Té ni yon manman qui té ni en pile, en pile yche; et yon jou y pa té ni
aïen pou y té baill yche-là mangé. Y té ka lévé bon matin-là sans yon
sou: y pa sa ça y té douè fai,--là y té ké baill latête. Y allé
lacaïe macoumè-y, raconté lapeine-y. Macoumè baill y toua chopine
farine-manioc. Y allé lacaill liautt macoumè, qui baill y yon grand
trai piment. Macoumè-là di y venne trai-piment-à, épi y té pè acheté
lamori,--pisse y ja té ni farine. Madame-là di: "Mèçi, macoumè;"--y di y
bonjou'; épi y allé lacaïe-y.
Lhè y rivé àcaïe y limé difè: y metté canari épi dleau assous difé-a;
épi y cassé toutt piment-là et metté yo adans canari-à assous diré.
Lhè y oue canari-à ka bouï, y pouend _baton-lélé_, epi y lélé piment-à:
aloss y ka fai yonne calalou-piment. Lhè calalou-piment-là té tchouitt,
y pouend chaque zassiett yche-li; y metté calalou yo fouète dans
zassiett-là; y metté ta-mari fouète, assou, épi ta-y. Épi lhè calalou-là
té bien fouète, y metté farine nans chaque zassiett-là. Épi y crié toutt
moune vini mangé. Toutt moune vini metté yo à-tabe.
Pouèmiè bouchée mari-à pouend, y rété,--y crié: "Aïe! ouaill! mafenm!"
Fenm-là réponne mari y: "Ouaill! monmari!" Cés ti manmaille-la crie:
"Ouaill! manman!" Manman-à. réponne:--"Ouaill! yches-moin!"... Yo toutt
pouend couri, quitté caïe-là sèle,--épi yo toutt tombé larviè à touempé
bouche yo. Cés ti manmaille-là bouè dleau sitellement jusse temps yo
toutt néyé: té ka rété anni manman-là épi papa-là. Yo té là bò lariviè,
qui té ka pleiré. Moin té ka passé à lhè-à;--moin ka mandé yo: "Ça zautt
ni?"
Nhomme-là lévé: y baill moin yon sèle coup d'piè, y voyé moin lautt bo
lariviè-ou ouè moin vini pou conté ça ba ou.
There was once a mamma who had ever so many children; and one day she
had nothing to give those children to eat. She had got up very early
that morning, without a sou in the world: she did not know what to do:
she was so worried that her head was upset. She went to the house of a
woman-friend, and told her about her trouble. The friend gave her three
_chopines_ [three pints] of manioc flour. Then she went to the house
of another female friend, who gave her a big trayful of pimentos. The
friend told her to sell that tray of pimentos: then she could buy some
codfish,--since she already had some manioc flour. The good-wife said:
"Thank you, _macoumè_,"--she bid her good-day, and then went to her own
house.
The moment she got home, she made a fire, and put her _canari_ [earthen
pot] full of water on the fire to boil: then she broke up all the
pimentos and put them into the canari on the fire.
As soon as she saw the canari boiling, she took her _baton-lélé_, and
beat up all those pimentos: then she made a _pimento-calalou_. When the
pimento-calalou was well cooked, she took each one of the children's
plates, and poured their calalou into the plates to cool it; she also
put her husband's out to cool, and her own. And when the calalou was
quite cool, she put some manioc flour into each of the plates. Then
she called to everybody to come and eat. They all came, and sat down to
table.
The first mouthful that husband took he stopped and screamed:--"_Aïe!
ouaill!_ my wife!" The woman answered her husband: "_Ouaill_! my
husband!" The little children all screamed: "_Ouaill!_ mamma!" Their
mamma answered: "_Ouaill!_ my children!"... They all ran out, left the
house empty; and they tumbled into the river to steep their mouths.
Those little children just drank water and drank water till they were
all drowned: there was nobody left except the mamma and the papa, They
stayed there on the river-bank, and cried. I was passing that way just
at that time;--I asked them: "What ails you people?" That man got up and
gave me just one kick that sent me right across the river; I came here
at once, as you see, to tell you all about it....