they were bound in that self-same hour. (They had supposed that the
twins had died when they had struck them in the hamlet of Mbwa's
mother.) They could not deny. In their anger, as they were led away,
they called out to Mbwa, "Mbwa-O!" He assented, "Eh? What is it?" They
replied in anger, for having informed on them. And they laid a curse
on him, saying, "You will never speak again with the voice of a human
being. You shall be a dumb beast."
But, the people took them, to be thrown into the depth of the sea.
TALE 23
THE SAVIOR OF THE ANIMALS
Persons
Njambo and Wife and Son Utigebodi
Ngwayi (Partridge)
The Prophet Njambi
Yungu (Eagle)
Etoli (Rat)
Njâku (Elephant)
Nyati (Ox)
Kudu (Tortoise)
Njâ (Leopard)
Ngomba (Porcupine)
Inâni (Bird)
NOTE
This story plays on the meaning of the name U-tige-bode. It is an
ancient word, not now used, meaning, "He-Who-Saves-People." In the
Son's given name; his saving of the unworthy, in response to their
appeals for mercy; his bearing of his father's wrath; his punishment on
a tree; the derision of the very passers by, for whom he was to die, I
think the legend echoes, even though faintly, the story of the Christ.
Njambo married two women. He begot twenty-three children. And they
all died. Also one of the wives died. There were left only himself,
and one wife.
The woman was old, and the man also was old. But, the woman was again
to become a mother; and, at the proper time, she bore a child. The
child was a male. The woman called the husband, saying, "Come! and
give your boy a name." The husband said, "The name of the child
is Utigebode."
After this, the child grew to be a large man. One day, he said to
his father, "Paia! I'm going to set snares in the forest." The
father replied, "Yes! go! and catch me food!" He went. And he
returned that morning. In the afternoon, he went back to examine the
snares. And he found that two Partridges were caught. He exclaimed,
"I'm very glad! My father shall eat one today, and the other shall
be kept for tomorrow." Then the Partridges asked him, "What is your
name?" He answered, "One-Who-Saves-People." Then the Partridges said,
"If that is so, why are you about to kill us?"
On another day, in the morning, he went again to examine his
snares. And he found two Antelope (Tragelephas). He was glad; and he
said, "I feel very good! My father shall eat one; and the other can
be cooked for another day." The Antelopes asked him, "What's your
name?" He answered, "One-Who-Saves-People." Again, they asked, "Why
then are you about to kill us?" He replied, "That's so! Well! go!" And
he returned to town.
That afternoon he went out again, and found two Gazelles. And he said,
"I'll take these two to town at once; and my father shall eat one
today, and the other tomorrow." But the Gazelles said, "No!--you are
the One-Who-Saves-People! Why then should you kill us?" So he loosed
them, and let them go.
He did the same way to two Elephants. And with two Oxen. At another
time he found two Tortoises. And the Tortoises spoke to him as had
done the others. And on another day, he found two Leopards. And,
he released the Leopards, in the same way. At another time, two
Porcupines, in the same way.
One after another, almost all the Beasts were thus trapped and
released. There was not one beast brought by Utigebode to his village;
he freed them all.
So, his father said to him, "My child! since you have set your snares,
I have not seen you bring in a single beast, even an Etoli. What
are you doing? I shall change your name. For, now that I am old,
it is right for you to save me, and help me with food."
Utigebode replied evasively, "Since I set the snares, I have not
caught even a Inâni." The father said, "Well! if it is true that you
have not killed any Beast or Bird, I will know tomorrow."
The next day broke; and the father went to the village of Prophet
Njambi. The Prophet saluted him, "What have you come for?" Njambo
replied, "I come to you for you to tell me about my son, whether in
his hunting he kills beasts, or whether he does not." Njambi answered,
"He snares them constantly; but, because of the name you gave him,
he saves the lives of the people of the tribes of Beasts."
The prophet added, "If there be a doubt, I will show you a way to
prove my words. When you go back to town you will meet Iheli at the
end of the village. When you meet with him, call for the people to
set nets to catch him. But, yourself shall stand and watch what the
Beast does before your eyes."
Njambo arose to go, and bade goodbye, saying, "This is my return
journey to my village."
