Aeon Goddess, the truth will set you free!

The truth shall set you free => Mythology => Religion => African Mythology => Topic started by: Prometheus on July 13, 2019, 04:38:53 PM

Title: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 13, 2019, 04:38:53 PM: https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra71gray/page/101

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

BY

ALICE WERNER

Sometime Scholar and Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge
Professor of Swahili and Bantu Languages, University of London

I

To E. T. C. W.

Peking

Go, little Book, and pass to Kambalu

Greet him who dwells beside the Peaceful Gate,

Hard by the sheep-mart, in the ancient town.

May Peace be his, and happy springs renew
Earth’s beauty, marred by foolish strife and hate: —
On his fair garth sweet dews glide gently down.

He loves the ancient lore of Chou and Han
And eke the science of the farthest West;

High thought he broods on ever — yet maybe
He will not grudge an idle hour, to scan
These childlike dreams — these gropings for the Best
Of simple men beyond the Indian sea.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

HERE may perhaps be an impression in the minds of

most readers that Africa, with its practically unwritten
languages and comparatively undeveloped religious ideas, can
have little or nothing which can properly be described as myth-
ology, or at any rate that the existing material is too scanty to
justify a volume on the subject.

I must confess that, until I actually undertook the work, I
had no conception of the enormous amount of material that
is in fact available — a great deal of it in German periodicals
not always readily accessible. The limitations of time, space,
and human faculties have prevented my making full use of
these materials: I can only hope to supply clues which other in-
vestigators may follow up if I cannot do so. I intend, however,
should I live long enough, to work out in detail some of the
subjects here presented in a very imperfect sketch — for in-
stance, the distribution of the Chameleon-myth in Africa;
the “ Exchanges ” story (fresh material having come to
hand since I wrote the article in the African Monthly , 1911)5
the Swallower-myth as exemplified in Kholumolumo of
the Basuto and its various African modifications; and several
others.

I have not attempted to state any theories or to work out
comparisons with any folklore outside Africa, though here
and there obvious parallels have suggested themselves. Any
approaches to theorising — such as the occasional protests I
have felt compelled to make against the assumption that simi-
larity necessarily implies borrowing — must be regarded as
merely tentative.

io6

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

Since completing the chapter on the “ Origin of Death,”
I have found among my papers a Duruma Chameleon-story
(kindly supplied to me in MS., with interlinear translations
into Swahili, by Mr. A. C. Hollis), which is so interesting that
I may perhaps be excused for inserting it here. The Duruma
are one of the so-called “ Nyika ” tribes living inland
from Mombasa, neighboured on the east by the Rabai and
on the southwest (more or less) by the Digo: they have not
been very fully studied up to the present. The legend is as
follows:

When man was first made, the Chameleon and the Lizard
(dzonzoko or gae — called in the Swahili translation mjusika-
firi ) were asked their views about his ultimate fate. The Cha-
meleon answered : “ I should like all the people to live and not
to die,” while the dzonzoko said: “ I wish all people to die.”
The matter was settled by the two running a race, a stool ( chin )
being set up as the goal; the one who reached it first was to have
his desire granted. As might be expected, the Lizard won, and
ever since, the Chameleon walks slowly and softly, grieving
because he could not save men from death.

The mention of the stool is curious, because it affords a point
of contact with a Chameleon-story of a widely different type,
current both in East and West Africa, but hitherto, so far as I
am aware, not much noticed by folklorists. It seems to be an
independent form of the idea contained in the well-known
Hare and Tortoise race. Pre-eminence among the animals is
to be decided by a race to a stool (the chief’s seat of honour) :
the Dog thinks he has won, but the Chameleon gets in first by
clinging to his tail and leaping in front of him at the last mo-
ment. Of course this folklore tale has, so far as one can see,
nothing to do with the older myth.

The author desires to express her most cordial thanks to all
who have contributed to the embellishment of this volume:
in the first place to Miss Alice Woodward for her beautiful

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

107

drawings ; then to Messrs. E. Torday, P. Amaury Talbot, and
F. W. H. Migeod, for the use of original photographs 5 and to
the Clarendon Press for permitting the reproduction of plates
from Bushman Paintings copied by Miss M. H. Tongue.

ALICE WERNER

School of Oriental Studies
London, January 23, 1922

INTRODUCTION

T O TREAT the mythology of a whole continent is a task
not to be lightly undertaken. In the case of Africa,
however, there are certain features which make the enterprise
less formidable than it would be if directed elsewhere. The
uniformity of Africa has become a commonplace with some
writers; and, indeed, when we compare its almost unbroken
coast-line and huge, undifferentiated tracts of plain or table-
land, with Europe and Asia, we cannot picture it as divided into
countries occupied by separate nations. This feeling is intensi-
fied, if we confine our view to Africa south of the Sahara, as we
shall practically have to do for the purposes of this book, which
omits from consideration both Egypt and (except for incidental
references) the Islamised culture of the Barbary States.
Broadly speaking, the whole of this area (which we might de-
scribe as a triangle surmounted by the irregular band extending
from Cape Verde to Cape Guardafui) is occupied by the black
race, and as, to the casual European, all black faces are as much
alike as the faces of a flock of sheep, it is a natural infer-
ence that their characters are the same. The shepherd, of
course, knows better; so does the white man who has lived long
enough among “ black ” people (comparatively few are black
in the literal sense) to discriminate between the individual and
the type . 1 But, in any case, the inhabitants, even of the limited
Africa we are taking for our province, are not all of one kind.
We have not only the black Africans, but the tall, light-com-
plexioned Galla, Somali, and Fula, with their Hamitic speech,
the Hottentots, whose Hamitic affinities, suspected by Moffat,
have been strikingly demonstrated in recent years, the little

INTRODUCTION

109

yellow Bushmen, who are probably responsible for the non-
Hamitic elements in the Hottentots, and others. Moreover,
there is a very distinct cleavage of speech — though not, per-
haps, of race, among the black Africans themselves: between
the monosyllabic, uninflected languages of the Gold Coast and
the upper Nile, and the symmetrically-developed grammati-
cal structure of the Bantu tongues. And, even taking the
Bantu by themselves, we may expect to find great local differ-
ences. As the late Heli Chatelain remarked, speaking of a
writer who has not greatly advanced the cause of research:
“ The material on which he worked consisted of but a few
volumes on South African tribes, and he often fell into the
common error of predicating of the whole race, the Bantu, and
even of all Africans, what he had found to hold true in several
South African tribes. To this habit of unwarranted generali-
sation must be attributed, very largely, the distressing inaccu-
racy and the contradictory statements with which books and
articles on Africa are replete.” 2

At the same time, a study of African folk-lore extending
over many years has gradually produced the conviction that
both sections of the African race, the Bantu-speaking and the
Sudanic, have many ideas, customs and beliefs in common.
Some of these may be due to independent development , 3 others
to recent borrowing, but there is a great deal which, I feel
certain, can only be accounted for by some original community
of thought and practice. This will appear, over and over again,
in connection with various stories which we shall have to dis-
cuss. But this is not all. We shall find that both Negro and
Bantu have some elements in common with Galla, Masai, and
other Hamitic or quasi-Hamitic peoples (I here leave out
of account matter demonstrably introduced by Arabs or Euro-
peans at a more recent date) ; and some very interesting prob-
lems of diffusion are connected with tales originating, perhaps,
in the Mediterranean basin and carried to the extreme south of

no

INTRODUCTION

the continent by the nomad herdsmen whom Van Riebeek
found in possession at the Cape of Good Hope. The Hausa,
whose linguistic and racial affinities have long been a puzzle,
have evidently been influenced from both sides — the black
aboriginal tribes from whom they are in great part descended,
and the pastoral Hamitic immigrants.

Here let me remark in passing that I use the word “ aborig-
inal ” in a purely relative sense and without intending to ex-
press any opinion on this point. Neither shall I attempt to deal
with the vexed question of race. What really constitutes
“ race ” is by no means clear to me, nor, I imagine, can the ex-
perts agree on a definition. Whether there is any real distinc-
tion of race between Bantu-speaking and other (Sudanic)
Negroes , 4 I very much doubt, and, in any case, the problem;
lies outside our present scope.

As suggesting a common fund of primitive ideas in widely
separated parts of the continent, let us take the case of the
Zulu word inkata and the thing denoted by it. The word is
also found in Nyanja as nkata , in Swahili khata (with aspir-
ated k ), in Chwana as khare (kx#re), in Herero as ongata ,
and in similar or cognate forms elsewhere. Its original
meaning seems to be a “ coil ” or “ twist but it generally
stands for the twisted pad of grass or leaves used by people
who carry heavy loads on the head. But the Zulu inkata
has another and more recondite meaning. The inkata yezwe
( u coil of the country ”) or inkata yomuzi (“ coil of the
clan ”) is both “ a symbol of unity and federation of the
people ” 6 and an actual talisman to ensure the same, together
with the personal safety of the chief. It is a large twist or
cushion of grass, impregnated with powerful u medicines ”
and made with special ceremonies by professional “ doctors ”
( izinnyanga ), on which the chief, at his installation, has to
stand. At other times it is kept, carefully hidden from view,
in the hut of the chief wife. I do not know whether the inkata

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: : ? [ ' ; • ? Ti<! il l A

1 it. ' -

PLATE VII

A Somali, member of a typically Hamitic tribe,
who inhabit the “ Eastern Horn of Africa.” After
a photograph by Dr. Aders.

INTRODUCTION

hi

has everywhere the same ritual significance: I strongly suspect
that, where such is not recorded, it has either become obsolete
or escaped the notice of inquirers, as — belonging to the most
intimate and sacred customs of the people — it would be quite
likely to do. But, in Uganda, enkata means, not only the
porter’s head-pad, but the topmost of the grass rings forming
the framework of the house and supporting the thatch. This
“ was of equal importance with the foundation of a brick
house,” 6 and, in building the house of the King’s first wife —
the Kadulubare — had to be put in position with special cere-
monies. Now, we find that, on the Gold Coast, where the
head-pad is called ekar in Twi, it has some ritual connection
with the succession to the chieftainship, while it (or something
representing it) figures in some curious magical ceremonies of
the Ibibio (Calabar), described by the late Mrs. Amaury
Talbot . 7

Some other facts, interesting in this connection, will come in
more fittingly when considering the numerous animal-stories
of the “ Uncle Remus ” type, which are found in these areas.

Whether one studies Africa geographically, ethnologically,
or psychologically, one feels the absence of definite frontiers
more and more acutely as one goes on. We can recognize
Abyssinia or Basutoland as a separate country, just like Switzer-
land or Denmark; but such cases are infrequent, and this ap-
plies even more strongly to thought, belief and custom, than to
physical configuration. Hence I have been forced to give up
as hopeless the geographical or “ regional ” treatment of the
subject, and shall attempt, instead, to trace a few main groups
and ideas through the different strata of which the African
population is made up.

It will make clearer what I have been trying to say, if we
picture these strata, not as regular, superimposed beds of hard
stone, but as composed of different coloured sands, spread in
successive layers, some of each penetrating those below

1 12

INTRODUCTION

and the lighter particles of the lower beds working up
into the higher at every jar or disturbance. And here we come
back to our starting-point. With all the diversity to be found
in Africa, on which, as we have seen, it is necessary to insist,
there is some indefinable quality inherent in the whole of it, as
though the continent imparted its own colour and flavor to
whatever enters it from the outside. The white man who has
grown up among the Zulus very quickly feels at home with
Yaos or Giryama, though he may know nothing of their lan-
guage j and there is always a certain community of feeling be-
tween “ old Africans,” in whatever part of the continent their
experiences may have lain.

Without wasting time in speculation on the past, we may
now briefly survey the state of things as known at present.
In the main, the area we have mapped out, from the Cape of
Good Hope to Lake Victoria, and thence eastward to the Tana
River and westward to the Cameroons, is occupied by Bantu-
speaking tribes. North of these, the peoples of “ Negro,”
“ Sudanic,” or “ Nigritian ” speech extend in an irregular
band from Cape Verde to the confines of Abyssinia, even to
some extent penetrating the latter. The “ Eastern Horn,”
which ends in Cape Guardafui, is inhabited by the Hamitic
Somali, while their kinsmen the Galla, and other tribes, prob-
ably more or less allied to them (Samburu, Rendile, Turkana,
Nandi), spread out to the north, west, and south, their fringes
touching on the areas of Bantu and Negro tribes — Pokomo,
Kikuyu, Kavirondo, and others.

But these areas are not completely uniform. In South
Africa we have two non-Bantu elements, though both are now
almost negligible except within a very limited area. The
Bushmen, who would seem to have been the oldest inhabitants,
are now practically confined to the Kalahari Desert and the ad-
jacent regions, though a few fwho have quite lost all memory
of their own language and traditions) are to be found scattered

INTRODUCTION

H3

about the Cape Province and Orange Free State. If they are
the Troglodytes alluded to by Herodotus, whose speech was
“ like the squeaking of bats,” they must either have at one time
overspread the greater part of the continent, or migrated
southward from the Sahara within historic times. The
wretched Troglodytes were hunted with chariots by the Gara-
mantes, and I remember being told of a Natal farmer (by one
of his own relatives) that he used to talk cheerfully of having
shot a Bushman or two before breakfast. Here is at least one
additional point of resemblance.

The treatment of the South African Bushmen by the colo-
nists is one of the most disgraceful pages in Colonial history.
Particulars may be found in G. W. Stow’s Native Races of
South Africa — it is no part of our plan to give them here;
but there is another point of which we must not lose sight.
To speak of “ extermination ” in connection with the Bushmen,
though only too true as regards a limited area of South Africa,
is somewhat misleading when we come to survey a larger ex-
tent of the continent. In the earlier stages of the Bantu migra-
tion into South Africa, the relations between the Bushmen and
the newcomers appear to have been friendly, and intermar-
riage frequently took place. There is reason to think that some
Bechwana tribes — e.g. the Leghoya, are largely of Bushman
descent; and the same probably applies to large sections of the
Anyanja, in the districts west of the Shire. The importance of
this point will appear when we have to come back to it in the
chapter on Creation-Legends.

Whether the Bushmen have anything beyond their small
stature and their mode of life, in common with the Pygmies
of the Congo basin and other small races known or reported
to exist in various parts of Africa, remains, at least, doubtful;
but anatomists, I believe, hold that their physical evolution has
proceeded on entirely different lines. Both, in any case, are
interesting, not only as living representatives of a prehistoric
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 13, 2019, 04:57:14 PM: INTRODUCTION

1 14

age, but because, like a similar early population of Europe,
of whom the Lapps may be a surviving remnant, they have
given rise, as we shall see, to a great deal of mythology.

We have already referred to the people whom we are ac-
customed to call “ Hottentots ” — their own name for them-
selves, when speaking of the whole people and not of any
particular tribe (e.g. Nama, Kora), appears to be Khoi-Khoin
— “ men,” par excellence. Many Hottentot tribes have dis-
appeared, not by actual dying out, but through losing their
language and corporate identity and becoming merged in the
mixed “ coloured ” 8 population, who speak only “ Cape
Dutch ” and a corresponding form of English. The Colonial
records show that, in the 17th century, they were a numerous
and flourishing people j and the researches of Meinhof and
others prove that their speech belongs to the Hamitic stock,
though it has assimilated the Bushman clicks and perhaps other
peculiarities.

In Struck’s language-map, 9 the green Bantu ground is di-
versified, in the Eastern Equatorial region, by a large irregu-
lar yellow patch. This denotes the Masai, a nomad, pastoral
people, lighter-coloured than the average Bantu, though
darker than the pure Galla or Somali. At one time they were
spread over seven or eight degrees of latitude — say from
Mount Elgon in the north nearly to the Usambara hills in the
south j but they have now, in the East African Protectorate,
been confined to a reservation. The most probable theory of
their language is, that it is Hamitic by origin (which would
account for its possessing gender-inflection), but has been
strongly influenced by contact with Bantu and Sudanic idioms
(, angenegert is Meinhof’s expression). The contact between
their legends and those of the Hottentots is one of the most
interesting facts which have come to light in recent years.

Besides these, we have to do, in East Africa, with some cu-
rious “ helot ” tribes — not exactly outcasts, though that desig-

INTRODUCTION

n 5

nation might apply to some of them, but vassals or dependents
of stronger tribes who seem both to dread and to despise them.
Such are the Dorobo among the Masai, the Wasanye among
the Galla, the Midgan and Yibir in Somaliland. These are
commonly hunters and have, in some ways, much in common
with the South African Bushmen, though their physique
differs widely from that of the latter, as we now know them.
Their origin is still a matter of debate j but they are most prob-
ably connected with certain “ outcast ” tribes still existing in
Abyssinia. The Wasanye and Dorobo formerly had languages
of their own, which a few old men still know, but the former
now speak Galla and the latter Masai. The Wasanye and the
Yibir and some, at any rate, of the rest, have an uncanny reputa-
tion as sorcerers, and some of these helot tribes, e.g. the Tumal
and the Il-kunono , 10 are blacksmiths. We cannot help being
reminded of our own Gypsies and tinkers. The latter are —
or were till recently — distinct by race as well as by occupation,
and long preserved a language of their own, ascertained to
be a prehistoric dialect of Celtic.

Lastly, for we take no account of modern intruders, such
as Arabs and Europeans, we have, in Abyssinia, a Semitic people
who entered Africa at some unknown period — early as com-
pared with the Arabs, but late, if we look back on the millen-
niums of ancient Egyptian history. They share with the Copts
of Egypt the distinction of being the only Christians in Africa
whose existence is not due to European missions established
since the sixteenth century.

As this book deals with mythology and not with comparative
religion, it would be out of place to discuss at length the dis-
tribution and possible origin of the “ High God ” idea, which
undoubtedly occurs in Africa and has been the subject of much
heated controversy. I need only refer to the works of the
late Andrew Lang, Pater Schmidt, Sir J. G. Frazer and others.
Here it is enough to say that, in various parts, we do come

INTRODUCTION

1 16

across the more or less vague notion of a Supreme Being who
is, so far as one can see, neither a personified Nature-Power
nor a glorified ancestral ghost. Such may be Nyankupong of
the Gold Coast tribes, Nzambi of the Congo and adjacent
regions, Leza, Chiuta and Mulungu in Nyasaland, Ngai of the
Masai, and Wak of the Galla. But some of these are very
difficult to discriminate from the sun, or the sky, or the first
ancestor of the tribe ; and experience seems to show that differ-
ent notions are entertained by different individuals among the
same people, or that the higher conception may have developed
out of the lower. We shall see in the next chapter that it is by
no means clear whether the Galla think of Wak as a Personal
God or as the sky; that the name Mulungu is sometimes used
for the spirits of the dead; and that while some Zulus spoke
of Unkulunkulu in terms which suggest a vague Theism, others
distinctly said that he was the first man, though no cult was
paid him as an idhlozi (ancestral spirit), because he had lived
so long ago that none could directly trace their descent from
him.

Bruno Gutmann, who has written some very interesting
books on the Wachaga of Kilimanjaro, and clearly knows them
well, insists that their deity, Ruwa, is not identical with the sun
( i-ruwa ), though called by the same name. But many of the
customs and legends recorded by him certainly imply some
connection.

While, therefore, it seems desirable to devote a chapter
apiece to “ High Gods,” “ Ancestral Ghosts,” and “ Nature-
Spirits,” we cannot undertake to keep these three classes of
beings as separate as strict logic would require.

The High God is not always — perhaps we might say, not
often — thought of as a Creator in our sense. Even when he
is spoken of as making man, the inanimate world seems to be
taken for granted as already in existence; sometimes all animals
are felt to need accounting for, sometimes only the domestic

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PLATE VIII

Types of the Wasanye “helot” hunting tribe,
Malindi District, Kenya Colony. After a photo-
graph by Prof. A. Werner.

INTRODUCTION

ii7

ones — cattle, sheep and goats. But the Deity does not always
make man, who is sometimes described as appearing on the
earth quite independently of him — in fact, one legend intro-
duces him as inquiring where these new creatures have come
from. (This same story, from Nyasaland, speaks of the ani-
mals, in contradistinction from man, as “ Mulungu’s people,”
apparently implying that he made them.) Very often, the
progenitors of the human race issue, by a kind of spontaneous
generation, from a reed-bed, a tree, a rock, or a hole in the
ground.

The numerous myths which attempt to account for the
origin of Death are frequently — but not always — connected
with a High God. We also sometimes find Death personified
under various names — e.g. in Angola as Kalunga, which
elsewhere is one of the names for God. The Baganda call
Death Walumbe, and make him a son of Heaven (Gulu).
The interesting legend of his admission into this world will be
told in our third chapter.

But it is the Ancestral Ghosts, the amadhlozi of the Zulus,
who may be called the central factor in Bantu religion. The
same thing is largely true of the non-Bantu populations, and
the ghost-cult probably coexists with and underlies the more
highly developed religions, with comparatively elaborate
mythologies, which we find, e.g., on the Gold Coast, and which,
on a superficial view, would seem to deal mainly with nature-
spirits. But here, again, it is extraordinarily difficult to draw
the line. A nature-god may easily have started as the spirit
of a dead man, like those “ old gods of the land ” who were
worshipped by the Yaos along with their own ancestors and
came to be looked on as the genii loci of particular hills, but
were really former chiefs of the Anyanja who had been buried
on those hill-tops. Similarly, in Uganda, Roscoe says: “The
principal gods appear to have been at one time human beings,
noted for their skill and bravery, who were afterwards deified

1 1 8

INTRODUCTION

by the people.” In the case of such men, as of the Nyasaland
chiefs just mentioned, the worship would extend beyond their
own immediate relatives, to the whole clan or tribe, and this
would in time help to obscure their original status. But the
principle is the same. Without committing ourselves unre-
servedly to the Spencerian view that all religions have their
roots in the feelings — whether of awe, dread, or affection —
aroused by the ghosts of the dead, we can at least be certain
that many religious and mythological conceptions can be traced
to this origin.

The habitation of the ghosts is supposed to be underground,
in a region sometimes conceived of as a replica of the upper
world. This is called, in many Bantu languages, Ku-zimu }
which has the same root as one of the commonest among the
many different names applied to the ghosts . 11 Earthquakes
are often said to be caused by the movements of these subter-
ranean hosts. We shall see that stories of people who have
penetrated into this mysterious country and returned — or
failed to return — are not uncommon. Among these are
numerous variants of the tale called, in Grimm’s collection,
“ Frau Holle,” which originally referred to the land of the
Dead, though most European versions have lost sight of the
fact.

Only the most recent ghosts are individualised, so to speak}
it is quite natural that all earlier than the grandfather, or, at
most, the great-grandfather, should fade into a vague col-
lectivity : perhaps this is one reason why, in most typical Bantu
languages, the word for “ ghost ” is not a personal noun.
Some Yaos have explained “ Mulungu ” as the sum of all the
spirits, “ a spirit formed by adding all the departed spirits
together ” — another illustration of the way in which different
conceptions overlap and tend to melt into one another. But
this rule is not without exceptions, for we come across heroes or
demi-gods — and some beings who have to be classed with

INTRODUCTION

119

them, though they can scarcely lay claim to either appellation
— who may possibly be personified nature-powers, but are more
probably men known or imagined to have lived a long time ago.
Whether they actually existed or not, matters little to our
present purpose 5 but it is in many cases demonstrable that they
are conceived of as human beings whose eminent services to
their fellows or conspicuous qualities of whatever kind lifted
them, after death, out of the common ruck of ghosts. Such
are Haitsi-aibeb of the Hottentots, Hubeane of the Bechwana,
Mrile of the Wachaga, Sudika-bambi in Angola — perhaps
we might also count Kintu of Uganda. Closely connected with
this part of our subject is the world- wide myth of the Hero-
Deliverer, who rescues mankind (or as much of it as was
known to the original narrators) from the stomach of a monster
which has swallowed it. 12 Several very interesting forms of
this are current in Africa. In some of them, the people’s
ingratitude leads them to plan the hero’s death ; and the clever-
ness with which their various expedients are baffled forms a
link with another group of tales, exhibiting the Hero as
Trickster. To this group belong the adventures of Hubeane.

We have seen that some gods are personified nature-powers:
the sky, the sun, also rain, lightning, and thunder. Other
things, too, without precisely ranking as gods, are recognized
as personalities and sometimes have rites performed in their
honor — the moon, certain stars, the rainbow. Then there are
mountain-spirits (some of these, however, as we saw just now,
were originally ancestral ghosts), river-spirits, tree-spirits, and
a number of queer, uncanny beings who cannot be classed
under these or any similar headings, but are called by Mein-
hof “haunting-demons” (Spukd'dmonen ) , 13 These haunt
lonely places — the deep shade of the forests, or the sun-
baked steppe-country with its weird clumps of thorny bush.
There is a considerable variety of these, and the traveller may
often hear minutely circumstantial, sometimes even first-hand,

120

INTRODUCTION

accounts of them. But we shall find, as we go on, ample proof,
if any were needed, that the mythopceic faculty is still emphati-
cally a living thing in Africa.

Partly connected with these last are the “ Little People ” —
Abatwa, Itowi, Maithoachiana, etc. — really the Bushmen or
Pygmy aborigines whom the immigrant Bantu found in occupa-
tion of the country and thought so uncanny, with their strange
speech, their poisoned arrows, and their proficiency in arts un-
known to the more civilized newcomers, that they easily credited
them with preter-human powers, while they at the same time
detested and despised them . 14 Hence, while we shall have
plenty to say about the myths and traditions of the real Bush-
men, we shall also have to consider them in the light of purely
fabulous beings. Among such demons and monsters the Izimu
(Irimu) has such a conspicuous position in Bantu folk-lore that
it has seemed advisable to devote a chapter to him.

We have already mentioned the animal-stories which form
so large a part of African folk-lore. These, no doubt, sprang
from totemism — or rather, they originated in that stage of
human life and thought which produced totemism. This,
where it exists in Africa, has mostly passed into a state of sur-
vival: among the clearest cases seem to be those of the Be-
chuana, the Nandi, the Baganda, and the Twi (Gold Coast).
But besides the general fact of these tales being products of
the totemistic attitude of mind, we have a number of particu-
lar instances which plainly involve the theory of the totem.
Thus there is a well-known legend of the Gold Coast 15 relat-
ing how a Chama man married a woman who was really a trans-
formed bonitOy and their descendants to this day abstain from
eating that fish. There is another point of interest about the
story: the husband (like Undine’s) ultimately loses his wife
through the infringement of a tabu. This or some similar
catastrophe occurs in a great many tales, both Bantu and Su-
danic, and may, in some cases, be connected with totemism.

INTRODUCTION

121

The animals figuring most prominently in African folk-lore
are the Hare, the Tortoise, the Spider, the little Dorcathe-
rium antelope, the Jackal, the Chameleon, the Elephant, the
Lion and the Hyena, with many others which are either less
frequently met with or play less conspicuous parts.

Transformations of men into animals and vice versa are
common incidents in folklore and are believed in as actual
occurrences at the present day. Were-hyenas, were-leopards
and similar creatures lead us on to the subject of Witchcraft,
without which no survey of African mythology would be com-
plete.

Finally, while I have tried to confine myself to what is
genuinely African, and therefore to rule out, as far as possible,
all European and Arab importations, there are some recent
products of the myth-making instinct, indirectly, if not di-
rectly, due to outside influence, which deserve attention as
interesting phenomena in themselves. I must say I do not
know what to make of the very curious story from the Tana
Valley which I give in the last chapter: I let it stand as com-
municated to me. Others, while coloured by Moslem ideas,
are yet, in their way, genuine products of the soil. Worth
notice too, is the very ancient infiltration of Arab, Persian, or
Indian ideas, which have become grafted on to and intertwined
with the elements of indigenous folklore, and appear in the
most unexpected places. This might be laid hold of as an
argument by those — if any still exist — who think that all
tales must have been diffused from one common centre 5 but
in my view the process has been largely helped on by antece-
dent coincidences. Thus we find a Jataka story at Zanzibar in
which the Hare plays a part not found in the original, and al-
most certainly added after its introduction into Africa. Then
Abu Nawas, the jester of Bagdad, has become immensely pop-
ular all down the East Coast of Africa, where his adventures
are related, not only in Swahili, but even in Ronga at Delagoa

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INTRODUCTION

Bay. But as you go south, you find that his real personality
becomes obscured, and “ banawasi ” is used as a common noun,
meaning a clever trickster, or even as a synonym for the Hare,
with whom he is apt to get mixed up.

Having thus sketched out our programme, we may return
to our starting-point and enter on the consideration of African
High Gods.

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

CHAPTER I

HIGH GODS AND HEAVEN

I T HAS been denied that such a conception as that of a
“ High God ” exists in Africa, except where introduced by
missionaries. The late Major Ellis , 1 finding the name Nyanko-
pong in use on the Gold Coast and supposed to denote such a
being, came to the conclusion that he was “ really a god bor-
rowed from Europeans and only thinly disguised.” Mr. R. S.
Rattray , 2 on the other hand, is “ absolutely convinced ” that
this is not the case, one of his reasons being that the name oc-
curs in sayings “ known to the old Ashanti men and women, and
strange or unknown among the young and civilized commu-
nity.” The names (O)nyame, (O)nyankopong and several
others “ are used by the Ashantis to designate some power
generally considered non-anthropomorphic, which has its abode
in the sky (which by metonymy is sometimes called after it).”
The High God is often, if not always, believed to live in
the sky, — a point to which we shall come back later. But it
is often difficult to make out whether the people conceive of
him as distinct from the actual sky, and in the case of the Galla
who told me the legend about Wak (to be given in Chapter
III), I found it quite impossible.

The story told about Nyankopong which, Mr. Rattray says,
is “ universally known among the older people,” is very
curious, because it seems to suggest that, in an older stage of
thought, Nyankopong may have been the actual sky. More-
over, I cannot help thinking (though Mr. Rattray does not

124
Title: Re: African Mythology
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notice this) that in its original form this myth was an attempt
to explain how Heaven and Earth came to be separated, they
having been at first (as the Polynesians also believe) in close
contact. There are traces of this myth elsewhere, as in the
belief of the Giryama 3 that all things proceeded from the mar-
riage of Heaven and Earth, or in the Herero legend recorded
by Irle , 4 which we shall refer to again in the next chapter.
But here Heaven is said to have been close to the Earth after
a great flood — it is not stated whether this had always been so
or was a consequence of the deluge, nor is it clear whether they
were actually in contact and needing to be separated ; the great
anxiety of the Ovakuru (ancestral spirits) seems to have been
lest men should climb into Heaven. This may possibly —
though Irle thinks the flood story is a genuine native one —
be an echo of missionary teaching. Otherwise, the conception
in its crude form does not appear to be common in Africa, but
Mr. Dennett thinks the idea of the Heaven-Father and the
Earth-Mother underlies the ancient religion of the Congo
people . 5

This is the Ashanti myth above referred to, literally trans-
lated by Mr. Rattray : 6 “Long, long ago, Onyankopong lived
on earth, or at least was very near to us. Now there was a
certain old woman who used to pound her fufu (mashed yams,
etc.), and the pestle used constantly to knock up against
Onyankopong (who was not then high up in the sky). So
Onyankopong said to the old woman, ‘Why do you always
do so to me? Because of what you are doing, I am going to
take myself away up into the sky.’ And of a truth he did
so. . . . But now, since people could no longer approach
near to Onyankopong, that old woman told her children to
search for all the mortars they could find and bring them, and
pile one on top of another, till they reached to where Onyan-
kopong was. And so her children did so and piled up many
mortars, one on top of another, till there remained but one to

PLATE IX

1. The Baobab at Kurawa, the sacred tree of the
Galla.

2. Galla huts at Kurawa.

After photographs by Prof. A. Werner.

HIGH GODS AND HEAVEN

125

reach to Onyankopong. Now, since they could not get the
one required anywhere, their grandmother — that is, the old
woman — told her children saying: £ Take one out from the
bottom and put it on top to make them reach.’ So her children
removed a single one, and all rolled and fell to the ground,
causing the death of many people.”

This incident, of the High God retreating into the sky after
sojourning for a time on earth, recurs in many different parts
of Africa. Sometimes, but not always, the reason given is the
wickedness of mankind. The Bushongo of the Kasai country 7
have a High God, Bumba, who, after completing the creation,
prescribing tabus to mankind, and appointing rulers over them,
retired to Heaven, and thenceforth only communicated his
will, from time to time, in dreams and visions.

It is by no means always the case that the High God is also
the Creator; we shall return to Bumba in the following
chapter.

The name Jambi is used by some divisions of the same
people, and various forms of this name are widely distributed
through the south-western part of Africa. The Herero speak
of Ndyambi Karunga 8 as distinct from the ancestral ghosts, —
“ he is in heaven above and not in the graves.” Nzambi is,
in Angola , 9 “ the name of one great, invisible God, who made
all things and controls all things. . . . Tradition says men
have offended him, and he has withdrawn his affection from
them.” Among the Lower Congo people, Nzambi Mpungu
means “ what we should call the Creator,” 10 but Nzambi-si is
the Earth-Mother. Nzambi Mpungu is described in Fiote
mythology as “ a human being — a naked man.” But this, in
Mr. Dennett’s opinion, is an idea of late growth, suggested by
the crucifixes and religious pictures imported by Romanist
missionaries . 11

Mulungu is a name which, in several easily-recognisable
cognate forms, can be traced from the Tana to Mozambique.

126

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

From the Yaos (to whom, perhaps, it originally belonged),
it has spread eastward to the Anyanja and other tribes, wholly
or partly superseding the names of Mpambe, Chiuta, and Leza.
Leza (Reza, Rezha, etc.) belongs to a group of tribes in the
centre of the continent — the Luba, Bemba, Subiya, Ila, and
several others. Leza is sometimes identified with the light-
ning or the rain; but Mr. E. W. Smith 12 says of the Baila:
“ it is not plain that they regard rain and God as one and the
same. . . . Leza is closely identified with nature, but, as
Lubumba, the Creator, he is above nature, and, as Chilenga,
he is regarded as the grand institutor of custom.”

The Anyanja call the rainbow Uta wa Leza , “ the Bow of
Leza.”

Mulungu is a name with several perplexing connotations.
The Rev. Duff Macdonald 13 and Dr. Hetherwick 14 have both
discussed the subject at some length. Certainly, as used by
some natives, it seems to express the idea of a High God dwell-
ing in the heavens. I have myself heard a native woman say
of the thunder, Mulungu anena — “ Mulungu is speaking ”;
and on two occasions, persons who had recently died were said
to have “ gone to Mulungu.” In Nyasaland I never heard
any expressions indicating that Mulungu might be the actual
sky; but I did once hear it said that the offerings made to the
manes of a deceased chief were “ for Mulungu.”

I find, however, that the Giryama have the word, and with
them its primary meaning seems to be the sky, though it is
also used in the sense of “ God.”

It does not seem possible that Mulungu can be, as Bleek 15
thought, the same word as the Zulu Unkulunkulu: the latter
is admittedly derived from the root kulu> which I cannot by
any process of sound-shifting, get out of Mulungu, even with
the help of the Mulungulu from Inhambane 16 on which Bleek
relied. I fail to find any later authority for this word, which
is presumably meant to be Chopi — the nearest one gets to it

HIGH GODS AND HEAVEN

127

in any recent books is Nungungulu. On the other hand, Mu-
lungu is clearly the same as the Zulu umlungu, which, what-
ever may have been its original sense, now means u a white
man,” and no doubt indicates that the first Europeans were
taken for supernatural beings. It may be worth noticing that
the languages which use the word in this sense do not possess
“ Mulungu ” as a divine name. This is the case with the
Baronga of Delagoa Bay, who, however, believe that certain
small apparitions called Baiun gwana (plural diminutive of
Mulungu ) sometimes descend from the sky during thunder-
storms. 17 These same people use the word Tilo , “ heaven,” to
mean, not merely the visible sky but “a spiritual principle which
plays a considerable part in the religious conceptions of the
tribe.” 18 Heaven is thought of as a place: one woman said to
M. Junod: “ Before you came to teach us that there is an All-
Good Being, a Father in Heaven, we already knew there was a
Heaven, but we did not know there was any one in it.” 19
Another convert, however, said: “Our fathers all believed
that life existed in Heaven.” But, adds M. Junod: 20 “ Tilo
is something more than a place. It is a power which acts and
manifests itself in various ways. It is sometimes called
hosi ( c chief ’ or £ lord ’) . . . but is generally regarded as
something entirely impersonal.” They say: “ It is Heaven
which kills and makes alive.” It is associated with cosmic
phenomena, especially such as are more or less abnormal and
unexpected, such as storms and lightning 5 with the birth of
twins, which is held to be something out of the course of na-
ture ; and with convulsions in infants — I suppose because these
seizures are sudden and unaccountable. The complaint is
hence called tilo , and, curiously enough, the Swahili call it
“ the bird,” believing it to be caused by an owl, that universal
bird of ill-omen. The idea of the sky as a place accessible to
human beings enters into many folk-tales, and we shall recur
to it later on.

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

We have mentioned the name of Unkulunkulu as used by
the Zulus. It sometimes appears to denote a Spiritual Power
and, like Mulungu, has been adopted by native Christians as
the word for “ God.” Some natives, however, have quite
distinctly stated that Unkulunkulu was the first man, though
not reckoned as one of the amadhiozi , because he died so long
ago that no one now living can trace his descent from him.
We find that many “ First Ancestors ” are in a similar position
and, conversely, that many “ High Gods,” if one comes to ex-
amine them at close quarters, are really the progenitors of the
human race (at any rate that part of it to which the narrators
belong — these myths do not often concern themselves with
anything more), or at least of their royal line. The ghost of
a great chief, who is not the direct ancestor of the whole tribe
and who is associated, through his grave, with some prominent
landmark of the country, is a step nearer to godship than that
of a common man.

The Bapedi and Bavenda of North Transvaal have a “ god,”
Ribimbi, who was also the first man, and his son Khudjana is
said to have made the world; while the same probably applies
to Nwali or Nyali of the Banyai . 21 Some tribes in East Africa
give the name of their divinity as Were , 22 and it seems to me
by no means improbable that here we have a point of contact
with Vere, the Pokomo ancestor whose story will be related in
the next chapter.

As to Unkulunkulu, we find Bishop Callaway’s 23 native
informants saying that “ he came out first, he is the uhlanga 24
from which all men broke off. . . . The old men say . . .
he made the first men, the ancients of long ago. . . . What
I have heard is this, that men sprang from Unkulunkulu, as
if he made them because he existed before them.”

He is distinguished from “ the King which is above ”
(inkosi e pezulu ), who would seem to be identical with the
Thonga Tilo ; for, of the latter, “ we say, he is above, Unku-

HIGH GODS AND HEAVEN

129

lunkulu is beneath 3 the things which are beneath were made
by him.” This fits in with the idea that the abode of the dead
is under the earth. It is unnecessary to pursue this subject
further, as it belongs rather to the domain of Comparative
Religion than to that of Mythology; and the principal myth
connected with Unkulunkulu — that of the Chameleon —
will find a more appropriate place in the chapter on the “ Ori-
gin of Death.”

Imana of the Warundi 25 is similarly envisaged as the Su-
preme Being, the ancestor of the race and the Chief of the
Ancestral Spirits ( umukuru y’imizimu) .

The difficulty, not to say impossibility, of laying down hard
and fast definitions, is illustrated in the case of Mukasa, said
to hold the highest rank among the gods of Uganda, 26 though
he is neither the Creator nor the First Man. He has a father
and grandfather among the gods, but neither of these is Ka-
tonda, the Creator, nor Gulu, “ Heaven,” who figures so con-
spicuously in the story of Kintu, the First Man, as we shall see
in our next chapter. In fact, we hear curiously little about
Katonda, and Gulu, though said to “ command the elements,”
has nothing like the importance of Mukasa — at any rate in
the officially recognised religion. 27 Dr. Roscoe thinks it
“ certain that he was a human being who, because of his be-
nevolence, came to be regarded as a god.” We do not learn
whether any Baganda at the present day trace their descent
from him. His legend represents him as appearing in a fully
peopled world, whereas Kintu found it uninhabited, so that
we should have to suppose him long posterior to the latter, if
logical consistency went for anything in mythology. Mukasa
had temples over all Uganda, and these, with the exception of
the principal temple, on Bubembe Island, contained a canoe-
paddle as his “ sacred emblem.” “No one knows for certain
what was there; some say it was a large meteoric stone turned
first to the east and then to the west according to the phases of

130

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

the moon.” Neither of these objects is alluded to in the story
told of Mukasa, nor can I find any explanation of their mean-
ing in connection with him.

Mukasa is said to have been the son of Musisi , 28 the god who
causes earthquakes, though elsewhere his father is called Wa-
nema. His mother, presumably a mortal, belonged to the
Lung-fish clan: her name was Nambubi. Before the birth of
Mukasa, she refused all food but ripe plantains of a special
kind j how this affected the child is not very clear, since we are
told that, when he was weaned he would eat nothing but the
heart and liver of animals, and drank their blood. At a very
tender age, he disappeared from his home and was found by
the people of Bubembe sitting under a large tree on their
island. They built him a house and appointed a man named
Semagumba — whose descendants or representatives were
down to our own day the priests of the Bubembe temple — to
look after him. Some say that, after living there for fourteen
generations, he died and was buried in the forest ; others that
he disappeared as he had come. The most noteworthy fact
about his cult is that, unlike many other gods of the Baganda,
he did not require human sacrifices.

Whether or not the High God is consciously identified with
the material Heaven, we constantly find him conceived as
dwelling there. This material sky, of course, is a solid vault,
above which is a country much like this familiar earth of ours.
The Thonga 29 call the point where heaven touches the earth
u bugimamusi . . . viz., the place where women can lean
their pestles (which elsewhere must be propped against a wall
or tree) against the vault.” Sometimes it is called “ The place
where women pound mealies kneeling . . . they cannot
stand erect, or their pestles would strike against the sky.”
Men have frequently attempted to scale this vault without suc-
cess, as we saw in the legend of Onyankopong: it seems as if
all collective efforts had been foredoomed to failure j but indi-

HIGH GODS AND HEAVEN

131

viduals have occasionally been more fortunate. The idea
seems a very natural one in the childhood of the world: the
sky, which seems so near and yet is so inaccessible, even if we
travel to the farthest limit of our horizon where it seems to
touch the earth, would be one of the first things to draw the
questioning mind of man beyond his immediate surroundings.
The early school of mythologists, coming upon such tales,
might have inferred either a “ Primitive Revelation ” — or
rather, tradition — or an infiltration of European influence
which would have introduced echoes of the Tower of Babel
story, perhaps even of the classical Giant legends. There is,
after all, a connection, though not precisely of the kind early
mythologists supposed: all these tales alike have their roots
in a Primitive Revelation — a universal instinct of the human
heart.

There is a remarkable group of tales describing the adven-
tures of human beings who (like Jack of the Bean-Stalk) have
made their way into the sky; but before going on to examine
these we must note the fact that, in a number of instances, the
High God who now dwells in the sky is said to have retired
thither after a more or less prolonged sojourn on earth. This
may have been the case with Mukasa, though we are not ex-
pressly told that he disappeared to heaven, nor do we know
the reason for his disappearance.

The Mbundu people, says Chatelain , 30 “ believe in one great,
invisible God, who made all things and controls all things.
But they confess they know very little about His character.
Tradition says men have offended Him, and He has with-
drawn His affection from them.” True, this does not speak
of an actual withdrawal from earth to heaven, but probably
some older tradition of the kind underlies the statement.

The Bushongo 31 say that Bumba, the Creator, whom they
also call Chembe (== Jambi = Nzambi = Nyambe), after
completing his work, prescribed tabus (I think it would not be

132

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

too much to say, “ assigned their totems ”) to men, appointed
three chiefs over them (from the first and greatest of whom
the Bushongo Paramount Chief traces his descent), and then
rose into the air and disappeared. Thenceforward he only
communicated with men by revealing himself in dreams, and
no real worship is paid to him. It may be noted that some tribes
have a much more abstract and immaterial conception of him
than others, who regard him as a “ magnified ” and (to some
extent) “ non-natural man.”

Here no blame is assigned to any one for Bumba’s disap-
pearance. It is otherwise on the Zambezi , 32 where the Ba-
luyi say that Nyambe once lived on earth, but afterwards as-
cended into the sky “ for fear of men.” No explanation, how-
ever, is given of this statement, and it does not seem to be borne
out by another account, which is as follows: “ When Nyambe
lived on earth, people said that he had fallen from the sky.
When he returned thither, he climbed up by means of a spider’s
thread. When he was up on high, he said: ‘Worship me.’
Men, seeing him act like this (offended by what they con-
sidered his pride), said: ‘Let us kill Nyambe.’ He

escaped into heaven. . . . They planted long poles in the
earth and fixed others on top of them. . . . When they
had climbed to a great height, the posts fell, and the men who
had climbed up on them were killed.”

