Tag: Why Things Are the Way They Are

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Folktales

Why Yams and Cassavas Hide in the Ground

Once upon a time yams and cassavas were thought to be devils. When they walked through a town people would run to their houses and hide, and the yams and cassavas would boldly march by singing and making rude noises.

During Hungry Season a little boy was walking along a road when he saw a column of yams and cassavas walking straight towards him. He jumped off the road and hid behind a tree; but he was so hungry he could not help thinking these devils might be good to eat.

However, there were so many of them he was afraid they would kill him if they found out he was there, so he did nothing. The column passed by singing songs, and the boy was about to go back on the road when he saw a solitary yam limping along behind.

So he concealed himself, and as the unsuspecting yam was limping by he bounded out and seized it by the throat, or where the throat would be, if yams had throats.

The yam shrieked and struggled, but the lad cut off his head and put it in a cooking pot; and when the thing was boiled he tasted it, and the taste was almost better than anything he knew. Thereafter he caught more yams and boiled them for his friends — and soon the people learned to catch yams and cassavas whenever they could find them.

So yams and cassavas were obliged to hide inside the ground, and that is the place one finds them to this day.

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Folktales

The Tale of Toad

When Nyiswa made his children they all pretended to love him. Toad was the only one who loved the Sky-god with a deep and constant love; and the other children treated Toad very badly.

Although he was the greatest hunter amongst the animals and brought meat in every day, he was only given offal and abuse, and was kicked by the larger children and pinched by the small ones.

He was so good-natured that he never protested, but kept on with his work. Often he wished that he could live by himself in peace, and hunt only when he wanted to, but the rules of the group forbade him to do this.

Nyiswa saw that some of his children did not love him, and decided to find out how many of them did. For some time he pretended he was sick, and the only visitor he had was Toad who came as often as he could with such gifts of food as he could find.

Then the Sky-god pretended to die; and Toad mourned him with great sorrow, but he mourned alone. He asked the other children to help him bury Nyiswa, but everyone else was too busy playing, or dancing, or eating, so he dug a grave himself and began to bury the Sky-god with such ceremony as he could.

And Nyiswa came to life. Toad’s brave little heart was filled with joy. Nyiswa summoned the animals to a meeting,

“I have learned you do not love me,” he announced. “Therefore you are cursed. You will wander in the forest fighting and in fear of death, and you shall not know peace. Only one among you loves me, and that is Toad.

Henceforward this noble animal will always live in peace, and those animals who disturb him will be badly cursed.”
Since then there has been war among the animals, and the only animal who lives in peace is Toad.

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Folktales

When God Made Crabs

When God had finished creating the world he took one month to examine all the beautiful things he had made. He walked about the forests visiting the animals and birds and admiring the trees and flowers; he looked upon the rivers and the lakes, and finally he went down to the sea.

He had seen many handsome creatures living on land, but when he looked into the rivers and the sea he saw nothing there. He resolved to make crabs and fishes, and put them in the seas and lakes and rivers.

God made the fishes first, and gave them tails and fins to swim about. He then made crabs, but by the time he had made their bodies it was almost nightfall, and he had only time to put their legs on before darkness came.

“I will give you your heads tomorrow,” he said to the crabs, and went away. That night the crabs gave no one any peace. They shouted and danced and sang through towns and villages, and sang and danced and shouted along the borders of the sea.

“God will give us heads tomorrow!” they chanted. “God will give us heads tomorrow. Mighty Nyiswa! Let us all make merry on this grand occasion. Heads for cabs tomorrow!”

Everyone begged the foolish crabs to be quiet, but they would not, and no one was able to sleep. The next day God came to give the crabs their heads, but when they learned what had been happening he said:

“I made a worthless animal when I made a Crab, it seems. He is too stupid and selfish to let other people sleep, so I shall not bother giving heads to crabs. I will just put eyes where their necks should be.”

That is why crabs have no heads.

