Kassim was a sturdy lad from the Basoko country, and a chum of Baruti.
As yet he had never related to us a legend, though he loved to sit near
the fire, and listen to the tales of the days of old. This silence on
his part was at last remarked, and one night he was urged by all of us
to speak, because it was unfair that those who frequented our open-air
club should be always ready to receive amusement, and yet refuse to
contribute their share to the entertainment. This kind of argument
pushed home, brought him at last to admit that he owed the party a debt
in kind, and he said:
Well, friends, each man according to his nature, though there are so
many men in the world they differ from one another as much as stones, no
two of which are exactly alike. Here is Baruti here, who never seems to
tire of speech, while I find more pleasure in watching his lips move up
and down, and his tongue pop out and in, than in using my own. I cannot
remember any legend, that is the truth; but I know of something which is
not fiction, that occurred in our country relating to Izoka--a woman
originally of Umane, the big town above Basoko. Izoka, the Queen of the
Pool, as we call her, is alive now, and should you ever pass by Umane
again, you may ask any of the natives if my words are true, and you will
find that they will certify to what I shall now tell you.
Izoka is the daughter of a chief of Umane whose name is Uyimba, and her
mother is called Twekay. One of the young warriors called Koku lifted
his eyes towards her, and as he had a house of his own which was empty,
he thought Izoka ought to be the one to keep his hearth warm, and be his
companion while he went fishing. The idea became fixed in his mind, and
he applied to her father, and the dowry was demanded; and, though it was
heavy, it was paid, to ease his longing after her.
Now, Izoka was in every way fit to be a chief's wife. She was tall,
slender, comely of person; her skin was like down to the touch, her
kindly eyes brimmed over with pleasantness, her teeth were like white
beads, and her ready laugh was such that all who heard it compared it to
the sweet sounds of a flute which the perfect player loves to make
before he begins a tune, and men's moods became merry when she passed
them in the village. Well, she became Koku's wife, and she left her
father's house to live with her husband.
At first it seemed that they were born for one another. Though Koku was
no mean fisherman, his wife excelled him in every way. Where one fish
came into his net, ten entered into that of Izoka, and this great
success brought him abundance. His canoe returned daily loaded with
fish, and on reaching home they had as much work to clean and cure the
fish as they could manage. Their daily catch would have supported quite
a village of people from starving. They therefore disposed of their
surplus stock by bartering it for slaves, and goats, and fowls, hoes,
carved paddles, and swords; and in a short time Koku became the
wealthiest among the chiefs of Umane, through the good fortune that
attended Izoka in whatever she did.
Most men would have considered themselves highly favoured in having such
fortunate wives, but it was not so with Koku. He became a changed man.
Prosperity proved his bane. He went no more with Izoka to fish; he
seldom visited the market in her company, nor the fields where the
slaves were at work, planting manioc, or weeding the plantain rows, or
clearing the jungle, as he used to do. He was now always seen with his
long pipe, and boozing with wretched idlers on the plantain wine
purchased with his wife's industry; and when he came home it was to
storm at his wife in such a manner that she could only bow to it in
silence.
When Koku was most filled with malice, he had an irritating way of
disguising his spitefulness with a wicked smile, while his tongue
expressed all sorts of contrary fancies. He would take delight in
saying that her smooth skin was as rough as the leaf with which we
polish our spear-shafts, that she was dumpy and dwarfish, that her mouth
reminded him of a crocodile's, and her ears of an ape's; her legs were
crooked, and her feet were like hippopotamus hoofs, and she was scorned
for even her nails, which were worn to the quick with household toil;
and he continued in this style to vex her, until at last he became
persuaded that it was she who tormented him. Then he accused her of
witchcraft. He said that it was by her witch's medicines that she
caught so many fish, and he knew that some day she would poison him.
Now, in our country this is a very serious accusation. However, she
never crossed her husband's humour, but received the bitterness with
closed lips. This silent habit of hers made matters worse. For, the
more patience she showed, the louder his accusations became, and the
worse she appeared in his eyes. And indeed it is no wonder. If you
make up your mind that you will see naught in a wife but faults, you
become blind to everything else.
Her cooking also according to him was vile--there was either too much
palm-oil or too little in the herb-mess, there was sand in the meat of
the fish, the fowls were nothing but bones, she was said to empty the
chilli-pot into the stew, the house was not clean, there were snakes in
his bed--and so on and so on. Then she threatened, when her tough
patience quite broke down, that she would tell her father if he did not
desist, which so enraged him that he took a thick stick, and beat her so
cruelly that she was nearly dead. This was too much to bear from one so
ungrateful, and she resolved to elope into the woods, and live apart
from all mankind.