And it was so that, on nearing the end of the village, he met with
Gazelle. Njambo shouted, "Men! spread your nets! Here is a Beast! Let
us catch it!" His men brought their nets, and began to surround
Gazelle. And the son Utigebode came to assist. The men were shouting,
"Hâ-hâ! Hâ-hâ!" to frighten the animal towards the nets. Gazelle
looked forward, watching Utigebode closely; and it said to itself,
"If I go toward the nets, I shall be caught; but, I will go toward
Utigebode and shall be saved."
So, Gazelle ran toward Utigebode, and he caught it as if to kill
it. But Gazelle cried out, "Eh! Utigebode! you, the savior, will you
be the one to kill me?" So, Utigebode said, "Pass on! for, it is true
that I am The-One-Who-Saves." And Gazelle fled to the forest.
Then Njambo was very angry, and said to Utigebode, "Ah! my child! I
have found you in your falsehood! Was it not you who said you caught
no Beast? So! you have been releasing them!"
Then the company all went back to their village with their nets. They
arrived there during the daytime. And the father ordered his son,
"Go! climb that coco tree, and bring me a nut." The son began to climb
the tree. But, as he climbed, the father, by Magic-Power, caused the
tree to grow rapidly upward. When, finally, Utigebode reached the top,
he was unable to come down the excessively long tree-trunk. He began
to call to his father for help, "My father!" But the father was still
very angry, and replied, "Call your friends, the Beasts and Birds,
to save you. I will not help you." And Njambo went to sit down in
his village, leaving his son in the treetop.
The son saw Eagle passing, and he called to it, "Yungu! Help me!" Eagle
replied, "I am not able to carry a Man; you are heavy;" so, Eagle
passed on. Utigebode saw many Beasts one after another passing below,
and he called to them, "Save me!" But, they said, "We have no wings
with which to go up to you. How can we get you down? We are not Birds
that could let you down. We Beasts are unable to help you. Do not
expect us."
He was left there in the tree-top a period of two weeks, living only on
the coconuts; and then he died, and his body fell to the earth. Njambo
came out to see the corpse, and he said to it, "You have died through
lack of obedience. You disobeyed me; and your beasts did not help you."
The father and the mother lived another year in their village; and
then they died, because they had no children to help them with food
or clothes. And the people came from other villages to bury them.
TALE 24
ORIGINS OF THE IVORY TRADE (1st Version)
Persons
King Ukanakâdi, and His Son Lombolokindi, and His Mother,
With Birds and Other Animals
Tombeseki (A Magic-Spear); An Old Woman
Njâku (Elephant); An Ox (A Metamorphosed Man)
A Foreign Vessel, and Traders
Ukanakâdi lived in his great house, having with him his many wives. One
of them bore him a son whom he named Lombolokindi.
As time passed on, the child grew in size, and strength, and
skill. Because of this, his mother was treated by Ukanakâdi with
special favor. This aroused the jealousy of one of the other wives. She
took the child one day, and secretly gave him a certain evil medicine,
which caused him to be constantly hungry, hungry, hungry. Even when
he ate enormously, no amount of food could fill his stomach or satisfy
his appetite.
Ukanakâdi finally was angry at the child, and said to the mother,
"All the food of my plantations is finished, eaten up by your child. We
have no more plantains, no more cassava, no more eddoes, nor anything
else in our plantations or in our kitchen-gardens. You have brought
a curse upon us! Go away to your father's house!" (He said this,
not knowing that a Fetish-Medicine had caused all the trouble.)
So the mother went away with her child to her father's house. But
there too, the boy ate up all the food of the gardens, until there
was none left. Then her father said to her, "All my food is done here;
go with your child to your grandfather, and find food there."
So, she went to her grandfather's. But there the same trouble followed.
After she had been there some time, and the child was now a stout lad,
and she saw that they were no longer welcome, she said to herself,
"Alas! it is so! All my people are weary of me! I will not longer
stay at grandfather's. I will go wandering into the forest, and,
with the child, will see what I can get."
