GOVERNMENT AND LANGUAGE. 221 his cattle. But the gods took him to a deep well, and, giving him an empty pitcher without a rope, informed him that he must fill it with water from that well. Kintu was again nonplussed, as he had no possible means of procuring or making a rope ; but when almost in despair, a flock of swallows, to whom he had formerly shown mercy, flew to him, and taking the pitcher from him, descended the well with it, and brought it up again full of water ; so Kintu bore it joyfully to the gods. Then he was conducted to a vast plain, where immense herds of cattle were grazing, and was told that his oxen were amongst them, and that if he could pick out his own cattle from among them without making a single mistake he should be allowed to take them, but if he made one slip he should forfeit the whole. Kintu, who could not distinguish his own oxen, was sorely puzzled ; he did not like to try for fear of making a mistake, and yet did not feel inclined to give up after all the trouble he had gone through ; when in the midst of his perplexity a large bee, to which he had been kind on a former occasion, came to him and said, " I know which are your cattle, and I will go before and hover over each of your oxen." The bee did so, and Kintu picked out all his own cattle without a single mistake, and returned with them to earth in triumph.

Besides these legends of Kintu and other kings, the Waganda have many stories about animals,