The Basubiya , 33 however, who call their High God Leza,
while they say he went up to heaven by a spider’s thread, give
no reason for his so doing, unless we are to connect a previous
remark, that “ men were very much afraid of him,” with his
action. Some tried to follow him up by the same route, but
the thread broke and they came down. So they put out the
spider’s eyes — an cetiological myth to account for the supposed
fact that he has none at the present day. Then they set up a
scaffolding with the same result as in the case of the Baluyi.
It would almost seem as if their purpose, like that of the

:: : :

T . • " : r

i c .'.i : ? v /. .1

. . . I .2

PLATE X

9

Some Bantu Types

1. A woman of the Basuto.

2. Zulu Girls.
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 17, 2019, 08:37:31 PM: HIGH GODS AND HEAVEN

133

Ashantis, had been to bring Leza back, for the narrator goes
on to say: “ They had formerly lived with Leza under a great
tree, and here they performed their worship (after his depar-
ture? ); they used to bring thither great numbers of goats and
sheep so that Leza might have food. . . . One day, Leza
met a man under this tree and said to him, 1 Where do you
come from? ’ The man answered, £ I am bringing four goats.’
Leza said to him, c Go back to the village and say, “ Leza says:
when you see a great cloud of dust, you will know that it is
Leza.” ’ One day they saw a column of dust which was fol-
lowed by a great hurricane. The people gathered in the place
of assembly. Leza arrived and stood under a tree, and they
heard him say, £ You must pay honour to my house (as repre-
senting me?). As for me, you will never see me again —
I am going away now.’ ”

Still, when people see shooting stars, they utter cries and
say that it is their chief, Leza, who is coming to see how his
children on earth are getting on. If this refers to human
beings, we have a hint of the “ All-Father ”$ and, in fact, the
Wankonde 34 (at the north end of Lake Nyasa) address their
Supreme God, Mbamba or Kiara, as “ Father.” Mbamba is
of human form, “ white and shining,” and he, too, lives
“ above the sky.” Some kind of worship is paid to Leza by
the Basubiya, but M. Jacottet thinks this — or most of it —
is really directed to the ancestors, while Leza (or Nyambe)
most probably represents the sun. The Baluyi expressly assert
this of Nyambe , 35 and they are in the habit of saluting the ris-
ing sun with shouts of, “ Mangwe! Mangwe! our king! ” But
the same people may think of him sometimes as the one, some-
times as the other; and it is not difficult to believe that the
“All-Father ” idea might have grown out of either — or both
— of these notions.

The Yao myth of Mulungu 36 is in many ways very sugges-
tive. “ At first there were not people, but God and beasts,”

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

134

Later on, the beasts are repeatedly called “ Mulungu’s
people,” as though some special relation existed between them
and him j yet he is not said to have made them. The Chame-
leon, who seems to have been in the habit of setting fish-
traps — like the local population to-day — one morning found
a man and woman in one of these. He took them to Mu-
lungu who “ was staying down here before he went away to
heaven,” and who was as much perplexed by the strange
creatures as he, but advised him to “ place them there, they will
grow,” and “ man then grew, both the male and female.”
All the beasts and birds were called together to look at them,
but they too had nothing to say. The next day the new beings
were seen making fire by drilling with a stick; they then killed
a buffalo which they cooked and ate. “ And they kept eating
all the beasts in this way,” and finally set the Bush on fire as
well. “ Again Mulungu came, saying, £ Chameleon, I told you
that you introduced puzzling beings on the earth here. See
now, my people are finished. Now, how shall I act? ’ They
actually saw the bush at their verandah burning with fire,”
and had to run for it. “ The Chameleon ran for a tree.
Mulungu was on the ground, and he said ( 1 cannot climb a
tree! ’ Then Mulungu set off and went to call the Spider.
The Spider went on high and returned again, and said, 1 1 have
gone on high nicely. You, now, Mulungu, go on high.’ Mu-
lungu then went with the Spider on high. And he said , 1 When
they die, let them come on high here.’ ”

That is, as the narrator explains, men are to go and be slaves
to God “ because they ate his people here below.” In other
words, Mulungu was driven from the earth because of man’s
cruelty to the animals.

One cannot help thinking — though of course the cases are
in no way parallel — of the account given to Mr. Orpen 37 by
Qing of the Bushman god Cagn: “ Cagn made all things and
we pray to him. At first he was very good and nice, but he

HIGH GODS AND HEAVEN

i35

got spoilt through fighting so many things. . . . We do not
know where he is, but the elands know. Have you not hunted
and heard his cry when the elands suddenly run to his call? ”
And the prayer to him is, “ O Cagn, O Cagn, are we not your
children? Do you not see our hunger? Give us food! ”
There is something very beautiful about this, and it is not sur-
prising that it should have inspired one of Andrew Lang’s
finest sonnets.

It seems pretty well established that Cagn ( | kaggen in Dr.
Bleek’s orthography) was originally the Mantis and therefore
possibly a totem-god, but cela n'empeche pas , as we shall so
often have occasion to notice. There is nothing to prevent the
higher conception growing out of the lower.

The Spider’s agency is noteworthy because, wherever he
appears in Bantu folklore (except in some Duala tales), it is
in this capacity of intermediary between heaven and earth — a
very different character from the crafty and malignant Anansi
of the Gold Coast. In a Congo story he brings down the
heavenly fire, with the help of the Tortoise, the Woodpecker,
the Rat and the Sand-fly: all have a share in carrying out the
enterprise, but it is the Spider who takes them up to the sky . 38

The idea of a rope by which one could climb up to heaven,
whether originally suggested or not by the spider swinging his
thread, is found in a very old Zulu saying quoted by Calla-
way : 39 “ Who can plait a rope for ascending, that he may go to
heaven? ”

This seems to imply that the thing is utterly impossible,
yet we find King Senzangakona (Tshaka’s father) credited
with this very feat in an isihongo, which tells how he escaped
in this way from the (presumably hostile) “ spirits of the
house of Mageba.”

An old Thonga chant 40 expresses the same hopeless longing:
“Ah! if I had but a rope! I would go up to the heavens
and be at rest ! ”

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

136

Thonga warriors used to shout to their enemies before a
battle: “ Get ready your ropes and climb up to heaven! ” mean-
ing, of course, “ there is no other way by which you can
escape us.” In a story given by Junod under the title “ La
Route du Ciel,” 41 a young girl who fears her mother’s anger
is described as “ going away and climbing a rope to get to
heaven,” as if this were the most natural proceeding in the
world.

The same object is sometimes attained by climbing a tree.
In the Zulu tale of “ The Girl and the Cannibals,” 42 a brother
and sister, escaping from these amazimu , climbed a tree and
“ saw a very beautiful country. They found a very beautiful
house there 5 that house was green, and the floor was bur-
nished. . . . But the earth they saw was at a great distance
below them; they were no longer able to go down to it, for
they feared the cannibals, thinking they saw them going about
on the earth and seeking for food.” They found cattle and,
it would seem, everything else that they wanted; they slaugh-
tered an ox, ate the meat and made the hide into a rope, with
which they drew up one of the cannibals — either fearing he
might obstruct their return to earth, or simply for the sake of
revenge, and “ did him in ” in the most callous fashion. They
subsequently returned home by means of the rope.

The Wakonyingo — dwarfs or elves supposed to live on the
top of Kilimanjaro — are said by the Wachaga to have ladders
by which they can reach the sky from the summit. 43

Mrile, a hero of the same country, having a grievance
against his family, sat down on his stool and sang incantations,
and the stool rose into heaven with him. There he found a
world much like the one he had left. He went on and came to
some people who were hoeing. He greeted them, and asked
them the way to the kraal of the Moon. 44 They told him to
go on till he found some people cutting wood, and ask again.
He did so and the wood-cutters directed him how to reach

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137

some men digging an irrigation-trench. These again sent him
on to some people who were weeding, and these to a place
where they were gathering in the crops. (One version says
that all these in turn asked him to help them, which he oblig-
ingly did.) The reapers told him to go on till he came to a
place where the road divided. “If you take the lower road,
you will come to people sitting at a meal.” He went on and
was hospitably welcomed by them, but found that the food
offered him was raw. So he took out his fire-sticks and showed
them how to make fire and cook their food. They were so
delighted that they presented him with large numbers of
cattle and goats, and he returned home in triumph. It is a
remarkable point, to which I know no parallel elsewhere, that
the Heaven-dwellers should be unacquainted with the use of
fire, though in Polynesia this is told of the people of the under-
world . 45

The same people have a very curious legend of a Heaven-
tree. A girl named Kichalundu went out to cut grass and was
swallowed up in a bog. Her companions heard her voice
growing fainter and fainter, as she sank through the three suc-
cessive realms of the Dead — we shall come back to these in
a later chapter — till at last all was silent. By and by, a tree
sprang up on this spot, and kept growing till it reached the sky.
The herd-boys used to drive their cattle into its shade and play
about in the branches. One day, two 1 of them climbed higher
than the rest, quite out of sight. Their companions called to
them to come back but they refused, saying, “ We are going up
to the sky — to Wuhuu, the world above! ” — and they were
never seen again. People say that they went on beyond the
Wahuu (the Heaven-clan) to the Waranjui, who live above
the sky. Perhaps the human dwellers on “ middle earth ”
are the first of the series to which these two orders of beings
belong — the three corresponding to the three orders of ghosts
recognised by the Wachaga.

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138

Two other remarkable traditions 46 of heaven-dwellers be-
long to the same district. A man and woman — said to be the
ancestors of the existing Molama clan — came down from the
sky and alighted on a certain hill. They said they had been
sent down by Ruwa and were found to have tails, which they
were afterwards induced to cut off. The other story concerns
a being called Mrule (he appears to be quite distinct from
Mrile or Nrile), who also came down from heaven and went
first to the Masai, afterwards to the Wachaga in the Shira dis-
trict. He had only one leg, so suggesting the half-men we
shall discuss later on, and the people, being frightened by his
strange appearance, refused to take him in or give him food.
So he returned to heaven, and they regretted their unkindness
too late. 47

We have referred to a Ronga tale about the “ Road to
Heaven,” 48 which is of interest in this connection. It is one of
a very wide-spread group of stories, most of which, however,
have their scenes laid in the underground regions of the dead
and not in the country above the sky. They exhibit an unmis-
takable relationship to the European tales of which we may
take Grimm’s “ Frau Holle ” as the type, but the idea is so
likely to occur spontaneously anywhere, that there seems no
need to resort to any hypothesis of diffusion, or, at any rate, of
introduction from Europe. Fulleborn 49 mentions a tale of this
type from the Konde country, which he characterises as “ psy-
chologisch recht unverstandlich ” — probably because the ver-
sion before him was corrupt, or imperfect in its details.
Junod’s “ La Route du Ciel,” is evidently very far from being
a primitive version 5 in fact, the reason for one of the most
important incidents has been entirely lost sight of. It will
therefore be better to begin with the variant given by Duff
Macdonald under the title “ The Three Women,” 60 which
itself is not perfectly clear throughout, and elucidate its diffi-
cult points by comparison with others.

HIGH GODS AND HEAVEN

139

“ There were three Women with their children, and they
went to the water. When they had reached it, one of them was
cheated by her companions, who said, ‘ Throw your child into
the water, we have thrown our children into the water.’ But
they had hidden their children under a tree.”

There seems no point in this beyond a senseless and heartless
practical joke, but a Chaga tale , 61 which begins quite differ-
ently, probably suggests the right version of the incident. A
chief’s son fetching home his bride puts her into a large honey-
barrel and carries her over the hills on his back. On the way
she hears the lowing of her father’s cattle and asks him to let
her out, so that she may take a last look at them. While she
is gone, a certain bird called kmndovo gets into the honey-
barrel in her place, and the bridegroom, being unable to see
behind him, thinks the girl has returned and fastens down the
lid. The story, however, does not proceed on the usual lines
of the “ False Bride ” incident, for the real bride is reinstated
without difficulty, and the kmndovo (metamorphosed or not,
for we have the usual vagueness about such matters) is rele-
gated to the position of a secondary wife. When the head-
wife has a child, the jealous kmndovo fabricates a pretended
one out of a banana-stalk and throws it into a pool, telling the
mother that by so doing she will get it back stronger and more
beautiful. The motive for inducing the mother to drown her
child is here quite clear.

“ So their companion threw her child into the water and a
crocodile swallowed it. Then her companions began to laugh
at her and said, ‘ We were only cheating you! ’ ” The mother
then u climbed a tree and said ‘ I want to go on high,’ and
the tree grew much and reached upwards.” She does not here
say that she wants to find the dwelling-place of Mulungu, but
this appears later. She meets some leopards who ask her where
she is going, and she tells them, “ I want my child; my com-
panions cheated me and said ‘ Throw your child into the

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water.’ ” The leopards directed her on to certain creatures
called nsenzi (which Dr. Macdonald takes to be birds), and
they to the Mazomba (Masomba? — large fishes), who said,
“ What do you want, my girl? ” “ The girl said, £ 1 want to
know the way.’ The Mazomba said, ‘Where to?’ The girl
said, £ The way to Mulungu.’ The Mazomba said, £ Well, be
strong in your heart.’ The girl said, £ Yes, Masters, I under-
stand.’ ”

The woman is not asked to render any services to those she
meets, but it is evident from what follows, that her civil an-
swers to the leopards and the other creatures are counted to
her for righteousness. When she reaches “ the village of Mu-
lungu ” and tells her story, Mulungu calls the crocodile and
restores her child. “ The girl received the child and went
down ” — we are not told how — “ to her mother.” Her
companions, when they heard what had happened, at once
threw their babies into the water and climbed the tree. They
gave impertinent answers to the leopards, nsenzi y and Ma-
zomba and even abused them.

“ Then they came to Mulungu. He said, £ What do you
want? ’ The girls said, £ We have thrown our children into
the water.’ But Mulungu said, £ What was the reason of
that? ’ The girls hid the matter and said, £ Nothing.’ But
Mulungu said, £ It is false. You cheated your companion, say-
ing ££ Throw your child into the water,” and now you tell me
a lie.’ Then Mulungu took a bottle of lightning and said,
£ Your children are in here.’ They took the bottle, which made
a report like a gun, and the girls both died.”

In ££ La Route du Ciel,” the opening, as we have seen, is
quite different: it is a young girl, afraid of being scolded for
breaking her water-jar, who climbs a rope to take refuge in the
sky. Nothing is said about a baby, actual or prospective, and
the girl’s announcement, on reaching ££ the village of Heaven ”
— ££ I have come to look for a child,” is consequently somewhat

PLATE XI

The Woman who found the Way to Mulungu

HIGH GODS AND HEAVEN

141

perplexing. It becomes quite intelligible, however, on compar-
ison with the Yao variant, which undoubtedly represents the
older form. We might suppose the beginning to have been
altered in order to point a moral for the benefit of wilful and
ill-behaved daughters, but the world-wide recurrence of the
motive is against this, and the probability is that two different
tales have — perhaps purposely — here been combined into
one. The final catastrophe is very much alike in both. What
makes this view more probable is that the usual story of the
half-sisters, of whom the ill-treated one is kind and helpful
and gets rewarded, while the spoilt and petted one acts in the
opposite way and comes to grief, is always, more or less con-
sciously, connected, not with the sky above, but with the realm
of the dead beneath. The girl in the original “ Frau Holle ”
story falls into the well; the wife in the Chaga tale (where the
combination of incidents is reversed) throws herself into the
pool where her baby has been drowned, and both come to what
is really, if not avowedly, the country of the ghosts. And the
recollection of this persists, even when the exact nature of the
journey has been forgotten. In the Sierra Leone variant , 52 the
stepmother sends the child to the “ Devil,” to get the rice-
stick washed, and the mysterious city where the Hausa place
the “ Menders of Men,” 53 seems to point in the same direction.
In the other Hausa variant , 54 “ How the Ill-treated Maiden
became Rich,” the girls do not apparently leave the world of
the living j but their goal, the River Bagajun, is presided over
by a witch, and, on their way to it, they pass rivers of sour
milk and honey. This may be some distorted recollection of
a Hindu myth refracted through Islam, or may possibly belong
to an older indigenous stratum of thought.

In the chapter on “ The Little People ” I shall quote a
Chaga story 55 which belongs to the same type as these, but
substitutes the top of Kilimanjaro for the sky, and the Wa-
konyingo dwarfs for the Heaven-people. A remarkable point

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

is that, as the latter seem, in the Chaga view, to be unac-
quainted with the use of fire, the hero in this case instructs the
Wakonyingo in protective magic. It is curious to compare this
with the Pokomo tradition which represents the tribal ancestor
as getting the knowledge of fire from a member of the aborig-
inal race, the Wasanye. Some other tales of the kind will be
more suitably discussed in connection with Ancestral Ghosts
and the Abode of the Dead.
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 17, 2019, 08:39:02 PM: CHAPTER II

MYTHS OF ORIGINS

T HIS title seems preferable to that of “ Creation Myths,”
for of the creation, as we understand it, we hear singu-
larly little in Bantu legend. The earth, in most cases, seems to
be taken for granted, as if it had existed from the beginning;
and though, occasionally, we may hear of men being actually
made, they more often just “ appear,” sometimes coming down
from the sky, sometimes up out of the earth, sometimes with-
out any attempt at explanation whence they came. Junod says:
“ I believe that the origin of man preoccupies the Bantu mind
more than the origin of the world as a whole.” 1 So much is
this the case that one almost feels inclined to wonder whether,
when we find little more than the bald statement that Katonda,
or Mulungu, or Nyambe made the earth, the sun, etc., this
may not be merely the improvised answer to the question of
some European pressing for information on a subject which
had never previously occurred to his listeners. Duff Macdon-
ald says : 2 “ The existence of the world itself is accepted as a
fact not to be explained. But there are legends that explain the
introduction of the sun, moon, and stars, clouds and rain, as also
how mountains and rivers appeared on the scene.” The Yao
divinity Mtanga (by some said to be the same as Mulungu) is
described as pressing up the surface of the earth into mountain
ridges and excavating rivers, and “ putting the country right.” 3
It existed already and only needed shaping; moreover, the
scene of Mtanga’s activities seems to be confined to the Yao
country — the original mountain home of the tribe. Probably,
when they had started on their migrations and reached the

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

144

Chilwa plain, they felt the need of accounting for the differ-
ence.

The Bushongo 4 have something more like a genuine cre-
ation legend, of a very peculiar kind. I have not met with its
parallel elsewhere in Africa. Bumba, the Creator, who is
described as a gigantic white being in human form, existed
alone in the beginning, in a universe where there was nothing
but water. Some touches in this narrative, apart from the su-
preme act of creation, are surprisingly suggestive of Genesis I,
and but for the fact that the Bushongo were entirely un-
touched by missionary influence, and that Mr. Torday was to
an unusual degree independent of interpreters, one might feel
somewhat suspicious. As it is, one may perhaps draw the
moral that, without accepting the conclusions which have been
or might be based on them, we need not be too incredulous as
to the genuineness of Merker’s Masai traditions.

Bumba, say the Bushongo, one day felt severe internal pains
and, as a consequence, “ vomited up the sun, moon, and stars,”
thus giving light to the world. As the sun’s rays dried up the
water, sandbanks began to appear above its surface, but there
was no life anywhere. Bumba then, in the same manner,
produced eight living creatures which, in their turn, gave rise,
with some exceptions, to all the rest. These were, the leopard,
the crested eagle, the crocodile, a small fish (the parent of all
other fish), the tortoise, the lightning (a beast like a black
leopard), the white heron, a beetle, and the goat. He then
produced men. Whether these included the three sons who
now appear on the scene is not stated. The animals undertook
to people the world, but it is not quite clear on what principle
they did so; the goat produced all horned beasts, the beetle all
insects, the crocodile all serpents and the iguana, the white
heron all birds except the kite. Then Bumba’s sons took a
hand. One produced white ants, which, apparently, are not
counted as insects, and died in the effort; the second a plant,

MYTHS OF ORIGINS

HS

from which all vegetable life has sprung ; and the third tried
to bring forth new creatures, but the only result was the kite.
Why the kite should thus be set apart from all other birds is
not explained.

The Bushongo, according to their own tradition, came from
the far north, probably from the region of Lake Chad, and
within historical times. This might account for the exceptional
character of much in the above legend. It is true that the name
of Bumba (who is not only Creator but First Ancestor, whose
direct descendants, the reigning chiefs, have preserved every
link in their genealogy) is found among other tribes, such as
the Baila. But the name is Bantu, and the Bushongo brought
with them from the north a strange archaic, non-Bantu lan-
guage which has nearly, if not quite gone out of use.

Coming now to the conception of origin from trees or plants,
we may link together the legends of the Herero, Zulus, and
other tribes south of the Zambezi. I have not definitely
traced it much farther north, unless we can count the belief
of the Bangongo in the Kasai country 5 that the Batwa pygmies
came out of trees, and a vague account e which I was, unfor-
tunately, never able to check or get further light on, of some
sacred tree from which the Wasanye in East Africa deduce
their origin.

The Zulus say: “ It is said that we men came out of a bed
of reeds, where we had our origin.” 7 Some content them-
selves with this general statement, others say that it was Un-
kulunkulu who “ had his origin in a valley where there was
a reed-bed ( umhlanga ) here on the earth, and men sprang
from Unkulunkulu by generation. All things as well as
Unkulunkulu sprang from a bed of reeds — everything, both
animals and corn, everything coming into being with Unku-
lunkulu.”

Elsewhere, the word used is uhlan ga* a single reed (as
distinguished from umhlanga , a reed-bed). Callaway and

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

146

Colenso 9 both thought that these words are not to be taken
in their literal meaning, but as referring to some u Primal
Source of Being.” Yet the former admits that the native who
gave the account “ clearly understood by it a reed,” 10 while
adding that “ one cannot avoid believing that he did not under-
stand the import of the tradition.” But comparison with the
traditions of other tribes suggests that this, or something like
it, was really the primitive belief, and that uhlanga came to
mean “ source ” or “ origin ” because it was thought that
mankind had sprung from a reed. The Basuto certainly
thought so, and used to commemorate the belief by sticking
a reed (or bunch of reeds) into the thatch of a hut where a
child had been born . 11 The Thonga vary between the reed
( Uhlanga ) and the reed-bed ( nhlanga ): in the first version
“ one man and one woman suddenly came out from one reed,
which exploded, and there they were! ” In the second, “ men
of different tribes emerged from a marsh of reeds, each tribe
already having its peculiar costume, implements, and cus-
toms.” 12

The Herero believe in a sacred tree from which their
earliest ancestors sprang. It is called Omumborombonga and
has been identified by botanists as Combretum primigenum.
The actual tree which produced the human race is supposed to
be still in existence, in the “ Kaoko veld,” west of the Ndonga
country and south of the Kunene River. Beiderbecke 13 speaks
almost as if he had seen it. “ There is nothing particular in
the tree, unless it may be its looking old and antediluvian.
The Ovaherero, in passing it, bow themselves reverently,
holding in the hand a bunch of green twigs which they stick
into it, or otherwise throw down at the foot. They also enter
into a conversation with the tree, giving the answers themselves
in a somewhat altered voice.” This presumably refers to the
original tree: a note added by another hand tells that the
Herero honoured all trees of the same species, saluting them

' ? ? •

PLATE XII

The Footprints of the First Man in Ruanda.
(See Appendix, page 375.) After a photograph by
Captain Philipps.

MYTHS OF ORIGINS

147

with the words: Tate Mukuru , uzera! “ Father Mukuru, thou
art holy,” or perhaps rather “ tabu.” “ Formerly the Ova-
herero had such a reverence for the tree that they would not
even sit down in its shade.”

But it should be noted that only the Herero themselves and
their cattle sprang from the sacred Omumborombonga. The
“ Hill-Damara,” a previous population supposed to be Bantu
by race, though speaking a Hottentot dialect, came out of a
rock, together with goats, sheep and baboons. Perhaps a
double racial tradition explains the divergent accounts given
by the Basutoj 14 the one most generally accepted is that men
sprang from a reed-bed, but some say that they issued (to-
gether with the animals) from a cave. The Anyanja believe
that the first men came out of a hole in the ground at a place
called Kapirimtiya, where their footprints and those of the
animals are still to be seen impressed on the rock. This is
said to be on a hill, or, according to some, an island in a lake,
somewhere west of Lake Nyasa. A correspondent of Life and
Work (the Blantyre Mission Magazine) 15 was shown the al-
leged site of this event in the Wemba country, “ a conglome-
rate rock, showing what the natives call footprints of a man, a
child, a zebra, a horse, and a dog.” The horse, if not the re-
sult of a misunderstanding, must be a comparatively recent
addition. The legend may indicate that here or hereabouts was
a centre of dispersion for the Nyanja, Wemba, and perhaps
some other tribes 5 also it looks as if it had been inherited from
that older stratum of the population which, as we have seen,
was most probably absorbed. The Hill-Damara, who likewise
came out of a rock, may represent the mingling of the advance
guard of the Bantu immigrants with some Bushman tribe.
We know this to have happened in the case of the Le-
ghoya 16 and some other Bechwana clans, and in the absence of
direct proof I should think it probable that these clans were
precisely those who did not hold the theory of the reed origin.

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

148

Stow, however, says that in all Bantu myths of the origin of
man — whether deriving him from the split reed or the
fissure of a rock — the Bushmen are disregarded or taken for
granted as existing already. Some of these “ traditions state
that when their forefathers migrated to the south, they found
the land without inhabitants, so that only the wild game and
the Bushmen were living in it — evidently classing . . .
them together as wild animals.” 17

This reminds us of the Masai , 18 who say that “ when God
came to prepare the world, he found there a Dorobo, an ele-
phant and a serpent.” The Dorobo are a hunting tribe, who
must have occupied the country before the Masai, and are now
more or less in the position of vassals or serfs to them. The
fact that not only the Dorobo but the elephant and the
serpent are put on a different level from the rest of creation
is highly curious. We are not told what kind of serpent this
was, but it is clear that he was not, at any rate, intentionally
harmful. The three lived together for some time and the Do-
robo, by what means we do not learn, became possessed of a
cow. After a time the Dorobo picked a quarrel with the ser-
pent, whose breath, he said, affected him with a most unpleas-
ant irritation of the skin. The poor serpent apologised very
humbly, saying: “ Oh, my father, I do not blow my bad breath
over you on purpose ”; but the Dorobo, though he said nothing
at the time, waited his opportunity and killed the serpent with
a club. The elephant, missing him, asked where the “ thin
one ” was. The Dorobo denied all knowledge of him; but the
elephant, who had no doubt come to her own conclusions as to
his character, was not deceived. By and by, the elephant pro-
duced a calf. The rains were now over, and all the pools had
dried up, except in one place, where the Dorobo took his cow
every day to drink. The elephant, too, used to come to this
pool and, after drinking, lie down in the water, stirring up the
bottom, so that the Dorobo, when he came, was much annoyed

MYTHS OF ORIGINS

149

to find the water very muddy. He appears to have said
nothing, but bided his time, till one day he made an arrow and
shot the elephant. The young elephant, finding itself thus
orphaned, said: “ The Dorobo is bad. I will not stop with him
any longer. He first of all killed the snake, and now he has
killed mother. I will go away and not live with him again.”
So the young elephant went to another country, where he met
a Masai, and, in answer to his questions, told him what had
happened. The Masai seems to have been impressed by the
Dorobo’s qualities, for he said: “ Let us go there ; I should like
to see him.” They went and found the Dorobo’s hut and saw
that God had overturned it, so that the open door faced the sky.
This part of the story calls for cross-examination, as, on the
face of it, one would suppose this state of things to be a mark
of displeasure at the Dorobo’s previous conduct, but, if so, it
hardly seems consistent with what follows. For we hear,
without comment or explanation, that Ngai called the Dorobo
and said to him: “ I wish you to come to-morrow morning,
for I have something to tell you.” The Masai overheard this
and played the trick which Jacob played on Esau by being on
the spot first. But it is somewhat disconcerting to find that,
when “ he went and said to God 1 1 have come,’ ” Ngai does
not appear to have noticed the difference, but went on giving
him the instructions intended for the Dorobo. He was to
build a large cattle-kraal and then go out into the forest till he
found a lean calf, which he was to bring home and slaughter,
afterwards burning the meat. Then he was to go into his
hut — the Dorobo’s hut of course, though we do not hear
whether it had been restored to its normal position — and not
be startled or cry out, whatever he might hear. He did as he
was told and waited in the hut till he heard a sound like
thunder. Ngai let down a strip of hide from the sky, and down
this cattle began to descend into the kraal. They kept on com-
ing till the kraal was full and the animals were so crowded

150

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

that they began to break down the hut. The Masai could
not keep back an exclamation of astonishment, and came out
to find that the lariat had been cut and no more cattle were
coming down. Ngai asked him if he had enough, for he
should certainly get no more, as he would have done, had he
been able to hold his tongue.

This is the story told to account for the fact that the Masai
have cattle and the Dorobo have none. “ Nowadays,” says the
narrator, “ if cattle are seen in the possession of Bantu tribes,
it is presumed that they have been stolen or found, and the
Masai say , 1 These are our animals, let us go and take them, for
God in olden days gave us all the cattle upon earth.’ ”

Another version of this myth says nothing of the Dorobo’s
previous misdoings, and only relates how the Masai cheated
him out of the cattle, very much as shown above. But there is
one significant addition at the end, which may involve a refer-
ence to the earlier part of the story: “ After this the Dorobo
shot away the cord by which the cattle had descended, and God
moved and went jar ojf .”

Are we to take this as implying — what perhaps was no
longer clear to the narrator himself — that the Dorobo’s
treatment of his fellow-creatures had made the earth impos-
sible as a residence for Ngai? If so, we are reminded of what
the Yaos say about Mulungu. It is true we are not told that
Ngai lived on the earth, but he seems at any rate to have oc-
cupied a near and comparatively accessible part of heaven.

This differs considerably from the legend mentioned by
Irle , 19 explaining how the Herero got the cattle which the
Nama spend their lives — or did, not so very long ago — in
“ lifting ” from them. It appears that some of the first human
beings quarrelled over the skin of the first ox slaughtered for
food. The colour of their descendants was determined by the
distribution of the meat: the ancestors of the Hereros ate the
liver, so their children were black; the Nama are red because

MYTHS OF ORIGINS

i5 1

their fathers took the lungs and the blood. The Nandi legend
of origins is very similar to the Masai one, but there are some
interesting points of difference. In general, we find that
when the Masai and Nandi possess different versions of the
same story, the latter seem to have the more primitive form.
In this case, too, God found the earth tenanted by the Dorobo
and the elephant , 20 but the third in the partnership was the
Thunder, not the serpent. The Thunder distrusted the
Dorobo almost from the beginning, because, when lying down,
he could turn over without getting up, which neither
the elephant nor, it appears, the Thunder, was able to do.
The elephant only laughed at the Thunder’s warning, and the
latter retreated into the sky, where he has remained ever since.
The Dorobo then remarked: “The person I was afraid of
has fled; I do not mind the elephant,” and at once proceeded
to shoot him with a poisoned arrow. The unfortunate ele-
phant, too late, called upon the Thunder to help him and take
him up, but received the unfeeling answer: “ Die by yourself,”
with the addition of, “ I told you so,” or words to that effect.
So he was hit by a second arrow, and died, and the Dorobo
“ became great in all the countries.”

One wonders whether these stories reflect some dim notion
that the elephant belongs to the older world ; that he was not
merely existing on the earth before man appeared there, but
that he is the survivor of an extinct order. It is possible, too,
that others of the earlier vertebrates — giant saurians and
cetaceans — may have lingered on in Africa after the coming
of man, and that some memory of them survives in the figures
made by the Anyanja and Yaos for their unyago ceremonies , 21
and in the reports, persistent, but difficult to substantiate, of
monstrous fish believed to inhabit the depths of the Great
Lakes.

Other tribes believe that the first man, or the first pair,
descended from the sky, like the Peruvian Manco Capac and

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Mama Oella. The Galla say that the ancestor of their oldest
clan — the Uta Laficho — did so, and some, at least, of the
other clans, perhaps all those who are not known to have
branched off from older stocks within human memory.

It seems also to be held by some of the Baganda that Kintu,
the first man, descended from heaven . 22 But this is clearly
inconsistent with his story as generally related , 23 which shows
that the denizens of Heaven knew no more about him than
Mulungu knew of the two strange creatures found in the
Chameleon’s fish-trap. It is merely said that Kintu and his
cow “ came into this country ” {mu nsi muno ), whence or
how is not explained, and found it vacant — there was nothing
to eat. Kintu lived for some time on the products of the cow,
till one day he saw several persons coming down from the sky.
These were the sons of Heaven (Gulu) and their sister
Nambi, who said to her brothers: “ Look at this man, where
has he come from? ” Kintu, on being questioned, said:
“ Neither do I know where I come from.” In the course of
a short conversation, he impressed Nambi so favourably that
she said to her brothers: Kintu murungi mmwagala, mmu-
fumbirwe — “ Kintu is good, I like him — let me marry
him.” They, not unnaturally, demurred, asking whether she
were sure that he was really a human being ; whereto she re-
plied: “I know he is a man — an animal does not build a
house,” from which we may infer that Kintu had done so,
though the fact has not been previously mentioned. She then
turned to him and, with admirable directness, said : “ Kintu,
I love you. Well, then, let me go home and tell my father
that I have seen a man out in the jungle whom I should like
to marry.” The sons of Heaven were by no means satisfied
and told their father privately that Kintu did not eat ordinary
food and was certainly a suspicious character. Gulu suggested
that his sons should steal Kintu’s cow, “ and then we shall see
whether he dies or not.” They did so, and Kintu subsisted

MYTHS OF ORIGINS

r 53

precariously for a time on the bark of trees. Nambi, growing
anxious about her lover, came down to look after him and
brought him back with her to heaven. There he saw “ many
people and many cattle and banana-trees and fowls and sheep
and goats, and much of everything that is eaten.” (In short,
the Platonic ideas or patterns of things which did not yet
exist on earth, were all there in the heavens.) Gulu, when
informed of Kintu’s arrival, determined to put him to the test.
It is not quite clear whether he wished to find out if Kintu
could really eat human — or celestial — food, or whether he
wished to choke off an unwelcome connection by imposing
impossible conditions. He ordered his slaves to make a house
without a door and interned Kintu therein, together with ten
thousand bundles 24 of mashed plantains ( emere ), the car-
cases of a thousand bullocks, and a thousand gourds of banana-
beer ( dmnjoenge ). If he failed to consume these viands,
said Gulu, “ he is not really Kintu ; he is lying, and we will
kill him.” The message actually given to Kintu, however,
was less intransigeant than this. “ Guest Kintu, Gulu says,
1 Take our guest the emere and the meat and the beer; if he
cannot eat them, he is not Kintu and he shall not have the
cow he has come to fetch, and I will not give him my
daughter.’ ”

Kintu thanked his host politely, but on being left alone was
ready to despair, when, behold, he saw that the earth had
opened in the middle of the house. He threw in the super-
fluous food and the pit immediately closed up. In the same
way he accomplished two other tasks set him — or rather they
were accomplished for him, he could not tell how. There is
nowhere any hint who or what is this friendly Power which
takes his part against Gulu and is evidently stronger than the
latter. Another remarkable point is the statement that Kintu
prayed ( yegairira ) in his difficulties, though it is not said to
whom. Having passed these three tests, he was next told that

154

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he should have his cow, if he could pick her out from the herds
which Gulu ordered to be driven up — some twenty thousand
beasts. Again Kintu was appalled by the magnitude of the
task, when he heard a hornet buzzing at his ear. The hornet
said: “ Watch me when I fly up — the cow on whose horn I
shall settle is yours.” The hornet remained quiet, and Kintu
said: “ Take away these cattle, my cow is not among them.”
A second herd was driven up, and still the hornet gave no
sign, but when the third instalment arrived, it flew off and
settled on one of the cows. “ That is my cow,” said Kintu,
going up to it and striking it with his stick. The hornet then
flew off to a fine heifer. “ That is a calf of my cow,” said
Kintu; and in the same way he claimed another calf. (This
indicates that he must have been living on bark for a consider-
able period.) Gulu laughed and said: “Kintu is a wonder!
No one can take him in! And what he says is true. Well,
let them call my daughter Nambi.” So he gave her to Kintu
in marriage and sent them down to live on the earth, giving
them also a fowl, a banana-tree, and the principal seeds and
roots now cultivated by the Baganda . 25 He also warned them
most particularly not to turn back, once they had started, even
if they should find that they had forgotten anything. But,
as this warning has to do with the entrance of death into the
world, the way in which it was neglected, and the disastrous
consequences which followed, it will be better related in the
next chapter. The couple came down to earth “ here at Ma-
gonga,” 26 set up housekeeping and began to cultivate. Nambi
planted the banana-tree, which produced numerous other trees,
and in course of time they had three children.

This Kintu, of course, is an entirely mythical figure, though
we have reason to suppose that the Kintu from whom the Kings
of Uganda trace their descent (every link in the pedigree is
preserved) was a historical character, who invaded Uganda,
coming from the north. In fact, as Roscoe points out, the

PLATE XIII

The Cattle-Troughs of Luganzu. (See Appendix,
page 375-) After a photograph by Captain Philipps.

MYTHS OF ORIGINS

1 55

traditions of some clans do not fit in with the legend as given
above. Some say that Nambi was not the daughter of Heaven
but a woman of the Lung-fish clan, who therefore was already
living in the country at the time of Kintu’s invasion} and there
are still in existence alleged relics of chiefs who were there
before Kintu. In the version of the story given by Stanley , 27
he is represented as an ordinary human immigrant, coming
from the north with his wife, and bringing with him the princi-
pal domestic animals and plants. He disappeared from the
earth after many years, disgusted by the wickedness of his
descendants, and his successors sought for him in vain. He
revealed himself to the twenty-second king, Mawanda, bid-
ding him come to the meeting-place accompanied by no one
but his mother. One of Mawanda’s councillors, unknown to
the king, followed him into the forest. Kintu asked Mawanda
why he had disobeyed his orders, and the latter, when he
discovered the councillor, killed him. Kintu then disappeared
and has never been seen since, but whether on account of the
minister’s disobedience or the king’s deed of violence, does not
seem clear. But we may perhaps see in the story a rationalised
version of the legend which represents the Creator as leaving
the earth, as in the cases of Mulungu and Bumba.

Another case of an ancestor who appears in an uninhabited
country, without any indication of his having descended from
heaven, is Vere, from whom the Buu tribe of the Pokomo
trace their descent. He is sometimes spoken of as a preter-
natural being “ without father or mother.” Other narrators
content themselves with saying that no one knows where he
came from or who his parents were. He wandered about
alone in the forests of the Tana Valley, feeding on wild fruits
and raw fish, for he had no knowledge of fire and no means
of making it. After two years, he met with one Mitsotsozini,
who showed him how to make fire by means of two sticks and
cook his food. The remarkable part of this story is that Mitso-

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156

tsozini belonged to the hunter tribe of the Wasanye, who are
generally considered less advanced in the arts of life than the
Bantu. It may also indicate that the Wasanye — like the
Dorobo, with whom, in fact, they have a good deal in com-
mon — are supposed to have been there from the beginning
of things. As, moreover, some of the Buu clans trace their
descent from Mitsotsozini, as well as from Vere, we may
infer that intermarriage took place at an early period between
the Pokomo and the Wasanye, and a good many facts con-
nected with the former tribe render this extremely probable . 28

Before concluding this chapter, I should like to refer to a
very curious myth of the Nandi, interesting, not only in itself,
but because of its points of contact with the traditions of races
in the far South-west. Among the Masai folk-tales collected
by Hollis is one called “ The Old Man and his Knee.” 29 It
relates how an old man, living alone, was troubled with a
swelling in his knee which he took for an abscess ; but, at the
end of six months, as it did not burst, he cut it open and out
came two children, a girl and a boy. The rest of the story
proceeds very much on the lines of the Sesuto “ Tselane ” and
other tales of cannibals, though without the usual happy
ending. This, as it stands, is not a myth of origins, but an
ordinary fairy-tale. The Nandi, however, have what is evi-
dently the more primitive form of it . 30 “Amongst the Moi
clan there is a tradition that the first Dorobo ” — again we
find the Dorobo looked on as the earliest men — “ gave birth
to a boy and a girl. His leg swelled up one day ... at
length it burst, and a boy issued from the inner side of the
calf, while a girl issued from the outer side. These two in
course of time had children, who were the ancestors of all the
people on earth.”

The same idea crops up among the Wakuluwe (between
Lakes Nyasa and Tanganyika) who hold that the first human
pair came down from heaven, but did not produce offspring

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157

in the ordinary way. Ngulwe (the local equivalent of
Mulungu) caused a child, known as Kanga Masala, to come
out of the woman’s knee. 31

What lies behind this notion it is difficult to see; but it seems
to reappear, distorted and half-forgotten, in Hottentot
mythology. A good deal of controversy has raged round
Tsui || Goab (or Tsuni || Goam), the “ Supreme Being of the
Hottentots.” 32 This name was long ago interpreted as
“ Wounded Knee,” with the added explanation that the deity
(according to some, a famous warrior of old times) 33 had got
his knee injured in a fight in which he overcame the evil being
1 1 Gaunab. Hahn, 34 who was anxious to prove that the Khoi-
khoi (Hottentots) had a relatively high conception of a God,
rejected this interpretation in 1881 (though he had previously
advocated it) and leaned to the view that Tsuni || Goam means
“ The Red Dawn,” thus placing this being in the category of
Sky-gods. Kronlein, 35 one of the best authorities on the Hot-
tentot language, translates the name as “ He who is entreated
with difficulty” ( der miihsam zu Bittende ), which, though
different enough from Hahn’s rendering, could be cited in
support of a similar view. But a more recent writer, Dr. L.
Schultze, 36 shows that Kronlein’s interpretation is inadmissible
on linguistic grounds, and declares, on the ground of his own
independent inquiries, for Hahn’s (earlier) derivation, viz.,
that tsu 1 1 goab is equivalent to “ wounded knee,” and is the
designation of a hero who had his knee wounded in battle.
Dr. Schultze does not mention the view advocated in Hahn’s
later work.

This, of course, is a very different matter from the Nandi
myth as related by Hollis, but we have already seen how the
latter has been transformed by the Masai, who no longer seem
to recognise it as part of their “ Genesis.” The Hottentots,
while (as has been demonstrated by recent research into their
language and customs) remotely connected with the Masai and

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158

other Hamitic and semi-Hamitic tribes of the North-east,
have been so long separated from their congeners that they
might easily have forgotten the original meaning of the
Wounded Knee. Especially would this be the case where later
generations find the story strange and perplexing, if not repel-
lent, whereas the battle with || Gaunab readily commends itself
to the intelligence.

The identity of Tsui || Goab presents some difficulties. It
is impossible to keep him quite distinct from Haitsi-aibeb
(about whom we shall have something to say in a later chapter,
and to whom some of Tsui || Goab’s adventures are expressly
attributed) and || Gurikhoisib, the First Ancestor — the soli-
tary dweller in the wilderness, who reminds us of Vere. Hahn
further identifies him with the thunder-cloud and the thunder:
this is a question not to be decided here, but it may be in-
teresting to give the story of Tsui || Goab, as related to Hahn
by an old Nama, probably born not much later than 1770,
as “ he had big grown-up children . . . in 1 8 1 1.” 37

“ Tsui || Goab was a great, powerful chief of the Khoikhoi;
in fact, he was the first Khoikhoib, from whom all the
Khoikhoi tribes took their origin. But Tsui 1 1 Goab was not
his original name. This Tsui 1 1 Goab went to war with an-
other chief, 1 1 Gaunab, because the latter always killed great
numbers of Tsui 1 1 Goab’s people. In this fight, however,
Tsui || Goab was repeatedly overpowered by || Gaunab, but
in every battle the former grew stronger, and at last he was so
strong and big that he easily destroyed || Gaunab by giving
him one blow behind the ear. While || Gaunab was expiring,
he gave his enemy a blow on the knee. Since that day the con-
queror of || Gaunab received the name Tsui || Goab, 1 sore
knee ’ or 1 wounded kneed Henceforth he could not walk
properly because he was lame. He could do wonderful things,
which no other man could do, because he was very wise. He
could tell what would happen in future times. He died sev-

MYTHS OF ORIGINS

159

eral times and several times he rose again. And whenever he
came back to us, there were great f eastings and rejoicings.
Milk was brought from every kraal, and fat cows and fat
ewes were slaughtered. Tsui || Goab gave every man plenty of
cattle and sheep, because he was very rich. He gives rain, he
makes the clouds, he lives in the clouds, and he makes our cows
and sheep fruitful.”

