The Fish and the Leopard's Wife; or, Why the Fish lives in the Water

Many years ago, when King Eyo was ruler of Calabar, the fish used to live on the land; he was a great friend of the leopard, and frequently used to go to his house in the bush, where the leopard entertained him. Now the leopard had a very fine wife, with whom the fish fell in love. And after a time, whenever the leopard was absent in the bush, the fish used to go to his house and make love to the leopard's wife, until at last an old woman who lived near informed the leopard what happened whenever he went away. At first the leopard would not believe that the fish, who had been his friend for so long, would play such a low trick, but one night he came back unexpectedly, and found the fish and his wife together; at this the leopard was very angry, and was going to kill the fish, but he thought as the fish had been his friend for so long, he would not deal with him himself, but would report his behaviour to King Eyo. This he did, and the king held a big palaver, at which the leopard stated his case quite shortly, but when the fish was put upon his defence he had nothing to say, so the king addressing his subjects said, "This is a very bad case, as the fish has been the leopard's friend, and has been trusted by him, but the fish has taken advantage of his friend's absence, and has betrayed him." The king, therefore, made an order that for the future the fish should live in the water, and that if he ever came on the land he should die; he also said that all men and animals should kill and eat the fish whenever they could catch him, as a punishment for his behaviour with his friend's wife.

何年も昔、エヨ王がカラバルを治めていたころ、魚は陸に住んでいた。魚は豹の大の仲よしで、よく藪の中の豹の家へ出かけては、もてなしを受けていた。さて豹にはたいそう美しい妻がいて、魚はその妻に恋をしてしまった。しばらくすると、豹が藪へ出かけて留守にするたびに、魚は豹の家へ行って豹の妻に言い寄るようになった。とうとう近くに住む老婆が、豹が出かけるたびに何が起きているかを豹に知らせた。はじめ豹は、長年の友である魚がそんな卑劣なまねをするとは信じようとしなかったが、ある夜、思いがけず帰ってくると、魚と妻がいっしょにいるところを見つけた。これには豹もひどく怒り、魚を殺そうとしたが、魚は長年の友だったので、自分の手で片をつけるのはやめ、そのふるまいをエヨ王に訴えることにした。豹がそうすると、王は大きな寄り合いを開いた。豹はそこで手短に訴えを述べたが、魚が申し開きを求められると、何も言うことがなかった。そこで王は臣下に向かって言った。「これはたいへん悪い事件である。魚は豹の友であり、豹に信頼されていたのに、友の留守につけ込んで、友を裏切ったのだ」。そこで王は、以後魚は水の中に住まねばならず、もし陸に上がれば死ぬと命じた。また、友の妻にしたふるまいの罰として、人間も獣もみな、魚をつかまえられるときにはいつでも殺して食べてよいと言い渡した。