Crocodile’s Treason

Back in the days when animals could still talk, Crocodile was the recognised headman of all the water creatures, and judging by his looks you might say he still is. In those days it was his special duty to look after every animal that lived in the water. One year there was a terrible drought. The river where they lived shrank and dried up until water was scarce, and Crocodile had to make a plan to trek to another river a little way off.

First he sent Otter to scout. Otter was gone for two days and came back to report that the other river still had good water in it—real sea-cow holes, deep pools that not even several years of drought could empty.

Once he knew this, Crocodile called Tortoise and Alligator to his side. “Listen,” he said. “Tonight I need you two to carry a message to Lion. Get yourselves ready. The veldt is dry, and you will probably have to travel several days without water. We must make peace with Lion and his subjects, or this year we shall all perish. He must help us trek to the other river, especially past the Boer’s farm that lies between, and see that no animal of the veldt troubles us as long as the trek lasts. A fish on dry land, as you all know, can be a very helpless thing.”

The two messengers had a dreadful time of it in the burning sun on the parched veldt, but at last they reached Lion and handed him the treaty.

“What is going on now?” Lion wondered when he had read it. “I must ask Jackal first,” he said. But he sent the messengers back with the answer that he and his advisers would come the following evening to the meeting place: the big vaarland willow at the far end of the pool where Crocodile had his headquarters.

When Tortoise and Alligator returned, Crocodile was very pleased with the way things were going. He allowed Otter and a few others to attend, and ordered them to have plenty of fish and other food ready for the guests under the vaarland willow.

As darkness fell that evening, Lion arrived at the willow with Wolf, Jackal, Baboon, and a few other important animals, and Crocodile and the water creatures greeted them most warmly.

Crocodile was so happy that the animals had come that every now and then he let fall a big tear of joy, which vanished into the sand. When the guests had eaten their fill of fish, Crocodile explained the situation and laid out his plan. All he wanted, he said, was peace among the animals; for not only did they destroy one another, but in time the Boer would destroy them all.

The Boer, he told them, had already set up no fewer than three steam pumps at the head of the river to water his land, and every day there was less water. Worse, the farmer was taking advantage of their plight: he made them sit in the shallows and then killed them one by one. Since Lion, for that reason, was inclined toward peace, Crocodile said, it would be to his glory to take this chance, shake hands with these peace-loving water creatures, and carry out his part of the bargain—escorting them from the dried-up water, past the Boer’s farm, to the long sea-cow pools.

“And what do we get out of it?” asked Jackal.

“Why,” answered Crocodile, “the peace itself is a great benefit to both sides. We will stop wiping each other out. If you want to come down and drink, you can do it with an easy mind, without the slightest fear that I or any of us will grab you by the nose. The same goes for all the other animals. And on your side, you will protect us from Elephant, who has a habit, whenever he gets the chance, of tossing us with his trunk into some narrow fork of a tree and leaving us there to dry out like biltong.”

Lion and Jackal stepped aside to talk it over. Then Lion asked what guarantee he would have that Crocodile would keep his side of the agreement.

“I give my word of honour,” Crocodile answered at once, and he let a few more long tears of honesty drop into the sand.

Baboon then said that, as far as he could see, it was all fair and above board. It was foolish, he thought, for them to dig pitfalls for one another, and he knew very well that his own people would gain something from such a treaty of peace and friendship. Besides, they ought to make use of the water while it lasted, for even in the best of times it was unpleasant always to be carrying your life in your hands. He did suggest, though, that the King should have everything written down, so there would be nothing to regret if it were ever needed.

Jackal wanted nothing to do with the agreement. He could not see how it would help the animals of the veldt. But Wolf, who had eaten more than enough fish, was feeling unusually peaceful, and he advised Lion again to accept.

When Lion had heard all his advisers, as well as the pleading voices of Crocodile’s followers, he made a speech. He said he was willing to enter into the agreement, since it was clear that Crocodile and his subjects were in a very tight spot.

