Author: Patrick

Categories
Ethnic Origin

The Oracle of Ku-Jopleh

Ku-Jopleh was the oracle of the Kru groups, and lived in a cave on the heights of Mount Jidiah, just as the oracle of the Putu lived in a cave on the slopes of Mount Gedah.

Ku-Jopleh was a powerful oracle and possessed unnatural wisdom; the Kru groups along the coast worshipped him and sought his counsel in times of need; but he was particularly venerated by the Sasstown Krus.

The Sasstown Krus originally lived inland at a place called Boe-boe-jle, and when they decided to settle on the coast it was Ku-Jopleh who chose the site for their new town. A certain family called Gbae-wynpo belonged to this group, and only members of that family could speak with Ku-Jopleh.

When the Sasstown Krus settled on the coast and built Sasstown they continued to worship the oracle with admirable zeal, and Krus from many other groups came with gifts to seek advice on affairs of great importance.

Tradition says that Ku-Jopleh himself had no use for the gifts men brought, since he was not human, and that the Gbae-wynpo family took possession of such gifts: but Ku-Jopleh’s counsels and decisions were infallible and no one minded paying for the truth.

In matters of war, farming, trade and marriage the Sasstown Krus would do nothing before consulting him; the oracle even appointed the leaders of that group.

The Gbae-wynpo family has long since died out, and Ku-Jopleh is no longer consulted by the Krus. Yet he is respected still, and even today there is a man in Sasstown who blows on a hallowed elephant’s tusk and evokes sad, hollow-sounding notes in praise of Ku-Jopleh.

This horn is only blown when storms arise and lightning crackles across the sky; for thunder is thought to be his angry voice, and the melancholy notes of the horn beg him to rest in peace.

Categories
Folktales

A Snail and Iguana Fought and Caused the Moon to Shine

When Hungry Season came and the weaker animals were dying from starvation, Leopard found a bread-nut seed and took it to his family. It was so small that even Baby Leopard scorned to eat it.

So great was the animals’ hunger that anyone who laughed or cried would die, but the family laughed at the little seed by holding their lips apart with their paws; and they cried for hunger by damping their eyes with water and letting it trickle down their faces.

Leopardess was a wise woman; she planted the bread-nut seed in the ground, hoping that it might grow to a tree with fruit in later years. But in the darkness of the night a strange and wonderful thing took place: the seed grew to be a mighty tree laden with fruit, and ripe pods were scattered on the ground beneath it, some cooked and others raw.

The Leopard family ate until their stomachs throbbed with fullness.
But Leopard was never a charitable animal and he decided he would hire a watchman who would guard this food for the Leopard family.

Such a watchman would have to be some animal who could conquer and outwit such mighty animals as Elephant and Crocodile, and this problem was a thing which caused Leopard much thought and worry.
Leopardess, with her cunning, advised him to choose Snail.

Now, those times were long ago, even before the moon was married to the earth, and Snail was a round, round animal instead of the half-round animal he is; when he was tucked inside his shell no one could tell if he was standing up or lying down. He was full of slime and slipperiness and part of his house was hinged; and so powerful was his slipperiness that a drop of it could cause an ox to skid about on a sandy beach.

Snail became the watchman and guarded Leopard’s tree. He sprayed the tree with powerful slime so that animals and birds could not approach it: and then Leopard invited all the animals to come.

“Bring a little strength, a little courage, and your appetites,” he said, “and you shall eat your fill as soon as you have overpowered Snail.”

But how could the starving animals fight when laughter or tears would cause their death?

Elephant advanced to battle with Snail. He tried to squash the little beast, but slippery Snail slid from under him and the clumsy Elephant skidded and fell with a thump. No matter how he thrashed about and trumpeted he could not gain his feet again. Snail pushed him, and Elephant slid helplessly down the trail on the terrible slime of Snail.

Crocodile came, and Buffalo, and grumpy Hippopotamus; and all failed. Then Iguana came, with grim determination in his beady yellow eyes; he had three of them in those days.

