African Folktales (The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

by Roger Abrahams

What’s your trouble, Warrior?

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  What’s your trouble, Warrior?

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  He said, “Everybody made a drum,

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  And Monkey took my drum away;

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  We’ll set our eyes on him today,

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  ’Cause the dust here is still unstirred;

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  We’ll offer meat to an expectant mother

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  We’ll offer meat to a big-assed gal,

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  We’ll give meat to everyone!

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  You’ll come and eat and eat and eat.

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  Hey, don’t you want to eat?

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  Hey, don’t you want to eat?

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  They’ll eat meat, eat meat, more meat.”

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  What’s your trouble, Warrior?

  Yy Irànmatékòn

  Olódùmarè, protect me, don’t let anyone say they’ve heard an evil tale from my lips—you see, just then Gbudgada summoned all his strength and shot out after Monkey. As soon as he grabbed hold of him, he raised his arm and landed sprawled on the ground! He was so strong that he lost his balance as soon as he made his catch. He used only a hand to catch him. “Rats! You mean I’ve been wasting my energy on this?” Monkey scoffed, “Ha-ha-ha, for a little thing like me? You’ve geared yourself all up as if you were going to a fight to the death, ha-ha-ha, when it was only me, whom you could just pick up and put in your pocket, I, who am so small that if you put me in your mouth there’d be enough room left to whistle through? Ha-ha! You really shouldn’t have taken such pains!”

  Well, Leopard breathed a sigh of satisfaction and said, “Thanks be to l’run” and pinned Monkey to the ground. “Oh, no! Don’t press me like that! You know I’ve never been very fat! There won’t be anything left! Do you know how I can fatten up so I’ll be better eating? You can see, can’t you, how very thin I am?” “Yes, so what can we do to make you fatter?” said Leopard. “No, listen, Monkey told him. You should cut a piece of rope from one of the slippery creepers that grows on the ground, and tie my hands together with it. Then you should throw me up high; when I’ve fallen through the air and landed on the ground, I’ll grow a little fatter. More fat, the second time—seven times in all. You know, when I’ve been thrown like that seven times, I’ll be fatter than you are! Leopard, that way you’ll have plenty of meat to share with whomever you want. They told me you would have meat to divide all around.” Leopard was surprised, “Oh, yeah?” “And as you know,” Monkey went on, “there’s no hole around here where I can hide, it’s true. You’ve got me. You know only too well that you’ve got me.”

  So, Leopard went off and got a smooth vine—poor guy—the kind of vine called yenghen. He pulled it up and broke a piece off. Then he tied it round Monkey’s hands. “Ouch! Ouch! Are you trying to kill me for no good reason? Loosen the rope a little!” So, he loosened it slightly. Then he rewound it round Monkey’s hands and tied it in a knot. He threw him into the air; Monkey swelled himself up a bit. “Well, you’ve grown, it’s true!” Poor guy. Outdone because he wants to eat.

  Then it was the second time. “Throw me again.” “Okay.” He threw him up and he fell on the ground again. He swelled up a little more. “Now, don’t you see I’m getting even fatter?” “Yep! It’s true, you’re getting bigger!”

  The third time came around. He threw him up a third time. Monkey fell to the ground and inflated himself a bit more. “Look,” he said, “you ought to throw me higher—that way I’ll get even fatter.” Friends, he summoned all his force and threw him up. You know the tree known as eku in those days, a thick tall tree. Monkey tried to grab hold of its leaves, but his hands slipped and he fell back to the ground. He puffed himself up and puffed himself up even more. “Ha!” said Leopard. “So, you see it’s working. This thing is getting even bigger, it’s true!” Monkey replied, “Well, you haven’t been doing a very good job of it. I haven’t landed with the wind knocked out of me yet. If you throw me higher, I’ll get even fatter, as fat as Leopard himself!” Then Leopard summoned all his strength and threw him with a whoosh! Monkey stretched out his arms and caught hold of a branch of the eku tree.

  Father, he clambered through the branches, gt gt gt, using both his legs and arms to grip the tree. He declared he would shake the dew off onto the head of an elder. Leopard stared at him in surprise. All the dew on the tree rained down on Leopard’s head. Leopard said, “I’ve really been defeated.” Olódùmarè, don’t let us suffer.

  Leopard suffered a second defeat on top of the first. That was as far as I went before I came home.

  —Yoruba

  5

  A Man Who Could Transform Himself

  There was a man called Mbokothe, and he had a brother. The two were orphans and they lived together. Their parents had left them two cows when they died, and one day, Mbokothe said to his brother, “Let me take these two cows and go to a medicine man, so that he can give me some treatment, the giving of magical powers.” And his elder brother told him to take them.

  Mbokothe led the two cows out of their home, and drove them to a famous medicine man in another part of the country. The medicine man treated him, and gave him magical powers, so that he could transform himself into any kind of animal that he wanted. He returned to his home, told his brother about it, and said, “If I change into an animal, don’t tell anyone my secret.”