Taking with her only two ears of corn, she went far off with the lad
into the forest. After much wandering, and eating only wild fruits,
she selected a spot without having any idea of the locality, and
built a shed for a camp in which to stay. At this place, she planted
the corn. It quickly sprang up, and bore abundantly. And she planted
other gardens. After a time came very many birds; and they began to
eat up the corn. She exclaimed, "My son and I alone have come here,
and have planted our corn. How is this that all the birds have come
so soon to destroy it?" And the son, who by this time had grown to
be almost a young man, said to her, "Mother, why do you allow the
birds to eat? Why don't you do something?" She replied, "Why do the
birds thus destroy the corn? What can I do?" So he came out of the
shed into the yard in front of their house and shouted at the birds,
"You birds! who have come here to spoil my corn, with this stick I
will kill you all!" But the birds jeered at him, saying, "No! not
all! Only one shall die!"
The young man went into the house, took up a magic spear-head he
owned, fitted it onto a stick as a shaft; and going out again, he
hurled it at the birds. The spear flew at them, pursuing each one,
and piercing every one of them in succession. Then it flew on and on,
away out into the forest.
The young man took up another medicine-charm that he had with him, and,
calling to his spear by name, shouted after it, "Tombeseki-o-o! Come
back, back, back, Here! again, again, again, Return!" The spear
heard him, and obeyed, and came back. He laid hold of it, and put it
again in the shed. So, he and his mother lived there. She planted a
very large garden of plantains, cassava, and many other vegetables,
a very large quantity. And her gardens grew, and bore fruit in plenty.
Then there came all kinds of small Animals, hogs, and antelopes, and
gazelles, very many; and they spoiled the gardens, eating the fruit,
and breaking down the stalks. The mother exclaimed, "My son! the
animals have finished all my food of the gardens; everything is
lost! Why is this?" He replied, "Yes, it is so! And when they come
again tomorrow, I know what I will do to them!"
When they came the next day, he went into the house, took the spear,
flung it; and it flew from beast to beast, piercing all of them in
succession. Then it went off, flying into the forest, as before. He
called after it to return. The Spear heard, and obeyed, and came back
to the house.
Then he and his mother sat down in the house, complaining of their
hunger, and how the animals had spoiled their gardens. So the mother
went out, and gathered up what little remained, brought it into the
house, and cooked it, leaves and all.
When the mother had planted a third garden, and it had grown, a herd
of elephants came to destroy it. She cried out, "Ah! Njâku! what
shall I do? You have come to destroy all my gardens! Shall I die
with hunger?" The son brought out his Spear, and shouting at the
elephants, threatened to kill them all. But the herd laughed and said,
"When you throw that spear, only one of us shall fall." He threw the
spear at the one that spoke. It struck him and all the elephants in
succession; and they all died. The Spear kept on in its flight into
the forest. The young man cried after it, "Spear! Spear! come back,
come back!" And it came to him again.
Each time that the Spear had thus gone through the forest, it had mowed
down the trees in its path; and thus was made the clearing which the
mother had at once utilized for the planting of her successive gardens.
After the elephants, mother and son sat down again in their hunger;
they had nothing to eat but leaves. These she cooked; and they ate
them all at once.
Then she planted another garden, thinking that now there were no more
beasts who would come to ravage. But she did not know that there was
still left in the forest one very, very large Elephant that had not
been in the company of the herd that the son had killed.
There was also, in that forest, one very, very large Ox. When the
gardens had grown, that Ox came, and began to destroy. The young
man hurled his Spear at the Ox. It was wounded, but did not fall;
and it went away into the forest with the spear sticking in its
side. The young man pursued the Ox, following, following, following
far away. But he did not overtake it.
On his way, he reached unexpectedly a small, lonely hut, where an
Old Woman was living by herself. When she saw him, she said to him,
"Do not follow any longer. That Ox was a person like yourself. He is
dead; and his people have hung up that Spear in their house."
The young man told the old woman that he was very hungry. So she cut
down for him an entire bunch of plantains. He was so exceedingly hungry
that he could not wait; and before the plantains were entirely cooked,
he began to eat of them, and ate them all. The old woman exclaimed,
"What sort of a person is this who eats in this way?" In her wisdom,
thinking over the matter, she felt sure it was some disease that
caused his voracity.
The man, being tired with his journey, fell asleep; and she, by her
magic power, caused him to hear or feel nothing. While he was in
this state, she cut him open. As she did so, his disease rushed out
with a whizzing sound; and she cut away, and removed a tumor, that
looked like a stone of glass. That was the thing that had caused his
excessive hunger all his life. By her Power, she closed the wound.