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Folktales

How Hare Lost His Tail

During Hungry season, Tortoise tied a long rope to a bag and set off to look for food, towing the bag behind him. He had not gone far, in fact not half as far as he had intended going, when he found some fruit and put it in his bag.

On his way home he paused to rest. Hare came up behind him and said:

“Hello, Tortoise. This is a fine day for me, I’ve just found a bag of food.” Tortoise was silent for a while, and then said:
“I think you have my bag, Hare.”

Hare said he did not. They went to a judge in a nearby town, and as Hare was carrying the bag the Judge said it was his.

The next day tortoise stole Hare’s tail when Hare was asleep. Hare had a long tail in those days. Tortoise met Hare later on and said:

“Hello, Hare I found a tail today.”Hare looked at it.

“I seem to recognize it,” He looked behind him. He hopped around in circles trying to get a better look, and then came to a Conclusion.

“I think you have my tail, Tortoise.”

“I don’t think so,” Tortoise said. You didn’t find it, I did.”

They went to the judge, and as Tortoise was carrying the tail the judge said it was his. That is how Hare lost his tail, and whenever he goes to Tortoise to ask for it back, Tortoise withdraws inside his house and pretends he is not at home.

Whosoever cheats will be likewise cheated.

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Folktales

Why Elephants Flee From Goats

Elephant and Goat went out together to work in the fields, hoeing the soil and planting cassava stems. Goat was thrifty and industrious, but elephant was lazy and ate more than he grew. By midday they were hungry, and Goat, who could not trust Elephant with food, said:

“It is time to eat. Since I am the smallest, I shall prepare the meal.”

“Not at all,” declared the hungry Elephant. “You will not make enough. Since it is I who will eat most, I shall prepare our meal.”

Goat thought: “If Elephant does so, he will eat as he works and my share will be quite small: Therefore he said:

“You are a fool, Elephant. Your head is all bone. I can eat more than you, so I shall prepare our meal.”

Elephant could scarcely believe his ears. He looked down at Goat, a small and homely animal who did not reach his knee,, and protested: “I really cannot believe that you can eat more than I. You are too small. I am too big. I always eat much more than you.”

“Then let us have a competition,” goat suggested, and Elephant agreed. They abandoned their farming for the day, and for several hours they labored to gather a pile of herbs and fruits and grass and roots. This they divided into two equal heaps and started eating.

Elephant ate quickly till his stomach swelled and pained him, and he lay down to sleep a little and wait to see how much Goat would eat. Goat slowly munched, and munched, and when he could eat no more he kept on steadily chewing the same mouthful of grass.

Whenever Elephant woke up he saw that Goat still chewed, and each time he fell asleep again Goat move some of his food to Elephant’s pile. For many hours Goat chewed on and his pile of food grew lower and lower still till there was very little left; and Elephant became amazed that Goat could eat as much.

“How is it, Goat.” he asked, “that you can eat so much?” I am much larger than you, but you have eaten more.”

“Indeed I have,” said Goat. “My appetite is endless. When I finish this pile of food I shall eat the rest of yours; and if I am not satisfied, I swear I’ll eat you too.”

He announced this in such a menacing tone that Elephant became quite alarmed; for truly Goat appeared to have an astonishing capacity. After some reflecting he rose clumsily to his feet, and said off-handedly:

“Goat, I think I’ll go into the forest and find some honey.”
Elephant went deep into the forest, and after traveling for many days he came to the High Forests of the hinterland. He never returned. Since that time Goat has continued to chew his cud steadily, and men abroad in the High forests take Goat with them to frighten elephants away.

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Folktales

How Fire Came to Earth

Long ago only Meleka, the god who lives in the sky, possessed the gifts of fire; and in his wisdom he withheld it from Man. One day he gave a fire stick to Hawk and bade him fly through the heavens to kindle a dark star, but the fire stick fell from the mouth of hawk and dropped down to earth.

It landed amid dry grass and a fire began, and men who saw the fire came to gaze on it in wonder, while Hawk flew down through the smoke trying in vain to seize the fire.

