LETIWE IS HIDING
‘Letiwe, where are you? I can’t see you anywhere. I’ve cut up some mango for you.’
A girl of three was clapping her hands under the table in the hut and giggling.
‘I’m coming!’
Letiwe shuffled her feet.
‘I think I had better call everyone to come and find you. The lions, and the tigers. The whole village!’
Letiwe gasped. She came out and anchored herself to Grandmother’s legs.
‘There you are! Now listen, my sweet. Babenga is coming over this morning.’
Letiwe was listening carefully. Babenga was a big boy of five years old. She liked Babenga.
‘Want mango.’
A SHOCK
The two children were playing at the well, though Babenga had no time for baby girls. He was busy dropping stones into the well.
‘Baby.’
Letiwe took no notice. She wrinkled her nose and listened for the Plop! as each stone reached the water.
Babenga became bored and the sun was stinging his eyes. He noticed a skinny man beating a skinny dog.
Letiwe’s eyes scoured the earth. She found a stone and tossed it into the well. She squealed in happiness as it splashed into the water.
Just then, a black river of spiders poured out of the well.
BABENGA TO THE RESCUE
Babenga jumped up and took Letiwe by the hand.
‘Silly baby. Come.’
He yanked her away from the spiders, but she lost her footing and fell hard to the ground.
‘Get up.’
‘Eee!’
Letiwe pointed a fat finger at the spiders.
‘Lots biders.’
Babenga dragged Letiwe away from the spiders and back to the hut.
‘Umma! We saw lots of big spiders by the well.’
‘Are you telling the truth, Babenga?’
‘Yes. There are lots, aren’t there, little baby?’
Letiwe gazed at Babenga’s mother, then looked at Grandmother.
‘I am sure Letiwe thinks the same.’
‘Then we must look, Grandmother.’
IT’S NOT FAIR!
Umma and Grandmother were hit by the heat as they emerged into the bright light. Letiwe and Babenga followed.
Babenga’s mother screamed. She had seen an army of black spiders massed around the well.
‘Oh, my goodness, there are hundreds of them. Babenga, go back to the hut.’
‘Umma, it’s not fair. The baby is not going.’
Grandmother grabbed hold of Letiwe.
‘Letiwe, go with Babenga.’
Babenga slunk off towards the hut. Letiwe, thinking of the spiders, trailed after Babenga.
‘It’s not fair.’
The two picins heard loud shouting, and turned to look. Some warriors were flying towards the well.
THE WARRIORS
The warriors were carrying bamboo besoms. They swept the spiders back, but there were too many.
‘We must splash them with water, and wash them away.’
‘But we need it to drink.’
‘Then throw earth over them!’
‘That’s a good idea!’
The men asked their wives for shovels. The women went off, and soon returned with them.
‘Sprinkle them. Then they will crawl back into the well.’
The men scraped up earth with the shovels and threw it over the spiders, who coughed and rubbed their eyes. And stayed just where they were.
The men and women began to bicker.
THE PICINS DISAPPEAR
Umma and Grandmother left the warriors arguing with their wives. They returned to the hut to find the children. But they were nowhere to be seen.
‘Those two. Where can they have gone?’
They looked all over the hut, and round the back too.
‘Naughty children! Maybe they’ve gone back to the well to watch.’
They went outside again, but the picins were not there either.
‘They must keep away from those nasty spiders. Then they will be safe.’
Grandmother called out.
‘Letiwe, where are you? Come back at once.’
‘Babenga. Come here! Naughty boy.’
But there was no answer.
SUGAR-CANE AND CHALK
Just then, Letiwe was exploring Babenga’s garden. She had forgotten all about the spiders.
‘This is my sugar-cane. It is sweet. I grew it.’
‘Want.’
‘Come. There is some in the house.’
They went inside, and Babenga gave Letiwe some sugar- cane.
‘Like.’
‘You can take it home.’
Letiwe grinned. Babenga was a nice boy.
‘Look here.’
He showed Letiwe his blackboard and coloured chalks. She drew a picture of the garden. Babenga picked up a white chalk and added a few flower petals. Letiwe snatched the chalk from his hand and ran out of the house at full pelt.
LETIWE RUNS AND RUNS
On and on, Letiwe ran. Past three women crouching in a tight circle. Past a baby screeching at Atawauga, the Tooth Spirit. Past the headman’s hut. Letiwe saw all these, and still she ran and ran. She was sweating and panting hard in the heat.
Babenga followed. She was such a baby, and it was easy for him to keep up with her. He knew where she was going. To her hut, of course.
Into the hut she went, tailed by the young man.
‘And where have you been, young lady?’
Grandmother had spoken.
‘Babenga? Naughty boy!’
Umma had spoken.
THE CHALK CIRCLE
Letiwe dashed over to her banana leaf hammock, clasping one piece of white chalk. She came away with two. She handed a piece to Babenga.
‘Benga. Biders.’
They rushed outside.
‘These picins! What are they up to?’
‘Mischief, as always.’
‘Come, Umma.’
‘Babenga is so easily led.’
‘And Letiwe is fearless! And three years old.’
Letiwe reached the well, looked at the spiders, and began to draw a white line on the crusty earth in front of them.
‘Benga!’
Babenga copied her. Together, they drew a white chalk line in a circle outside the spiders and around the well.
‘Binish!’
ONTO THE SHOULDERS!
The men and the women were watching with their mouths open. The spiders reached the white line and stopped. They would not cross it.
Letiwe and Babenga, Umma and Grandmother, and all the villagers, stood and stared. After a long time, the spiders began to move back down the well. And then they had gone, and the ground was clear again.
‘These picins have saved our village from vicious spiders!’
‘Letiwe and Babenga, those are their names.’
‘Wonderful children!’
The warriors lifted Letiwe and Babenga onto their shoulders. Grandmother and Umma smiled and dabbed a tear from their eyes.
‘Biders!’
The end.