Research source

It is not with a wish to be unkind to Kadu that I say he showed only too well that according to him cunning was…

Date of account: Published 1914
Source: My Dark Companions and Their Strange Stories
Reference: My Dark Companions and Their Strange Stories · selected passage 17
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-25

Record summary

It is not with a wish to be unkind to Kadu that I say he showed only too well that according to him cunning was to be preferred to strength

Published source text

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Source passage

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It is not with a wish to be unkind to Kadu that I say he showed only too well that according to him cunning was to be preferred to strength. Perhaps he was right, though cunning is a word in much discredit with us nowadays, because we are accustomed to ally it with deception and fraud, but we will put the best possible construction on it out of admiration for and gratitude to Kadu, and claim that his cunning, which was the moral of most of his stories, was a kind of illegitimate wisdom, or a permissible artfulness. None of us, at least, but sympathised with Kadu's dumb heroes when, by a little pleasant cheat or sly stratagem, the bullying buffalo got the worst of an encounter with the sharp-witted rabbit, or when the dog got the better of his sour mistress the leopardess, or when rabbit put to shame the surly elephant, or when Kibatti conquered the kings of the animal tribes. The legend of Kinneneh and the Gorilla was another story which evidently was meant by Kadu and the unknown ancient of Uganda who invented it to illustrate that cunning is mightier than strength.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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