These repeated deaths and resurrections are a prominent
feature, as we shall see, in the legend of Haitsi-aibeb, who
also overcame an evil being named $ Gama $ Goub (according
to Hahn “ almost identical with 1 1 Gaunab ”) by hitting him
with a stone behind the ear.

These definitely evil powers are not common in African
mythology, at least in that of the Bantu, who usually conceive
of spirits as good or bad — perhaps one should rather say
friendly or hostile — according to circumstances. Where they
exist, as here, they are perhaps due to Hamitic influence. The
apparent exceptions — Mbasi of the Wankonde, 38 and Mwawa
of the Wakuluwe 39 — need to be carefully studied.

CHAPTER III

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH

I N ALL parts of Bantu Africa we find the Chameleon
associated with the entry of death into the world. Or, at
any rate, the well-known legend, to be related presently, has
been found in so many different parts of the area occupied
by these tribes, that we may confidently expect to find it in
others, where it has not yet come to light.

The Zulu version of the story, as related by Callaway , 1 is
so well known, that I prefer to give, as a fairly typical speci-
men, one quite independently recorded from Nyasaland : 2
“ God sent the Chameleon ( nadzikambe ) and the msalulu
(a kind of lizard) and said: ‘You, Chameleon, when you
come to men, tell them, “ When you die you will come back,” ’
and to the msalulu also he gave a message, saying: 1 Say,
“ When men die they will pass away completely.” ’ Then,
after the Chameleon had gone ahead, the Lizard followed
after him and went along the road and found the Chameleon
walking along delicately, going backwards and forwards.”
Any one who has watched this creature, the almost affected
daintiness of its movements, and the caution with which it
always plants one foot firmly before lifting the next, will
recognise the justice of the description. “ And he, the Msa-
lulu, passed on very swiftly till he came to people, and he
said: 4 When men die, they shall pass away completely . 1 And
after a time the Chameleon arrived, coming in uselessly behind
him, and said: 1 When men die they will return.’ But the
people said, £ We have already heard the Msalulu’s mes-
sage — “ When we die there will be an end to us,” and now

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH 161

he says, “ When we die we shall come back,” — what non-
sense! ’ So people, when they see the Chameleon, put tobacco
into his mouth that he may die, because, say they, £ You lin-
gered on the road instead of hurrying on with your message
and arriving first.’ For after all, it is better to come back
than to be dead altogether.”

The Chameleon seems everywhere to be considered an un-
lucky animal, and this special form of retribution by nicotine-
poisoning is reported from the Konde country, 3 and from
Delagoa Bay, 4 as well as from Nyasaland. One writer,
however, 5 says that, in Likoma, the tobacco — whatever its
effect — is intended as a reward, not a punishment, the idea
being that at any rate the purpose was a good one, though
the Chameleon failed, perhaps through natural incapacity,
to carry it out. His name, in this particular part of Nyasa-
land, is Gulumpambe, probably connected with Mpambe,
one of the local names for “ God.” (The name used in the
Shire Highlands is nadzikambe , of which I can offer no satis-
factory explanation; that given in Scott’s Dictionary is scarcely
admissible.)

The Giryama (British East Africa, to the north of Mom-
basa) tell the story in much the same way, 6 with one rather
important exception, to be considered presently. It is to be
noted that in neither of these versions, nor in any other that
I have been able to examine, is there any question of the second
messenger being sent off to countermand the announcement
made by the first, in consequence of the wickedness of man-
kind which had become manifest after the departure of the
Chameleon. This is sometimes stated by European writers,
but I can find no hint of it in Callaway’s original Zulu texts.

In general, the versions of this story conform to one or
other of two types. In one, the Creator despatches both
messengers; in the other he sends only the Chameleon,
though the blue-headed Gecko, or some other species of

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lizard, but in one case the Hare, starts on his own account,
arrives before the Chameleon and delivers the wrong
message, apparently from sheer love of mischief. This
is the case in the Giryama version just referred to, whereas in
the Nyanja one , 7 Mulungu sends both, though no reason is
given. But in some cases it appears as if he had intended the
matter to be decided by the first arrival. The Subiya 8 say
that Leza sent off the Chameleon with the message as already
stated; then, after giving him a good start (in fact, waiting
till he had got half-way), he despatched the Lizard with
instructions to say nothing if the Chameleon had already
arrived; but if he had not yet come in, he was to say, “ Men
shall die and not live again.”

The Luyi story is somewhat different . 9 When Nyambe and
his wife Nasilele lived on earth, they had a dog, which died.
Nyambe was deeply grieved and wanted to recall him to
life, but Nasilele, who did not like the dog, said, “ For my
part, I don’t want him back, he is a thief! ” Nyambe insisted:
“ As for me, I am fond of my dog,” — but the wife was obdu-
rate and the corpse was thrown out. Soon afterwards, Nasi-
lele’s mother died, and this time it was the wife who pleaded
for the recall of the dead, and the husband who refused.
Nasilele’s mother died “ for good,” and it would appear
(though this is not expressly stated) that she therefore wanted
to destroy the whole human race. The account goes on:
“ They sent the Chameleon and the Hare, with messages of
opposite import: the Hare arrived first, and therefore men
have to die without hope of return.”

The Subiya 10 tell the first part of this story without any
reference to Leza; it is simply “ the first man ” and his wife
who quarrel over the dog. But there is every reason to think
that Leza and the First Ancestor are identical. The Subiya
legend, moreover, contains an additional episode not found in
the Luyi version, at least as related to Jacottet. The man

PLATE XIV

Type of Zanzibar Swahili.

After a photograph by Dr. Aders.

Biw

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH 163

repents and agrees to restore his wife’s mother to life. He has
her carried into her house and treats her with “ medicines ”
(herbs), giving his wife strict orders to keep the door shut.
She begins to revive, and all goes well, till he has to go into
the forest to seek some fresh herbs ; in his absence his wife
opens the door and finds her mother alive, but “ immediately
her heart came out ” (of her body) “ and she died again.”
This time the husband refused to do anything more and no
one since then has recovered after dying.

Kropf 11 gives a remarkable variant current among the
Amaxosa of the Eastern Cape Province. This is clearer and
more coherent than many others, but we cannot be certain that
this proves it to be the earlier: it might be the result of later
reflection after the primitive story had been partly forgotten.
At first, people did not die, and the earth became so over-
crowded that its inhabitants could scarcely breathe. An
assembly was held to discuss what should be done, and some
said: “ The only thing that can save us is, that people should
die, so that we can get air.” Others approved this, and at
last it was decided that two messengers should be sent to lay
the question before the Creator, the Chameleon and the Lizard
being chosen for the purpose. The former was to say: “ The
great ones of the earth have resolved that people are not to
die! ” while the Lizard was to say: “ We want them to die.”
Here the question seems to be one of dying or not dying, and
not of reviving after death. The Chameleon was given a
certain start, in order to make the race a fair one 5 but, as in
the other versions, he lingered, zigzagging along the path
and stopping to catch flies by the way (some say, to eat the
berries of a certain shrub which is pointed out), and finally
went to sleep ; when, of course, the Lizard overtook and passed
him.

The rest of the story need not be repeated, but we may
note that the reception of the Chameleon’s message seems to

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164

have more point when coming from the authority whose voice
has decided the matter in dispute. “ Since that time,” says
Kropf or his informant, “ death has reigned on earth. Both
animals are hated, the Chameleon is poisoned with tobacco-
juice wherever found, and the Lizard has to run for his life,
for the Bushman eats every one he catches.”

The intulwa (or intulo ), by the bye, is considered by the
Zulus as unlucky as the Chameleon, and one entering a hut is
an exceedingly bad omen. I remember a pathetic touch in a
letter Written for Okamsweli, mother of the late Chief
Dinuzulu, when her son was in exile at St. Helena, in which
was mentioned, among other incidents, that one of these liz-
ards had come into her hut, “ but she was not afraid and was
c strengthening her heart ’ against the evil influence.” Both
creatures are perfectly harmless, though the lizard especially
is often believed to be poisonous in countries where there is,
so far as one knows, no other superstition connected with it.

One does not know whether to conclude that the myth gave
rise to the belief in the reptile’s poisonous properties, or vice
versa-, among the Bantu, at any rate, I am inclined to think
that the former may be the case, and the poison theory a
rationalising afterthought. It is interesting, in this connection,
to note one or two bits of Swahili folklore with regard to
lizards. The little striped lizards, so common in houses, and
so useful in ridding them of flies, etc., are called mjusi kafri , 12
“ the infidel lizard,” and Moslems say it is the duty of every
believer to kill them — by biting off their heads, some say,
but for this I will not vouch. I have heard two reasons given
— one being that when a certain King had ordered the Prophet
to be burnt alive (I think this must be some confusion with
the legend of Abraham and Nimrod), the mjusi-kafri sat by
and endeavoured to blow up the flames with its breath.
Others say, that when the Prophet and his two companions
were hidden in the cave, whereas the Spider wove a web across

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH 165

the entrance, and the Dove laid two eggs on the threshold to
deceive the pursuers, the Lizard tried to betray him by nodding
his head in the direction of the cave. Whether these stories
are current outside Africa I do not know. Possibly some
ancient aboriginal beliefs have been adapted to Moslem tra-
dition. The entry under Kinyonge in Krapf’s Swahili diction-
ary seems to indicate that the legend was at one time known
here. A larger and beautifully coloured lizard, sky-blue with
a golden head, called Kande at Lamu, is sometimes seen run-
ning up and down the stems of coconut palms. Its habit
when at rest, of nodding its head up and down has suggested
to the popular mind that it is engaged in counting all who
come within its ken, as a result of which, they will die.
Women, when they see it, call out: Kande , Kande , usini-
wange! — “do not count me! ” This may have some con-
nection with a forgotten legend of the kind current, as we have
seen, among the inland tribes (Giryama, Kamba, etc.). In
West Africa, we find the legend among the Duala 13 and the
Bakwiri of Kamerun — the latter combining it with another
very ancient myth which we must notice in detail later. They
also associate the Chameleon with the Salamander instead of
the usual Lizard. In Bamum, as also in Abeokuta and Benin,
the Chameleon is frequently represented in wood-carving and
metal-work, but its exact place in the mythology of these tribes
has yet to be determined. It is remarkable that, while
the legend of the origin of Death is told on the Gold Coast
with the Sheep and the Goat 14 as messengers, there are Twi
and Ewe proverbs which indicate that these are of recent intro-
duction and that the Chameleon had his place in the older
form of the myth.

The dread which this creature seems to inspire — and
indeed, its appearance and its ways, not to mention its changes
of colour, make it uncanny enough to suggest any amount of
superstition — is well illustrated by Struck. 15 He relates that

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

1 66

two boys of the Bulu tribe, whom he had the opportunity of
questioning at Hamburg, were very communicative about all
the animals known to them in the Zoological Gardens till they
caught sight of the Chameleon in the Reptile House. Both
immediately fell silent and made a wide circuit to avoid it;
the only information they could be induced to give was that,
“ God had sent it.”

Meinhof, some years ago , 16 suggested that the Chameleon
figures in this myth because it comes into the category of
“ soul-animals ” ( Seelentiere ), 17 i.e., those thought of as em-
bodiments of departed spirits. Such, for various reasons, are
snakes, lizards, birds, fish and others. Animals seen in the
neighbourhood of graves, especially such as burrow in the earth
and might iseem to come out of the grave itself, would easily
come to be looked on in such a light. It is true that the Chame-
leon does not burrow in the earth, and is usually found on
trees or bushes, but Wundt thinks that creeping things in gen-
eral may have become soul-vehicles by an extension of the
idea originally associated with the maggots actually found
feeding on corpses. In a later work, however , 18 Meinhof has
adopted another explanation, thinking that the real reason
is given in a Duala tale which describes the Chameleon as
“ always trembling, as if just about to die — yet it does not
die,” at the time, and therefore it is presumed that it never
will. The Chameleon, moreover, says Meinhof, is the mes-
senger of the Moon, and its changes of colour afford an obvious
reason for their connection.

But, unfortunately for the theory, the Chameleon, so far as
I am aware, is nowhere said to be the messenger of the Moon.
The Moon, with one or two insignificant exceptions, does not
come into the Bantu legend at all, and the Hottentot and
Bushman myths concerned with it make no mention of the
Chameleon, the most usual messenger being the Hare. I think
the two groups of tales must be originally distinct; the features

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH 167

they have in common are quite likely to have arisen inde-
pendently.

The Chaga of Kilimanjaro have both a Moon story and a
Chameleon story, but they are not in any way connected, and
neither is quite of the usual type. This Bantu tribe has been
much in contact with non-Bantu people, such as the Masai ;
and, while much of their folk-lore is characteristically Bantu,
it certainly contains some Masai elements.

The Hottentot myth has been variously reported. Bleek 19
gives four versions, the first differing in an important point
from the other three. The part played by the Hare is inter-
esting, as bearing on the very different conceptions of that
animal found in Bantu and Hamitic folklore respectively.

This version, translated from an original Nama text taken
down by Kronlein, says that the Moon sent a messenger —
politely described by Bleek as “ an Insect,” though more
plainly specified in the original 20 — to tell men: “As I die
and dying live, so shall ye also die and dying live.” The
“ Insect ” was slow, as might be expected ( vide the fi'i^st chapter
of Sir A. Shipley’s Minor Horrors of War), and had not gone
very, far before he was overtaken by the Hare, who asked his
errand. On being informed of it, the Hare offered to carry
it, being so much swifter, and the messenger consented. The
Hare — it is not stated whether out of wanton mischief or
stupidity — reversed the terms of the message, and the angry
Moon, on his return, hit him with a piece of wood so that his
lip is split to this day. One version adds that the Hare, in
retaliation, scratched the Moon’s face, so that the marks are
still visible. But the most important variation is the omission
of the Insect — in all three versions the Hare is the original
messenger sent, who, whether wilfully or not, falsifies the
message. This is also the case in the form of the story obtained
from the Nama, at a much later date, by Dr. Schultze, which
also supplies the missing explanation, exculpating the Hare

1 6 8

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

at the expense of his intellect. “ And the Hare delivered his
message, saying: ‘ As my grandfather the Moon does, so ye
also shall pass away and appear again. That is my message.’
But when he spoke so, the boys shouted : 1 What are you talking
about? ’ Then the Hare (grew confused and) said: ‘ As I
do — this is my message — so ye also shall die with staring
eyes ’ ” — alluding to the appearance of a dead man whose
eyes have not been closed. “ Then he went home and came to
the Moon; and the Moon asked him (about his errand), but
he was silent, well knowing that he had told a lie. So the
Moon (hit him and) cut his mouth open.”

I was inclined to set down the Moon-myth as characteristi-
cally Hamitic, as the Chameleon-myth is characteristically
Bantu ; but I have not come across the former among either
Masai, Somali, or Galla, while, on the other hand, the Bush-
men 21 have the legend which I shall presently relate. The
Bushmen, however, say nothing about the Hare being sent with
a message to mankind ; while this is a prominent feature in the
Galla and Nandi stories. It occurs to me that the Hottentots,
whose ultimate derivation is Hamitic, might have brought with
them the idea of a message sent by the Creator to assure men of
immortality, and associated it with a Moon-myth borrowed
from the Bushmen, who have exercised a strong influence on
their language and probably also upon their thought.

The Bushmen say that the Hare was once a human being
and that his mother died. When he was crying and mourning
for her, the Moon tried to comfort him by saying that she was
not really dead, “ but will return, as I also do.” The Hare
would not believe this, and the Moon grew angry, hitting him
on the face with his fist and, as already related, splitting his lip.
He then turned him into a Hare and laid a curse upon him,
that he should be hunted by dogs and caught and torn to pieces
and “ die altogether,” and also on the whole human race, that
they, too, should die without remedy.

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH 169

The Nandi 22 say that a Dog one day came to the first human
beings and said: “ All people will die like the Moon, but unlike
the Moon you will not return to life again, unless you give
me some milk to drink out of your gourd, and beer to drink
through your straw. If you do this, I will arrange for you
to go to the river when you die and come to life again on the
third day.” There is no hint here of any one sending the Dog,
or of how he became possessed of his information. The people
laughed at the Dog and, though they supplied him with re-
freshment, they did not treat him with proper respect, but
poured the milk and beer into the hollow top of a stool, for
him to lap up, instead of giving him the one in a gourd and let-
ting him drink the other through the tube 23 used for this bev-
erage by the Nandi. So the Dog was angry, and, though he
drank, went away saying, u All people will die and the Moon
alone will return to life.”

I heard from Abarea, headman of the Galla in the Malindi
District of the East Africa Protectorate, 24 the account given by
the Southern Galla of the way in which death entered the
world. God (Wak) sent a certain bird (called by the Galla,
from its cry, Holawaka , “ the Sheep of God ”) with a message
to men. The bird, which I have not yet satisfactorily identi-
fied, though it may be the black and white hornbill,, is black,
with a white patch on each shoulder, and cries a — a — a —
like a sheep. (Abarea insisted much on its being black and
white “ like the sky ” — perhaps the stormy sky — or, as the
same word is used for black and blue, he may have meant the
sky dappled with white clouds.) God gave him a crest, “ like
a flag, to show that he was a messenger,” 25 and told him to
tell men that when they felt themselves growing old and
weak they had only to shed their skins and they would grow
young again. The bird set out, but on the way saw a snake
feeding on the carcass of a freshly-killed animal and was
seized with a desire to share in the feast. He offered to tell

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

170

the snake “ the news of God ” in return for some of the flesh,
and, more especially, of the blood. (Abarea interpolated the
remark that the snake was an enemy from the beginning.) The
snake at first refused but, on being pressed, gave way, and the
bird delivered his message in words to the following effect:
“ People will grow old and die j but you, when you grow old,
all you have to do is to crawl out of your skin, and you will
be young again.” Consequently, men die and do not come
back, but snakes shed their skins and renew their youth. Wak
was very angry with the greedy and treacherous bird and
cursed it with chronic indigestion, so that it knows no rest, but
sits by itself in the trees, uttering its wailing cry, Wakatia —
a — a — a!, which Abarea paraphrased: “ My God! heal me,
for I am perishing! ”

Here we find the right message given, but to the wrong
person — a variation I have not noted elsewhere. The idea
that men could at one time renew their vitality by changing
their skins is found among the Wachaga , 26 who relate that
they might have continued to do so to this day but for the
curiosity of two children. The parents, being about to accom-
plish their annual change, and wishing to get the children out
of the way, sent them down to the river to fetch water in a
basket, charging them not to return unless they could bring it
full. After many trials, they grew tired and came back, but
their father heard them outside the door and sent them away,
so next time they came quietly and, getting in before they were
heard, saw their mother half in and half out of her skin, as a
result of which she died, and every one else has done so ever
since. Several different stories appear to be current among
these people. In one, a woman’s child dies and she entreats
her co-wife to carry the body out into the bush 27 for her and
say: “ Go and return again like the Moon but the woman,
being jealous, said: “ Go and be lost, but let the Moon go and
return again.”
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 17, 2019, 08:42:04 PM: PLATE XV

1. Abarea, the narrator of the Holawaka story.

2. In the lower photograph, he is shown struggling
with a young man who was reluctant to be photo-
graphed and dragging him in front of the camera.
The stick held by the young man (called hoko) is
used for removing thorny branches from the path.

After photographs by Prof. A. Werner.

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH 171

The Chaga substitute for the Chameleon story 28 is to some
extent a reversal of the current type: it deals, not with the
introduction of death, but with the saving of the human race
from summary destruction. The Salamander went to heaven
and complained that the earth was becoming over-populated;
the friendly little House-lizard overheard him and, thinking:
“ If God (Iruwa) destroys men, where am I going to sleep? ”
went and said: “The Salamander is deceiving thee; there are
only a few people in the world.” So he remains a welcome in-
mate of the hut, but the spiteful Salamander was driven from
human habitations and hides among the stones.

Before turning to the myth of Walumbe, referred to in
our last chapter, which marks a somewhat different order of
thought in contrast to those we have just been considering, we
must refer in passing to a somewhat different notion found in
some places, viz., that death, though universal, may in indi-
vidual cases be remediable. The Wachaga have two legends
illustrative of this belief. One is of a gigantic snail which
could revive a dead man by crawling over and lubricating
him. After this marvellous property had been accidentally
discovered, people used to carry their dead friends into the
forest and leave them to be crawled over by the snail. But
a chief who was at war with the tribe and to whom the secret
of their never-diminishing numbers was betrayed by a woman,
sent men to hunt up the snail and spear it to death. 29

The hyenas, too, 30 it is said, used to possess a magic staff
called Kirasa , with which they could recall a dead man to life.
They used it to revive dead men, whom they questioned as
to the manner of their death, before eating them. 31 But a
man once stole Kirasa, and the hyenas were in great straits;
for, since every one who died recovered, there were no corpses
to eat. At length they recovered it and, fearing lest the same
thing might happen again, threw it into a deep pit where
neither they nor any one else could ever get at it.

172

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

The Baganda have a Chameleon-legend of much the same
character as those already mentioned, but, side by side with it
and probably introduced by the Hamitic influence so visible
in other parts of their national life, is a legend which shows
Death as a person — in fact a son of Gulu (Heaven). When
Kintu and Nambi left Gulu’s presence to settle on the earth,
carrying with them the domestic animals and plants which were
henceforth to constitute the staple foodstuffs of the country,
he warned them on no account to turn back should they find
that they had forgotten anything. Walumbe (Death) was
absent at the time, and Gulu was anxious that the couple
should start before his return, as he would insist on coming
with them. When they were about half way, they discovered
that they had left behind the grain for feeding the fowl. Kintu
insisted on returning for it, though Nambi remonstrated , 32 say-
ing: “ No, don’t go back. Death will have come home by this
time and he is execeedingly wicked; when he sees you he will
want to come here and I don’t want him, he does harm.” But
Kintu went back, and it fell out as Gulu and Nambi had said —
the unwelcome brother-in-law followed him down to earth,
though, for a time, he gave no trouble. When Kintu’s children
were growing up, Walumbe came and demanded one of
the girls to cook for him. Kintu refused and Walumbe threat-
ened to kill the children, but Kintu paid no heed to the threat,
and the incident was repeated several times. At last the
children began to sicken and die, and the father, now
thoroughly alarmed, went and appealed to Gulu for help.
Gulu answered as might be expected — and at considerable
length — but afterwards so far relented that he sent another
of his sons, Kaikuzi, to fetch Death back. Kaikuzi at first
tried persuasion, but Death refused to come, unless his sister
Nambi came too. Kaikuzi then seized, him in order to take
him away by force, but Death slipped from his hands and took
refuge underground. Twice Kaikuzi succeeded in seizing

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH 173

him and dragging him to the surface, and twice he escaped.
After a while, when Death seemed to be getting tired out,
Kaikuzi directed Kintu to give orders that every one was to
stay indoors for two days; the children were not to go out with
the goats, and if, by any chance, any one saw Death come out
of the ground, he was on no account to give the alarm. How-
ever, it seems that, in spite of the prohibition, so’me little boys
were out herding at Tanda (in Singo, the central district of
Uganda), and while they were playing in a meadow, they saw
Death appearing above ground and at once raised the shrill
cry, nduluy which gives warning of danger. Kaikuzi hurried
up, but it was too late — Death had once more disappeared,
and Kaikuzi declared he was tired of hunting him and should
return to heaven. Kintu accepted this decision quite phil-
osophically: “Very well — since you cannot get the better of
Death, let him alone and return to Gulu’s. If he wants to kill
men, let him — I, Kintu, will not cease begetting children, so
that Death will never be able to make an end of my people.”
So Kaikuzi returned, reported his failure, and thenceforth
remained in heaven. 33

There seems here a distinct notion that the reproduction of
the human species is necessitated by death. It is true that Kintu
already had several children before Death began to exercise
his power. But perhaps we are to understand that the family
would have increased up to a comfortable limit and then
stopped, had not the gaps made by Death called for indefinite
multiplication. Or it may be that the exigencies of the story
have betrayed the narrator into inconsistencies, as may happen
in more sophisticated literature.

Death also appears, under the slightly different name of
Olumbe (Orumbe) in the tale of Mpobe, the hunter, who,
following an animal into its burrow, found himself in the
country of the Dead. He found his dog and the game at a
village where there were many people, and he was asked by

174

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

the chief to give an account of himself. Having done so, he
was allowed to depart, after being warned that if he spoke to
any one of what he had seen, he would be killed. He returned
home and successfully parried all inquiries, till at last his
mother over-persuaded him and he told her. That night
Mpobe heard some one calling him, and a voice said: “ I saw
you when you told some one. . . . Since you have told your
mother — very well; if you have anything to eat, eat it,” i.e.
consume what substance you now possess. Mpobe made his
property last out several years, and when Death came for
him the next time, told him he had not yet finished. Death
then went away, and Mpobe hid himself in the forest, thinking
that so he might escape. Death tracked him down, and again
he made excuse, saying that he had not yet consumed his
property, whereat Death said: “ Make haste and finish it then,
for I want to kill you.” Mpobe returned home and tried a
fresh hiding-place every day, but finding all his efforts vain,
went back to his house and resigned himself to his fate. Next
time the inevitable question was repeated, he replied, “ I have
finished up everything,” and his visitor rejoined: “Very
good — since you have finished, die! ” — and Mpobe died.

The Kingdom of the Dead is here called Magombe; the
incident of the hunter reaching it through following an animal
into a hole occurs elsewhere, e.g., in an uncollected Yao tale,
which was mentioned to me in conversation many years ago,
but of which I have never succeeded in obtaining a copy. But
the idea is one so likely to suggest itself to the primitive mind
that we need not look for evidence of derivation.

Death is also personified in a curious tale recorded by P.
Capus 34 from the Basumbwa, a tribe living at the south-
western corner of the Victoria Nyanza. Here Death is called
Lufu or (with the augmentative) Lirufu. Men who die herd
his cattle for him — apparently in the upper world. A man
died and left two sons, the younger of whom took the inheri-

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH 175

tance to himself, giving his elder brother only three cows and
two slaves, and making him the herdsman. While he was
out with his younger brother’s cattle, he met his father, who
told him to drive his beasts home early on the morrow and
meet him at the same place. The father was herding Death’s
cattle, and, in the evening, drove them home along a road
which passed through a great opening in the earth. On arriv-
ing, they seem to have met with people, who asked : “ Have
you brought another? ” — but nothing more is said about these,
and he hid his son for the night. In the morning Death, the
“ Great Chief,” came out. One side of him was entirely
decayed, so much so that “ caterpillars ” ( nshlmi ) dropped off
it; the other was sound. His servants washed and dressed
the wounds, and he uttered a curse: “He who goes trading
to-day, will be robbed. She who is about to bring forth will
die with her child. He who cultivates to-day will lose his
crops. He who goes into the Bush will be eaten by a lion.”
On the following day, Death’s servants washed his sound side,
perfumed and anointed him, and he reversed the maledictions
of the day before. The young man’s father said to him: “ If
you had only come to-day, you would have become very rich.
As it is, the best thing you can do is to return home and leave
your brother in possession of the inheritance, for it is evident
that your destiny is to be poor.”

At first sight, one is tempted to think that Death regularly
distributes good and evil fortune to mankind on alternate days.
But in that case it is difficult to see why the father should have
told his son to come on that particular day, and then deplored
the fact, as though he himself had not been responsible. We
must therefore suppose, either that the event was an excep-
tional one, or that the arrangement was not made known to
all Lirufu’s subjects.

Kalunga, or Kalunga-ngombe (“ Kalunga of the Cattle ”)
is the name for Death (“ the King of the Shades ”) among the

17 6 AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Mbundu of Angola, 35 but it is also used for the place of the
dead, the sea, and (as by the Herero and Kwanyama) for a
Supreme Being. Heli Chatelain gives a story 38 in which a
young hero, Ngunza Kilundu kia Ngunza, on hearing that his
younger brother Maka is dead, announces his intention of
fighting Kalunga-ngombe. He set a trap in the bush and
waited near it with his gun, till he heard a voice calling from
the trap: “ I am dying, dying! ” He was about to fire when
the voice said: “Do not shoot, come to free me.” Ngunza
asked who was speaking, and the answer came: “ I am Ka-
lunga-ngombe.” “ Thou art Kalunga-ngombe who killed my
younger brother Maka? ” The answer was: “ I am not ever
killing wantonly; people are brought to me. Well, I give thee
four days; on the fifth, go and fetch thy younger brother in
Kalunga.” Ngunza went and was welcomed by Kalunga-
ngombe, who made him sit down beside him. One after
another, the dead arrived from the upper world. One, on
being questioned as to the cause of his death, said that some
one who was envious of his wealth had bewitched him.
Another, a woman, said her husband had killed her for un-
faithfulness, and so on. Kalunga-ngombe said, not unreason-
ably: “ Thou seest, Ngunza Kilundu kia Ngunza, it is not I
that am always killing mankind; the hosts of Ndongo ” (in
other words, “ the people of Angola ”), “ they are brought to
me. Therefore go and fetch thy younger brother.” But
Maka refused to come, saying that in Kalunga the conditions
were much better than on earth. “ What I have here, on earth
perchance shall I have it? ” So Ngunza had to return without
him. Kalunga-ngombe gave him “ seeds of manioc, maize,
Kaffir-corn,” and other things — a list too long to reproduce
— to plant on earth, and told him: “ In eight days, I will go to
visit thee at thy home.” When he arrived, he found that
Ngunza had fled, going to the east, and he followed him from
place to place till he came up with him, when he announced

MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF DEATH 177'

that he was going to kill him. Ngunza protested: “Thou

canst not kill me, because I did no crime against thee. Thou
ever sayest : ‘ People are brought to me, I don’t kill any one.’
Well, now, why dost thou pursue me to the east? ” Kalunga-
ngombe, for all answer, attacked him with his hatchet, but
Ngunza “ turned into a Kituta spirit,” and so, presumably,
passed out of his power.

Several points in the above are obscure, perhaps because
the story was taken from “ poorly-written ” notes of an in-
formant who died before Chatelain prepared his book for the
press. It does not appear why Kalunga should have intended
to kill Ngunza — perhaps the intimation of his visit was
intended to convey a warning, which the latter disregarded;
but, in that case, why does Kalunga fail to explain why he
departs from his usual custom? Perhaps, as in the case of
Mpobe, he had told Ngunza to say nothing about what he had
seen in the underworld, and Ngunza had disobeyed him; but
of this there is no hint in the story as it stands. The matter of
the Kituta , too, calls for further explanation. A Kituta or
Kianda 37 is a spirit who “ rules over the water and is fond of
great trees and of hill-tops”; one of a class of beings to be
discussed in a later chapter.

The Ne (a Kru tribe of the Ivory Coast) 38 introduce a
personification of Death into several of their folk-tales. In
one he is an eight-headed monster, one of whose heads is
cut off by a boy, on hearing that his mother is dead, a parallel
to Ngunza’s attack on Death. The boy escapes from the
monster but is caught in a bush-fire and perishes, his soul
escaping in the form of a hawk. This is why hawks are always
seen hovering over bush-fires.

Another Ne story is a variant of many well-known tales
dealing with cannibals. A young girl goes to Death’s
village and is sheltered in the hut of an old woman. Death,
however, discovers her, and refuses to let her have anything

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

178

to eat till she tells his name — a link with another group of
stories 39 not specially well represented in Africa. She is
helped by a bird, who betrays the name to her. Ultimately
Death’s big toe is cut off, and all the people he has devoured
issue from it. This last incident is found in tales from such dis-
tant parts as Basutoland (“ Masilo and Masilonyane”) and
Kilimanjaro, and we shall have to recur to it in a later chapter.

The Ne have another legend connected with Death which,
as far as I know, has not yet been recorded from any other
quarter. A man applied to Blenyiba, the great fetish of Ca-
valla, for a charm to make the approach of Death impossible.
Blenyiba gave him a stone to block the path by which alone
the enemy could approach ; but as the man was transporting it
to the spot, he met Nemla — the small antelope locally equiv-
alent to Brer Rabbit, who offered to help him to carry it. The
treacherous Nemla, while pretending to help, sang a spell
which made the rock immovable, leaving the path open, as it
is to this day, “ and the rock is yet alive to testify of it.”

In the next chapter, we shall meet with other legends bear-
ing on the Underworld regarded as the abode of the dead.
Perhaps some of those just recounted might seem to be more
appropriately treated in connection with Ancestral Ghosts.

But, as already pointed out, the boundaries between the
various departments of our subject are extremely difficult to
draw, and the latter are apt to run into one another. No
attempt has been made, throughout this work, to adhere to a
rigidly scientific classification.

CHAPTER IV

THE ANCESTRAL SPIRITS

T HE BELIEF in the continued existence of human be-
ings after death, and their influence on the affairs of
the survivors is really the bed-rock fact in Bantu and Negro
religion. Even where there is a developed cult of definite
spiritual powers, as for example in Uganda and Dahome,
these have in many cases grown out of ancestral ghosts, and,
as has been already remarked, many beings which now seem
to be Nature Powers pure and simple, may have had a like
origin. This is not to deny that there are nature spirits which
have been such from the beginning, or that the two conceptions
may sometimes have been fused into one personality, as per-
haps, for instance, in Leza, but only to repeat once more what
has so often been said as to the difficulty of exact classification.

Some Africans, for example, the Twi and Ewe, seem to
have arrived at something like a coherent philosophy of the
soul. There is the shade, which either haunts the neighbour-
hood of the grave, or sinks into the subterranean abode of the
ghosts ( kuzimu), and the soul (called in Twi ‘ kra’), which
is reincarnated in one of the person’s descendants . 1 But it
may be doubted whether this doctrine is everywhere consciously
and clearly held, and one must be prepared for vague and
sometimes contradictory statements. Sometimes it is only those
who have died a violent death who are said to haunt the upper
earth} sometimes those who have gone down to the Under-
world are believed to come back from time to time. In Nya-
saland, the ghost is thought to remain near the grave for some
time, perhaps a year or two, and then to depart, probably into
the Underworld.

i8o
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 17, 2019, 08:42:47 PM: AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Ghosts, apparently, are not immortal — indeed, if we may
believe the account given to the Rev. J. Raum 2 by the Wa-
chaga, they are kept alive by the offerings of the living. This
account is one of the most detailed I have seen, and probably
represents ideas current, though not recorded, elsewhere. The
ancestral spirits are called in Chaga warimu (or voarumu ) and
defined as the “ shadows ” ( sher'isha ) of people who have
died. (The shadow is often identified with the life, or soul,
or one of the souls.) The ghosts are so called, say the
Wachaga, “ because they have no bones ” — they look like
living people, only you cannot take hold of them, and when
you see them they are apt to vanish suddenly and instantane-
ously. Some are like old men, some like men in their prime ;
there are women and children among them: in fact, it would
seem as if every one remained at the age he or she had reached
at death. They live underground much as they had done on
earth; they have their chiefs and their tribal assemblies; and
when a man dies he passes to the dwelling-place of his own
clan, while the clan remains with its own section of the tribe.
But not all the ghosts are to be found in this abode — only
the fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers of the people
now living. These are called the “ upper ” (or “ recent ”)
ghosts (warimu wa uwc ) or “ those who are known ” ( wa -
ishiwo ), their names and standing being still remembered.
They partake of the offerings made by their descendants, and
it is implied that these keep them alive. The great-great-
grandfather and previous generations get crowded out from
the sacrifices by the later comers; they are unable to keep up
their strength and sink down into a lower region. These are
called wakilengeche or sometimes warimu wangiinduka , “ the
ghosts who turn back.” Unlike the waishiwo, who freely com-
municate with the living, they never show themselves on the
upper earth, though they haunt their old homes secretly and
make people ill in order to get sacrifices out of them. But the

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181

oldest among them cannot even do this; they can no longer
reach the sacrifices, and “ their life is done they have “ gone
to pieces ” and have no further connection with living men.
These are called the walenge. The three regions of the dead
are clearly distinguished in the legend of the Heaven-Tree . 3
One meets elsewhere with indications that the ghosts are not
supposed to be immortal, but I do not think I have anywhere
else found so clear and definite a statement on the subject as
this. The usual name for the underground abode of the
dead — kuzimu or some cognate 4 — is the locative form of a
root very widely distributed in the Bantu languages, with the
meaning of an ancestral ghost. Thus the Anyanja have the
word mzimu, pi. mi-zimu (though, as we have seen, they
sometimes use “ Mulungu ” in the same sense), and it survives
in Swahili in the phrase ana wazimu (“ he is mad ” — liter-
ally, “he has spirits”), though otherwise obsolete. In
Zulu, also, it is nearly obsolete, being used as a collective only
in one particular phrase: the expressions now current are ama-
dhlozi, of which the derivation is not very clear , 5 and ama-
tongOy manifestly connected with uburtongo, “ sleep,” and ap-
plied to ghosts when they appear in dreams, while the other
term is more generally used of spirits which show themselves
in other ways, e.g. in the form of snakes, etc. The two names
denote the same class of being, only viewed under different
aspects, and, even so, no very exact distinction can be drawn
between them, as Zulus use the words, to a great extent, inter-
changeably.

It should be noted that mzimu and its cognates are not, as a
rule (Swahili is an exception) treated as belonging to the per-
son-class — perhaps from a dim feeling that a ghost is not
more, but less, than a human being. Such a feeling seems to
come out in the Chaga beliefs already detailed, though it is not
quite consistent with the dread entertained of the ghosts’ ma-
leficent power. But it may be that the change of concord merely

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indicates the idea of a disembodied non- human, but not neces-
sarily infra - human personality. Animals, by the bye, are
usually included in the person-class: they are intelligences
invested with bodies, and we seldom, if ever, find them sharply
contrasted with human beings. 6 This is a point to which we
must return when speaking of Totemism.

We shall have to consider, later on, whether, and how far,
we have to deal, in Africa, with spirits which were not, origi-
nally, the ghosts of the dead. Certainly, it is the latter which
bulk largest in the people’s imagination ; and, as we have al-
ready seen in the case of local gods, some spirits which at first
seem to have quite a different nature, may ultimately be traced
back to such an origin.

We cannot say that ghosts are divided into benignant and
malignant — except in so far as a man is supposed to retain
after death the qualities which distinguished him during his
lifetime. Less weight seems accorded to this consideration
than one might expect, at any rate in the case of bad people —
perhaps the maxim De mortuis is more thoroughly acted upon
than by ourselves. At any rate, what is far more frequently
and emphatically asserted is that the behaviour of the ghosts
largely depends on the treatment they receive from their sur-
viving relatives. When they send locusts — as Chipoka did
to Mlanje in 1894 7 — or sickness, or other disasters, it is to
remind the living of neglected duties.

It is hardly true to say that the predominant feeling with
which the ghosts are regarded is one of terror and dislike, and
that their cult is solely determined by fear. Many stories
give evidence of affection surviving the grave and prompting
interference on behalf of the living. The statements of Cal-
laway’s informants on this head are very interesting. On the
other hand, the same evidence shows that their ethics, like
those of their surviving descendants, have not outgrown the
tribal standpoint. A ghost is not expected to care for any

i j:l :r j,a ) n:- - 2

- • . I '

PLATE XVI

1. Carved post ( k'lgango ) set up by the Giryama
on or near the place where the head of the family
is buried.

2. Giryama shrines for the spirits. Each small
post represents a deceased member of the family.
Offerings of beer are poured into a pot sunk in the
ground (not visible in photograph).

After photographs by Prof. A. Werner.

THE ANCESTRAL SPIRITS

183

outside his own family} and the family do not feel that any
attentions are due to unrelated ghosts. This was avowedly the
reason why Unkulunkulu was not worshipped — there were
none living who knew themselves to be of his blood . 8 Of
course, the ghosts of chiefs or famous medicine-men will be
honoured by people outside their own families, and these, as
we have seen in Nyasaland and Uganda, may attain the status
of gods.

The Wachaga do not sacrifice to any ghost more than three
generations back — that is, expressly and by name — for one
gathers from the account already quoted that, if the Waki-
lengeche can by their own exertions secure a share in the offer-
ings, it rests with them to do so. There is one exception,
however: each clan sacrifices to the ancestor who first settled and
planted in the Kilimanjaro country, when the tribe migrated
thither from the north, and whose name, in some cases at least,
has been preserved . 9

The Wachaga believe, that while the spirits can influence
the course of events on earth, they, in their turn, can be affected
by revolutions in the affairs of the living. Thus, the coming of
the Europeans to East Africa has made itself felt in the
Underworld. What, exactly, Raum’s informant meant by
saying that “ the white men, when they came here, also came to
the ancestral spirits,” and that the latter have to pay taxes to
them, is not very clear, but no doubt he felt it to be a legiti-
mate inference from the hard times experienced by the living.
“It is said: Alas! even among the ghosts there is misery, O
ye people! If you see an old woman of the spirits, she looks
dirtyj they are ragged, and they have grown thin. Those who
are carried off by the spirits in dreams, by night, always say
so, and so do the diviners.” As to this carrying off of people
— the ghosts of dead Wachaga are not content with merely
appearing in dreams to their relatives — we shall have more
to say presently.

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

184

The spirit-world is reached most easily, as we have seen,
through caves or holes in the earth. The Wachaga speak of
gates leading thither — some say there are two “ in the east,
where sky and earth join.” 10 One of these gives entrance to
heaven, the other “ to the ghosts.” The distinction is remark-
able, and is also found in a legend already quoted, where the
two gates are located, not on the distant horizon, but on Kili-
manjaro mountain . 11 Here, those passing by the ghosts’ gate
see a blazing fire within, a touch which may be due to the infil-
tration of Moslem ideas from the coast ; though, if there were
any warrant for connecting this gate with the west (of which
there is no hint in our authority) it might equally well be sug-
gested by the flaming sunset.

A widow who had lost her only son once made her way to
the eastern gate and was so importunate that the Chief of the
Ghosts at length consented to restore her son, whom she found
awaiting her on her return home. Tradition has preserved
the names of various people who went to the spirit-land and
returned, perhaps persons who recovered from cataleptic
trances. There is a song sung by young girls:

“ Would I might go, like Kidova’s daughter
To seek the spirits beyond the water —

To go I were fain,

And behold, and return again.” 12

The Bapedi (a branch of the Bechwana living in the
Eastern Transvaal) believed that the cave of Marimatle, from
which the human race originally issued (as elsewhere from
Kapirimtiya), was also the entrance to the spirit-world . 13 And
we find in so many different places, that we may presume
the legend to be or have been current all over Bantu Africa,
accounts of men who, pursuing some animal into a burrow,
have, like Mpobe, reached the abode of the dead. Thus the
Zulus say that one Uncama 14 followed a porcupine into its

THE ANCESTRAL SPIRITS 185

hole and, after a day and a night came upon a village, where
he saw smoke rising and people moving about, and heard dogs
baying and children crying: “ all things resembled those which
are above, mountains, precipices, and rivers.” He did not
wait to make a closer examination but said: “ Let me not go to
these people, for I do not know them; perhaps they will kill
me,” and returned with all speed, to find his own funeral being
celebrated when he reached his house. Another man, Um-
katshana, 15 had a similar experience when hunting a buck, but
went on till he actually met “ the people who are beneath ”
face to face, saw them milking their cattle, and recognised
one of his own friends among them. “ They said to him: c Go
home! Do not stay here! 1 So he went home again.” The
Wairamba, 16 in Eastern Unyamwezi, also tell of a man who
followed a porcupine — this time a wounded one — under-
ground, and came to the village of the dead, where he was
kindly welcomed and met various deceased relatives, while the
porcupine he had speared turned out to be his own sister. It
was explained to him that, while the ghosts enjoy a happy and
peaceful life in the Underworld, with cattle feeding in rich
pastures and abundance of almost everything they need, they
have no grain and therefore have to come up to earth in the
shape of animals and steal it from the gardens. He was there-
fore charged with messages to the living, desiring them to
bring offerings of porridge and beer to the graves from time
to time. (This is in marked contrast to several other stories of
the kind, where it is made a sine qua non that the visitor shall
never tell his experiences.) He was also assured that his sister
bore no malice, “ because you did it in ignorance, and, besides,
her wound will soon heal down here.”

This story is told to explain how the custom of offerings
to the dead was instituted; and the fact strikes me as peculiar,
because elsewhere it does not seem to be felt that the custom
needs any explanation. It is of immemorial antiquity and, given

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

the belief that the dead continue to live, somewhere in or near
their graves, a life not very different from their previous state
of existence, its utility is surely self-evident.

