Fulwe, the Tortoise, is the hero of a second cycle of Ila animal tales, standing beside the great Hare-cycle of Sulwe. He is the deliberate foil to the Hare's quickness: where Sulwe is swift and glib, Fulwe is slow and deep, and in a run of stories it is the Tortoise whose patience and shrewdness prove the greater, turning the trickster's own devices back on him. In tales of children fleeing a devouring ogre it is again the Tortoise who saves them, swallowing them whole and bringing them forth unhurt when the danger has passed. Between them Sulwe and Fulwe carry the bulk of Ba-Ila animal storytelling, the two figures through whom the people set out their sense of wit, weakness and cunning.