Iguana was a reptile and accustomed to long periods of starvation: his strength had stayed with him, and his long claws were proof against the slippery slime of Snail. He was a nimble and bouncy animal who always fell on his feet, and his long straight tongue could be used as a handy weapon.

Snail and Iguana rushed upon each other; Iguana scrabbled with his claws and Snail rolled up in a ball to bang and bounce against him like a heavy sea pounding a rocky shore. So rough were Iguana’s scales and so tough was the shell of Snail that as they clashed in mortal combat streams of sparks and lightning flew.

Iguana tossed Snail in the air, high up in the heavens; but when Snail fell he fell on Iguana and flattened out his head. This changed the shape of Iguana’s head and squeezed out his third eye.

Then Snail threw Iguana so high in the air that Iguana saw the moon, which in those times was far away and had never been seen before. Iguana gave his third yellow eye to the blind moon and told her to wait nearby, just in case he needed help.

When he fell down to earth he fell on top of Snail with a loud ‘Thump’. The hinged part of Snail’s shell broke off uncovering his vitals, and Snail became a half-long animal where before he had been completely round.

Snail was winded, wounded, and unhinged.

Iguana won the battle: but his head was flattened, he split his tongue when swallowing Snail’s broken piece of shell, and he had given his third yellow eye to the moon. The moon still waits close to the earth in case Iguana should need help.

Categories
Folktales

How Spider Was Beaten, Eaten, Skinned, and Burned

Spider discovered a half-town owned by a family of rich Bush Devils. Even during Hungry Season the Bush Devils always had food, and Spider saw that just now their house was packed with good things to eat.

He decided to steal as much food as he could, but since he did not know the magic words to open and close the door he hid nearby and listened carefully when the Bush Devils went out to work next day. He heard the magic words.

When all the Bush Devils had gone to the fields Spider opened the door of the biggest house with magic words and went inside. There were too many things inside. Kinjahs of rice and bags of corn, pots of palm oil and piles of nuts, dried fish and dried meat, palm cabbage and potato greens, cassavas and yams and berries, red pepper and spices and salt.

He sat down happily and ate and ate. He ate too much. When he had eaten too much he kept eating more, for Spider is the greediest of all animals.

He was still eating when the Bush Devils returned. He hide behind a basket and no one saw him. The Bush Devil family sat down to their meal and began talking about the awful Hahnhorn Bird.

Hahnhorn Bird eats Bush Devils, and every sensible Bush Devil fears him more than anything else.

Spider watched the family eating, and then he began to beg food from Baby Bush Devil. Every time Spider touched him, the little Bush Devil would say:

“Leave me.” Father Bush Devil grew tired of hearing this.

“What’s the trouble, Baby Bush Devil?” he asked.

He began to look. Spider screeched out the cry of the awful Hahnhorn Bird. The Bush Devil family were filled with fear. They all piled out of the door and bounded to the fence.

Spider bounded after them and pushed them over the fence, and then returned to the house to begin eating again. He pushed his head inside a basket and stuffed and stuffed, and when he heard the Bush Devil family coming back he found he had swelled so much he could not withdraw his head from the basket.

The Bush Devil came armed with big sticks and peered cautiously into the house looking for Hahnhorn Bird. They saw a basket walking around the room on legs, and bumping into things. They watched it in silence for a little while.

“Daddy,” said Baby Bush Devil, “is that Hahnhorn Bird?”

Father Bush Devil said he did not think so. He observed the wandering basket more closely, and then said:

“I think it is Spider. With his head in my basket. He has been stealing food, so let us kill him.”

When Spider heard this he began bumping rapidly around in circles; and when big sticks began to beat him he jumped even more rapidly until he fell down on the floor.

The Bush Devils flogged and flailed him and Spider howled in pain. He struggled and fought to free his head from the basket and finally, when the stick had beaten off most of his skin, he managed to get the basket off. But he left all his hair behind in the basket.

He scrambled away from the sticks, rushed outside and flew over the fence like a bird. A skinned bird. He went down to the sea and put sea foam on his head, then asked an old lady to cut his hair.