The introduction of the porcupine is interesting, because we
learn from Messrs Melland and Cholmeley 17 that the Waku-
luwe have a sect or guild of porcupine-hunters ( waleli ) who
own that they visit the village of the fisinzwa (ghosts) when
they enter the porcupine’s burrows, and “ that the Chief of
the village is called Lungabalwa and is most hospitable to them
and never lets them go away empty-handed, always giving
them a porcupine.”

No doubt the appearance and habits of the porcupine are
sufficient to account for this connection with the unseen world.
He certainly looks uncanny; he burrows in the ground, and,
while very destructive in the gardens, he is never, or rarely,
seen by daylight. Natives firmly believe he has the power of
shooting his quills at an assailant.

But the most usual mode of access to the spirit-world is
through the lakes and smaller sheets of water in which the
mountainous Chaga country abounds . 18 More especially does
this apply to the deep pools or pot-holes under a waterfall.
Through such a “linn,” the ghosts are apt to ascend and seize
on any sheep or goats found grazing within a convenient dis-
tance, and pick up any wooden troughs (used in making beer)
which people may have left lying about . 19 Or if a man goes
too near the bank, he may find himself seized and pulled into
the water. It is not stated whether this means actual and final
drowning, but we may infer such to be the case, for it is be-
lieved that, if you happen to have a knife or other sharp instru-
ment by you, and can give yourself a cut in time, you will
escape, since the ghosts will only accept an unblemished victim.
Some say, however, that this never happens now 20 — at any
rate in the districts of Kisangada and Ofurunye, where the
ghosts were formerly a great nuisance, coming from the pools

THE ANCESTRAL SPIRITS

187

in the Msangachi valley to steal food from people’s houses at
night. It was proposed that a beast should be sacrificed to
them, but some said that this would be no use in the end and
that it would be better to find a childless man who should put a
curse on the pools — not with “ bell, book and candle,” but
with the “ cursing-bell ” and “ cursing-pot.” 21 (A childless
man would have nothing to lose by the vengeance of the
ghosts.) He accordingly took one of these implements in each
hand and pronounced his commination :

“ If ye will not cease from troubling the folk,

Perish and die away — sink down and rot. . . .

But if ye will cease and leave them in quiet,

Ye shall continue and be preserved! ”

This ceremony had the desired effect.

But the ghosts are also believed to remove people tempora-
rily to the Underworld and restore them. Sometimes during
the night a sleeper will disappear, leaving only his clothes on
the bed . 22 These must not be touched, nor must anyone call
him, otherwise he will never come back. There is apparently
no hostile intention; he is transported to the Underworld in
order to be told what the spirits intend to do, or what they wish
the living to do, and, if he behaves himself discreetly, no harm
will happen to him. But he must not show undue curiosity or
make remarks on what he sees: the shades are very sensitive
to criticism — especially of their household arrangements.
“ For the Ancestors eat very nasty things. Their children go
out to search for food and come home with crickets and moths ”
— presumably in the absence of offerings from above. Anyone
who shows surprise at this or other details of the cooking will
be detained for ever (and perhaps beaten as well) so that he
may not talk and put the ghosts to shame among the living.
More tactful visitors are sent back with whatever communi-
cations are deemed desirable, and it is from these and the di-

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

viners ( walashi ) that people get to know what is happening
among the ghosts.

The lakes mentioned are personified in a very curious way.
In old times, if wars or raids were going on, they could be
heard shouting: “ O-o-o! be easy. We shall drive away
the enemy! ” After the invaders had retreated, the shrill
cries of joy raised by the spirit- women arose from under the
water . 23 A story which in its present form must be quite re-
cent, tells how a certain pool claimed human victims . 24 A child
disappeared and was sought for in vain; at last a voice was
heard from the pool, ordering the parents to bring offerings
of food and leave them on the bank. Next day the offerings
had disappeared and the child’s dead body lay in their place.
A certain European announced his intention of attacking the
monster; he plunged into the pool and fired his rifle, when
a door opened in the bottom. He fired again — seven times
in all — and at each shot a door opened. He entered and en-
gaged in a desperate struggle, from which he narrowly escaped
with his life. He made another attempt and again penetrated
the doors, but returned to the surface so badly burnt that he
died in a few days. No precise details of the struggle are
given, and we have no means of judging whether, and how far,
the story is based on an actual occurrence. It might have been
suggested by some accident to a daring climber in an active
volcanic crater.

Nowadays, says the narrator of the cursing incident, the
ghosts live in the pools and the “ clan-groves,” 25 in the latter
case, apparently above ground. But it would seem that they
sometimes come out to dance. A man heard them, one night,
not far from his house, and, thinking it was a merry-making of
his neighbours, went out to join them, in spite of his wife’s
protests. He soon discovered his mistake, but got home again
with no worse experience than a fright . 26 The Wadoe (a tribe
inhabiting the mainland opposite Zanzibar) speak of the
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 17, 2019, 08:43:20 PM: THE ANCESTRAL SPIRITS

189

haunted woods of Kolelo, where “ on some days the drums
sound, and you hear shrill cries like those raised by women
at a wedding.” Certain open glades in this forest, where the
ground is smooth and covered with white sand, “ just as if
people had gone there to sweep it,” are the places where the
ghosts assemble. 27 The spirit-drums and other instruments
(horns and flutes) are also heard in Nyasaland 28 and in the
Delagoa Bay region, where people even profess to have heard
the words of their songs. Here the invisible performers would
stop when the traveller tried to catch sight of them, and the
music would begin again just behind him. 29

M. Junod finds that Thonga ideas as to the abode of the
ghosts are “ very confused, even contradictory.” Some hold
to the notion of an Underworld — “a great village under the
earth, where everything is white (or pure) 5 30 there they till
the fields, reap great harvests and live in abundance, and they
take of this abundance to give to their descendants on the earth.
They have also a great many cattle.” This may not seem com-
patible with the need for frequent offerings, but the Thonga do
not take the Chaga view that these are actually necessary to
keep the spirits in existence. “ The gods do not ask for real
food or wealth; they only consider the mhamba (offering) as
a token of love from their descendants and as a sign that these
have not forgotten them, but will do their duty towards
them.” 31

Others think that the dead somehow continue to exist in
the grave, which is thought of as their house, and others, again,
that they live in the “ sacred woods ” (equivalent to the Chaga
“ clan groves ”) in much the same way as they did on earth.
They “lead their family life under a human form, parents
and children, even little children, who are carried on their
mothers’ shoulders.” They sometimes appear to the liv-
ing in this way, though not very frequently nowadays; 32
formerly they were often seen “ marching in file, going to

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

draw water from the well. They had their own road. They
were short of stature, the women carrying babies in the ntehe
(prepared goat-skin), but, strange to say, head downwards.”

These sacred groves are really ancient burial-places —
among the Thonga, of the chiefs only — elsewhere, as, I
think, in Nyasaland , 33 of people generally. Here one sees,
dotted about the country, groves consisting of large and shady
trees (they are carefully protected from bush fires), among
which are the graves. Unless these are of recent date, there
is nothing to distinguish them, except some earthen pots, whole
or broken. These groves are avoided, as might be expected,
by the natives; but I never heard of any special beliefs or tra-
ditions connected with them.

The Thonga groves are tabu to all except the “ guardian of
the wood,” or priest, who is the descendant of the chiefs buried
there and has charge of all the arrangement's for sacrificing to
and propitiating them. Terrible things have happened to
unauthorised persons trespassing there. One woman who
plucked a sola fruit 34 and cracked it against a tree-trunk, found
it full of little vipers which addressed her as follows: “ Go on,
eat away! Haven’t we seen you every day picking 3 ala} And
these sala are ours and not yours. What shall we gods have to
eat? Have we not made this tree to grow? ” “ And she went
home and died, because she had been cursed by the gods.” 35

The same fate — one cannot but think most undeservedly —
befell another woman, who found, as she thought, a small
child picking berries in a tree and carried him home on her
back, as he seemed to be lost. But when she reached her hut
and wanted to put him down to get warm by the fire, he could
not be removed from her back. The neighbours came to the
conclusion that he was no child, but a spirit, and sent for a
diviner, who “ threw the bones ” and “ at once knew what was
wrong,” but failed to get him off. So they suggested that she
should carry him back where she had found him. The guard-

PLATE XVII

The Ghost-Baby

hHMBNBHBHb

THE ANCESTRAL SPIRITS 19 1

ian of the forest, after a severe rebuke to the poor woman,
sacrificed a white hen on her behalf, and interceded for her
with the offended powers. “ She did not do it on purpose.
She thought it was a child j she did not know it was a god.”
While this sacrifice was being offered, the being suddenly
“ left her back, disappeared, and no one knew how or whither
he went. As for the woman, she trembled violently and died.”

This story offers no encouragement to those who would
befriend waifs and strays.

Other legends tell what happened to people who cut wood,
or killed snakes in the sacred places, or built their huts too near
them. The old priest in charge of the Libombo forest was
struck down, seemingly by apoplexy, when he went to see what
was being done with a certain tree obstructing a road which was
being made by the Portuguese authorities. His own account
of the matter was, “ The gods came to me, saying: 1 What are
you doing here? You ought to have stayed at home! 1 I fell
backward unconscious and remained in that state for four
days. I could not eat; they had closed my mouth. I could not
speak! My people picked me up and carried me home.” He
recovered after a sacrifice had been offered by his eldest son;
but the gods were not entirely placated till after further cere-
monies, and he carefully refrained from using the Portuguese
road in future. 36

From Kiziba, 37 on the western side of Lake Victoria, comes
a tale connecting the sacred groves, in a somewhat unexpected
way, with the tailed Heaven-dwellers. A certain man married
a strange woman whom he met on the road as she walked
alone, carrying a royal drum. (This circumstance is not fur-
ther explained.) She told him not on any account to enter the
Spirits’ Wood, and, of course, he did so. There he met with
people — no doubt the ancestors — who, whether out of
impish mischief, or in order to bring about the punishment for
his disobedience, informed him that his wife had a tail; and

192 AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

he could not rest till he had convinced himself that such
was indeed the case. She then disappeared, never to return;
but a voice from the haunted wood pointed the moral: “ You
listened to injurious reports against your neighbor and wanted
to see the matter with your own eyes.” This belongs to the
familiar class of “Vanishing Wife” stories; but it contains
some unusual features.

Nearly everywhere we find the belief that the dead some-
times come back in the form of animals. There does not seem
to be any idea of permanent reincarnation, only of occasional
appearances, so that this does not constitute a distinct category
of spirits — the animals may be supposed to come up from the
Underworld, or out of the grave, or show themselves in the
sacred woods, like the old chief of Libombo, 38 who appeared to
his descendant, the sacrificing priest, in the shape of a green
puff-adder. “ I myself,” said Nkolele, the priest in question,
“ went into the wood with the offering I had prepared for the
gods, and then it came out. It was a snake . . . the Master
of the Forest, Mombo-wa-Ndlopfu (Elephant’s Face). He
came out and circled round all those present. The women
rushed away terrified. But he had only come to thank us.
He didn’t come to bite us. He thanked us, saying: 1 Thank
you! thank you! So you are still there, my children! You came
to load me with presents and to bring me fruit. It is well! ’
... It was an enormous viper, as thick as my leg down
there ” — at the ankle. “ It came close up to me and kept
quite still, never biting me. I looked at it. It said: ‘Thank
you! So you are still there, my grandson! ’ ”

Nkolele then made his prayer, which he gives at length.
He may have meant that the snake’s look and movement con-
veyed to his mind the impression of the above words; but I
am inclined to think, considering the quite genuine subjective
experiences of some European children, that he fully believed
he had heard it speaking. A friend of my own told me that,

THE ANCESTRAL SPIRITS

193

at the age of eight or nine, she was addressed by a cockchafer
in a French garden. He said: “Petite fille, ecoute! ” but
though she listened attentively, she heard no more; her imagi-
nation, she supposed, had not been lively enough to supply
the matter of his discourse.

The serpent-shape is the one most frequently chosen by the
ghosts — perhaps for the reason suggested by Wundt , 39 that
these reptiles are associated in the native mind with the mag-
gots found in decomposing corpses, and are supposed, e.g.
in Madagascar, to be the form assumed by the soul on escaping
from the body, a notion easily transferred, where classification
is not very scientific, to all creeping things. But Madagascar
is rather Indonesian than African in character, and I do not
know that this particular belief is found anywhere in Africa
itself. It seems simpler to take the view that any animal seen
on or near a grave might easily be accepted as a new embodi-
ment of the dead man, especially if, as a snake may sometimes
do, it actually crawls out from the earth of the grave itself.
One of Callaway’s native informants says: “ If he observe a
snake on the grave, the man who went to look at the grave
says on his return, ‘ O, I have seen him to-day, basking in the
sun on the top of the grave ! ’ ” 40

The Zulus say that only certain kinds of snakes are ama-
dhlozi. Some, including at least four poisonous kinds, “ are
known to be mere beasts: it is impossible for them ever to be
men . . . they are always beasts.” 41 (One of these is the
puff-adder, which, we have seen, the Thonga of Libombo rec-
ognise as a spirit-snake, but it may be another species.) Of
those which can “ become men,” some, but not all, are harm-
less; but not every individual of these species is necessarily an
ancestor. Those which are, may be known by their behaviour
when they enter a hut — and the fact that they do so at all is
presumptive evidence of their character; they do not eat frogs
or mice; they remain quiet until discovered, and are not afraid

194 AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

of men, “ neither does a snake that is an itongo excite fear in
men . . . but there is a happy feeling, and it is felt that the
chief of the village has come.” On the other hand, “ A mere
snake, when it comes into a hut looks from side to side and is
afraid of men: and it is killed, because it is known to be a wild
snake.” The “ human ” snakes, being fed and never molested,
become tame — which may account for the behaviour of the
puff-adder which was Mombo-wa-Ndlopfu. On the other
hand, the Yao appear to think that when the dead come back
as snakes, it is with the distinct intention of annoying the liv-
ing — hence they may be killed without scruple, to stop the
nuisance . 42 If a Zulu, in ignorance, kills an itongo-mskt, it
comes back in a dr, earn to complain, and “ a sin-offering is
sacrificed.” 43

Other creatures serving as the embodiments or vehicles of
departed spirits are the mantis , 44 some lizards (one kind es-
pecially said to be the amatongo of old women), lions, leopards,
hyenas (these are deceased wizards), etc . 45

CHAPTER V

LEGENDS OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD

A LMOST identical tales are told, as we have already
had occasion to remark, about people who have ascended
to heaven by means of a rope, or otherwise, and those who
have gone down to the subterranean kwzimu and returned.
Yet seldom, if ever, do we find it stated that the ancestral
spirits live in the sky. Those who go there have some errand
either to the Supreme Being or to a distinct set of Heaven-
dwellers quite apart from ordinary human beings, and it is
these whom they encounter and not their deceased friends.
The country of the dead, on the other hand, is reached, usu-
ally, through a cave, or a hole in the ground, such as an
animal’s burrow, or by plunging to the bottom of a pool.
The Wachaga speak of several gateways, probably caverns,
which formerly existed in certain specified localities, but are
now closed: this seems to be a tradition distinct from that of the
gates on the eastern horizon, mentioned in the last chapter.
In old times it was possible for a man who had lost all his chil-
dren and feared the extinction of his line to enter one of these
gateways and lay his case before the ghosts. They would hear
his request and send him home, with the promise of another
child. But the number of applicants became so great, that the
ancestors grew weary of attending to them and closed two of
the entrances — a statement which may preserve the memory
of some volcanic disturbance. The third remained open for
some time longer, but this approach, too, was finally cut off,
and nowadays no one can even find the way to it . 1

The details of the pilgrimage thus made by bereaved par-

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

196

ents are interesting, because of their resemblance to some
features of a story familiar to us all from childhood and al-
ready referred to in our first chapter — the “ Frau Halle ”
of Grimm’s Kinder- und Haus-M'drchen. There are numerous
African variants of this , 2 some of which will be discussed pres-
ently; their mythological background is unmistakably the same
as that of the legend now before us. Having passed through
the gateway, the father came to a door in a kraal-fence, where
he sat down and waited till an old woman appeared. She led
him into a hut and hid him in the sleeping-compartment. At
noon “ when the sun rests ” — the hour for apparitions in hot
countries — he saw a band of children passing, led by a man
who seemed to be their guardian, and recognised among them
his own lost little ones. He pointed them out to the old wo-
man and then she sent him away, first asking him whether he
would rather pass through the “ sewage-door ” or the “ sugar-
cane door.” If he chose the latter, he was thrown up — in
some way not explained in our text — through the fireplace,
was burnt by the fire and cut by the sugar-cane and reached his
home only to die. If he declared for the less inviting alter-
native, he found himself in his own house, unhurt, and lived
for many years thereafter. Presumably, though this is not
stated, he found his children awaiting him, or else one of them
was re-born shortly after.

The belief that lakes and pools are entrances to and exits
from the spii*it-world is probably due to the frequency of
deaths by drowning in a mountainous country where streams
are swift and dangerous and their beds full of treacherous pot-
holes. The mother who has been tricked into drowning her
child throws herself into the pool after it and so reaches the
spirit-country, as also does Maruwa, in the tale to be given
presently.

But it is sometimes easier of access. Where the ghosts are
believed to dwell in the sacred groves, there is at least no

LEGENDS OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD 197

physical barrier to keep people from penetrating their haunts,
though of course they do so at their peril. Junod gives a
pretty story 3 of which the scene is laid at Machakeni, close to
Lourengo Marques. The people had enjoyed abundant
harvests for some years, but had become careless and neglected
to sacrifice. So, one season, when they had as usual planted
their sweet-potatoes and sugar-cane in the fertile marsh-land
at the foot of the hills, they found that nothing would grow.
Threatened with famine, they moved to the hills and planted
there, but could get no crops. The men, one day, when out
hunting, followed an animal down to the plain and found that
their old gardens had produced abundantly, after all, but not
a thing could they gather. Not one of them could get a potato
out of the ground or detach a banana from the tree. Then the
ghosts came out and chased them, so that they were glad to
escape with their lives. The women, going into the forest to
look for firewood found a bees’ nest in a hollow tree. Every-
one who put in her hand to take out the honey, had it broken
off at the wrist. The only one who escaped was the chief’s
daughter, Sabulana, who refused to go near the tree. She tied
up the bundles of wood for her companions and helped them
to lift them to their heads. When they reached home, she
advised that “ the bones should be thrown ” (the diviner con-
sulted) to find out what should be done. The oracle directed
Sabulana to go to the sacred grove and offer a sacrifice. Next
morning, all the people assembled and sat down outside the
grove: Sabulana alone dared to enter it. She found the spirits
all seated in an open space, like the tribal chiefs and headmen
when gathered for solemn deliberation. They asked her why
she had come, and she replied in a song, which, as reported,
does not seem to tell us much:

“ It is I, it is I, Sabulana,

Daughter of the grass-land —

It is I, the daughter of the grass-land,

Sabulana, Sabulana,”
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 05:53:16 PM: AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

198

The ancestors were delighted with her singing, and asked her
to repeat it. They then (apparently without further question-
ing, but perhaps we are to take the dialogue for granted) gave
her supplies of all sorts of provisions and called their children
to carry the loads as far as the edge of the wood, whe're the
people were waiting and transported them to the village.
Then all the women had their hands restored to them. Sabu-
lana returned to the place where the ghosts were seated, and
they said to her: “ Go and tell your people that they have
sinned in that they tilled the ground and reaped the harvest
without paying us any honour. But now let them come with
their; baskets and bags and each one take away as much as he
can carry on his head ; for now we are glad that they have come
back once more to pray to us. . . . We were angry with our
children, because they ate but brought no offerings. Who,
think you, prevented the maize from growing? It was be-
cause you sinned over and over again.”

In return for Sabulana’s services, she and her mother were
made chiefs over the whole country.

A different and very curious conception of the spirit-world
is found in the Zulu tale of Unanana Bosele* Two children
and afterwards their mother were swallowed by an elephant.
“ When she reached the elephant’s stomach, she saw large
forests and great rivers, and many high lands; on one side
there were many rocks; and there were many people who had
built their villages there; and many dogs and many cattle;
all was there inside the elephant; she saw, too, her own children
sitting there.”

In short, as Tylor points out , 8 it is a description of the Zulu
Hades. It also belongs, with a difference, to another group of
tales which we shall have to study in some detail later; on —
that in which people and animals are swallowed, and subse-
quently disgorged by a monster. But instead of being released
by a deliverer from outside, the woman cuts her way out of the

PLATE XVIII

Hut built for the accommodation of the spirits,
Rabai Mpia, near Mombasa. After a photograph by
Rev. K. St. Aubyn Rogers.

LEGENDS OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD 199

elephant after feeding, with her children, on his internal or-
gans. The children having told her, in answer to her ques-
tions, that they had eaten nothing until she came — “ she said:
‘Why did you not roast this flesh? ’ They said: ‘ If we eat
this beast, will it not kill us? ’ She said: ‘ No; it will itself
die j you will not die! ’ She kindled a great fire. She cut the
liver and roasted it and ate with her children. They cut also
the flesh and roasted and ate. All the people which were
there wondered saying: ‘ O, forsooth, are they eating, whilst
we have remained without eating anything? ’ The woman
said: ‘Yes, yes, the elephant can be eaten.’ All the people
cut and ate.”

This somewhat repulsive incident is quoted at length because
it recurs more than once, among the animal stories, and will
be noticed in that connection. The result is pretty much what
might have been expected.

“ The elephant told the other beasts, saying: ‘ From the
time I swallowed the woman, I have been ill 5 there has been
pain in my stomach! ’ ” (In another version it is stated that
the elephant’s groans, when slices were being cut from his
liver, were so appalling that all the animals, feeding in differ-
ent parts of the forest, came running to see what was the
matter.) “The other animals said: ‘ It may be, O Chief, it
arises because there are now so many people in your stomach! ’
And it came to pass, after a long time, that the elephant died.
The woman divided the elephant with a knife, cutting through
a rib with an axe. A cow came out and said: ‘ Moo, Moo, we
at length see the country.’ They made the woman presents,
some gave her cattle, some goats and some sheep. She set out
with her children, being very rich.”

The conception of the dead dwelling underground is illus-
trated in the traditions, already mentioned, of Umkatshana
and Uncama, and also in the tale of Untombi-yapansi. 6 Un-
tombi-yapansi was the daughter of a chief, who also had a son,

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Usilwane, and another daughter, Usilwanekazana. Usilwane
appears to have practised evil magic, though the narrator does
not expressly say so. On one occasion he returned from the
hunt, bringing with him a leopard cub. He said: “This is
my dog, give it milk; mix it with boiled corn and make por-
ridge; and give it its food cold that it may eat; for it will die if
you give it hot.” His instructions were carried out, and the
leopard throve and grew big, to the terror of the people, who
said: “It will devour the people. Usilwane will become an
umtakati (wizard). Why does he domesticate a leopard and
call it his dog? ” 7 His favourite sister, Usilwanekazana, was
greatly troubled on his account; so, one day, when she hap-
pened to be alone at home, she gave the leopard hot food, and
he died. When her brother returned he was very angry and
stabbed her, not, apparently in the heat of passion, but in a
cold-blooded and deliberate way which, with his subsequent
proceedings, tends to suggest that the people’s suspicions were
not unfounded. He collected his sister’s blood in a pot, and,
after washing her wound and laying her out as if she were
asleep, killed a sheep and cooked part of it with her blood.
When his second sister came home, he offered her some of this
food, and she was just about to eat it, but was warned by a
fly which came buzzing noisily, again and again, “ Bu ! bu! give
me and I will tell you.” After vainly trying to drive it away,
she gave it some food, and it told her what had happened.

She uncovered her sister’s body, gave one look and rushed off
to tell her parents. Usilwane pursued her with his spear and
had nearly overtaken her, when, seeing no escape, she cried:
“ Open, earth, that I may enter, for I am about to die this
day! ” 8 The earth opened and swallowed her up, and Usil-
wane, utterly bewildered, went back again. Untombi-yapansi
went on her way underground till evening, but nothing is said
as to what she saw there; then she slept and started again
next morning. At midday, she came out of the earth and,

LEGENDS OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD 201

standing on a mound which overlooked her father’s garden
cried aloud: “ There will be nothing but weeping this summer.
Usilwanekazana has been killed by Usilwane; he says she
killed the prince’s leopard without cause.” An old woman who
heard her repeated the words, and the chief ordered her to be
killed “ for prophesying evil against the king’s child.” The
same thing happened again next day, and this time an unfor-
tunate old man who had heard the cry was sacrificed. But
on the third day, all the people heard the girl’s voice and ran
towards her, asking “ What do you say? ” She told them, and
they went to Usil wane’s house, seized him and took him before
the chief, asking what was to be done with him. The father,
overwhelmed with grief, shame and despair, ordered them to
close the doors — himself, his wife and his son being within —
and set fire to the house. His daughter would seem to have ac-
companied the men, for he now turned to her and said, “ You,
Untombi-yapansi, go to your sister” — a married one not
previously mentioned — “ and live with her, for I and your
mother shall be burnt with the house, for we do not wish to
live, because Usilwanekazana is dead, and we too will die with
her. . . . Take our ox, mount it and go. When you are on
the top of the hill, you will hear the great roaring of the burn-
ing village ; do not look back, but go on.”

On the way to her sister’ls kraal, she met with an imbuiu —
described as a large lizar.d, but evidently able to assume a
wholly or partly human form, which induced her, by a suc-
cession of tricks, to let it wear her clothes and ride on her ox . 9
They arrived at the village, where the imbuiu was received
as the chief’s daughter and Untombi-yapansi, now called
“Dog’s tail” ( Umsilawezinja ), was supposed to be her ser-
vant and set to scare birds in the gardens. The girl who went
with her was surprised to find that she got rid of the birds by
merely singing — no doubt a magic song, though this is not
stated, and the words, as given, would not seem to have any

202

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

occult force. At noon, she left her companion, saying that she
was going to bathe in the river. When she came out of the
water, “ with her whole body shining like brass ” (this is
supposed to be her usual appearance, but she had disguised it
by smearing herself with earth), she struck the ground with
a brass rod, saying, “ Come out all ye people of my father
and cattle of my father, and my food! ” Immediately the
earth opened, and many people, including her dead parents and
sister, came out, bringing with them many cattle, also food
for her, which she ate. Her own ox also came out (so that
all who appeared were not necessarily dead) ; she mounted it
and sang a song which all the people took up; she then dis-
mounted, struck the ground again, caused the people and cattle
to descend into it, and returned to the garden. Next day, her
companion, whose curiosity had been aroused, followed her
stealthily and saw what happened. She told the chief, who hid
himself in the bushes near the river and watched her perform-
ing her incantations. The imbulu was then exposed and de-
stroyed; and the chief married Untombi-yapansi in addition to
her sister, after which “ they all lived together happily.”
We are not told that the parents returned to life again after
the brief apparitions above recorded — no doubt it was felt
that, once their daughter’s identity was established and she was
settled in a home of her own, their intervention was no longer
needed. It seems clear that they are imagined as living under-
ground in very much the same way as they did on the surface
of the earth, also that living people and animals can enter
their abode and leave it without much difficulty.

In our first chapter, we have already mentioned some Afri-
can analogues to the tale of which perhaps the best-known
European type is Grimm’s a Frau Holle.” 10 This has a dis-
tinct mythological background, quite lost sight of in the Eng-
lish variant, where the ancient goddess Holda or Hulda 11 has
become an unnamed “ old witch,” and the girl, instead of fall-

LEGENDS OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD 203

ing into the well, leaves her parents’ house in order; to look
for a situation. The older version does not expressly say that
she is drowned, but one can hardly doubt that she is supposed
to have entered the realm of the dead and to have returned
to life when dismissed through the golden gateway. The
African variants can scarcely be separated from those already
mentioned, where the oppressed or afflicted seek a remedy for
their troubles in heaven above.

Of these there are several types. The heroine may be an
ill-used step-daughter, whose step-mother is looking for a
pretext to get rid of her, 12 a child fearing her parent’s anger
on account of some accident, or one of two or more wives, 13
suffering from the jealousy of her rivals. It is perhaps worth
noting that, while the jealous co-wife figures pretty frequently
in folk-tales, the cruel step-mother is not so common: in gen-
eral, it is assumed that the children of a polygamous household
will be as well treated by one mother as another, just as we
assume that, as a normal thing, brothers and sisters will live
together in harmony. The two step-mother stories I have
noted as belonging to this group, come from West Africa.
They also differ from the rest in more or less losing sight of
the spirit-world idea. In the one (Hausa), the step-mother
sends the girl to the “ River Bagajun,” reputed to be the abode
of cannibal witches, in the hope that she will never return}
in the other (Temne), she is despatched on an errand to “ the
Devil ” — probably, in an earlier form of the story, to the
other world, though of this there is no indication as it now
stands, and the K Devil ” (the tale is told in Sierra Leone Eng-
lish, and the expression is obviously imported) might be a
forest demon. Perhaps he was originally an ancestral ghost
haunting a grove: in that case the link with the spirit- world
is obvious, though it is not located under the earth.

There is a very curious variation in another Hausa tale, 14 the
first part of which (like the opening of a Chwana “ Holle ”

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

story) 15 belongs to the class of “ Ogre tales.” A mother,
whose daughter has been killed and eaten by a were-hyena,
gathers up her bones and sets out with them for the town
“ where they mend men.” On the way, she meets with various
adventures through all of which she passes satisfactorily j when
she arrives she behaves with courtesy and obeys the instructions
given her, and her daughter is restored alive and well. Her
co-wife, thinking that her own ugly daughter will be improved
by the same process, purposely kills her and starts, carrying the
bones 5 but she behaves exactly like the favoured but ill-
conditioned child in “ Frau Holle,” and is fitly rewarded by
receiving her daughter back “ badly mended ” — in fact, only
half a girl, with one eye, one arm, and one leg. This same
idea, strangely enough, recurs on the opposite side of Africa,
where, in a Chaga tale already referred to, 16 the woman who
has tricked her rival into drowning her baby and finds that she
has got it back more beautiful than before, drowns her own
child on purpose and gets it back with one arm and one leg.
The notion of these one-sided beings seems to prevail through-
out Africa — we shall have to come back to it later on, but
these are the only instances known to me where it occurs in this
particular connection.

In the most typical forms of this story, the girl meets with
various adventures en route , usually to the number of three
(as, with us, the corn, the cow, and the apple-tree). These
are taken as tests of character, showing the first girl in a credit-
able, and the second in an odious light. Sometimes a service is
required — in some cases of a repulsive nature, as when an old
woman suffering from skin-disease asks to have her sores
washed, or still worse, her eyes cleansed by licking out the puru-
lent matter, in others, merely involving a little trouble. Some-
times, as in the “ Route du Ciel,” it is the girls’ treatment of
those who direct them on their way, that is decisive; so, in
“ The Devil’s Magic Eggs ” (Temne), the first one gives civil

LEGENDS OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD 20 5

and respectful answers to the talking hoe-handles and the one-
eyed man. The Hausa “ How the ill-treated Maiden became
rich” has a test of self-control in place of the tasks: the road
leads past a river of sour milk, a river of honey and some fowls
roasting themselves — all of which call out an invitation. The
first girl, intent on her errand, says: “ No, no, what is the
use? ” and passes on; the second rudely replies, “You are
full of impudence, must I wait for you to ask me to take
some? ” Sometimes these tests or tasks are dispensed with till
the girl has arrived, when she is either given some definite
thing to do (the witch asks the Hausa girl to wash her, the
“ Devil ” tells the Temne “ Pickin ” to relieve his head of its
inhabitants) or set to work for a lengthened period, as is done
by Frau Holle. Further, on leaving, there is usually either
a choice of gifts, or a choice of means of exit. The Temne
Devil tells the girls to help themselves to four eggs; the first
takes the small ones, which, on being broken produce riches
of all sorts; her sister chooses the largest, and finds them to
contain bees, a snake, a whip, and fire, which consumes her
wicked mother and herself. The Hausa witch gives each of
the girls a basket, with directions when to open it — directions
followed by the one and disregarded by the other, with re-
sults much as in the Temne tale.

In a Chaga variant, 17 the old woman asks, “ Shall I strike
you with the hot or with the cold? ” The principle of this
choice is not explained; but “ the cold” is evidently the right
answer. The girl who gives it is told to thrust her arms into a
pot and draws them out covered with bangles. It should also
be noticed that in two cases the successful candidate, if we may
call her so, refuses the food offered by the spirits. This is a
familiar incident in other mythologies, but it is sometimes
curiously lost sight of — e.g., in the Iramba story mentioned
in our last chapter. 18 As a specimen of these stories — none, so
far as I can discover, unites all the features I have mentioned

20 6 AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

— we may take that of “ Maruwa,” current among the
Wachaga. 19

Maruwa and her little sister were set to watch the garden
when the beans were ripening. One hot afternoon, Maruwa,
being very thirsty, went down to the Kiningo pool to get a
drink. The little girl, left alone, saw a great troop of baboons
among the bean-plants, but she was afraid to drive them off by
herself} and when Maruwa returned she found that the whole
crop was gone. She was terribly frightened, thinking that her
father would beat her, so she ran down to the pool and jumped
in. Her sister ran home and told their mother, who came
down to the pool and found that Maruwa had not yet sunk,
but was still floating on the water. She called:

“ Ho! Maruwa, are you not coming back?

Are you not coming back again?

Never mind the beans, we will plant some more!

Never mind the beans, we will plant some more.”

Maruwa answered:

“Not I! not I!

The baboons came and ate the beans — he\

The monkeys came and ate the beans ” —

i.e. “ they have stripped the garden quite bare, and I dare not
go back.” The mother sang again and the girl answered
in the same words, and then sank. Her mother went home.

When Maruwa reached the bottom of the pool she found
many people living there, in houses much like those she had
left in her own village. They offered her food, but she
refused everything. Wanting to know what they could give
her, they asked: “What do you eat at home? ” — and she,
trying to think of something unprocurable here, answered,
“ Bitter fruit and emetic leaves! ” She remained with them
many days, eating nothing all the time, and living in the house
of an old woman, who had a little girl to help her with the

PLATE XIX

1. View on Lake Kivu, in the volcanic region of
Ruanda.

2. The Virunga Volcanoes, believed to be the
abode of the Dead.

After photographs by Captain Philipps.
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 05:55:08 PM: LEGENDS OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD 207

work. When the child went out to cut grass for the goats,
the old woman said to Maruwa, “ You may go with her, but
don’t help her — let her do the work.” Maruwa, however,
did not act upon this advice, but cut the grass and carried it
back, only giving it to the little girl when they were in sight
of the house. It was the same when they went to draw water,
and to collect firewood, and the child became very fond of
Maruwa. One day she said to her: “ You must not stay here
too long; once you have got used to the place, they will begin
to ill-use you. Go and tell the old woman you are homesick,
and ask her to let you go. If she says: { Shall I let you go
through the manure or through the burning? ’ say: 1 Please let
me go through the manure, mother! ’ ” Maruwa did as she
was directed and was thrown into the manure pit in the cow-
stall. When she got out she found herself in the upper world
again, not only quite clean, but covered with metal chains and
bead ornaments. She reached her parents’ house and, finding
no one at home, hid herself in the compartment of the cattle.
Her mother came, after a while, to fetch the milk-calabash,
saw and recognised her, and stretched out her arm to touch
her ; but Maruwa cried: “ Don’t touch my ornaments! ” The
woman ran and called her husband, “ He! Mbonyo!
Mbonyo! ” and asked him to fetch the milk-calabash from the
cow-stall — an unusual thing for a man, which he was at
first unwilling to do. Suspecting, hovever, that her request
had some particular meaning, he went and found Maruwa who
warned him also not to touch her or her ornaments. 20 He
understood, or at least supposed, that she had some serious
reason for keeping him at a distance; he went at once, in great
joy, to fetch a sheep, which he presented to her, “ as a gift
of welcome, so that she might come out and he could ad-
mire her properly in the courtyard. So, when Maruwa
had been greeted with the sheep she came out into the
yard in all her ornaments which she had acquired in the

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Kiningo pool. The people came to look at her, and all of
them wondered.”

A neighbour’s daughter was envious and, hearing where
Maruwa had got all these things, ran to the Kiningo pool and
threw herself in. She ate the food offered her, and, when
received into the old woman’s house, followed her instructions
to the letter and left the little girl to do all the work. The
latter, therefore, said to her one day: K We are very hard up
here; you had better ask the old woman to let you go home.”
She then exactly reversed the advice she had given to Maruwa
with the result that the old woman threw her into the fire, as
requested. When she arrived in the upper world “ fire was
hidden in her body.” She went home and hid in the cow-stall,
as Maruwa had done. Maruwa was the first person to see
her and held out her hand to her, but immediately fire burst
from the girl’s whole body. She ran away, plunging into
stream after stream, but could not extinguish the flames. She
cried to every river she passed to help her, but not one would
do so. At last she came to Namuru and died in the Ser*e
stream; so no one who knows the story drinks of its water to
this day.

A Spider story from the Gold Coast 21 is related to this
group of tales and may as well have a place here.

Once in a time of scarcity, Anansi or Ananu (the Spider)
and his son Ananute, were looking for food in the bush, when
the son found one palm-nut. Just as he was going to crack
and eat it, it slipped from his fingers and rolled into a rat-hole.
He crawled in after it and soon found himself in the presence
of three very dirty spirits, one black, one red, and one white,
who had neither washed nor shaved since the creation of the
world. They asked what he wanted and were much surprised
to hear that he had been taking so much trouble for the sake
of a single palm-nut. They dug up some yams from their
garden and gave them to him, telling him to peel them and

LEGENDS OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD 209

cook the peelings and throw away the good part. He did so
and found that they became very fine yams. He remained
there for three days, getting plenty to eat, and became quite
fat. On the fourth he took his leave, asking if he might carry
back a few yams to his relations. The spirits gave him a large
basket full, came with him part of the way, and taught him
the following song:

(Solo)

<c White spirit, ho! ho!

Red spirit, ho! ho!

Black spirit, ho! ho!

(Chorus)

Should my head disobey,

What would befall me?

The head he throws away —

The foot he throws away —

You, you offended the great fetishes! ” 22

This they said, he must not tell to anyone, or even sing it
when by himself. Great was the rejoicing when he reached
home, laden with supplies, which lasted the family for some
time. When they were exhausted, he returned to fetch some
morej and, as he was careful to obey the spirits’ instructions,
they allowed him to come again as often as he wished. His
father’s curiosity was aroused and he wished to come too, but
his son — not unreasonably, when one remembers Anansi’s
character — would not hear of it. So next time yams were
wanted, Anansi got up overnight, made a hole in his son’s
bag and filled it with ashes. This enabled him to follow his
track and come up with him before he had reached hi's desti-
nation. The young Spider, seeing that he was determined,
handed over the errand to him, with some well-meant hints as
to his behaviour, and went home. Needless to say, he made a
very bad impression. He burst out laughing when he caught
sight of the spirits, remarked on their unwashed condition

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

and offered to trim their beards for them. He then had the
impudence to ask for yams, was given some and told to peel
them and throw away the yams themselves, but said to himself
that he was not going to be such a fool, and put the yams into
the pot. He found, after waiting long past the usual time,
that they were not done, nor likely to be, so he had to try the
skins, which, as before, became very fine tubers. When he set
out for home, the spirits taught him their secret song, and he
began to sing it at the top of his voice, as soon as he was out of
sight. Then “ he burst from above, and broke down, then his
head was cut off, and he also died, but still he went on singing! ”
The spirits, unwilling to proceed to extremities, restored him
to life, but he repeated the offence a second and a third time,
till at last they came after him, took away his yams and gave
him a good thrashing. And his neighbours, when they heard
what had happened, expelled him from the village.

There is one more group of legends which must be
mentioned — that in which a murder is made known and
avenged by means of a bird or other creature, which
is usually, though not always, identified with the soul
of the victim. There are a very large number of va-
riants, one of the finest being the Zulu “ Unyengebule ,” 23
where a man kills his wife in a fit of irritation, and the
plume of feathers which she was wearing in her hair turns
into a bird. He kills the bird again and again, but it keeps
coming to life and at last reveals the story to the murdered
woman’s parents. But a less well-known and less generally
accessible form of the story is current among the Kinga people
at the north end of Lake Nyasa ." 4 It is called “ The Heron’s
Feather,” and relates how two youths went on a visit to their
relations at a distant village. One of them wore a crow’s
feather in his hair, the other a heron’s. They saw some girls
on a hillside and shouted across the valley to them : “ Maidens,
which of us two do you prefer? ” The girls answered: “ We

LEGENDS OF THE SPIRIT-WORLD 211

like the one with the crow’s feather best.” The same thing
happened a second and a third time, and the young man who
had failed to attract admiration suggested to his companion that
they should change feathers, and he agreed. When they had
crossed the next hill, they met another band of girls and re-
peated their question, but the answer was, now, “ The one with
the heron’s feather is the handsomest.” The other remarked,
“ Kwo! they all despise me — I alone am the ugly one, for
they all like you, and I shall never get a wife! ” and jealousy
rankled in his heart. After a while, they came to a dry water-
course in a deep ravine, and he suggested to his friend that
they should dig a pit to try and get some water. The other
agreed, and they dug for some time. When the pit was about
a man’s height in depth, the envious youth snatched the other’s
plume and threw it in, telling him to climb down and fetch it.
He did so, and his false friend, seeing that the pit was deep
enough, threw the earth in and buried him. He then went on
to his relatives’ village and told them, in answer to their en-
quiries, that he had come alone. He remained with them for
some time and then went home. When he arrived, he was
asked where his friend was and answered: u Oh! I don’t know,
he stayed behind ; I suppose he is on his way.” Next day, the
lad’s parents enquired again and received the same answer,
which satisfied them for the time, but when he did not come
that evening or the following morning, they grew anxious.
Presently they noticed a bird sitting on the kraal fence and
singing: “ Your son is not there; they blamed him for wearing
the heron’s feather and buried him in the swamp.” When
they heard this, they asked again: “ Where did you leave your
friend? ” but the young man insisted that he had only lin-
gered behind and would most likely come next day. Appar-
ently they were not quite certain they had understood the bird,
or were reluctant to apply its message to themselves, for they
accepted his assurance and waited another day. The lad did

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

not come back, but the bird did and sang the same words again.
When he assured them once more that the missing one was on
the way, they asked: “ Well, then, what is that bird singing? ”
“ Oh ! ” he answered, “ I don’t know, I expect he is drunk and
singing some nonsense to himself, that is all! ” Another day
passed, and once more the bird came back, and this time the
father and mother insisted on going to find out what had hap-
pened. They met people who had seen both lads go into the
ravine but only one come out. They went on to the swamp and
the mother remarked that the earth had recently been dis-
turbed, so they dug down and found the body. They seized
the murderer, dug another pit, threw him in and buried him.

Nothing is said here as to the identity of the bird, but we
may be sure that, originally at least, it was the form assumed
by the murdered lad’s soul. How completely this idea has
sometimes been lost sight of, is seen in a Mbundu story , 25
where Mutilembe, envious of his younger brother’s success in
hunting, kills him, the murder being reported by the two dogs,
who witness it. He kills them both, as Unyengebule does the
bird, but they return to life — a reminiscence of the idea that
the accusing animal was the reincarnated (and indestructible)
soul.

CHAPTER VI

HEROES

T HE FIGURE of the Hero who is also the Demiurge,
the institutor of the arts of life and, in another aspect,
the “ trickster-transformer,” 1 is not very frequently met with
in Africa, at least as far as our knowledge goes. However,
we do, here and there, meet with traces of such a being, usually
of a confused and fragmentary character. Hubeane (Ho-
byana) 2 of the Bavenda and Bapedi, said to be the son of the
first man and the creator of other human beings (others call
him the first ancestor of the race and the creator of heaven
and earth), possesses many characteristics of the trickster.
These appear very clearly in the Zulu Hlakanyana , 3 who also
possesses magical powers of transformation, but does not seem
to be credited with any share in the making of the world. In
the present form of the tale, he is a human, or quasi-human be-
ing j but there are indications that he may be of animal origin,
and some of his adventures are attributed to the Hare in Bantu
folklore. The Hare never appears as a Demiurge ; but the
Spider, the arch-trickster of Western Africa, figures in the
creation-legend of the Yaos , 4 and is connected with heaven in
Angola , 5 by the Kongo people and by the Duala . 6 There are
some miraculous circumstances about the birth of Hlakanyana,
which he shares with Ryang’ombe, a hero of Kiziba : 7 both
speak before they are born, and the latter eats a whole ox im-
mediately after. Hubeane exhibits a mixture of cunning and
real or assumed stupidity which recalls the Teutonic Tyll Owl-
glass and the Turkish Nasr-ed-din; his cunning is shown in
the tricks played on others, but chiefly in his avoidance of the

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

traps set for him after people have become convinced that he is
too clever to be tolerated in the tribe.