So a document was drawn up then and there, and it was decided that the trek would begin before midnight. Crocodile’s messengers swam off in every direction to call the water animals together. Frogs croaked and crickets chirped in the tall water grass, and before long all the animals had gathered at the vaarland willow. Meanwhile Lion had sent riders out to his subjects to raise a commando as an escort, and well before midnight they, too, stood at the willow in the moonlight.

Lion and Jackal organised the trek. Jackal was to go ahead as scout, and when he managed to draw Lion aside, he said, “Look here, I don’t trust this business one bit, and I’m telling you straight: I’m off! I will scout for you as far as the sea-cow pool, but I won’t be the one waiting there when you arrive.”

Elephant was to be the advance guard, because he could walk so quietly and had such keen hearing and smell. Next came Lion with one division of animals, then Crocodile’s trek with guards on both flanks, and Wolf was ordered to bring up the rear.

All the while, Crocodile was quietly preparing his treachery. He called Yellow Snake aside and said, “It suits us to have these animals, who prey on us every day and will go on doing so, fall into the Boer’s hands. Now listen. You stay behind without being noticed. When you hear me shout, you will know we have reached the sea-cow pool safely. Then stir up the Boer’s dogs as much as you can, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Then the trek moved off. It had to go very slowly, because many of the water creatures were not used to travelling on land. But they passed the Boer’s farm safely, and toward daybreak they all arrived at the sea-cow pool. Most of the water animals vanished at once into the deep water, and Crocodile began to get ready to follow them. With tears in his eyes he told Lion how very grateful he was for the help—so grateful and relieved, he said, that he simply had to let out a few shouts of joy. And he did, so loudly that the mountains echoed. Then he thanked Lion on behalf of his subjects and deliberately went on with a long speech about all the good the peace would bring to both sides.

Lion was just about to say good day and leave when the first shot rang out, and with it fell Elephant and several other animals.

“I told you so!” shouted Jackal from the far side of the sea-cow pool. “Why did you let yourselves be fooled by a few crocodile tears?”

Crocodile had long since disappeared under the water; all anyone could see was a stream of bubbles. On the banks a real war broke out against the animals, with shots crackling as the Boers fired. Fortunately, most of the animals got away alive.

Not long afterward, people say, Crocodile got what he deserved when he met a driver carrying a load of dynamite. And even now, whenever Elephant gets the chance, he tosses crocodiles up into the highest forks of the trees.

About this tale

“Crocodile’s Treason” appears in James A. Honey’s South-African Folk-Tales (New York: Baker & Taylor, 1910). Honey writes that some of his tales had appeared in English collections before 1880, some were translated from the Dutch, and a few were set down from his own childhood memory, and that the Dutch ones tend to show European influence. This story’s Boer farm, steam pumps and load of dynamite certainly place it in colonial times.

The tale plays on “crocodile tears” as a phrase for false emotion and invents an explanation for elephants tossing crocodiles into trees. Neither establishes the phrase’s historical origin or real animal behaviour. Words such as veldt, biltong (dried meat) and vaarland willow come straight from Honey’s English.

Read the original: South-African Folk-Tales, collected by Honey (Project Gutenberg)

Suggested for ages 9–12 with an adult: includes betrayal, animals being shot and a brief reference to revenge involving dynamite.

A written agreement still needs a safeguard

Lion asks for a guarantee, but receives only Crocodile’s word and tears. Writing the treaty records the promise without changing the opportunity to betray it. The water animals are safe before the danger reaches their escorts, and the grateful speech deliberately keeps Lion in place after the signal has been sent.

Read the timetable

Mark when Yellow Snake receives instructions, when the water animals reach safety, when Crocodile shouts and when Lion tries to leave. Explain how the order gives one side protection and exposes the other. Suggest a different departure arrangement that would have reduced that imbalance.

Questions to ask

• Why did Crocodile need Lion’s help?
• Which advisers trusted Crocodile, and why didn’t Jackal?
• What do people mean today when they say someone is crying “crocodile tears”?

Related stories

• The Lion, The Jackal, And The Man — Jackal and Lion in another Cape tale
• The Story Of A Dam — the animals face a drought together
• The Dance for Water, or Rabbit’s Triumph — a drought and a thirsty trickster