Mr Spider Secures A Powerful Witch

This tale has been adapted from the original for readability:

Spider and Cunnie Rabbit lived in the same village. One day they went to Freetown, and Spider bought a gun and some powder. Back then, none of the other animals knew anything about guns, and they all lived in town like people, each with their own house. When Spider came home in the evening, he shouted that he had brought a powerful witch medicine that would kill anyone who had witchcraft in them. He warned everyone not to come outside that night, because the medicine would be roaming through the town, and he said it would not be his fault if anyone got hurt. The animals agreed at once, begging him to make it true, because they said there were too many witches about.

When night fell, Spider loaded his gun and crept out. He crouched by Deer’s doorway, because Deer was the simplest of the lot. As soon as Deer opened the door to step outside, Spider fired. The bang was loud, and Deer dropped dead. Spider ran back inside, locked his door, and shouted that this proved what he’d been saying all along, Deer must have been a witch. The other animals, hearing the noise, believed him. They thought the “medicine” was doing its work, and that Spider had somehow known without leaving his locked house. Spider carried the meat home, cooked it, and he and his family ate well that night.

The next night he did the same again, this time waiting at Elephant’s door. He packed even more powder into the gun, and when Elephant peeped out, Spider shot him too. Elephant fell dead, and Spider ran inside and shouted the same thing as before. Again the town believed him, and Spider dragged the meat away and cooked it. For two days nobody dared even whisper about witches, especially with Elephant gone. But it was a hungry time, and Spider kept up the trick. He lay in wait for Leopard next, thinking of all that fat, and when Leopard came out at night, Spider shot him, ran indoors, and cried out that another witch had been caught. Night after night he killed the animals until only a few were left.

One morning Spider went off to the farm. Cunnie Rabbit noticed he was out, and slipped into Spider’s house, curious to see this famous “witch medicine”. He found the gun and the bag of powder, and realised what Spider had really been doing. Cunnie Rabbit took them and carried them to his own house. When Spider returned and found everything gone, he groaned that he was finished.

That evening Spider lay down, but he could not sleep. He got up, opened his door, and ran outside. Cunnie Rabbit was ready and tried to shoot him, but in his eagerness he missed. Spider shouted, asking who had fired. Cunnie Rabbit called back that Spider had claimed to be driving out witches, yet he had been shooting ordinary folk. Spider quickly told him to hush and suggested they keep their story straight, the two of them together. Cunnie Rabbit agreed.

After that, the remaining animals realised the so-called witch medicine could kill any of them, and they panicked. They fled from the town into the bush, scattering far and wide, and that is why, from that day to this, the animals no longer live in town like people, but keep to the wild places instead.