WEST A FRI C A N

FO LK -
T ALES
C OLLE C TED AN D A RR A N GED BY

W . H . A R K E R B SC
B . .

O RM R PR N P A L O R M NT
N T T T ON A R A
F E LY I CI OF TH E G VE N E
I S I U I CC

AND

C E C I LIA S IN C L A IR

I
! V T H F R O N T I S P I E C E C3 T W E N TY -T H R E E »

D R AW N G S I BY

CEC ILIA S INCLAI R

L ONDON
G E O RG E G H A R R A P 69 C O M PA N Y
"
.

2
’
69 3 PORTSMOUTH STREET K I N G S WA Y WC
. .

M C M X VII
 PR T D A T
O P L T PR E
IN E

LON D ON E N L N D
TH E C M E E S S , IVE S T N O R fl’ O O D
G A
 CO NTENT S

I N T RODU CTIO N

I ANAN S I O R SPI D ER TALE S

.
, ,

HO W GOT THE NA ME SPI DER T A L ES

WE
HO W W ISDOM B E C A ME THE PROPERTY OF
THE HUM AN R A C E
ANAN S I AN D N OTHI N G
THU N DER AN D ANA N SI
WHY THE LI Z A RD C O N TI N U A LLY MOVE S HI S
HE A D UP AN D DO WN
TIT FOR T A T
WHY W HITE AN TS A L WA Y S H A RM M AN S ’

PROPERTY
THE S Q UIRREL AN D THE SPIDER
W HY W E SEE AN TS C A RRYI N G B UN DLES A S
B I G A S THEMSELVES

X W HY SPI DERS A RE A L WAY S FOU N D I N THE

.

C OR N ERS OF C EILI N G S

ANAN SI THE B LI N D FISHERM AN

AD ZAN U M EE AN D HER MOTHER
 WES T AFR I CAN FOLK TALE S -

P A GE
XIII THE GRI N DI N G STO N E TH A T GROU N D
.
-

FLOUR B Y ITSELF
XIV MOR N I N G SU N RISE
.

W HY THE SE A TURTLE W HE N C A UGHT

-

B E A TS ITS B RE A ST W ITH ITS FORE

LEGS
XVI HO W B E A STS AN D SERPE N TS FIRST CA ME
.

I N TO THE W ORLD
XVII HO N OUR A B LE MI N U
.

XVIII W HY THE MOO N AN D THE ST A RS RE C EIVE

.

THEIR LI GHT FROM THE S U N

I I M I S CELLANEOU S TALE S
.

OHI A AN D THE THIEVI N G DEER

HO W THE TORTOISE GOT ITS SHELL
THE HU N TER AN D THE TORTOISE
THE T A IL OF THE PRI N CESS ELEPH AN T
KWO FI AN D THE GOD S

THE LIO N AN D THE W OLF

M AK U M AW U AN D M AK U FI A
THE RO B B ER AN D THE OLD M AN
THE LEOP A RD AN D THE R A M
W HY THE LEOP A RD CAN O N LY C A T C H
PREY ON ITS LEFT SIDE
 CONTENTS
XXIX .
Q U A RCO O B A H ON I
-
B

K I N G C H A MELEO N AN D THE A N IM A L S
XXXI . TO LOSE AN ELEPH AN T FOR THE S AK E OF
A W RE N I S A VERY FOOLISH THI N G
TO DO
THE U N G RA TEFUL M AN
XXXII I . W HY TIGERS N EVER A TT A C K ME N U N LESS
THEY A RE PROVO K ED
XXXIV . THE O M AN HEN E W HO LI K ED RIDDLES
HO W MUSHROOMS FIRST GRE W
XXXVI . F A RMER M Y B ROW AN D THE F A IRIES 181
 I L L U S T RA T I O N S
PA E
G

N A T I VE C H I LDRE N REA DY FO R A S T O RY F n ti p
ro s
'

z ece

T H E B EES FLY I N G I N T O THE JAR

AG A IN AN D A G A I N AN AN S I TR I ED T O C L I M B THE T REE

A GRE A T W A VE D A SHED AN A N S I B A C K O N THE B E A C H

T H E P RI NC ESS P I C KED UP THE F RUIT

M AY I G I VE Y O U A L I TTLE O F THIS ME A T !

WO LF AN D L E O P A RD DIS C O VER THE F LESH O F THE A N TEL O PE

M R AN T TAKES THE B o x FR O M A N A N SI

E GY A A N A N S I B U I LT H IMSELF A VERY C O MF O RT A B LE HUT

T H E B I R D C A LLS T O ADZAN U M EE

T H E WO N DERFUL G RI N D I N G ST O N E
-

A N A N SI S AW RUSHI N G T OWA RD H IM B EA STS A N D S E RPE N TS O F

, ,

A LL K I N DS
K W E KU T S I N PL A YE D O N THE W ON DERFU I F IDDLE
.

O HI A C UT DOWN THE TR EES A N D PREP A RED THEM

T H E H U N TER AN D THE T O RT O ISE

T I IE P RI NC ESS C H AN GED I N T O A N E LEPH AN T

EA C H RE C EI VED A L A RGE H ELPI N G E XC EPT K W O FI

M AR U M AW U C A T C HES A F ISH
Y O U N G L E O P A RD SPR A N G T OWA RD THE S TEM A N D T O RE I T
 PA GE

T HEY S C A TTERED I N A LL D IRE C T IO N S

T H H U N TER A N D THE S ERPE N T
E

H THRE W H A LF THE C A E T O THE V ULTURE

E K

M Y B RO W
’
S WIFE PLU C KED O N E O F THE Y AMS

I O
 I N T RO D U C T I O N

N p resenting to the public these stories b ased on

the folk lore of the Gold Coast peoples it seems
-
,

necessary to say something i n general terms of

t h e economic and social development of the colony

in so fa r as that development is affecting the lore

o f the folk.

N o t until the civilization and industrialism of

Europ e b egan to p enetrate into the districts of the
G uinea Coast was any great attempt made to study
the folk lore of these p eoples It is obvious there
-
.
,

fore that the student must find considerab le admix

,

ture from outside sources which the absence of a

native system of writing and conse q uent literature
makes exceedingly d ifiic u l t to detect The di ffi culties
.

incre ase with time for we are getting farther and

,

farther from the genuine folk lore Each year from

-
.
,

towns like Accra S e cc o n d e e and Cap e Coast the

, ,

tentacles of Eu r op ean civilization are slowly extending

in all directions Railways and roads are creep ing
.

I I
out old fashioned crudity is giving way to simpler
,
-

and more expeditious methods ; new industries ,

as rubber and cocoa are b eing established 1

Al l, .

this must b e b orne in mind in studying the folk lore -

as told by the native to day W h at is happ ening is -

.
,

unfortunately not an awakening but a t r an s f o r

, ,

mation The negro is discarding his native cloth

.

for a Euro p ean suit of clothes .

O n all sides it is reported that the demand for

European provisions luxuries and app arel is large , ,

and greatly inc reasing The large imports of tinned .

p r o vI s I o n s flour etc
,
is in pa rt due,
to the scarcity
.
,

of native food stuffs in ce rtain districts but there is

-
,

no doubt that the standard of living is changing and

rising .

There is a general desire not only in the colony ,

but in A shanti for b etter roads better houses

, , ,

cleaner villages and the desire has b een prompted

,

by the example of the great sanitary improvements

in the larger towns .

"

It can b e observed that the people take a growin g

pride in the institutions and traditions of thei r
country that the chiefs are realizing the duties an d
,

1
Th o o p o t d i 8 9 l i d £4 ; i 9 4
e c c a ex r e n 1 1 re a z e
J
n 1 1
 INTRODUCTION
infl uence of their position and that public opinion
, ,

among the educated classes at any rate is b eginning

, ,

to recognize that some advance on the ideals and

” 1
standards of the p ast must now b e demanded .

T h is from the utilitarian and Imp e r ial stand

,

points is as it should b e but it tends to b e fatal to

, ,

the myt hology the customs and the traditions of

, ,

such p eoples as the negroes of West Afr i ca Fo r this .

change is not taking place only in the direction of

mere materialism C hristianity entering the country
.
,

through the p o rts and M ohammedanism b eing

, ,

carried by H aussas along the trade routes from th e

interior are playing their p a rt in these psychological
,

and sociological changes The negro of yesterday

.

differs from the negro of to day as he in turn will -

di ff er from the negro of to morrow I n Vi ew of all

-
.

this metamorphosis it is much to b e regretted that

the geographical and linguistical difficulties have
made the task of the folk l o ris t not only difficult but
-

wellnigh impossible Much of course might b e

.
, ,

done if those whose duties carry them into the

various districts would take i n hand the task The .

collation of their results might enable one to eradicate

Co l o i l R p r t C C
n a e o
9 3 , . .
, 1 1 .

I 3
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO LK TALE S -

outside and r ecent in fluences and in a measure get at

’ ”
the b ack of the black man s mind .

The material in this book was collected in the

following manner ! The new educational policy of
the G overnment provided for a Training I nstitution
for Teachers at Accra The first students to b e
.

admitted were men who had already had some con

s id e r ab l e experience in the schools of their districts
.

They were therefore su ff i ciently familiar with the

, ,

English language to express themselves clearly and

fluently . A t the same time they were men who
could rememb er the time when the new civilizing
forces at present at work were not nearly so p ro
n o un c e d . B y obtaining from these students a variety
of versions of the same story it b ecame possible to
‘

some extent to eradicate the sup erfluous and the

S purious .

The selection of tales has b een carefully made ,

and in the retelling and illustrating of the story the

object has b een to give the reader an introduction
to the thought and customs of the West African
negro .

I n order to produce the correct atmosphere for

the story picture an evening scene in a native village
, .

14
 INTRODUCTION
The sun is nearing the western horizon seeming to ,

fall like a huge b all behind the distant hills the ,

air is cool and a solemn stillness prevails

,
Even .

the noisy youths and girls are q uiet and the time ,

for tom toms crickets bull frogs and the m is c e l

-
, ,
-
,

l an e o u s instruments of man and Natu r e for the

production of the most weird and inharmonious of
sounds is not yet I n the compound the courtyard
—
.

round which are the family dwellings the women

—

with their p icin ( children ) on their b acks are busy

with mortar and p estle making f oo f oo ( native food -

from maize) S q uatting near the mud walls naked

.
,

to the waist their cloth forming but a covering for

,

the loins are a numb er of men smoking short clay

,

pip es and exp ectorating in a most insanita ry manner

a p erfect picture of idleness Naked youngsters .

stand op en mouthed listening to the conversation of

-

their elders or amuse themselves at hide and seek

,
— —
,

marbles or some other native game

,
.

The short twilight of the tropics b rings all o c c u

at io n s except talking to an end and of talking there
p ,

seems to b e no end Here and there some one or.

other lies down covers himself entirely with his

,

cloth and is lost to the world

,
.

1 5
 WE S T AFR I CAN FOLK TALES -

A lantern is b rought out and unconsciously and ,

imp erceptibly it b ecomes the centre of dark forms ,

relieved now and again by rows of b eautiful white

teeth as the owners indulge in a hea rty laugh A t .

times conversation lags ; some one drones a mono

tonous tune others smoke in q uiet contemplation
, ,

while othe rs again follow the example of the dark

human mounds scattered ab out the compound
S uddenly C omrades listen to a story
, ,
At .

once the men women and children p ress round the

, ,

speake r an eager crowd ready to hear or to tell

, ,

the tales of their folk .

A ll right let I t come

, .

Thus commences another evening wherein the

native recounts to his neighb our for the hundredth
time the stories handed down by tradition from the
dim before time ( The native is a b orn r a con t eur
-
.
’

and his stories are not the outcome of his imagination ,

but folk lore modified and ornamented p erhap s to

-

s uit the p articular audience or p a rticular circum

lj
s t an c e Some of these modifications which have
assumed a more or less p ermanent form are com
m e n t e d on below .

T h ro u gho u t the G old Coast C olony and Sout h ern

I 6
 WE S T AF R I CAN F OL K TALE S -

inhabited the op en country b eyond the forest b elt

and fa rther no rth than S alaga A northern and .

lighter skinned p eople which is commonly supposed

-
,

to have been the Fulanis commenced to encroach on ,

their territory and b eing stronger than they seized

, , ,

their cattle and young women and made m any of

the others slaves The sub division of the united
.

Akan race into its main b ranches the Fantis and ,

Ashantis is variously accounted for

,
O n e story .

very plausibly explains that the constant raids of

their northern enemy who burned all the farms , ,

reduced the Akans to great straits for food Some .

of them subsisted on a wild plant named f an and

others on a plant named sha m and thus gained the ,

names Fa n d t i and S ha n d i z ( d tz to
' ’

-
A -
,

p ossible alternative explanation is that the same stock

occupies the coast and the hinterland and that ,

di ff erentiation has come about as the result of malaria

a ff ecting that portion of the race inhabiting the region

o f the lagoon marshes along the coastal plain It .

has now b een fairly well established that malaria

can and does have a deleterious e e ct on races and ,

1
A H is t or v f
o t he G ol d C o ast a n d Asha n t i , W W . . i
C l ar d ge , vo l . i
—
PP 4 5
°

18
 INTRODUCTION
that even in the case of Greece and Rome the malarial
factor must b e taken into account in discussing the
causes which brought ab out their fall 1
It may b e .

that the marshes round Salonica and the swamps of

the Campagna have their counterp art in the long line
of lagoon swamp s that lie b etween the surf wall and -

M edical science alone

‘ ’
the forest wall of the Coast .
,

perhaps will b e able to solve the prob lem but folk

, ,

lore can and does render valuable assistance toward

a solution A con q uered p eople do not give up their
.

‘
lore with the land b ut car ry their customs and
,

traditions with them to their new homes .

T h ere is one story which has a sp ecial interest in

this connexion b ecause after b eing car r ied by the
,

negroes from Afr ica to the S outhern States in the

slave days it b ecame the b asis of a story which has
,

served to amuse the children and adults of the whole of

the English speaking p eop les namely The Wo n derf ul
-
, ,

A dv en t ure s of O l d B r er Ra bbit It is interesting to .

compare the tar baby narrative with the manner i n

-

which Anansi was caught in Story X t .

From the scanty material we have at p resent it ,

would seem that the folk lores of the coastal and -

1
S M l ri
ee d G r k H i t ory b y W H S Jo
a a a an ee s , . . . n es .

I
9
 WE ST AFR I CAN FOL K TALE S -

hinterland peo p les are substantially the same t h e ,

d i ff erences being traceable in many cases to the

i nfluence of the new environment Thus in the .
,

story where Anans i seeks to hide the wisdom of the

world ( Story I I ) which he h as collected i n a p ot
, ,

among t h e coast p eoples h e finds a di fficulty in

climbing up the palm tree but among the forest -
,

tribes his difficulty is to get o v er the trunk of a tree

which has fallen across the bush p ath Here the -
.

difference i s due to environment and not to race .

It is necessary to p oint out that similarity of

story cannot by itself b e taken as indicative of simi
l arit y of race Indeed so common is it to find the
.
,

same story told by p eople of varying typ es and

in every stage of progress that it has op ened up a
problem of great imp ortance Have such stories origi .

mated from a common source ! and if so where , ,

may the common origin b e found ! Or are folk

stories like the material p roductions of the races i e do , . .

they follow a more or less common line of develop

ment P What connexion can there b e for example
1
, ,

1
Eg . . an m o d r p r imi t i e me n in l l p ar t f t he e ar th
ci e t
n an d e n v a s o

s e e m t o h ve s h o w
a s i m i l r d e e l o pm
n a a t in fli t b ro e d i r o n
v en n , nz ,
an

w apo
e d i t h e ar t g
n s , an n r lly S e e Cind rella Thr e Hu dr d a nd
s en e a . e e n e

For ty five V r i n t s ( F o l k L or e S oci e t y )

-
a a .

