Tag: Why Things Are the Way They Are

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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.

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Folktales

How One-Leg Became Thousand-Legs

In the beginning the world had no water. There were no seas, no rivers or lakes, no pools or springs; and the animals became thirsty. They all gathered in one place to discuss what they should do, and agreed that any creature who could cause water to appear on earth would be rewarded.

Frog tried, Dog tried; Goat and Deer and Leopard tried. Every animal in the world tried to do something, but none of them succeeded in doing anything at all.

Then a small, thin animal who had only one leg announced that he would try, but he wanted to know what his reward would be if he succeeded. The other animals only laughed at him, for those days nearly everyone had five legs, and only this absurd little creature walked on a single leg.

“Don’t worry about rewards,” they said. “Everyone has failed and you will fail too. You only have one leg; what can you do?”

“One-leg walked to and fro and round and round praying very hard; and before very long dark clouds began to gather. No one else had thought of praying to Walah, the Sky-god.

Rain began to fall and kept on falling for a week, and as one-leg walked about the land he left behind him rivers and streams, springs and lakes; and the rivers and streams emptied into a big hole which became the sea.

“How happy the animals were! The land was green, they were no longer thirsty; they played and gamboled in the water, and some animals loved it well enough to take it as their home: but no one wished to give One-leg his reward.

One-leg threatened to cause all the water to dry up, so a council was held and everyone decided to give him one of their legs. Those who had a fifth leg pulled it off, leaving only little bits of skin behind which became tails, and One-leg found he had so many legs and feet he scarcely knew what to do.

He was not permitted to eat them, so he sat down to look at them for a long, long while and thought, and finally decided on a thing. He fixed them underneath his belly, and kept stretching and stretching himself until he had put on a thousand legs. He still has them, and he is called Thousand-legs.

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Folktales

Three Animals Who Made Ku

Leopard, Man and Dog one day made Ku; that is they agreed to work together to cut and plant a common farm. Leopard said:

“We will not eat rotten meat in our Ku. The meat which is fresh and has no maggots, that we will eat.”

They worked in the forest cutting their farm and became hungry.

Man and Dog showed Leopard the day when he should hunt and pay his ku. Leopard went into the forest and killed a bush hog. He brought the bush hog to Man and Dog saying:

“My people, come here. Come and cut the little meat I have caught and eat it with cassava.”

The three ku members made a fire and cooked the meat in a big pot. They all ate. Man and Dog went back to the forest to cut farm, and Leopard continued to hunt. He killed two red deer and one black one. He brought them back and showed them to Man and Dog.

“My people,” he said, “here is a thing for you.” They cooked and ate the meat, and the three ku members went into the forest to cut the farm. When they were hungry again, Dog said:

“Leopard, let us show Man a day to pay his ku.”

“No,” said Man. “Not yet.”

Man and Leopard showed Dog a day to pay his ku. Man said:

“As for me, I will set my trap when my time comes. I cannot catch meat bare-handed.”

Leopard said: “What you say is true.”

They showed Dog two day, and Dog went to hunt. Man and Leopard went to cut farm. Dog hunted in the forest and killed a red deer, and brought it to Man and Leopard.

“My ku people,” he said, “here is something to go with your boiled cassava.”

Leopard knew Dog, so he went and scratched the meat on the head.

“It is still fresh.” They roasted and ate the deer with cassava. Man and Leopard went back to cut farm and Dog hunted again. He killed one black deer and a bush hog, and brought them back.

“Here is another something to eat,” he said. Leopard saw that it was fresh meat. They cooked the meat with rice and ate, and all three went to cut farm. When hunger came again, Dog said:

“Man, you have two days to pay your ku.”

“No, the days you have shown me are short. Show me four.”

Dog said no, but Leopard gave man three.

“Brother Leopard,” said Dog, “you are the big member of the ku, let it be as you say.”

They gave man three days. Man said: “Fine. My hand is under it (I agree).”

Man set his trap in the forest but no meat came. The first day passed. The second day passed, and he grew worried, for he had not paid his ku. He went for a walk in the forest and began cutting palm nuts. An old lady heard him there and said:

“Who is that cutting nuts?”

“It is I.”

“What are you doing there?”

“I am cutting nuts.”

“Come here.” Man went there. “Cut the grass around my kitchen.

“Old woman,” said Man, “I am in ku with Leopard and Dog. In this ku we cannot eat rotten meat. They showed me three days to pay ku-meat, and two have gone, so I must catch meat in my trap today.What time do I have to cut grass around your kitchen? What time do I have to set my traps?”

She said: “Cut the grass. A person doesn’t ever know what can bless him.”

He cut the grass and cleaned about the kitchen, but then it was too late to set his trap. The old lady came and said:

“You have done well for me, and now I will do well for you, bring two pots from my left, and rice, and the little meat you find there.”