  One day Mbokothe transformed himself into a huge bull, and his brother drove him to the market to sell him. All the people that saw them stopped and stared, wondering where such a big bull had come from. One man came looking to buy and he asked how much that big bull cost. The brother told him that he would exchange it for two cows and five goats. So the man bought the bull, intending to slaughter it to impress the man whose daughter he wanted to marry.

  The buyer drove the bull towards his home, but before they got there, the bull escaped and ran away. The man chased after it, with no luck, until he was exhausted. The bull transformed itself so that one half of it looked like a lion, and then disappeared into the forest. The man followed its trail and saw on the ground the prints of a lion’s paw, and he exclaimed, “It has already been eaten by a lion!” So he went back home, upset at having wasted so much time and energy. The bull went on, and when it was far from where people lived, it transformed itself back into a man, and Mbokothe returned home and saw the cows and goats that his brother had obtained from the market that day.

  On another market day, these two brothers did the same thing, and again Mbokothe transformed himself into a bull. His brother sold him for ten goats, and drove the goats back to their home while Mbokothe was being driven to the home of the man who bought him. But to their misfortune, the man who bought the bull had also been to the medicine man, and had himself gotten a powerful charm. When they came near the house of the man, the bull ran off, as on the previous occasion, and the owner chased it towards the forest. He came very near to catching it, and Mbokothe decided to transform himself into a lion, thinking that the man would be scared if he saw a lion, but the other man was also able to change into a lion, and continued to chase Mbokothe. When Mbokothe saw that he was about to be caught, he transformed himself into a bird and flew away. But the other man changed into a kite, and then both of them flew in the sky, chasing each other.

  Again, Mbokothe saw that he was on the point of being caught, so he came down to the ground, changed himself into an antelope, and continued to run. His pursuer changed into a wolf, and the two ran on till at last Mbokothe yielded, and said to the other man, after they had both changed back into human beings, “Okay, let’s go to my home and I’ll give you back your goats.” They went to his home and Mbokothe gave the man his ten goats. For he knew th
at he had met his match in making magic.

  —Akamba

  6

  Tale of an Old Woman

  There was once an old woman who had no husband and no relations, no money and no food. One day she took her axe and went to the forest to cut a little firewood to sell, so that she could buy something to eat. She went very far, right into the heart of the bush, and she came to a large tree covered with flowers, and the tree was called Musiwa. The woman took her axe and began to fell the tree. The tree said to her, “Why are you cutting me? What have I done to you?” The woman said to the tree, “I am cutting you down to make some firewood to sell, so that I can get some money, so that I can buy food to keep from starving, for I am very poor and have no husband or relations.” The tree said to her, “Let me give you some children to be your own children to help you in your work, but you must not beat them, nor are you to scold them. If you scold them you will see the consequences The woman said, “All right, I won’t scold them.” Then the flowers of that tree turned into many boys and girls. The woman took them and brought them home.

  Each child had its own work—some tilled, others hunted elephants, and still others fished. There were girls who had the work of cutting firewood, and girls who had the work of collecting vegetables, and girls who pounded flour and cooked it. The old woman didn’t have to work any more, for now she was blessed.

  Among the girls, there was one smaller than all the rest. The others said to the woman, “This little girl must not work. When she is hungry and cries for food, give it to her and don’t be angry at her for all of this.” The woman said to them, “All right, my children, whatever you tell me I will do.”

  In this way, they lived together for some time. The woman didn’t have to work except to feed the littlest child when it wanted to eat. One day the child said to the woman, “I am very hungry. Give me some food to eat.” The woman scolded the child, saying, “How you pester me, you children of the bush! Get it out of the pot yourself.” The child cried and cried because it had been scolded by the woman. Some of her brothers and sisters came, and asked her what was the matter. She told them, “When I said I was hungry and asked for food, our mother said to me, ‘How I am worried by these bush children.’ ” Then the boys and girls waited until those who had gone hunting returned, and they told them how the matter stood. So they said to the woman, “So you said we are children of the bush. We’ll just go back to our mother, Musiwa, and you can dwell alone.” The woman pleaded with them every way, but they wouldn’t stay. They all returned to the tree and became flowers again, as it was before, and all the people laughed at her. She dwelt in poverty till she died, because she did not heed the instruction given to her by the tree.

  —Bondei

  7

  The King’s Daughter Who

  Lost Her Hair

  A long, long time ago, there was a king who had one daughter. All the people in his kingdom said that she was the most beautiful girl on the face of the earth. Her face was like glass—it glittered like precious stones of great price—and her eyes were like the sun. But it was her hair that dazzled people, for it was very, very beautiful, and in color it was neither black nor golden, but between the two. The hair was so long that it touched the ground when she walked.

  The king loved his daughter very much, and used to give her pearls and diamonds because she adored them. She also loved flowers, and every morning fresh ones were brought to her room. Some she put in her hair, and the others she put in a vase on the table. All who went to the king’s palace used to exclaim, “What a pity it would be if she ever lost her hair!”

