“Whose huts are those?” asked the step-mother.
“They must belong to the one who owned the cow!” replied the people of the kraal.
At this she screamed with rage, “Then I will kill her as well!” She took Little Slave into the royal kitchen, dug a hole under the cooking stones, and there she buried the girl alive.
As it happened, that was the very day that the son of the great chief came to choose his bride. In the royal kitchen all was bustle and excitement as the cooks prepared a feast for the honoured guest. “Ah!” chuckled the step-mother, very pleased with herself, “soon our royal visitor will make his choice and it will have to be one of these six daughters, for who else is there for him to choose?”
During the morning, people wondered where Little Slave had gone. But as anyone who mentioned her name was made to do her work, nobody said anything more.
Dressed in their best, the six sisters were brought one by one before the royal visitor for him to choose his future bride. But he liked none of them. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “These are not for me. But tell me,” he asked, “who owns those huts?” and he pointed to the beautiful huts on the river bank among the reeds and water. “Find her, and she shall be my bride.”
Everyone searched in vain for the little slave girl, when suddenly the cock began to crow, “The owner of those huts is … “ but he did not finish the sentence because the step-mother interrupted loudly, “I will kill that cock!”
“Do not let her,” cried the people, because they wanted to hear what else the cock had to say.
But the cock would not be silenced. He crowed again, “The owner of those huts is buried under the …” The chief’s wife caught the cock by the neck, and began to strangle him, but not quite in time. He managed to gasp out the last words, “ … the cooking stones.”
At once the search began. From kitchen to kitchen the people rushed, digging under the cooking stones, until at last they reached the kitchen of the royal huts and there, in the hole under the cooking stones, they found Little Slave. When they had revived and comforted her, they led her to the son of the noble chief and his eyes shone with happiness. Addressing his chief councillor he said, “Hurry to our country with this message to my father. Tell him that I have found the bride of my heart, and I beg him to prepare the feast of all feasts to welcome her to her future home.”
Umusha Mwaice’s father then gave orders for feasting and celebrations of equal magnificence to take place throughout his kingdom. So, when all those preparations had been completed, in joy and splendour, the noble chief’s son married the little slave girl, while the six cruel half-sisters hung their heads in jealousy and anger.
THE MAGIC ANTHILL
ZAMBIA
In a faraway village in the heart of Africa, there lived a girl more beautiful than any in the land. All men wanted her as their bride, but one by one she turned them away, saying scornfully to her father, “What! Do you think I could be satisfied with such as that?” In that way many months and years passed by.
But one day, as she and her young brother sat talking on the river bank where she had gone to draw water, a particularly handsome man approached them. “Beautiful one,” he said to the girl, “will you guide me to your father’s home? I am ill, and I need shelter in his hut for a while.”
“What strong arms!” she thought to herself. “What flashing eyes! What strength! This must be the husband I have been waiting for!” But all she said to him, in a rather off-hand way was, “My brother will guide you to my father’s kraal, for I’m waiting for someone else.” This was not the truth, but she decided to make him feel that she had other interests.
Her brother was only too happy to help, because he was just as impressed by the young man’s looks. On arrival at the kraal the stranger was kindly received, and offered shelter until he was well again.
As the days went by, the young man made no attempt to leave, and the girl did her best to capture the handsome and fascinating stranger. The stranger, on his part, made himself so useful to everyone that the girl’s father was delighted when he asked for the hand of his lovely daughter. So the two were married.
With the bridegroom now living at the home of his bride, everyone was amazed at his success as a hunter. Whenever he went out in search of meat, he brought back a buck, while the other villagers usually returned empty-handed.
Now, this intrigued the girl’s young brother, and his respect for his new relative continued to grow until he decided, one day, to follow at a distance, to see how this clever brother-inlaw had such success. If only he could learn such skill, his fame would spread throughout the land! His heart filled with excitement at the thought.
So, at the first opportunity, the boy crept after his brother-in-law. He saw him climb a large anthill, and heard him say in a loud voice, “Anthill, anthill, let us go and kill. My father-in-law wants meat!”
As the words left his lips, the handsome stranger changed into an enormous lion, and the magic anthill, with him crouched upon it, moved silently into a herd of buck that was grazing close at hand. With a savage roar and a mighty spring, the lion dragged the nearest buck to the ground, where he killed it.
The younger brother watched all this in astonishment and fear. Then, crouching out of sight, he ran quickly back to his father’s kraal.
The boy hurried to his sister’s hut and said to her, “Your husband is a ‘Lion-man’. I saw him change his shape and kill a buck, as I was following him”
This made the sister very angry. She gave him a good beating and said, “You lie. He is a human being, just as you are.” Not wanting to risk another beating, the boy remained silent.
After some months, the husband told his father-in-law that he wished to take his wife to his own home, so the two departed upon their long journey. The young brother longed to go with them but his sister said he told lies, so he was left behind.