20
 INTRODUCTION
between the negro of the Gold Coast and the S erb
Yet they have a story remarkab ly similar I n the .

story of Oh i a ( Story XIX ) the power of understanding

t h e language of animals was given him on condition
that he should not disclose the secret to any human
being under pain of death This knowledge often .

gave him occasion for laughter and at such times ,

his wife ignorant of the cause b ecame ange r ed and

, ,

suspicious She demanded to know the reason for

.

such outbursts and at last her imp ortunity resulted

,

i n the telling of the secret and consequent death of ,

the man I n the S erbian story the d e n o ue men t is

.
1 ’

somewhat different comedy taking the place of ,

tragedy The man when j ust ab out to yield his life

.

to satisfy the curi osity of his wife listens to the

cock who declares that he can manage to keep his
,

hun dre d wives in order by giving them a good peck

w hen they need it The man accordingly leaves .

his co ffi n a nd b rings his wife to reason and her

knees by a well administered chastisement How -
.

came these two p eoples to have a story with

so many features in common ! Is it possible
A im l s L
n a
’
an
guage , in He ro - Ta l e s and Legen ds f
o t he r
S e bia n s
by Wo is l av M P t ro it c h
. e v .

21
 WEST AFRI CAN FOLK TALES -

that the Turk and the Moor may have provided

links
It may not b e out of place here to mention the
effect of the contact of the slave trading Europeans -

on the folk lore of the Coast negroes T h e grim

-
.

white castles every few miles along the whole of the

Guinea Coast stand as stern reminders of the time
when the helpless coastal trib es were raided and men ,

women and children sold into slavery But one

,
.

who has conversed with the nat i ve of to day cannot -

doubt that the greatest e ff ect of those terrible days

is discernible in the native mentality itself It .

has as one might exp ect influenced more or less

, ,

the folk story Here for example i s one typ e of

-
.
, ,

i nfluence
When the Portuguese first landed the natives ,

b etook themselves to the forest W h en the white .

man h ad put off again the natives crept cautiously

b ack to the b eac h To their great surp rise they
.

found there a b as i n full of rum One of them by .

,

name Mbu r a tasted some and finding that it was

, ,

sweet dra n k as much as he could and b ecame in t o xi

,

c at e d .O thers did the same and when many of ,

them were helpless the boatmen returned and carried

22
 INTRODUCTION
t h em o ff On account of t h e rum b eing tasted by
.

Mbura we call rum i n Fantee M bur a ns a i e — -

. .

” 1
Mbura s wine .

Even more rema rkable is the o rigin of the god

Nyankupon who figures largely in b oth mythology
,

and folk lore Many sto r ies int r oduce Nyankupon

-
.
,

and yet he is no native god at all .

After an inte r course of some years with Euro

p eans the Tshi sp eaking inhabitants of the towns and
,
-

villages in th e vicinity of the various forts added to

their system of polytheism a new deity whom they
termed Nana Nya n kupon sometimes called simply
- —

Nyankupon T h is was the god of the Christians

.
,

b orrowed from them and adopted under a new

designation The great sup eri ority manifested by
.

the whites in their weap ons ship s manufactures

, ,

in sho rt i n everything convinced the natives w i t h

,
—

whom they had inte r course that they must necessarily

b e p rotected by a deity of greater powe r than any
of those to which they themselves o ff ered sacrifice ,

since thei r own deities had not except very remotely

, ,

help ed them to attain any such p r osp erity They .

therefo r e gladly en r olled themselves amongst the

F ro m t o ry t o l d b y
1
a s t i f t h G ol d C o t
a na ve o e as .

23
 WE S T AF R I CA N F O L K TAL E S -

followers of the god of the whites and b eing informed ,

t h at he dwelt in the heavens ab ove they denom i nated ,

him Nana Nyankupon which may b e freely trans

-
,

’
lated Lord of the Sky 1
.

e Gold Coast folk stori es are readily divisible -

in 0 groups Anansi and non Anansi tales

,
-
.

A n a nsi i s t h e sp i der and w i t h him is generally

'

c iat e d his son Kweku Tsin ( T s i ) Why so m an v

,
.

sp ide r stories ! No sat i sfactory explanation can as

yet b e given It cannot b e due entirely to the sup er
.

ab undance of spiders in native dwellings and sur

round i ngs for !other tri b es a l ong the Coast seem to
,

c oncentrate on other creatures as the elephant and ,

t h e tortoise ) Nor does there seem to b e su ffi cient

.

evi d ence to trace the origin to totemism No doubt .

many of the Anansi stories as told to day are due to -

o b servation of the ways and p eculiar characteristics

of t h e s p ider and are an attempt to e xp l ain t h e why
, m

and t h e w h erefore And general ly it is deci ded that

.

h e is a w i se cunning deceitful creature w h o scampers

, ,

o ff to h ide in t h e ceiling b ecause h e has done some

t hi ng to b e as h am ed of and has unfortunately b een , ,

Tshi-sp e aking Pe op l es f
o the o
G l d Coas t f Wes t
o r
Af ica , A . B . E lli s,
I . A N A N S I , O R S P I D E R,

TA L E S
 I . HOW WE G OT THE NAM E
SPI DER TALES

N the olden days all the sto ri es which men told !

were stories of Nyankupon the chief of the,

gods Spider who was very conceited w anted

.
, ,

the stories to b e told about him .

Accordingly one day he went to Nyankupon and

,

asked that in future all tales told by men might b e

, ,

Anansi s tories instead of Nyankupon stories Nyan

,
.

kup on agreed on one condition He told Spider

,
.

( or Anansi ) that he must b r ing him three things

the fi r st was a j ar full of live b ees the second was a
,

boa const r ictor and the thi r d a tige r Spider gave

-
,
.

his p r omise .

He t ook an ea rthen vessel and set out for a place

where h e knew we r e numb e r s of b ees When he .

came in sight o f the bees he b egan saying t o himself ,

They will not b e able t o fill this j ar Yes they ,

” ”
will b e able No they will not b e a b le until
, ,

the b ees came up t o him and said What are you ,

29
 WE S T AF R I CA N F O L K TALE S -

talking ab out Mr Anansi ,

He thereupon ex
plained to them that Nya nk up on and he had had
a g r eat dispute Nyankupon had said the b ees could
.

not fl y into the j ar Anansi had said they could

— .

The b ees immediately declared that of course t h ey

could fly into the j ar which they at once did As
— .

soon as they were safely inside Anansi sealed up the ,

j ar and sent it o ff to Nyankupon .

N ext day he took a long stick and set out in search

of a b oa constrictor When he arrived at the place
-
.

where one lived he b egan sp eaking to himself again .

He W I ll j ust b e as long as this stick No he ,

!
will not b e so long as this Yes he will b e as ,

’
long as this These words he rep eated seve r al
.

times till the b oa came out and asked him what

,

was the matter O h we hav e b een having a

.
!

dispute in Nyankupon s town about you Nyan .

’
kupon s p eople say you are not as long as this
stick I say you a r e Please let me measure you
. .

by it The boa I nnocently laid hi m self out straight ,

and Spider lost no time in tying him on to the

stick from end to end He then sent him to .

Nyankupon .

The third day he took a needle and thread and

3 0
I I HOW WI SD OM BECAM E THE PROPERTY
.

O F THE HUMAN RACE

HERE once lived in Fanti land a man named

,
-
,

Father Anansi He possessed all the w i sdom

.

in t h e wo r ld People came to him daily for

.

advice and h elp .

One day the men of the country were unfortunate

enough to offend Father Anansi who immediately ,

r esolved to punish them After much thought he.

decided that the seve r est p enalty he could inflict

would b e to hide all his wisdom from them He set .

to wo r k at once to gather again all that he had already

given When he had succeeded as he thought in
.
, ,

collecting it he placed all in one great p ot This he

, .

c a r efully sealed and determined to put it in a s p ot

,

where no human being could reach it .

Now Father Anansi had a son whose name was

, ,

Kweku Tsin This b oy began to susp ect his father

.

o f some secret design so h e made up his mind to

,

watch carefully Next day he saw his father q u ietly

.

C 33
 WE S T AF R I CAN F O L K TALE S -

slip out of the house wi th his precious pot h ung

,

round h is neck Kweku Tsin followed Father

. .

Anansi went through the forest till he had left the

village far behind T h en selecting t h e h ighest and
.
,

most inaccessib l e look i ng tree he began to climb

-
, .

The heavy pot h anging in front of him made his

, ,

ascent almost im p ossi b le Again and again he tried .

to reac h the top of the tree where h e intended to ,

hang the p ot There he thought W isdom would

.
, ,

indeed b e b eyond the reach of every one but

hi mse l f He was unab le h owe v er to carry out his
.
, ,

des i re At each trial the p ot swung i n his way

. .

’
For some time Kweku Tsin watched his father s va i n
attempts At l as t u n ab l e to contain himself an y l o n ge r
.
, ,

he cried out ! Father why do you not hang the pot on

,

”
your b ack Then you could easily climb the tree .

Father A nansi turned and said I thought I !

’
h ad all the world s wisdom in this pot B ut I find .

you p ossess more than I do A ll my w i sdom was .

insu ffi c i ent to S h ow me what to do yet you have ,

”
b een able to tell me I n his anger he threw the
.

pot down It struck on a great rock and broke The

. .

w isdom c ontained in it escap ed and sp read throughout

the world .

34
A A I N AN D A A I N ANAN
G G S I TR I E D T O I
C L MB T HE T R EE
 I I I ANAN S I AN D N OTH I N G
.

’
EAR Anansi s mise r able little hut there was a
fine p alace where lived a very rich man called
Nothing Nothing and Anansi p r oposed one
.
,

d ay to go to the neighbouring town to get some

,

wives Accordingly they set o ff together

.
,
.

Nothing b eing a r ich man wore a ve ry fine velvet

, ,

cloth while Anansi h a d a r agged cotton one While

,
.

they were on thei r way Anansi p ersuaded Nothing to

change clothes fo r a little while p romising to give ,

b ack the fine velvet b efore they reached the town .

He delayed doing this however fi r st on one p retext

, , ,

then on another— till they a rr ived at their destination .

Anansi b eing dressed in such a fine garment

, ,

found no diffi culty in getting as many wives as he

wished Poor Nothing with his ragged and miserable
.
,

cloth was treated with great contempt At first h e

,
.

could not get even one wife At last howe v er a .

, ,

woman took pity on him and gave h im h e r daughter '

.

’
The poor girl was laughed at v e ry h ea rtily by Anansi s
35
 WE S T A F R I CAN F O L K TALE S -

w iv es for choosing suc h a b eggar as Nothing app eared

to b e She wisely took no notice of their scorn
. .

The p arty set o ff for home When they reached .

t h e cross roads leading to their resp ective house s

-

t h e women were astonished The road leading t o

.

’
Anansi s house was only half cleared The one which .

’
led to Nothing s p alace was of course wide and , ,

well made Not only so but his servants had strewn

.
,

it with b eautiful skins and ca rp ets in p rep aration for ,

his retu r n Servants were there awaiting him wit h

.
, ,

fine clothes for himself and his wife No one w as .

waiting for Anansi .

’
Nothing s wife was queen over the whole district
’
and had everything her heart could desire Anansi s .

wives could not even get proper food they had to

live on unrip e bananas with p epp ers The wife of .

’
Nothing heard of her fr iends miserable state and
invited them to a great feast in her palace T h ey .

came and were so pleased with all they saw that

,

they agreed to stay there Accordingly they refused

.
,

’
to come b ack to Anansi s hut .

He was very ang ry and tried in many ways t o

,

ki ll Nothing but without success Finally however

,
.
, ,

he p ersuaded some rat friends to dig a deep tunne l

3 6
 IV THU ND ER AND ANAN S I
.

HERE had been a long and severe famine in

the land where Anansi lived H e had b een .

quite unable to o b tain food for his poor wife

and family One day gazing desp erately out to sea
.
, ,

h e saw r i sing from the m i dst of the water a tiny

, ,

island with a tall p alm tree up on it H e determined

-
.

—
to reach t h is tree if any means p roved possible and
—

climb i t in the hop e of finding a few nuts to reward

,

him How to get there was t h e d i ffi culty

. .

This however solved itself when h e reac h ed the

, ,

b eac h for there lay t h e means to his hand in the

, ,

shap e of an old b roken b oat It certainly did not .

look very strong but Anansi decided to try it

,
.

—
His first six attempts were unsuccessfu l a great
wave dashed him back on the b each each time he
t r ied to put off He was p ersevering however and
.
, ,

at the seventh trial was successful in getting away .

H e steered the b attered old b oat as b est he could and ,

at length reac h ed the p alm tree of his des i re Having

-
.

39
 WES T AFRI CAN FOLK TALE S -

tied the b oat to the tru n k of the tree which grew —

almost straight out of the water h e climbed toward

—

the nuts Plucking all he could reach he dropp ed

.
,

them one by one down to the boat To his dismay

, , .
,

every one missed the b oat and fell instead into the , ,

water until only the last one remained This he .

aimed even more carefully than the others b ut it ,

also fell into t h e water and disappeared from his

hungry eyes He had not tasted even one and now
.

al l were gone .

H e could not b ear the thought of going home

e mpty handed
-
so in his desp a i r he threw h imse l f
, , ,

into the water too To his complet e aston i shment

,
.
,

instead of b eing drowned he found h i mself standing ,

on the sea b ottom in front of a pretty little cottage

-
.

F r om the latter came an old man who asked ,

Anansi what he wanted so badly that h e h ad come

’
to Thunder s c ottage to seek it Anansi told his
!
.

tale of woe and Thunder showed himself most

,

symp athetic .

He went into the cottage and fetched a fine

cooking pot which he presented to Anansi telling
-
,
—

him that he need never b e hungry ag ain The pot .

would always supply enough food for h imself and

4 0
 THUNDER AND ANAN S I
h is family Anansi was most grateful and left
.
,

Thunder wit h many thanks .

B eing anxious to test the p ot at once Anansi o n l v ,

waited till he was again seated in the old boat to say ,

Pot p ot what you used to do for your master

, ,

H
do now for me Immediately good food of all sorts
.

app eared Anansi ate a hearty meal which h e very

.
,

much enj oyed .

On reaching land again hi s first thought was to ,

run home and g i ve all h is family a good meal from

his wonderful p ot A selfish greedy fear p revented
.
,

h im. W h at if I should use up all the magic of

!

t h e p ot on t h em and h av e nothing more left for

,

myself ! B etter keep the p ot a secret then I can

—

”
enj oy a meal when I want one S o his mind full .
,

of this thoug h t he hid the p ot ,

.

H e reached home p retending to b e utte r ly worn

,

out with fatigue and h unger There was not a g r ain .

of food to b e had anyw h ere His wife and p oor .

child r en were we ak with want of i t but selfish Anansi ,

took no notice of that He congratulated himself .

at the thought of h is magic p ot now safely hidden ,

i n his room T h ere he retired fr om time to t i me

.

when he felt hungry and enj oyed a good meal His

,
.

4 1
 WE S T AF R I CAN F O LK TAL E S -

family got thinner and thinner but he grew plum p e r ,

and p lump er T h ey b egan to suspect some secret and

.
,

determi ned to find it out His eldest son Kwek u

.
,

Tsin had the p ower of c h anging h imself i nto any shap e

,

he ch ose ; so he took the form of a tiny fly and ,

accom p anied his father eve rywhere At last Anansi .

, ,

feeling hung ry entered his room and closed the door

,
.

Next he took the p ot and had a fine meal Hav i ng

,
.

replaced the pot in its hiding place h e went out o n -

, ,

the p retence of looking for food .

As soon as he was safely out of sight Kweku Ts i n ,

fetched out the p ot and called all his hung ry family

to come at once They had as good a meal as their
.

father had had W h en they had finished M rs An an s i

.
, .

to punish her h usband said she would take the pot

—

d own to the village and give every b ody a meal Thi s .

s he did but alas ! in working to prep are so much

—

food at one time the pot grew too h ot and melte d

,

away What was to b e done now ! Anansi would

.

b e so angry I His wife forb ade e v ery one to mention

the pot .