“But Spider!” she cried, “where have you left your skin?”

“In another place,” said Spider. “Cut my hair.”

When she tried to cut his hair, which was not there, all the sea foam came off. Spider scolded her.

“You have destroyed my beautiful hair. You must bathe me in palm butter.”

Having no skin made Spider feel very sore, and palm butter, he decided, would feel very nice. The old lady began dipping palm butter from a big pot and pouring it over him. It was soothing to Spider’s skin; even more soothing, he thought, when he licked it off.

It was excellent palm butter. It had a good taste Spider decided he might as well get inside the palm butter pot, so when the old lady turned away for a moment he jumped in.

But it was the wrong pot. It was a pot full of red pepper. The red pepper seared Spider’s body with a fiery heat, just as fire might scorch an ear of corn. He leaped out and rushed into the sea to cool.

A skinned Spider sauced with palm butter and seasoned with red pepper is Gripper’s favorite meal. Gripper-fish seized Spider and ate him with great relish.

Categories
Ethnic Origin

The Origin of the Gbeta

Men tell an ancient story of the first Gbeta man, who was the father of the Gbeta people.

Judu Kuhn To was a member of the Pahn centuries ago, and more; and Pahn settled among the Manii on the upper reaches of the Jedani or St. John River. Judu Kuhn To was a sad and lonely man, for although he was married to a gentle wife, he had no children, and he felt his life was only half the life a man should have.

Youth passed from the childless couple, but they still prayed fervently to Nyiswa that he might bless them with a child: and eventually he did this thing.

In her old age the woman conceived, and Judu Kahn To took her away from the village that their secret might be kept and she could bear her child in peace: for younger women might have laughed at her. He took her to a sick-bush, and all things were made ready for the child.

When it was born a servant who had visited them spread certain reports in the village. She said that although the woman had indeed been sick with a swollen belly, it was actually a sheep who had given birth to the child, and left it at the door of Judu Kahn To. And since the woman was beyond her fertile years, people believed the tale.

The child was called Kangbi (shut door), and everyone except his parents thought he was the miracle-child of sheep.

Kangbi grew up to be a strong and handsome young man, but when he wished to take a wife no girl would live with him; they thought his mother was a sheep. This made Kangbi sad and lonely.

As he was going forth to harvest rice one day he saw a beautiful maiden passing by, carrying a small basket on her head, and he wondered who she was and what lucky man would win her; but when he returned to his house that afternoon she was sitting in his kitchen preparing his evening meal. He was not at all alarmed; it gave him melancholy pleasure to see a lovely maiden in his kitchen, where no maiden had ever been before.

“Greetings, and welcome,” he said. “My name is Kangbi, and this is my house. My food is your food, and my house is your house for as long as you may wish to stay.”

“I thank you for your courtesy,” she said. “I come from Nyiswa. It is said that you are the son of a sheep, and for this falsehood no girl will marry you; so God has sent me to be your wife.”

She said she had no name and that he should call her (name lost). Kangbi gladly took her as his wife. He love her well, and she loved him, and when she bore a son his life was full. The boy was named Gbe.

Gbe had twelve sons, each of whom developed a ‘house’ which eventually became a clan.

Today there are still twelve Gbeta clans; Gbeta means the home or ‘house’ of Gbe.

Kru women still make and use a certain type of basket in memory of the one Nyenema carried on her head.

Categories
Folktales

How Ji Choose a Mate

Leopard’s daughter Ji was the most beautiful of all the animals; the young male animals made love to her, and the other girls were jealous.

Leopard arranged that a great feast should be held in honor of his daughter, and at the feast Ji would choose the animal whom she wished to marry.

The animals washed and dressed in fine raiment and quarreled jealously among themselves as to which among them would win the fair Ji’s hand; there was palaver everywhere and no one’s head was safe.

For a long time Tortoise could not make up his mind whether to go or not; he was a humble animal but was becoming rather tired of being a rubbish heap for everyone else’s rude remarks. He knew he was ugly and did not mind very much. He just became tired of being told so.