Men felt the heat of the fire and saw that it was sticks. They realized that fire could keep them warm at night, so each man carried a pot of coals to his house and kept them burning bright with sticks of wood.

Until that time all food was often raw, but women now discovered that fire had magic to improve raw food, and thus they learned to cook. In those days there were no cooking pots, only hollowed stones, but rice and water, roots and meat were put in these hollowed stones and heated, and provided pleasing fare.

But no one knew how to kill fire except by starving it to death until one day a woman chanced to spill water on her fire. The water fought the fire, which hissed angrily and grew cold. It was then thought that fire and water must be married, since they fought so well; and as water was called Mending, fire became known as Yinding, and still is.

Hawk has never ceased trying to recapture fire, which he must some day return to Meleka. He hovers over towns and villages waiting for his chance, and may be seen diving and swooping about on the edge of forest fires. But he cannot approach a fire until it burns quite low, and then only the biggest sticks are left, too big for a hawk to carry.

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Folktales

How Hawk Learned of the Shallow Hearts of Men

In a certain tree called the Palmolin tree, in which the palm birds live and Chameleon has his home. Men plant those trees in the center of their villages, and thus it was that chameleon lived in a tree by a village market place.

People feared this animal, for although it was quite small it possessed a surprising strength. It would spring on the backs of passing men and could not be removed until frightened by lightning and thunder. Then it would fall to the ground and run back to the Palmolin tree.

One day when Hawk was flying above the town he saw Chameleon on the ground, and sweeping down he seized the little animal in his beak and carried him into the air. The people in the village below rejoiced and sang the praises of clever Hawk.

“O Hawk!” they cried, “O greatest of all birds! You have captured the awful Chameleon, that wicked animal who has lived among us causing us fear and trouble. O clever Hawk, with all our hearts we thank you!”

The people were very happy. But up in the air Chameleon confided to Hawk:

“Brother, let me go back to my tree. Long have I lived among men, and I know they have two tongues. Today they praise a man and tomorrow they speak against him, for their hearts are shallow and their minds are weak. Let me return, O brother, to my tree.”
But Hawk was full of the praises of the villagers.

“The people praise and love me,” he declared. “I have found great favor with them. I will eat you, and they may make me Chief.”
“Unhappy bird!” Chameleon said. “Tomorrow men will curse you. Their memories are brief. Men only love themselves, as you will see.”

Suddenly he grasped Hawk by the throat, and so powerful was his hold that Hawk began to strangle, and fell down, and dropped breathless in the market place. The people quickly gathered, and saw Chameleon had overpowered Hawk.

“Noble Chameleon!” they cried. “O good and clever animal! You have defeated wicked Hawk, the thief who steals our chickens. With all our hearts we thank you for ridding us of that evil bird!”

They heaped praises on Chameleon and rejoiced. The little animal whispered in Hawk’s ear:

“You see now, brother? Now do you realize how shallow are the hearts of men? They have double tongues, and how short their memories are; a little time ago they praised you and cursed me. Now they curse you and heap honor on me.”

“I understand,” Hawk murmured. “Forgive me, Chameleon. Let us always be friends, for I know that Man will always be our common enemy!”

Then Hawk flew up into the air, and Chameleon went back to his Palmolin tree, and these two today are allied in friendship against the treachery of Man.

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Folktales

How Spider’s Waist Became So Thin

Two neighboring villages planned to hold feasts on the same day. Nan-sii, the greedy Spider, wished to attend each feast, but did not know which one would start first.

So he tied a rope around his waist and gave the free end to the chief of the first village, saying:

“When your feast is about to commence, pull this rope.”

He tied a second rope about his waist, and the free end he gave to the chief of the second village, likewise telling him to pull the rope when his feast was about to begin.

Nan-sii then waited at a point halfway between the two villages; but the two feasts began at the same time, so that one chief pulled against the other chief. The ropes became tighter and tighter and

Nan-sii’s waist became smaller and smaller. He never did get to either of those feasts, and his waist has been narrow and squeezed in ever since.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.