Man did this. He cooked the food and they ate. The old woman took a horn from a small bag.

“There is black powder in this horn. As soon as you go into the forest you will see a black deer. Show him the horn and wish him dead, and he will be dead.”

Man thanked her. He went into the forest, saw a black deer and showed it the horn of black powder. “I kill you,” he said, and the deer fell dead. Man gave the black deer to the old woman, and went away with the horn to hunt for his ku.

Back at the farm Dog was saying to Leopard:

“Let us catch man and eat him. He cannot catch meat for his ku.”

Man came. Dog mocked him, and said he would be eaten because he could catch no meat.

“I bring a bush hog,” Man said. “Also two black deer, and three red deer. This can be our ku-meat for today.”

“Is what you say true?” asked Dog.

“What I say is true,” said man. “Let us eat.”

They went to the meat, and Leopard scratched the heads. “The meat is good.” They cooked and ate. Man went into the forest and returned with four more deer. The ku ate again. That evening Dog said:

“Let us go to a secret place where we can talk ku business, and hang heads together.”

They went to a secret place.

“The things which killed the meat,” Dog said. “Let us show them to each other.”

Leopard scratched a tree with his claws. “That is what killed my meat,” he said.

Dog bit the tree with his teeth. “That is what killed my meat.”

Man said: “Leopard, the thing I have is bad.”

“Show it to us,” said Leopard, “so that we may know.”

“No.”

“We will kill you if you don’t.”

“Then I will show it.” Man showed his horn of black powder to Leopard and said, “Leopard, I kill you.” Leopard fell down dead and stayed there. Dog was afraid. He stood up wagging his tail and begging Man.

“Because you asked me to show you the thing that killed my meat,” said Man, “and I showed it to Leopard and he fell down and died, is that why you beg me?”

“I beg you, my good friend, do not kill me!”

“I will not kill you. You eat your own thing. We will go into town.”

Dog and Man went to town. Dog wags his tail when he greets people because of that day long ago.

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Folktales

Why Woman Has No Devil

When God brought Devil to earth he decided to give it into the keeping of Woman. “For,” he said, “She can keep things better than Man.”

When he reached earth he found all the people sitting together in one place. He put Devil down before all the people and said: “Wait, I will return soon,” and went away.

While he was gone a small boy came running and told them there were plenty of mushrooms down the road. All the women ran down the road to find mushrooms. God returned and found only a man watching Devil. He said:

“Oh, the woman hold mushroom palaver hard and have already forgotten Devil. If I give them Devil they will be sure to lose him. Therefore I will give Devil to Man, and Woman can find her ‘devil’ where the mushrooms are.”

The only devil the woman found was a tortoise eating a mushroom. They brought it back, ate the flesh, and began to beat the shell and dance. Man said:

“Ah, that is the woman’s devil!

How when the Devil comes to town he cries:

“Women, go inside and hold mushrooms palaver!”

Women are not allowed to go see Devil.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Folktales

The Kitchen in the Sky

During Hungry Season all the animals except Chameleon became quite thin. Baboon was surprised to see that instead of becoming thin Chameleon grew quite fat, and one day he asked him how this could be.

“Every animal has a secret,” said Chameleon, “and that is mine.”

Baboon begged him to tell. “I promise I will tell no other animal,” he said. “I beg you, my good friend, explain how you grow fat while everyone grows thin.”

“Then you must hold to your promise. And especially you must never let Spider know.”

“I promise on my heart’s blood,” Baboon declared, and Chameleon let him know what the secret was.

“The Spirit of my mother lives in the sky,” he said. “Every day she lowers a rope so that I can climb up and eat some of the fine food she has.”

“That is a fine idea,” said Baboon. “I would like to climb up too.”

The following day he went with Chameleon to a secret place, climbed the rope, ate his fill, and returned to earth with his friend. Baboon was excited about his trip to the sky; he forgot about his promise and began telling all the other animals about Chameleon’s rope.

Spider heard, Deer heard, Possum and Snake and Ground-hog heard, and they decided they would also climb the rope. Next day they all went together to the secret place and arrived before Chameleon.

When the rope came down they began to climb, and as more and more animals swarmed up towards the sky Mother Chameleon wondered why the rope was becoming so heavy. She had to hold the rope, and although she was very strong her tail began to curl in knots with the effort of holding on.

When most of the animals were halfway up Elephant came along. He had not heard about the rope, but he thought that everyone had found an easy way to heaven, so he seized the rope and also began to climb this was too much for poor Mother Chameleon: she almost swooned with the effort of bearing Elephant’s weight as well, and the rope slipped from her hands.