But, since he secretly loved Ji, he finally decided he would go to the feast and pay her his respects, for even in affairs of the heart Tortoise was a gentleman. He bathed in a stream and scrubbed his back till it gleamed and glinted with a glass-like polish. He rubbed his paws and his head till they shone, perfumed his shell, and set off for the meeting.

Ji was dancing with Denyne the Antelope when Tortoise arrived, and when the music stopped Tortoise gave her his seat and gravely bowed to her with humble dignity. Among the bold and brash young animals who courted her, Tortoise’s polished manners stood out like flowers on rocky ground.

“A shy and retiring personality,” she thought, “but oh, such pretty manners!”

Antelope tried to talk with her, but she had eyes only for Tortoise’s shining shell. Antelope followed the direction of her gaze, and decided to bring shame on Tortoise. He quickly made up a song, and then began singing in a loud voice for everyone to hear.This was the song which Antelope sang:

“Ne Kwla na? Is this Tortoise? Nynepei wlala ti. All the animals are present. Tee Ji pe wlala ti. All the Leopards are present. Denynepo wlala ti, All the Antelopes are here, O Ji nyene pen. And he comes to look for a wife. A hji ne. All of you see him. Ne Kwla na, This Tortoise here, O sa ten ken. He has no pride.”

But even before Antelope had finished his song, Ji crossed over to Tortoise and put her arms around him. She turned to Father Leopard, saying

“Father, this is the animal I wish to marry . . . if he will agree. He is an animal of dignity and noble manners, and I beg that he will let me be his wife.”

So it was that Tortoise won the fair and lovely Ji, and the pride and vanity of other animals grew pale and died.

Categories
Folktales

The Woman Who Knew Her Child

Two women called Tane and Bea were traveling through the forest. Each of them had a baby son, and the two sons were alike as a pair of eggs. They came to a river.

They were crossing the river in a canoe when the canoe sank. They both reached the shore, but only one of the babies was saved. The two women argued.

“He is mine!” Tane declared. “Give him to me!”

“Do I not know my own son?” cried Bea. “Such foolishness you talk!”

“Oh, for shame! You steal my child!”

They could not agree, so they went to a Wise Man. The Wise Man listened, and then said:

“It seems to me that the child belongs to both of you. Therefore it must be cut in half with a knife, and you will each receive a portion. Which half do you each want?”

Tane was silent, but Bea was big-eyed with anger.

“Would you kill the child?” she protested. “He belongs to me, but rather than see him killed I will give him whole to Tane.”

“Ha!” said the Wise Man. “Here we have a thing: one can begin to see the truth. Only she who was not the mother of the child could bear to have him cut in half. Tane is not the mother. The child belongs to Bea, who would rather lose him whole and alive then possess half of him dead.”

Categories
Folktales

How Turtle Drowned Leopard in the Sea

The night sky was bright with glowing stars and a small-small sea breeze was blowing inshore; the moon was a dull and misty orange slipping down behind the edge of the ocean.

Turtle looked outside and saw what a nice night it was, and decided to go for a walk along the beach and lay her eggs. She went quite a long way, waited quietly by a palm until she felt sure no one was watching, then dug a hole in the sand and began to lay her eggs.

Leopard happened to be walking along the beach too. He found Turtle’s tracks, and since he had nothing better to do he followed them to see where Turtle was going. He saw Turtle laying eggs, and began to wonder what the taste of such an egg might be. He crept silently up behind her, took an egg and tasted it.

Turtle’s eggs, Leopard thought, were very good to eat.

As fast as she could lay eggs Leopard ate them; but at last he became too greedy. He could not wait; he reached inside her to get eggs faster . . . Turtle suddenly snapped her shell down hard, and Leopard’s paw seemed to be trapped by jaws of bone.

She dragged him down the beach, into the water, and out among the waves.

Leopard could not escape. He drowned.

