A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Each day a hen goes down to the river's edge to pick up scraps of food. A crocodile threatens to eat her, and she cries out, calling him brother and begging him not to. Her words puzzle him so much that he leaves her alone.

He comes back determined to eat her, and she cries out the same way again. Irritated, he reasons that they cannot be siblings, since she lives in a town on land and he lives in one in the water. He decides to bring the question before Nzambi as a palaver. Nzambi is named only as the intended judge and never appears.

On the way he meets his friend Mbambi, whom the text glosses as a very large kind of lizard. Mbambi calls him foolish and warns that he would lose the case and expose his ignorance. Mbambi points out that the duck, the turtle, Mbambi itself, the hen, and the crocodile all lay eggs, so all are brothers in a sense. The tale closes by giving this as the reason the crocodile does not eat the hen.

Hen claims kinship to avoid predationCrocodile lives in a water-townMbambi as adviserEgg-laying cited as the basis of kinshipNo supernatural powers stated
01

Origins & earliest records

Recorded in Dennett, Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (1898), tale XXX. The printed text marks attestation, not oral origin.

02

Records & interpretation

Dennett's tale XXX, 'Why the Crocodile Does Not Eat the Hen', includes the inspected running head for page 107. Its kinship explanation belongs to the story.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort

    R. E. Dennett · 1898

    Selected bibliography; sole primary source consulted, via OCR text.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Public-domain primary text (OCR)Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort (R. E. Dennett, 1898), OCR textResearch access: 2026-10-07

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

FT·947 · RESEARCH EDITION 01Back to top ↑