However, he decided to follow them secretly, and it was not until they had reached the husband’s home that they discovered the boy was there. The sister then relented, and they made him welcome. All went well for many days, and the husband regularly brought home from the hunt all the meat that they could eat.
The time came, though, when the boy awoke one night, to see an enormous lion standing over his sister, and heard it say in a gruff voice, “All the meat I have killed for you has made you nice and fat. You refused to marry any of your own people but, not knowing who I was, you married me. Now I am going to eat you!” He bared his great white fangs and prepared to seize her by the throat.
In fear the brother jumped up, and this broke the spell. The husband, turned to human shape once more, said, “Why do you not sleep, brother?”
“It is nothing,” answered the boy. “There’s a stone in my bed keeping me awake.” Unable to carry out his plan, the husband lay down to sleep, thinking the boy had not seen him in his lion’s form.
This happened several more times on the nights that followed, but the boy was on the watch, and each time he stopped the lion-man as he was about to kill the girl, until finally the boy told her what he had seen. Again his sister accused him of telling lies, and beat him as before, so he decided upon a plan which he hoped would save them both. After she had gone to sleep that night, he tied a string to one of her fingers and, holding the other end, he settled down to watch.
Presently he saw the lion-man creep into the hut and, bending over the girl, again take the form of a fearsome lion. He heard him say, “This time I shall eat you.”
The brother gently pulled the string and, seeing the lion crouching over her as she woke, the girl called out, “Brother, brother, save me!”
Immediately the spell was broken and her husband, once more back in his human form, said soothingly, “What disturbs you, my beautiful? You are only dreaming. Go back to sleep.” Once again, she stayed alive.
“Now,” said the boy to his sister next morning, after the husband had gone upon his usual hunt, “was I speaking the t
ruth?”
“You were indeed,” replied the girl sorrowfully. “If only I had believed you. Now we are both likely to be eaten, for we’re too far away from home for anyone to help.”
“Quickly,” said the boy, “follow me, for still there is a chance.” He led her to an anthill nearby and, climbing onto it he pulled her after him, calling out as he did so, “Anthill, anthill, take us to our home.” Obeying the magic words, the anthill rose up into the air, and swiftly carried them home.
The lion-man returned from his hunt just in time to see the anthill carry his prey over the treetops towards their home, and his mighty roar of rage shook the forest. With the spell of his magic anthill broken, he had to return to his lion form for ever more.
From that time onward, the lion-man roamed through the forest, afraid to seek his beautiful human wife at her father’s home, for everyone would recognise him and kill him. He therefore made himself a promise to seek and kill all human beings that came his way.
Still today, people in Northern Zambia will say of a stranger, “Ask him about his home and his family, or you may find yourself marrying a lion.”
THE SONG OF THE GOLDEN BIRDS
ZAMBIA
Once upon a time there lived a powerful chief who ruled over a wild country, far away from civilization. There were hard times for his people. Few traders came that way, and cloth for clothes became scarce. Eventually times grew so bad that no cloth had been available for many, many months, and the people’s nakedness brought them deep sorrow and shame.
One day a large flight of Golden Birds, that shone like the rising sun, passed over the royal kraal and, as they flew singing overhead, they dropped a cloud of feathers, which formed into cloth as they floated to the ground – enough to clothe all the chief’s many subjects.
Needless to say, there was rejoicing throughout the kingdom. Such a gift had never come to them before, and they marvelled at the kindness of the Golden Birds. However, as time passed, the cloth wore out and once again the people were all but naked.
Their chief therefore decided to send his eleven sons to look for the Golden Birds, so he called them to him. “Sons,” he said, “go and search far and wide for the Golden Birds, and bring them back to me so that we can keep them here and have enough cloth for ever. Do not come back to me without them for, although you are my sons, I will kill you if you do.”
The eleven sons at once prepared food for the journey, and departed on their travels.
Day after day they searched for the Golden Birds through the forests near and far, but nowhere did they find, or even hear of them. After many months they reached a village where, tired and footsore, the eldest of the eleven said, “Brothers, let us stay here for ever. We cannot return to our own country, for our father promised to kill us if we did so without carrying out his command.”
He therefore looked for a wife, found one, and settled down to the local village life. The ten remaining brothers, however, continued upon their way, searching the countryside until they came to another village. Here the eldest of the remaining ten said the same as his elder brother had said, and he too stayed behind. He married one of the village maidens, while the remaining nine brothers went on without him.
The same thing happened again and again until at last there was only one brother left, the youngest of them all. This brother was now a man, for his search had lasted many years, and his journey had taken him far from home. One day, while passing through a forest he met Akakantote, the praying mantis, and the little insect said to him, “What brings you, a stranger, to our land?”
The youngest son told the mantis the story of his search for the Golden Birds. The mantis listened with interest and said, “You have become a man during your search, and you are still trying to obey your father’s wish. Because of this, I will help you.”
