The elder of the two youngest sons was called Jean, the younger, Joseph. They began to go to the forest for firewood, and they sold the firewood for a franc a bundle. When Jean sold a bundle of wood, he spent the money he got for it. Joseph saved his earnings. This went on.
Once, Joseph, the richer of the two went to the forest, and climbed up a tree. Some distance from there was a mountain. He could see clearly from where he was for the mountain was only two kilometers away. It was all swept and clean. Now, Joseph was curious, and he watched to see what would come out of this mountain. He no longer looked for firewood, but remained hidden in the branches of the tree and watched. He remained there all day.
This was towards two o’clock. If the thieves went out at five in the morning, they came back at two o’clock in the afternoon. At two o’clock, then, they arrived. The thieves did not know that there was someone up the tree spying on them. Now, the thieves have a charm with which to open the mountain. To open the mountain, they put the charm on the ground. It was a pea, which was hammered into the mountain with the foot. Then they would say, “Open.” The mountain opened.
Now, Joseph was there near the mountain and he could look right inside. When the door opened, he saw gold, animals, everything. He said, “Oh, do such things exist!”
Now, the thieves stayed inside the mountain. They ate, and then they put away what they had brought with them—the things stolen that day.
Then, when the thieves went out they said to the mountain, “We are coming back in two days, or three days.” They always fixed the day for their return. To close the mountain, they took out the pea and put it in at the side of the mountain for safekeeping. They went away.
And Joseph also went away. He went back home. Now, Joseph no longer wanted to bother with gathering wood. Joseph had a little education—he knew how to write—and on the third day he went and posted himself in the same place in order to write down what the thieves said to open the mountain. Again the thieves came back at two o’clock. They pounded in the pea, and said, “Open,” and the mountain opened. Now, Joseph wrote all this down on a paper. After having eaten, the thieves went out again towards dark. They told the mountain that they would be away three days. Good. Now, they told the mountain to close.
When the thieves were eight kilometers distant, Joseph climbed down from the tree. He approached the mountain and took up the charm that he had seen hidden at the side of the mountain. He did just as the thieves had done. He commanded the mountain, he said, “Open.” The mountain opened.
Then Joseph entered. He began to gather up the gold so that he might carry it away with him. He worked from morning till night. The next day also he labored from morning till night. He no longer looked for firewood. Now, during the day, he slept.
He went to put eighty sacks in the bank vault. He asked the king for land to build a great compound. The king gave him the land. They called one hundred workmen together for him. After three days, he again returned to the mountain, and again he gathered up money.
Now, all the people were very astonished to see Joseph become so rich. They said, “A man who sells only firewood cannot become so rich.” The workers began to build. They raised a house of several stories, one story higher than the king’s house. Now, all the people admired this house.
On the third day, he returned to the mountain again. He did once more as he had done before. He gathered up all the money he could carry away. Good. Now he was very, very rich. He went to marry a girl.
His brother Jean was very, very poor. He came to see him one day. Joseph greeted him and gave him a good place. He told his wife to prepare a meal for him. The two ate together. He gave him money—a whole sackful.
Jean refused it. He said, “I do not want money. I ask only to know what you did to become so rich. We both gathered firewood, and you got rich. Show me the way to do it.” Jean took a knife and said, “If you do not tell me, I will kill you.”
Joseph said, “If I tell you now, you won’t know how to act. You’ll only be killed yourself.”
Jean said to him, “Why do you say I will die?”
Joseph said, “If you go, you will die. You cannot read. You won’t know how to manage.”
Jean said, “Good. Tell me just the same.”
Joseph showed him the road. Jean went to the place and climbed up a tree. The thieves arrived. They said the words. They commanded the mountain, they said, “Open.” The mountain opened.
Jean heard this. Now, towards five o’clock, the thieves again went out. Jean did not want to return home and come in the morning. He went at once to the mountain and commanded it to open. He entered and gathered up all he could carry away. He piled up the sacks. Now, he wanted to come out, but he forgot the right words. Instead of saying “Open,” he said, “Close.” Instead of asking the mountain to open, he kept telling it to close. Now, the mountain was shut tight. He was there inside. He was there till the thieves came.
