Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore TalesNassau, Robert Hamill
Philosophy
Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales
Nassau, Robert Hamill
Animals -- Folklore; Tales -- Africa, West
Mbuma-tyetye took a short broad knife in his hands, and shouted,
"Dibadi!" He girded his body firmly, and stood erect. He called out in
challenge, "I've come!" The Snails answered, "You've reached the end!"
They fought. The man took his sword. The Snails fell down on him,
ndwa! But the man stood up, and moved forward. He laid hold of a
small tree. He cut it, and whirled it about at the Snails. And the
Snails fell down on the ground, po! But they rose up again flinging
themselves upon the man, ndwa! The man jumped aside crying out,
"Ah! My father Njambu! Dibadi-O!"
He took fire, thrust it among the tribe of Snails, and every one fell
down on the ground, mbwâ!
Then he shaped a leaf into a funnel, and dropped a medicine into the
noses of his mother and sisters. They slowly rose and tried to sit
up. He poured the ashes of the Snails over them, po! They breathed
it into their stomachs, kii! and they came fully to life.
Then they said, "You are safe! Now! for our return home!" He said,
"Good!" And they returned.
Mbuma-tyetye continued his own journey, on, on, on, until at a
cross-roads, he found a giant Tooth, as large as a man. Tooth asked,
"Where are you going?" Said he, "I'm going to seek a marriage at a
town of Njambu-ya-Mekuku." Then, with his axe in hand, he turned aside
from the path; chopped firewood, chop, chop, chop, chop, mbwâ! Then he
kindly carried a lot of it, and presented it to Tooth. He also opened
his bag, and taking out an ukima roll, laid it down at the feet of
Tooth; also a bundle of gourd-seeds, and laid it down; and then he
said, "I'm going." But the giant Tooth, pleased with him, said to him,
"Just wait!"
So, he waited; and, while waiting, said, "Ngalo! a fine house!" It
appeared there. "A table!" There! "Good food!" There! "Fine
drink!" There! They two ate, and drank, and had conversation together.
Tooth said to him, "Where you go, do not fear." It brought out from
its hut a water-gourd, and said, "I will not show you more, nor will
I tell you anything at all, but this Hova itself will tell you." Then
Tooth said to him, "Go well!"
The man took the Gourd and clung to it as if it was a treasure.
He started again on his journey, and had gone but a little way, when he
found Kuda-nuts in immense abundance. He took up one, drew his knife,
cracked the nut, and threw the kernel into his mouth. He stooped
again, and was about to pick up another, when the Gourd warned him,
"I! I!" So, he left the nuts.
He came on in his journey, and found in abundance wild Mangoes. He
took one, split it, and bit out a piece; and was about to add
another, when the warning came, "I! I!" So, he left the Mangoes;
yet his belly felt full. Still on his journey, thirst for water
seized him at a stream. He took his cup, plunged it into the water,
filled it, drank, and was about to take more, when the warning said,
"I! I!" And he left the water. Yet his belly felt full.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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