cattle, they broke the plough, and everyone cheated them at the market.

Their mother prayed, "Oh God, why did you send me all these foolish children? Please, send me one more son, and let him be wise."

In time the woman gave birth to another boy.

The child was tiny. "We'll call him Sinziro," his mother said.

Although Sinziro grew, he remained very small. But he was also extremely clever. His mother and father loved him very much.

His brothers were jealous. "Why do our parents love you more than us?" they asked Sinziro. "Look at yourself! You are the size of a rat."

An enemy lived nearby. One day, Sinziro's brothers said to each other, "We are hungry, but our enemy has many fat cows and bulls. Let's go tonight and steal two of his bulls. We'll take our father's donkey to carry the meat home."

They did not see Sinziro because he was behind his father's stool.

That night, Sinziro's brothers took the donkey and went to their enemy's compound.

They did not see Sinziro running after them.

When they reached the compound, the gate was shut. They could not get inside. "I wish that Sinziro was here instead of at home," said one of the brothers. "He's clever. He could get into this compound."

They did not see Sinziro because he was hiding.

"I'm not at home, brothers. I'm here," Sinziro called. "And I know what to do. Stay here. I'll go inside the compound, and open the door. I'll drive the bulls out to you."

"But how can you go into the compound?" the third brother asked. "The door is locked."

Sinziro laughed and said, "Look, there's a door for me.

"His brothers looked. There was a small space in the gate. It was only big enough for a cat, but it was big enough for Sinziro.

Sinziro ran through it easily. He climbed up to the door and opened it.

Then he began to drive two fat bulls out of the compound. "Go on, my beautiful bulls! Go out!" he shouted.

The brothers' enemy was asleep in his house, but his dogs were awake. They heard Sinziro, and began to bark.

Their master woke up too. "What's going on?" he called.

The man came out and Sinziro quickly hid. Then he pretended to be the man's servant. "Sir, our big bulls were lost, but I am bringing them back," he said.

The owner was angry. "Don't make so much noise," he said. "We are trying to sleep." He went back into his house, and shut the door.

Quietly, Sinziro drove the two bulls out of the compound. His brothers were very happy. "What beautiful fat bulls!" they said. "Let's kill them and eat them now."

"No!" said Sinziro. "Our enemy will hear us. He will come out again and catch us. We must take the bulls far away, across the river."

Sinziro and his brothers drove the bulls away from the enemy's house. When they came to the river, the seven foolish brothers looked at the water and shook their heads.

"We can't cross this river," they said to each other. "Perhaps it's deep. We can't swim. Where is Sinziro? He will know how to cross it."

Sinziro was sitting on one of the bulls' horns. "I am here. I know what to do. Give me a rope," he said.

His brothers gave him a rope. He tied one end of the rope to the tree. Then he swam across the river, and tied the other end to another tree. He told said, "Hold the rope, and walk across the river. You will be safe."

So, one by one, his brothers held the rope and crossed the river, while the bulls swam in front of them. "We are far away from our enemy now," said Sinziro. "We can kill the bulls."

The brothers killed the bulls. They divided the meat into seven parts for each of them.

"Where's my share?" Sinziro asked. "Your share?" the brothers laughed. "But you are too small. You can't eat this meat. No, Sinziro, there's no meat for you."

Sinziro was very angry. "I'll punish them for this," he thought. Then he said to them, "If you won't give me any meat, give me the bladder of one of the bulls."

His brothers threw the bladder to Sinziro and got ready to leave. He took the bladder, and ran ahead of his brothers. He climbed a tree near where they would pass.

Sinziro tied up the bladder on one side, and blew into it until it was like a ball. Then he took a stick and he began to beat the bladder.

As he made a noise with the stick and bladder, Sinziro shouted, "Please, don't beat me, sir! I didn't steal your bulls. It was my brothers. Look, they are coming. They killed your bulls and cut up the meat!"

The brothers cried, "Our enemy has followed us. He will punish us!" At once, they ran away.

Sinziro came down from the tree.

He was smiling. "Now all the meat is for me," he said.