All the animals fell down. Baboon fell on top of Elephant, and everyone also fell on Baboon; he landed so hard on Elephant’s upturned foot that his bottom has been pink and tender ever since.

Chameleon saw what had happened and knew that Baboon had betrayed him. He went away to hide in the forest; he learned to change his color whenever anyone approached, and thereafter he was invisible. He would creep slowly every day to another secret place where his mother would lower the rope, and no one has ever found out where it is.

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Folktales

Why Bats Are Never Buried

There was a time when Bat had no wings, and he was considered one of the most beautiful of all animals. He was a small creature who walked on the ground and climbed trees, and for many years he was content to live like this; but when he experienced the misfortunes of life common to all people he became dissatisfied.

When Hungry Season came and he could not find enough to eat he began feeling sorry for himself.

“I wish I had wings.” he thought. “It must be nice to be a bird.” But then he reflected that birds also had their misfortunes, and decided he would like to be both bird and animal. He went to God and asked for wings, and God gave them to him.

From that time Bat flew in the air like a bird; when Hungry Season came to animals he would live with the birds, and when Hungry Season came to the birds he would live with the animals. Bat was quite content with this existence, but finally he died, as people will.

When his death was known, the birds came to claim his body and bury it in the proper place with honor; for, knowing Bat had wings they presumed he was a bird. But then they saw he had the body of an animal, and teeth like a Rat, and fur instead of feathers; so they decided he was not a bird and refused to bury him.

The animals came to take Bat’s body and bury it with reverence, thinking he was an animal; but when they saw that he had wings they thought he was a bird, since only birds have wings — and they, too, refused to bury him.

So Bat’s body lay neglected in the forest until it slowly disappeared; Bat was never buried, and none of his descendants were ever given graves.

Which is what may happen to one who is discontented with the life that God has given him.

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Folktales

The Thing Called Gratitude

A certain town was infested with serpents of every size and color, and they lived by eating the people of that town, and the children.

The serpents dwelt in holes in the ground and also in the thatched roofs of the houses; during the day they crawled from their holes and hunted children, and by night they dropped from ceilings onto sleeping men and women.

In this fashion many people were devoured, and the townsfolk lived in terror of their lives.

In those days the hearts of men were soft, and few cared to hurt a living thing; only women and animals had learned cruelty. But there came a time when the people grew weary of the serpents, and they called in a powerful medicine man to rid the town of them.

The medicine man was Tagboh Walakpu, a famous man, and he brought with him several followers skilled in killing spirits, devils, djinn and common monsters. He entered the town from the east, and his followers played such sweet music on stringed instruments that serpents issued forth from holes and housetops to sway and dance about the streets.

Walakpu walked among them blowing his medicine horn, and whenever he did this every serpent near him died.

Only one escaped. This was an elderly serpent filled with the cunning of its years, and called Wulu. He fled from Walakpu, and finding a woman cooking soap he said to her:

“A medicine man has come and is killing all my kin; hide me, and I will do you good.”

The woman was afraid of him.

“Be not afraid. Hide me in a secret place, and I will make you rich and bring you bowls of happiness. I will not harm you.”
At length the woman agreed to hide him, and made Wulu crawl into her box, or behind a pot, or under a fishing net; but this he refused to do.

“Walakpu would find me in such places. You must put me in your stomach.”

He persuaded the woman to open her mouth and he crawled into her stomach. Walakpu passed by blowing his medicine horn, but Wulu was unharmed; and when the medicine man had gone the woman asked Wulu to come forth from her stomach, for she had work to do.

“If you do not stop talking,” Wulu said, “I shall eat your tongue.”

“What is this? You promised to give me happiness if I saved you.”

“Words are dead when they are spoken. Be quiet!”

A nearby crew happened to overhear this conversation, and he asked the woman to explain what he had heard. When she began to talk the serpent said:

“If you tell anything to Crow I’ll sink my fangs into your heart. be quiet, woman!” “Ah,” said Crew, “I heard that.” He then asked Wulu: “Since this woman has helped you when you needed help, should you not be grateful?”

“Gratitude is weakness,” said the serpent.

“Gratitude is wisdom,” Crow declared, “and has three eyes, like me.”

“You have three eyes?”

“Of course I have three eyes, as you can see.”

“I have never seen a three-eyed bird.” Wulu crawled up the woman’s throat and put his head outside her mouth that he might look at Crow.

Crow seized him is his beck and pulled him forth. He carried Wulu high in the air, then dropped him on the ground and broke his back. The woman was overjoyed, and brought rice for Crow to cat: but even as he ate she laid hands on him, saying:

“I must make a sacrifice on my children’s graves. I will put your blood in their graves.”

Crow protested loudly, and an old man came. This old man had a black hen which he loved. He asked the woman:

“Since Crow helped you when you needed help, should you not be grateful?”