Anansi returned ready for his supper and as

, , ,

usual went i nto his room carefully shutting the

, ,

.
—
doo r He went to the h i d ing p lac e it was empty I -

4 2
 WE S T A F R I CAN FO L K TALE S -

Stick stick he said

, , , what you used to do for
”
your master do for me also . T h e stick began to
beat him so severely that i n a few minutes he was
, ,

o b liged to j ump into the water and swim ashore ,

leaving b oat and stick to drift away where they

pleased Then h e returned sorrowfully h omeward
.
,

bemoan i ng h is many b ru i ses and wis h ing h e had acted

more wisely from the

44
 V . WHY THE LI Z ARD CONTI NUALLY
M OVES H I S HEAD U P AND D O WN

’
N a town not very far from Anansi s home lived
a great king This king had three beautiful
.

daughters whose names were kept a sec r et

,

fr om every b ody except their own family One day .

their father made a p roclamation that his three

daughters would b e given as wives to any man w h o
could find out their names Anansi made up h is
.

mind to do so .

He first b ought a large j ar of honey and set off ,

’
fo r the b at h ing place of the king s daughters A rr ived
-
.

there he climbed to the top of a tree on which g r ew

,

some ve ry fine fr uit He picked some of t h is fr uit

.

and p oured honey over it When h e saw the p rin

.

cesses app r oaching he d r opp ed the fr uit on the

g r ound and waited The gi r ls thought the fr uit
.

d r opped o f its own acco r d and one of them ran

,

fo rwa r d to pick it up When she tasted it she

.
,

called out to her siste r s by name to exclaim on its

45
 WE S T AF R I CAN FO L K TAL E S -

sweetness. Anansi dropp ed another whic h the ,

second p rincess p icked u p she in her turn calling

—
, ,

out the names of the ot h er two I n this fashion .

Anansi found out all t h e names .

As soon as t h e p rincesses had gone Anansi came

down from the tree and hurr i ed i nto the town He .

went to all the great men and summoned them to

’
a meeting at the King s p alace on the morrow .

He then vi sited his friend the Lizard to get him ,

to act as herald at the Cou rt next day He told .

L i zard the three names and the latter was to sound

,

them through his trum p et when t h e time came .

Early next morning the King and his Court

were assembled as usual All the great men of the
.

town app eared as Anansi had requested Anansi

,
.

stated his business reminding the King of h i s

,

p romise to give his three daughters to the man who

had found out their names The King demanded .

to hear the latter whereupon Lizard sounded them

,

on h is trumpet .

The King and courtiers were much surp rised .

His Maj esty however could not b reak the p romise

, ,

he had made of giving his daughters to the man who

named them . He accordingly gav e them to Mr
4 6
WHY TH E L I ZA RD M OVE S H I S H EA D
Lizard Anansi was very angry and explained that
.
,

he had told the names to L i zard so that he oug h t to ,

get at least two of the gi r ls while Liza r d could have ,

the third The King refused Anansi then b egged

. .

hard for even one but that was also r efused He

, .

went home in a very b ad temp er declaring that h e ,

would b e revenged on Lizard for stealing his wives

away .

He thought over the matter very carefully but ,

could not find a way of punishing Lizard At last .

,

however he h ad an idea
,
.

H e went to t h e King and explained that he was

setting off next morning on a long j ourney He .

’
wished to start very early and so b egged the King s,

h elp The King had a fine cock which always

.
,

crowed at dayb reak to waken the King if he wished

to get up early Anansi b egged that the King would
.

command the cock to crow next morning that ,

Anansi might b e sure of getting o ff in time This .

the King readily p romised .

As soon as night fell Anansi went by a b ack way

’
to the cock s sleeping place seized the bird q uickly
-
, ,

’
and killed it H e then carried it to Lizard s house
.
,

where all we r e in b ed There he quietly cooked

.

47
 WE ST AFR I CAN FOLK TALES -

’
the cock p laced the feat h ers under Lizard s b ed
, ,

and put some of t h e flesh on a dish close to Lizard s ’

hand The w i cked Anansi then took some boiling

.

’
water and poured it into poor Lizard s mout h t h u s ,

making h i m dumb .

When morni ng came Anansi went to the Kin g ,

and rep roached h i m for not letting the cock crow .

The King was much surp rised to hear that it h ad

not ob eyed his commands .

He sent one of his servants to find and b ring the

cock to him but of course the servant returned
, , ,

empty handed The King then o r dered them to

-
.

find the thief No trace of him could b e found

.

anywhere Anansi then cunningly said to the King

.

!
I know Lizard is a rogue because he stole my ,

th r ee wives from me Perhap s he is the thief . .

’
Accordingly the men went to search Lizard s house
,
.

There of course they found the remnants of the

, ,

cock cooked ready to eat and his feathers under the

, ,

bed They questioned Lizard but the poor animal

.
,

was unable to reply He could only move his head .

up and down helplessly They thought he was .

r efusing to speak so dragged him b efo r e the King

,
.

’
To the King s questions he could only retu r n the
4 8
 V I T I T FO R TAT
.

H E RE h ad b een a great fa mi ne in the l a nd

for many m ont h s Meat h a d b e c o m e so .

scar c e t h at only the r ich c hi efs h ad m oney

eno u g h to b uy i t T h e p oor peo pl e w e re sta rvi ng
. .

An an si an d hi s family were i n a m i serabl e state .

’
On e d ay An ans i s e l dest son Kwek u Ts i n to
— —
,

hi s gre at j oy d i s c o v ered a p la c e i n t h e forest w h ere

,

’
t h ere wer e st i l l m any a n im a l s Know i ng h is father s
.

W i cked ways K weku told him not hi ng of t h e m atter

, .

An ansi h owe v er s p ee dily d i sco v er ed t h at Kweku

, ,

w as r e tu rn i ng l oade d day after day to t h e vi l l age

, ,
.

T h ere h e was ab le to sell t h e meat at a good p ri ce

to t h e h ung ry vi ll agers A nans i imm ed i ate l y wanted
.

to kn ow the secret but his son wisely refu sed to tell

—

him T h e o ld man determ ined to find out b y a

.

t ri ck .

S l ippi n g i n to hi s son s room one n i g h t w h en he

’

was fast asleep he cut a tiny hole in the co rner of

,

the b ag whic h Kweku always carried into the forest .

S I
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO LK TALE S -

Anansi then put a quantity of ashes into the b ag and

replaced it where he had found it .

Next morning as Kweku set out for the forest he

, ,

threw the b ag as usual over his shoulder Unknown

, ,
.

to him at each step the ashes were sp rinkled on the

, ,

ground Consequently when Anansi set out an

.
,

h our later he was easily able to fol l ow h is son b y

means of the trail of ashes He too arrived at the .
, ,

an i mals home I n the forest and found Kweku there

’

before him He immediately drove his son away

.
,

say i ng that by the law of the land the p lace belonged

, ,

to him Kweku saw how he had b een tricked and

.
,

determined to have the meat b ack .

He accordingly went home made a tiny i mage and

—

hung little bells round its neck He then t i ed a long .

thread to i ts h ead and returned toward t h e h unt i ng

pl ace.

Wh en ab out half—way there h e hu ng t h e im ag e to ,

a b ranch of a tree in the path and hid h imself in t h e ,

bushes near b y h old i ng t h e ot h er end of t h e t h rea d

—

in his h and .

The greedy father in the m e antim e h ad killed as

, ,

many animals as he c ould find b eing determined to ,

become r ich as s pe e dily as p oss ib le He t h en sk i nn ed .

5 2
 TI T FO R TAT
t h em and p rep a r ed the flesh to carry it to the —

neighbou r ing villages to sell Taking the fi r st load

.
,

he set o ff fo r his own village Half way the r e he .

-
,

came to the place whe r e the image hung in the way .

Thinking this was one of the gods he stopped As ,

.

h e app r oached the image b egan to sh ake its head

,

vigorously at him He felt that this meant that the

.

gods we r e ang ry To p lease t h em he said to the

.
,

image ,
May I give you a little of this meat
!

Agai n the image shook its head May I give you

h alf of this meat he then inqui r ed The head .

shook once more D o you want the whole of this

.

meat he shouted fie r cely This time t h e head

.

!
nodded as i f the image we r e well pleased
,
I .

”
will n o t give you all my m eat Anansi c r ied At ,
.

this t h e image shook in eve ry limb as if i n a terrib le

temp er Anansi was so fr ightened t h at he threw
.

the whole load on the ground and ran away As he .

ran he called back

,
To morrow I shall go to
,
-

E k u b o n — you will not b e ab le to take my meat from

”
me there you thief , .

But Kweku had heard where h is father intended

to go next day and set the image in his p at h as
—

b efore Again Anansi was obliged to leave his

.

53
 WE S T AF RI CAN FO L K TALES -

w h ol e load— and ag ain he called out th e n ame o f t he

p l a é e w h er e h e wo u ld go the fol l ow i n g d a y .

The sa m e th i ng o c curred day aft e r day ti ll all t he

, ,

animals in the wood were killed By t hi s t ime .

,

—
Kweku Ts i n h ad be c ome v ery r i ch bu t h i s fat he r
A nansi was st i ll v ery poor He w a s o bl i ge d to g o to
.

Kwe k u s h ouse e v ery day for food

’
.

Wh en t h e famine was over Kweku gav e a g r e at

,

fe ast a n d i nvi ted t h e ent i re v i llage Wh ile a ll w e re

.

g a t he red together, K weku told t h e story of hi s

’
fat h er s c unn i ng and h ow i t h ad be en o v erc om e .

T hi s caused great merr i ment among the vi llagers .

A nans i was so as h am ed that h e r e a di ly p rom i s e d

Kwek u to refr ai n from h is e vi l tr i cks for t h e fu t u re .

T hi s p ro mi s e h o we v er h e did not l ong k eep

, , .

54
 WE S T A FR I CAN FO LK TALE S -

They agreed to take a short cut across the country

to a tree which they knew Cousin Spider must p ass .

When they reached this tree they hid themselves

very carefully b ehind it and waited for him .

As he p assed the p lace they shook the tree and

uttered fr ightful noises This so fr ightened M r
.

Spider that he dropped his load and ran away .

The two gentlemen O p ened the bundle and to their ,

great j oy discovered the flesh of the antelop e i n it

,
.

They carried it o ff to their own home and b egan to

prep are supp er .

When Mr Spider recovered fr om his fear he b egan

to wonder who could have been at the tree to make
the noises He decided that his enemies must b e
.

Wolf and Leopard He made up his mind he would

.

get h is meat b ack from them .

He took a small lizard and filed his teet h to fine ,

s h arp points He then sent him to spy u p on the

.

wolf and leop ard b y b egging fire from t h em He

— .

was to get the fire and quench it as soon as he left

their cottage He could then return and ask a
.

second time If they asked him questions he must

.
,

sm i le and show his teet h .

The l i zard di d as he was told and eve ryt hi ng

,

5 6
 WHY WH ITE ANTS WO RK HARM
turned out just as Spider had exp ected Wolf and .

Leopard e agerly asked the lizard where he had had

his teeth filed so b eautifu lly He r eplied that
.

Filing Spider had done it for him .

Wolf and Leop a r d discussed the matter and

decided to have their teeth filed in the same way .

They could then easily b reak the b ones of thei r food .

Acco r dingly they went to the house of the dis

,

guised spider and asked him to make their teeth like

’
Lizard s Sp ider ag r eed but said that to do it
.
, ,

p rop erly he would first have to hang them on a

,

tree They made no obj ection to this

. .

When he had them safely hung Spider and his

,

family came and mocked them Spider then went

.

to their cottage and brought away the b ody of the

antelop e The whole village was invited to the feast
.
,

which was held in fr ont of the two p oor animals on

the tree During this festival every one made fun
.

of the wolf and leop a r d .

Next mo r ning White Ant and his children p assed

the place on their way to some fr iends M r Leop ard
.

b egged them to set him and his fr iend free White .

Ant and his family set to wo r k dest r oyed the tree

,

and set them at lib erty Leop ard and Wo lf p rom i sed
.

57
 WES T AF RI CAN F L
O K TAL
- ES
t he ants t hat on t h e i r ret u rn t he y wo ul d sp read a
fea st for t h e m .

U n fort u nate ly S pi der heard t h e i nv itation and

,

m ade up hi s m i nd to b enefit by it On the third day .

( w hi c h was the very time set b y the wolf and leop ard )
Spider dressed u p his c hildren like t h e ants They .

’
set out s i ng i n g the ants c h oru s in order to decei v e
, ,

Leo p ar d .

Wolf and Leop ard welcomed them heartily and

s p read a s p lendid feast for them which the s p iders ,

t h oroughly enj oyed .

Soon after their de p art u re t h e real ants arr iv ed .

T h e two h osts thinking t h ese must b e Sp i der and his

,

fami ly poured boiling water over t h em and kil l ed

,

the m a ll ex c e p t the fat h er .

W hi te A nt on reaching h ome again in great

, ,

anger v ow e d that he would never again help any one

, .

He would t ake e v e ry opportunity to h arm property .

From that day to t hi s w hi te ants hav e been a perfect

p est to man .
 VI I I THE S Q UI RREL A ND THE
.

SPI D ER

H A RD -W OR K I N G squirrel b ad after m u ch
,

labour s uc ce e ded i n cu l t i vat i n g a very fine

,

farm B e i ng a sk il ful c lim b er of trees h e

.
,

h ad not tro ub led to make a ro adway i nto his farm .

H e us ed to r each i t by t h e trees .

On e day when hi s h a rv ests were v ery nearly r i p e

, ,

i t happe ned t h at S pide r went out hu nt i ng i n t h at

ne ighb o u rh ood D u ri n g hi s trav els h e arrived at
.
,

’
S qu i rre l s farm Gre atly p leas ed at t h e a pp earan c e
.

of t he fi eld s h e so u g h t for the roadway to i t Finding

, .

none he ret u rned h o m e and to l d h is fam i ly all a b out

,

t h e matter T h e very next day t h ey a l l set out for

.

t hi s fin e place a nd set to work i m m ed i ately to m ake a

,

ro ad Whe n t hi s w as co mpl eted S pi der w h o was

.
—

—
very cu n n in g t h rew pi e c es of eart h enw a re p ot along
th e p ath way T hi s h e d i d to m ake beli e v e t h at h is
.

chi ldren h ad d ro ppe d t h e m w hil e work i ng to p re pa re

t h e far m .

59
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO L K TAL E S -

Then h e and hi s family b egan to c ut d own an d

carry away such of t h e corn as was rip e Squirrel .

noticed that his fields were b eing robb ed but could ,

not at first find the thief He dete r mined to watch . .

Sure enough Spider so o n reapp eared to steal more

of the harvest Squi r rel demanded to know what
.

right he had on these fields Spider immediately .

asked him the same question T h e v are my .

fields said Squirrel

,
O h no ! T h ey are mine
.
, ,

retorted Spider I dug them and sowed them and

.

”
p lanted them said poor Squirrel
,
Then w h ere is .

”
your roadway to them ! said crafty Spider I .

need no roadway I come by the trees was S qu ir

.
,

’
rel s reply Needless to say Spider laughed suc h
.
,

an answer to scorn and continued to use the farm

,

as his own .

S quirrel appealed to the law but the court dec i ded ,

that no one had ever had a farm without a road

’
leading to i t therefore the fields must b e Spider s
, .

I n great glee Sp i der and his family p rep ared to cut

down all the h arv est that remained When it was cut .

they tied it in great bundles and set o ff to the nearest

market pla c e to sell it W h en they were about ha lf
-
.

way t h ere a t e rr ib le storm ca m e on T h ey were

, .

60
 THE SQUIRREL AND THE SPID ER
o b liged to put down their burdens by the roadside
and run for shelter When the storm had p assed
.

they retu r ned to pick up their l o ads .

