This is Chase026.
Types ATU0291 Deceptive Tug of War
Motifs K0022 Deceptive Tug of War
Notes
Baer: "Gerber placed this tale among those of African origin on the basis of a tale from Mauritius and two versions from Brazli" with two animals tugging against each other
Mofokeng has 37 variants; "she concludes that the tale originated in southern Nigeria and then spread through Africa" -- tortoise is the Nigerian trickster; against elephant he ties to rock in river, and against hippo to palm tree on land.
Baer: "If Mofokeng is correct, and the Nigerian tale is the primary version, then the Uncle Remus tale is closer to the original than the variants in which the trickster ties two dupes"
Swanton has five Creek stories with Rabbit as trickster and two dupes; see Dundes on the Indian and African tales (1965, reprinted in Mother Wit)
Flowers has West Indian versions with Anansi as trickster
Cronise wrote to Harris in 1901 asking "I should be gratified to know your opinion of 'Spider, he an Elephant' in my estimation, a variant of 'Mr. Terrapin shows his strength'"
Johnson parallels it to Hausa Spider, Elephant, and Hippopotamus
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