Crocodile, hyena and fish eagle

A very long time ago, before the Lhomwe, Yao, Tonga, Ngoni, Mang’anja, Sena, Senga, Ngonde, Sukwa, Tumbuka, Khobwe, Chewa, Sisya, and Akafula occupied the land now called Malawi, ferocious animals, timid animals, tall trees, short trees, hard grass, soft grass, long and wide rivers and short and narrow rivers dominated the landscapes.

Antelopes dominated the lowlands from Titi in what is today called Chitipa to Marka in today’s Nsanje. Monkeys, baboons and ntchima occupied the area now known as Mzimba down to Msuli point in what Malawians today call Nkhata Bay along the Nyanja claimed by Malawians as theirs only. From the source of the Bua River at Ndawambe in what today is Mchinji down to Cape Maclear in Monkey Bay rich soils characterized the land. Nature blossomed at will.

Gazelles, antelopes, zebras, rhinos, buffalos, kudu, mice, hares roamed the land night and day. They ate the grass and the shrubs. Tall trees and other difficult-to-pluck vegetables were left to elephants and giraffes. As such, hyenas, leopards, lions, and crocodiles never fought since each had enough food to eat. During this period of plenty, Crocodile, Fish Eagle and Hyena were friends.

One bright morning at the mouth of the Bua River, Crocodile caught 15 mpasa, 20 ntchira and 30 sanjika fish. He ate two mpasa as breakfast and was satisfied. He thought long and hard about how to keep the remaining catch to eat later because he did not want to struggle for that day’s lunch and dinner. He then took the fish one by one to a nearby rock in the Nyanja, now called Lake Malawi. Satisfied about the safety of his lunch and dinner, Crocodile swam to the beach and wriggled some 10 metres onto sandy beach to sunbathe.

As Crocodile slumbered there, his wide mouth agape, enjoying the hot sun and sand as he recharged his solar panels on his back, clouds started gathering on the southern and the eastern side of the Nyanja. A relatively gentle but warm southeasterly wind was blowing, getting gradually intense as time passed. In no time, large waves started smashing against the beach.  It was the beginning the mwera winds, Crocodile, master of the waters, concluded.

When Crocodile turned to look at the rock where he had kept his fish, he was disappointed. The fish were not there. They must have been swept away by the mwera waves, he consoled himself. However, when he looked up in the sky, about twenty hunting birds of all sorts, including Crocodile’s own old  friend, the Fish Eagle, had fish dangling at their feet. They freely gnawed at the fish as they glided above the lake far away from Crocodile’s reach.

Crocodile was furious. He asked Fish Eagle what he was doing with his meal and why he did not bother to just catch his own. After all, Crocodile said, there was plenty out there to eat. Fish Eagle answered mockingly: “Only fools display their catch. Clever hunters eat it”.

Crocodile swam back into the Bua River to catch more fish for his lunch and dinner. However, due to the cold waters from the lake, the fish had moved upstream and could no longer be found. Crocodile was angry and hungry. The more he hunted the hungrier he became and the hungrier he became the more he lost his temper.

Crocodile was about to give up when he saw Hyena coming to the river carrying a dead antelope in his mouth. Hyena slowly lay his antelope on the floor and walked two or three steps to the river to drink. As Hyena drank, Crocodile leapt out of the water towards Hyena’s antelope with such ferocity that Hyena was forced to run away temporarily. Crocodile grabbed the antelope with his large incisors and pulled it into the Bua river. Hyena tried to follow and get his antelope back. To no avail. Crocodile had swam, chamtukutuku, to the deepest point of the river.

Minutes later, Crocodile emerged out the water with a huge chuck of antelope in his mouth. Hyena asked what new games his friend Crocodile had started.

“Ask the Fish Eagle, only fools display their catch! Clever hunters eat it.”

“What do you mean?” Hyena asked.

“Be there next week,” Crocodile responded.