Author: Patrick

Categories
Folktales

Big Bird in the Kola Tree

Big Bird lives in the forest and sits in a kola tree. He bites, and he has big pepper. Spider found the tree and began climbing in it to get nuts.

Big Bird put pepper in Spider’s eyes and Spider fell to the ground. He lay there for a time with bad eyes; then he rose and returned to his town. He said to Black Deer:

“Let us go and pick kola nuts.”

They went together to the tree. Spider told Black Deer to climb. Deer Climbed up into the branches and found Big Bird sitting there.

Big Bird threw pepper in his eyes and he fell to the ground and began to cry. Spider took a big stick and began to beat him. Deer could not see, the pepper burned his eyes. He begged Spider not to beat him, but Spider kept on beating him and at last he killed Deer. He cut the meat and carried it home to his family.

Next day Spider said to Red Deer: “Let us go to pick kola nuts.”

Red Deer went with him. Red Deer fell from the tree with pepper in his eyes, and Spider killed him and cut the meat. In this way many animals died.

One day Spider invited Pigmy Antelope to pick kola nuts in the forest. Antelope is a wise animal who knows too many secrets. He went with Spider to the kola tree. He saw the tracks of many animals leading to the tree, but none led away from it.

Antelope thought there must be a Thing in the tree which ate animals. When Spider asked him to climb he said:

“Spider, this kola tree belongs to you. You know where the best nuts are. You climb first.”

Spider began climbing. He tried to hide from Big Bird, but Big Bird saw him there and dropped much pepper in his eyes. Spider also had pepper, and threw his pepper in Big Bird’s eyes. Spider fell down. Big Bird fell down. Antelope killed Big Bird, and when Spider could see again he said:

“Antelope, you’ve killed Big Bird. That makes big palava.”

They dug a hole and buried Big Bird, and Spider said again:

“Give me all your kola nuts and I will tell no one what I have seen.”

Antelope gave all his nuts to Spider and they returned to town. But after a little while Spider went back to the kola tree and took Big Bird. He carried Big Bird home that night and gave the body to his wife to cook. He tied a rope about his leg and said:

“Wife, when Big Bird is cooked, pull on this rope and I will come.”

He went outside to play. Antelope saw the rope tied to his leg and thought about it. He cut the rope and tied it to his own leg to see what might happen. Presently he felt someone pulling on the rope, and went into Spider’s house. All was darkness; he could see nothing, and no one could see him. Spider’s wife heard him there, and said:

“Spider, here is your rice and meat.”

Antelope ate. When he had finished all Big Bird and the rice as well he went outside. Spider became hungry and went in to his wife.

“Where is my rice and meat?”

“Are you mad? How many birds did you give me?”

She told him he had eaten all his food. Spider refused to believe her, and began to beat her. She cried out, and people came.

“What is the matter?” asked Antelope.

“Oh, she cooked crabs and now she can’t find them,” Spider said.

“All this fuss just for a few crabs?”

“It wasn’t crabs! cried Spider’s wife. “It was Big Bird Spider brought me Big Bird to cook, and I cooked. Now Big Bird seems to have eaten the rice I cooked with him, and walked away.”

The cooking of Big Bird caused palaver in the town. Spider was ashamed, and people beat him. He had to go away from the town and live in another place.

Categories
Ethnic Origin

Why Gbea Never Eat Chimpanzee

One night during Hungry Season when Chimpanzee was starving he kept walking around and round in one place in the forest saying:

“I am so hungry I cannot sleep. I am really so very hungry that I could not possible sleep.”

When the moon arose he found he was walking around a tree, and presently he climbed into the tree and went to sleep. He did not realize it was a kola tree bearing many nuts. In the morning he saw that he was in a kola tree and looked in surprise at all the nuts about him. He became disgusted with himself, saying:

“Last night I was so hungry I could not sleep, and I walked around this tree many times. I was too stupid to see that it was a kola tree. When I became tired of walking I climbed into the tree and slept; and still I was too stupid to know it was a kola tree, abounding with fine nuts. I will never eat kola nuts again, or at least not till tomorrow.”

Kola nut are the Tien, or taboo of the Gbea Clan; and when the Gbea saw Chimpanzee sitting in the tree without eating any nuts they thought such nuts must be his Tien also, and that he was therefore their brother-by-Tien.

That is why the Gbea never eat Chimpanzee.

Categories
Folktales

The Boy Who Danced: Liberian Cinderella Story

There lived a little orphan boy who had two older sisters; he was a gentle and good-natured lad, but his sisters were cruel and unkind to him. He was only given scraps of food to eat, and his sisters beat him every day and made him to do their work. They were ashamed of him because he had so many yaws and ugly sores.