The thieves commanded the mountain to open. The mountain did not want to open, for it was tightly closed.
One of the thieves said, “Surely, we have a man inside.”
They opened the mountain and saw the man seated on the sacks. They came inside. They asked him, “Where do you come from?”
“I am the brother of Joseph, who has been gathering money here. That is why he is so rich. It is he who showed me the way here.”
One thief asked him, “Is it the young one who lives in the house of several stories, near the king’s house?”
Jean said, “Yes.”
The thieves now killed Jean. They dismembered him, limb from limb, and nailed him to the wall of the mountain. Now, they went out again.
The next day his brother Joseph came, for he had not seen Jean for three days. He came with his notebook and a sack. He put his brother’s flesh inside the sack, and put with it some money that he took.
At the house, he had all the leather workers of the village come. He said, “Who is the one who knows how to sew best? If I killed a goat and I cut it into several pieces, who could resew it?” There was a young leather worker there who said he could. So there and then they killed a goat and cut it into several pieces. Then this leather worker resewed it.
Joseph had this leather worker come at night. He showed him Jean’s dead body and asked him to sew it together so that he could bury it. The leather worker did this, and at night they buried Jean.
The next day, when the thieves came back, they did not find Jean’s flesh there. They said, “Joseph has courage. He came to get his brother’s body, which we cut up. It must be Jean’s burial that was held yesterday. We heard the noise.”
Now, they began to plot how to kill Joseph. The next day, an important thief came to town to see the leather worker. He asked the leather workers of the village, “Who among you knows how to sew well?”
There was one leather worker there who said, “I know how to sew well.” He said, “The other night at Joseph’s house I sewed up a dead body.”
“Whose dead body?”
“Jean’s dead body.” The thief knew then that it was Joseph who had taken his brother’s body.
The thief went back to the mountain. Toward noon he gathered a hundred men. Good. One thief went to see Joseph and said he had one hundred sacks of salt. He would bring these about midnight. The thief went to find a hundred empty sacks.
At night, towards eight o’clock, Joseph went for a walk, leaving his wife behind. The thief then came to Joseph’s house, for he had promised to bring one hundred sacks of salt. He entered with one hundred men and one hundred empty sacks, and Joseph’s wife looked on through the windows but did nothing.
The chief of these thieves told each man to get into a sack, so that it seemed to be full of salt. Then he closed each sack and put it against a wall. When he had finished putting the men in the sacks, all the sacks were full, each with a man in it. The chief said, “At midnight, I shall whistle. You are to come out of the sacks and we will all rob the man.”
As his wife had seen this, she sent her boy to look for his master. When her husband arrived, she told him that these were not sacks of salt, but that there were men in them.
Joseph and his wife prepared a charm with water; if but a drop of this water touched your head, you would die. During the night, before midnight, they prepared the potion, and at the hour for eating, they asked the two chief thieves to come up to eat with them. Joseph and his wife sat down on the same stool, and on the opposite side of the room, the two thieves sat also on one stool. Before they climbed the stairs, Joseph had given a revolver to his wife, and he had a loaded one, too. He had said to his wife, “Madam, when we start eating, if I put my foot on yours, it will be the signal to shoot the two thieves.”
When the two brigands had climbed up, they said to Joseph, “We will not eat with you. We have left our sacks of salt below and someone might steal them.” Joseph told them that there were no thieves there and offered them the chair he had placed for them. He put his foot on the foot of his wife, and they shot the two thieves.
There were those in the sacks who said to the others, “Who is that shooting up there?”
And the others said, “Joseph is killing his pigeons.”
After having killed the two thieves, Joseph came down accompanied by his two boys, and he brought with him the potion. As he came to each sack, he told the man in it, who believed that this was his master and not Joseph, “Here is some medicine, so that you will not be too tired.” He gave it to the first, and the sack, which had stood upright, fell to the ground. The second, the same thing, and the same until he had finished ninety-nine sacks. The last man escaped.