Categories
Folktales

The Stupidity of Bug-A-Bug

Two orphan-brothers who were poor went to a rich man and asked for money so that they could trade. The rich man loaned them money, but instead of using it to trade they bought wine and the best food and lived happily for several days.

When there were only two pieces of money left the two orphans agreed that they would have to do something. There was no longer enough money to begin trading, so they resolved to make a farm and plant corn; with the money they gained from the crop they could pay the rich man back.

They made the farm, but when the crop came Bapoh, the bush hen, ate it. The two orphans took Bapoh to the rich man.

“Bapoh ate our crop, and we cannot pay you back.”

Bapoh promised to pay herself, with eggs. But Elephant walked on her nest and crushed the eggs, and Bapoh took him to the rich man.

“Elephant promised to pay with money he earned by working. A Hunter shot Elephant in the foot so that he could no longer work; the hunter took over the debt and said he would pay with the game he killed.

But hunter was lamed when his foot caught in the root of a tree, and since he could no longer hunt the debt was passed on to the tree.

“I will pay with my fruit,” said Tree; but Bug-a-bug (termite) ate the fruit and starting eating the tree as well.

“I cannot pay,” tree said to the rich man. “Bug-a-bug is eating me.”

“I will pay,” said Bug-a-bug. “I will surely pay the debt.”

But Bug-a-bug is a foolish and dull-witted creature, just an eater of wood, and he did not really know what he was saying. The only thing he could do was eat, and since he had to pay a debt he thought he could pay it just by eating. He ate and ate, and he is still eating.

Categories
Folktales

How Vain Antelope Was Humbled

Antelope grew lonely living in the forest by himself, so he went to Deer to ask if he could have Deer’s daughter as a wife.

When he arrived at the house he was well received, and his request met with the approval of both Deer and his wife. They were quite willing to let Antelope marry their only daughter.

As was the custom, the prospective son-in-law was called on during the farming season to help clear the bush. Antelope arrived as night was falling, and Mother Deer offered him some beans. During the farming season when there is no rice, beans are the staple food; but

Antelope was vain, and would not eat the beans. He said he only ate white rice, and that common beans were not fit food for such superior animals as himself. Good Mother Deer apologized.
“I’m sorry, Antelope, we have nothing else.”

Antelope went to bed hungry; and when he rose in the morning he was much hungrier. He was in the kitchen early, watching Mother Deer preparing food. She put a pot of beans on the fire with palm oil, pepper, salt and leaves for seasoning, and then she went to fetch water with her little iron anklets singing ‘clink-clank.’

Antelope crossed to the fire, quietly lifted the palm-butter strainer off the pot, and sucked up bones as fast as he could, even though they were not properly cooked.

In a little while he heard Mother Deer’s anklets singing ‘clink-clank, clink-clank’ as she returned. Quickly he clapped his hat on the pot and put the palm-butter strainer on his head. He was so nervous he did not notice what he had done.

Mother Deer came in and he sat quietly and seriously opposite her with the palm-butter strainer on his head.
Mother Deer saw this, and was amazed.

“But my son!” she cried, “what do you have on your head?”

Suddenly Antelope realized what he had done. Such a fool he had made of himself! He ran out of the door and into the forest, and he never returned.

Those who put themselves in high places are in danger of falling down.

Categories
Ethnic Origin

The Loma and Mende

The Loma and the Mende came from the northeast, skirting the great Mandingo Plateau. They settled among the mountains and High Forests of northern Liberia, a wild and remote watershed where five of the nation’s greatest rivers find their source.

The Loma were a vigorous and warlike people and today they are relied upon to furnish some of the best recruits for the Liberian Frontier Force?

The Loma pressed against the peoples south of them, and were engaged in sporadic feuds with their neighbors. When a powerful Mandingo raiding force came down from the Mandingo homeland in the north, led by a man named Foli, a Loma Chief called Nyakwe joined the raiders with his army.

The Mandingo-Loma combination made a treaty with the Kpelle, attacked the Gola and drove them west into uninhabited forests. The raiders carried the war into Via territory, and it is said that Yabakwa on the Japala Creek was founded by these warriors.