She had travelled a good two days' journey when she came in sight of a
lengthy and wide pool which was fed by many springs, and bordered by
tall, bending reeds; and the view of this body of water, backed by deep
woods all round, appeared to her so pleasing that she chose a level
place near its edge for a resting-place. Then she unstrapped her
hamper, and sitting down turned out the things she had brought, and
began to think of what could be done with them. There was a wedge-like
axe which might also be used as an adze, there were two hoes, a handy
Basoko bill-hook, a couple of small nets, a ladle, half-a-dozen small
gourds full of grains, a cooking-pot, some small fish-knives, a bunch of
tinder, a couple of fire-sticks, a short stick of sugar-cane, two banana
bulbs, a few beads, iron bangles, and tiny copper balls. As she looked
over all these things, she smiled with satisfaction and thought she
would manage well enough. She then went into the pool a little way and
looked searchingly in for a time, and she smiled again, as if to say
"better and better."
Now with her axe she cut a hoe-handle, and in a short time it was ready
for use. Going to the pool-side, she commenced to make quite a large
round hole. She laboured at this until the hole was as deep and wide as
her own height; then she plastered the bottom evenly with the mud from
the pool-bank, and after that she made a great fire at the bottom of the
pit, and throughout the night that followed, after a few winks of sleep,
she would rise and throw on more fuel. When the next day dawned, after
breaking her fast with a few grains baked in her pot, she swept out all
the fire from the well, and wherever a crack appeared in the baked
bottom she filled it up carefully, and she also plastered the sides all
round smoothly, and again she made a great fire in the pit, and left it
to burn all that day.
While the fire was baking the bottom and walls of the well, she hid her
hamper among a clump of reeds, and explored her neighbourhood. During
her wanderings she found a path leading northward, and she noted it.
She also discovered many nuts, sweet red berries, some round, others
oval and the fruit which is a delight to the elephants; and loading
herself with as many of these articles as she could carry, she returned,
and sat down by the mouth of the well, and refreshed herself. The last
work of the day was to take out the fire, plaster up the cracks in the
bottom and sides, and re-make the fire as great as ever. Her bed she
made not far from it, with her axe by her side.
On the next morning she determined to follow the path she had discovered
the day before, and when the sun was well-nigh at the middle of the sky,
she came suddenly in view of a banana-grove, whereupon she instantly
retreated a little and hid herself. When darkness had well set, she
rose, and penetrating the grove, cut down a large blanch of bananas,
with which she hurried back along the road. When she came to a stick
she had laid across the path, she knew she was not far from the pool,
and she remained there until it was sufficiently light to find her way
to the well.
By the time she arrived at her well it was in a perfect state, the walls
being as sound and well-baked as her cooking-pot. After half-filling it
with water, she roasted a few bananas, and made a contented meal from
them. Then taking her pot she boiled some bananas, and with these she
made a batter. She now emptied the pot, smeared the bottom and sides of
it thickly with this sticky batter, and then tying a vine round the pot
she let it down into the pond. As soon as it touched the ground, lo!
the minnows flocked greedily into the vessel to feed on the batter. And
on Izoka suddenly drawing it up she brought out several score of
minnows, the spawn of catfish, and some of the young of the bearded fish
which grow to such an immense size in our waters. The minnows she took
out and dried to serve as food, but the young of the cat and bearded
fish she dropped into her well. She next dug a little ditch from the
well to the pool, and after making a strong and close netting of cane
splinters across the mouth of the ditch, she made another narrow ditch
to let a thin rillet of spring water supply the well with fresh water.
Every day she spent a little time in building a hut, in a cosy place
surrounded by bush, which had only one opening; then she would go and
work a little at a garden wherein she had planted the sugar-cane, which
had been cut into three parts, and the two banana bulbs, and had sowed
her millet, and her sesamum, and yellow corn which she had brought in
the gourds, and every day she carefully fed her fish in the well. But
there were three things she missed most in her loneliness, and these
were the cries of an infant, the proud cluck of the hen after she lays
an egg, and the bleating of a kid at her threshold. This made her think
that she might replace them by something else, and she meditated long
upon what it might be.
Observing that there were a number of ground-squirrels about, she
thought of snares to catch them. She accordingly made loops of slender
but strong vines near the roots of the trees, and across their narrow
tracks in the woods. And she succeeded at last in catching a pair.
With other vines rubbed over with bird-lime she caught some young
parrots and wagtails, whose wing feathers she chopped off with her
bill-hook. And one day, while out gathering nuts and berries for her
birds, she came across a nest of the pelican, wherein were some eggs;
and these she resolved to watch until they were hatched, when she would
take and rear them. She had found full occupation for her mind, in
making cages for her squirrels and birds, and providing them with food,
and had no time at all for grief.