Now, Joseph had put in nails on top of his walls in order that people could not climb over them, and so the one hundredth thief was stuck on one of these nails. He said, “Why have you killed my comrades?” Joseph went to sleep, leaving the bodies where they fell.
The next day he went to see the king of the country and the king sent men to see the dead bodies of the thieves. So the king of that country gave the order to make a road all the way to the mountain. And all the gold there belonged to Joseph.
—Dahomey
3
The Three Tests
A certain sultan had seven sons. And the eldest of them went to his father and said that he wished to travel. His father agreed and provided him with a sailing boat and food and money. So he set out and sailed until he came to an island where there were many beautiful fruits growing. He landed on this island and walked among the fruit trees. And as he walked he plucked the fruits and ate them. But when he spat out the seeds of the fruits, as soon as they touched the ground, they became new plants and bore fruit immediately. And the young man, wondering about this, gathered baskets of the fruit and took them on board his ship.
He left the island and sailed night and day until he came to another island, ruled by a sultan. Here the young man, wishing to inform the sultan of the marvelous fruit that he carried, went into his presence, and said—“Oh my Lord Sultan! I have here a marvelous fruit, the seeds of which spring up and bear fruit as soon as they touch the ground, and I would show this wonder to you.” But the sultan would not believe his story, and said, “If what you say is true I will reward you, but if you are lying, then I will cast you into prison.” So the young man brought the fruit and ate it and cast the seeds upon the ground, but the seeds lay there and nothing happened. Then the sultan cast him into prison and kept him there.
In the meantime, the brothers of the young man became anxious as to his fate, and the eldest of those that remained went to his father, the sultan, and asked him for a vessel and food and money that he might look for his brother. The sultan gave him all he asked for, and he set sail. He, too, arrived at the island that contained the wonderful fruit, and when he had eaten of it and found that the seeds sprang to life and bore fruit as soon as they touched the ground, he gathered baskets of it as his brother had done, placed them on board his boat, and set sail. When he came to the island on which his brother was imprisoned, he, too, proclaimed the virtue of the fruit that he had brought, and even entered the presence of the sultan to boast of it. Wishing to show this miracle to the sultan, he ate of the fruit and cast the seeds upon the ground. But they failed to spring up, and the sultan, in anger, cast him also into prison.
One by one, all the brothers, with the exception of the youngest, set sail to search for the others. Each landed on the island and gathered the magic fruit, each failed to show the miracle to the sultan who lived on the second island, and each was cast into prison.
At last there remained but the youngest son, whose name was Sadaka, and he went to his father and asked for a boat. When he had obtained it, he loaded it with millet and rice and cattle, and then he set sail. After several days, he reached an island that was full of birds, and these birds had no food and were starving. So Sadaka landed his millet upon the island, and scattered it for the birds to eat. The sultan of the birds, in return for this kindness, gave Sadaka a piece of incense, and said, “Burn this if at any time you need us, and we shall smell it and come to help you.” So Sadaka took the incense and set sail. After a further journey he came to another island. And this island was full of flies who were starving and could find no food. Then Sadaka, filled with compassion, slew his cattle and threw them on the island for the flies to eat. When the flies were satisfied, the sultan of the flies thanked Sadaka and gave him a piece of incense, and said, “If at any time you need us, burn this incense and we will come to help you.” So Sadaka took the incense and continued his journey. After a time, he came to a third island, and this island was filled with jinns, who were also without food, and hungry. So Sadaka took a great pot and filled it with rice, and he lit a fire underneath the pot, and said to the jinns, “Wait a little and I will cook you rice.” So the jinns thanked him, and said, “Take care that you put no salt in the pot.” And Sadaka replied, “Have no fear, there is not salt in it.” So when the rice was cooked, the jinns gathered round and ate. When they were satisfied, the sultan of the jinns came to Sadaka and gave him a piece of incense, saying, “If at any time you need us, burn this and we will come to you.” So Sadaka took the incense and sailed away.