This latter set of episodes is repeated in the story of Gali-
kalangye , 8 found among the Wahehe, north of Lake Nyasa,
among the Anyanja and Yaos farther south, and probably else-
where. Here, the hero’s mother promises, before his birth,
to hand him over to a demon } 9 but it proves impossible to
fulfil the bargain, as he can never be taken unawares. Some
of the devices are the same as those employed against Hubeane;
but all his stratagems are measures of self-defence — he plays
no malicious tricks.

We have already mentioned Tsui-goab, the “ Wounded-
Knee ” chief, as a hero of the Hottentots, in process of deifi-
cation, if not actually deified. This being may or may not be,
as Hahn thinks, identical with Haitsi-aibeb} 10 if not, the latter
must be set down as a distinct hero, about whom various
legends have been preserved} though, unfortunately, it is now,
apparently, too late to recover the connecting links between
the records of isolated observers . 11

Haitsi-aibeb’s birth was miraculous } 12 and he was able to
transform himself into various shapes. He fights with an
enemy of mankind, Gaunab, or Ga-gorib , 13 the “ Thruster-
down,” whose custom was to throw people headlong into a
deep pit. He used to sit beside this pit and challenge those
who passed to throw a stone at his forehead} but the stone
rebounded, killing the thrower, so that he fell into the hole.
At last Haitsi-aibeb was told that many men had been killed in
this way and he went to the spot. He declined Ga-gorib’s
challenge, but presently drew off his attention and aimed a
stone at him, which hit him under the ear, “ so that he died
and fell into his own hole. After that there was peace, and
people lived happily.”

Another version 14 represents the two chasing each other
round and round the hole, crying alternately:
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 05:55:57 PM: PLATE XX

A bowman of the Southern Bambala. He has
just parried with the back of his bow (note the
peculiar shape) an arrow shot at him, which is seen
flying over his head. After a photograph by E.
Torday.

HEROES

2i 5

“Push the Heigeip [Haitsi-aibeb] down!”

“ Push the Ga-gorib down ! ”

till at last Haitsi-aibeb was pushed in. Then he said to the
hole: “ Support me a little! ” and it bore him up till he was
able to get out again. They chased each other as before, till
Haitsi-aibeb fell in again and again got out, but, the third
time, it was his adversary who was thrust in, “ and he came not
up again.” “ Since that day men breathed freely and had rest
from their enemy, because he was vanquished.” Ga-gorib is
by some identified with Gaunab, the enemy who wounded
Tsui-goab in the knee.

The above story is also told of Tsui-goab , 15 and, what is
even more remarkable, of the Jackal . 16 This affords a pre-
sumption that Haitsi-aibeb, like other heroes, may originally
have been an animal. The Jackal is the favourite hero of
Hottentot folklore, and many of his exploits are those attrib-
uted by the Bantu to the Hare.

At one time Haitsi-aibeb is said to have made friends with
a Lion , 17 and they used to go hunting together. The Lion was
the more successful, but Haitsi-aibeb usually contrived to cheat
him out of the greater part of the booty, and then derided
him behind his back. The Lion’s daughter, to whom he car-
ried home his prey, began to suffer from hunger. Haitsi-
aibeb also had a daughter, and the two met one day at the
water-hole where they had come to fill their vessels. The
Lion’s daughter sat down to fill hers , 18 but the other told her
to get out of the way and, when she declined, taunted her with
her father’s defeat, saying that he had been outwitted by
Haitsi-aibeb. The Lion’s daughter, on reaching home, told
her father, and he, during the next day’s hunting, took care
to keep his spoil to himself. Haitsi-aibeb then said to him:
“ These two girls will cause us to quarrel : we had better kill
them both! ” The Lion agreed and killed his daughter, but

21 6

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Haitsi-aibeb deceived him by beating with a club the skin on
which he slept, his daughter being concealed elsewhere.
When the Lion discovered the cheat, he pursued them both,
but they escaped and took refuge underground. The Lion,
in despair, entreated Haitsi-aibeb to restore his daughter to
life, which at last he did.

The cairns found in many parts of South Africa were called
Haitsi-aibeb’s graves , 19 their number, when remarked on by
a traveller, being accounted for by the assertion that he died
and returned to life a great many times. That this is not merely
an explanation called forth by a leading question seems clear
from the legend given by Bleek 20 under the title “ The Raisin-
Eater.”

Haitsi-aibeb and his family, on their travels, reached a
certain valley, where they found ripe berries, of the kind called
“wild raisins,” in great abundance. Haitsi-aibeb ate of them
and, becoming very ill, said to his son Uriseb : 21 “ I shall not
live, I feel it; thou must, therefore, cover me when I am dead
with soft stones. . . . This is the thing I order you to do: —
Of the raisin-trees of this valley ye shall not eat. For if ye eat
of them, I shall infect you, and ye will surely die in a similar
way.” His wife said: “ He is taken ill on account of the raisins
of this valley. Let us bury him quickly, and let us go.”

So they bifried him, covering his grave with stones, as
directed, and moved on to another place. While preparing to
camp here, they heard, in the direction from which they had
come, “ a noise as of people eating raisins and singing.” Then
the words of the song became audible:

“ I, father of Uriseb,

Father of this unclean one,

I, who had to eat these raisins and died,

And dying live.”

The wife, noticing that the sound seemed to come from the
old man’s grave, sent Uriseb to look; and he returned, report-

HEROES

217

ing that he had seen tracks which looked like his father’s foot-
marks. So she said: “ It is he alone,” and told Uriseb to creep
up to him against the wind and cut off his retreat to the grave,
“ and when thou hast caught him, do not let him go.”

“ He did accordingly, and they came between the grave and
Haitsi-aibeb who, when he saw this, jumped down from the
raisin trees and ran quickly, but was caught at the grave. Then
he said: ‘ Let me go! For I am a man who has been dead — -
that I may not infect you! ’ But the young wife said: £ Keep
hold of the rogue! ’ So they brought him home, and from
that day he was fresh and hale! ”

In Hubeane, the power of recovery from death has given
place to a marvellous fertility of resource in escaping from it.
He is described as the son of Ribimbi (Ribibi, Levivi), the
first man , 22 but so far as my information goes, nothing un-
usual is related in connection with his birth. He first distin-
guished himself by phenomenal stupidity, carrying out liter-
ally the directions he received, but always applying them
wrongly. Thus one day, he went with his mother to gather
beans . 23 She found a small buck asleep among the bean-plants,
killed it and put it into her basket, covering it over with the
beans as she picked them. She then sent Hubeane home with
the basket, telling him, “ If you meet any one who asks
what you are carrying, say: 1 My mother’s beans,’ but (you
know) in yout- heart (that it) is a bush-buck.” Sure enough,
he met a neighbour, who asked what was in the basket. Hu-
beane answered: “I am carrying my mother’s beans, but in
my heart it is a bush-buck.”

When he grew older, he was set to herd the sheep and
goats. One day he came upon a dead zebra, and, when he came
home in the evening, being asked where the flock had fed that
day, he answered: “ By the black and white rock.” Next day,
going to the same place, he found that the hyenas had been
at the carcase, and, when asked the same question in the

218

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

evening, said he had driven the sheep to “ the hyenas’ rock.”
The men, already puzzled by the “ black and white rock,”
could make nothing of this, so some of them went with him
next day and found, to their disgust, that they had lost a val-
uable supply of meat. So they told him, that when next he
found an animal, he must pile a heap of branches over it and
come at once to call some people. Next day, he killed a small
bird with a stone, covered it with branches and summoned the
whole village — of course to their bitter disappointment. One
or two took the trouble to explain to him that what he should
have done was to tie the bird to his belt and so carry it
home, and this, accordingly, he tried to do with a bush-buck
which he killed, dragging it along the ground and quite ruin-
ing the skin. In short, he was the despair of his relations.
His father took to accompanying him, so as to prevent disaster
to the sheep, and Hubeane marooned him on the top of a high
rock, telling him there was water to be found there, and, once
he was up, taking away the pegs which he had driven in for
him to ascend. He then ran home and ate the dinner prepared
for his father, afterwards secretly filling the pot which had
contained it with cowdung, and returning to the rock, helped
his father down, pretending that he had only been to look after
the sheep. When they reached home, he scolded the servants
for being slow in dishing up the food, saying that, if they did
not make haste, the meat would be turned into cowdung —
which accordingly was found to be the case.

This and similar tricks at length so exasperated his father
and the men of the village that they determined to get rid
of Hubeane. They put poison into his porridge ; but he insisted
on eating from the bowl prepared for his brother ; then they
dug a pit in the place where he usually sat, planted sharp
stakes in it and covered it over, but he went and sat elsewhere.
Then they tied up a man in a bundle of thatching-grass, so
that he could stab Hubeane with his spear when he came within

HEROES

219

reach. But again Hubeane was suspicious, and chose the
grass for a target when practising javelin-throwing. So, find-
ing that they could not catch him napping they decided to leave
him alone.

Hlakanyana may originally have been the Hare, or possibly
some creature of the weasel kind. The latter is suggested by
the introduction to his story given in Callaway , 24 where it is
stated that one of his names is Ucaijana, “ Little Weasel,”
and “ he is like the weasel ; it is as though he was really of that
genus, ... he resembles it in all respects.” But the narrator
is clearly somewhat perplexed, and, since we do not find the
Weasel otherwise prominent in Zulu folk-lore, it may be a
recent substitution for the Hare. He is described by Callaway
as a sort of Tom Thumb; but, though his smallness is insisted
on in the introduction, it does not appear in the story itself.
He is remarkable, however, in other ways. He speaks before
he is born, and goes out immediately after to the cattle-kraal,
sitting down among the men and eating beef. He plays tricks
on his parents and others, but meets with more toleration than
Hubeane, as the only hostile manifestation comes from the
other boys who (not unnaturally) object to have him sleeping
in their hut, though they do not otherwise molest him. After
leaving home he has several adventures with cannibals, getting
the better of them all in the long run. Except by getting rid
of these nuisances — which is quite incidental in his career —
he does not appear as a benefactor, unless we are to count a very
curious incident which may be an indication of his once having
figured as a culture-hero . 25 Having dug up some edible tubers
( umdiandiane ) he gives them to his mother to cook; she eats
them herself, and when he demands them back, gives him a
milk-pail instead. This he lends to some boys who were milk-
ing into broken potsherds; one of them breaks it and, on
being remonstrated with, gives him an assagai in exchange.
He continues the series of exchanges, each time getting an

220

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

article of greater value than the one lost, till he winds up with
a war-assagai, and “ what he did with that, perhaps I may tell
you on another occasion.” The two points to notice are, first,
that he is actually shown as introducing improvements: the
milk-pail instead of potsherds, an assagai for cutting meat
instead of sharp-edged slips of cane, an axe for cutting fire-
wood, which women were presumably breaking off with their
hands, and so on. Secondly, the same story is told, with varia-
tions, of the Hare, who, in one place, finds people working with
wooden hoes, for which he substitutes an iron one, and again,
gives iron arrows for wooden ones.

In Kiziba, we have a more ordinary, human culture-hero
in Kibi, a mighty hunter who came out of Unyoro with his
dogs , 26 and the somewhat similar figure of Mbega in Usam-
bara, 2 ' the founder of the Wakilindi house of chiefs. These
may typify the immigration or invasion of a more advanced
people. But we must pass over much interesting matter in
order to touch on a myth of great interest which is found all
over Bantu Africa and beyond its confines to an extent which
I have been unable to trace. The hero is often unnamed,
but the Basuto call him Moshanyana, or Litaolane. The story
is classed by Tylor 28 among Nature Myths and explained as
a dramatisation of the recurring phenomena of night and day:
the sun swallowed up by the darkness and re-emerging trium-
phant and unhurt; or perhaps of the more irregular and catas-
trophic disappearance of the sun or moon during an eclipse.
More recent observers have doubted whether we do find these
phenomena personified in just this way among very primitive
races . 29 Without attempting to decide this question, we will
tell the story of Moshanyana 30 as a fairly typical specimen.

The people — no doubt all the people of the world, as
far as the narrator is concerned — were swallowed up by a
monster called Kholumolumo , 31 and not only the people but
the cattle, the dogs, and the fowls. The only one who escaped

HEROES

221

was a pregnant woman, who smeared herself over with ashes
from the dust-heap, and then went and sat in the calves’ kraal.
Kholumolumo came and looked into the kraal, but took her
for a stone, “ as she smelt like ashes,” and left her. He went
on as far as the mountain pass by which he had reached the
village, but was unable to get through it again, after his meal,
and remained where he was.

In course of time, the woman’s baby was born, and she left
it in order to go a few yards from the hut and fetch some food.
When she came back she found a grown man sitting there,
clothed, and armed with a spear. She said: “Hello! man!
where is my child? ” and he answered: “ It is I, mother! ”
He inquired where the people were gone, and she told him
they had been eaten by Kholumolumo, as well as the cattle,
dogs, and fowls. He asked where the monster was. “ Come
out and see, my child.” She climbed with him to the
top of the calves’ kraal and pointed to the pass (“ nek ”)
which gave entrance to the valley, saying: “ That object which
is filling the nek, as big as a mountain, that is Kholumolumo.”

He took his spears and, in spite of his mother’s entreaties,
went to look at the monster, stopping by the way to sharpen
the spears on a flat stone. When it saw him coming, it opened
its mouth to swallow him; but, as it could not rise, he easily
kept out of reach of the jaws, went round behind it and stabbed
it twice, after which it died.

“ Then he took his knife. A man cried: c Do not cut me! ’
He left and began at another place; a cow said: £ Muu! ’ He
left and began at another place; a dog barked: £ Kwee! ’ He
left and began at another place. £ Kokolokoloo! ’ cried a hen.
This time he persisted and opened the belly of that animal.
All the people came out of it, also the cattle.”

They made him their chief; but there were those who were
envious and stirred up discontent among the rest. After a
while, they planned to kill him, saying: “Let us take hold

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

of him, kindle a big fire in the public court and throw him into
it.” But “ when they tried to seize him, he escaped them, and
they took another man and threw him into the fire.” Perhaps
we are to understand that they were subjected, by supernatural
means, to some delusion of the senses. “ As for him, he was
standing there and said: ‘ What are you doing to that man? 5 ”

They then tried digging a pit at the place where he habit-
ually sat, but he escaped, not, like Hubeane, through refusing
to sit there, but because he was miraculously prevented from
falling in. Again, they tried to throw him over a precipice,
but “ he escaped them and they threw down another man,”
whom he recalled to life.

When they made their last attempt, he no longer thwarted
them, but purposely allowed them to kill him. “ It is said that
his heart went out and escaped and became a bird.”

This is a distinct and coherent narrative, some of whose
features may have been grafted on to other themes, and it is
found elsewhere, with variations ad infinitum. Sometimes the
hero escapes death, sometimes though slain he returns to life,
sometimes he is left undisturbed and “ happy ever after ” in
the enjoyment of his well-deserved honours.

Moshanyana’s rapid development (though his birth is not
in itself miraculous) reminds us of Hlakanyana and is also
found in other cases. But an interesting Ronga variant 32
attributes an actually abnormal birth to the hero, Bokenyane,
whose mother, like the first ancestor of the Nandi, was afflicted
with a boil on her shin-bone, from which, when it came to a
head, the child issued. It was felt to be fitting that the
Hero-deliverer, who accomplished what no human being
could even attempt, should not come into the world in the
ordinary human way.

Breysig 33 suggests another motive, which probably applies
where the hero is also the ancestor of the tribe, viz. the desire
to make him the actual starting point of the line, seeing that

PLATE XXI

A Swahili player on the -zomari (clarionet), Zan-
zibar. After a photograph by Dr. Aders.

HEROES

223

to give him a human father would merely be carrying the
ancestry higher up. This may be the case with some of the
heroes we have been considering, though I have not found it
stated anywhere except in the case of Hubeane, whose birth,
so far as we are told, is not miraculous.

In connection with what was said above as to the hero being
originally an animal, we may mention what is probably a very
early form of the legend current among the Ne 34 of the Ivory
Coast. Here a magic calabash swallows 35 up all men and
animals except one ewe, who later on brings forth a ram lamb.
When the ram has come to his full strength, he butts the
calabash and breaks it.

The miraculous birth occurs in the case of Galikalangye,
who has otherwise nothing in common with Moshanyana, ex-
cept his repeated escape from death, in which he resembles
Hubeane. Here the circumstances preceding the birth are en-
tirely different, and also vary in the several versions of the tale,
which, however, agree in making the mother promise her child
to some being who has helped her out of a difficulty — in this
case a Hyena. She has been gathering firewood in the forest
and finds herself unable to lift the bundle to her head: the
Hyena offers his assistance and asks what she will give him in
return, and she replies, with somewhat startling readiness, that
she will give him the unborn child. No sooner had she
reached her home than he made his appearance and requested
her to toast ( kalanga ) him over the fire on a potsherd — hence
his name, and he developed with proportional rapidity. When
the Hyena came to claim him, the mother told him to take him
for himself, and promised to tie a bell round his ankle, so
that he could be picked out among the other boys. Galika-
langye got hold of a quantity of bells and tied them on to his
playmates, instructing them to answer to the same name as
himself; so the Hyena retired in perplexity. Next, his mother
sent him to pick beans, at a place where the Hyena had hidden

224
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 05:56:35 PM: AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

himself} he sent a beetle in his place, and went off to play.
Then, having tied the Hyena into a bundle of brushwood, the
mother sent Galikalangye to bring it in; but he looked at the
bundle and remarked : “ I can carry one three times as big as
that,” which so scared the enemy that he fled. This having
failed, his mother told him to set a trap, and, after dark,
when the Hyena has ensconced himself beside it, she said that
it had fallen. “ Has it? ” said her son. “ My trap always
falls three times.” Said the Hyena: “ What sort of trap is this
which falls three times? ” and, once more, ran away. Finally,
the mother shaved Galikalangye’s head all down one side and
told the Hyena to fetch him when asleep beside the fire} but
the boy got up in the night, shaved his mother’s head in the
same way and retired to the back of the hut. The Hyena came,
and, finding a person who answered the description asleep
beside the fire, killed and carried off the mother . 36

The Nyanja Kachirambe, however, after a series of escapes
very similar to the above, forgives his mother, after killing
the Hyena. The points of contact with the Hubeane legend
are obvious} so are the important differences.

Ryangombe resembles Hlakanyana and Galikalangye in the
mode of his birth, but without the circumstances preceding
it in the latter case} otherwise he differs from all previously
mentioned} he overcomes one famous champion and reverses
the procedure of Moshanyana by swallowing the second, who
cuts his way out and kills him. If correctly reported,
this may be a late and corrupt form of the myth.

CHAPTER VII

NATURE MYTHS

N ATURE MYTHS properly so called do not seem
to hold a very conspicuous place in African thought,
compared with what has been observed elsewhere. True,
we have a certain number of stories in which the sun, moon,
and other heavenly bodies play a part, speaking and acting as
human beings — the Nama, indeed, expressly state that they
were once men 1 — with others explaining the origin and char-
acter of natural phenomena. But, as we have seen, most of the
creation-legends content themselves with accounting for man-
kind, taking the inorganic world more or less for granted.

The interpretation of myths as figurative descriptions of
dawn, sunset, storms, and so forth, which was popularised,
about the middle of the last century, by Max Muller and
Sir George Cox, has perhaps been unduly discredited, owing to
its injudicious and indiscriminate application. It is, however,
now recognised that no one key will fit all locks, and that this
theory may be valid in some cases though in others completely
at variance with the facts. Breysig 2 points out that — at
any rate in the most primitive stages of thought — divine or
heroic figures are not personifications of natural forces, though,
at a much later date, they may, by an afterthought, be
identified with them. This seems to have been the case in
ancient Babylon, with Marduk, sometimes explained as the
sun-god, but also associated with the constellation Taurus,
which seems to give us a clue to his real origin. It seems
doubtful whether such identification has taken place in that
part of Africa with which we are dealing. Those gods of the

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Uganda pantheon who look most like nature powers may
equally well be deified ancestral ghosts.

There are some widely current tales which have been ex-
plained as disguised Nature myths ; but one is by no means
convinced that this is necessarily the case. Thus, one of the
most popular episodes in the story of the Hare is that in which
he and the Hyena, in time of famine, agree to kill their mothers
for food: the Hyena carries out the compact, but the Hare
conceals his mother, conveying food to her by stealth, till at
last the Hyena gets wind of the trick and kills her. The Ewe
have a distinct Nature myth, which Meinhof 3 considers to be a
variant — and presumably the oldest form — of the above.
The Sun and the Moon each had a number of children and
agreed to kill them. No reason is given, beyond the impli-
cation that they wanted a feast, nor do we find in the original
native account 4 any hint as to the sex of either Sun or Moon.
It seems most likely that, for the purposes of the story, they are
both regarded as women. The Sun slaughtered her children
and ate them, in company with the Moon; the latter, however,
hid hers in a large water-jar and only let them out at night.
So the Sun to this day is childless, while the Moon’s offspring
are visible every night in the shape of the stars.

The same tale is told, by the Somali , 5 of two human mothers,
one red and the other black, the former being cheated by the
latter. This may, as Meinhof thinks, be a development of the
Sun and Moon myth given above, which afterwards reached
the Bantu peoples and circulated among them in a variety of
forms. (The Kinga attribute it to two men, but the Hare
is usually the hero of the tale.) But it is possible that the de-
velopment was the other way, and that the typical Bantu ver-
sion with its animal protagonists, is the most primitive. Or,
again, two or even three, distinct myths may have arisen inde-
pendently and reacted on each other.

It has already been pointed out in the third chapter that

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227

we sometimes find the Moon associated with the introduction
of death into the world. In the Hottentot legend, the Moon,
though not distinctly said to be the Creator, sends the Hare
with the message of immortality to mankind. No genuine
Bantu form of the legend assigns this function to the Moon,
and it may be distinctly Hamitic, or, as suggested in the pass-
age above referred to, derived from the Bushmen. These
appear to have regarded the Moon as generally unlucky, 6
for: “ We may not look at the Moon, when we have shot
game. . . . Our mothers used to tell us that the Moon is not
a good person, if we look at him.” Some kind of “ honey-
dew ” found on bushes was supposed to emanate from the
Moon, and it is this which “ makes cool the poison with which
we shoot the game; and the game arises, it goes on. . . .
The Moon’s water is that which cures it.” But it does not ap-
pear to be efficacious, unless the hunter has looked at the Moon.

The Bushmen were in the habit of greeting the new moon
with the following invocation, covering their eyes with their
hands as they uttered it: “ Kabbi-a yonder! Take my face
yonder! Thou shalt give me thy face yonder! . . . Thou
shalt give me thy face, with which, when thou hast died, thou
dost again living return ; when we did not perceive thee, thou
dost again lying down come, that I may also resemble thee.”

The Bushmen possess a much greater body of myths dealing
with the heavenly bodies than the Bantu. They give two dif-
ferent accounts of the Moon. In one, 7 it was originally a hide
sandal belonging to that mysterious being the Mantis, who
flung it up into the sky on a dark night. In the other, 8 “ the
Moon is looked upon as a man who incurs the wrath of the Sun
and is consequently pierced by the knife (i.e. rays) of the
latter. This process is repeated until almost the whole of
the Moon is cut away, and only one little piece left; which the
Moon piteously implores the Sun to spare for his children.
(The Moon is in Bushman mythology a male being.) From

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this little piece, the Moon gradually grows again and becomes
a full moon, when the Sun’s stabbing and cutting processes
recommence.”

When the Moon, as we say, a lies on her back,” the Bushmen
look on it as the sign of a death: “ it lies hollow, because it is
killing itself by carrying people who are dead.” 9

The Moon, when personified at all by the Bantu, is usually
spoken of as masculine, and the Evening Star is sometimes said
to be the Moon’s wife. The Anyanja 10 say the Moon has
two wives, not recognising the Evening and Morning Star as
one and the same. Chekechani, the Morning Star, lives in
the east and feeds her husband so badly that he pines away,
from the day he arrives at her house, till he comes to
Puikani, in the west, who feeds him up till he is fat again.
Probably this myth exists in more places than have yet been
recorded, for we find that the Girvama 11 call “ a planet seen
near the Moon,” mkazamwezi , “ the Moon’s wife,” and
Bentley 12 says that the corresponding expression, nkaza a
ngonde , is used in Kongo for a “ planet — Jupiter or Venus.”
The agricultural Bantu would be less likely to pay much
attention to the stars — beyond those essential landmarks of
the cultivator, the Pleiades and Orion, than the pastoral and
hunting peoples. Accordingly they have few names — and
those do not seem very certain — for any except the above and
the planet Jupiter, which is known everywhere. The Lower
Congo people have a little ditty 13 about the three stars in
Orion’s belt, which they call u the hunter ” ( Nkongo a mbwa ),
“ the dog,” and the nshiji (the rodent known to science as
Aulacodus or Thrynomys). It runs somewhat as follows:

“The gun — oh! the gun! —

The hunter is following his dog,

And the dog is after the palm-rat,

And the palm-rat is up a tree,

And the tree is too much for the gun: —

So the gun is hung up again.”

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229

The star-lore of the Khoikhoi 14 greatly resembles that of
the Bushmen. This is not the place to discuss whether they
derived it from the latter, or whether it is Hamitic in origin.
Hahn says that the Pleiades (Khunusiti), Orion’s Belt
(called “the Zebras”), a-Orionis (“the Lion”), and
Aldebaran, were known to them before their separation. The
Pleiades are the wives of Aldebaran. Once they asked him
to go to shoot the three Zebras for them, telling him that
he must not come home again till he had done so. He took
only one arrow with him, and, having missed the first shot,
could not go to pick it up, as the Lion was watching the Zebras
on the other side. “ And because his wives had cursed him,
he could not return, and there he sat in the cold night, shiver-
ing and suffering from thirst and hunger.”

The Pokomo, who call the Pleiades vimia , 15 speak of the
male and female vimia , the former being, as pointed out to
me at Kulesa in 1912, the stars of Orion’s Belt. It is possible
that this is a confusion and that the name originally belonged
to the Hyades, of which Aldebaran is the most conspicuous
star. The Pokomo are agricultural Bantu, but largely mingled
with aboriginal hunting tribes who appear — allowing for
differences of environment and circumstances — to have had
much in common with the Bushmen.

Certain stars in the Hyades were regarded by the Khoikhoi
as the sandals and the cloak of Aldebaran (called Aob , “the
Husband”), and two of the smaller stars in Orion were his
bow.

The Bushmen called the planet Jupiter, “ Dawn’s Heart.” 18
He had a wife named Kogniuntara, who is now the Lynx.
One day, Dawn’s Heart, who had been carrying the baby,
hid it under the leaves of a plant thinking that his wife would
find it when she was out collecting roots. But before she came,
it was discovered by various animals and birds, each in turn
offering to act as its mother, but the child refused them all.

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230

At last came the Hyena, who took offence because the baby
would not come to her, and poisoned the “ Bushman rice ”
(ants’ larvae — a favourite food) which Kogniuntara was
about to collect. The latter, having found her child, took it
up and went with her younger sister to look for “ ants’ eggs.”
Having found the poisoned supply, she ate some and was be-
witched, turning into a lioness. She ran away into the reeds,
while the Hyena, assuming her shape, took her place in the
home. Her younger sister followed her to the reed-bed en-
treating her to feed the child before she left; Kogniuntara’s
answer seems to show either that the whole transformation
was gradual, or that the mental process did not keep pace with
the bodily: “ Thou shalt bring it that it may suck; I would
altogether talk to thee while my thinking-strings still stand ”
— i.e. while I am still conscious. Twice more the younger
sister carried the baby out to the reed-bed to be nursed, the
Hyena meanwhile living in the hut unrecognised by the hus-
band, but the second time, the mother said: “Thou must not
continue to come to me, for I do not any longer feel that I
know.” The girl returned home, and that evening, when her
brother-in-law asked her to be his partner in the Ku game (in
which the women clap their hands rhythmically, while the men
nod their heads in time with them), she said, angrily, “ Leave
me alone! your wives, the old she-hyenas, may clap their hands
for you! ” He at once seized his spear and sprang to stab the
Hyena, but missed her and only pierced the place where she
had been sitting. In escaping, she stepped in the fire outside
the hut, and burnt her foot, wherefore she limps to this day.
Next morning, Dawn’s Heart and his sister-in-law went down
to the reed-bed, taking a flock of goats with them. The girl
told the husband and the other people to stand back, while she
stood beside the goats and called her sister. The Lioness leaped
out of the reeds, ran towards her sister and then turned aside
to the goats, of whom she seized one, whereupon the husband

PLATE XXII

Zulu “ Lightning-Doctors.” They stand on the
wall of the cattle-fold, holding shields and specially
medicated spears and staves and address “ words of
power,” to the storm, that it may pass by their village.
After a photograph by Ferneyhough (?) Pietermar-
itzburg.

NATURE MYTHS

231

and the rest took hold of her. They then killed the goats
and anointed Kogniuntara with the contents of their stomachs
— a favourite African medicine — and then rubbed her till
they had removed the hair from her skin. But she asked them
to leave the hair on the tips of her ears, “ for I do not feel
as if I could hear.” With this exception, she was restored to
human form; but, having been bewitched by means of “ Bush-
man rice,” she could no longer eat that standing dish and to
avoid starvation, turned into a Lynx, which eats meat. (Per-
haps we are to understand that the Lynx was a new animal,
previously unknown, for which the furry ears formed the
starting-point.)

This story explains why the Dawn’s Heart frightens the
jackals when he returns home in the early morning, sticking
his spear into the ground, and with an arrow ready on his bow-
string — “ His eyes were large, as he came walking along,
they resembled fires.”

This tale has some interesting points of contact with the
Xosa one of T anga-lo-mlibo , 17 which, however, has nothing
to do with the stars: the common element being the return of
the mother (in this case drowned, not changed into an animal)
to nurse her child, and her ultimate recapture by the husband,
who drives cattle into the river.

The Milky Way is said by the Bushmen 18 to have been
made by a girl belonging to “ the early race,” who threw up
some wood-ashes into the sky. She subsequently produced the
stars by throwing up some of the edible roots called hum ,
the old ones, which are red, becoming red stars, the young
roots, white stars. The Pokomo in former times thought that
the Milky Way was formed by the smoke from the cooking-
fires of the “ ancient people ”; in later times, after they had
suffered from Somali raids, they called it njia ya Wakatwa,
“ the road of the Somali,” because these used to come to them
from the north-east. The Wachaga seem to have something

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of the same notion , 19 for they say that, when the Milky Way
is clearer than usual, God is warning them of an approaching
raid.

The Bushmen held that the Sun and Moon were once
human beings and lived on the earth } 20 their presence in the
sky is due to the mysterious “ early race,” who “ first inhabited
the earth.” The Sun, who did not belong to this race, lived
among them, shedding light from under his arm intermit-
tently, as he lifted or lowered it, and only on a small space
round his own hut. Some children, at the suggestion of their
mother, stole up to him while he was asleep and, by a concerted
effort, flung him up into the sky, so that he might “ make
bright the whole place.” After this, he “became round and
never was a man afterwards.”

We do not here get any hint of the Sun and Moon being
regarded as man and wife. This view seems to be held by
the Nandi 21 and also by the Wachaga , 22 who have a common
saying: “ Now,” i.e. at sunset, “the Sun-Chief is handing his
shield to his wife.”

These people, who use the name Iruwa (“ Sun ”) for their
High God — a conception they may have borrowed from the
Masai, as they make a very clear distinction between Iruwa
and the ancestral ghosts — certainly seem to associate him with
the Sun. Some kind of worship is paid to the latter: at sunrise
they spit four times towards the east 23 — this suggests Masai
influence — and utter a short prayer: “O Iruwa, protect me
and mine! ” The New Moon is greeted in a similar way.
Gutmann thinks that these ceremonies are relics of a primitive
sun-cultj but it seems more likely that they were adopted
from the Masai and superimposed on the Bantu ghost-worship.
The greeting of the New Moon is of fairly frequent occur-
rence among the Bantu, but there does not seem to be any
developed system of moon-worship.

Various legends show us Iruwa endowed with the attributes
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 05:57:28 PM: NATURE MYTHS

233

of the personified sun. We have the tale of Kyazimba , 24 who
was “ very poor ” and, in his sore extremity, set out for “ the
land where the sun rises.” As he stood gazing eastward, he
heard steps behind him and, turning, saw an old woman who,
on hearing his story, hid him in her garment and flew up with
him to mid-heaven, where the sun stands at noon. There he
saw men coming, and a chief appeared and slaughtered an ox
and sat down to feast with his followers. Then the old wo-
man, whose identity is not revealed, asked his help for Kya-
zimba, whereupon the chief blessed him and sent him home,
and he lived in prosperity ever after. Still more striking is
the story of a man who having lost all his sons, one after
another, said, in his rage and despair: “What has possessed
Iruwa to kill all my sons? I will go and shoot an arrow at
him.” So he went to the smiths and had a number of arrow-
heads forged, filled his quiver, took his bow and said, “ I will
go to the edge of the world, where the sun rises, and when I
see it I will shoot — ti-chi! ” (a sound imitating the whistling
of the arrow). So he arose and went, till he came to a wide
meadow, where he saw a gate and many paths — some leading
to heaven, others back to earth. Here, he waited for the sun to
rise; and suddenly, in the silence, he heard the earth resounding
as if with the march of a great multitude, and voices cried:
“Quick! open the gate, that the King may pass through! ”
Then he saw many men coming, goodly to look on and
shining like fire, and he was afraid and hid himself in the
bushes. Again he heard them cry, “ Clear the road for the
King! ” and another band passed. Then appeared the Shining
One himself, radiant as glowing fire, and after him yet another
troop. But those in front said: “ What stench is here, as if a
son of earth had passed? ” They searched about, found him
and brought him before the King, who asked him, “ Whence
come you? and what brings you to us? ” The man answered:
“ Nothing, lord — it was sorrow which drove me from home;

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I said to myself, ‘ Let me go and die in the scrub.’ ” The King
said: “ How is it, then, that you said you were going to shoot
me? Shoot away! ” But the man did not dare. Then the
King asked him what he wanted. “ You, O Chief, know with-
out my telling you.” “ Do you want me to give back your
children? There they are” — and the Sun pointed behind
him — “ take them away and go home.”

The man looked and saw his lost children, but they were
so changed, so beautiful, that he could scarcely recognise them,
and said: “ No, lord, these are yours. Keep them here with
you! ” So the Sun said: “ Go home, and I will give you other
children instead of these. Moreover, you will find something
on the way which I shall show you.”

So he went his way and found game in such abundance, that
he had enough to eat till he got home, and also many tusks,
which he buried, till he should be able to come back for them
with his neighbours. With this ivory he bought cattle and
became rich; and in due time sons were born to him, and he
lived happily.

The Rainbow, as is natural, has attracted attention every-
where ; it is looked upon as a living being — usually a snake,
and, curiously enough, often dreaded as a malignant influence.
The people of Luango, however, believe in a good and an
evil rainbow . 25 Sometimes it is not itself the snake, but merely
associated with it; the Ewe 26 look on it as the image, reflected
on the clouds, of the great snake Anyiewo, when he comes out
to graze or, according to others, to seek for water in the clouds.
His ordinary abode is in an anthill, out of which he arises after
rain and to which he returns. If he falls on any person he at
once devours him, for which reason both rainbow and anthills
are regarded with dread. But if any one can find the spot
where either end of the rainbow has touched the earth, his
fortune is made, for these are the caches of the famous “ Ag-
gry ” and “ Popo ” beads, which are so prized, as they cannot be

NATURE MYTHS

235

manufactured now, but are only dug out of the earth — from
old graves and forgotten sites . 27 The Subiya 28 also associate
the Rainbow with anthills though they do not seem to figure
it as a serpent, but as a “ beautiful animal ” not further de-
scribed. If you come across him, you must run in the direction
of the sun, for then he cannot see you; if you run away from
the sun, he catches you and you are lost. But those who know
how to take the proper precautions can sometimes see him come
out of his ant-heap and frolic about with his children — “ C’est
comme de jeunes chiens qui jouent agreablement,” says M.
Jacottet translating from his native informant.

The Zulus 29 appear to have given various accounts of the
rainbow, which they call either umnyama , “ the animal,” or
utingo Iwenkosikazi , “ the Queen’s Bow ” or rather “ Arch,”
that is, one of the bent rods or wattles forming the house of
the Queen of Heaven. Some say that it is a sheep — which
does not seem easy to understand; others that it lives with a
sheep, or that it lives with a snake — in any case, its dwelling-
place is a pool. Its influence is peculiarly unpleasant. Utsh-
intsha’s testimony, as related to Bishop Callaway, is as follows:
“ I had been watching in the garden when it was raining.
When it cleared up, there descended into the river a rainbow.
It went out of the river and came into the garden. I, Utsh-
intsha, the owner of the garden, ran away when I saw the
rainbow coming near me and dazzling in my eyes; it struck
me in the eyes with a red colour. I ran away out of the
garden . . . because I was afraid, and said: 1 This is disease;'
why does it come to me? ’ Men say : 1 The rainbow is a disease.
If it rests on a man, something will happen to him.’ So, then,
after the rainbow drove me from the garden, my body became
as it is now, that is, it was affected with swellings.”

At the beginning of the rainy season in the tropics — espe-
cially where, as in Natal, it coincides with the hot weather,
people often suffer from boils, prickly heat, or some equally

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

236

distressing complaint. This particular witness had “ a scaly
eruption over his whole body,” which, whether caused by
atmospheric conditions or not, no doubt coincided with the
appearance of the rainbow.

There is a curious Chaga tale 50 of a Dorobo who set out
to ask God for cattle and, coming to the place where the rain-
bow touches the earth, remained there praying for many days.
But no cattle appeared. When, at last, it became clear that
his prayers were in vain, “ his heart swelled,” and he took his
sword and cut through the rainbow. Half of it flew up to the
sky; the other fell down and sank into the earth, leaving a
deep hole. Some people, who had the curiosity to climb down
into this hole, found that it gave access to another country so
attractive that they felt disposed to stay there. But they were
soon driven away by lions — it is not stated whither they fled
or what became of them, and when a further contingent of
settlers arrived, they found the first-comers gone, heard the
lions growling, and returned. No one has ventured down since.

Some young Masai warriors 31 are said to have killed a
rainbow, which came out of Lake Naivasha by night and de-
voured the cattle at their village. On the third night of his
coming, they heated their spears in the fire and waited for his
appearance, when they stabbed him in the back of the neck,
just behind the head — his only vulnerable part.

An interesting Kikuyu 32 legend makes the Rainbow, Mu-
kunga Mbura, figure in the “ Swallower ” myth referred to in
a previous chapter. A curious point in the story is that, when
the hero is about to kill Mukunga Mbura, the latter says: “ Do
not strike me with your sword over the heart, or I shall die,
but open my little finger, . . . make a big hole, not a little
one.” When the boy did so, all the people and cattle whom
the Rainbow had eaten came forth from the incision, just as
the cows came out of the old woman’s toe in “ Masilo and
Masilonyane,” 33 a story which does not otherwise belong to

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237

the same group. Another feature connecting this story with
the ogre tales to be dealt with in our next chapter is that, when
it was decided, after all, to destroy Mukunga Mbura, lest he
should come again to eat people as before, and the warriors
hacked him to pieces, one piece went back into the water. The
warrior then went home and said that he had killed Mukunga
Mbura, all but one leg: “ but tomorrow I will go into the water
and get that leg and burn it. ” But when he came back next
day, the water had disappeared ; there were only a num-
ber of cattle and goats grazing on the plain. “ What remained
of Mukunga Mbura had gathered together his children and
taken all the water and gone very far — but the beasts he had
not taken but left behind.”

Of myths connected with thunder and lightning, perhaps
the most remarkable is that of the Lightning-bird, which is
best known from the Zulu accounts 5 34 but we find that the
Baziba 35 also think that lightning is caused by flocks of bril-
liantly-coloured birds, which are flung down to earth by Kayu-
rankuba, the spirit presiding over storms ; the thunder is
the rushing sound of their wings. The Zulu Lightning-bird
is described by Callaway’s informant as red and glistening ;
it is sometimes found dead where the lightning has struck the
earth and is greatly prized by medicine-men as an ingredient
in powerful charms. But the Lightning-bird has also been
directly identified as a kind of heron, called by the Boers
hammer-ko'p {Scofus umbretta ), the destruction of whose nest
is said to cause rain. Some say that the Lightning-bird buries
itself in the ground where it strikes and has sometimes been
dug up by an isanusi (doctor) ; others 36 that it lays a large egg,
which the isanusi tries to dig up, though none has ever yet
found one.

Thunder is more often spoken of as a person than lightning,
which is sometimes called a weapon or instrument — the Wa-
chaga 37 call it “ God’s axe,” and the Lower Congo people 38

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238

say that it is made by a blacksmith, living in the centre of Ka-
kongo. The Thunder is by them called Nzasi and goes about
hunting, with twelve couples of dogs. A native told Mr.
Dennett how he had once seen Nzasi’s dogs. “ It was raining,
and he and his companions were under a shed playing at
marbles, when it began to thunder and lighten. It thundered
frightfully, and Nzasi sent his twenty-four dogs down upon
them. They seized one of the party who had left the shed
for a moment, and the fire burnt up a living palm-tree.

This recalls a curious experience related by an old Chaga
woman to Gutmann and probably to be explained in the same
way — illusory images impressed on the retina dazzled by the
lightning-flash and shaped by sub-conscious thought. She said
she saw God (Iruwa), apparently in human shape, but “as
large as a cow,” one side of his body shining white, the other
red as blood. He had a tail, which was also parti-coloured —
red and white. It is a remarkable fact that the Heaven-
dwellers are sometimes represented as tailed . 39

Another Congo man had a disastrous encounter with
Nzasi . 40 Going through the bush he was caught in the rain,
and, hastening home, met a beautiful dog, wet through, like
himself. He took it into his hut, meaning to keep it as his
own, and lit a fire to dry and warm it, but “ suddenly there was
an explosion, and neither man, dog, nor shimbec (hut) was
ever seen again.” The dog, Antonio said, was Nzasi himself
— but thunder and lightning are often spoken of as one.

A different aspect of the lightning appears in another inci-
dent related as true by the same Antonio : 41 “ There is a man
still living who declares that he was translated to heaven and
saw Nzambi Mpungu. He lives in a town not far from Lo-
ango. He says that, one day, when it was thundering and
lightning and raining very heavily, and when all the people
in his village, being afraid, had hidden themselves in their
shimbec ? , he alone was walking about. Suddenly, and at the

PLATE XXIII

1. Majaje, a famous chief tainess and rain-maker
in the mountains of North Transvaal. She was be-
lieved to be immortal and is said to have suggested
to Rider Haggard the idea of his romance She. The
truth seems to be that there was a succession of
“ Majajes,” and the death of each one, when it oc-
curred, was kept secret by her councillors.

2. The “ New Yam ” ceremony in the Calabar
country; chiefs pressing forward to partake of the
offerings. Analogous “feasts of first-fruits” are
found, probably all over Bantu and Negro Africa —
e.g. the ukutshwama of the Zulus. The idea seems
to be that it is not safe to make use of the new crops
till the chief has “ taken off the tabu ” by tasting
them.

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239

moment of an extraordinarily vivid flash of lightning, after a
very loud peal of thunder, he was seized and carried through
space till he reached the roof of heaven, when it opened and
allowed him to pass into the abode of Nzambi Mpungu.
Nzambi Mpungu cooked some food for him and gave him to
eat. And when he had eaten, he took him about and showed
him his great plantations and rivers full of fish, and then left
him, telling him to help himself whenever he felt hungry.
He stayed there two or three weeks, and never had he had such
an abundance of food. Then Nzambi Mpungu came to him
again and asked him whether he would like to remain there
always, or whether he would like to return to the earth. He
said that he missed his friends and would like to return to
them. Then Nzambi Mpungu sent him back to his family.”

Leza 42 is sometimes identified with the lightning, and the
“ red ” and “ black ” gods of the Masai 43 with the lightning
and the rain-cloud. Elsewhere, we do not often find the rain
regarded as a distinct personality, except among the Bushmen,
who record various instances of the Rain being made angry
by inconsiderate conduct. Miss Lloyd on one occasion found
a curious and beautiful fungus, which she carried home and
kept for some days. Subsequently, as she feared it was going
bad, she desired the Bushman, Hankasso, to throw it away . 44
He demurred, but finally removed it, explaining afterwards
that he had not thrown it away, but laid it down gently, as it
was “ a rain’s thing,” and must not be treated roughly. His
care did not prevent a tremendous downpour, which he attrib-
uted to the displeasure of the rain at the ejection of the fungus.