The two girls excelled at dancing, and whenever there was a feast in any nearby town they were invited; the little boy could always beg to go with them but they would only beat him and give hem extra work to do. On such occasions he would take of his yaws and sores, hide them in a spot, and slip away to dance disguised as a handsome youth.

Before the feast was over he would hurry home, and when his sisters came they would be surprised to find their ragged brother knew of everything which had happened at the dance.

“How do you know these things?” they would ask.

“I dreamed while you were gone, “ he would reply. They would beat him for dreaming, and send him about his work.

One day a poor old lady came to the house; the two sisters drove her from their door, but the boy saw she was hungry, and gave her the poor food he had. On this day a great feast was being held in a neighboring town; the little boy begged to go, but his sisters went without him.

After they had gone he took off all his sores and yaws and put them in the spot, and slipped away. The old woman had secretly been watching him and after he had gone she burned the yaws and sores and threw the ashes in the river.

At the feast the two girls saw a handsome youth who danced better than anyone else, and after a little while they went to him and begged that he would marry them.

“Be patient,” he said. “Wait until the end of the feast.”

He knew he would not be there at the end of the feast. He danced so well that people brought him gifts such as a sheep, and a goat, an cow, and rice, palm wine and oil and other things; and when he left he took them home. He went to the old woman saying:

“I have brought you things which you may keep; for you are poor, and old, and thus my mother might have been. But you must go away, lest my sisters steal your things and beat you.”

He went to find his yaws and sores, but they were gone.

“I took your things,” the woman said, “those ugly things you wore upon your skin. I burned them, and threw the ashes in the river; for now you have no need of them. Know that I am the spirit of your mother, Son, and through you will be blessed a hundred times for your kindness and pure heart; your cruel and wicked sisters shall never find their way back to this house.”

Before the boy could answer her, his mother had disappeared.

He found his single sheep had become a hundred sheep, his goat a hundred fine fat cows. He went into the night and called his sisters, but they never found their way back to their home and no many could say where they had gone.

Categories
Folktales

How a Man Became Unwitched

In the land of the Gios there was a poor man named Keizoe. He was so poor that often his wife and children had nothing at all to eat, and although he had some knowledge of bush medicine and unknown person had witched his medicine powers, and good fortune was a stranger to the house of Keizoe.

A diviner lived in a town beyond the borders of Gio land, in what is now French Guinea, and Keizoe decided to travel there and seek the diviner’s advice. He journeyed from town to town for many days, through high forests and the mountains in the north, and in the course of time he reached the town he sought. The diviner was in his house.

“Wise man,” Keizoe said, “I come from a distant place in the land of the Gios. Some one there has witched me and my times are bad. My crops are poor and the prey of pigs, my children sick and grow thin; my house is old, and so am I. I wish to prosper and see my family grow fat, but everything I do is dust because someone has witched me.

“I will think on this,” the wise man said. “I will read the sands tonight and dream, and tomorrow I will tell you what to do; and to lend my magic strength you must bring me seven white kola nuts, seven mats, and seven chicken eggs.”

On the morrow Keizoe brought him all these things, and the Diviner said:

“If a man lives in one place and is unhappy, then he should leave and live in another place.” He gave Keizoe a cotton tree see, and a long stick with a short hooked limb at one end.

“Travel towards your village,” he said, “and perhaps beyond. Drag this stick behind you, and where it catches in a tree, or rock, or bush, there you must make you house and live.”

“Along in the forest with my small family?” Keizoe felt nervous when he thought of the great forest.

“This cotton tree seed will protect you,” said the Diviner. “Guard this seed, and keep it always with you, and fortune will be your constant guest. Build your house and live there with your family; you will prosper, and your family will grow fat.

Keizoe set forth towards his village dragging the hooked stick behind him. He walked for several days and reached his family and fared on for another week to rich abnd lonely lands, and in a certain place the stick hooked firmly to a tree.

“Zuon-mehn!” he cried. “I have arrived! Here is rich and abundant earth which no man owns, and also a pleasant stream. Let us build our house, and this land will be ours.”

The house was built; the children grew and other houses were built where they lived with their wives and husbands, and the place became a village and grew into a town. Today the place is called Zuen; it is a prosperous town and part of Boo-Quila Chiefdom.

When Keizoe died he was buried, and the seed of the cotton tree was buried with him in a pouch about his neck. A cotton tree grew from his grave, and the people of the town began to worship it for they believed that Keizoe himself was the spirit of the tree.