When he awoke, she cooked food for him, of which he ate, and was
satisfied with an ordinary amount like any other person. She then told
him what she had done, and said, "As you are now cured, you may pursue
that Ox. You will reach his town, and you will obtain your Spear. But,
as you go there, you must make a pretense. You must pretend that you
are mourning for the dead. You must cry out in wailing, 'Who killed
my Uncle-o-o! who killed my Uncle-o-o!'" Thus he went on his way;
and finally came to a town where was a crowd of people gathered in
and about a house of mourning. Beginning to wail, he went among the
mourners. They received him, with the idea that he was some distant
relative who had come to attend the funeral. He walked up the street
of this town of the Ox-Man, and entering into the house of mourning,
said, "Had not the way been so long, my mother also would have come;
but, I have come to look at that Thing that killed my Uncle." They
welcomed him, commended his devotion, and said, "You will not go
today. Stay with us. Sleep here tonight; and tomorrow you shall see
and take away with you, to show to your mother, that Thing."
So, the next day, they gave him the Spear, and said, "Go, but do
not delay. Return for the closing ceremony (the "Washing") of the
mourning." He went away, and came again to the Old Woman. She said to
him, when he showed her the Spear, "I told you truly that you would
obtain it. But, go with it and this bundle I have made of the tumor
of your disease, and show them to your mother."
So he came back to his mother. She rejoiced; and, not knowing that
he was cured, she cooked a very large and unusually varied quantity
of food, for his unusual hunger, two whole bunches of plantains, and
eddoes, and potatoes, and yams, etc. Of this he ate only a little,
sufficient for an ordinary hunger. As he had not yet told her of his
being cured, she cried out in surprise, "What is this? My son will die,
for not eating!" And she asked him, "What is the matter?" He replied,
"No, I have eaten, and am satisfied. And, mother, this bundle is what
I was cured of." Then he told her of what that old woman had done.
On another day, that great Elephant that had remained in the forest,
came and began to eat in the garden. The son said, "Mother! what shall
I do? I thought I had killed all the elephants. I did not know there
was this great big one left!" (Nor did he just then know there were
left a very great many more.)
Taking his Spear, he hurled it, and wounded the elephant. It did not
fall, but went away with the Spear in its side. The man followed,
followed, followed, pursuing the elephant, not, as the other animals
had gone, into the forest, but away toward the sea; and it died on
the sea beach. There the man found it and his Spear.
The Sea was new to him; he had not seen it since his childhood. He
climbed up on the elephant's body, in order to see all around. As he
turned his eyes seaward, he saw a ship coming on the horizon. Also,
the people on this ship were looking landward, and they said, "There
is something standing on the shore like a person. Let the vessel go
there, and see what is ashore."
So, the ship anchored, and a surf-boat was launched into the water to
go ashore. When the crew landed, they saw the carcass of the elephant,
and a person standing with a spear who warned them, "Do not approach
near to me!" But they replied, "We do not want you, nor will we
hurt you. But we want these tusks of ivory of this elephant. We want
elephants." Wondering at this wish, he cut out the tusks, and gave
them to the strangers, adding, "Off in the Forest are very, very many
more tusks, more than I can number. You seem to like them; but they
are of no use to me." They earnestly said, "But, bring them, bring
them! We will buy them of you with abundance of goods." He agreed,
and promised, "I am going now; but, let your ship wait, and I will
bring all of those things as many as it is possible for me to carry."
So, he went back to his mother; and he and she carried many, many
tusks. They filled the ship full; and the crew of the ship sent
ashore an immense quantity of goods. When the vessel went away, it
left ashore two carpenters, with direction to build a fine house,
and have it completed before the vessel should come again.
The man remained there awhile with the carpenters, after the ship
had gone.
One day, looking, on a journey down the coast, at a point of land,
he was surprised to recognize his father's town, where he and his
mother had lived in his childhood. He said to himself, "That's my
father's town! I want them to come to me, and live at my town!" He
sent word to them; they removed, and all of them came to live with
him. And he married one of their young women. (In the meanwhile,
he had brought his mother from the forest.)
While he was living at his new home, one day looking seaward, he
saw the promised ship coming to get more ivory, and to give more
goods. And he went off to the vessel.
