A certain King sent for his Minister and informed him that if he
could not tell him next morning five lies so closely resembling the
truth that he would believe them, he should be beheaded.
The Minister went home with a sorrowful heart; he refused to eat or
drink, and threw himself on his bed. His wife came and inquired the
reason for such behaviour. "What has a dying man to do with eating
and drinking?" he replied, "to-morrow morning I must die;" and then
he told her what the King had said.
His wife answered, "Don't be afraid; I will tell you what to say to
the King;" and she persuaded him to take his food as usual.
She then related to him this story:--In a certain country there were
four friends, a carpenter, a goldsmith, an areka-nut seller, and a
dried-fish seller. The three latter persons decided to go and trade,
and for that purpose they requested the carpenter to build them a
ship. The carpenter did so; and understanding that large profits were
to be made in other countries, he also decided to join them.
The four men then wished to engage a servant to cook for them on board
the ship, but they had considerable difficulty in finding one. At
last they met with a youth who lived with an old woman named Hokki,
who had adopted him as her son. The youth was willing to go, and as
there was no one at home to take charge of the old woman after he left,
it was settled that she should accompany them.
Then they all sailed away, the goldsmith taking a number of hair-pins
(konda-kuru) for sale, and the other traders taking areka-nuts (puwak)
and sun-dried fish (karawala). After going some distance the ship
ran on a rock and was totally wrecked, and all the party were drowned.
In his next life the carpenter became a Barbet, which bores holes in
trees, looking for a good tree with which to build a ship.
The goldsmith became a Mosquito, which always comes to the ears and
asks for the hair-pins (kuru-kuru) that he lost.
The dried-fish seller became a Darter, and constantly searches for
his dried-fish in the water.
The areka-nut seller became a Water-hen (Gallinula phoenicura), and
every morning calls out, "Areka-nuts [amounting] to a ship [-load],
areka-nuts!" (a good imitation of the cry of the bird, Kapparakata
puwak', puwak').
And the cook became a Jackal, who still always cries for his mother,
"Seek for Hokki, seek" (Hokki hoya, hoya, the beginning of the
Jackal's howl).
Next morning the Minister told the story to the King, who fully
believed the whole of it. The Minister then explained that it was pure
fiction, whereupon the King instead of cutting off his head gave him
presents of great value.
Matara, Southern Province.
I met with a story of this kind among the Mandinko of the Gambia,
in West Africa, and as it is unpublished I give it here. It was
related in the Mandinka language, and translated by the clerk on the
Government river steamer, the Mansa Kilah.