The Bachelor Giant And The Orphan Kitu
On the beautiful hill stood the more beautiful castle. There lived the king, the queen, their wise ministers, and smart soldiers, and the most beautiful sweet little princess. Kitu could see the castle from his distant village when fog or cloud did not blind the horizon. Often people from faraway villages went in batches to the castle to pay their respect to the kind king, to marvel at the queen clad in gold, and to say hello to the princess who always smiled and smiled like the rainbow. "Will you kindly take me with you?" Kitu at times would propose to the travelers. "I want to play with the princess." "Listen, kid, we have to cross a forest where tigers frolic as freely as the kitten does in your village and beyond that a river in which crocodiles swim as freely as fish in your village ponds. There is then a mountain to climb. And, for your information, a princess does not play. She only shines. You better keep playing with your woodpecker, haha!! Keep playing with your woodpecker, do you understand?" This is all Kitu had for a reply. A little embarrassed, he would keep quiet. He no doubt had a great friend in a woodpecker. But he did not understand why people should make fun of it. He knew so many fellows who, human in form though, were as cunning as jackals or as greedy as pigs. What if a woodpecker was as wise or as clever as a man?