Expressions of Honduras

From elders to new-born infants, the townspeople of Triunfo de la Cruz pack into the brightly-colored salon of their beloved lifelong neighbor, doña Julia. The crowd encircles Lala, a legendary storyteller known in Garífuna as an uruga. A hush falls over the room as Lala captivates her listeners, "It is a Garifuna custom to to tell Anancy tales at our wakes. So, I will tell a tale of a devious lion and a crafty fox…."

There once was a lion that was dying to eat a female fox. But the fox knew this. She arrived early and dallied behind in a pasture. Since the lion is the King of the Animals, they were all forced to see him. All of the animals arrived. The chickens passed. The ducks passed. The pigs passed. All of the animals had to see the lion because they were in his kingdom.

The very astute fox was in the pasture. She saw that whoever entered the house never left. "How strange," said the fox. "Those who are seen by the lion never leave," she said. Soon, nobody was entering and nobody was leaving. The fox realized that the lion was now alone. Tired of waiting, she knocked on the lion's door and greeted him, "Hi, lion!"

"Hi, fox," he says. "How's it going?"

"Neither good, nor bad," she tells him.

"Why don’t you come in?" he asks her.

The fox says, "My eyes are witness. Many enter but few leave." She turns around and walks away. The lion was left roaring because he could not eat the fox. She was more cunning than he was.

Listen to another of Lala's captivating stories, The Legend of the Royal Family and the Old Hag.