As they app r oached the S pot they found a g r eat ,

black crow the r e with his b r oad wings outsp read

,

to keep the bundles d ry Spider went to him and

.

very politely thanked hi m for so kindly taking care

of the i r p rop erty . Your prop erty replied Fathe r
Crow . W ho ever heard of any one leaving bundles
of corn b y t h e roadside Nonsense These loads
are mine . So saying he picked them up and went
,

o ff wit h t h em ,
leaving Spider and his c hi ldren to
return home sorrowful and empty handed Their -
.

t hi ev i ng w ays h ad b roug h t them li tt l e p rofit

.
 WE S T AF R I CAN FO L K TAL E S -

0 w t er g up 0 w t r g
a , o ,
a e ,
o up ,

A d l et r i f l l
n d l et r i
a n a , an a n fa ll .

To Kwe ku s great j oy rain immediately began to

’

fall and continued till the ground was thoroughly

,

well soaked I n the days following the seeds

.

germ i nated and t h e crop s began to promise

,

well .

Anansi soon heard how well Kw e k u s crops were ’

growi n g whilst his own we r e still b are and ha r d

— .

He went straightway to his son and demanded to

know the reason Kweku Tsin b eing an honest .
,

fel l ow at once told him what had happened

, .

Anansi quickly made up his mind to get his farm

watered i n the same way and accordingly set out ,

toward i t As he went he cut two big strong

.
, ,

sticks t h ink i ng My son made the dwarf work with

, ,

l i tt l e st i cks I will make him do twice as much with

.

”
my b i g ones He carefully hid the big sticks
.
,

h owe ve r when h e saw the dwarf coming toward

,

hi m A s before t h e h unc h b ack ask e d w h at the

.
,

trou ble was and Anansi told him ,

Take two .

”
s m all st i cks and beat me lig h tly on th e hump said
, ,

the dwarf I will get rain for you

. .

But A n ans i took hi s big sticks and b eat so h ard

64
 WHY ANT S CARRY B I G B U N D LE S
t h at t h e dwarf fel l down dead The greedy fellow
.

was now thoroughly fr i ghtened for he knew that ,

t h e dw arf w as j ester to the King of the country and ,

a very great favourite of h is He wondered h ow he

.

cou l d fix t h e b lame on some one else He picked up .

’
t h e dwarf s dead b ody and carrie d it to a kola tree -
.

T her e he laid i t on one of the top b ranc h es and sat

down under t h e tree to watc h .

By and by Kweku Ts i n came a l ong to see if hi s

father h ad su c ceeded in getting rain for h is crops .

Did you not see t h e dwarf father , h e asked as ,

h e saw t h e o l d man s i tting alone Oh yes I .

,

rep li e d Anans i ; bu t h e h as cli mbed this tree to

p i ck kola I am now wa i ting for h im
. I w i ll go .

”
u p and fetc h hi m s ai d t h e young man and im
,
—

m ed i ate ly be gan to c limb As soon as h i s h ead

.

touc h ed t h e body the latter of course fel l to the

, ,

ground . O h ! w h at have you done you wicked ,

” !
fe l low ! c ri ed his father . You h av e killed the
’
King s j ester ! T hat is all r i g h t qu i etly replied
,

’
t h e son ( w h o saw that t h is was one of An ans i s tri cks ) .

T h e Ki n g i s v ery angry with h im and h as p rom i sed

,

a b ag of money to any one who would ki ll him I .

”
will now go and get the reward No ! No .
!

65
 WE S T A F R I CAN F O L K TALE S -

No s h outed A nansi T h e reward i s mine I . .

killed him with two b i g st i cks I will take him to .

” ’
the K i ng. Very well was the son s reply As .

”
you killed hi m you may take him
, .

O ff set Anansi quite pleased with the pros p ect of

,

’
gett i ng a reward He reac h ed the King s court only
.
,

to find t h e King very angry at t h e deat h of h i s

favourite The body of the j ester was shut up in a
.

gre at box and Anansi was condemned as a p u ni sh

—

ment to carry it on hi s head for ever The K i ng

— .

enchanted the box so that it could ne v er b e set d own

on the ground T he only way in which Anans i
.

could ever get rid of it was by getting some ot her

man to p ut it on h is h ead This o f course no one .
, ,

was w i lling to do .

At l ast one day w h en Anansi was al m ost worn o u t

, ,

with h is hea vy b urden he met the Ant W il l you

, .

h old t h is b ox for me wh i le I go to market an d b uy

some t hi ngs I need b adly said A nans i to Mr A nt .

! ” !
I know your tricks Anansi re pli ed A nt ,
Yo u ,
.

” ”
want to b e r i d of i t O h no i ndeed M r A nt
.
, , , ,

!
p rotested Anansi Indee d I will co m e bac k for i t
.
,

I p romise .

Mr Ant w h o was an h onest fe ll ow an d a l ways k e p t

, ,

66
 WHY ANT S CAR RY B I G B U N D LE S
h i s own p romises b elieved him He took t h e b ox
, .

on hi s h ead and Anansi hurried o ff Needless to say

, .
,

t h e sly fe l low h ad not the least intent i on of kee p ing

h i s word Mr Ant waited in vai n for his return
.

an d was obliged to wander all the rest of his life

with the box on h is head T h at is t h e reason we so

.

often see ants carrying great bundles as they h urry

alo n g
.
 WE S T AFRI CAN FO L K TALE S -

don e we shall b e i n nee d of a rest I p ropose t h at

,
.

you and our son sho u l d go b ack to our home in t h e

village and remain there at your eas e for two or three
we e ks I have to go to the coast on v ery urgent
.

bu s i ness Wh en I return we will all come to the

.

”
farm and enj oy our well earned feast -
.

’
Anansi s wife and s on thought this a very good ,

sensible plan and at once agreed to it They

,
.

went straight back to t h eir village leaving the ,

cun n ing husband to start on his j ourney Need .

less to say he had not the slightest intention of

so do i ng .

I nstead he built h i mself a very comfortab le h ut

,

near the farm su p plied i t with all manner of cooking

—

utens i ls gat h ered in a large store of the corn and

,

v egetab les from the b arn and prep ared for a solitary
,

fe ast T hi s went on for a fortn i ght By that time

. .

’
A nans i s son b egan to thi nk it was time for h im to go
and weed the farm lest t h e weeds should grow too
,

high He a c cordingly went there and worked se v eral

.

h ours on it While p assing the b arn he happened to

.
,

look in Great was hi s surp ri se to see t h at more

.

than h al f of their magnificent h arvest had gone He .

was great l y disturbe d t hi n k i ng ro b bers ha d b ee n at

,

7 0
 SPIDERS IN CEILING CORNERS
work , and wondered how he could prevent further
mischief .

Returning to the village he told the people there ,

what had happ ened and they helped to make a ,

ru b ber man W hen evening came they carried the

-
.

sticky figure to the farm and placed it i n the midst of ,

the fields to frighten away the thieves Some of the

,
.

’
young men remained with Anans i s son to watch in
one of t h e b arns .

When al l was dark Egya Anansi ( quite unaware of

,

what had happened ) came as usual out of his h iding ,

‘
,

place to fetch more food O n h is way to t h e barn .

he saw i n front of him the figure of a man and at first ,

felt very frightened Finding t h at the man did not

.

move however he ga i ned confidence and went up to

, ,

him . What do you want here said he There .

w as no answer He rep eated his quest i on with the

.

sam e result Anansi then became ve ry ang ry and

.

dealt the figure a blow on the cheek with his right

h and O f course his hand stuck fast to the rubber
.
,
.

”
How dare you hold my hand ! he exclaimed .

”
Let me go at once or I shall hit y o u again He .

then hit the figure with his left hand which also ,

stuck He tr i ed to disengage himself by pushing

.

7 1
 W E S T A F R I C A N F O L K -TA L E S
against it w i t h h is knees a nd b ody unt i l finally
, , ,

knees b ody h ands and h ead were all firmly atta c hed
, , ,

to the ru b b er man T h ere Egya Anansi had to stay

-
.

till day b re ak w he n his son came out wit h t h e other

,

v illagers to catch the robb er T h ey were aston i sh e d

.

to find that the evil doer was Anansi himself He on

-
.
,

the other hand was so ashamed to be caught in the

,

act o f greediness that he changed into a spider and

'

took refuge in a dark corner of the ceiling lest any one

should see him Since then spiders have always b een
.

found in dark dusty corners where p eople are not

, ,

likely to not i ce t h em .
 XI ANAN S I THE B LIND FI SHERMAN
.

NAN S I in his old age b ecame a fis h erman

, ,
.

Very soon after that his sight began to fail .

Finally he grew qu i te blind However still

,
.
,

being v ery strong he continued h i s fis hin g with

,
—

t h e help of two men The l atter were exceedingly

.

ki nd to him and ai d ed h im in every possible way

,
.

They led him each morning to the b each and into

, ,

t h e canoe T h ey told him w h ere to spread his net

.

an d w h en to pull i t in W h en t h ey returned to land

.

they told h im just where an d w h en to step out so ,

t h at he did not e v en get wet .

D ay after d ay t h is went on but An ansi instead of

—
,

being i n t h e le ast grateful to them behaved ve ry

—

b adly Wh en t h ey told him w h e r e t o spread his

.

net he would reply sha rp ly

, I know I was just , .

I)
ab out to p u t it t h ere W h en they were directing
.

him to get out of th e boat he would say Oh I , , ,

know p erfectly well we are at the beac h I was j ust .

”
getting ready to step out .

73
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO L K TALE S -

This went on for a long time Anans i getting ruder ,

and ruder to his hel p ers every day until they could ,

b ear his treatment no longer T h ey determined .

when o pp ortunity o ff ered to p unish hi m for his

ingratitude .

The next day as usual he came with t h em to the

, ,

beach W hen they had got the canoe ready they

.
,

b ade hi m ste p in Do you thi n k I am a fool !

.

said he . I know the canoe is t h ere T hey ma d e .

no answ e r b ut got in and p atiently pul l ed toward

,

the fis hin g place When they told h im w h ere to

-
.

spread h is net he replied with so muc h abuse that

,

they determ i ned t h ere and then to punis h h im

, ,
.

By t hi s time the canoe was ful l of fis h so they ,

turned to row h o m e When t h ey had gone a litt l e

.

way t h ey stopp ed and said to him Here we are at ,

”
the b each . He p romptly tol d t h em that they were
v e ry foolish to te l l him a t h ing h e knew so well
— .

He added many rude and insult i ng remarks w h ic h ,

made them thoroughly ang ry He then j umped .

p roudly out expecting to land on the b eac h To h is

, .

great astonis h ment he found himse l f sink i ng in d ee p

water T h e two men rowed quickly away leav ing
.
,

him to struggle .

74
 XI I . AD Z AN U M EE AND HER M O T HER

HERE once lived a woman who had one great

desi r e She longed to have a daughter
.

but alas she was childless She could

.

never feel h appy b ecause of this unfulfilled wish

,
.

Even in the m i dst of a feast t h e t h ought would b e i n

her min d Ah if only I had a daug h ter to s h are
this with me .

O ne day s h e was gathering yam s i n the field and ,

it chanced that she pulled out one wh i ch was very

”
st r aight and well sha p ed Ah ! she thought to
.
!

herself if only this fine yam were a d aug h ter how

, ,

happy I should be To h er astonishment the yam

.

!
answered ,
I f I were to become your daughter ,

would you p romise never to reproach me with having

been a yam S h e eagerly gave h er p romi se and ,

at once the ya rn changed into a beaut i ful we l l mad e

,
-

girl T h e woman was overj oyed and was very kind

.

to the girl She n am ed h er Ad z an u m e e The

. .

latte r was exceed i ngly usefu l to h er mother She .

77
 WE S T AFRI CAN FOLK TALE S -

would m ake the b read gat h er the yarns and sell , ,

them at t h e market place -

.

She had been detained one d ay longer th an usual , , .

Her mother b ecame impatient at her non appearance -

and angrily said Wh ere can Ad z an u m e e b e !

,

She does not deserve that b eautiful name She is .

”
only a yam .

’
A b i rd s i nging near by heard the mother s words
and immediately flew o ff to the tree un d er w hi c h
Ad z an u me e sat . T h ere h e began to sing
Ad z an um ee Ad z an u me e
Y ou r mo th er is u n k i d— s he s ays y ou are o n l y a y am
n ,

Y ou d o n o t de s e rve y ou r n am e
Ad z an u me e Ad z an u me e

T h e g i rl h eard him and returned ho m e weeping .

Wh en the woman saw h er s h e sa i d My daughter , ,

my daug h ter ! Wh at is t h e m atter ! A d z an u m e e

re plie d
O h m y mo t h er m y mo t her
,

Y ou h rep r o che d m e w i t h b ei g y
ave a n a arn .

Y ou i d I did t d e r e my me
sa no se v na .

O h m y mo t h er m y mo t h r
,
e

Wi t h these words she m ade her way t ow a rd t h e

ya m fie l d Her m other filled with fear fo ll owed h er
-
.
, , ,

7 8
T HE B I RD C A L LS TO A DZ A N U M E E
 AD Z AN U M EE AND HER MOTHER
N ay Ad z
, an u me e Ad z a n u me e
Do not be li e ve it -
dol i it not be e ve .

You are my d au gh t r m y dee r

,
d gh t r a au e

Ad z an u me e

But she was too late Her daughter still s i nging

.
,

her sad little song quickly changed back into a yam

, .

Wh en the woman arrived at the field there lay the

yarn on the ground and nothing she could do or say
,

would give her b ack t h e daughter she h ad desired so

earnestly and treated so i nconsi derately .

79
 WE S T AFRI CAN FO LK TALE S -

surro u nding v illagers were sta rved and miserabl e

looking .

Anans i gav e him no peace ti l l he p romised to S how

hi m the stone T hi s he was most unwilling to do
.

’
know i ng h is cous i n s wicked ways He felt sure that .

when Anansi saw th e stone he would not b e content

to t ake only what he needed However Anansi .
,

trou bl ed him so much with questions that at last h e

p romised He told Anansi that they would start
.

next morning as soon as the women set ab out their

,

work A nansi was too impatient to wait In the

. .

middle of the nig h t he b ade his children get up and

make a noise wit h the pots as if they were the women
at work Spider at once ran and wakened his cousin
.
,

Q u i ck ! It is time to start
3)
saying ,
His cousin .
,

however saw he had b een tricked and went b ack to

, ,

b ed again saying he would not sta r t ti ll the women

,

were sweeping No sooner was he asleep again than

.

Sp i der made his children take brooms and b egin to

sweep very noisily He roused K o fi o nce more.
,

! ”
say i ng ,
It is t i me we had started O nce more .

h is cousin refused to set o ff saying it was only

—

’
anothe r trick of S p ider s He again returned to b ed
.

and to slee p This time Spider slipped into his

.

82
 WE S T AF R I CA N F O L K TAL E S -

stone from v i l lage to vi ll age selling flour until h i s

,

b ag was ful l of money He t h en set out for h ome

. .

Hav i ng reac h ed h is h ut and feeling very tired he

p re p ared to put the stone down But the stone
.

refused to b e moved from his head It stuck fast

.

there and no e ff orts could displace I t T h e weig h t

,
.

of it very soon grew too mu ch for Anansi and ground

,

hi m d own into s m all pieces whic h were completely

,

c overed over b y the stone T h at i s w hy we often

.

find tiny sp iders gathered together under large

stones .
 XIV . MO RN I N G S UN RI SE

MAN in one of the villages had a very beauti

ful daughter She was so lovely that p eople
called h er Morni ng Sunri se Every .
’1

young man who saw her wanted to marry her Three .

,

in p articu l ar were very a n xious to h ave her for their

,

w i fe Her father found it d i fficult to decide among

.

them He determ ined to find out by a trick which

.

of t h e three was most wort h y of her .

He b ade h er lie down on h er bed as if s h e w e re

dead H e t h en sent the repo rt of h er death to each
.

of the three lovers asking them to come and h el p h im

,

wit h her funeral .

The messenger came first to Wise Man When .

he heard the message he exclaimed ,

What can this
,

man mean ! The girl is not my wife I certainly .