The Loma later turned against the Kpelle, and a warrior called Bau led his people into battle. Amongst many places the Loma captured was Malawo Hill, and here Bau built a town which soon gained the reputation of being the most feared and dreadful place in the land.

The people of this town were known as Gizima, “the People on the Hill,” and they were the most powerful exponents of black magic and the art of poisons known in the land.

This town was also the home of outlaws, renegades and refugees from tribal justice, but has since been made aware of the law and power of the Liberian Government.

Legend tells of a movement south from the High Forests by a group of Loma people who were sent forth to find a route to the sea. They included some hundreds or warriors; they made their way down through Gola and Dey country and established a beach-head on the coast.

They began sending salt back to their people, but the Dey, who had developed the manufacture of salt by boiling sea-water and were jealous of their monopoly attacked and drove them north.

The Loma fought their way north to Gola country, and the Gola pushed them further until they came to the southern limits of their own land. Here they settled and became the Belle.

So much for the legend: but if the facts of the coastal sortie as described are based on truth, it must be pointed out that this group of people did not become the Belle. The Bureau of Folkways has evidence that the Belle belong to the Kru group and came from the east as an organized group.

Once a group of Loma people who knew the use of horses made an alliance with the Mende, hoping to conquer the remaining bulk of the Loma. The attempts failed, and the Loma-Mende group had to fall back behind a huge rock “fossa” called Kpaky fossa.

There are many such granite domes hereabouts and this one is between Bolahun and Kolahun. The defeated band settled here and became known as the Bandi.

Categories
Folktales

The Sun, The Moon and The Stars

When the world was young, the moon was a ball of fire like the sun; some of the stars were the children of the sun, and the others belonged to the moon.

The sun was uncle to the moon, and the moon was nephew to the sun.

There came a time of hunger when the sun said:

“Moon, let us eat our children.”

The moon considered this, and then agreed. The sun brought the first food, one of his own stars, divided it in two and ate its share. The moon ate a small portion of its share and kept the balance.

When it was time for them to eat one of the moon’s children, the moon produced the remainder of the sun’s child and gave half to the sun as his share. The sun was a fool, for only his children were being eaten.

The sun, who had many more children than his nephew, continued to supply his own stars for them to eat. This thing went on, until the sun discovered all his children had been eaten. He was surprised to find the moon still had many left.

There was big palaver. The sun and the moon decided to live apart. The moon took his fire and divided it among his stars, so that each one had a lamp and the sun could not devour them secretly; and that is why the sun is hotter than the moon.

And because of the big palaver the moon shines only at night, attended by his children with their lamps, for the moon is afraid that his uncle might come and eat him.

Categories
Folktales

The Three Sisters Who Saw God

In a village there lived three sisters. The eldest was called Porofa after the men’s Poro Society. The second was known as Sandofa after the women’s Sande Society. The third was named Weiva, which meant adulteress.

While walking through the forest by a lonely path these three sisters saw Ngala bathing in a pond. Ngala had a narrow waist, as small as the wrist of a wasp, and since he did not care that men should know of this he always wore a heavy girdle.

But he had taken off his girdle to bathe, and when Porofa politely coughed to let God know she and her sisters were approaching, he quickly seized his girdle, put it on, and flung his robes about him.

As Porofa drew nigh and was passing with her face averted modestly, Ngala asked:

“O maiden, did you look upon me as I bath?”

Porofa said she had not, for she had no wish to hurt Ngala’s feelings. Sandofa likewise said no. But when Ngala asked Weiva if she had looked upon him, she laughed and mockingly replied:
“Oh yes, indeed I saw you. You have a funny waist just like a wasp!”

Ngala blessed Porofa and Sandefa, and through them he blessed the Poro and Sande Societies, promising that they and their secrets would always be honored and respected.

But he cursed Weiva. He cursed her and her children and laid the stain of ill fame and lifelong shame upon her face. And that is why immortality can never be kept secret, and why wicked women such as Weiva are shunned by worthy people.