  Now, one morning, while the girl was standing near the window in her room doing little tasks, a bird came flying by. It was a very big, ugly, greenish bird, and had red and terrifying eyes. After a little while, it flew back, passing to and fro in front of her window. Finally, it landed on a nearby tree and stared in at the beautiful girl. She didn’t see it until the bird spoke to her, and then she was very surprised. The bird said, “Good afternoon, lovely girl! You have very, very beautiful hair, which I have heard about everywhere. Now I believe the report!” The girl smiled and felt warm satisfaction at hearing a bird comment on her hair. Then she said, “How wonderful it is that I have the most lovely hair in all my father’s kingdom! I have more exquisite hair than all the women in the world!”

  The bird said to the princess, “Now, you have enough hair for yourself, so you can certainly afford to spare some for me. I have nothing to build a nest out of. I need something as fine and soft as this to lay my eggs on. Since you have so much hair, if you were to give me only a small lock, I would be very happy.” The girl answered, “My hair? My beautiful hair? Such lovely hair to be put in your nest and wasted! I am a king’s daughter, and I love my hair more than anything else on earth!” The bird said, “I would pay you to give me some of your hair.” She replied, “I won’t give you even one hair. I have never heard such foolishness before. Go away or I will call the soldiers to come and shoot you.”

  Then the bird smiled and said, “They can’t shoot me! You better not call them for they couldn’t do it if they wanted to. Now, for the last time, princess, will you give me some of your hair?” The king’s daughter got angry and cried, “I will not!” Just as she was about to weep, the bird remarked, “Well, never mind then,” and flew round and round the tree, singing:

  As leaves fall in the dry season,

  So let this girl’s hair fall off.

  Leaves return in the rainy season,

  But when will she get back her hair?

  When the bird had finished singing, he spoke once to the girl and flew away, leaving her bewildered and frightened.

  Now, the rains stopped and the dry season came. A strong wind began to blow, and the tree outside the princess’s room began to lose its leaves, until soon they were all on the ground. In the same way that these leaves had fallen, the hair of the king’s daughter began to fall. As you can imagine, she was furious and then inconsolable. She threw herself about in great sorrow. Then she went to tell her father. On hearing her story, the king shook with laughter and said, “How can a bird cause you this great loss of your hair!” The girl was certainly not very pleased with her father’s response, and she continued to cry. And her hair continued to fall out. She was very unhappy, and the other girls who came to wash and comb her hair tried to comfort her, but she did not stop crying. All her hair came out, and she looked exceedingly ugly.

  The king called together all the wisemen and magicians in his kingdom, and said to them, “Whoever will put back the hair on the head of my daughter, I will give him many pieces of gold.” But every one of those wisemen and magicians failed to put it back.

  One night, as the king’s daughter was sleeping, she dreamt a dream. In her dream she saw a tree that produced hair, and saw a young man who danced very well and sang this song:

  Where there is no grass,

  Plant seeds in the soil,

  That there may grow some grass.

  In the dream she saw that when the young man had sung that song, he took a seed out of his bag and cast it on the ground, and where the seed fell a tree grew up immediately. When the tree had become big, it produced fruits, and when those fruits ripened, they produced much hair, and the hair covered the tree completely. When the girl woke up in the morning, she thought hard about the dream and the tree that produced hair. She could think of nothing else that whole day.

  She went and called her father, the king, and said, “In a dream I saw a tree that was growing hair. Now, you should get your wise men and magicians, and ask them to look for the seeds of this tree.” So the king called his wise men and magicians again, and said that he would give many more pieces of gold to whoever would bring the seeds of the hair-producing tree. All the people looked for that tree, but no one was able to find it or any of its seeds. Indeed, no one had ever seen or heard of it.

  In that country, there was one young man who was very poor and lonely. His name
was Muoma, and he had a small infection on his leg. When he heard that the king had requested the people to look for the hair-producing tree, he decided he would try to find it because such a vast amount of gold would make him rich. He had neither father nor mother, brother nor sister—no relatives at all. He said to himself, “I don’t see why I shouldn’t go to find this tree.” So he took a trip to look for it; but it turned out to be a very foolish journey!

  As the man traveled, he got to one place where birds talked like men, and another where the animals talked like men, too. He saw trees with fingers and eyes like men, and he felt that it was very likely he would find the tree he wanted. Of course, wherever he went he asked all the birds, the animals, the trees about the tree which grew hair. He went on for many months in this manner. He thought he was going to reach the right place quickly, but he came to the sea without success. He made himself a boat and started sailing. All the time he was traveling eastwards.

  Muoma sailed on and on, until he came to an island. From his boat he could see it was a very small and barren island and there were only three trees there. One tree had red beans; the second had a gray-green hue that showed it was a tree of silver; and the third was golden, and very wonderful. This third tree was very tall, and the top of it was like a golden dome. He guided his boat to the shores of the island, got out, and went and stood under the golden dome. Suddenly, with a very loud explosion, the dome split into twelve pieces. They all fell to the ground at the same time, and immediately the whole tree caught fire and burned to the ground.

  Muoma was exceedingly frightened, and he shook his head and looked at the ground while all this went on. When the sound had died away and the fire had gone out, he picked up one red bean from the ground and put it into his bag; then he picked up other beans, too, and carried them to his boat. He set off again, now assured he was on the right track and that soon he would see the tree he wanted.