”
will not p ay any money for her funeral .

The messenger came next to the second man .

”
His nam e was Wit The latter at once said Oh
.
,

dear no ! I shall not pay any money fo r he r fune r al

,

85
 WE S T AF RI CAN F OL K TALE S -

expenses H e r f at h e r did not even let me know Sh e

.

”
was ill. So he refu sed to go .

—
Thinker the third young man when h e re
,

c e ive d —
the message at once got ready to start .

Certainly I must go and mourn for Morni n g

”
Sunrise said he
,
Had she lived surely she wo u ld
.
,

h av e been my wife So he took money with him

.

and s e t out for her h ome .

Wh en h e reached i t her father called out Morn ,

ing Sunrise Morning Sunrise Come here T hi s i s

, . .

”
your true hus b and .

T h at very day t h e b etrot h al took place and soon

after the wedding followed T h inker
. and h is
beautiful wife li ved v ery h ap pi ly together .

86
 WE S T AF R I CAN FO L K TALE S -

Th u s m any lives were sav ed a n nu al ly by t h e k i nd

forethought of the turtle .

I n return one would t h ink mankind wou l d p ro

— —

t e c t and cherish this poor animal But no ! Ea c h

.

time a turtle comes to the seashore to lay her eggs

among the sand she is caught and killed for the sake
,

of her flesh It is the thought of the i ngratitude of

.

mankind to her which makes her b eat her breast

,

wit h her fore legs when she is caught S h e seems

-
.

to b e saying ,
Ah this is all the return I f or
my k i ndness to you .

88
XVI HOW BEASTS AND SERPENTS FI RST
.

CAME I NTO THE W O RLD

HE famine had lasted nearly t h ree years .

Kweku Tsin be i ng ve ry h ungry looked

, ,

d aily i n the forest in the hope of finding

food One day he was fortunate enough to d i scover
.

three p alm kernels lying on the ground He p i cked

-
.

up two stones wit h which to c r ack them T he .

first nut however slipped w h en h e h i t it and fell

, , ,

i nto a h ole b ehind him The same thing h ap p ened

.

to t h e second and to the th i rd Ve ry much annoyed

.

at hi s l oss Kweku determ i ned to go down the h ole

,

to see i f he could find h is lost nuts .

T o his surp rise howe v er he discovered t h at this

, ,

ho l e was really the entrance to a town of wh i ch he

,

had never b efore even heard When h e reached it he

.

found absolute silence everywhere He called out

.
,

”
I s there nobody in this town ! and presently
hear d a v oice in answer H e went i n its direction
.

and found an old woman s i tting in one of the houses .

89
 WE ST AFRI CAN FOLK TALE S -

S h e demanded the reason of his whi ch appearance —

he readily gave .

T h e old woman was ve ry kind and symp athetic ,

and promised to help him You must do exactly .

”
as I tell you sa i d she
,
Go into the garden and
.

listen attentively You will hear t h e yams sp eak

. .

Pass by any yam that says Dig me out dig me out I , ,

But take the one t h at says D o not dig me o ut I ,

Then br i ng it to me .

Wh en h e brought i t she dire c ted him to remove

,

the peel from the yarn and throw the latter away He .

was t h en to boil the rind and while boiling it would

, , ,

become yam It did actually do so and they sat

.
,

down to eat some of i t B efore beginning their meal

.

the old woman requested Kweku not to look at her

wh i le she ate B e i ng v ery po li te and obedient he
.
,

did exact ly as h e w a s told .

I n t h e evening t h e old woman sent him into the

garden to choose one of t h e drums which stood there .

S h e warned him If you come to a drum which

says D ing ding on b eing touc h ed take it But
- —
.

b e very careful n o t to take one which sounds Dong

’
dong . He ob eyed her direction in every detail .

Wh en h e showed her the drum she looked p leased ,

90
 WE S T AF R I CA N F O L K TAL E S -

p recaut i on to c arry w i t h hi m an o ld nut w hi c h h e

p retended to crack T h en t h rowing it i nto t h e h ole
.
,

he jumped i n after i t and h urri ed along to the silent

village Arriv ed at the first house he s h outed
.
,
Is ,

there no one i n t h is town The o l d woman

answe red as b efore and A nans i entered h er h o u se
,
.

He did not trouble to b e po l ite to her b ut ,

addressed her most rudely say i ng ,

Hurry up old
, ,

woman and get me something to eat

,
The woman .

quietly directed h i m to go into the garden and c h oose

”
the yarn w h ich should say D o not d ig me out
,
.

Anansi l aughed in her face and sa i d You surely ,

take me for a fool If t h e yarn does not want me to

.

d i g i t out I will certa i nly not do so I w i ll take t h e.

one w h ic h wants to b e gat h ered ”

T hi s h e did
. .

When h e b roug h t i t to t h e old woman s h e to l d

him as s h e to l d hi s son to t h row away t h e inside and
, ,

b o il th e r i nd Again he refused to o b ey
. W h o e v er .

heard of suc h a s i lly t hi n g as t h rowing away the yarn

I wil l do not hi ng of t he sort I w il l throw away the
.

p ee l an d bo i l the i nside He d id so an d the yarn

.
,

turned into ston e s He was then obliged to do as s h e

.

first suggested and b o i l t h e r i nd The l atter w hi le

, .

b o i l i ng t u rne d i nto ya m Anans i turned angrily to

.

92
 WE S T AF R I CAN FO L K TALE S -

spot Anansi proudly tak i ng his posit i on i n t h e

.
,

midst of them began to beat his drum To h is horror

,
.

and dismay instead of the mu l titude of food stu ff s

,
-

which Kweku had summoned Anansi saw rush i ng

, ,

toward him b easts and serp ents of all kinds Such

, .

creatures had never been seen on the earth b efore .

—
The people fled i n every direct i on al l exce p t
Anansi who was too terrified to move He spe e di ly
,
.

received fitting punishment for his d i sob ed i en c e .

Fortunately Kweku with his mother and s i sters h ad

, , ,

been at the outer edge of the crowd so easily escaped

,

into shelter The a n imals presently s c attered i n

.

every direction and ever since they hav e roa m ed

,

wild in the great forests .

94
 XV I I HON O U RABLE MI N U
.

T happened one day that a poor Akim man had -

to t r avel from his own little village to Accra

one of the big towns on the coast T h is man .

could only spe ak the language of his own v illage

which was not understood by the men of the town .

As he approached Accra he met a great herd of

cows He was sur p rised at t h e numb er of them and
.
,

wondered to whom they could b elong S ee i ng a .

man with them he asked h im To w h om do

,

t h ese cows b elong The man did not know the

language of the Akim man so h e replied Min ii
'

-
, ,

( I do not understand ) The traveller

. h owever , ,

thought that Min ii was t h e name of the owner

'

of the cows and exclaimed Mr M i n i i must b e

‘

”
ve ry rich .

He then entered the town Ve ry soon he saw a.

fine la r ge building and wondered to w h om it might

,

belong The man he asked could not understand his

.

”
question so he also answered M in iI D ear me
'

, .

95
 WE ST AFRI CAN FOLK TALE S -

What a rich fellow Mr Min u must be I cr i ed t h e

Akim man -
.

Coming to a still finer building with beautiful

’
gardens round it he again asked the owner s name
, .

Again came the answer Min u ,

How wealthy
.

Mr Min u is said our wondering traveller

, .

Next he came to the beach There he saw a .

magnificent steamer being loaded in t h e harb our .

He was surprised at the great cargo which was being

put on board and inquired of a bystander To w h om
does this fine vessel b elong Min u replied the ,

man To the Honourab le Min ii also He is the

'

r ichest man I ever heard of cried t h e Akim man -

.

Having finis h ed h is b usiness t h e Akim man set

,
-

out for home As he passed down one of the streets of

.

the town he met men ca r rying a coffi n and followed ,

by a long p rocession all dressed in black He asked

,
.

the name of the dead person and rece i ved the usual
,

”
reply Min u
,
Poor Mr M in fi
. cried the Akim
man . So he h as h ad to leave al l his wealth and
beautiful houses and die just as a poor person
would do ! Well well in futu r e I will be content
—
,

with my tiny house and little money And the .

Akim man went home quite p leased to his own hut

-
.

96
 WE S T AFRI CAN FOLK TALE S -

and was altogether a d r eadful sight to behold .

Kweku Tsin was terrified at his approach and speedily

hid himself in a cave near by .

The dragon a rr ived at the resting place and was -

,

much an noyed to find only the dee r s body He ’

.

vented his anger in blows up on the latter and went

away Soon after Fathe r Anansi made his appea r
.
,

’
ance He was greatly interested in his son s tale and
.
,

wished to see the dragon for himself He soon had .

his desire for the monste r smelling human flesh

, , ,

hastily retu r ned to the spot and seized them both .

They were carried o ff by him to his castle where ,

they found many other unfortunate creatures als o

awaiti n g their fate All were left in cha r ge of the
.

’
dragon s servant a fine white cock which always
— —
,

crowed to summon his maste r if anything unusual ,

’
happened in the latte r s absence The d r agon then .

went o ff in search of more prey .

Kweku Tsin now summoned all his fellow

prisoners together to a rr ange a way of escap e All
,
.

fea r ed to run away b ecause of the wonde r ful

—

p o wers of the monste r His eyesight was so keen

.

that he could detect a fly moving miles away Not .

only that but he could move ove r the ground so

,

98
 M O O N S TAR S A N D S U N
swiftly that none could outdistance him Kweku .

Tsin howeve r being exceedingly cleve r soon

, , ,

thought of a plan .

Knowing that the white cock would not crow as

long as he had g r ains of r ice to pick up Kweku ,

scattered on the ground the contents of forty b ags of

grain which were stored i n t h e great hall While
—
.

the cock was thus busily engaged Kweku Tsin ,

ordered the spinners to spin fine h empen ropes to ,

m ake a strong rop e ladder One end of this he

.

intended to throw up to heaven trusting that the ,

gods would catch it and hold it fast while he and his ,

fellow p risoners mounted

-
.

While the l adder was b e i ng made the men killed ,

and ate all the cattle they needed reserving all the
—

b ones for Kweku Tsin at his exp ress desire When .

al l was ready the young man gathered the bones int o

’
a great sack He also p rocured the dragon s fiddle
.

and placed it by h is side .

Everything was now ready Kweku Tsin threw .

one end of the ladder up to t h e sky It was caught .

’
and held The dragon s victims b egan to mount
.
,

one after the other Kweku remaining at the bottom

,
.

’
By this time howeve r the monster s powerful eye
, ,

99
 WE ST AFRI CAN FOLK TALE S -

sight showed h im that something unusual was

happening at his abode He hastened his return
. .

O n seeing his app roach Kweku Tsin also mounted

,

—
the ladder with the bag of bones on his back and ,

the fiddle under his arm The dragon b egan to climb

.

after him Each time the monster came too near the
.

young man threw him a bone with which b eing , ,

very hungry h e was obliged to descend to the ground

,

to eat .

Kweku Tsin rep eated this performance til l all the

bones were gone by which time the p eople were
,

safely up in the heavens Then he mounted himself

.
,

as rapidly as possib le stopping every now and then

,

to p lay a tune on the wonderful fiddle Each time .

h e did t h is the dragon had to return to earth to

, ,

—
dance as he could not res i st the magic mus i c .

W hen Kweku was quite c l ose to the top the dragon ,

had ve ry nearly reached him again The b rave .

youth b ent down and cut the ladder away b elow his
own feet The dragon was dashed to the ground
.

but Kweku was pulled up into safety by t h e

gods .

The latter were so pl e ased with his wis dom and

b rave ry in g i v i n g freedom to hi s fellow men t h at -
,

1 00
 M O O N S TA R S AN D S U N
they made him the sun the source of all light and
—

heat to the world His father Anansi became the

.
, ,

moon and his friends the stars Thereafter it was

,
.
,

Kweku T s in s p r ivilege to supply all these with light

’

each being dull and po werless without him .

 XIX O H IA AND THE TH I EVI N G DEER
.

HERE once lived upon the earth a poor man

called Ohia whose wife was named Awire hu
,
.

This unfo rtunate couple had su ff ered one

trouble after another No matter what they took in
.

hand misfortune seemed to lie in wa i t for them .

Nothing they did met with success They b ecame

.

so poor that at last they could scarcely obtain a cloth

with which to cover themselves .

Finally O h ia thought of a plan which many of

,

his neighb ours h ad t r ied and found successful He .

went to a wealthy farmer who li v ed near and o ff ered

,

to hew down several of his p alm trees H e would

-
.

then collect thei r sap to make p alm wine When this

.

should b e ready for the market his wife would carry

,

it there and sell it The p roceeds would t h en b e

.

divided equally b etween the farmer Ohia and , ,

Aw ir e h u .

This p r oposal having b een laid b efore t h e farmer ,

he p roved quite willing to agree to it Not only so

.
,

10 5
 WE S T AF R I CAN F O L K TA L E S -

but h e granted O h i a a supp ly of eart h en pots in

which to collect the sap as the miserable man was ,

far too poor to buy any .

In great delight O hia and his wife set to work .

They cut down the trees and prep ared them setting
—

the pots underneath to catch t h e sap B efore cock .

crow on market day O hia set off with a lighted

-
, ,

torch to collect t h e wine and prep are it for his wife to

,

take into the town S h e was almost ready to follow

. .

To his great distress on arriving at the first tree

, ,

instead of finding his ea rthen p ot filled with the sweet

sap he saw it ly i ng in pieces on the ground the wine
,
—

all gone He went on to the second and t h i r d trees

.

but there and at all the others too the same thing
, , ,

had happened .

His wife in high spir i ts an d ready for market

, ,

j oined him at this moment She saw at once by his .

face that some misfortune had again b efallen them .

Sorrowfully they examined the mischief and agreed

, ,

that some wicked person had stolen the wine and then
b roken the pots to hide the theft Aw ir e h u returned .

home in desp air but Oh i a set to work once more

,
.

He fetched a second su p ply of pots and placed them

all ready to catch the sap .

1 06
 O HIA AND THE THI EVI N G DEER
O n his return next mo r ning he found that the same ,

b ehaviour had been r epeated All his wine was again

.

stolen and his pots i n fragments He had n o r esou r ce .

but to go to the farme r and tell him of these fr esh

misfo rtunes The farmer p r oved to b e ve ry kind
.

and generous and gave orders that O hia might have

as many pots as he should require .

O nce more the p oor fellow retu r ned to the p alm

trees and set his p ots r eady This thi r d attempt
, .
,

however met with no better result than the two

,

p revious Ohia went home in desp air His W ife

. .

was of the opinion that they should give up t rying to

overcome thei r evil fo rtunes It was quite evident .

that they could never attain success The husband .

,

however determined that at least he would find and

, , ,

punish the culp rit if that were possible

,
.

Acco r dingly he b ravely set his pots in order for

,

the last time When night came h e r emained on

.
,

guard among t h e trees Midnight p assed and nothing

.

happ ened but towa r d two o clock in the mo r ning

,
’

a dark form glided p ast him to the nea r est palm t r ee -

.

A moment after he heard the sound of a b r eaking pot .

He stole up to the form On app r oaching it he found

.

that the thief was a bush deer carrying on its head a

-
,

10
7
 WE S T A F R I CAN F O L K TA L E S -

large j ar i nto w hi c h it was p ouri n g the w i ne from

,

’
O hia s pots As it em p t i ed them it threw them
.

c a relessly on the ground b reaking them in pieces , .

Ohia ventured a little nearer intending to seize ,

the culprit The latter however was too quick

.
, ,

for him and escaped dropping his great p ot on the ,

ground as he ran The deer was very fleet but .

,

Ohia had fu l ly determined to catc h him s o followed

— .

The chase continued over many miles until mid

day arrived at which time they had reached the
,

bottom of a hig h h ill The deer immediately b egan .

to climb and O h ia though almost tired out still

—
,
—

followed Finally the summit of the hill was

.
,

reached and there Ohia found h i mself in the midst

,

of a great gat h ering of quadrup eds T h e deer .