The mantis then took a small gourd, which he filled with flies and beads. He put a lid on it and gave it to the young man, saying, “This will lead you to your journey’s end.”
As the young man took the gourd into his hands, the flies and beads turned into the loathsome disease of scabies, which immediately spread all over his body. One fly only escaped from the gourd, and darted ahead of him. So, holding the gourd he followed the fly on and on.
After covering a long distance the little insect took him to a city where the people had such houses as he had never seen before, and where they had paler skins than he had ever seen. Here they caught and beat him, for the sight of a black man was strange to them, and the sores that covered his body disgusted them.
“What do you want?” they asked him.
“I am looking for the Golden Birds,” he said. Just then there was a burst of song from the very birds themselves, and their golden brightness lit the sky as they passed above. He cried aloud for joy, for he thought he had reached his journey’s end.
But the people said, “Who are you, so dirty and full of sores, that you come to our city and ask for our Golden Birds? We will let them go on one condition only. Many days’ journey from here you will come to another, larger city, and there you will find a Magic Drum. Bring us the drum, and you may have our Golden Birds.”
On he went again, still following the fly, and after many days travelling he reached the city of the Drum. Here he found that the houses were even stranger than the last, and the people paler skinned. Here they beat him more severely than before, and asked what he was looking for.
When they heard that he wanted their Magic Drum, they laughed loudly at his daring and said, “Bring us the Golden Queen from the City that rules over all the land. Then, and then only, may you have our Magic Drum.”
Again he continued upon his travels, with the fly still leading the way, and it was many days later that he reached the greatest city of all. Once more he was caught and beaten more cruelly than ever, after which he was dragged before their ruler.
When this great man heard the story of his courage, from the time he set out upon his quest, and the difficulties that had come his way, he marvelled at the young man’s determination – so much so, that he decided he would give him their precious Golden Queen who shone like the sun, as a reward for his bravery – and this he did. However, there was deep sorrow among the people, when, after he had rested, the youngest son left the city with their Queen.
Now that his search was ended, the little fly that had led him went back into the gourd which he still carried, and the disease that it had brought to him disappeared. Accompanied by the Golden Queen he began his journey back to the city of the Magic Drum, where he gave her to its people. But they were deeply ashamed at the way in which they had treated him when they had heard the story of his determination and courage, and of the trouble that had followed him since he left his home. They decided not to take the Golden Queen who shone like the sun, but to make him a present of the Magic Drum. So he left this city, taking with him the wonderful Drum as well as the beautiful Queen, and continued on his way to the city of the Golden Birds. There he gave the Drum to its people, in exchange for the Golden Birds.
However, the same thing happened again. They too were deeply ashamed of their cruelty, and gave him the Golden Birds saying, “Go, with our blessings and our birds, but we will not take the Magic Drum.”
That was how it happened that the youngest son now possessed the Golden Queen who shone like the sun, the Magic Drum, and the Golden Birds. Not surprisingly, he married the beautiful Queen, while the Golden Birds sang, and the Magic Drum played, as they left the city on their long journey to his father’s home.
On his way back, he met Akakantote the praying mantis once again. He told the mantis about his journey and its success. Then he returned the little gourd containing the flies and beads, thanking Akakantote for his kindness.
“It is nothing,” the mantis assured him. “May you travel safely.”
Now it happened that the Queen, when she left her home, was followed by her little dog. When they reached the village where the second youngest of
the eleven brothers was living, they found that all was far from well. The youngest son found his brother dirty, sick, and very poor. The wife he had married had grown tired of him and no longer bothered to cook food. His brother comforted, clothed and fed him, and advised him to return to their father. So they went on together.
As he revisited all the places along his travels, the youngest son found first one brother and then the next, sick and nearly starving. One by one he comforted and cared for them, inviting them to join him and to leave their faithless wives behind.
Eventually the travellers drew near to their father’s home. However, the unsuccessful brothers had become jealous, and the night before they were due to arrive, the eldest said to the other nine, “Let us kill our youngest brother. All praise and honour is bound to come to him. What will there be for us?”
At first the others refused, and said, “He has rescued us all. How can we think of harming him?”
In the end the eldest brother persuaded them by saying, “He will be our father’s favourite, and that will be as good as death for us.”
That was why, when they were nearing home the next morning, the ten elder brothers took him behind an anthill and strangled him. After a while, they told his Queen that he had been bitten by a snake, and was dead. As she wept over her husband’s body, the Queen ceased to shine like the sun, the Magic Drum left off playing, and the Golden Birds stopped singing and were silent.
At this, the elder brother shrugged his shoulders and said to the Queen, “What does it matter? I will marry you instead.”
During this time the Queen’s little dog refused to leave the body of its dead master, and stayed on guard by his side, while the rest of the party continued their journey to his father’s village.
The Best of African Folklore Page 5