Even today this tree is given great respect, and no foreign tongue or dialect is spoken in its presence.

Categories
Folktales

The Witch Called Jealous

A farmer had two wives. One of the women gave him a boy-baby and a girl-baby, but the other woman was barren. The farmer said to his childless wife:

“Since you do not bear me any children, I shall not give you cloth. I will only give cloth to the mother of my children.”

The barren wife decided to bewitch the children. She made witch-medicine and threw it on the boy. The boy became sick and died, and went to the Town of Spirits.

The mother took her remaining child to the rice farm, and left it in the shade while she worked. The barren wife made more witch-medicine and changed herself into a large bird. She seized the little girl and flew to a cottonwood tree.

The mother screamed. The boy who had died heard the noise and saw the bird in the cottonwood tree with his sister. He said to himself: “That is sister!”

He threw a stone at the bird and killed it. His sister was saved and his mother rejoiced.

Jealousy is a witch who poisons the hearts of men and steals away their honor.

Categories
Folktales

Why Men No Longer Hunt With Fire

There was a hunter so skilled at hunting with fire that no animal could escape him. He would set fire to the forest in such a way that all the animals therein would be forced to flee along a narrow trail, and there they would fall prey to the hunter’s spears. One day the animals appealed to the Bush Devil for protection.

“Then live in my town,” Bush Devil said, and they went to live in his town. They were safe there. Bush Devil went to the hunter with an empty rice-hamper and said:

“Hunter, get into my hamper.”

The hunter called him a fool and beat him with a stick. The next day when Hunter was sitting by his home Bush Devil appeared again and said:

“Hunter, get into my hamper.”

The hunter’s wives picked up sticks and beat Bush Devil. Bush Devil kept on repeating the same words, for the beating did not hurt him.

The Chief of the town called all his men and threw spears at Bush Devil, but it made no difference. They seized him and flung him into a house, then burned the house. Everything burned except Bush Devil. He came out and said:

“Hunter, get into my hamper.”

The hunter found he could not eat. He began to grow thin, and the men of the town held council. They told the hunter to get into Bush Devil’s hamper and finish the palaver. He might be killed and he might not, but if he did nothing he would soon die of thinness anyway. The hunter climbed into the hamper.

Bush Devil tied him up and hurried off with him. He went to his town and untied the hunter. He showed him all the animals.

“The animals have asked for my protection,” he said, “and I have promised they will never be hunted again by fire. As you know I can kill you, but you cannot kill me. If you hunt animals again with fire I will kill you. If you promise you will never hunt with fire again, all the animals will return to the forest and you will be free to find them if you can.”

The hunter swore he would never use fire again to hunt, and the animals went back to the forest. That is why fire is no longer used to hunt.

Categories
Folktales

How Spider’s Son Was Eaten By a Goblin

A goblin lived in the forest and he had a son called Pei. Pei was a great hunter and killed many animals; but one day when he went to hunt he found there were no animals left. He only saw Spider’s son and carried him home. Father Goblin said:

“Clean him and hang him up to dry. Tomorrow we will eat him.”
Pei hung the dead thing up to dry.

When Spider went home he could not find his son, and he wondered where he was. He said to himself: “I will go and look in Goblin’s house. His son, Pei, kills much game.”

When Spider reached Goblin’s house he saw his son hanging up inside. He said to Pei:

“What kind of game is this?”

“Nothing special,” Pei answered.

“It looks just like my son.”

“Oh! I didn’t know it was our son.”

They began to fight. Eggs were hanging by the door in a basket, and they were Goblin’s private eggs. Spider knocked them down, and in a moment he had swallowed them. Pei was silent for a little time, feeling sad about the eggs.

Then he said: “Spider, this palaver between you and I is finished. You have killed my things, and I have killed yours. Go home.”

The eggs made Spider’s stomach happy, and he went home.

Categories
Folktales

The Herald of the Dawn

When Wala made the world and the animals therein, there was a great distinction between Day and Night, and often it was difficult to tell if it was light or dark, or in between, or the other way around.

The animals decided to sent a messenger to Wala to ask for some means of telling when the night was over and day began.

The animals worked long and hard building a ladder, a tall, tall ladder which reached right up to the sky. But when the ladder was finished there was grave doubt if anyone could climb it. Many animals tried, but they either became dizzy and fell down, or were too frightened to climb very far.

In those days Rooster was an ugly and ungainly creature, not so fine a fellow as he is today; and the animals all laughed at him when he tried to climb the ladder. But Rooster ascended the ladder little by little, further and further, until he could see Wala.