,

p anting threw h i mself on the ground b efore King

,

Tiger His M aj esty commanded that Ohia should b e

1
.

brought b efore him to b e p unished for this intrusion

into such a serious meeting .

O h ia b egged for a hearing b efore they condemned

him He wished to explain fully his p resence there
. .

King Tiger after consulting with some of the other

,

animals agreed to listen to his tale T h ereu p o n

, .

T ig r i W e t A f r ic t o r i i l op r d
1
e n s an s es s a e a .

1 08
 WE S T AF R I CAN F O LK TALE S -

The poor man much delig h ted set o ff for h ome

, , .

When it was reached he lost no time in setting to

,

work at his p alm trees again From that day his

-
.

troubles seemed ove r His wine was never inter

.

f e r e d with and he and Aw ir e h u b e c ame m ore and

more prosp erous and happy .

O ne morning while he was b athing in a pool quite

,

close to his house he hea r d a hen and her chickens

,

talking togethe r in his ga r den He listened and .

,

distinctly hea r d a chicken tell Mother Hen about

’
three j ars of gold bu r ied in O hia s garden The .

hen b ade the chicken b e careful lest her master ,

should see her scraping near the gold and so dis ,

cover it .

O hia p r etended to take no notice of what t h ey were

saying and went away P resently when Mother Hen
,
.
,

and her b rood had gone he came b ack and com

,

m e n c e d digging in that p art of the garden To his .

great j oy he soon found three large j ars of gold

,
.

They contained enough money to keep him in com

fort all his life He was ca r eful however not to
.
, ,

mention his t r easure to any one but his wife He hid .

it safely inside his house .

Soon he and Awire hu had b e c ome one of the

1 10
 OHIA AND THE THIEVING DEER

richest couples in the neighbou r hood and owned ,

quite a la rge amount of p r operty O hia thought he

.

could affo r d n o w to keep a second wife so he mar r ied ,

again Unfo rtunately the new wife did not at all

.
,

r esemble Aw ire h u The latte r had always been a

.

good kind honest w o man The new wife was of a

, ,
.

ve ry j ealous and selfish disposition I n addition to.

this she was lame and continually imagined that

,

people we r e making fun of her defect She took the .

i
idea into he r head that Ohia and Aw r e hu when —

—
together we r e in the hab it of laughing at her .

Nothing was further fr om their thoughts but she ,

r efused to b elieve so Whenever she saw them

.

t o gether she would stand and listen outside the

doo r t o hea r what they were saying O f course .
,

S he neve r succeeded in hearing anything about

herself .

At last o ne evening Ohia and Aw ir e h u had

, ,

g o ne to bed The latte r was fast asleep when O hia

.

hea r d a conve r sation which amused him very much .

A couple of mice in one corne r of the room were

a r ranging to g o to the larder to get some food as soon ,

as thei r maste r who was watching them was asleep

— — .

O hia thinking this was a good j oke laughed out

, ,

1 1 1
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO L K TALE S -

right His lame wife heard him and rushed into the
.
,

room She thereupon accused him of making fun

.

of h er again to Aw ire h u The astonished husb and .

,

of course denied this but to no purpose The

, , .

j ealous woman insisted that if he were laughing at ,

an innocent j oke he would at once tell it to her

, .

This Ohia could not do without b reaking his p romise

,

to K i ng Tiger H i s refusal fully confirmed the

.

’
lame woman s suspicions and she did not rest till
she had laid the whole matter b efore the chief .

He being an intimate fr iend of O hia tried to p er

, ,

suade h im to reveal the j oke and set the matter at

rest Ohia naturally was most unwilling to do
.

anything of the sort The persistent woman gave

.

t h e chief no peace till he summoned her husb and

to answer her charge b efore the assembly .

Finding no way of escape from the difficulty O hia ,

prep ared for death He first called all his friends and
.

relatives to a great feast and b ade them farewell ,

.

Then he put his a ff airs in order bequeathed all his

—

gold to the faithful Aw ir e h u and his p r operty ,

to his son and servants When he had finished he .

,

went to the Assembly Place where the people of the

neig h bourhood were gat h e r e d together .

1 12
 XX H O W THE T O RTO I SE G OT
.

ITS S HELL

FEW hund r ed years ago the chief Mauri

,

( God ) determined to have a splendid ya rn

festival He therefore sent his messengers

.

to invite all his chiefs and p eople to t h e gathering ,

which was to take p lace on Fida ( Fr i day ) .

O n the morning of that day he sent some of his

servants to the neighbouring towns and villages to
buy goats sheep and cows for the great feast Mr
, ,
.

Klo ( the tortoise) who was a tall and handsome

,

fellow was sent to buy palm wine H e was directed

,
.

t o the p alm fi e ld s of Koklovi ( the chicken )

- .

At that time Klo was a very powe r ful traveller and

speedily reached his destination although it was
,

’
many miles distant from Mau r i s p alace .

When he arrived Koklovi was taking his b reak fast .

When they had exchanged polite salutations Koklovi

asked th e r eason of Klo s visit He replied
’
. I was ,

sent by His Maj esty Mauri the ruler of the world

, ,

1 1
5
 W E S T gA F R I C A N FOL K TALE S -

” ’
to buy him p alm wine Whether he s ruler of the .

”
world or not answered Koklovi ,
no one can buy ,

my wine with money If you want it you must .

fight fo r it If you win you can have it all and the

.

palm trees too -

.

This answer delighted Klo as he was a very strong

fighter Koklovi was the same so that the fighting
.
,

continued fo r several hours b efo r e Klo was ab le to

overcome Koklovi He was at last successful how .
,

ever and secu r ely bound Koklovi b efore he left him

,
.

Then taking his great pot he filled it wit h w in e

, ,
.

Finding that the r e was more wine than the p ot would

hold Klo foolishly dra nk all the rest He then piled
,
.

the p alm trees on his b ack and set out for the p alace
-

with the pot of wine The amount which he had .

drunk however made him feel so sleepy and tired

, ,

that he could not walk fast with his load Added to .

this a terrib le rain b egan to fall which made the

, ,

ground very slipp ery and still more di ffi cult to trav el

over .

By the time Klo succeeded in reac h ing his

’
master s palace the gates were shut and locked .

Mauri finding it so late had concluded that eve ry

, ,

one was inside .

1 16
 WE S T AFR I CAN FOLK TALE S -

This she p erm itted only on t h e understand i ng t h at

,

she sang to h im alone .

The h unter did not rest long content w i th t hi s

arrangement however Soon he b egan to w i sh that
,
.

he could s h ow o ff th i s wonderful torto i se to al l t h e

world and thereby t h ought he would g ain great
,

h onour He told the secret first to one then to

.
, ,

another until finally it reached the ears of the c hi ef

,

himself The hunter was commanded to come and

.

t ell his tale b efore the Assemb ly When however .

, ,

he describ ed the torto i se who sang and played on

the harp the p eople shouted in scorn They refused
, .

to b elieve h i m .

At last he said If I do not s p eak tru th I give you

, ,

leave to kill me To morrow I will b ring the to rtoise

.
-

to this place and you may all hear her If she cannot .

” ”
do as I say I am willing to die
,
Good replied .
,

the p eople and if the tortoise can do as you say

, ,

we give you leave to punish us in any way you

”
choose .

The matter b eing then settled t h e hunter r e turned ,

home well pleased with the pros p ect As soon as

, .

the morrow dawned he carr i ed tortoise and h arp ,

—
down to the Assembly Place where a tab le had b een
1 20
THE HUNTER AND THE TORTO I SE
p l aced ready fo r h er Every one gathered round to.

listen But no song came The p eople were ve ry

. .

p atient and quite willing to give b oth tortoise and

,

hunter a chance Hou r s went by and to the .

, ,

hunte r s dismay and shame the tortoise re mained

’

mute He tried every means in his power to coax

.

h e r to sing but in vain T h e p eople at first w h is

,
.

pered t h en spoke outr i g h t in scorn of t h e b oaster

, ,

and his claims .

’
Nig h t came on and b rought with i t t h e hunter s
doom As the last ray of the setting sun faded he
.
,

was b eheaded T h e instant this had happ ened the

.

tortoise spoke The p eo p le looked at one anot h er

.

in trou b led wonder Our b rother sp oke truth then , ,

3)
and we have killed h i m The tortoise however .
, ,

went on to explain He b rought his punishment

.

on himself I led a happy life in the forest singing

.
,

my little song He was not content to come and

.

listen to me He h ad to tell my secret ( w h ic h did not

.

at all concern h im ) to all t h e world Had he not .

t r ied to make a show of m e th i s would ne v er have

happ ened .

It i m
s an who f or c ims e l f t hi
es h on n
g s,

N o t t hi n gs whic h f o r c e t he m s l e s e v on him .

121
 WE S T A FR I CA N FO LK TALE S -

him She said no human creature had ever b een

.

there b efore The boy told the tale of his search

.

for the princess elephant The old w oman replied

.

that this village was the home of all the elephants ,

and the pr i ncess slept there every night But she .

warned h im that if the animals saw him they would

kill him The young man b egged her to hide him
.

which she did in a great pile of wood

,
.

She also told him that when the elephants were all
asleep he must get up and go to the eastern corner .

T h ere he would find the p rincess He must walk.

boldly over cut off the tail and return in the same
,

manner If he were to walk stealthily the elephants

.
,

would waken and seize him .

T he animals returned as it was growing dark .

They said at once that they smelt a human being .

The old woman assured them that they were mis

taken Their supper was ready so they ate it and
.
,

went to b ed .

In the middle of the night the young man got up

and walked b oldly across to where the princess slept .

He cut o ff the tail and returned as he had come He .

then started for home carrying the tail very carefully

, .

Wh en daylight came the ele p hants awoke One .

1 24
 ’
THE PRI NCE S S ELEPHANT S TAI L
’
said he had dreamed t h at the p r incess s ta i l was
stolen The others b eat him for thinking such a
.

thing A second said he also had had t h e d r eam

.
,

and he also was b eaten The wisest of the elephants

.

then suggested that they might do well to go and see

if the d r eam we r e t r ue This they did They
. .

found the p rincess fast asleep and quite ignorant

o f the loss of he r tail They wakened her and all
.

sta r ted off in chase of the young man .

They t r avelled so quickly that in a few h ours they

came in sight of him He was afraid w h en he saw
.

them coming and cried out to his favourite idol

( which he always carr i ed in h is hair ) O my j,
uj u
D ep or What shall I do The juju advised him
to throw the branch of a tree o v er his shoulder .

This he did and it immediately g r ew up into a huge

t r ee which b locked the p ath of the elephants They
, .

stopped and b egan to eat up the tree which took—

them some little time .

Then they continued their way again Aga i n the .

young man cried ,

O my j uj u D epor ! What shall
”
I do ! !
Throw t h at corn cob b ehind you
-
,

answe r ed the j uju Th e lad did so and the corn

.
,

cob immediately g r ew into a large field of maize .

1 25
 WE S T A F R I CA N FO L K TAL E S -

The elephants ate their way through the maize ,

but when they arr ived at the other side they found
that the boy had reac h ed home So they had to give
.

up the chase and return to their village The .

pri ncess however refused to do so saying

, ,
I will , ,

return when I h ave p unished this impudent fellow .

She thereupon changed herself into a very beauti

ful maiden and taking a calab ash cymbal in her hand
,

approached the village All the people came out to

.

admire this lovely girl .

She had it proclaime d through the village that

whoever succeeded i n shooting an arrow at the
cym b al should have her for a b ride The young .

men all tried and failed An old man standing b y

.

said !
—
If only Kwesi the cutter of the p rincess
,

’ ”
ele p hant s tail were here he could hit the cymb al
—
,
.

”
Then Kwesi is the man I will marry replied ,

the maiden whether he hit the cymb al or not

,

Kwesi was quickly fetched from th e field where he

was p loughing and told of his good luck He
, .
,

h owever was not at all delighted to hear of it as he

, ,

suspected the ma i den of some trick .

However he came and shot an arrow which struck

,

the centre of the cymbal The damsel and he were

.

1 26
 ’
THE PRINCES S ELEPHANT S TAI L
ac c ordingly married She was all the time p rep aring
.

to punish him .

T h e night followi ng their marriage she tu r ned

into an elephant while Kwesi was aslee p She then
,
.

prep ared to ki ll him but Kwesi awoke in time He

,
.

cal led
,
O my j uj u D ep or ! Save me The
j uju t urned him into a grass mat lying on the b ed
and the p rincess cou l d not find him S h e was most .

annoyed and next morni ng asked h im where he had

b een all ni ght
. W h ile you were an elephant I was
’
t h e mat you l ay on rep lied Kwesi The damsel
,
.

took all t h e mats from t h e b ed and b urned them .

Next n i ght the p ri ncess aga in b ecame an elephant

and p rep ar ed to ki ll h er hus b and This time the .

juju c h anged him into a needle and h is wife could not

find him She again asked him in the morning
.

where he had b een Hearing that the juj u had

.

he l p ed h im ag ain she determined to ge t hold of the

i dol and destroy it .

Next day Kwesi was going agai n to his farm to

ploug h a field He told h is wife to b ring him some
.

food to t h e resting p lace This time she had fairly

-
.

made up h er m i nd t h at he s h ould not escape When .

he had h ad hi s food she sai d Now lay your head

,

12
7
 WE S T A F RI CAN FO L K TALE S -

in my lap and sleep . Kwesi quite forgot that his

juj u was hidden in his hair and did as s h e b id As .

soon as he was asleep she took the j uju out of his hair
and threw it into a great fire which she had p re p ared .

Kwesi awoke to find her an elep h ant on c e more I n .

great fear he cried out O my j uju D epor ! W h at

,

am I to do All t h e answer he got however cam e

, ,

from the flam e s . I am burning I am burning I

, ,

9)
am burning . Kw esi called aga i n for hel p and the
juju replied ,
L i ft u p your arms as if you were
3,
flying . H e did so and turned into a hawk .

That i s t h e reason why h awks are so often seen

flying i n t h e smoke of fires They are looking for
.

their lost j uj u .

1 28
 WE S T AF R I CAN FO L K TAL E S -

i s none left for you ! You must go to the fiel d and

”
get some rip e p aw p aw -
K w o fi never com pl a i n ed
. .

Never once did he taste any of the meat he h ad

hunted At every meal the others were serv ed but
.
,

there was ne v er eno u g h for h im .

One e v ening when the usual th i ng h ad h app ened

, ,

Kw o fi was p re p aring to go to the field to fet ch so m e

p aw p aw for h is su pp er All at once one of t h e gods
-
.

app eared in the village carry i ng a great b ag o v er hi s

,

shoulder He summoned all the villagers together

.

wit h these words O h my v i llagers I come w i th

, ,

3’
a b ag of deat h for you ‘
T h ereu p on h e b egan to distr i bute the contents of
his b ag among t h em When he came to Kwo fi h e
.

said ! Oh my son Kw o fi there was ne v er

, ,

”
s ufl i c ie n t meat for you neit h er i s t h ere any deat h
'

.
,

As h e said t h ese words e v ery one in t h e village d i ed

ex c e p t Kw o fi He was left to re i gn there i n p eace
.
,

w hich he d id v ery h ap p i ly .

3 0
 WE S T A F R I CA N F O L K TAL E S -

I n the meantime th e wolf was on his way to the

c ottage As he came he met a fox T h e fox was
. .

somewhat afraid of him and prep ared to run away .

The wolf however told him where he was go i ng and

, , ,

invited him to go too The fox agreed and the two

.

set o ff together They arrived at t h e cottage and

.

we n t straight to the place where the sheep generally

slept The wolf at once r ushed upon the animal
.
,

while Fox waited a little b ehind Just as Fox was .

deciding to enter and help Wolf there came a bright

flash of lightning By t h e light of it the fox could
.

see that t h e wolf was attacking not a sheep but a

— —

li on He hastily ran away shouting as he went

.
,

Look at his face Look at his face

During the flash Wolf did look at the p retended
s h ee p To his dismay he found h e had made a
.

great m i stake At once he b egan to make humble

.

apolog i es but all in v ain Lion refused to listen

— .

to any of h i s ex p lanations and speedily put him to

,

deat h .