In general, stories about rain are concerned with the pro-
ducing or withholding of it: it is well known that (as is only
natural in a country where water is scarce) the rain-maker’s is
a most important profession among the Bantu. The Giryama,
in time of drought, practise incantations at the grave of a
woman, Mbodze, who was a famous rain-maker in her day,

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

and who — inconsistently enough — is said to have been caught
up to heaven in a thunderstorm.

The late Bishop Steere published, in the South African
Folk-Lore Journal , 45 a story which would appear to be con-
nected with some myth of this sort. It was related, as current
among her own people, by a girl in one of the mission
schools at Zanzibar, a freed slave who had been brought from
the Chipeta country, west of Lake Nyasa. At a time when
water was scarce, though food was plentiful, some little
girls went to play in the scrub outside their village, carry-
ing with them their miniature cooking-pots and some pro-
visions. Among them was a child whose parents were both
dead. She said to her companions: “ I will show you some-
thing, but you must not tell any one.” They all promised to
be silent. Then she stood and looked up at the sky, and pres-
ently clouds began to gather, and in a short time there was a
heavy shower, which filled their water-jars, so that they were
able to cook their food; but it did not reach the village. When
they went home, they took some of the cooked food with them,
but refused to answer any questions as to how it had been ob-
tained. Next day they went out again, and the orphan girl
procured rain as before; but this time one of the other children
secretly brought a second water- jar, and, when she had filled
it, hid it in the bushes, while she used the other for cooking.
That night she told her mother, under promise of secrecy,
and showed her where she had hidden the water-jar, which
they brought back to the house. As might have been expected,
the story was soon all over the place, and at last reached the
ears of the chief. He sent for the child to the council-place,
loaded her with gold ornaments, and directed her, in the pres-
ence of the assembled people, to bring rain. (We may perhaps
infer that there had been ineffectual attempts at persuasion.
The “ gold ornaments ” are probably a touch only introduced
after the story had reached the coast region.) She asked all

NATURE MYTHS

241

the bystanders to retire to a distance, but they refused. Then
she looked up at the sky and sang; the clouds collected, and
presently there was a great rain, with lightning and thunder,
and, in the midst of it, the child was caught up to the sky and
never seen again.

Not very long ago, I read over the orginal Swahili of the
above to a Zanzibar man, who was a Zigula by birth, and fairly
versed in his native folklore, though he had been at sea, and
out of touch with his own country for years. He did not pro-
fess to recognise it, but remarked at the end that the little
girl who brought the rain was mtoto wa malaika , “ a child of
the angels”; which may have been a Moslem way of saying
that she belonged to the Heaven-dwellers referred to in pre-
vious chapters. It seems likely, too, that the explicit statement
of her parents having died was inserted by some narrator who
did not fully understand the story, and that the original merely
said either that she had no parents or that no one knew who
they were, as was the case with Vere.

The sea does not figure very largely in Bantu mythology:
it is only a few tribes who have been long enough in touch with
it to have any ideas on the subject . 46 The tribes of the
Guinea coast include sea-gods and goddesses in their pantheon,
but do not seem to personify the element itself; and, in gen-
eral, we may repeat what has been said on previous occasions,
that sea-spirits, like river-spirits, lake-spirits, tree-spirits, etc.,
are not so likely to be personifications of these phenomena,
or even powers specially and exclusively attached to them, as,
in the last resort, ghosts of mortal men.

That there may be spirits of another sort, who are not
ghosts, nor exactly what we mean by Nature Powers, is not
disputed; and these, as “ Haunting Demons,” will come within
the scope of the next chapter. But some, even of these, can be
shown to have started in life as ghosts . 47
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 05:58:11 PM: CHAPTER VIII

TALES OF DEMONS AND OGRES

W E FIND, all over Africa, more or less, the notion of
beings which cannot be explained either as ghosts or
personified Nature-powers and which perhaps may be most ap-
propriately called “ Haunting Demons.” Not all of those
can be properly described as monsters, though many have
more or less monstrous characteristics. Some are, no doubt,
nightmare-phantoms originating in the horror of lonely places:
the dark recesses of the forest, the poisonous swamp, the blaz-
ing heat of noon over the sandy scrub. But even here the line
is very difficult to draw. Klamroth, 1 for instance, after making
a very careful study of the spirits or demons extant in Uza-
ramo, came to the conclusion that many, if not all of them,
such as Mwenembago, the “ Lord of the Forest,” were ghosts
who had taken to haunting the wilds. On the other hand,
Aziza, the Hunter’s God or Forest Demon of the Ewe,' 2 is
clearly (if we may say so), an intensified chimpanzee.

The Pokomo describe a being which haunts the forests of
the Tana and the open bush-steppe bordering on them, to
which they give the name of Ngojama . 3 It has the shape of a
man, but with a claw (“ an iron nail,” said my informant) in
the palm of his hand, which he strikes into people if he catches
them. He then drinks their blood. This creature has by
some Europeans been supposed to be an anthropoid ape 4 —
no species of which has hitherto been recorded from East
Africa. I think he is more likely to be purely mythological.

From a Musanye at Magarini (in the Malindi district), I
learnt that the ngojama , though something like a human being,

TALES OF DEMONS AND OGRES

243

has a tail, like certain Masai “ devils.” 5 A man of the nar-
rator’s tribe, long ago, came to grief through mistaken kindness
to a ngojama. He came across him in the bush, wandering
about and eating raw meat: he took him in hand, taught
him to make fire and to cook, and had to some extent civilized
him, when suddenly, one day, the ngojama reverted to type,
turned on his benefactor and ate him.

The Nama Hottentots of the Kalahari tell of queer and
monstrous shapes haunting the scrub and the sand-dunes: the
Aigamuchab 8 who have eyes on their feet — on the top of the
instep — instead of the usual place. They walk upright, their
eyes looking up to the sky; if they want to know what is going
on around them, they progress on hands and knees, holding
up one foot, so that the eye looks backwards. They hunt men
as if they were zebras, and tear them to pieces with their
terrible, pointed teeth, which are as long as a man’s finger.
These cannibals are not solitary, like the ngojama. , but live in
villages, with their wives and children. There are stories of
people straying into an Aigamuchab village and escaping with
difficulty. Another mythical tribe of the same sort are the
“ Bush- jumpers,” Hai-uriJ who progress through the scrub by
jumping over the clumps of bush instead of going round them.

Another denizen of the Pokomo forest is the Kitunusi , who
seems to be related in some degree to the Giryama Kaisumba-
kazi , who, again, has points of contact with the “Little
People ” discussed in our next chapter. The Katsumbakazi
is said to be of very low stature ; 8 so is one kind of Kitunusi
(there are two) 9 — according to my Pokomo informant’s indi-
cation, he stands about two feet six. The other is of normal
human height, but does not appear so, as it is his habit to move
about in a sitting position. Thinking he must be some primi-
tive kind of cul-de-jatte , I enquired whether he was devoid
of legs, but was assured that he had them. He is greatly
feared, for those who meet him are apt to be seized with severe

244

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

illness and perhaps lose the use of their limbs. But in old
times people sometimes wrestled with him, and, if they could
succeed in tearing off a piece of the kaniki waist-cloth which is
his usual wear, their fortunes were made. A man would put
away this bit of rag in the covered basket in which he kept his
choicest possessions, and he would somehow or other (my in-
formant did not enter into particulars) become rich.

Here is a link with the Chiruwi , 0 who haunts the woods in
Nyasaland, and to whom we shall presently return. The Swa-
hili of the coast seem to be acquainted with the Kitunusi but
to have a different conception of him . 11 He lives in the sea,
and is dreaded by fishermen. He is variously described as “ a
large fish which devours men who are bathing or diving in the
sea,” or as the spirit possessing such a fish — as Krapf quaintly
says, “ the natives believe that a ghost or Satan sits in the fish
and instigates him ” (without the fish’s knowledge, we are else-
where informed) “ to swallow a man.”

This might suggest that the Pokomo Kitunusi is really a
water-sprite, like the Zulu Tokolotshe or Hill} 2, This would
not be surprising, when we remember how the River Tana is
bound up with the life of this tribe, and how much of their
time they pass either on or in the water; but I have met with
nothing to support this notion. On the contrary, the Kitunusi
seemed rather to haunt the sandy scrub away from the river.

The Chiruwi just mentioned belongs to a very numerous
family, who figure in the mythology of other continents besides
Africa and who might be called “ half-men,” as they are
usually more or less human in shape. Their body is split
longitudinally: — they have only one eye, one ear, one arm
and one leg — only in one instance do we find an obscure
mention 13 of a person divided transversely. They may be
malevolent or the reverse: a Nyanja tale 14 relates how, some
children being cut off by a river in spate, they were carried
across by a “ big bird, with one wing, one eye, and one leg.”

PLATE XXIV

Masks used in initiation ceremonies by the Bap-
ende. Probably intended, in the first instance, to
represent the spirits of the dead. After photographs
by E. Torday.

TALES OF DEMONS AND OGRES 245

Chiruwi ( Chitowi of the Yao) 15 is a being of this class, who
haunts the forest, carrying an axe of the ornamental kind which
is borne before chiefs. Some say that one side of him is made
of wax, others that it is missing altogether, and “ he is invis-
ible if viewed from the off-side.” If any one meets the
Chiruwi , the latter says: “ Since you have met with me, let us
fight together.” They then wrestle, the odds being on
Chiruwi , who is “ very strong,” and, if the man is overcome, he
“ returns no more to his village.” If, however, he is able to
hold out, till he throws Chiruwi down, the latter shows him all
the valuable medicinal herbs in the bush, and he becomes a
great doctor. The Baila of the Middle Zambezi 16 have a simi-
lar belief, but their Sechobochobo is of kindlier mould, “ he
brings good luck to those who see him, he takes people and
shows them trees in the forest which can serve as medicine ” —
without any preliminary conflict.

The Subiya 17 also have their Sikulokobuzuka ( <c the man
with the wax leg”). A certain man named Mashambwa was
looking for honey in the forest, when he heard Sikulokobuzuka
singing, but did not at first see him. He heard a honey-guide
calling, followed him to the tree where the bees had their nest,
lit his torch, climbed the tree and took the honey. He had
scarcely done so when he saw Sikulokobuzuka coming. He
came down with his wooden bowl of honey, and the goblin
immediately demanded it of him. Mashambwa refused, and
the other challenged him to wrestle. They struggled for a
long time, and Mashambwa, finding his opponent very strong,
and despairing of victory as long as they were on the grass, into
which Sikulokobuzuka, could hook his foot, pulled him off on to
the sand and threw him down. He then said to him : “ Shall I
kill you? ” The other replied: “ Don’t kill me, master 5 I will
get you the medicine with which you can bewitch people to
death.” “ I don’t want that medicine — is there no other? ”
“ There is another — one to get plenty of meat.” “ I want that

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

246

one.” So Sikulokobuzuka went to look for it and showed him
all the medicines good for getting supplies of food, and also
that which gains a man the favour of his chief. Then
they parted. Mashambwa lost his way and wandered
about till evening, when he once more met the wax>-
legged man. The latter guided him home to his village
and left him, telling him on no account to speak to any
one. So Mashambwa went into his hut and sat down on
the ground, and when his friends addressed him, he never
answered; and at last they said to each other: “ He has
seen Sikulokobuzuka .” Then he fell ill and remained so
for a year, never speaking throughout that time. At the end
of the year, he began to recover, and one day, seeing some
vultures hovering over a distant spot in the bush (this seems
to have been a sign that his probation was over), he said:
“ Look! those are my vultures! ” and sent some men off to the
place. They found a buck freshly killed by a lion, and thence-
forth Mashambwa never wanted for food or any other nec-
essaries.

These half-men can scarcely be classed as ogres; but there
are various tribes of ogres having only one arm and one leg,
while others, though in various ways monstrous and abnormal , 18
have not this peculiarity. The Basuto call the former class
of beings “ Matebele ” 19 — probably from having come to
look on their dreaded enemies, the Zulu tribe of that name, as
something scarcely human. The tale of Ntotwatsana relates
how, while a chief’s daughter was out herding the cattle on
the summer pastures, a whirlwind caught her up and carried
her to a village of the Matebele “ who had but one leg, one
arm, one ear and one eye.” They married her to the son of
their chief, and, to prevent her escape, buried a pair of magic
horns in her hut. One night, she tried to run away, but the
horns cried out:

TALES OF DEMONS AND OGRES

247

“ U— u-u— e! it is Ntotwatsana, who was carried away by a whirlwind
in the pastures,

When she was herding the cattle of her father, of Sekwae! ”

Then the Matebele came running up and caught her.

As time went on, she had two children, twin girls, who were
like their mother, with the usual number of limbs. Years
passed, and one day the maidens went to the spring to fetch
water, and found there a warrior with his men. He called to
them and asked: “ Whose children are you? ”

“ We are the children of the Rough-hided One.”

“Who is your mother? ”

“ She is Ntotwatsana.”

“ Whose child is she? ”

“ We do not know — she has told us that she was carried
away by a whirlwind in the pastures.”

So he said: “Alas! they are the daughters of my younger
sister.”

Then some of his men drew water for them, while others
cut reeds and trimmed them neatly with their knives. Their
uncle said to them: “ When you get home, ask your mother
to go and get you some bread, and, when she is gone, hide the
reeds under the skin she sits on.”

So they went home, put down their water-pitchers, and
began to cry, telling their mother, who was sitting outside the
hut, that they were very hungry and asking her to get them
something to eat. She got up to fetch them some bread, and
as soon as her back was turned, they slipped the bundle of
reeds under her rug. When she came back, she sat down on
the reeds and crushed them: the girls began to cry again, and
when their mother found out what was the matter, she said
she would send a young man to get other reeds for them. As
they had been instructed, they acted like spoilt children, and
insisted that no reeds would do unless their mother picked them
herself. So she went to the spring and of course found her

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

248

brother there, whom she recognised at once, and who asked her
when she would come home. She explained that she was un-
able to come, on account of the horns, and he said: “ If you are
wise, warm some water, and when it is boiling pour it into
the horns, then stop up their openings with dregs of beer, and
lay some stones on top of them, and when it is midnight, take
your two children and come here.”

She did as directed, and at midnight called her daughters,
and they went down to the reed-bed by the spring, taking with
them a black sheep. The horns tried to give warning, but,
being choked could only produce a sound “ U-u-^u ” — which
the villagers took for the barking of the dogs. They had
gained a considerable start before the horns succeeded in clear-
ing their throats and cried:

“ U-u-u-e! it is Ntotwatsana, who was carried away by a whirlwind
in the pastures,

When herding the cattle of her father, of Sekwae! ”

The Matebele started in pursuit, hopping on their one leg.
It was beginning to dawn, and they were drawing near to the
travellers, when the sheep lifted up its voice and sang:

“ You may as well turn back, for you have no part nor lot in us.” 20

The Matebele stood still in astonishment, gazing at the
sheep, which then began to dance, raising its tail and dig-
ging its hoofs into the ground. When Ntotwatsana and her
companions had again got the start of their pursuers, the
sheep disappeared and, by some magical means, overtook its
friends.

“The Matebele departed, running as in a race; they ran
wildly through the open country, one before the other. They
arrived near Ntotwatsana. The sheep sang and danced again,
then disappeared. When the Matebele departed, they said:
‘By our Chief Magoma! we will go, even if we were to arrive

TALES OF DEMONS AND OGRES

249

at Ntotwatsana’s village ; that little sheep, we must simply
pass it, even if it dances and sings so nicely.’ They went on.”

However, when the incident was repeated, they grew weary
and gave up the pursuit. Selo-se-Magoma, the Rough-hided
One, went home sadj but the brother and sister reached their
village in safety and found every one mourning Ntotwatsana
as dead. So the story ends happily.

A favourite character in the tales of the Zulus and the Ba-
suto is the Izimu ( Lelimo ), usually rendered “cannibal”}
but his characteristics suggest that “ ogre ” is a more appropri-
ate term. It is quite clear that what is meant is not a man who
has taken to eating his fellow-men — as did certain unfortu-
nate people in Natal, during the famine that followed on
Tshaka’s wars 21 — but something decidedly non-human. This
word, as has been remarked in a previous chapter , 22 is found
in closely allied forms in most Bantu languages} but the
creature connoted is not always the same. Sometimes he be-
longs to the class of half-men} sometimes he seems more akin
to the monsters Kholumodumo , U silo simapundu and Isikquk-
qumadevu. There is a strange Chaga tradition of a man who
broke a tabu and became an Irimu. 2Z Thorny bushes grew out
of his body, till he became a mere walking thicket and de-
voured men and beasts. He made himself useful, however,
by swallowing a hostile war-party who were raiding the
country, and was finally disenchanted, under the advice of a
soothsayer, by his brother, who came up behind him and set the
bushes on fire.

The name Dzimwe , used by the Anyanja, is evidently the
same word, and is somewhat vaguely defined as meaning “ a
big spirit,” but in their tales, he seems somehow or other to
have got confused with the elephant, and figures chiefly as
the butt and victim of the Hare, filling in some instances, the
exact part played by the Hyena, or, in the New World by
Brer Fox and Brer Wolf. The Swahili have not departed

250

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

so far from the original conception of their Zimwi, but the
word has been to some extent displaced by the borrowed terms
jini and shetani. The Swahili version of a very popular story
runs as follows : 24

Some girls had gone down to the beach to gather shells.
One of them picked up a specially fine cowry, which she was
afraid of losing, and so laid it down on a rock till they returned.
On the way back, she forgot her shell till they had already
passed the rock, when she asked her companions to go back
with her. They refused, but said they would wait for her,
and she went back alone, singing. There was a Zimwi sitting
on the rock, and he said to her: “ Come closer, I cannot hear
what you say! ” She came nearer, singing her petition: “ It
is getting late! let me come and get my shell which I have
forgotten! ” Again he said: “I can’t hear you! ” and she
came still nearer, till, when she was within reach, he seized
her and put her into the drum which he was carrying. With
this he went about from village to village, and, when he
beat the drum, the child inside it sang with so sweet a voice
that every one marvelled. At last he came to the girl’s own
home and found that his fame had preceded him there, so that
the villagers entreated him to beat his drum and sing. He
demanded some beer and, having received it, began to perform,
when the parents of the girl immediately recognised their
child’s voice. So they offered him more beer, and, when he
had gone to sleep after it, they opened the drum and freed the
girl. Then they put in “ a snake and bees and biting ants,”
and fastened up the drum as it had been before. Then they
went and awakened him, saying that some people had arrived
from another village, who wanted to hear his drum. But the
drum did not give forth the usual sound, and the Zimwi went
on his way disconcerted. A little later, he stopped on the
road to examine his drum; but, as soon as he opened it, he was
bitten by the snake and died. On the spot where he died,

PLATE XXV

Dance of Yaos (near Blantyre), both men and
women taking part.
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 05:58:56 PM: TALES OF DEMONS AND OGRES' 251

pumpkins and gourds sprang up, and in due time bore fruit.
Some children passing by stopped to look at them and said:
“ How fine these big pumpkins are! Let us get father’s sword
and split them open! ” One of the pumpkins, we are told,
“ became angry ” and pursued the children, who fled till they
came to a river, where they got an old ferryman to take them
across, and, passing on, reached a village where they found
the men seated in the council-house and asked for help. “ Hide
us from that pumpkin! The Zimwi has turned into a pumpkin
and is pursuing us! When it comes, take it and burn it with
fire ! ” The pumpkin came rolling up and said : “ Have you
seen my runaway slaves passing this way? ” The men replied:
“What sort of people are your slaves? We do not know
them! ” “That’s a lie, for you have shut them up inside! ”
But they seized the pumpkin and, having made a great fire,
burnt it to ashes, which they threw away. Then they let the
children out, and they returned home safely to their mothers.

In parts of West Africa, such as Sierra Leone, where Eng-
lish (of sorts) has almost become the vernacular, the Zimwi ,
or whatever his local representative may have been called,
has become a “ devil ” (or, more usually, “ debble ”). Thus
we find, among Temne stories, 25 “ The Girl that Plaited the
Devil’s Beard ” and “ Marry the Devil, there’s the Devil
to Pay.” The latter introduces a theme which recurs again
and again in “ were -wolf ” stories: a girl who had refused
all suitor's is at length beguiled by a handsome man who is
really a disguised “ debble.” Like some varieties ofi the
Zimwiy he has only half a body; but he borrows another half
for the occasion: “he len’ half-side head, half-side body, all
ting half-side.” On the way to his home, his wife sees the
borrowed parts drop off one by one. The husband prepares
to kill and eat her, but she is saved by her little brother, who
had insisted on following her, though sent back again and
again.

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

252

Among the Kikuyu, “ the Ilimu takes the form of a man,
either normal or abnormal in shape, and talks like a man,
£ but is a beast.’ His body is either wholly or in part invul-
nerable. His great characteristic is that he feeds on human
flesh.” 26 In one of the stories, he is described as having one
foot and walking with a stick, “ and his other foot comes out
at the back of his neck, and he has two hands.” If this is
correctly reported, it looks like a distorted recollection of the
Half-man.

The Wachaga seem to attribute various forms to their
Irimu. One has already been mentioned. He seems some-
times to be associated with the idea of a leopard: in fact Gut-
mann calls him “ the were-panther ” (W erpardel) , 27 but this
description certainly will not always fit — for instance, in the
following story . 28 Here, presumably, we are to understand
that the dog’s nature became changed after drinking the child’s
blood: the indestructible part (here, the skull) is a feature oc-
curring elsewhere; but it is not clear how far the creature
developed out of it is the same as the original dog.

There was a certain young married woman, named Muko-
sala, who had a small child. She had no one to help her in
looking after it; but, one day, a strange dog appeared at the
homestead, and took to coming regularly, as Mukosala fed
him. She grew so used to him that one day, when she wanted
to leave the house, she said: “ I will give you this bone, if you
watch the baby nicely till I come back.” The dog agreed, and
performed his task well for a time; but, growing impatient,
he took the bone and cracked it, and a splinter flying from it
hit the baby’s neck and drew blood. Unable to resist the sight
of the blood, he sucked at it till he had killed the child, which
he then devoured. He took the bud of a banana-tree (which
may be quite as large as a small baby), laid it on the bed and
covered it with a cloth, saying to the mother, when she re-
turned: “ Take care not to wake him: I have just fed him.”

TALES OF DEMONS AND OGRES 253

But she very soon discovered what had happened and, sending
him away to fetch dry banana-leaves, called her husband.
When the dog came back, they seized him, bound him securely
and threw him on the heap of dried leaves, which they set on
fire, so that he was consumed, even to the bones, all except the
skull. This rolled away, first into an irrigation-channel and
thence into the river, which washed it up into a meadow.
Some girls, coming down to cut grass by the river, and chewing
sugar-cane as they walked, saw the skull and took it for a white
stone. Some of them cried out: “What a beautiful white
stone! — as pretty as baby brother! ” and threw it some of
their sugar-cane as they passed. But one laughed at her
friends, and said: “ How silly! how can a stone be like your
baby brother? ” They finished cutting the grass, helped each
other up with their loads and turned to go home. But when
they came back to the skull, they found that it had grown into
a huge rock which barred their path. So they began to sing
spells in order to remove it. The first one sang:

“ Make room and turn aside!

Let us pass! Let us pass!

She who laughed in her pride
Is far behind — turn aside! —

We come with our bundles of grass —

Let us pass! Let us pass! ”

The rock moved aside and let her through. Each of her
companions in turn sang the same words and went on. Last
of all came the girl who had jeered at the skull, and she, too,
sang the magic song, but the rock never stirred. So she had to
wait there till evening. Just as it was growing dark, a leopard
appeared and asked her: “ What will you give me, if I carry
you over? ”

“ I will give you my father.”

“That won’t do! ”

“ Or my mother! ”

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

“ No use.”

“ I’ll give you the ox next the door, at home.”

“ No.”

“The one in the middle — the one next the wall? ”

“ I don’t want any of them.”

“ Then I will be your wife.”

“ I agree to that,” said the Leopard. “ Now hold on to my
tail! ”

She did so, and he climbed the rock, pulling her after him.
But, just as he had got half-way, his tail broke, and she fell
down. Other leopards came, one after another, but the same
thing happened to each. At last came a leopard with ten tails,
who made the same bargain as the rest. She seized all his
tails at once and was carried safely over. After he had gone
a little distance with her, he asked if she could still see her
father’s house. She said that she could, and he went on, re-
peating the question from time to time, till she answered: “ I
can still see the big tree in the grove by my father’s house.”
Still he kept on his way up the mountain side and soon came to
a rock, where he stopped and cried: “House of the Chief,
open! ” The rock opened, and they entered the leopard’s
dwelling, which consisted, like a Chaga hut, of two compart-
ments, one for the people and one for the cattle. He took up
his quarters in the latter, leaving the other to his wife, whom
he kept well supplied with fat mutton and beef. He himself
lived on human flesh, but he always brought his victims in by
night and hid them in the cow-stall, so that his wife never saw
them . 29 After some months, when he considered her fat
enough (a fact ascertained by stabbing her in the leg with the
needle or awl used in thatching and mat-making), he went out
to invite his relatives to the feast, telling them to bring a sup-
ply of firewood with them. While he was gone, her brothers,
who had been searching for her, reached the rock. She heard
their voices and called out to them the magic words

TALES OF DEMONS AND OGRES

255

which would open it. They came in and she set food before
them, but the husband came home suddenly, and she had only
time to hide them in the spaces under the rafters, where the
young leopards slept. The cubs began to growl, and the
Irimu became suspicious, but his wife pacified him by saying
that they were hungry. The brothers escaped during the
night, while he slept. Next day, after he had gone out, the
wife smeared herself all over with dirt, and also plastered
dirt on the threshold, the cooking-stones, the posts to which
the cattle were tied, and the rafters of the roof. To each of
these she said, “If my husband calls me, do you answer,
‘Here!’”

Then she got out of the house 30 and hastened homeward.
On the way, she met one after another of the Irimu’s kinsfolk,
each one carrying a log of wood on his shoulder. Each one, as
he passed her, asked: “ Are you our cousin’s wife? ” and she
answered: “ No, his wife is sitting at home, anointing herself
with mutton-fat! ”

They suspected nothing and passed on, to be met by the
Irimu , who conducted them to the rock and called his wife.
The threshold answered “Here! ” but no one came, and he
called again. This time the voice answered from the fire-
place, and so on, till he had searched the whole house in vain
and come to the conclusion that his wife had escaped. He
then heard from his guests how they had met her and been
deceived by her and, leaving them to make the preparations
for the banquet, he set out in pursuit.

Meanwhile the wife had reached a river too deep to ford
and cried: “Water, divide! Let this stand still and that
flow! ” Immediately the stream divided, and she went
through dryshod, and, having gained the further bank, said:
“ Water, unite and flow on! ” The water did so, and she sat
down to rest and cleanse herself. Presently the Irimu appeared
on the other side and asked her how she had got across. She

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

2 56

answered: “ You have only to say to the water, ‘Divide! Let
this stand still and that flow! ’ But when you are in midstream,
say, ‘Come together again! ’ ” The Irimu did as he was
told and was carried off by the current. As he was being
swept out of sight, he cursed her, saying: “ Wherever you go,
you shall only see people with five heads! ” She called after
him: “ Go your way and take root as a banana-tree! ”

The woman went on, and soon came upon some people who
had five heads. When she saw them, she burst out laughing,
and four of each person’s heads dropped off. They said:
“Give us back our heads! ” So she gave them strings of
beads and passed on. The same thing happened over and over
again j but at last she reached her parents’ village in safety.
The IrimUy for his part, was washed ashore by the stream,
took root on the bank and became a banana-tree.

The concluding incidents, as we have them, are not very
clear, but we may perhaps connect the last one with, another
Chaga story , 31 where a woman, carrying her baby with her,
goes to the river-bank to cut grass, and finds a banana-tree
with ripe fruit . 32 She says: “Why, these are my bananas! ”
and the bananas reply: “ Why, that is my son! ” The little
child breaks off a banana and one of his fingers drops off.
Subsequently, they meet an Irimu , who tears the child to
pieces. The relation between the Irimu and the banana-tree
is not stated, but may be guessed without difficulty, when we
recall the preceding story, and the pumpkin-plant which
sprang from the dead Zimwi in the Swahili tale . 33

The latter part of the “ Irimu’s Wife ” belongs to the
numerous tales which have been classified under the heading
“ Flight from Witchcraft.” It is found here in a compara-
tively simple form, the obstacles occurring in most of them
being reduced to one — the river. And here we may remark
that the dividing of a river — either by a mere “ word of
power,” as here, or by striking it with a staff — is too common

TALES OF DEMONS AND OGRES

257

an incident in African folklore to be ascribed to echoes of
missionary teaching. It occurs, not only in fairy-tales, but
also e.g. in the traditions of the Zulus, who bring it down
to so recent a period as the northward migrations of Zwan-
gendaba, about 1825. The Basuto, 34 in the tale of “The
Nyamatsanes,” describe a man flying from ogres, who throws
a pebble behind him. This becomes a high rock, which they
cannot pass. Where the obstacles are multiplied, as in the
Swahili “ Kibaraka ” (thorns, rock, swords, water, fire, sea),
outside influence would seem to have been at work.

The theme is exemplified in nearly every part of Africa,
sometimes in a very close parallel to “ Hansel and Gretel,”
but more usually in the case of a girl married to an ogre (or
were -wolf ) and saved by a younger brother or sister. Some of
them we shall have to notice in a later chapter.

CHAPTER IX

THE LITTLE PEOPLE

W E HAVE mentioned Kitunusi and Chiruwi among the
uncanny denizens of the wood and wild in Tanaland
and the Shire Highlands respectively. Both these beings link
on to a set of legends, which seem, like those of the elves and
“ Good People ” in Europe, to refer, ultimately, to some
former inhabitants of the country, of smaller stature and
lower culture than the later invaders, yet possessed of knowl-
edge and skill in certain arts which gave them a reputation for
preternatural powers. Some had a knowledge of metal work-
ing, others a familiarity with the ways of wild animals and the
properties of plants, which might seem little short of miracu-
lous to the more settled agricultural or even the pastoral tribes.
The mystery of their underground dwellings; their poisoned
arrows; their rock-paintings and sculptures (which, moreover,
seem to have served some magical purpose) — all had a share
in building up their mythical character. As regards Europe,
the subject has been fully treated by Mr. David MacRitchie
in The Testimony of Tradition and other works.

The Giryama, whose country adjoins that of the Pokomo,
have the Katsumbakazi, who appears to be in some respects
akin to the Kitunusi. He is, says the Rev. W. E. Taylor, 1
“a p'ep'o or jinn, said to be seen occasionally in daylight. . . .
It is usually malignant. When it meets any one, it is jealous
for its stature (which is very low) and accordingly asks him:
1 Where did you see me? 1 If the person is so unlucky as
to answer: £ Just here, 1 he will not live many days; but if
he is aware of the danger and says: 1 Oh, over yonder! ’ he

PLATE XXVI

Group of Ituri Pygmies.

After a photograph by E. Torday.

THE LITTLE PEOPLE

259

will be left unharmed, and sometimes even something lucky
will happen to him.”

This sensitiveness as to their size appears to be a common
trait among similar beings. Mr. Mervyn W. H. Beech 2
heard from the Akikuyu elders in Dagoreti district that the
country was “ first inhabited by a race of cannibal dwarfs
called Maithoachiana.” These were followed by some
people called Gumba, said to have been the makers of the old
pottery now sometimes dug up, and also to have taught the
Akikuyu the art of smelting iron. Mr. Beech was informed
by the District Commissioner of Fort Hall that “ the
Maithoachiana appear to be a variety of earth-gnomes with
many of the usual attributes ; they are rich, very fierce, very
touchy, e.g. if you meet one and ask him who his father is, he
will spear you, or if he asks you where you caught sight of
him fir^t, unless you say that you had seen him from afar, he
will kill you. . . . Like earth-gnomes in most folklore, they
are skilled in the art of metal working.”

There seems to be some difference of native opinion here,
as some say it was the Gumba who were the metal-workers.
Stone implements are found everywhere in the Kikuyu
country. Again, some say it was the Gumba who lived in
caves, as many of the people round Mount Elgon still do;
others that it was the Maithoachiana who lived in the earth.
Maithoachiana means, in Kikuyu, “ eyes of children.”

There are legendary dwarfs called by the Swahili Wabili-
kimo. Krapf says 3 that they are said to live four days’
journey west of Chaga, “they are of a small stature, twice
the measure from the middle finger to the elbow.” Krapf,
or his Swahili informant, endeavours to derive the name from
-bili (~wili) ) “two,” and kimo, “measure”; but it very
likely belongs to some language of the interior, and the Swahili
may have followed the practice of popular etymologists all
over the world in trying to get a meaning, by hook or by crook,

26 o

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

out of an otherwise unintelligible word. In Giryama, mbiri-
kimo is “ a member of the rumoured race of Pygmies,” 4 and I
have myself heard of them, quite accidentally, from a Gir-
yama; at any rate it seems clear that the name and the story
came from the interior. Krapf says: “The Swahili pretend
to get all their knowledge of physic from these pygmies ” (this
is his gloss on the statement that they go to “ Mbilikimoni ku
tafuta ugangay 1 to search for medicine ’ ”), “ who have a large
beard and who carry a little chair on their seat which never falls
off wherever they go.” Krapf goes on to make severe re-
flections on the fables invented by the “ credulous and design-
ing Swahili ”; but the last statement has some foundation in
the fact that several tribes of the interior are in the habit of
carrying their little wooden stools slung at their backs by a
hide thong, when they travel; and, seen at a distance these
might be taken for a fixture of their anatomy.

“ All medicine ” (uganga, generally understood as refer-
ring to the occult department) “ is in their country ”; and
herein, they resemble Bushmen, Lapps, and elves. But it is
not clear whether they are the same people as the Kikuyu
Maithoachiana.

In Nyasaland, Sir Harry Johnston 5 found, twenty-five
years ago, that the natives had a tradition ag to “ a dwarf race
of light yellow complexion,” living on the upper part of
Mlanje mountain. These may have been actual Bushmen,
and, indeed, a careful study of the population in some parts
of the Protectorate suggests that there must have been a con-
siderable absorption of Bushman blood in the past. “ They
gave these people a specific name, 1 A-rungu,’ but I confess
this term inspired me with some distrust of the value of their
tradition, as it was identical with that used for 1 gods.’ ”

It may only have meant that these “ little people ” were
passing into the mythical stage which they, or some like them,
have already reached in other parts of Nyasaland. Dr. H. S.

THE LITTLE PEOPLE

261
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 05:59:43 PM: Stannus 6 found that, while the Yaos in some parts of the
Protectorate use the word Chitowe (pi. Itowe ) in the sense
already mentioned (as equivalent to Chiruwt ), others apply
it as follows:

“Among the Machinga Yao the Itowe are 4 the little
people 5 of the Leprecaun order. They rob the gardens and
cause rot among the pumpkins ; their little footprints can be
seen where they have passed hither and thither; fruits and
vegetables that they touch will become bitter. To prevent
these disasters, the Yao, at the time when their crops are
ripening, take some of their different kinds of vegetables and
place them at cross-roads, hoping thereby to satisfy the Itowe
and prevent them coming into the gardens. The Chitowe is
variously said to be like a man but rather like an animal. He
has two legs, but goes on all fours. The Yao describe another
legendary race of 1 little people ’ who 1 used to live in the
country and may still be met with — who knows 5 ? He
was of very small stature, grew a long beard, was very touchy,
quarrelsome and fierce, and carried spears as his weapons.
When anyone met one he was immediately asked: ( Mumbo-
nelekwapi? y (From how far did you see me?) and it was
always as well to pretend to have seen the little man coming
a long way off and make him believe he was considered quite
a big person; if you said, 1 Hello, I have only just spotted
you! ’ he would immediately spear you. They are com-
monly supposed to dwell on the tops of high mountains and
are iron-workers. They are called the Mumbonelekwapi”
The Machinga Yao dwell on the upper side near the outlet of
Lake Nyasa.

The going on all fours may remind us (though it is not the
same) of the Kitunusi’s mode of progression.

Dr. Stannus goes on to say that the same legend is found,
not only among the Anyanja and Yao, but among the Henga
and Nkonde at the north end of Lake Nyasa, and everywhere

262

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

the same name, the equivalent of “Where did you see me? ”
is in use. And here, at the risk of wearying the reader with
another parallel, we will pass on to the Zulus, and reproduce
the account of the Abatwa given to the late Bishop Callaway
by Umpengula Mbanda. 7

“ The Abatwa are very much smaller people than all other
small people; they go under the grass and sleep in anthills;
they go in the mist; they live in the up-country, in the rocks;
they have no village of which you may say £ There is a village
of the Abatwa.’ Their village is where they kill game; they
consume the whole of it and go away. That is their mode of
life.”

“ But it happens if a man is on a journey and comes sud-
denly on an Umutwa ” (singular of Abatwa), “ the Umu-
twa asks, £ Where did you see me? ’ But at first through
their want of intercourse with the Abatwa a man spoke the
truth and said, £ I saw you in this very place.’ Therefore the
Umutwa was angry, through supposing himself to be despised
by the man, and shot him with his arrow, and he died. There-
fore it was seen that they like to be magnified and hate
their littleness. So then, when a man met with them,
he saluted the one he met with, £ I saw you! ’ ” (the customary
Zulu greeting, Sa-ku-bona). “ The Umutwa said, 1 When
did you see me? ’ The man replied, 1 1 saw you when I was
just appearing yonder. You see yon mountain? I saw you
then, when I was on it.’ So the Umutwa rejoiced, saying, 1 O,
then, I have become great.’ Such then became the mode of
saluting them.”

There is a little addition to this account, which, whether
originally a part of it or not, belongs to a comparatively re-
cent period, since it assumes, as a matter of course, that the
Abatwa possess horses.

“ It is said, when Abatwa are on a journey, when the game
is come to an end where they have lived, they mount on a

THE LITTLE PEOPLE

263

horse, beginning on the neck, till they reach the tail, sitting
one behind the other. If they do not find any game, they
eat the horse.”

Their “ dreadfulness,” according to Umpengula, lies in
their very insignificance : “ They are little things, which go
under the grass. And a man goes looking in front of him,
thinking, ‘ If there come a man or a wild beast, I shall see 1 .’
And, forsooth, an Umutwa is there, under the grass; and the
man feels when he is already pierced by an arrow; he looks,
but does not see the man who shot it. It is this, then, that
takes away the strength.”

Their arrows, too, are always poisoned, so that the slightest
wound is fatal, and thus it is no wonder if they were felt to be
something not altogether human. The sense of horror and
mystery which they inspire is admirably rendered in a sketch
of Frederick Boyle’s , 8 describing some uncanny Bornean
forest-folk whom he calls Ujit; but what authority there is
for this, I do not know. I remember, when passing through
the forest which clothes the range of hills a few miles inland
from Mambrui, on the East Coast, a little to the North of
Malindi, one of the porters suddenly remarked: “ Wasanye! ”
I heard a cry of “ Dungich! ” (“the European”) from
among the trees, caught one glimpse of moving shapes, and
all was still. Presently I noticed the peculiarly insistent call
of some bird, repeated again and again and answered by
another. “ Is that a real bird, or the Wasanye? ” I asked the
man nearest me. “ The Wasanye,” he answered. We saw
and heard no more of them at that time.

These were perfectly harmless people and so, in many cases,
are the Bushmen. “ Some are of gentle disposition, ready
to do any service,” says Father Torrend; 9 “ others wage war on
all living beings and cannot be trusted with anything.” It
would have been only fair to add that the disposition of these
latter is consequent on the treatment that they have met with.

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

264

Bishop Callaway adds in a note: “ But they are not Bush-
men which are here described, but apparently pixies or some
race much more diminutive than the actual Bushmen. Yet
the resemblance is sufficiently good to make it almost certain
that we have a traditional description of the first intercourse
between the Zulus and that people.”

Further comparative research shows that the doubt here
conveyed was needless. These Abatwa are certainly the real
Bushmen, though they have passed into the region of myth-
ology.

This name, under various easily recognisable forms, is
found in many parts of Africa} sometimes applied to actual
pygmies, sometimes to people who are not particularly
dwarfish, but also resemble the Bushmen in their mode of life,
or have other characteristics in common with them. Thus the
(Bantu) Pokomo of the Tana River call the Wasanye Wa-
hwa, and there are people called Batwa living in the marshes
of Lake Bangweolo, who cannot be described as pygmies . 10

But everywhere, the name seems to be given by the present
population of the country to some earlier inhabitants. The
Watwa of Urundi consider themselves, says P. Van der
Burgt , 11 “ the true aborigines of the country. They are . . .
hunters, smiths, potters, . . . nomad, timid, cruel, irascible,
greatly given to magic arts , very black, lean, below the mid-
dle height, hairy. . . . The Warundi despise them, consider-
ing them not men hut beasts .”

On the writer’s own showing, however, this can scarcely be
accepted as an exhaustive description of the Warundi’s atti-
tude, since the Watwa seem to have the same uncanny attri-
butes as their congeners elsewhere. In their own ritual
chants, they call themselves “ sons of the stone-men,” which,
whatever it may mean, seems to hint at a different origin from
that of the people among whom they dwell. It is a pity that
no further explanation is forthcoming. We have seen that,

THE LITTLE PEOPLE

265

when African cosmogonies take any account of people other
than the narrators, these are frequently said to have “ come
otherwise” — like the stars in the idea of Browning’s Caliban

— also the Hill Damara and the Bushmen.

The Pygmies (Batwa) of the Kasai also “ came otherwise ”

— their progenitors are held to have been the offspring 1 of
trees, and the Bangongo informed Mr. Torday 12 that you can
still see the great cracks in some trees from which they came
out. Tradition tells that Woto, the fourth chief of the Bush-
ongo, having left his people and retired into the forest, on
account of the misdeeds of his relations, found himself very
lonely and uttered an incantation. Thereupon the trees opened
and sent forth a multitude of little beings who, when he asked
them what people they were, answered: “ Binu batwe! ” (“ we
are men ”) — whence their name. “ At the present day,”
said the informant, “ they are human beings and have chil-
dren like other people, but at that time they were only phan-
toms in human shape, being the children of the trees.”

They are regarded with superstitious terror ; even those who
have left the forest and settled down to agricultural life are
considered more or less dangerous, and the other tribes never
intermarry with them.

However, there seems to be one place at least, where the
Little People are friendly and helpful. This is on Kiliman-
jaro, where some suppose them to live in a world of their own,
within the mountain, with their banana-groves and herds
of cattle. Poor or distressed people who find the entrance to
this world are kindly received and dismissed with generous
gifts, while the well-to-do, who come in hope of getting still
richer, are driven out in disgrace. This reminds us of the
numerous “ Holle ” stories (see Chapter V), though these be-
long rather to the Kingdom of the Dead, and indeed this is
expressly stated in tales of this kind told by these very people,
the Wachaga. It seems pretty clear, however, that the kindly

266

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Underworld folk are not the ancestors ( warimu ), but “the
legendary earliest inhabitants of the country.” Some localise
them, not inside the mountain, but on the top of Kibo — the
huge, rounded, snowy dome of which you catch a distant view
from the train, approaching Voi, as you come from Mombasa.

“ They are dwarfs with great, misshapen heads, who have
retreated before the advancing tribes and taken refuge on
the inaccessible height. They are called Wadarimba or Wa-
konyingo. They have a kind of ladders, like the rafters in
the roof of a native hut, fixed against the rocks, by which
people can climb up to them, and which do not stop short there
but reach straight up into the sky. These dwarfs, too, take
pity on those in trouble as is related in many legends. The
bits of meat which they lay out in the banana-groves when
sacrificing to their ancestors, roll down the slopes of the moun-
tains and turn into ravens.” 13 Perhaps this is an attempt to
account for the fact that the white-necked raven, fairly com-
mon on Kilimanjaro, is seldom, if ever, seen as high as the
snow-limit.