In due course, he came to the island where grew the magic fruit that his brothers had found. When he, too, found that the seeds sprang to life and bore fruit as soon as they touched the ground, he gathered the fruit, and returned to the island of the jinns to show it to them. But the sultan of the jinns told him, “This miracle will only happen when the seeds fall on special soil. Therefore, if you want to show this wonder to strangers, take the soil of this island and when the seeds fall upon it they will spring up and bear fruit.” So Sadaka filled his vessel with the soil and sailed away. Eventually he arrived at the island on which his brothers were imprisoned. He presented himself before the sultan, and said, “Oh my Lord Sultan! I have here a magic fruit, the seeds of which grow and bear fruit as soon as they touch the ground.” But the sultan said, “There are now six men in prison for having failed to show me this miracle, and, if you also fail, you shall join them.” Sadaka said, “Tomorrow, I will show this wonder.” The sultan replied, “So be it, but remember if you fail, you, too, shall be cast into prison.” That night Sadaka spread everywhere the soil that he had brought from the island of the jinns. The next morning, he ate the fruit in the presence of the sultan and his wise men and nobles. When he had eaten, he strew the seeds upon the ground and they sprang up and bore fruit. The sultan and his retinue, and all the people of the island, wondered greatly, and ate the fruit and cast the seeds upon the ground, and, speedily, the whole island blossomed with the magic fruit.
Now the sultan possessed a daughter of extraordinary beauty. When Sadaka heard of her charms, he desired her greatly, and asked the sultan to give her to him that he might marry her. Then the sultan gathered together sacks containing all kinds of grain, and mixed the contents of the sacks together in a room. In the evening, he locked Sadaka in t
he room with the grain saying, “If you can separate all these different kinds of grain, each into its own sack, then you can marry the princess, but if you fail, you will die.” So Sadaka slept in the room that night, and the next morning, he burnt the incense that the sultan of the birds had given him. Immediately, the air was filled with birds and the sultan of the birds asked Sadaka what he wanted. When the birds heard what the sultan had ordered Sadaka to do, they flew into the room and, picking up the grain in their beaks, separated each kind into its own sack. But when the sultan came to Sadaka in the evening, and saw that all the grain was separated as he had ordered, he said to Sadaka, “You must prove yourself once more if you want to marry my daughter. If you can cut through the trunk of a baobab tree at one stroke of your sword, then you can take her. But if you fail, then you will die.” Then he showed Sadaka the baobab tree, which was of enormous size.
Sadaka went back to his room, and burnt the incense that the sultan of the jinns had given him. When the jinns appeared, he told them what the sultan wanted him to do. Then the jinns brought white ants in great numbers and instructed them to gnaw at the trunk of the baobab tree. And the ants ate away the trunk of the tree, leaving only the bark. And two jinns, making themselves invisible, held the branches of the tree for fear that a wind might arise and blow it to the ground. But there was no wind, and Sadaka approached the tree with the sultan and his retinue. In their presence, he drew his sword and smote the tree and cut it in half. And the jinns, who were holding it, guided its fall that it might kill no one.
Then the sultan said, “Tomorrow all the maidens of the city, including the princess, my daughter, will pass in front of you, one by one, and you must pick the princess from among them. If you choose right, you shall have her in marriage; but if you fail to discover which is the princess, then you will die.” Then Sadaka retired once more to his chamber, and burnt the incense that the sultan of the flies had given him. Immediately, the sultan of the flies appeared, and Sadaka told him what the sultan had decreed. Then the sultan of the flies said, “When the maidens of the city pass before you, I will stand in front of you, and you will watch me. When the princess is drawing near, I will drum my wings as if I am about to fly. Then, when she passes in front of you, I will alight on her shoulder and you shall take her.” So the next day all the maidens of the city passed before Sadaka, and the sultan of the flies stood in front of Sadaka, and Sadaka watched him. Suddenly, he began to drum the air with his wings, and soon flew around and landed on the shoulder of the princess as she walked past. Then Sadaka took her by the arm and led her away, and Sadaka married the princess and released his brothers from prison. The story is finished.
African Folktales (The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) Page 7