1 32
 XXV MAKU MAWU AND MAKU
.

OR
’
I W I LL DIE G OD S DEATH AN D ’
I W ILL D I E TH E

K I N G S DEATH
’

N CE upon a time there were two men who

were such great fr iends that they were
almost always together If one was seen .

the other was sure to b e nea r They had given one .

another sp ecial names which we r e to b e used only

,

by themselves One name Maku Mawu meant

.
, , ,

’
I will die G od s death and the othe r Maku Fia
,
’

, ,

I will die the King s death ’

.
’

By and by however the other villagers hea r d these

, ,

names and g r adually eve ry one got into the habit of

calling the two fr iends by the nicknames in prefe r ence
to the real ones Finally the King of the count ry
.
,

heard of them and wished to see the men who had

chosen such st r ange titles He sent fo r them to .

Court and they came togethe r He was much

, .

pleased with the one who had chosen the name of

I 33
 WE S T AF R I CAN FO L K TALE S -

’ ’
M aku F i a b ut he was annoyed at the ot h er m an s
,

cho i ce an d sought a chance of p unishing him .

Wh en he had ta lked to t h em a little while h e ,

i nv i t e d b oth to a great feast w hi c h he was to g ive

’
in three days time As they went away h e gav e
.

a fine larg e yam to Maku Mawu and only a small

round stone to h is own favourite T h e latter felt
.

somew h at aggrie v ed at gett i ng only a stone w h ile ,

his friend got suc h a fine yam Very soon he said

.
,

Oh dear I do not th i nk it is any use carry i ng t h is

,

stone h ome How I w i sh i t were a yam ! Then I

.

”
could cook it for dinner Maku Mawu b eing very
.
—

—
generous immediately replied Then change with
,

me for I am quite tired of carrying my great yam

,
.

They exc h anged and each went o ff to his own home

, .

Maku Fia cut up h i s yarn and cooked it Maku .

Mawu broke his stone in half and found inside some

b eautiful ornaments which the King had hidden
t h ere He thought that he would play a trick on the
.

K i ng so told nob ody what had b een in the stone

,
.

’
On the t h ird day t h ey dressed to go to t h e K i ng s
feas t M aku Mawu put on all the b eautiful ornaments
.

out of the stone Maku F i a dressed himself just as

.

usual .

1
34
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO L K TALE S -

h er a large sum of money for it not tell i ng her of —

,

course what would happen to her husb and if the r i ng

,

were lost The woman went home and searc h ed

.

d i l i gently but found nothing Next day she tried .

again w i th no better success T h en she asked her

— .

h usband w h at he had done w i t h it He innocently .

told h er it was in t h e wall Next day w h en h e .

,

was ab sent s h e searc h ed so carefu l ly that at last s h e

,

fo und i t .

’
D elighted s h e ran o ff to the K i ng s p alace and gav e
,

t h e ring to h i m She got the prom i sed money and

.

returned h ome never dre aming that s h e h ad really

,

’
sold her h us b and s life .

On the s i xth day t h e King sent a message to Maku

Mawu telling him to p rep are for the next day T h e
, .

poor man b ethoug h t h imself of the ring and went

to look if it were still safe To h is desp air t h e h ole
.

was empty He asked h is wife and his neighbours

. .

All denied hav ing seen it He made up his mi n d .

that he must die .

I n the meantime the King had laid the r i ng i n one

of t h e dishes in his p alace and p rompt ly forgot about
it When the seventh morning had arr ived h e sent
.

messengers far and wide to summo n the p eo pl e to

,

1 3 6
 WE S T AF R I CAN FO L K TALE S-

thoug h t I may as well have some food before I die

, .

”
I will go and catch a fish in the pool .

He accordingly took his fish net and b ait and

-
,

’
started off to t h e very pool w h ere the Ki ng s d i s h es
had been was h ed Very soon he caught a fine large
.

fish Cutting it open to clean it h i s delight may be

.
, ,

imagined at finding t h e l ost ring ins i de it .

At once he ran o ff to t h e p alace crying ! I hav e

found the ring ! I have found t h e ri ng ! Wh en
the people heard him they all s h outed i n j oy
, He
’
named himself rig h t ly Maku Mawu for see t h e
,
—

”
death God h as chosen for him that only w il l h e d i e
, .

So the King had no excuse to harm h im and h e went ,

free .

1 38
XXVI . THE R O B BER AND THE O LD MAN

N a big town lived a very rich gentleman The .

fame of his we alth soon S p r ead A clever .

thief heard of it and determined to have some

fo r himself .

He managed to hide himself in a dark corner of the

’
gentleman s room while the latter was counting
—

his bags of money As soon as the old gentleman

.

left the room to fetch something the thief caught ,

up two of the bags and escaped .

The owner was astonished on his return a few

,

minutes later to find two b ags short He could find

, .

no trace of the thief .

Next morning howeve r h e ch anced to meet the

, ,

robber j ust outside the house The dis h onest man

.

looked so confused that the rich man at once suspected

h e was the thief He could not however p r ove it
.
, , ,

so took the case before the judge .

The thief was much alarmed when he he ard this .

He s o ught a man in the village and asked his advice .

I 39
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO L K TALE S -

T h e wise man undertook to help him if he would —

promise to pay him half the money when he got off .

This t h e ro b ber at once said he would do .

The old man then advised him to go home and d r ess

in rags He must ruffle his hair and b eard and behave
.

as if h e were mad If any one asked a question he

!
must answer Moo .

The thief did so To every question asked by the

.

”
j udge he said , Moo moo The j udge at last
, .

grew angry and dismissed the court The thief went .

home in great glee .

Next day the wise man came to him for his half of
,

the stolen money But he could get no answer but

.

Moo from the thief and at last in despai r he had

, , ,

to go home without a penny The ungrateful .

robber kept everything for himself The wise man .

regretted very much that he had saved the thief

from his j ust punishment b ut it was now too late
—
. .

1 40
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO L K TALE S -

Eac h told h is ta l e and af ter some frien d ly d i scuss i on

, ,

they decided to live together .

Bot h Leopard an d Ram had sons These two young .

animals p layed together while their p arents hunted .

The leop ard was v e ry much surpr i sed to find that

every evening h is fri end Ram b rought home j ust as
much meat or v enison from the hunt as he himself did .

He did not dare however to ask the other how he

, ,

obtained i t .

One day before setting out to hunt Leopard

, ,

requested his son to find out if possible from young , ,

Ram how his father managed to kill the animals

,
.

Accordingly while t h ey were at play little Leopard ,

inquired how Father Ram having neither claws nor

,

s h arp teeth succeeded in catc h ing and killing the

,

b easts Ram refused to tell unless young Leopard

.

’
would prom i se to show his father s way also The .

latter agreed Accordingly t h ey took two large pieces

.

of plantain stem and set out into the woods .

Young Leopard then took one p i ece and p laced

it i n p osition Then going first to the rig h t then to
.
, ,

the left bowing and standing on his hind legs and

—

p e e ping at the stem j ust as h i s fat he r did h e took

—

aim s p rang toward t h e stem an d tore it

, .

1
4 2
 XXVI I I WHY g T HE LEO PARD CAN ONLY
.

CATCH PREY ON ITS LEFT S I D E

T one time leop ards did not know how to catch

animals for food Knowing that t h e cat
.

was ve ry skilful in this way Leo p ard one

,

day went to Cat and asked very politely if s h e would

teach him the art Cat readily consented
. .

The first thing Leo p ard had to learn was to h ide

himself among the bus h es by the roadside so t h at ,

h e would not b e seen by any anima l p assing by .

Next he must learn how to move no i se l essly through

,

the woods He must never allow the animal he

.

ch ased to know that he was follow i ng it The third

.

great p rinciple was how to use his left p aws and

side i n sp ringing upon h i s p rey
.

Having taught him these three things Cat requested

,

him to go and p ract i se them well When he had

.

learnt them thoroughly he could return to her and

she would give him more lessons in hunting .

Leopard ob eyed At first he was very successful

.

K I
4S
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO L K TALE S -

and o b ta i ned al l t h e food h e wanted One day

.
,

h owever h e was unab le to catch anyth i ng at al l

, .

B eing v ery hun g ry he b etho u ght h i m self w hat h e

,

could h ave for d i nner Suddenly he re m e m b ered

.

that the cat had quite a large fam i ly He went .

straight to he r home and found her ab sent .

Never think i ng of her kindne s s to h im Leo p ard

—

only rememb ered th at he was hungry h e ate all

—

her kittens Puss on d i sco v ering t h is dreadful fa c t

.
, ,

was so angry that she refused to have anyt h ing m ore

to do w i th t h e g reat c reature
.

Consequently the leop ard has never been able to

learn how to catch animals that p ass hi m on t h e
ri ght s i de .

1
4
 WE S T A F R I C A N F O L K T A L E S -

When h e was a few weeks old she was one day ,

ve ry busy She laid him down on the b ed w h i l e she

.

went on with her task I n a few minutes several

.

boys came up to her in great anger Your son .

”
has been beating us and ill treating us in the street
-
,

”
said they My son ! she cried
. W hy my son .
,

”
is only a tiny baby He is lying aslee p on my b ed
. .

To convince them she went ind oors to show them

the b aby Imagine her surprise when he was no
.

where to b e seen ! She had to apologize to t h e

boys and b eg t h em to forg iv e the child Shortly .

after he came i n and put himself to bed

,
.

He continued these mischievous tricks till h is

mother could no longer endure them So she turned .

him out of the house and forb ade him to return He .

dep arted in great glee .

After walking a few miles he came to a bu i lding,

where a goat wolf tiger lion and elephant lived

, , , ,

ve ry happily together These animals were all sitt i ng

.

round their fire when he approached A fter many .

polite speeches he b egged their permission to stay

,

and b e their servant as he was motherless The

,
.

animals after a little discussion agreed to th i s

, , ,

t h ink i ng that he would b e ab le to hel p t h em i n

1
4 8
 Q U ARC O O BAH B ONI
-

many ways He was given a seat and some fo od

.
,

whic h he ate with great r elish .

These five animals usually took i t in tu r ns to go

out to their fa r m —
a few miles away eve ry morning
—
,

to b ri ng home food for the day It being Goat s .

’

turn he asked Q u arc o o to come with him to carry

,

back the load .

The b asket was accord i ngly handed to the little boy

and he set o ff meekly after the goat When they .

r eached the farm Q u arc o o set down the b asket and

,

ran off to p lay He paid no heed at all to the goat s

.
’

calls for assistance but went on quietly playing At

,
.

last the goat was so annoyed that he came up to

Q u arc o o and b oxed his ears To his great astonish
.

ment the boy gave him such a blow that h e fell to the
,

ground Q u arc o o then p r oceeded to b eat him till he

.

cried for mercy Nor would he stop his blows till

.

the goat had p romised to finish the work carry home ,

the load and tell no one what had happ ened H aving
,
.

p rom i sed this the goat was allowed to go fr ee By this

,
.

’
t i me the poor animal s face was b ru ised and swollen .

When the t i me came to go home the goat had to

p ack up the load and put it on his head Then they .

set out .

1
49
 WE S T AF R I CAN FO L K TALE S -

A s soon as t h ey came in sight of the i r cottage ,

Q u arc o o took the b asket from the goat and he himself

carried i t i nto the cottage .

T h e other animals all exclaimed in wonder when

’
they saw the goat s face and asked him how it had
,

hap p ened . I was unfortunate enough to get into

a swarm of b ees when I was working They stung .

”
me answered the poor goat
,
.

’
Next day it was the wolf s turn to go to t h e farm .

He also returned much b ruised and swollen Goat

, .

( guessing what had happened ) listened with a smile

to the excuses made by Wolf to the othe r s .

Goat and Wolf afterwa r d talked the matter over

and wondered much at the st r ength of the little boy .

Each day another animal took his turn at the farm ,

and each day he returned in the same condition as his

friends had done At last all the animals had b een
.
,

and all now came together to discuss how b est they

mig h t get rid of Q u arc o o B ah boni -
.

They made up their minds that early the following

,

morning they would start o ff together and leave

,

the b oy in p ossession of the house They p rep ared .

a big b asket of food and set i t ready .

Unf ortunate ly for them Q u arc o o had heard thei r

,

1
5 0
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO L K TALE S -

Having got rid of the ot h ers in this way h e h ast i ly ,

opened t h e b asket He was greeted b y Q u arc o o

.

i n the same way as Goat had b een and s p eedi ly ,

closed the b asket and followed the others I n this .

way each an im al got h is turn of carry i ng the b asket ,

and each was punished for his greed .

’
F i nally E l e p hant s turn came W hen h e rej o i ned
,
.

t h e ot h ers and asked some one to re l ieve him of h is

load they c ried out ,If you do not want to carry i t
”
any farther throw it away
,
He did so and t h ey
.
,

all took to the i r heels T h ey ran for several miles

.

and only sto p ped when they came to a huge tree in ,

whose s h ade they sat down to rest b eing quite ,

b reathless .

Q u arco o however h ad got there b efore them He

, , .

h ad quietly ste p ped out of t h e b asket taken a short ,

cut across country and arrived at the tree some time

b efore them He guessed that they would p rob ab ly
.

—
rest there s o he climb ed up into t h e b ranc h es .

There h e remained hidden among the leaves while

, ,

the an i mals sat on the ground b elow .

There they discussed Q u arc o o and all the trou b le

h e had caused them They blamed Goat for havi ng
.

been the one to persuade the m to take the b oy as a

1
5 2
 Q U ARC O O B AH B O N I -

servant Goat b eing the youngest of the company

.

had the domestic work to do and he had welcomed

the idea of help Goat indignantly denied b eing the
.

cause of all thei r t r oubles saying

,
If I am r eally
to blame for the admission of Q u arc o o let him appear
—

Q u arc o o p romptly j ump ed down fr om

3)
before us .

the tree and stood in front of them They were so

.

alarmed at his appearance they scattered in all

directions The wolf ran to the woods the tiger
.
—

into the heart of the forest the elephant to Nigeria

, ,

the lion to the desert and the goat to t h e abode of

,

human b eings That is the reason why they live

.

now in these various places instead of all togethe r

as t h ey did prev i ously .

1
53
 WE ST AFR I CAN FO LK TALE S -

T h ey would have a great race T h e animal w h ich .

reached and sat down fi r st on the stool s h ould b e

chosen king .

The day of the race arrived All animals great .

,

and small prep ared to take part in it The signal

,
.

—
being given they started o ff ,
The hare be i ng a .

very fine runner speedily outdistanced the others

—
.

He re ached the stool quite five hundred yards ahead

of t h e next animal You may j udge of his annoyance
.

wh en j ust as he was going to sit down a voice came

, ,

from t h e stool saying Take care Mr Hare take

, , ,

care I was h ere first

. This was the chameleon
. .

He b e i ng able to c h ange his colour to suit his

,

’
surroundings had seized Mr H are s tail j ust as the
,

race b egan Having made his colour match the

.

’
h are s no one had noticed him He h ad held on
, .

very tightly and when the hare turned round to take

,

his seat Chameleon dropped o ff and landed on the

stoo l .

T h e h are saw how h e had been tricked and was

ve ry angry The other animals h owever arrived
.
, ,

b efore he could harm the chameleon According .

to the agreement they had made they h a d no cho i ce ,

b ut to make Chameleon king .

1
5 6
 CHAMEL E ON AND THE ANI MAL S
But none of the animals we r e satisfied with the
choice So as soon as the meeting was over all
.
,

scatte r ed in eve ry di r ection and left Chameleon

quite alone .

He was so ashamed that he went and made his

home at the top of a ve ry high t r ee on a mountain .

In the dead of night you may hea r him calling

his attendants to come and stay with him But .

!
h e is left quite alone
. A king without subj ects is
no king .