Izoka, however, being very partial to the fish in her well, devoted most
of her leisure to feeding them, and they became so tame, and intelligent
that they understood the cooing notes of a strange song which she taught
them, as though they were human beings. She fed them plentifully with
banana-batter, so that in a few months they had grown into a goodly
size. By-and-by, they became too large for the well, and as they were
perfectly tame, she took them out, and allowed them to go at large in
the pool; but punctually in the early morning, and at noon and sunset,
she called them to her, and gave them their daily portion of food, for
by this time she had a goodly store of bananas and grain from her
plantation and garden. One of the largest fish she called Munu, and he
was so intelligent and trustful in his mistress's hands that he disliked
going very far from the neighbourhood; and if she laid her two hands in
the water, he would rest contentedly in the hollow thus formed. She had
also strung her stock of shells and beads into necklaces, and had
fastened them round the tails of her favourite fish.
Her other friends grew quite as tame as the fish, for all kinds of
animals learn to cast off their fears of mankind in return for true
kindness, and when no disturbing shocks alarm them. And in this lonely
place, so sheltered by protecting woods, where the wind had scarce power
to rustle the bending reed and hanging leaves, there was no noise to
inspire the most timid with fright.
If you try, you can fancy this young woman Izoka sitting on the ground
by the pool-side, surrounded by her friends, like a mother by her
offspring. In her arms a young pelican, on one shoulder a chattering
parrot, on the other a sharp-eyed squirrel, sitting on his haunches,
licking his fore-feet; in her lap another playing with his bushy tail,
and at her feet the wagtails, wagging friskily their hind parts and
kicking up little showers of dusty soil. Between her and the pool a
long-legged heron, who has long ago been snared, and has submitted to
his mistress's kindness, and now stands on one leg, as though he were
watching for her safety. Not far behind her is her woodland home, well
stored with food and comforts, which are the products of her skill and
care. Swifts and sand-martins are flying about, chasing one another
merrily, and making the place ring with their pipings; the water of the
pool lies level and unwrinkled, save in front of her, where the fish
sometimes flop about, impatient for their mistress's visit.
This was how she appeared one day to the cruel eyes of Koku her husband,
who had seen the smoke of her fire as he was going by the path which led
to the north. Being a woodman as well as a fisher, he had the craft of
such as hunt, and he stealthily approached from tree to tree until he
was so near that he could see the beady eyes of the squirrel on her
shoulder, who startled her by his sudden movements. It was strange how
quickly the alarm was communicated from one to another. His brother
squirrel peeped from one side with his tail over his back like a crest,
the parrot turned one eye towards the tree behind which Koku stood, and
appeared transfixed, the heron dropped his other leg to the ground,
tittered his melancholy cry, _Kwa-le_, and dropped his tail as though he
would surge upward. The wagtails stopped their curtseying, the pelicans
turned their long bills and laid them lazily along their backs, looking
fixedly at the tree; and at last Izoka, warned by all these signs of her
friends, also turned her head in the same direction, but she saw no one,
and as it was sunset she took her friends indoors.
Presently she came out again, and went to the pool-side with fish-food,
and cooed softly to her friends in the water, and the fish rushed to her
call, and crowded around her. After giving them their food, she
addressed Munu, the largest fish, and said, "I am going out to-night to
see if I cannot find a discarded cooking-vessel, for mine is broken.
Beware of making friends with any man or woman who cannot repeat the
song I taught you," and the fish replied by sweeping his tail to right
and left, according to his way.
Izoka, who now knew the woods by night as well as by day, proceeded on
her journey, little suspecting that Koku had discovered her, and her
manner of life and woodland secrets. He waited a little time, then
crept to the pool-side, and repeated the song which she had sung, and
immediately there was a great rush of fish towards him, at the number
and size of which he was amazed. By this he perceived what chance of
booty there was here for him, and he sped away to the path to the place
where he had left his men, and he cried out to them, "Come, haste with
me to the woods by a great pool, where I have discovered loads of fish."
His men were only too glad to obey him, and by midnight they had all
arrived at the pool. After stationing them near him in a line, with
their spears poised to strike, Koku sang the song of Izoka in a soft
voice, and the great and small fish leapt joyfully from the depths where
they were sleeping, and they thronged towards the shore, flinging
themselves over each other, and they stood for awhile gazing doubtfully
up at the line of men. But soon the cruel spears flew from their hands,
and Munu, the pride of Izoka, was pierced by several, and was killed and
dragged on land by the shafts of the weapons which had slain him. Munu
was soon cut up, he and some others of his fellows, and the men, loading
themselves with the meat, hastily departed.
