Can I tell a tale?

The way is clear!

My tale flies and falls on two sisters, the panther and the cat.

One day, the panther visited the cat.

She asked if the cat's children could come and stay at her home.

The cat asked her oldest child if she would like to visit the panther.

"No," said the child.

The cat asked her second child, who also said no.

The third child was named Zìnzìnklézìn. This child was very smart.

Zìnzìnklézìn decided to go with his aunt the panther and visit her home.

That night when it was time for bed, the panther covered Zìnzìnklézìn with a black sheet.

She covered her own children with white sheets.

In the middle of the night the panther leapt on the black cloth.

She ate the child who was sleeping underneath.

At dawn Zìnzìnklézìn walked outside.

The panther asked, "Where did you sleep? How are you still here?"

"I slept in the bedroom," said Zìnzìnklézìn.

That night the panther tucked the children in again, Zìnzìnklézìn in a black sheet.

Her own children were in white sheets.

That night, the children were sleeping, each under their own sheets.

The panther leapt on the black sheet and ate the child below.

That morning the panther was once again startled to see Zìnzìnklézìn who said, "I want to go home."

"Why, you just got here!" replied the panther.

That night after the panther tucked everyone in, Zìnzìnklézìn crept out.

He put his sheet over one of the children and slept outside.

Later, the panther leapt on the black cloth and ate the child sleeping underneath.

Zìnzìnklézìn returned home and told his mom what happened.

Sometime later, the panther told her sister she was coming to visit.

The cat gathered her children, "Your aunt is coming, stay awake."

Zìnzìnklézìn told everyone not to worry, "I'll protect you. Go climb to the top of the Iroko tree and wait for me to sing that song and then lower a rope for me."

Zìnzìnklézìn began to sing a song:

"My dear children, why did we build our house in the forest? To hide from the panther because we ate her children!"

But the panther had been listening in, and crept under the foot of the tree. She sang in her hoarse voice, "My dear children…"

When the children heard that voice they knew the panther had arrived.

Zìnzìnklézìn put a pot of water on the fire and invited the panther to go up.

The panther asked the children to clean her.

As they cleaned her, they tied each strand of her fur to the branches above.

The water in the pot got hotter and hotter.

Eventually the panther wanted to leave.

"Never!" said the kittens.

Zìnzìnklézìn took the pot of boiling water and poured it on the panther.

When their mom returned home she asked if the panther had arrived.

"Yes indeed," said the kittens, "And she's at the bottom of the pot!"

They served her a delicious panther stew.

"She wanted to eat my children, but it's all over for her today!" said the cat.

The cat and panther were once sisters, but they did not have the same intelligence.

And that is why they are not friends today.

This story is based on a folktale from Benin Republic, and was documented by the Trois Soeurs Education Fund as part of the project Culturelle Preservation par les Arts (PreCArt). The story was originally told in the Goungbe language.

Thank you to the U.S. Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation, and the U.S. Department of State, for their generous financial support of PreCArt. Thank you to Hector Sonon and Ubuntuu who trained the children to illustrate.