Wala listened to his story, and looked kindly on him.

“You are a brave animal,” he said, “to come all this way and tell me of your troubles telling night from day. Such a brave animal should also be beautiful.”

Wala gave Rooster brilliant colors and a better shape, and placed a red crown on his head to be a symbol of the rising sun.

“Henceforth,” he said, “night will be night and very dark, and day will be day and brighter. And you will wear your red crown, and sing a song each morning to announce the dawn.”

That is how Rooster won his colors and his crown, and why he always sings a song at daybreak.

Categories
Ethnic Origin

The Origin of the Putu

“The Putu people are not a distinct people, but are part of the Krahn of the Kru group.” (Liberian Bureau of Folkways.) However, the Putu were once a more powerful and numerous people than they are today, and incline to regard themselves as a group in their own right.

The following is one of the various legends which describes their origin:

In centuries gone by a people known as the Sabo lived in the Sudan. There came a time when, inspired by hunger and a desire for new and better land, and the need for salt, this group began moving southwest towards the sea; their leader was a warrior called Saydi.

They crossed rivers and mountains and penetrated deep into a region of thick forests, fighting hostile peoples as they advanced.

When they came to fertile land on the eastern edge of the river known today as the Cavally, one clan of the Sabo settled there. This was the Flebo clan, which prospered. Another clan settled at the Southern limits of Tchien land; this was the Zela clan.

The Sabo were weakened by the loss of these two clans, but when they met the Drebo people they fought with them and pushed them south. The Sabo failed to reach the sea for the groups between them and the coast were strong and well-established; They therefore occupied the Drebo land which they had won by conquest.

A certain stream called Putu creek ran through the middle of this land; the Sabo took this as their place-name, and became known as the People of Putu Creek, or the Putu.

 (An alternate theory is that “putu” meant “cost nothing,” and the land was thus called because it had not been paid for.)

The Zela, Flebo and Putu peoples remain a pure and loyal brotherhood, and no man among them may look upon the blood of any kinsman. Any member of these groups may walk into his kinsman’s house to sleep, to eat, to live; and if he fancies any object he may take it without question.

Categories
Ethnic Origin

The Putu Deity

In the land of the Putu there is a certain deity who lives in a cave on the side of Mount Gedeh; the name of this fabulous being is Tuobo Nyeka.

Tuobo Nyeka is an oracle and has served the Putu people well, giving wise advice on important matters and solving many problems which could not be solved by men. The position of the medium or Ba Weyon Sloo who deals directly with the deity is hereditary, passing from father to son; but today the modern Ba Weyon Sloo lives in a foreign land, and the oracle sleeps in the cave awaiting his return.

The surroundings of the cave were kept clean and orderly by the Putu, and fireplaces were maintained for visiting members of the Sapa, Half-Grebo and Putu groups who traveled from afar to consult Tuobo Nyeka on matters concerning tribal and clan welfare, ill-health, misfortune, barren wives and poor crops.

The deity was consulted only when the moon was full; strangers gathered on the mountainside to await the coming of the full moon and — as was the custom of the Greeks at the oracle of Delphi — they often used to pass the time by holding athletic contests.

When the moon was full the Ba Weyon Sloo would enter the cave and the visitors would follow bearing gifts of ivory, salt, gold or country cloth; no visitor was permitted to sit in the presence of Tuobo Nyeka, and if he did he would be devoured by a giant snake. the Ba Weyon Sloo would intercede on behalf of each visitor, and Tuobo Nyeka would give wise and uncanny counsel on their problems.

Barren wives bore children after intercession, and these children were usually gifted and highly respected in their groups; certain foods were forbidden them, lest Tuobo Nyeka be deprived of proper fare.

The Putu live in the most remote fastnesses of the nation and like other proud and virile peoples they proved reluctant to bend to the will of the Liberian Government. In 1924, when they learned that Government troops were advancing on this region, the Ba Weyon Sloo approached the deity and asked him what would happen.

Tuobo Nyeka answered that the Putu would never be conquered until the Ba Wyen Sloo’s little finger became pregnant and bore a son; but the Ba Weyon Sloo died on the following day, before the troops arrived, and this promise did not come true. The Putu people were severely defeated.

The son of the last Ba Weyon Sloo is a man called Kama-in, an educated man who lives in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Some say the deity who lives in the cave would have nothing to do with a westernized man, but others wait and pray for Kama-in to return and take up his lawful duties in the cave on the slopes of Mount Gedeh.