The Wakonyingo are said to be no larger than human chil-
dren, but to have enormous heads. They never lie down to
sleep, but sit, leaning against the wall of the hut, for if they
were to lie down, they could never get up again, being so top-
heavy. If one of them falls, he has to wait for his friends
to help him up, and therefore every Mkonyingo carries a horn
at his belt, so that he can blow it to call for aid, if necessary . 14

They tell a story of the Wakonyingo , 16 somewhat to the
following effect:

There was a poor man with two sons, Mkunare and Kan-
yanga. As they had not even one cow, Mkunare said: ‘ I will
go up to Kibo. They say that a chief dwells there who has pity
on the poor.’ He took food with him and went up the
mountain. First he came to an old woman sitting by the way-
side, whose eyes were so sore that she could not see out of

PLATE XXVII
The Dwarfs with the Big Heads

THE LITTLE PEOPLE 267

them. He greeted her, and she thanked him, saying: 1 What
brings you up here? ’ He told her, and she said: £ Lick my
eyes clean first, and then I will tell you how to reach the chief.’
He could not bring himself to do this and went on till he came
to the Wakonyingo and found all the men sitting at the
Chief’s kraal. None of them was bigger than a little boy
who herds the goats (which the youngest do, before they are
considered capable of going with the cattle). So he took
them for children and said: £ Good-day, youngsters. Just
show me the way to your fathers and big brothers! ’ The
Wakonyingo answered: £ Just wait till they come!’ He
waited, but no grown men appeared, and, as the evening fell,
the Little Ones drove in the cattle and killed a beast for sup-
per ; but they gave him no meat, only saying: ‘Wait till our
fathers and brothers come! ’ So he had to go away hungry,
and, when he reached the old woman once more, she would
answer no questions. He lost his way and wandered about
for a month before getting home, where he reported that a
great tribe with many cattle lived on the top of Kibo, but they
were inhospitable and would give nothing to strangers. But
as their case continued desperate, the younger brother, Kan-
yanga, resolved to try his fortune. He set out, found the
old woman and performed the charitable office requested of
him. The grateful old woman then said: £ Go straight on,
and you will come to the Chief’s green, where you will find
men no bigger than the goat-boys. But you must not
think they are children, but greet them respectfully, as the
Chief’s councillors.’ Kanyanga did as he was directed, and
the Wakonyingo welcomed him and took him to the chief,
who, on hearing his story, at once supplied him with food and
shelter. In return for this generosity, Kanyanga taught the
Wakonyingo the proper charms for protecting their crops
against insect and other pests and also those for £ closing the
roads ’ so that no enemy could enter their country. This is

268

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

remarkable, as showing that certain kinds of magic may have
been known to the later comers and not to the aborigines.
These dwarfs were so delighted that each of them gave
Kanyanga a beast and he returned home in triumph, driving
his cattle before him and singing the Herding-Song:

“ Bring me an axe to strike the tree —

The Talking Tree that talks to me:

Bairns, says he, and kine, says he —

And where shall I graze those kine? tell me!

They shall graze on Kibo, till Kibo is burnt off.

They shall graze on Mawenzi, till the fire has swept the peak —
They shall feed o’er Lalehu and on Kimala side,

And in Leruhu swamp, till there’s no more grass to seek.

On Mamkinga meadows, by Makirere banks —

Down Kinenena slopes, till the grass is burnt and done . . .
Down, down, to the pools of Kikulo and Malaa —

And then they’ll be at home, every one! ”

So Kanyanga grew rich and restored the fallen fortunes of
his clan. But the people made a song about his brother,
which is sung to this day:

“ O Mkunare, wait till the fathers come!

What right have you to despise the Little Folk! ”

Here we find the Wakonyingo less aggressively sensitive
about their small size than the Abatwa, and less extreme in
their retaliation, though by no means disposed to overlook
slights. Another story , 10 partly to the same effect, describes
their country as reached by a gateway — no doubt like those
which lead to the fortified kayas of the Wanyika. Near the
top of Kibo are two doors side by side, one giving access to
the Wakonyingo’s ladders, the other leading downwards.
Any one ill-advised enough to go through the latter would
perish miserably, for those who come down again perceive
what they were unable to see when going up — ghosts and

THE LITTLE PEOPLE

269

a great fire. This story also describes the Wakonyingo women
going down the mountan to cut grass, each with a gourd
of cream tied to her back, to be shaken up as she walked,
which was their method of churning.

It thus appears that, if the Wakonyingo are not actually
Heaven-dwellers, yet they resemble them in some respects.
But the Thonga, as we have seen, believe in dwarfs actually
living in the sky, who sometimes come down in thunder-
storms , 17 but, from their connection with rain, they would have
come more appropriately into the chapter on Nature Myths.

On the other hand, Duff Macdonald 18 quotes a confused
little tradition that “ people died and went to the graves and
became Itowe,” but there is nothing to show that these are
the same as the pixie-like Itowe described by Dr. Stannus . 19

CHAPTER X

TOTEMISM AND ANIMAL STORIES

T OTEMISM seems to exist, or to have existed, all over
Africa south of the Sahara. Sometimes we meet with
it in a clear and unmistakable form, sometimes only in a state
of survival, no longer understood — or only partly so — by
the people themselves.

This is not the place to discuss the nature and origin of
totemism, or to compare its African manifestations with those
found in other parts of the world. We are concerned with it
only as a factor in mythology 5 and here it is of considerable
importance. It may be well, for the sake of clearness, to
start with Frazer’s definition 1 — the most recent and satisfac-
tory known to me:

“ A totem is a class of material objects which a savage re-
gards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists
between him and every member of the class an intimate and
altogether special relation. . . . The connection between the
man and his totem is mutually beneficent ; the totem protects
the man, and the man shows his respect for the totem in
various ways, by not killing it if it be an animal, and by not
cutting or gathering it if it be a plant. As distinguished from
a fetish, a totem is never an isolated individual, but always
a class of objects.”

A totem may be an animal or plant, more rarely an inani-
mate object, still more rarely an artificial object. There are
“ rain ” and “ sun ” totems among the Nandi and the Herero;
a “ hill ” totem in Nyasaland, and the Barolong (Bechuana)
have an “ iron ” totem ( tship ). The way in which this origi-

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271

nated (as related to me by a member of the clan, Mr. Solomon
Tshekiso Plaatje) may throw some light on other seemingly
anomalous totems. The Barolong formerly “ danced ” (as the
Bechuana say) 2 the kudu, and therefore could not eat its
flesh. Once, in time of famine, it appears that a kudu was acci-
dentally killed by some one; no one, however, dared to eat
its flesh, though sorely distressed. The chief came to the res-
cue, by suggesting that the totem should be changed and that
they should thenceforth venerate, not the kudu, but the spear
which had killed it. (This suggests that the “ iron ” totem
belongs to the class, not merely of inanimate, but of artificial
objects.)
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:00:54 PM: Totems, as Frazer points out , 3 are never worshipped in any
real sense; the relation “is one of friendship and kinship.”
The man “ identifies himself and his fellow-clansmen with his
totem ... he looks upon himself and his fellows as animals
of the same species, and on the other hand he regards the ani-
mals as in a sense human.” Totemism may sometimes develop
into worship of animals or plants, as may have been the case
in ancient Egypt. The Baganda have a “ python-god,”
Selwanga, whose temple is in Budu. His priests are members
of the “ Heart ” clan, and there is nothing in Roscoe’s account
to suggest that he is a totem ; 4 but, when we find that a tribe
to the northeast of Lake Victoria (the Kamalamba ) 5 have a
python totem, and that the two clans owning this totem pay
special honours to the python, his origin is pretty evident.
The Wawanga, a tribe allied to the Kamalamba, “ have certain
sacred rites connected with the python. . . . Straw images of
these snakes, with a pot of porridge or beer, and perhaps a
few feathers stuck into the ground beside them, are often
to be seen in the villages. In such a case, some one in the vil-
lage has recently met a python and offered it food, or a fowl,
and on his return has made this image of it.” 6 This applies
to the whole tribe — not to any particular clan, and would

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appear to be a transition stage between the practice of the
Kamalamba and that of the Baganda.

Again, totemism appears to exist, though becoming obsolete,
among the Ewe , 7 and three Ewe totems, the Python, the
Crocodile, and the Leopard, are enumerated by Ellis among
“ tribal deities.” It is true that he does not mention a Python
clan, but his list is admittedly incomplete, and it does include
a Snake clan (Ordanh-doj the Python god is Danh-bi), which
may be the same thing.

Totemism is sometimes confused with the idea that the dead
are re-incarnated in the form of animals j but the two notions
are really quite distinct, as is quite clear when we consider
what the Zulus say about the amadhlozi coming back as
snakes. All animals of a given class are totems ; but only a
diviner can tell for certain whether any individual snake is or
is not an idhlozi. Again, while other creatures besides snakes
may be re-incarnated ancestors, there appears to be no case of
their being appropriated to the particular clans, as they would
be if they were totems.

The Wachaga seem to be losing their hold on totemism —
at least only three totems are recognised nowadays — viz., the
Baboon, the Elephant, and the Python . 8 There are probably
others, e.g. the Wild Boar clan explain their name by saying
that their ancestor was once knocked over by a wild boar, and
they do not consider it an honour to be addressed by it. But
this seems to show that the real meaning has been forgotten.
The clans above mentioned believe themselves to be descended
from their namesakes, but whereas most peoples who still re-
tain a conscious belief in totemism think that their ancestor was
actually an animal — usually, one who took human shape in
order to found the family — the Wachaga represent the human
ancestor as having afterwards turned into an animal. This
alone is a sufficient indication that the idea has undergone some
change, and that totemism, as such, is more or less obsolete.

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273

A seeming exception to this last remark is the case of the
Baboon clan. Their ancestor was a Baboon pure and simple
who, having quarrelled with his fellows, went and settled in
a village. However, the exception is only apparent, as the
Wachaga believe these apes to be degenerate human beings.
Certain people, being hard pressed by their enemies, fled into
the jungle, and finding, after a time, that their huts had been
burnt down and their fields wasted, gave up the attempt to
lead a settled life and have remained wild ever since. Hence
the founder of the clan was only returning to a state from
which his ancestors had fallen.

I think the notion of apes as degenerate men has been re-
ported from various parts of Africa, but the stories I have my-
self come in contact with, rather suggest the notion that they
are inferior beings trying to raise themselves to human status.
An East African tale relates how the Baboons, tired of being
driven away from people’s gardens, chose one of their number,
cut off his tail (by way of disguise), and sent him to settle in
the nearest village, directing him to marry a woman of the
place and then cultivate seven gardens, of which five were to
be left for his relations, while he and his wife were to live on
the other two. The arrangement worked well for a time;
but at last the wife grew tired of working so hard, “ hoeing
for those apes only! ” Her husband agreed with her; but
his kinsmen overheard them talking in this way and hastened
back to the Bush, where they informed the rest of the tribe.
It was resolved that his tail should be restored to him: so the
whole party set off for the village, carrying it with them and
singing:

“ Nyani, hge nyani , hala muchirao ! ”

“ Baboon, ho! baboon, come and take your tail! ”

When they arrived at his abode, he was not at home, having
gone to thatch his father-in-law’s house; but they followed

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him thither and kept on singing till the import of their song
reached him where he was, perched on the ridge-pole of the
hut. He seems to have thought no protests would serve him,
for he merely asked them to let him finish the roof, and then
descended and resumed his tail, much to the astonishment of
his wife and her family — this being the first intimation of
his real nature . 9

The Elephant totem of the Wachaga 10 belongs to the Wa-
konadai clan. The legend has it that a girl of this clan was
once given in marriage against her will to a man of the Wa-
kosalema. She refused to eat ordinary human food, subsisted
on leaves and grass, and finally turned into an elephant,
escaping into the forest. Since that time, elephants have
greatly increased and have taken to feeding in people’s gardens
which they formerly avoided. They never harm one of their
own clan, but if they meet a Mukosalema, they instantly
kill him or her.

There does not seem to be a legend about the origin of the
Python totem, which seems to have existed in many parts of
Africa, but Gutmann’s account is a very good illustration of
the way in which these people treat their totems. Whenever
a marriage has taken place, a feast is made for the Python,
and the young wife sweeps and adorns the hut with especial
care. It is said that the reptile always appears and throws
down in the court-yard some of the yellow berries which are
looked on as its peculiar treasure. It then enters the hut,
where the wife is seated on the ground, glides over her out-
stretched legs and, after helping itself to the milk and other
refreshments placed ready for it on a stool, passes out at the
door and disappears in the scrub.

Gutmann says that this great serpent is regarded as an em-
bodiment of an ancestor ; but this, as already pointed out, is
not the same thing as a totem: moreover, he adds that they
never pray or sacrifice to it, as they do to their ancestral spirits.

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275

The relation between a man and his totem is further ex-
emplified by an experience of Mr. Hollis’s 11 among the
Nandi — a Hamitic tribe of East Africa. I give it in his own
words:

“ In March, 1908, I was on the point of encamping at the
foot of the Nandi escarpment. The porters were pitching the
tents, the cook had lit his fire, and I was having lunch. All
at once an ominous buzzing warned us that a swarm of bees
was near at hand, and in less than a minute we had to leave
our loads and fly, hotly pursued by the bees. . . . During
the course of the afternoon we tried two or three times to res-
cue our loads but without success, some of the porters being
badly stung in the attempt. At four o’clock, when I had just
decided to do nothing more till dark, a Nandi strolled into
camp and volunteered to quiet the bees. He told us that he
was of the Bee totem, and that the bees were his. He said
we were to blame for the attack, as we had lit a fire under the
tree in which their honey-barrel hung. He was practically
stark naked, but he started off at once to the spot where the
loads were, whistling loudly in much the same way as the
Nandi whistle to their cattle. We saw the bees swarm round
and on him, but beyond brushing them lightly from his arms
he took no notice of them and, still whistling loudly, proceeded
to the tree in which was their hive. In a few minutes he re-
turned, none the worse for his venture, and we were able to
fetch our loads.”

The Nandi have a Baboon and a Leopard clan, but (unless
it is included under the general designation of “ Snake ”)
there does not appear to be a Python among their totems.
The Hyena clan has some curious privileges and restrictions
and is very highly esteemed. I mention this, because the hy-
ena is to a certain extent respected by all Nandi, not merely
by those whose totem he is, and is also the object of what might
be called a cult among the Giryama and other tribes, who, as

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276

far as one knows, have no such totem. This may be a case of
totemism developing into zoolatry, as seems to have happened
with the Python.

The Thonga, according to Junod, 12 are not totemic, but
two tales 13 which he gives afford a strong presumption that
they once were. As these form excellent illustrations of the
subject, they may be given here. A young man married a girl
named Titishana, and, when the time came for him to take
her home, her parents said: “Take an elephant with you! ”
(There is nothing in the tale, as it stands, to lead up to this
astonishing offer, but it seems to be assumed that she would
take some animal with her to her new home 5 perhaps she had
begun by demanding the totem, and the parents made futile
attempts to buy her off.) She refused, saying: “Where
should I keep him? there is no forest near my husband’s vil-
lage.” They said: “ Take an antelope! ” but again she would
have none of it. “No! give me your cat! ” They would not
consent. “ You know that our life is bound up with the cat! ”
But the heartless daughter replied: “ That does not matter to
me! I may meet with bad luck if you refuse! ” So they
yielded and gave her the cat. When the young couple left
next day, the bride, without her husband’s knowledge, carried
the cat with her. On reaching their home, she secretly con-
structed a kraal for it and kept it there. When, subsequently,
she went out to cultivate her garden at a distance (no one
being left at home in the hut), she told the cat he might come
out and eat the cooked maize left in the pot. He did so, and,
after scraping out the pot, took down the kilt belonging to her
husband, and his rattles, put them on and began to dance,
singing:

“ Oh ho! Titishana! Where have you gone, Titishana?

You have gone away — va! va! va! ”

Then, fearing he might be caught, he restored the things

TOTEMISM AND ANIMAL STORIES

277

to their places and returned to his enclosure. He did the
same every morning as soon as Titishana had left for the
gardens, till, one day, he was overheard by some children,
who went to tell the master of the house. The man refused
to believe them, but hid himself near the door, and presently
saw the cat, wearing his own kilt and ornaments, begin to
dance. He fired at it and killed it, and, at the same moment,
Titishana, hoeing in her garden, fell down, as if seized by
sudden faintness. She called out: “They have killed me at
the village! ” and went home, crying aloud all the way. She
sat down by the door of the hut, telling her husband to wrap
the body in a mat — since she would die, if she saw it uncov-
ered — so that she could carry it to her own village. She
set out, her husband following behind, and on arriving, laid
the bundle down in the middle of the public place. It seems
there was no need to explain what had happened, for a woman
came up to her and said: “We offered you an elephant — you
refused; we offered you an antelope — you refused; have
you not now killed us all ? — tell me ! ” All the inhabitants
of the village assembled there saying: “ We, the Cat-clan,
are undone! ”

Then they unrolled the mat and, one after another — the
culprit being the first to do so — went to look at the dead cat,
each one falling down dead, as he or she caught sight of it.
The son-in-law went out, closed the gateway (the entrance
to the circular stockade surrounding the village) with a heap
of thorn-bushes, and went home, leaving the corpses to decay
unburied. He told his friends that, by killing the cat, he
had killed all these people, as their life depended on that
of the beast. Moreover, he lost the dowry he had paid for
his wife, since there was no one left alive from whom to
claim it.

It seems clear that this cat was a totem, and several points
in the tale are interesting. The wife wants to keep her own

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278

totem, but is evidently not expected to do so, and disaster
follows. Does this preserve an obscure memory of the
change from female to male kinship? The fact of the clan’s
life depending on the cat seems to favour the theory of the
totem as external soul, which Frazer one time adopted, but
afterwards saw reason to reject . 14

The same idea comes out in the story entitled “ Le Gam-
badeur de la Plaine ” — a translation of Matlangu wa libala ,
the shibongo or “ praise-name ” of the totem, which is here
a buffalo. The incidents are much the same as those given
above: the totem is kept secret from the husband, who finally
kills it in ignorance. There are some differences: the buffalo
is invisible to all except the wife 15 j the wife, unable to feed
him without betraying his presence, tells him to hide in the
forest and come out at night to graze in the gardens and he
performs various tasks for her — fetching wood and water,
cultivating, etc. When he is killed, the wife tries to revive
him by magical ceremonies, and would have succeeded, but
that she was interrupted at critical moments. Finally,
the members of the totem-clan, on hearing of the buffalo’s
death, kill themselves and their children, which seems a less
primitive conception than the other.

According to Dr. Mansfeld , 18 the Ekoi of the Cameroons
not only look on their totem animals as helpers and protectors,
but can influence them to do their bidding, e.g., attack their
enemies. The totem-group usually coincides with the village,
i.e., it has become a matter of locality rather than of descent.
The commonest totems are the hippopotamus, elephant,
crocodile, leopard, and gorilla — also fish and snakes. This
author gives a remarkable and beautiful photograph of a
stream frequented by the totem of the Hippopotamus clan,
where the monsters, being left undisturbed, are (or were)
perfectly tame: the illustration shows sixteen heads calmly
floating on the smooth surface quite regardless of the white

PLATE XXVIII

Harry Kambwiri (a native teacher of the Blantyre
Mission and excellent narrator of folk-tales), with
his wife Lucy. Both are mixed Yao and Nyanja
stock.

TOTEMISM AND ANIMAL STORIES

279

man and his camera. They came at the call of the chief who
acted as Dr. Mansfeld’s guide, and followed the party as
they walked along the bank.

The Ekoi theory seems to be that half of every man’s soul
lives in an animal of his totem species, therefore it is only
one particular animal which is his individual totem. Men
of the Elephant clan will hunt elephants and kill them with
impunity, so long as they spare those which are totems, for,
apparently, not all elephants are totems. A man and his own
totem will always instinctively recognise and avoid each other:
as for other men’s totems, if the hunter, as he should do, has
properly sacrificed to the elephant-fetish before starting, any
totem-elephant he meets will make himself known by holding
up one forefoot. Should he have omitted to sacrifice, he may
wound or kill a totem, and the man to whom that totem belongs
falls ill or dies, as the case may be. A man, it appears, can
change himself into a crocodile or a hippopotamus, or what-
ever his totem animal may be, and then make himself in-
visible, in order to revenge himself on an enemy. But, at the
same time, he can send the second half of his soul, embodied
in the totem, on a similar errand. This seems a superfluous
doubling of parts, and it is not explained why, given the power
of assuming the animal form, it should also be necessary
to become invisible. But the account comes from a careful
observer, who knew the Ekoi language and was able to get
his information at first-hand. It is possible that this particular
form of totemism may have been modified through contact
with the doctrine — so fully developed in West Africa —
of the Bush-Soul.

In many cases, totem-clans, besides being bound to respect
their totems, are subject to various ceremonial prohibitions
whose connection with the totem it is difficult to conjecture.
Thus the Nandi clan called Kipoiis , 17 whose totems are the
jackal and the cockroach , 18 “ may not make traps, although

Z80
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:02:01 PM: AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

they may hunt; they may not build their huts near a road; and
they may not wear the skins of any wild animal except the
hyrax.” This last prohibition applies to several other clans,
while one (the Kipkenda) may wear the skin of any animal
except the duiker. Their totem, however, is not the duiker, but,
for one division of the clan, the bee, for the other, the frog.
(The duiker is the totem of the Kipamwi clan, but — though
of course they are not allowed to eat it — nothing is said as to
the wearing of its skin.) People of the duiker totem may not
plant millet, nor those of the bush-pig totem touch a donkey.
The nature of these tabus is obscure, but they might possibly
have originated in individual prohibitions, such as those issued
by the Congo medicine-man to a woman before the birth of her
child . 19 He orders a feast, prescribing the food — both ani-
mal and vegetable — to be prepared for it, and the child must
abstain, either during life or for a certain fixed period, from
the flesh of any animal or fish eaten at the feast. The restric-
tion applies to animal food only, not vegetable; and we hear
nothing of tabus other than dietetic. But there seems no reason
why such should not be imposed, and probably they might be.
Duff Macdonald 20 gives a Yao story of a girl who was only al-
lowed to marry on condition that she should never be asked to
pound grain or anything but castor-oil beans. Her co-wife, in
the husband’s absence, insisted upon her pounding the maize; as
she did so “ water appeared up to her loins, she pounded again
and it was at her neck, as she tried again, she was covered
over.” A similar incident occurs in a story of the Chameleon
narrated by Junod , 21 with the additional touch that the water
became a lake. Again, we have a Kinga tale 22 in which a boy
is buried alive, close to a river, by some of his companions.
His sister came to the river to fetch water, and, as she stooped
to fill her gourd, she heard a voice saying: “If you are my
sister, tell my mother that they have buried her eldest son! ”
The girl ran home terrified, and said nothing of what she

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281

had heard. The same thing happened three days running,
but, on the fourth day, she told her mother, who went down
to the river with her, and hid herself, while the girl drew
water. The mother heard the voice, went to the spot whence
it seemed to come and lifted away the loose earth, uncover-
ing the boy’s head. Then she fetched a hoe and dug him
up,. He was alive, but the flesh of one side was decomposed.
They carried him home, and stayed with him three days. On
the fourth, the parents went out to hoe their garden, and,
before leaving, told the boy on no account to fetch fire, if
asked to do so. When he was left alone in the hut, some chiefs
came by and sat down to rest in the shade, telling the boy to
bring some fire, as they wished to smoke. He refused several
times, but, being threatened with a stick, complied, when he
was immediately turned into water, and a large pool occupied
the site of the hut. The chiefs fled in terror, and the parents,
when they returned, went and hanged themselves in the hut
of the people who had tried to murder the lad.

Several points in this tale need clearing up, and it is probably
imperfect as we have it. But if the boy’s totem was water,
there would be a reason for the prohibition against meddling
with fire, and also for his turning to water when the tabu was
contravened. In the present form of the story, the motive is
obscured, if not entirely lost; but perhaps a hint of it may be
preserved in the statement that he was buried close to the
river and discovered by his sister when drawing water. In the
two preceding examples, there is no discoverable connection
between the tabu and the water-totem, if it is such . 23

But it is only here and there, if at all, that we can trace any
direct connection with totemism in the animal-stories which
may be said to make up the great mass of African mythology.
They are not so much a product of totemism as an outgrowth
of the state of mind which gives rise to totemism, though, while
the latter is more or less falling into oblivion, they continue

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to flourish and everywhere are the primary channel of the
people’s budding literary instincts. The three branches of
Africans whom we have envisaged in this study all possess
them in enormous abundance, and while some themes, com-
mon to all three, may have been diffused from a common
centre, others may very well have originated independently
and been developed by each in its own way.

The principal hero of the Bantu animal-story is the Hare,
who has reached America as Brer Rabbit. The bulk of the
Negroes in the Southern States are descended from Bantu-
speaking tribes — most of them, I understand, from the Congo
region. This is rather curious, in view of the fact that the
Hare is not conspicuous in the folklore of the Congo people ;
but Mr. Weeks 24 suggests the solution, when he says: “ Brer
Rabbit is the Gazelle ( nsexi ) ” — either Neotragus or Dor-
catherium, the Water Chevrotain, appears to be meant —
“ [It] is very agile, and I suppose the slaves from Congo, find-
ing no such animal in America, used the rabbit as a substitute.”
But the real hare, found in most parts of eastern and southern
Africa, is undoubtedly the animal which figures in the folk-
tales of those regions and some of whose adventures, in all their
details, are attributed to the little antelope who takes his place
in the west — from the Congo northwards to the Cameroons
and beyond the Bantu area as far as Sierra Leone. That this
antelope should be called by English-speaking negroes “ Cun-
nie Rabbit ” is something of a puzzle, perhaps to be explained
by the great mingling of tribes which took place through the
settling of freed slaves at Sierra Leone. Koelle’s vocabularies,
collected there, include a number of Bantu dialects, some of
them spoken by people whose tales deal with the Hare. Eng-
lish, of a sort, became the common language of all the Sierra
Leone settlers, and it would be quite natural if, in the inter-
change of thought, the name “ Cunnie Rabbit ” was trans-
ferred from the hero of the eastern tales to the protagonist

TOTEMISM AND ANIMAL STORIES 283

of the western — the tales themselves being, in many cases,
almost identical. I cannot help thinking that the Hare has the
prior right, and that the so-called “ Cunnie Rabbit ” took his
place in regions where no hares are to be found ; “no form of
hare has yet been recorded from the central or heavily for-
ested regions of the Congo basin.” 25

The Hare (Kabulu) reappears in the folklore of Angola, 26
where he is one of the heroes of the celebrated Tar Baby story.
Further south, among the Nama, his place is taken by the
Jackal, who really belongs to Hamitic tradition, though he is
occasionally found in Bantu tales. 27 The Basuto, who attrib-
ute to the Jackal an adventure elsewhere belonging to the
Hare, may have borrowed the former from the Hottentots.
The Zulus are not altogether unmindful of the Hare (1 um-
vundhla ), though they have given his glory in great part to
Hlakanyana; but he comes into his own again all over East
Africa, not only among the Bantu, but with the Nilotic peoples
north of Lake Victoria, even as far north as Darfur. The
Hamitic Galla and Somali will have none of him, in his
capacity of hero, counting him an unlucky beast — so much
so that if he crosses a hunter’s path in the morning, the man
will turn back at once, knowing that he will only meet with
bad luck if he goes on.

Abarea, whom I questioned at Mambrui in 1913, was very
explicit on this point; and when I asked why it was that the
Hare, if so abhorred, enjoyed so great a reputation and had
so many tales told about him, he repudiated the suggestion
and affirmed that it was not the Hare who, e.g., got the better
of the Lion by inducing him to swallow a hot stone, but the
Gedal (jackal). This is quite in accordance with the tra-
ditions of the Nama, at the other end of Africa, and of the
Masai, who also are partly Hamitic. The latter, accordingly,
have two tales at least 28 which elsewhere are given to the Hare.
But we also find a Hare story 29 (containing the “ Uncle

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

284

Remus” incident of “ Tu’n loose dat stump-root en ketch hole
er me ”) 30 which the Galla tell of the Jackal.

The Tortoise is common to “ Bantu ” and “ Negro ” Africa;
he is the one creature who is a match for the Hare in the first,
and the Spider in the second. He, too, has crossed to the
New World — as Brer Terrapin. He sometimes appears as
the embodiment of experienced wisdom and shrewd benevo-
lence, but sometimes also as a cold-blooded old Shylock, track-
ing down his victims with infinite patience and persistence,
and making them pay up, to the uttermost farthing.

The Spider makes occasional appearances in the folk-lore
of Bantu Africa, where some have explained him as an alias,
if one may say so, of the Sun — the rays of the latter being
compared to his web . 31 If it is correct that the Duala word
for “ spider,” dibobe , is also used for the sky, there is certainly
some ground for this assertion, but it is difficult to see how
it applies to Anansi, the Spider, as he figures in the folk -tales
of Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast. The latter can scarcely
be said to represent the Hare in this region, as he has none
of the latter’s better qualities — his cleverness has a wholly
malignant character, and he is altogether without redeeming
traits. In fact, we find him side by side with, and sometimes
defeated by, Cunnie Rabbit . 32

These five are the principal characters in the beast-fable,
as we have it in Africa. There are other protagonists, who
appear less frequently: the Chameleon , 33 the Crocodile, the
Python, various birds, the Frog (and particularly, in the
Delagoa Bay region, the curious little species known to science
as Breviceps mossambicensis ) 34 and others . 35

Then we have, en second plan , those who serve as butts,
victims, or foils to the hero of the tale, and these are usually
creatures of much greater size, strength, and apparent im-
portance: the Lion, the Elephant, the Hippopotamus, the
Rhinoceros, the Leopard, and the Hyena.

TOTEMISM AND ANIMAL STORIES 285

The sense of fair play which delights in the confounding
of the mighty by the weak things of the world, is, one hopes,
common to human nature everywhere ; but it seems to be
specially marked in Africa — perhaps because its peoples have
always been the prey of stronger and less scrupulous races.
M. Junod, in classifying his Ronga tales, calls one division
“ La Sagesse des Petits ” — but the trait is not confined to
any one group: it could be as fully illustrated from his other
classes of “ Contes d’Ammaux ” or “ Contes d* Ogres

It is hardly fair, one may remark in passing, to say, as
McCall Theal does: 36 “There was nothing that led to ele-
vation of thought in any of these stories, though one idea
that might easily be mistaken for a good one, pervaded many
of them: the superiority of brain power to physical force.
But on looking deeper it is found that brain power was always
interpreted as low cunning} it was wiliness, not greatness of
mind, that won in the strife against the stupid strong.”

This, on the one hand, is far too sweeping, and, on the other,
takes no account of the fact that you must not look for ethical
ideals in fairy-tales, which are the playground of irresponsible
fancy. What sort of ethical code could be inferred from
“ Jack the Giant Killer,” “ Tom-Tit-Tot,” and others of our
most popular tales, taken as they stand?

To return to our subject: the Hyena, in his association with
the Hare, is the most likely original of Brer Fox, possessing
at the same time, some characteristics of Brer Wolf. He is
cunning as well as brutal, makes friends with the Hare and
takes advantage of his good-nature, but is no match for him,
once his suspicions are aroused. The Lion is tricked over and
over again, by Jackal and Hare. The Elephant likewise cuts
a very poor figure, so, as a rule, does the Hippopotamus,
though one Ronga story, 37 curiously enough, represents him
as a benevolent fairy god-father — a kind of subaqueous Dr.
Barnardo, who receives lost or deserted children and in

286

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

due course restores them to their sorrowing parents, if any.
We are not informed what ultimately becomes of the un-
claimed ones.

In the following chapters an attempt will be made to group
the principal tales relating to the Hare and Jackal, the Tor-
toise, and the Spider.

There is a distinct type of tale (that on which Kipling’s
Just-So Stories are to some extent modelled), which professes
to explain the origin of certain animals, or of their peculiarities.
Thus we learn why the Hare has a short tail and long ears
(one version has it that his ears became elongated through
so many people stroking them in their delight at his clever-
ness), why the Spider has a flattened body and lives in dark
corners, why the Parrot has bright red tail-feathers, and so on.
The Rock-Rabbit has a little stump of a tail because, when
tails were being given out, he stayed at home, as it was a wet
day, and sent some one to fetch his for him. The Snake has
no legs and the Millipede (so the Swahili believe) no eyes,
because the latter, wishing to attend a wedding dance, and
having in those days no legs, borrowed the Snake’s, who lent
them, on condition of receiving the Millipede’s eyes during
his absence; but when the Millipede returned from the dance,
the Snake refused to restore his eyes, so he has kept the Snake’s
legs to this day. This reminds one of the exchange of
feathers between the Fowl and the Parrot, as reported by the
Benga . 88

Stories of this kind, though not uncommon, are com-
paratively few, when viewed in relation to the vast mass of
Bantu animal folk-lore. It seems as though the African mind
took the animals for granted, being more eager to relate their
adventures than to inquire how they came to be as they are.

A charming Yao “Just-So” story 39 is concerned with a
little brown bird, as to whose scientific identity I have no infor-
mation. He is called by the natives “ Che Mlanda ” and is

PLATE XXIX

The Story of Che Mlanda

TOTEMISM AND ANIMAL STORIES

287

remarkable for his restless habits — always running up and
down, cheeping and twittering fussily, as if determined to
attract attention at all costs. In the beginning, it appears, all
birds were alike white. They thought this state of things
very dull and accordingly petitioned Mulungu to make them
of different colours, like the flowers and insects. Mulungu
heard their prayer and commanded them all to attend on a
certain day. The birds gathered in the bwalo, where Mu-
lungu sat on his stool, like a Yao chief dispensing justice, with
his pots of paint at his feet. They ranged themselves in
concentric semicircles and stood waiting their turns, as he called
them up one by one, letting each bird hop on his finger and
then setting him on his knee. He took up his little painting-
stick, chose his colors, decorated the bird and let him go, call-
ing up the next. Che Mlanda’s place was some way from
the end of the row, but he was too impatient to wait till called,
and behaved like a spoilt child, dancing up and down and
chirping: “Me next! paint me next! ” Mulungu at first
took no notice, beyond bidding him wait, and went on with
the other birds — the black bishop-finch with his scarlet wings,
the little jewelled emerald and sapphire king-fisher, the gor-
geous plantain-eater, blue and green and purple, and the rest.
But Che Mlanda would not be denied and kept clamoring
to be taken out of his turn, and at last Mulungu beckoned to
him, saying: “Well then, you shall have your way! ” The
little bird hopped up, full of self-importance, and Mulungu
dipped his stick in the pot of brown paint, hastily brushed him
all over with a uniform, dull tint, and dismissed him. So he
runs up and down, to this day, in his sober coat, among the
brilliant-plumaged fowls who adorn the African bush.

This chapter would not be complete without a reference to
the Mantis, who is a prominent figure in Bushman folk-lore.
Indeed, he may be called a sort of divinity — whether orig-
inally a totem, we cannot say, because we know so very little

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

about Bushman totemism . 40 I have not met with any Bantu
myths concerning this creature ; but it is probably everywhere
the object of various superstitions, which is not strange, con-
sidering its uncanny appearance and habits. The Northern
Swahili call it Kukuwazuka , “ fowl of the Ghosts,” 41 and the
Thonga people say that, in old times, it was considered a god,
or rather an emissary of the ancestor-gods . 42 “ Y oung shep-
herds, when they meet with a Mantis, tear out a little hair from
the skins of their belt and offer it to the insect, saying: 4 Take,
Grandfather!’ ” Formerly, 44 when one entered a hut, no one
interfered with it, as it was thought that perhaps some god
had come to pay a visit to his descendants. These ideas seem
to be disappearing now, and the offering is but a little
children’s game.” The Baronga think that the ancestral spirits
( psikwembo ) sometimes take the form of this insect . 43

The South African colonists usually call the Mantis the
44 Hottentot god,” and it is sometimes said that the Hottentots
used to worship it. Hahn 44 confirms the assertion of Peter
Kolben on this point, adding: 44 The Namaquas believe that
this insect brings luck if it creeps on a person, and one is not
allowed to kill it.” But this hardly amounts to worship, and,
though Thunberg says, 44 the people here believe that the
Hottentots offer prayer to it,” the statement is too vague to
accept unsupported, and Bleek, as we shall see, distinctly con-
troverts it.

The Zulus divine by means of the Mantis — disturbing it
when sitting on a stalk of grass, and then noting the direction
of its head when it settles again. This is done especially by
herd-boys trying to discover the whereabouts of strayed
cattle . 45 Sometime it is called 46 by names meaning 44 break the
pot,” which are explained by saying that if you see one when
you are carrying a pot, you are sure to drop and break the
latter.

Whatever the ideas underlying the above, it seems clear that
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:03:29 PM: TOTEMISM AND ANIMAL STORIES

289

the Bushmen held the Mantis (Kaggen, Cagn) to be a divine
or quasi-divine being. 47 He was concerned in creation 5 the
moon is his old shoe, which he flung up into the sky j 48 he makes
an eland and restores it to life when killed. “ Besides his own
proper name (Kaggen) he possesses several others, and so also
does his wife. . . . Their adopted daughter, the Porcupine
(whose real father is a monster named Khwai-hemm, the All-
devourer . . .) is married to Kwammang’a and has by him a
son, the Ichneumon, who plays an important part, particularly
in advising and assisting his grandfather, the Mantis, and in
chiding him for his misdeeds. ... It does not seem that he
is the object of any worship, or that prayers are addressed to
him.” 49

This seems to conflict with Mr. Orpen’s account, which con-
tains the touching prayer versified by Andrew Lang. 50 Still, it
is not surprising to find a different development of the idea in
people inhabiting areas so widely separated as those of the
respective informants. But, in any case, Kaggen’s character is
“ ondoyant et divers”: sometimes he appears creative and
beneficent, sometimes as tricky as Hubeane, for instance, when
he turns himself into a dead hartebeest and frightens out of
their wits the little girls who, delighted at finding such a prize,
skin and cut him up with their flint knives. 51 The head com-
plains of being uncomfortably carried on the back of the child
who is taking it home, and, when she drops it, calls out: “ Oh!
oh! my head! Oh! bad little person, hurting me in the head! ”
Then all the joints reunite and the revived hartebeest assumes
the shape of a man and chases the girls home. u Have you
been and cut up the old man, the Mantis,” asks their father,
“ while he lay, pretending to be dead, in front of you? ”

The Mantis has three children, one of whom, Gaunu-
Tsachau, was killed by the Baboons and afterwards brought
to life by his father — a process described at great length, and
remarkable because the dead child’s eye is treated as a kind of

290 AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

germ or seed and kept in water till the whole body has grown
from it. 82

Finally, Kaggen and his son-in-law (by all accounts a less
exemplary character even than himself) are to be seen in the
rainbow, 53 Kaggen above and Kwammang’a underneath; and
the Moon (for which, as we have already seen, he is responsi-
ble) “ can talk, because he belongs to the Mantis, all of whose
things talk.” 54

PLATE XXX

1. The Story of the Mantis.

2. Bushman Idea of a Ghost.

CHAPTER XI

HARE AND JACKAL STORIES

T he hare, in one part of Africa the favorite hero
of folklore, is in others held to be distinctly unlucky.
The Abyssinians will not eat hare’s flesh, neither will the
Galla, and a hare crossing the path is by them considered the
worst of omens. The Hottentots, as already stated, connect
him with the Moon in a myth which relates how his blundering
brought irreparable disaster on mankind. The Bushmen say
that the Hare was once a human being, who assumed his pres-
ent shape when cursed by the Moon for his imbecility. They
have no objection to eating the Hare, but always carefully
avoid one particular muscle in the leg which, they think, was
taken over unchanged from his human form . 1

Various reasons have been given for the popularity of the
Hare in general Bantu tradition. Natives have sometimes
said that his habit of moving his mouth, as if talking to him-
self, indicates great wisdom. Something must be allowed for
the sympathy naturally inspired by the cleverness shown by a
weak and insignificant creature in escaping the pursuit of the
more powerful and ferocious beasts. And he is undoubtedly
among the most beautiful and attractive of “ small deer.”

It is sometimes denied that the African native is at all sensi-
tive to beauty in nature, living or inanimate} but a little first-
hand research is sufficient to show that this opinion is, at best,
only partially true. The Pokomo women, for instance, habit-
ually make songs in praise of various birds — songs which,
simple as they are, show both observation and sympathy.
Some of the tricks and adventures attributed elsewhere to

292

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

the Hare are told by the Zulus of Hlakanyana, a quasi-human
being who, in some respects, resembles our Tom Thumb, or
perhaps may be looked on as a sort of elf or pixy, though born
of human parents. It seems reasonable, in this case, to think
that the animal version of the story is the older one and the
other a later development 2 — favoured, no doubt, by the
story-teller’s inveterate habit of assuming that the animals are
the same as himself and his audience, or rather, of forgetting
that any points of difference exist: the Hare and the Hyena
hire themselves out to hoe a man’s garden ; the crow casts lots
like a diviner; a bird makes a drum and plays on it, and so
on, ad infinitum. “ Uncle Remus ” somewhere explains that
“ beasts ” were once upon a time just like “ folks the neces-
sity for such an explanation would never occur to the genuine
African . 3

Having mentioned “ Uncle Remus,” we may remark here
that for many of the “ Brer Rabbit ” stories African originals
have actually been found, and probably many, if not all, of
the remainder, can be similarly traced to their sources, though,
of course, they have all been adapted to American surround-
ings. Brer Fox and Brer Wolf have replaced the Hyena;
Brer B’ar is substituted for the Elephant; while the Lion makes
a few appearances in his own person, though under greatly
altered circumstances.

Whether or not Hlakanyana be considered as a development
of the Hare, the latter has a curious tendency to attract to
himself imported incidents belonging to other characters.
This is especially observable in East Africa, where there is a
certain confusion between the Hare and Abu Nuwas, the
Arab jester and hero of many more or less discreditable ad-
ventures. Thus, when the personality of Abu Nuwas has been
forgotten, banawasi has become a common noun in Swahili,
meaning “ a man who always has an answer ready , 4 who excels
in repartee.” Indeed, the name — if we may trust a some-

HARE AND JACKAL STORIES 293

what perplexing entry in Krapf’s Dictionary , has become
associated with the Hare, as is also evident from an instructive
parallel obtained by M. Junod at Lourengo Marques. Here,
some of the best-known adventures of Abu Nuwas 0 are related
of one Bonawasi — a name which Junod, influenced by the
idea that the story is Portuguese, explains as a corruption of
Bonifacio. One of the characters remarks, in admiration of
this man’s cleverness: “Truly, he is Nwachisisana,! ” — the
usual shivongo (honorary title) of the Hare.

In South Africa the contact of races has tended to produce
a certain confusion about the Hare, which, however, is easily
cleared up. The Basuto attribute one of his best-known ad-
ventures to the Jackal — “ probably through direct or indirect
Hottentot influence.” 6 Here the Hare appears as one of the
Jackal’s victims, a fact explained by the Hamitic view. “He
— he’s not clever,” said Abarea the Galla, “ his cleverness is
only in running away! ” And when I asked why, then, so
many tales were told about him — as, for instance, of his killing
the Lion by getting him to swallow a hot stone — the answer
was, “ Oh! that was not the Hare, it was the Gedal (jackal).”

Conversely, a story told me by Abarea about the Jackal
(which will be given later on) is told, by some Masai at least,
about the Hare. 7

The Basuto call the Hare ’ mutla , or, usually in the tales,
by the affectionate diminutive ’ mutlanyana . He is sometimes
opposed to an animal called hlolo , translated “ rabbit ” in
Jacottet’s version, and described by Brown as “ a small red
animal like a hare,” but apparently distinct both from the rock-
rabbit ( pela ) and the spring-hare ( tshipo ). 8 The point is of
interest, because it seems to mark an attempt at something like
compromise between the two views. The Bantu, unable to con-
ceive their beloved Hare in the role of a dupe and victim, have
insisted on his retaining his place, and put in some less es-
teemed congener to be a foil to him. Such might conceivably

294

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

be the genesis of the “ March Hare,” as Madan calls him , 9
who plays the part elsewhere assigned to the Hyena or Brer
Fox. A tale, “ The Wise and Foolish Hares,” preserved in
Campbell’s Travels™ may be an indication of the same thing.
It would appear from the opening that the two hares in ques-
tion were both of the same species, “ accustomed to dwell on
the mountains in holes dug by themselves. ” The wise one
made several entrances to his burrow, the one who was not so
wise “ made a passage that went straight in, neither crooked
nor divided.” Consequently, when some ill-disposed person
“ kindled a fire on the outside in the direction of the wind,”
the foolish hare was suffocated. When she “ felt the smoke
and heat entering her cell, she cried out loudly: 1 Brother,
brother! come and help me, for I am almost suffocated! ’ but
the other paid no attention to her screams; he only laughed
and in sport desired her to stand on her head, which, while at-
tempting to do, she died. On entering the hole afterwards,
the live hare took the dead one by the ears and called out:
1 Stand up, my sister, or I shall eat you up ’; but he found
she was dead. After this, the wise hare, that had horns on his
forehead, began to talk of his wisdom in providing against
evil; but while he was boasting, a creature came down from the
heavens and snatched away his horns.”

