Matzu Fable

The Matzu tribe in southwestern Africa has the following fable:

Their ancestors were out hunting when they found themselves surrounded by some wild animals that they had never seen before. The animal had the head of a lion and the body of a sheep.

They had never seen anything like this before and didn't know how to proceed. As it happens, there were two mighty warriors: Ahout and Brabe.

Ahout wanted the warriors to attack on masse and hopefully scare the animals away. Brabe thought they should build a fence and see how these unknown animals acted. "How do we know," said Ahout "whether they are as ferocious as a lion or as docile as sheep?"

The animals neither advanced, nor did they move away.

The hunters were terrified of this new animal. Some wanted to make a charge against the animals. Others wanted to build a wall.

They argued amongst themselves, and soon they forgot about the threat from the animals and turned against eachother. There was a fierce battle between the warriors and ultimately only Ahout and Brabe were remained.

Ahout and Brabe who were the best fighters - struggled for seven days and finally - both were wounded and lay dying.

At that point several of these animals appeared and removed their lion masks and began to graze near the wounded and dead Matzu warriors. As Ahout lay dying, he heard one of the sheep say, "What a strange species these creatures are."