Categories
Folktales

The Power of Nysoa’s Name

A certain chief had a rice farm on land across a river from his town. When his crop was ripe he caused it to be cut and stacked in the centre of a field. Green Pigeon made her nest upon the stack of rice, and laid three eggs therein.

One day the Chief said to his people:

“Tomorrow my rice must be hauled to town, nothing else will be done.”

Green Pigeon heard of this, and flew into the sky to see Nysoa.

“O God,” she said, “I have made my nest on a stack of rice in a field, and in the next I have three eggs. The Chief who owns this rice has said that it must be hauled to town tomorrow, although the proper time for hauling has not come. What must I do?

“Did the Chief call on my name?” Nysoa asked.

“No, God; he did not call on your name.”

“Then return to your place; for the strength of men is small, and you are safe.”

During the night rains came, and the lasted for a week. The river rose in flood, and even when the rains ceased no man could pass the river for many days. Green Pigeon’s eggs hatched out, but before the chicks had feathers the river fell, and the Chief announced again:

“Tomorrow my rice must be hauled to town; no other work will be done.”

Green Pigeon flew to God again:

“O Nysoa, I bring my thanks to you. My eggs have hatched, but my young are very young and cannot fly. The Chief has said today that he will haul his rice tomorrow, and my nest is on his rice; what shall I do?

“Did the Chief call on my name?” Nysoa demanded.

“No, O God; he did not call on your name.”

“Then return to your place; for the pride of men is great, but you are safe.”

Rains came again that night; the river swelled and men could no longer pass over it. Green Pigeon’s children grew long feathers, and when they were about to fly the river fell, and the Chief declared to his twin:

“Tomorrow, with the help of God, my rice will be hauled to town.”

Green Pigeon flew to God.

“O God, my children are ready to fly, and the Chief has again decided he will haul his rice to town. What must I do now?
“Did the Chief call on my name?”

“Yes, Nysoa, he called on your name.”

“Then leave your nest and fly away with your children; for tomorrow, with my help, the Chief will haul his rice to town.”

Categories
Folktales

Why Hawk Kills Chickens

A woman had a little girl whose body was covered with ugly sores. She went to all the best country-doctors and Diviners, but nothing would remove the sore, so one day she became discouraged and decided to throw the child away. That night she carried her to a dung pile and left her there.

Hawk had built her nest above the dung pile in a tree, and in the morning she saw the child below her weeping. She carried the little girl up to her nest, and gave her a certain medicine only known to hawks; in time the child became well, her sores dropped off and her skin was clean and beautiful.

There came a day when Hawk told the child she could go back to her town and help her mother; but she told her to be sure to return before night fell. The little girl went to her mother’s home where she was welcomed; her mother wept bitterly to think that she had once abandoned her.

When evening came the child stole away and went back to Hawk, whom she had learned to love, and this went on for several days. No one in the town knew where the little girl went at night.

On the seventh day her mother and the townsfolk would not let her leave the town, although she cried and tried to go back to Hawk’s tree; and when Hawk saw that the people held the child she was vexed. She swooped down upon the people of that town scratching and biting and screaming, and there was palaver and excitement everywhere.

A wise man came and with wise words he put an end to the fighting. He said:

“That child belongs to its mother, for its flesh and blood are the mother’s flesh and blood. But Hawk has done good services, and for such service she must have some good reward. O Hawk, do you agree?”

“If the reward is good, I will agree.”

“Then name the things you want, and let it be a thing we can give.”

“Then let your chickens be my slaves,” said Hawk, “and you may keep the child . . . until you throw her out again.”

All the chickens in that town became the slaves of Hawk. They brought her food and washed her, scratched her back and gave her eggs to eat; Hawk lived in luxury for some years. In those days she wore a ring about one foot, a symbol of her rank among the birds, and one day she lent it to a chicken who was courting a cockerel.

When the chicken was walking about the ring fell off, and was lost among the leaves and dirt. On the following day Hawk said:
“Chicken, give me back my ring.”

Chicken could not give it. “I have lost your ring,” she said. Hawk flew into a rage, for the thing was precious to her and without it she could not command the respect of other birds.

“Lost?” she cried. “Lost? Then this is a sorry day for chickens! I shall kill every chicken I can toady, and the killing will not cease until my ring is found.

She killed that chicken first, and took it to her nest where she devoured it. All the other chickens began scratching among the leaves and dirt, searching and searching for the ring. The ring has not been found. Hawk has never ceased killing chickens, and chickens still scratch up leaves and dirt looking for that ring.

Hawk no longer has the respect of other birds, and that is why they dart about her singing mocking songs as she hovers in the air.