English for Students

The Two Strangers

The Two Strangers :



Two strangers came to a village in the evening. They came to the chief of that village and said, "May we stay for the night in your village?"


"Oh, yes, strangers," said the chief. "There is a house for strangers in our village. You may sleep there. And there is supper for you to eat. But know this. There is an old custom in our village. Strangers may sleep in our house for strangers. But they must not snore. We kill the man who snores."


The two strangers went to the house. They had a good supper there and then they went to sleep. They slept well. One hour passed. Two hours passed. And one of them began to snore, "Vo, vo, vo."


The other stranger heard the snoring. He thought: "The people will hear the snoring and kill him."


The stranger wanted to save the man. He thought a little and then began to sing. So one stranger snored and the other sang, Vo, Vo, vo, Vo! Vo, Vo, vo, Vo!


We walked on the road. We came to this village. They were good to us hero. Vo, Vo, vo, vo!"


He sang very well. The people did not hear the snoring. They listened to the song. Then they began to dance. Some of them sang the song together with the stranger and danced to the music. Men, women and even the chief sang and danced. That entire night one stranger snored. One stranger sang. And all the people sang and danced.


In the morning the strangers came to the chief to say good-bye and to thank him for everything. The chief said good-bye to them and gave them a small bag of money.


"I give this money to both of you. We had a good time with you. We danced and sang well. Thank you very much."


The strangers left the village. But on the road they began to quarrel.


"How shall we divide the money?" said one of them. "I must have the bigger part. Why did you sing that song last night? Because, I snored. So I must have the bigger part of the money."


And the other man said, "Yes, that's so. But the people could kill you, because you snored. My song saved your life. You must only thank me and give me the bigger part of the money."


They quarrelled and quarrelled and could not decide anything.


Can you?

African Folk Tales Index