Among the women who were still living of his father's people who had
known him as a child, was the one who had given him the evil "medicine"
long ago; her object in giving it having been to kill him. After he
had gone off to the vessel, this woman came to his wife's home, and,
seeing the Spear hanging tied from the roof, said, "What is that
Thing tied there?" His wife replied, "It is a kind of "medicine"
of my husband's. It must not be touched." But the woman said, "I
know that Thing; and what it does." Then she seized it, and put into
it its handle the man had removed. She hurled the Spear out to sea,
and it went on and on, passing over the ship. The man sitting in the
saloon, said to the crew, as he recognized the Spear in its flight,
"I saw something pass over the ship!" He went up on deck, and called
after it, "My Spear! come back! come! come! come back!" And he told all
the people of the vessel to go below lest they should be injured. The
Spear turned and came back to him; and he took possession of it. Then
said he to the crew, "Come! escort me ashore!" They landed him ashore,
and waited to see what he intended doing.
He called all his father's family, and asked, "Why is it that you have
tried to kill me today with this Spear! For this, I will this day kill
all of you." He summoned all the people to come together. When they
had come, he had his mother bring out that tumor bundle, and said,
"This is the thing of long ago with which that woman (pointing to
the one who in childhood had given him the evil disease) tried to
injure me. And, for the same reason, she threw the Spear today; thus
trying a second time to kill me. None of you have rebuked her. So,
I shall kill you all as her associates."
Though they were of his father's family, he attacked and killed them
all. The whole town died that day, excepting himself, his wife, his
mother, and his sister. These four, not liking to remain at that evil
place, went off and took passage on the ship.
So, he journeyed, and came to the country of the white people at
Manga-Manene; and never returned to Africa. But, he kept up a trade
in Ivory with his native country. But for him, that trade would not
have been begun. For, besides his having brought the first elephant
to the sea coast, he told the people of Manga-Manene beyond the Great
Sea, about the tribes of people, and about the elephants that were
so abundant, in Africa. And that is all.
TALE 24
ORIGIN OF THE IVORY TRADE (2nd Version)
Persons
King Njambu, and His Four Wives
Ngwe-Konde (Mother-of-Queens)
Ngwe-Lege (Mother-of-Poverty)
Ivenga (Watching); Ngwe-Sape (Mother of a Lock)
Njambu's Son, Savulaka (Gluttony)
The Spirit of an Uncle; Mekuku (Spirits of the Dead)
A Magic Spear; A Great Elephant (A Metamorphosed Man)
Birds, and Other Beasts
Njambu built a town; and married four women. This one, Ngwe-Konde,
that one Ngwe-Lege, another one Ivenga, another Ngwe-Sape.
After Njambu had lived there a short time all his wives were about to
become mothers. Then Ngwe-konde took a net, and (by Magic Art) threw
it into the womb of Ngwe-lege. The net entered the belly of her child.
At the time of their confinement, they all gave birth. The infants
were washed. They were dressed also, and were given suck. Also, they
were assigned their names. That of Ngwe-lege's was Savulaka. When he
was given the breast, he was not satisfied, he was only crying and
crying; for, whoever held him, there were only cries and cries. When
his mother would nurse him, there was only crying. His father said,
"If it is like this, then, lest he die, feed him the food of adults."
His mother cut down a plantain bunch; she boiled it; it was cooked. The
child ate, and finished the plantains; and yet it was crying and
crying. They cut down another bunch; it was boiled, it was cooked. At
only one eating, he finished the food, with cries in his mouth. Two
more bunches were boiled; he ate. All at once, though born only
that day, he spoke, "My mother! Hunger!" Four bunches were cut down;
they were cooked; he ate, and finished them, but with crying.
Then he was cooked for ten times; he ate; and at once finished. The
people cooked, and he ate. The plantains of his father's town were all
cleared off, the entire town was left like a prairie. The father spoke
to the mother, and said, "No! go away with him to your father's town."
Ngwe-lege picked up her child, carrying him away. She with the child
went on, to the town of her father.
Her father asked her, "My child! wherefore the crying, and your
carrying the infant?" She replied, "My father! I know not! This one
whom you see, since he was born, is not filled. He has made an end to
all the plantains of his father's town, leaving the town a prairie. And
his father said to me, 'Just go and take him to your father's.' So,
I have brought him."
The towns-people all were laughing, "Kye! kye! kye!" They said,
"What? Really, food? No! it's something else, not food. But, enter
into the house." She says, "You are talking foolishly." The child
began to cry. They said, "Let us see!"