When other animals in the valley heard what Cherekweny the hare had done to the elephant, they ganged up and drove Cherekweny away. Now for many months hare wandered about the bushes without a home, and where they went, other animals chased them away. So they decided to go into a village of the humans.

In this village, Cherekweny found an old woman living all by herself. Hare heard that all her children and grandchildren had passed on, leaving her without anyone to care for her, so hare thought they could sweet talk her into giving them shelter and food.

“Oh old woman,” Cherekweny said. “Since you have no child, why not adopt me. You are old, and can’t dig. I’ll do this work for you and you give me my food.”

The old woman was very glad to accept hare’s proposal, as she found digging a very laborious task. She therefore gave hare a hoe and some groundnut seeds, and sent them on their way to join other villagers and plant a garden. Finally, the woman could remain at home.

Early in morning hare left the old woman’s hut and went to the place where some people were making a garden, but instead of joining them, Cherekweny did not work. They settled under a tree and ate all the groundnuts. In the evening they rubbed a little wet mud on the hoe and on their hands and feet and returned to the old woman’s hut, where she give them food. The next day, and for several days after that, hare woke up very early and went to this place, but still did not join people in doing work. They found a tree with a cool shade and slept all day

When it was time to harvest, Cherekweny took her to the garden and she at once begun to gather groundnuts. But then, a man appeared and asked her what she was doing.

“I’m harvesting the nuts which my child the hare grew,” the old woman said.

At this the man laughed and told her that hare had done no work at all, but had slept in the sun all day with the hoe beside them. The old woman then saw that Cherekweny had deceived her, but when she turned around to flog them, hare had already fled away.

Hare went on to the next village, where they found a woman who had a small child. She had just gotten married and did not have anyone to help her with household chores, and so she was a perfect candidate. Cherekweny went up to her and said: “Let me help you baby sit.”

The woman was suspicious for hare was a stranger, but she interviewed them at length.

“I just need a hut over my head,” hare said, eventually. “I’m on my way to visit my relatives in the sky, but I forgot the way and I’m tired of walking. So when I saw you struggling with work, I thought I could help you, and you give me food and shelter. I’m very good with babies.”

Eventually, the woman decided that Cherekweny meant no harm and so agreed, and gave them her child to look after as she went about her other work.

A few days passed and Cherekweny settled into the family and the woman and her husband were very happy to have found them.

One day the woman’s husband slaughtered a goat, and his wife put the meat in a pot. As it was cooking, she went to the well to collect water, leaving hare with the baby.

As the baby slept, the aroma of the goat hit hare’s nose and so Cherekweny went to the cooking-pot and lifted the lid. Aaah. Nice. Hare took a piece, though it was still raw, and ate, and it was nicer than any meat hare had ever eaten. One by one, hare took the pieces of meat and ate everything and was surprised when they dipped the spoon into the pot but could not find any more pieces of meat.

Oh no. What will the good woman say when she finds her meat gone?

Here dipped in the spoon again, hoping to find even one piece left, but the spoon scraped the pot with a sound that warned hare that the woman would give them a big thrashing.

Now the goat had whetted hare’s appetite for meat so much that they wanted to continue eating. And so when the baby let out a cry, they got an idea. Ah. They had never tasted human flesh before, and here was a baby that looked fat and juicy, perhaps tastier than the goat. So hare chopped up the baby into little pieces and put him in the pot in place of the meat. And the baby cooked.

When Cherekweny saw the woman returning from the well at a distance, it occurred to them that the woman would surely notice the missing baby. What then would hare say?

Cherekweny then found a beetle, which they put into the mortar for crushing grain, and covered it with the goat’s hide, which is what the baby was sleeping on.

The woman returned and, hearing the beetle buzzing in the mortar, asked hare to carry the baby since it was crying. But if hare lifted the mortar the woman would see it was not the baby, and so carefully, shielding it with their body, hare took the mortar.

“I’ll go over there by the cattle to make him keep quiet,” hare said, sneaking away as the woman stirred the soup in the pot.

Cherekweny put the mortar down, but they could not go back to the homestead without the child. What would she tell the woman? Yet the aroma from the pot was in the air, tickling their nose. Hare stood at a distance, watching, and salivating. The husband came back, and the wife served him meat to eat, after which the wife also ate.

“But where is Cherekweny,” the husband said. “They have to eat with us.”

And Cherekweny knew it was time to go. Too bad they never got a taste of that meat.

Both hare and the baby disappeared from that village, and they have never been seen to this day.