Story: In the Cow’s Belly
Book: Folklore from the Cape Verde Islands
Author(s): Elsie Clews Parsons
Storyteller: Matheus Dias of San Anton
Published: 1923
Internet Archive link.

Notes: Lightly edited for paragraphing and punctuation. Parsons cites many African parallels for this story in the footnote. She collected these stories from Cape Verde immigrants living in the United States in 1916 and 1917.

Uncle Wolf inside the Cow’s Belly

There was a Wolf with his Nephew named Pedr’. Nephew used to go into a cow to eat. The cow got skinny, but they did not know Nephew was eating inside her. One day Nephew met Uncle Wolf, and Uncle Wolf asked him, “Where do you eat to make you fat?”

“I’m not going to take you there, Uncle Wolf. You are too greedy. You would go in, you would not come out.”

“O Nephew! Take me with you! I’ll eat only a little bit. Take me with you! I’m getting old. I want to get fat on my body.”

Pedr’ took his uncle to the cow. He said, “Cow, open my mouth, let me enter!” When they went in, Pedr’ said, “Cow, close my mouth!”

After they had eaten a while, Pedr’ said, “Uncle Wolf, it is time to go.”

“Get away from me, Nephew! I have to eat for my children and for my wife.” So Nephew left him. He told Wolf when he wanted to go out, to say, “Cow, open my mouth, let me go out!”

When Wolf was ready to go out, he said, “Cow, close my mouth, close my mouth!” But the cow only tightened up. “Shut, devil! Shut, devil! Shut, devil!” shouted Wolf. He could not get out; he began to eat again. He ate and ate until he ate in the line of the cow’s heart, and the cow dropped dead.

Next day the owner of the cow went to skin it. Pedr’, behind the man, said, “Work carefully; there is something inside that cow.” But they went on cutting, they paid no attention to Pedr’.

Uncle Wolf was in the maw of the cow. They took out the maw; they shook it over the rock. Uncle Wolf dropped out below; he stood there as if he had been standing there before they shook the maw over him. He began to make out that he would hand them over to justice. “I stood here working; they found nothing to do but come and shake this dirty thing over me.”

“Don’t hand me over to justice!” begged the owner of the cow. “I’ll give you a quarter of this cow.”

“No, I won’t accept a quarter,” said Wolf.

“I’ll give you one-half.”

“No, I won’t accept one-half.”

“I’ll give you three-quarters.”

“No, I won’t accept three-quarters.” And Wolf started for court.

“Don’t go! I’ll give it all to you.”

“All right!” He took the cow. He buried three quarters, and he took one quarter home to his wife, Isabel Goncalbe. “Nephew thinks he is smarter than I am,” he said to her, “but I am smarter than he.”

“Nephew will kill you yet,” answered Isabel Goncalbe.

“I am the son of my father and the son of my mother; no one is going to kill me.”

Early next morning Wolf went to the place where he had buried the meat. It was near the house of some ants, and he found them taking the meat. He started to fight with them; he wanted to put them into his bag to take home to his wife, so she could help him kill them. The ants crawled all over him, tore his clothes into pieces.

“Wait!” he exclaimed, digging at his hair. “That’s not the way to fight! That’s not the way to fight!”

Then he forgot about the meat, and ran home to his wife to escape from the ants. The ants and the birds enjoyed the meat.

To this day what Uncle Wolf needs he has to steal.

Photo of wolf at Stockvault, https://www.stockvault.net/photo/210523/wild-wolf