Near morning Izoka returned to her home with a load of bananas and a
cooking-vessel, and after a short rest and refreshment, she fed her
friends--the ground-squirrels, the young pelicans, the parrots and
herons, and scattered a generous supply for the wagtails, and martins,
and swifts; then hastened with her bounties to the pool-side. But,
alas! near the water's edge there was a sight which almost caused her to
faint--there were tracks of many feet, bruised reeds, blood, scales, and
refuse of fish. She cooed softly to her friends; they heard her cry,
but approached slowly and doubtingly. She called out to Munu,
"Munu-nunu, oh, Munu, Munu, Munu;" but Munu came not, and the others
stood well away from the shore, gazing at her reproachfully, and they
would not advance any nearer. Perceiving that they distrusted her, she
threw herself on the ground and wept hot tears, and wailing, "Oh! Munu,
Munu, Munu, why do you doubt me?"
When Izoka's grief had somewhat subsided she followed the tracks through
the woods until she came to the path, where they were much clearer, and
there she discovered that those who had violated her peaceful home, had
travelled towards Umane. A suspicion that her husband must have been of
the number served to anger her still more, and she resolved to follow
the plunderers, and endeavour to obtain justice. Swiftly she sped on
the trail, and after many hours' quick travel she reached Umane after
darkness had fallen. This favoured her purpose, and she was able to
steal, unperceived, near to the open place in front of her husband's
house, when she saw Koku and his friends feasting on fish, and heard him
boast of his discovery of the fine fish in a forest pool. In her fury
at his daring villainy she was nearly tempted to rush upon him and
cleave his head with her bill-hook, but she controlled herself, and sat
down to think. Then she made the resolution that she would go to her
father and claim his protection--a privilege she might long ago have
used had not her pride been wounded by the brutal treatment her person
had received at the hands of Koku.
Her father's village was but a little distance away from Umane, and in a
short time all the people in it were startled by hearing the shrill
voice of one who was believed to be long ago dead, crying out in the
darkness the names of Uyimba and Twekay. On hearing the names of their
chief and his wife repeatedly called, the men seized their spears and
sallied out, and discovered, to their astonishment, that the long-lost
Izoka was amongst them once again, and that she was suffering from great
and overpowering grief. They led her to her father's door, and called
out to Uyimba and his wife Twekay to come out, and receive her, saying
that it was a shame that the pride of Umane should be suffering like a
slave in her father's own village. The old man and his wife hurried
out, torches were lit, and Twekay soon received her weeping daughter in
her arms.
In our country we are not very patient in presence of news, and as
everybody wished to know Izoka's story, she was made to sit down on a
shield, and tell all her adventures since she had eloped from Umane.
The people listened in wonder to all the strange things that were told;
but when she related the cruelty of Koku, the men rose to their feet all
together, and beat their shields with their spears, and demanded the
punishment of Koku, and that Uyimba should lead them there and then to
Umane. They accordingly proceeded in a body to the town, to Koku's
house, and as he came out in answer to the call of one of them, to
ascertain what the matter was, they fell upon him, and bound him hand
and foot, and carrying him to their superior chief's house they put him
to his trial. Many witnesses came forward to testify against his cruel
treatment of Izoka, and of the robbery of the fish and of the manner of
it; and the great chief placed Koku's life in the power of Uyimba, whose
daughter he had wronged, who at once ordered Koku to be beheaded, and
his body to be thrown into the river. The sentence was executed at the
river-side without loss of time. The people of Uman and Uyimba's
village then demanded that, as Izoka had shown herself so clever and
good as to make birds, animals, and fish obey her voice, some mark of
popular favour should be given to her. Whereupon the principal chief of
Umane, in the name of the tribe, ceded to her all rights to the Forest
Pool, and the wood and all things in it round about as far as she could
travel in half a day, and also all the property of which Koku stood
possessed.
Izoka, by the favour of her tribe, thus became owner of a large
district, and mistress of many slaves, and flocks, goats, and fowls, and
all manner of useful things for making a settlement by the Pool. There
is now a large village there, and Izoka is well known in many lands near
Umane and Basoko as the Queen of the Pool, and at last accounts was
still living, prosperous and happy; but she has never been known to try
marriage again.
Kassim's story was greatly applauded, and he became at once a favourite
with the Zanzibaris.
He was drawn towards the head man, and made to sit down by him. One
Zanzibari gave him a handful of roasted peanuts, another gave him a
roasted banana, while a third touched up the fire; and the compliments
he received were so many, that for the time, as one could see, he was
quite vain. When a royal Dabwani cloth was spread out for inspection,
and finally flung over his shoulders, we saw him cast a look at Baruti,
which we knew to mean, "Ah, ah, Baruti, other folk can tell a story as
well as you!"