African folk story: Pretty Fatma

once upon a time, there was a very beautiful little girl named fatma, who was called pretty fatma, and she was beautiful and smart.

one day, she went out to the woods with her five little friends and was lost.

and when the night came, they saw a bright flame.

so i went there and saw an old lady sitting there.

the old lady was glad to say, "ha ha, too good!" god sent you here, six fat kids.

i'll give you something to eat.

so she gave them some nice cake.

fatma looked at the cake and looked at the old woman, and whispered to her little companions: "she is a witch, don't eat her cake." why don't you guys eat cake? the old lady asked.

we had to have some water to eat these cakes.

fatma said we should go to the river and get some water.

oh, no! the old lady said, "if you go to the river, you will run away." bring me the rope, fatma says, tie us up, we can't run, and you can drink for us.

so the witch tied the children with a rope.

she said, "do not run away." i knew you were still here.

then she went to the river to fetch water, and she went away and pulled the rope, and she said, "ah, still there." and she pulled another rope: ha ha, still there! then she pulls the third rope: ha ha! the fat girl is still here! however, fatma had untied the young partners and tied them to trees, and six young girls were running towards the forest.

when the witch came back from the river, she saw the little girls running away and said, "there is a great river in front of the girls, and there is a big crocodile." and the girls ran in front, and the witches pursued behind them, and they ran to a very wide and deep river, and firma saw a great crocodile, and she said to the crocodile, "gator, good friend, turn us back one by one." what do you give me? big crocodile says.

send five men over, fartimer says you can eat the sixth.

so the crocodile went across the river with a little girl, and he said, "got one." then he came back and carried the other little girl back and said, two.

he came back and carried the third little girl and said, "huh, three!" he came back to carry the fourth little girl back and said, "ha, this is the fourth!" then he came back and swam the fifth little girl: ha, this is the fifth! now i'm gonna eat the sixth little girl.

the witch of the river ran behind the little girl, and she went to the river to cross the back of the gator, who brought her to the middle, saying that this was the sixth girl.

eat her, eat her, eat her.

it's not a little girl! she's full of bones.

why didn't i eat the other five? he regretted it.

where's fatma? she's already along the river with the fifth girl with her crocodile tail。