1 57
 WE S T A F R I CAN F O L K TALE S -

He now b egan to fell the tree In a very few .

minutes he said to the serv ant

, See yonder i s a , ,

fine antelop e If you are quick you will b e ab le to

.
,

hit it with a stone Run The lad did as he was

.

bid and ran a long way but could see no sign of the
,
—

antelope I n his ab sence Spider seized t h e sharp

.
,

axe and hastened to cut as much of the tree as he

could carefully hiding the axe in h i s b ag b efore the
,

’
servant s return .

This trick he repeated several times till final ly the ,

tree was cut down Spider went to the King to get .

the ele p hant and took the serv ant to p rove that he
,

had used only t h e wooden axe He got h i s promised .

reward and started for home in great glee O n t h e

,
.

way howev er h e b egan to t h ink over t h e matter

, ,
.

Shall I take this animal home t h ought h e .

That would b e foolish for then I would b e obliged ,

to share it with my family No I wil l h i de it i n .

t h e forest and eat it at my leisure

,
In t h at way .

I can have the whole of it for myself Now w h at can .

’
I take home for the children s dinner
Thereu p on he looked around and a little distance , ,

away saw a tiny wren sitting on a tree

, Exactly .

”
what I want h e said to himself ,
That will b e .
!

1 60
 A WREN FO R AN ELEPHANT
quite s ufli c ie n t fo r them I will tie my elephant
.

”
to this tree while I catch the bi r d .

This he did but when he t r ied to seize the latter

, ,

it flew off He chased it for some time without ,

success. Well ! well ! said h e My family .

will j ust have to go without dinner I will now go .

b ack and get my ele p hant He returned to the

.

spot where he had left the animal but to his dismay

,

the latter had escap ed Spide r was obliged to go

.

home empty handed and he as well as his family

-
, , ,

w ent dinne r less that day .

1 61
 WE S T AF R I CAN FOL K TALE S -

an d gave him a v e ry powerful antidote for sn ak e

” !
poison .Keep it carefully said Serpent You , .

will find it very useful one day Wh en you are using .

it be sure to ask for the b lood of a traitor to mix

,

with it ”
.T he hunter having thanked Serp ent very ,

much took great care of the powder and always

,

ca r ried it about with him .

The leopard also showed his gratitude b y killing

animals for the hunter and supplying h im with
food for many weeks .

Then one day the rat came to him and gave

, ,

”
him a la rge bundle These said he are some
.
, ,

native cloths gold dust and ivo ry They will make

, , .

”
you r ic h The hunter than ked the rat very hear ily
. t

and took the bundle i nto his cottage .

After this the hunter was able to live i n great

comfort He built himself a fine new h ouse an d
.

supplied it with eve rything needful The man who m .

he had taken out of the p it still lived with h im .

This man however was of a very envious dis

, ,

’
position He was not at all pleased at his host s good
.

fortune and only waited an opportunity to do him

,

some harm He very soon had a chance

. .

A p roclamation was sounded throughout t h e

1 64
 WE S T A F R I CAN FO L K TALE S -

The King asked him if there we r e anything he needed

’
for it and he replied , A traitor s blood to mix it
with His Maj esty immediately pointed out the
wicked fellow who had accused the hunter and said
There stands the worst traitor for he gave up the
—

kind host who had saved his life. The man was at
once b eheaded and the p owder was mixed as the
serpent had commanded As soon as it was applied
.

’
to the p r ince s wound the young man was cu r ed .

I n g r eat delight the King loaded the hunter with

,

honours and sent him happily home .

1 66
 XXXI I I WHY TI GERS NEVER ATTACK
.

MEN UNLES S THEY ARE PR O VOKED

MAN hunting one day in the forest met a

, ,

tige r At first each was afraid of the other ;

.

but after some talking t h ey b ecame quite

fr iendly They agreed to live together fo r a little
.

time Fi r st the man would live with the tige r in his

.

forest home for two weeks Then the tiger would

.

’
come and live in the man s home .

The tiger b ehaved so well to the man during his

visit that the man felt he had never b een so well
treated in all his life Then came the time for the
.

tige r to retu r n home with the man As they we r e .

going the tige r was somewhat afr aid He asked the .

man if he r eally thought he would b e safe W hat .

if your friends do not like my face and kill me he

’
asked . You need fear nothing said his host ;
!

”
no one wil l touch you while I am the r e The .

’
tiger therefo r e came to the man s house and stayed
with him th r ee weeks He h ad b rought his male
.

1 67
 WE S T AF RI CAN FO L K TALE S -

cub with him and the young tiger became very

,

fr iendly with the man s son ’

.

’
Some months later the man s father died Whe n .

’
Tiger heard of his friend s great loss he and 11 18 cub ,

set out at once to see and condole wit h him They .

b rought a large sum of money to help the man .

’
As Tiger was going home again two of the man s
friends lay in hiding for him and shot him Fo rt u .

n at e l
y he was not killed b ut he was very much
,

grieved lest these men had shot h i m at his fr i end s ’

wis h He determined to find out i f the man h ad

.

known anything at all about the shot .

Accordingly he went to the p lace in the forest

Where he had first met his friend There he lay .

d own as if he were dead after telling his cu b to watc h

,

a n d s e e W ha t wou l d h ap p en .

B y an d b y t h e ma n c ame along Wh en he s aw .

the tiger lying as h e thought dead he was terrib ly

, , ,

trou b led He b egan to cry and mourn for his

.

’
friend and sat there al l night long wit h Tiger s cub
, ,

to watch that no harm should b efall the b ody .

W hen morning came and Tiger was quite assured

that his friend had had nothing at all to do with the
shot he was v ery glad He got up then to the
, .
, ,

1 68
 XXXIV THE. O M AN H E N E WH O LI KED
RI D DLE S

HE O m an h e n e is the chief of a v i llage A .

certain O m an h e n e had three sons who we r e

,

ve ry anxious to see the world They w ent

.

to their fathe r and asked p ermission to travel This .

p ermission he readily gave .

It was the turn of the eldest to go first He was .

p r ovided with a servant and with all he could possibly

require for the j ourney .

After travelling for some time he came to a town

whe r e lived an O m an h e n e who loved riddles B eing .

a strange r the traveller was according to custom

, ,

b rought by th e p eop le b efore the c h ief .

The latter explained to him that they had certain

laws in their village One law was that every stranger
.

must b eat the O m an h e n e in answering riddles o r he

w o uld b e b eheaded He must b e p rep ared to begin
.

the contest the following morning .

Next day he came to the Assemb ly Place and found ,

1 7 1
 WE S T AFRI CAN FOLK TALE S -

the O m an h e n e
there wit h all his attendants The .

O m an h e n e asked many riddles As the young man .

was unable to answer any of them he was judged ,

to have failed and was b eheaded .

After some time the second son of the O m anh e n e

started on his travels By a strange chance he .

arrived at the same town where his b rother had

died He also was asked many riddles and failed
.
,

to answer them Accordingly he t o o was put to

.

death .

By and by the third brother announced his in t e n

tion of travelling His mother did all in her p ower
.

to p ersuade him to stay at home It was quite in .

vain .

She was sure that i f he also reached the town where

his b r others had died the same thing would happen ,

to him Rather than allow this she thought she

.
,

would p refer him to die on the way .

She p rep ared for him a food called c an k e y which

—

she filled with poison Having p acked it away in his .

bag he set o ff Ve ry soon he b egan to feel h ungry

, . .

Knowing however that his mother had not wished

, ,

him to leave home and the r efore might have put ,

some poison in the food he thought he would test it ,

1
7 2
O MAN HE N E WHO LI KED RI D DLE S
b e fore eating it himself Seeing a vulture near by
.
,

he threw it half the cake .

The bird ate the c an k e y and immediately fell dead ,

by the r oadside Three p anthers came along and

.

b egan to eat the vultu r e They also fell dead

. .

The young man cut off some of the flesh of the

panthers and roasted it He then p acked it care .

fully away in his bundle .

A little fart h er on he was attacked by seven h igh

way robb ers They wanted to kill him at once
. .

He told them that he had some good roast meat

in his bundle and invited them to eat with him
fi r st They agreed and divided up the food into
.

eight p arts .

While they we r e eating the young man carefully

hid his po rtion Soon all the seven robb ers fell ill
.

and died The young man then went on his way

. .

At last h e reached the town whe r e his brothers had

died Like them he was summoned to the Assembly
.
,

Place to answer the r i ddles of t h e O m an h e n e For .

two days th e contest p roved equal At the end of that .

time the young man said

,
I have only one riddle ,
!

left If you are able to answe r that you may put me

.
,

to death He then gave this r iddle to the O m an h e n e

.

1
73
 WE S T AF R I CAN FO L K TALE S -

H l f kill
a s on e

On e k ill s t h r e e
T h re e k ill s s e ve n .

The ruler failed to answer it that evening so it ,

was p ostponed t i ll the next day .

During the night the O m an h e n e disguised him

self and went to the house where the stranger was
s taying There he found the young man asleep in
.

the hall .

Imagining that the man before him was the

’
s tranger s ser v ant and never dreaming that it was
,

t h e stran ger himself he roused the sleeper and

,

p romised him a large reward if he would give him

t h e solution to th e riddle .

The young man replied that he would tell the

answer if the O m an h e n e would b ring him the
c ostume which he always wore at the Assemb ly .

The ruler was only too pleased to go and fetch it

for him When the young man had the garments
.

quite safely he explained the riddle fully to the

,

crafty O m an h e n e He said that as they were leaving

.

home the mother of his master made him c an k e y I n

, .

order to find out if the c ank e y were good they gave ,

h alf to a vulture The latter died Three p anthers

. .

1 74
 XXXV . H O W M U SHR O OM S FI RST G REW

ON G long ago t h ere dwelt in a town two

,

b r others whose b ad habits b rought them

much troub le D ay by day they got more
.

deeply in debt Their creditors gave them no peace

.
,

so at last they ran away into t h e woods T h ey .

b ecame highway robb ers .

But they were not happy The i r minds were .

troubled by their evil deeds At last they de c ided .

to go home make a big farm and p ay o ff t h eir

, ,

debts gradually .

They accord i ngly set to work and soon had quite

a fine farm prep ared for co r n As the so i l was good .
,

they hoped the harvest would b ring them in much

money .

U nfortunately that very day a b u s hf o wl came

,

along Being hungry it scratched up all t h e newly

.
,

plante d seeds and ate them .

The two poor b rothers on arriving at the field ,

next day were dismayed to find all their work quite

,

M 1 77
 WE S T A F R I C A N F O L K T A L E S -

wasted They put down a trap for the thief That

. .

evening the b u s hf o wl was caught in it T h e two .

b rothers w h en they came and found the bird told

, ,

it that now all their debts would b e transferred to it

because it had robbed them of the means of p aying
t h e debts themselves .

The poor bird in great trouble at having su c h a

—

i —
burden thrust upon t made a nest under a silk
cotton tree T h ere it b egan to lay eggs meaning to
.
,

hatch them and sell the young birds for money to

p ay off the debt .

A terrib le hu r ricane came however and a branch, ,

of the tree came down All the eggs were smashed

. .

As a result the b u s h f o w l transferred the debts to t h e

,

tre e as it had broken the eggs

,
.

The silk cotton tree was in dismay at h avi ng suc h

-

a big sum of money to p ay off It immediately set .

to work to make as much silk cotton as it possi b ly

could that it m i ght sell i t
,
.

An elephant not knowing all t h at h ad h app ened

, ,

came along Seeing the silk c otton he came to the

.
‘

tree and plucked down all its b earings By this means .

the debts were transferred to t h e p oor elephant .

The elep h ant was very sad w h en h e found wh at

1 7 8
 HOW MU S H ROOM S FI RST G REW
he had done He wandered away into the desert
.
,

thinking of a way to make money He could think .

of none .

As he stood quietly under a tree a poor hunte r ,

c r ept up This man thought he was very lucky to

.

find such a fine elephant standing so still He at .

once shot him .

Just befo r e the animal died he told the,

hunter that
now the debts would have to b e paid by him The .

hunter was much grieved when he heard this as ,

he had no money at all .

He walked home wondering what he could do to

make enough money to p ay the debts In the dark .

ness he did not see the stump of a tree which the

ove r see r s had cut down in the road He fell and .

b r oke his leg By this means the debts were trans

.

ferred to the tree stump -

.

Not knowing this a party of white ants came along

,

next morning and began to eat into the tree When .

they had b roken it nearly to the g r ound the tree told ,

them that now the debts we r e t h e i rs as they had ,

killed it .

The ants b eing very wise held a council together

, ,

to find out how best they could make money They .

I 79
 W E S T A F R I C A N F O L K -TA L E S
decided each to contr i bute as much as p ossi b le .

With the p roceeds one of their young men would go

to the nearest market and buy pure linen thread .

This they would weave and sell and the p rofits would
go to help p ay the debts
.

This was done From time to time all the linen

.

in s tock was b r ought and spread out in the sunshine

to keep it in good condition When men see t h i s
.

linen lying out on the ant hills they call it mus h

-
,

’
room and gather it for food
, .

1 80
 WE S T AFR I CAN F O L K TALE S -

very little trouble on hi s p art He returned home .

,

’
exceedingly well pleased with his day s work having ,

resol v ed to keep the field a secret even from his wife .

Early i n January when it was time to burn the d ry

,

bus h he set off to his field one afternoon with the

, , ,

means of making a fire Ho p ing to have the fairies

.
’

assistance on c e more h e intentionally struck the

,

trunk of a tree as he p assed Immediately came the .

question ,
W h o is there st r iking the stumps ,

He p rom p tly replied I am M y b ro w come to burn

, ,

”
down the bush . Accordingly the dried bushes ,

were all burned down and the field left clear in less
,

time than it takes to tell it .

Next day t h e same thing h appened M yb ro w .

came to chop up t h e stumps for firewood and clear

the field for digg i ng I n a very short time his
.

faggots and firewood were piled ready while the ,

field was b are .

So it went on The field was divided into two

.

p arts one for maize and one for yams In all the
— .

prep arations digging sowing planting the f airies

—
,
—
,

gav e great assistance Still the farmer had managed

.
,

to keep the w h ereab outs of his field a secret from his

wi fe and neig hb ours .

1 82
 WE S T AFR I CAN FO LK TALE S -

’
my husband s field and I have a right to pick O ut .

came the fairies . Let us all help M yb ro w s wife ’

”
to pluck her corn and yams said they Before the
, .

fr ightened woman could say a word the fairies had ,

all set to work with a will and the corn and yams lay
,

useless on the ground B eing all gre e n and unrip e

.
,

’
the harvest was now utterly spoiled The farmer s .

wife wept bitterly but to no purpose She returned

,
.

slowly home not knowing what to say to her husb and

,

ab out such a terrible catastrophe She decided to

.

keep silence about the matter .

Accordingly next day the poor man set o ff glee

,

fully to his field to see how his fine crops were going
on His anger and dismay may b e imagined when
.

he saw his field a complete ruin All his work and

.

foresight had b een absolutely ruined through his

’
wife s forgetfulness of her p romise .
 RE TU RN TO t h e c i rc ul a t io n d e s k o f a n y
Un i ve rs i t y o f C a l if orn i a L i b ra ry
or to the

N O RTHERN REG IO NA L L I B RA RY FA C I LITY

B l d g 4 00 Ri c h m on d Fie l d S t a t i on
.
,

Un i ve rs it y o f C a l i f orn ia
Ri c h m on d C A 94 8 04 4 6 98
,
-

A L L B O O KS MAY B E REC A L L ED A FT ER 7 DA Y S
2 m on t h l o a n s m a y b e re n e we d b y c a l l in g
-

( 4 1 5 )6 4 2-
6 233
1- y e ar l o a n s m a y be re c r
h a ge d b y b ri n gi n g b oo k s
t o N RLF
Re n e wa l s a nd re c h arge s m a y be m ad e 4 d ays
p ri o r t o d ue d t ea

DUE AS S TA M PED B EL O W

J AN09 199!