“Gratitude is foolishness,” the woman said.

“Gratitude is God’s best gift to men, but it seems that women have none. I will give you my black hen if you will let Crow go.”

The woman agreed to this. As Crow flew off he snatched one eye from the poor old man and crushed it in his beak and swallowed it.

“Gratitude is an egg without a shell,” he cried, “or an eye without a head… soft, and easily wounded. the first armor anyone must have is a shell about his heart, or he will suffer.”

From a serpent, a woman and a crow men learned to harden their soft hearts.

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Folktales

Why Snakes Lie on Their Backs to Die

When Hungry Season came Spider went to Snake’s town and begged for food. He knew that Snake had gathered a fine harvest of yams that year, and now Spider said to him:

“Snake, please give me yams to help my family in this time of hunger. For every yam you give me I shall give you two in return when my fields are full.”

“Then you may have as many as you need,” Snake said, and Spider took as many as he could carry. He and his family fed on yams throughout the Hungry Season, then once again the fields were full and men and animals went forth to harvest crops.

Snake came one day to Spider for his yams; and when Spider saw him coming he made a plan. There was meat hanging in his house, and when Snake came inside Spider was careful to let him see the meat.

“That is fine meat you have,” Snake remarked. “I hope you will give me some, as well as your yams.”

“Well, I may give you a little,” said Spider, “but wait till I return. I am going outside.”

He went outside. He climbed up on the roof, let down rope through a hole and caused it to fasten about the meat. He pulls up the meat and hid it, then climbed down to the ground. He found his wife talking with Tortoise.

“Come in,” he said. “Snake is here. Let us have something to eat.”

Spider, his wife and Tortoise went inside and met Snake waiting there.

“We are going to cook food to eat,” said Spider, and began looking for the meat. It was not there. “Where is the meat?” he asked his wife. “Have you put it in another place?”

“I have not touched it.”

“Tortoise? Did you take my meat?”

“I am not a thief, like some other people whose names I will not mention,” said Tortoise rather coldly. Spider turned to Snake.

“I think you have taken the meat, Snake. It was here when I left the house. And so were you, and you were looking at it.”
Snake said he was innocent. Spider became thoughtful.

“I have a certain magic knife which possesses magic powers,” he said. “It will soon discover who the guilty person is. All of you lay your necks upon this log; if you are not guilty no harm will come to you, but if one of you is the thief then he will die.”

Spider’s wife obeyed. He ran the blunt edge of the knife across her neck, and she rose unharmed. Tortoise lay his neck across the log, although he protested at such foolishness, and he also was unharmed by the knife.

Snake’s turn came. Spider now used the sharp edge of the knife and cut Snake’s head off. Snake wriggled and writhed on the ground as he died, and turned his stomach upwards so that everyone might see his flat and empty belly and know his innocence.

Since that time all snakes have died with their stomachs turned upwards, to remind the world that they were once considered honorable people.

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Folktales

Why Hunters Fear Djinn

Djinn and his wife had their home among the mountains in the High Forests, and they would permit no man to come there unless he was one of their family.

Djinn was a fine hunter and had a quiver filled with poisoned arrows, but he did not hunt in the fashion common to mankind. If he chanced to see monkeys in a tree he would merely shoot at the tree, and soon enough the monkeys would be poisoned and fall down.

Anything that Djinn shot at always fell, and thus he was the most famous hunter in the land.

When his wife was expecting a child Djinn went out to hunt more frequently, that she might have the delicacies which the child in her desired; but so skillful was his hunting that animals were now difficult to find.

One day he searched the forest from early morning until dusk, and found no meat at all; and as night was falling he came upon a man who had a deer. He politely asked the man for a little of the meat, but the man refused and went his way. Djinn went home empty-handed to his wife.

“Did you find nothing at all today?” she asked.

“Nothing at all,” he said. “The forest is empty.”

“Did you not even meet someone with meat?”

“Only a man with a deer, and he would give me nothing.”

His wife was vexed.

“I believe you are not so clever as you used to be,” she said.

“In other days you would not have left a whole deer to one greedy man when your family was hungry, and come home empty-handed.”

Djinn considered this. Next morning he tracked the hunter to his town, and when he arrived he asked for the man who had killed a deer the day before. Djinn was such a small fellow that no one took any notice of him, so he began smelling and sniffing from house to house and finally found the one he sought. He knocked on the door, and when the hunter came out Djinn attacked him.

People were surprised to see this small Djinn attacking the town hunter, but when the hunter was overpowered and tied up in a hamper they became alarmed. As Djinn carried the hamper out of town spears and arrows followed him, but all were turned aside and Djinn escaped.

The town hunter was never seen again. Thereafter Djinns were feared and respected by the people, and whenever a hunter meets one he will give him half his meat.