Keeteetee, Rabbit of the Shared Farm

Overview

Keeteetee is the rabbit in Bateman’s third Zanzibar tale, The Lion, the Hyena, and the Rabbit. He joins Simba the lion and Feesee the hyena in planting a distant garden. When the three return to inspect the ripening crops, he proposes that any traveller who stops along the road should be eaten. His larger companions agree, expecting to outwalk him. Keeteetee immediately exploits curiosity to evade his own rule: after stopping, he claims to be thinking about two stones, and later about where old coats go when new ones are put on. The others pause to consider these questions, allowing him to rest without surrendering his life.

Feesee imitates the trick but can offer only that he is thinking about nothing. Keeteetee rejects this excuse, and he and Simba eat the hyena. The rabbit later stops at a cave and says that their ancestors passed through it. He demonstrates entering one end and leaving the other, then persuades the lion to try. Simba becomes stuck and cannot move either forwards or backwards. Keeteetee climbs onto his back and eats; when the lion asks him to share his attention with the front, the rabbit answers that he is ashamed to face him. He leaves the immobilised lion and becomes sole owner of the farm. The ending is deliberately ruthless; the text does not explicitly narrate the lion’s eventual death.

Origins & earliest records

Tale III in George W. Bateman’s Zanzibar Tales (1901), presented as translated from Swahili. Bateman’s general address names Zanzibar as the place of telling but does not identify this tale’s speaker.

Records & interpretation

Complete tale III, pp47–53, including the final farm-ownership sentence; complete collection address and adjacent tale II read for the hare/rabbit distinction.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Zanzibar Tales: Told by Natives of the East Coast of Africa

   George W. Bateman, translator · 1901

   III, pp47–53; full tale and collection address retained.

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. Historical English translation of collected Swahili-language talesBateman1901 complete tale 3 and collection contextResearch access: 2026-10-18

Image credits

Keeteetee pauses over the two stones; rabbit species, colouring and landscape imagined.

Original narrative illustration; species, colour and detailed setting interpreted, not authenticated natural history or ethnography.