THE BUSHMAN'S DREAM: African Tales of the Creation

All about Grandfather Mantis the Great Magician and Keeper of the Dream back when the animals were people. There were the Lion People and the Rock Rabbit People and the Tick People. . . and the Spirit of the Rainbow was also a person. Most of the time Mantis' family, who do not understand ""the magic that bums in my body so that I feel as if my life were tapping beneath my skin,"" is impatient with him for making mischief and stirring up trouble. And the people are filled with alarm when, sick from looking at too much food, he invites the insatiable All-Devourer to eat. . . but in the end they all accept that they of the Early Race must make way for the new people, because now the Dream is complete. Just the same--remembering such tricks as his making an eland out of his son-in-law's shoe--you sort of hate to see old Mantis go.