Black Leopard, Red Wolf

“Truth eats lies just as the crocodile eats the moon, and yet my witness is the same today as it will be tomorrow.” 

This passage comes at the beginning of the novel, prefacing Tracker’s testimony. James introduces the theme of storytelling and truth here with a simile that relies on nature—the changing faces of the moon are associated with inconsistency, but Tracker’s testimony, true or not, is unchanging. The crocodile element of the simile adds a proverbial feel, and this simile reappears later in the text. 

“There are two endings to this story.” 

Tracker offers two versions of how he leaves his home—he kills his father or severely injures him—but both end with his exile from the Ku village by his mother. Like the previous quote, this speaks to the theme of storytelling. The Inquisitor must wonder which version is accurate, and if Tracker himself knew the truth. This exemplifies the levels of storytelling that occur: the framing device of the interrogation and the narrative of Tracker’s testimony (the main narrative of the novel).  

“I know the thought that just ran through you. And all stories are true. Above us is a roof.”

This is another metanarrative moment where Tracker interrupts his own testimony to comment on its validity. He is speaking about how the Omoluzu come from roofs, and those they hunt are only safe under open sky; they’ve hunted him in the past despite not currently attacking him under the roof of the interrogation room.