They were ultimately restored to him, so he has presumably
kept them; and the author adds this curious note: “There is
an animal, resembling a hare, which has horns about four
inches long. The scull (sic) and horns of one is in the Mis-
sionary Museum.”

This, if not Neotragus , may be some small species of ante-
lope which has the same reputation as “ Cunnie Rabbit.” There
may be a further hint of some association or confusion between
it and the Hare in the fact — if fact it be — that Kalulu y the
name for “ hare ” in Chinyanja and many allied languages,
is elsewhere the name for some small antelope.

HARE AND JACKAL STORIES 295

It is also remarkable that the Hare in this story, after los-
ing his horns, is persecuted by mysterious unnamed beings
whose efforts to destroy him — though the methods employed
are different — recall the adventures of Hubeane and Kalika-
lanje. It is difficult to resist the suspicion that these heroes, like
the Algonkin Ioskeha in America, were originally identical with
the Hare. Perhaps the same might be said of Hlakanyana,
though the descriptions given by Callaway’s informants rather
suggest some sort of weasel. Hlakanyana, by the bye, kills the
Hare and makes a whistle out of his bones — as the Hare is
elsewhere said to do to other creatures. This may mark a
stage in the transition from the Bantu to the Hamitic hare.

In another tale given by Campbell, the Hare appears inci-
dentally as a rain-maker, which may be a link with the older
mythological conception hinted at above.

No one has yet attempted to weave the “ faicts et gestes ” of
the Hare into a connected whole, as was done by the unnamed
mediaeval poet, or poets, for Reynard the Fox. But it would
not be a difficult task and may well be accomplished some day.
M. Junod points out that the two tales to which he has given
the common title of “ Roman du Lievre ” 11 have more or
less of literary coherence, and each leads up to a distinct
climax j but they include only a few of even the most typical
incidents.

The first begins with a trick played on the Gazelle, the
Hare inducing her to get into a cooking-pot and boiling her
to death, as Hlakanyana does the Cannibal’s mother. He then
makes her horns into a musical instrument, 12 on which he plays,
frightening the whole country-side. The Hippopotamus lies
in wait for him and catches him, but is induced not to betray
him by the promise that the Hare will teach him to blow the
horns. He tries, but without success, and the treacherous Hare
persuades him to have first one lip and then the other cut off, on
the pretext that their thickness prevents his blowing properly. 13

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

296

The Hippopotamus, in revenge, swallows the horns and the
Hare attempts to kill him, but is frustrated by the Dove, who
repeatedly warns the intended victim, till the Hare shoots and
destroys her, even to the last feather; he then shoots the
Hippopotamus, cuts him open and recovers his trumpet.
While he is washing it in the river, a Civet-cat steals the meat
which he has left on the ground; he smokes her out of the tree
in which she has taken refuge, kills her, and sells her skin,
living for some time on the proceeds. When these are ex-
hausted, he takes to stealing from people’s gardens, frighten-
ing the owners away by raising a cry that the enemy are
coming . 14 This trick works for some time, but at last the vil-
lagers catch him by setting up the image of a woman covered
with some sticky substance — a Tar Baby, in fact . 15 They
determine to kill him, but only succeed in killing their own
chief, while the Hare escapes.

The next story opens with an episode which occurs elsewhere
in other connections, even in European folklore. The Hare,
frightened (or pretending to be so?) by a sudden noise, runs
away, communicating the alarm to every one he meets, till
the whole population of the forest is running . 16 The connec-
tion between this and the next episode is not very clear: they
reach a tree, covered with sweet fruit which they eat, leaving,
at the Hare’s suggestion, one bunch for the use of the chief.
He steals this fruit himself during the night and contrives to
put the blame on the Elephant — much as Brer Rabbit brings
home to the innocent Brer Possum the theft of the butter 17 —
and the Elephant is accordingly put to death. But the Hare
cannot refrain from boasting of his exploit, is pursued, takes
refuge in a burrow, is caught, but escapes by the device of
calling out the equivalent to “ T’un loose dat stump-root en
ketch holt er me! ” 18 However, the pursuers stop the opening
of the burrow and leave him. He makes his way out at last,
nearly starved, and sets to work to weave a number of baskets.

HARE AND JACKAL STORIES 297

He then (by way of disguise) makes himself a wax head-
ring 19 and goes away to peddle his baskets at the Elephant’s
village. He is detected when the sun melts the wax, but runs
away, shaves his head, and coming back unrecognised, enters
into conversation with the village chief and, persuading him
to take a vapour bath, scalds him to death and makes his skull
into a drum, which he beats to call the villagers together, him-
self remaining hidden. He plays at hide and seek with them
for some time and finally escapes — it is not clearly stated
how. 20

But this is not an epic close — it is merely a pause in the
development of the story. There are endless additional inci-
dents, some of which may be placed before and some after the
above, while some, no doubt, are alternative versions. I will
content myself with recounting some of the most famous, be-
fore passing on to the tragic climax which so artistically rounds
off the whole. 21

At a time of drought, the animals agreed to dig a well,
being summoned for the purpose by the chief, sometimes —
but not always — specified as the Lion. The Hare, however,
refused to take his share in the task and, consequently, was
not allowed to draw water when the well was finished. 22 All
the animals resolved to take turns in watching the well. The
Hyena took the first watch and, after waiting about three
hours, heard the voice of the Hare, who strolled along carrying
two gourds, one empty and one full of honey, soliloquising
aloud: “ I don’t want any water — I don’t care for the water
of this well. I have sweet water of my own! ” Having raised
the Hyena’s curiosity, he gratified it by giving him a taste of
the honey, but, when he asked for more, refused it except on
condition of his allowing himself to be tied to a tree — alleging
that, such was the strength of the drink, he would otherwise
be unable to keep his feet. The Hyena consented and was
tied up; whereupon the Hare, instead of giving him the honey,

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

298

laughed in his face, took all the water he wanted and went
his way. When the other animals came back in the morning
and found the Hyena tied up, he made some attempt to save
his face by declaring that he had been overpowered by
numbers, but no one believed him. The Lion undertook the
next watch, but was similarly beguiled, and the Hare added
insult to injury by bathing in the well after supplying himself
with water. Other animals tried their luck (one account
mentions the Elephant and the Buffalo) with no better result,
till at last the Tortoise volunteered. He hid under water
and kept quiet, never answering when the Hare shouted his
noisy greeting. The latter, after waiting and getting no
answer, concluded that the animals were now thoroughly
frightened, and stepped into the water, putting his foot on
what he took for a stone but which was in fact the Tortoise.
When he stooped to dip out the water, the Tortoise caught his
“ hand,” then, in spite of his struggles, the other; then both
feet, and so held him till the animals came up. They carried
him before the chief and began to discuss the manner of his
death, when he spoke up, and — less subtle than Brer Rabbit
— suggested that the way to kill him was to tie him up with
banana-leaves and throw him down in the sun. This was done,
and he lay quiet, till — the sun being high — the banana-leaves
dried up and began to crack. Some of the animals heard it and
reported to the chief: “The Hare will break loose! ” The
Hare heard and groaned languidly: “ Leave me alone — I am
just about to die! ” In a little while, he felt that the drying
process had gone far enough, stretched himself vigorously and,
as his bonds fell off, sprang away too quickly for any one to
catch him.
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:05:01 PM: In some versions the tale ends here: others carry it further
and relate how the Hare, pursued by the other animals, crept
into a hole in an ant-heap. The Elephant put in his trunk
and seized him, but let him go again (all the animals in their

PLATE XXXI

1. Bwana Ahmadi, a Swahili of Mambrui, whose
grandfather was miraculously cured of his blindness.
(See page 349.)

2. A group of Akamba in Rabai market-place.
The woman on the right is wearing a quantity of
the fine copper chains alluded to in the text. (See
page 300.)

After photographs by Prof. A. Werner.

299

HARE AND JACKAL STORIES

native wilds seem singularly credulous) when informed that
he had got hold of a root. The animals left the Crow to watch
the hole, while they went to fetch fire. As soon as they were
gone, the Hare called out to the Crow: “Would you like
some white ants? ”

“ Y es, give me some ! ” said the Crow.

“ Open your eyes as wide as you can, so that you can see
them! ” and the Hare scratched up some earth and threw it
into the Crow’s eyes, taking advantage of his predicament
to escape . 23

Some time after this, he made friends with the Hyena, and
they agreed to go on a journey together. On the way, they
stopped to set a trap in the bush, and caught a guinea-fowl.
The Hare left the Hyena to roast it, while he lay down to
sleep. The Hyena, unable to resist the savoury smell of the
roast, devoured it as soon as it was done; he then put the
feathers and legs into the fire and lay down, pretending to be
asleep. The Hare was awakened by the smell of burning
and called the Hyena, asking what had become of the guinea-
fowl. The Hyena ruefully confessed that he had gone to sleep
and let it burn. The Hare did not believe him, but said
nothing.

A little later, the Hare proposed that they should both
visit his parents and the Hyena agreed. But the Hare led the
way to a strange village and left his companion behind in the
banana-gardens outside it, telling him to take as many bananas
as he wanted, while he (the Hare) went to announce their
arrival. As soon as he reached the village, he told the people
that there was a thief among the banana-trees, and made off.
The villagers rushed out, caught the Hyena, tied him and
beat him soundly. When they had left him, the treacherous
Hare appeared on the scene, showed his great surprise and
distress and condoled with his friend as he released him.

They then went on their way and in a little while arrived

300 AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

at a village where a dance was going on. The Hyena
retired apart, bathed and adorned himself, wearing on his head
an egg-shell into which he had stuck some feathers saved from
the guinea-fowl. He then danced, while the Hare sat and
looked on, and presently began to sing a riddling ditty:

“ The whole guinea-fowl was scorched up in the fire, til til til M

The Hare, guessing the sense of the words, took a drum
and began to beat it singing:

“ I got him tied up with banana-leaves and beaten, fu! fu! fu! ” 24

This quarrel appears to have been made up, for a little later,
we find the two, in time of famine, making a bargain to kill and
eat their respective mothers. The Hyena carried out his part of
the contract, and the two feasted on the meat thus provided 5 but
the Hare hid his mother and, when the time came to produce
her, declared that she had been killed by a lion. The Hyena
believed him at first, but, finding that he went away secretly
every day and would give no account of his movements, fol-
lowed him, discovered the mother hidden in a cave, gained
admittance by a trick, killed and ate her. 25

The Hare said nothing at the time, but “ went away and
grieved by himself,” nursing thoughts of revenge. After a
certain interval, he appeared at the Hyena’s abode “ very
fine — just like a Kamba,” i.e., adorned with bright brass
and copper chains, armlets and anklets, such as the Akamba
make and wear. The Hyena was overwhelmed with admi-
ration and envy. “ Do you know how I got all these fine
things? ” asked the Hare. “ I had a nail made red hot and
driven into the top of my head.” The Hyena did not stop to
inquire into the logic of the process, but was quite willing to
undergo the operation. So the Hare heated a nail and paid off
old scores, killing the Hyena outright. 26

30i

HARE AND JACKAL STORIES

On another occasion, the Hare made friends with the Lion,
at a time when the latter was weak and low after a run of bad
luck in hunting. He proposed a scheme for providing him
with food and helped him to build a large house, with a
baraz,a (verandah or porch). Inside, he dug a hole and, hav-
ing induced the Lion to lie down in it, covered him up with
sand, so that nothing showed above ground but one of his
teeth. Then he beat his drum and called all the animals to
a dance. The Rhinoceros came up to him and asked him to
start the tune 3 and, accordingly, he began to sing:

“ All you elephants, all you wild boars,

You shall dance in the inner house!

All you buffaloes, you shall dance in the inner house!

All you hippos, you shall dance in the inner house! ”

After the animals had entered and shown some alarm on
perceiving the Lion’s tooth projecting from the ground:

“ This is only the tooth of a dead camel —

Tooth, tooth, tooth, tooth of a camel! —

I and the Civet-cat, we will dance in the outer house!

Tooth! tooth! tooth! tooth! of a camel! ”

The animals took up the refrain and shouted in chorus:

“ Hidyo ni gego, gego, gego , gego dya ngamia! ”

And, while the fun waxed fast and furious, the treacherous
Hare and the Civet-cat barred the door on the outside and
ran away. When the singing was at its height, the Lion sud-
denly leapt from the ground and began to lay about him.
Not one escaped, and the Lion had a full supply of meat.
Then the Hare came back and opened the door. But the Lion
was ungrateful and consumed the meat by himself, and the
Hare soon grew tired of providing for him. So one day he
heated a stone in the fire, wrapped it up in the kidney-fat of

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

the animal just killed, and called on the Lion to open his mouth
for the reception of a specially dainty morsel. The Lion swal-
lowed it, and that was the end of him.

This is told by Hottentots of the Jackal 27 ; the Basuto, in a
similar story about the Hare, describe a different trick: he
gets the Lion to help him to thatch a house and fastens his
tail into the thatch, leaving him on the roof to perish, as
Hlakanyana does the Cannibal.

In some versions, having killed the Lion, he uses his skin
to play tricks on the Hyena. This need create no difficulty in
view of the latter’s death as already narrated — we are at
liberty to arrange the chronology of the incidents as we please,
or to suppose that the one just mentioned concerns a different
Hyena.

And now, passing over other adventures too numerous to
specify, we come to the last tragedy which proves that — as
the Giryama story-teller puts it — “ Harey ( Katsungula )
was clever, but he met with his match at last.” 28

The Cock and the Hare became very friendly and fre-
quently visited one another. But the Hare, finding it advis-
able to conceal his whereabouts from his enemies, built himself
a great many houses, omitting to tell his friend in which of
them he was to be found. Consequently, one day when the
Cock came to see him, he was put to a good deal of trouble
in finding him, and took offence, though he refrained from
expressing his annoyance and only said: “To be sure it was a
very clever device, such as no one else is in possession of! ” —
and they “ conversed and ate their meal,” till at sunset the
Cock took his departure, after arranging that the Hare was
to return the visit “ the day after to-morrow, when the cattle
go to graze.”

The Cock went home, nursing his grievance, and, when the
appointed day came, he said to his wives: “That friend of mine
went and put me to trouble by a device of building many

303

HARE AND JACKAL STORIES

houses, and so I too have thought of a trick to play on him
to-day, in order that he too may come to wait about.” So he
gave them full instructions, and sent scouts to watch for the
Hare’s approach. As soon as he was reported coming,
the Cock tucked his head under his wing and went to sleep.
When the visitor arrived, the women told him that his friend
had gone out to the pasture with the herd-boys and would
return with them in the evening. On his expressing his aston-
ishment at such inhospitable behaviour, they explained that
he had not really gone away altogether — he had sent his
head away with the herd-boys, while his body remained in the
house ; and in proof of this they showed him the apparently
headless form of the Cock. The Hare was greatly impressed
and asked the women to “ wake him that we may come and
have a talk,” but was given to understand that he must wait
till afternoon. At last, when the herd-boys came home, their
mother said to them: “ Just rouse your father there where he
is sleeping.” So they roused him, “ and he woke with a start,
saying : c Ah! so then, my friend, you have come? ’ ” And the
Hare rejoined, reproachfully: “ I have been come a long
time.” However, the Cock succeeded in placating him, and
they dined together, chatting as usual, till, when about to leave,
the Hare, unable any longer to repress his curiosity, inquired
about the “device.” The Cock replied: “Now, my dear
friend, is it so very much of a device? If you think you would
like to do it, it is done merely by those herd-boys of yours
cutting off your head, so that they may go with it to pasture,
and then, when they see you have come home, for them to hit
you, and you will awake! ”

The Hare hastened home full of excitement, and related
the wonder to his wife and next morning told his boys to cut
off his head and take it with them when they went out with
the cattle. They demurred at first but, on his insisting, said:
“Well, we know your cleverness! ” and gave in. So, when

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

the time came for them to go out, they said: “ Now then, we
are ready. Come, Sir, and let us cut the head off, as you said,”
and he went outside and they cut off his head, piercing the ears
to run a string through for carrying it. And when he was
quite dead, the women picked up the body and laid it on his
own bedstead. The Cock was not long in coming round to
see how his suggestion had borne fruit, and, of course, when
shown the body, jeered at his friend’s credulity, but said he
would wait till the boys came home and see what happened.

“ And on arriving they asked: c But where is father? ’ And
their mother said to them: 1 Is not that he, yonder on his bed? ’
And they went up to him and struck him, but he did not get up
and they struck him again — he did not get up! And the
children burst out crying. And the mothers of the family
cried. And folks sat a-mourning. And all the people that
heard of it were amazed at his death: 1 Such a clever man! who
built so many houses, you know — and for him to have met
with his death through such a trifling thing! Well, who will
get his property? Let that friend of his inherit it. Yes, he is
the clever one! ’ And the Cock took the property left by
his friend.”

We may share the surprise of the mourners that one so
acute should so easily have been taken in — but there is a touch
of shrewd observation here. We are familiar with the fact —
however psychologists may explain it — of some inexplicable
oversight, some momentary lapse of perception or memory,
wrecking the carefully thought-out plans of a powerful
intellect.

As already mentioned, the story of the Lion and the hot
stone is given by the Hottentots to the Jackal ; so is that of the
well — the Basuto, apparently, having adopted that form of
the tale, though in some other cases they have retained the
adventures as the Hare’s. Another well-known jackal story
I will give as obtained from a Galla informant, premising

305

HARE AND JACKAL STORIES

that it shows the Lion in a much more favourable light than
do the Hare stories and thus makes his treatment by the Jackal
quite inexcusable . 29

The Jackal ( gedal ) sat by himself out in the Bush, crying.
The Lion passed by and asked him what was the matter.
“ My father and mother are dead, and I am here all alone,
with no one to take care of me.” The Lion said: “ Don’t
cry, I will look after you,” and took him along to his village,
where he set him to herd his cattle. One day the Lion killed
a bullock and said he would go to herd, directing the Jackal
to stay at home and cook the beef for him. The latter did so,
but at the same time put a stone into the fire and, when it was
red-hot, wrapped round it a very fat piece of meat. When
the Lion came home hungry, Gedal told him to open his
mouth as wide as he could and threw the stone down his throat.

The narrator here described very graphically how the fat
sizzled on its passage down and how, “ his bowels being cut
through,” the unfortunate Lion died. (This climax was ex-
pressed by putting both hands under his left cheek and droop-
ing his head over them.)

Soon after, the Hyena, attracted by the smell of the roast-
ing meat, came up and asked for a share. Gedal gave him
some bones, telling him to make no noise, as the Lion was
asleep; then he sat down between the Hyena and the dead
Lion and — as if he had nothing better to do — asked the
former to let him play with his tail. The Hyena, busy with
the bones, made no objection, and never noticed that Gedal
was tying his tail to the Lion’s. Presently he shouted a
caution: “Look out! the Lion is awake! ” — and the Hyena
started at a run, dragging the dead Lion after him, reached his
burrow and crawled in. The carcase, of course, blocked the
entrance, and the Hyena waited, not daring — and indeed
unable — to move, till, in the course of nature, the truth
became evident, and the Lion’s tail came away when he pulled

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

306

at it. Then, after a time, he made his way out. Meanwhile
Gedal, having finished up the beef, and being again in want
of an easy subsistence, tried the same trick a second time, and
sat in the bush weeping and waiting for some charitable
stranger to pass. This time it was the Elephant, laden with
a bag of honey, who listened compassionately to his story and
— when Gedal added, as a final touch, that “ Father always
used to carry me on his back ” — said : “ All right, up with
you! ” While enjoying his ride, Gedal fell to eating the
honey from the Elephant’s bag. The latter, feeling the drops
which he let fall from time to time, asked if it was raining,
and the disconsolate orphan replied that the drops were his
tears, which he could not keep back, whenever he thought of
his mother. Having finished the honey he next remarked
that his father, when he took him for a ride, was always con-
siderate enough to pass under the trees, so that he could pick
fruit without dismounting. The good-natured Elephant,
seeing a fruit-tree with conveniently overhanging boughs,
walked under it, and Gedal sprang into the branches and took
himself off. We do not press the question of his arboreal
habits too closely. “ When the Elephant got home, his wife
took down the bag and found it empty.” The domestic sequel
is left to the imagination.

As already remarked, the Jackal is the favourite hero of
the Hottentot stories. Schultze has summed up his character-
istics in the following passage : 30 “The Jackal’s cunning is
most conspicuously successful where it is combined with per-
sonal courage, or cleverly takes advantage of his adversary’s
cowardice — as here in the case of the hated Leopard or the
more harmless Baboon. Where the adversary is both stupid
and greedy — as in the adventure of the Jackal with the
Boer, the sly rascal makes good his escape at the last moment.
Where his opponents show irresolution, or ill-judged leniency
(like the missionary who, in a tale of recent origin, employs

PLATE XXXII

1. The Nyanga, an elder of the Bushongo (Ban-
gongo tribe) presiding over the initiation ceremony.

2. House in which a death has occurred, which is
abandoned and left to decay (Babunda).

After photographs by E. Torday.
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:05:57 PM: HARE AND JACKAL STORIES 307

him about the farm and is wofully cheated), his most serious
offences are allowed to go unpunished. Yet the old rogue
sometimes comes in for a good beating ... for instance,
when he behaves with excessive arrogance towards the Fla-
mingo family. When persecuted by powerful enemies and
defeating them by his own ready wit, he enjoys the Hottentot’s
unlimited sympathy — still more so, when he avenges the
wrongs he has himself suffered ; but most of all, when he
appears as avenger and benefactor of the weak in general.”
There is a curious story 31 which represents the Jackal as
falling in love with the Sun (here, of course, feminine) and
trying to carry her off on his back, with the result that his
fur got burnt and remains black to this day (this of course, is
the South African variety known as the black-backed jackal).
Other versions 32 represent the Sun as a baby, apparently for-
saken by the wayside, which the Jackal picks up and carries
off. “When it burnt him, he said: f Get down,’ and shook
himself, but the Sun stuck fast to his back.”

We all remember the delightful episode in Uncle Remus ,
when Brer Rabbit presents Brer Fox in the character of “ my
fambly ridin’ hoss.” This appears to be a genuine jackal-
story, perhaps because the peoples who have made the Hare
their hero do not ride, or have only learnt to do so recently. 33
The Hyena is the victim. Both were invited to a wedding,
but the Jackal pretended he was too ill to walk and so induced
the Hyena, not only to take him on his back, but to provide
him with saddle, bridle, and spurs, on the plea that he would
be unable to keep his seat without them. 34

We cannot conclude this chapter without a reference to the
remarkable parallels contained in the Indian story of Mahdeo
and the Jackal. 35 The Jackal gets himself himself carried
on the Elephant’s back; he is caught by Mahdeo (who hides
under water and seizes him by the leg), and calls out that
Mahdeo is holding the root of a tree. Mahdeo then catches

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

308

him by means of a Tar-baby figure and ties him up, but he
escapes by a trick, inducing another jackal to take his place,
and Mahdeo is so delighted with his cleverness that he makes
him his watchman.

I do not think it is necessary to suppose that all the Hare
and Jackal stories migrated from Africa to India ; indeed, it
seems to me that an independent origin is indicated for the
Tar-baby, to take only one instance} but I should prefer to
abstain from theorising, till the materials have been more
fully studied.

CHAPTER XII

TORTOISE STORIES

O N THE few occasions — apart from the last disastrous
encounter with the Cock — when the Hare does not
come off victorious, it is the Tortoise who circumvents him.
We have seen how this happened in the story of the Animals
and the well , 1 and it is scarcely necessary to mention the two
most famous exploits of “ Brer Terrapin ” 2 — of which the
African versions will be given presently.

It is not difficult to see why the Tortoise should have gained
the reputation he bears in African and other folklore. His
ability to exist for a long time without food, the difficulty of
killing him, the ease with which he conceals himself, together
with his slow movements and uncanny appearance all combine
to suggest infinite watchfulness, patience, endurance, and wis-
dom, a grim sense of humour, and magical or preternatural
powers of some sort. I say advisedly wisdom, rather than
cunning, because, though in some cases the Tortoise’s intellect
serves the purposes of malice and vindictiveness, in others we
find him applying it to harmless fun or actual beneficence.

It is to be noticed that the Tortoise appears in all three
divisions of African folklore — i.e., side by side with the
Hare (or the antelope which sometimes takes his place), the
Jackal, and the Spider. Sometimes the land-tortoise, some-
times the turtle, or one of the fresh-water species, appears to
be meant — no doubt according to locality. One or the other,
at least, is found in every part of Africa.

The Baronga do not take much notice of the Tortoise in
their folk-tales j its place is taken by the strange little batra-

310 AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

chian called by them chinana and by zoologists Breviceps
mossambicensis . 3

In Sierra Leone, 4 we find the Turtle (“ Trorkey ”) making
a riding-horse of the Leopard — a feat ascribed in the West
Indies to Anansi. Here the Turtle, by a refinement of astute-
ness, induces the Leopard to offer the ride and even press
him to let himself be carried. However, when he finds him-
self tricked, he has his revenge, ties Trorkey to “ one big
’tick,” and beats him so severely that the marks show on his
shell to this day. This is an ending I have not met with else-
where — though there are other stories accounting for the
conformation of the Tortoise’s shell by relating how he got it
broken to pieces and mended again.

The famous race story as told in Aesop is probably a
moralisation of comparatively recent date. The primitive
tale, which seems to be so universally diffused as to create a
presumption that it originated independently, is both less edi-
fying and more amusing. The Akamba 5 say that the contest
took place between the Tortoise (N gu) and the Fish-eagle
(Halmetus vocifer) called by these people Kipalala and by the
Swahili Furukombe or Chalikoko. Both creatures had asked
for a Kamba girl in marriage, and had been told by her father
that the condition of winning her was “ to start at daybreak
for the coast and return before nightfall with some sea-salt.”

The Eagle was quite willing ; the Tortoise showed some
reluctance, but consented to compete if the race were put off
for ten months, to which the Eagle agreed. “ Next day, un-
known to the Eagle, he started for the coast to fetch some
salt; it took him nearly five months to go and five to return,
and he hid the salt in his house. Now during his journey to
the coast he arranged with all the tortoises he met on the way
to station themselves at intervals along the route between
Ukamba and the coast, one at each of the various camps,
streams and water-holes, and he told them all to look out for

TORTOISE STORIES

3 1 1

the Eagle as he flew past . . . and, when he called out:
‘ Tortoise, are you there? ’ each one was to reply in turn, ‘ 1 am
here.’ On the appointed day the Eagle started off on his
flight to the sea 5 at intervals he called out: ‘ Ngu iko ? ’ and at
various points en route he received the prearranged reply. He
was much surprised to find the Tortoise getting on so quickly,
and still more so when he reached the shore and found a
Tortoise there in the act of collecting some salt. He, however,
quickly picked up his own salt and flew back at full speed,
and not knowing that the Tortoise which he had left on the
beach was not his competitor, felt confident that he had won.
About four o’clock in the afternoon the original Tortoise, who
was on the look-out, saw the Eagle like a speck in the distance,
so he emerged from where he had hidden throughout the day
and waddled up the road to the village, announced his return
from the coast and handed the packet of salt to the girl’s
father.”

The Eagle, when he arrived and found that he had been
outwitted “ was very angry and flew off in a great temper.”
The Mukamba said to the Tortoise: “ It is true that you have
won, but if I give you my daughter, where will you live in
safety? for the Eagle is so angry that he is sure to find you
out and kill you.” The Tortoise answered: “Oh! that is
all right, do not be anxious for my safety. My home will
in future be in the water, and the Eagle will never get me.”

We have no information as to the various species of Tortoise
to be found in Ukamba; but this suggests that at least one
of them lives in fresh water, or is amphibious . 6

There is a curious little Hottentot story recorded by Kron-
lem 7 which seems to be based on the same idea as the above,
though the race motive is absent.

“ One day, it is said, the Tortoises held a council how they
might hunt Ostriches, and they said: ‘Let us, on both sides,
stand in rows near each other, and let one go to hunt the

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Ostriches, so that they must flee along through the midst of
us.’ They did so, and as they were many, the Ostriches were
obliged to run through the midst of them. During this they
did not move, but remaining always in the same places, called
each to the other: ‘ Are you there? ’ and each one answered:
‘ I am here.’ The Ostriches, hearing this, ran so tremendously
that they quite exhausted their strength and fell down. Then
the Tortoises assembled by and by at the place where the
Ostriches had fallen, and devoured them.”

This does not seem very clear, but no doubt means that the
Ostriches thought the pursuers were at their heels all the time
instead of being — as in fact they were — stationary, and
so rushed on madly to their destruction. An ostrich, as is
well known, cannot see distinctly what is close to him.

Another Tortoise story, printed by Bleek 8 from a MS. of
Rath’s (the original is in Herero), represents the Tortoise
as placed by the Elephant in charge of a pool of water,
while he went off to hunt. The Elephant had previously
quarrelled with the Rain, which consequently left the country $
he then asked the Vulture to work a rain-charm, but the
latter refused. The Crow, however, consented, and rain fell
“ at the lagoons, but they dried up, and only one lagoon
remained.” During the Elephant’s absence, the Giraffe, the
Zebra, the Gemsbok and several other animals came and
demanded water, but the Tortoise refused them all, saying:
“ The water belongs to the Elephant.” Last of all came the
Lion, who, without waiting for an answer to his request, seized
the Tortoise and beat him and drank of the water. “ Since
then the animals drink water ” — as though it had not been
their custom before. “ When the Elephant came back from
the hunting, he said: ‘Little Tortoise, is there water? ’ The
Tortoise answered: ‘ The animals have drunk the water.’ The
Elephant then asked: ‘Little Tortoise, shall I chew you or
swallow you down? ’ The little Tortoise said: ‘ Swallow me,

TORTOISE STORIES

3i3

if you please ’; and the Elephant swallowed it whole. After
the Elephant had swallowed the little Tortoise and it had
entered his body, it tore oflF his liver, heart and kidneys. The
Elephant said: ‘Little Tortoise, you kill me! ’ So the Ele-
phant died; but the little Tortoise came out of his dead body,
and went wherever it liked.”

I have given this latter part at length because of its possible
bearing on a curious unexplained point in the Swahili story
which describes the animals as “ singing ” in order to obtain
water . 9 There it is said that, after the rest had been unsuccess-
ful, “ the Tortoise appeared, and the Elephant saw him and
caught him and put him into his mouth, and he came out at
his nose, and his (the Elephant’s) companions said to him:
‘ Let him go, perhaps he will get water.’ And they let him go.
And he went and sang and got much water.”

This looks as though the well-known story related in our
last chapter had got mixed up with some rain-making legend
like the one given above, and one may conjecture that the
Tortoise proved his magical powers by coming out unharmed
in the way described . 10

Another point to notice is the eating of the Elephant from
inside, which we have already seen in “ Unana-bosele.” In
a Mandingo tale , 11 the Hyena having discovered a way to
introduce himself into the Elephant’s internal economy, feeds
on him and grows fat, but is always careful to avoid touching
the heart. The Hare, having got the secret out of “ Uncle
Hyena,” accompanies him and, paying no heed to his
directions, seizes on the heart and kills the Elephant. When
the chief’s servants come to cut up the carcase, the Hare hides
in the gall-bladder, which is at once thrown into the bushes,
and so he escapes, while the Hyena is killed.

The Mpongwe Tortoise and Leopard 12 act in a similar
manner towards the Giant Goat, who, however, is good-
natured enough to permit this parasitism, so long as the limits

3H

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

are observed, and the incident also figures among Anansi
stories . 13 It seems possible that it may have originated in the
idea — common and quite natural among primitive people —
that some animal is the cause of internal pains not otherwise
accounted for.

The famous “ Tug-of-War ” — usually between the Ele-
phant and the Hippopotamus — is found in various parts of
Africa. In the American version, it will be remembered,
Brer Tarrypin ties the rope to a stump under water, after
giving the other end to Brer B’ar. This is probably owing
to the difficulty of finding in the New World two equally
matched competitors . 14

The tale as told by the Mpongwe (Gabun) is as follows : 15
The Tortoise, having worsted the Leopard in several en-
counters and finally caused his death, began to consider him-
self equal to the Elephant and to the Hippopotamus and to
say: “We three who are left are of equal power; we eat at
the same table and have the same authority.” The people
who heard this and similar speeches went and reported them
to the animals mentioned, who only laughed and said that they
could afford to despise him.

One day, these two met in the forest, and the Hippo asked
the Elephant if he had heard of the Tortoise’s boasts. The
Elephant replied: “Yes, I have heard. But I look upon it
with contempt. For I am Njagu. I am big. My foot is as
big as Ekaga’s body. And he says he is equal to me! But I
have not spoken of the matter, and I will not speak, unless I
hear Ekaga himself make his boast. And then I shall know
what I will do.” The Hippopotamus agreed to do likewise.

When the Tortoise heard of their threats, he set out to look
for the Elephant and, when he found him, addressed him
familiarly as “ Mwera ” — about equivalent to “Mate!”
The Elephant, in great indignation asked: “Whom do you
call Mwera? ” and the other coolly replied: “ You,” and pro-

PLATE XXXIII

1. Sacred friction-drum of the Southern Bambala.

2. Dance of the Malela, to greet the New Moon.
The chief (in European costume) is conducting in
the centre.

After photographs by E. Torday.

TORTOISE STORIES

3i5

ceeded to assert his claim of equality and suggested that they
should test it by a tug of war on the following day. To this
the Elephant unwillingly consented. It was agreed that “ if
one overpulls the other, he shall be considered the greater,
but if neither, then they were Mwera.”

The Tortoise then cut a long creeper in the forest — such
as in West Africa is called a “ bush-rope ” — and, handing
one end to the Elephant, went into the forest with the other,
telling him to begin pulling when he should give the signal
next day. He then went to find the Hippopotamus and, after
challenging him in like manner, and getting him to agree to
the contest, gave him the other end of the rope, saying, “ To-
morrow when you feel the vine shaken, know that I am ready
at the other end, and then you begin, and we will not stop to
eat or sleep until this test is ended.”

Each of the competitors — not very consistently, considering
the confidence they had previously expressed — went into the
forest “ to gather leaves of medicine with which to strengthen
his body.” Next morning, the Tortoise went to a spot half-
way between the two, where he had made a mark on the
ground, and shook the creeper, first towards one end and then
towards the other. The two then pulled with all their might,
and the Tortoise laughed as he sat and watched them. When
he felt hungry, he went off and ate his fill of mushrooms,
after which he returned home for a sleep, awoke late in the
afternoon and went back to the forest to see how the contest
was going. He found the rope stretched quite taut, and
though, from time to time, it was pulled a little way in one
direction or the other, yet this was soon neutralised by a pull
from the opposite side, and neither gained any advantage.

At last the Tortoise, growing tired, nicked the creeper with
his knife, whereon it parted and each of the combatants fell
violently to the ground, the Elephant bruising his leg badly
and the Hippopotamus his head. The Tortoise visited each

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of them in turn, and in each case was acknowledged as an
equal. “ After that, whenever they three and others met to
talk in palaver, the three sat together on the highest seats.”

The Tortoise also figures in a tale of a somewhat unusual
kind, occurring in widely separated regions. The examples
hitherto collected are not numerous, and of the five which I
have noted, one has the Hare and another Hlakanyana in
place of the Tortoise. But there is a surprising agreement
between two forms collected at opposite ends of the Bantu
area — one from the Basuto, the other from the Benga of the
Cameroons.

Jacottet 16 thinks it may be a remnant of some ancient re-
ligious tradition, which is probably indigenous. It centres
about a tree whose fruit cannot be eaten without the permission
of the owner and then only by those who know its name.
(This is not expressly stated in any of the versions before me,
but the importance attached to the knowledge seems to imply
something of the kind.) 17 Messengers are sent to the owner
of the tree, who in each case gives the required information,
but every one forgets it on the way back — usually in conse-
quence of some accident — till at last the Tortoise (or, in one
case, the Hare) is more successful. In some instances, the
successful animal takes an unfair advantage of the others and
robs them of the fruit, throwing the blame on some innocent
party, and this is sometimes found in connection with other
incidents and without the episode of the name, as for instance,
in the story of the Hare already referred to , 18 where it follows
on the panic of the animals caused by the dropping of a fruit.

In two cases the owner of the tree is expressly stated to be
God (Leza, Maweza). In another, it is said that he, or more
probably she, for the word means “ grandmother,” was named
Koko. Elsewhere it is said to belong to “ the chief of the
animals,” and in the Ronga variant a woman, unnamed and
otherwise unaccounted for, appears to be in charge of it. One
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:06:46 PM: TORTOISE STORIES

3i7

more point should be noted: the name of the tree is some-
times said to be quite meaningless , 19 or else the narrator is
unable to explain it. Perhaps it is an archaic word whose
meaning has been lost, and it is possible that its original form
had some forgotten mythological significance.

Dr. Nassau collected a very interesting version of this tale
from the members of the Benga tribe at Batanga in the Cam-
eroons. It runs somewhat as follows:

In old times all beasts lived together in one part of the
country, with the exception of the Python, Mbama, who
dwelt by himself in a place about thirty miles away from the
rest. In that country grew a fruit-bearing tree called Bojabi,
but none of the beasts knew its name, nor whether its fruit
could be eaten. Then came a year of famine, when, searching
everywhere for food, they noticed this tree, but no one dared
to touch the fruit, as they did not know whether it was fit for
food. At last they decided to send and consult Mbama.
They chose the Rat as their messenger, telling him that he must
go by sea and not along the beach (this to prevent his loitering
by the way) and carry with him one of the fruits in order to
make certain of the identification. He accomplished the trip
safely, appeared before Mbama, and heard from him that the
tree was called Bojabi and its fruit was edible. Next morning
he started homeward, paddled energetically, and arrived in the
afternoon, but the operation of beaching his canoe so absorbed
his intellectual faculties that by no effort of memory could
he recall the name. He had to confess his failure and was
soundly beaten by the disappointed animals, who next dis-
patched the Porcupine. He too succeeded in his errand, but
forgot the name just as he was entering the village on his
return. Then the Antelope went, and he too learnt the name;
but just as he was about to land, a wave upset his canoe, and
the name went clean out of his head. One after another, all
the beasts tried and failed, with the exception of Kudu, the

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318

Tortoise. He at last volunteered but the rest jeered at him
for his presumption and even began to beat him. But the
Gazelle interposed saying: “Let him go on his errand. We
all have failed, and it is well that he should fail too! ”

But the Tortoise wisely went to consult his mother before
setting out. She warned him neither to eat nor drink while
on the sea, or, in fact, before reaching his destination. “ It was
through neglecting this precaution that the others forgot the
name.” The Tortoise attended to her instructions, reached
Mbama, received his message, and next day started on the
return journey. To keep the name in mind, he sang, as he
paddled :

“ Elephant! eat the Bojabi fruit! Straight! straight! straight!

Bojabi !

Buffalo! eat the Bojabi fruit! Straight! straight! straight!

Bojabi! ”

And so on, varying the song by beginning each line with the
name of a different animal. In this way he nerved himself
to keep straight on.

He had gone some distance when his canoe was capsized
by a large wave, but he clung to it and was carried ashore,
still repeating: “Bojabi! Bojabi! ” The canoe was some-
what damaged, and he had to repair it, but kept on singing his
song, and once more started on his journey. Just as he was
approaching the landing-place where all the beasts were gath-
ered to await his coming, a great wave caught the canoe, and
his friends ran into the surf, seized it and him and carried them
in triumph up the beach, he still shouting: “Bojabi! ” But
they did not understand what he meant, and, when they
begged him to tell the name of the tree, he said he would
only do so when they had reached the town. They carried him
up, and he then made the further stipulation that, before he
delivered the message, he should be allowed to carry his share

TORTOISE STORIES

3i9

of the fruit into the house. This he did and then revealed
the name, after which there was such a rush to gather the fruit
as to justify the Tortoise’s foresight in making provision for
his mother, whose advice had brought him success. 20

A Tortoise story collected in Nyasaland (1894) 21 exhibits
the hero in anything but an amiable light: he has been robbed
by the Iguana and is as vindictive and relentless as Shylock
in exacting his pound of flesh — quite literally, for the unfor-
tunate Iguana is cut in two, and the creditor carries off the
tail and two hind legs rejoicing. I prefer to give a pleasanter
episode, related to me by a stray Kavirondo 22 — not, I fear, a
model character — who had somehow or other found his way
to the Mission at Ngao and was supposed to be working about
the place, but preferred telling me tales and helping me to
shepherd my own tortoise — a pet whose sad history can-
not be related here.

A Lion had assumed the shape of a man and came to court
a girl at a certain village. Having obtained her own and her
parents’ consent, he took her home, her sisters and some girl-
friends accompanying her. At nightfall he became a Lion
again and, leaving the girls in his hut, went to summon the
other lions. He thought the girls were all asleep, but one of
them had seen the transformation and, as soon as all was quiet,
she called her companions, and they made their escape. They
had walked a long way when, tired out and frightened, they
met with a Tortoise who, on hearing of their plight, came to
the rescue by swallowing them all. He then ate a quantity of
grass and leaves and kept on his way. Presently the Lion,
who had for some time been on the track of the girls, came up
with the Tortoise and asked if he had seen them, which the
Tortoise denied. The Lion, however, was suspicious, and,
noticing that the Tortoise’s body seemed greatly distended,
asked him what he had been eating. The Tortoise answered:
u Only grass,” and, when the Lion was still incredulous,

320

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

coughed up a quantity to convince him. This seemed to be
proof positive, and the Lion took himself off, while the Tor-
toise travelled on till he reached the girls’ village, and there,
before the eyes of their astonished parents, brought them up
safe and sound.

This unpleasant mode of rescue is also practised by the
Tortoise in a Benga tale , 23 where, having won a wife who is
coveted by the Leopard, he swallows her, with her servants
and all their goods. When questioned by the Leopard, he
declares that he has eaten large quantities of mushrooms —
which is, in fact, the case. But the Leopard, less easily satis-
fied than the Kavirondo lion, insists that he shall “ go on
vomiting,” till furniture, goats, slaves, and at last the wife,
are produced. “Tortoise thought to himself: ‘I have no
strength for war.’ So, though anger was in his heart, he
showed no displeasure in his face.” But nevertheless, he
enjoyed a very complete revenge when his time came.

This aspect of the Tortoise recalls the “ Great Tortoise ”
of the Zulus , 24 who, in his turn, appears to be related to
Usilosimapundu and Isiququmadevu. But usually, in the
tales, he is not conceived as gigantic — merely as our familiar
little friend of the forest and veld.

CHAPTER XIII
SPIDER STORIES

T HE SPIDER of West Africa, Anansi , 1 is a very
different being from the Spider whom we occasionally
find in the Bantu area associated with creation, or acting as
intermediary between heaven and earth. So in the Angola
story 2 of the son of Kimanawezi who married the daughter
of the Sun and Moon, we find that the Sun’s handmaidens,
when they come down to earth to draw water, ascend and
descend by means of a spider’s thread. Similarly, the Lower
Congo people relate that the Spider brought down fire from
heaven . 3 The Duala represent the other animals as consulting
the oracle of the Spider, in the story of “ The Animals and the
Tiger-Cat ” 4 ( Mbanga-njo ). They had clubbed together to
clear a site for a village, but had no axes; the only one who
possessed any was Mbanga-njo. He, when applied to, refused
to lend an axe unless they could tell his name, which had
hitherto been a family secret. The little Iseru Antelope
(probably identical with “ Cunnie Rabbit ”) was deputed to
ask advice of the Spider, who told him to go into the forest
and, when he came to a trap with a bird in it, to take the bird
out and go on till he came to a fish-trap. He must take out
the fish he would find in it and put in the bird, and return to
the first trap and leave the fish in it, and then hide and
await the result. Presently the two sons of the Tiger-Cat
came along to look at their traps, and each of them exclaimed
in astonishment: “Oh! my father Mbanga-njo! — who ever
saw the like? ” When they had gone on their way, Iseru
returned to his village, called all the animals together by

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322

means of the signal-drum, and said: “ Now let us fetch the
axes from the home of him whose name we do not know.”
So they went to Tiger-cat’s house and made their request.
“Tell me my name.” “ Your name is Sango Mbanga-njo.”
As much surprised as Tom-tit-tot and others in like circum-
stances, he handed over the axes, and Iseru was lauded by all
the animals for his good sense.

Schon 5 records a story in which the Spider ascends to
heaven by his thread, in order to attend a wedding-feast; but
his conduct when he gets there is quite in accordance with the
general West African estimate of his character. He is un-
grateful to the Cobweb which enabled him to reach the sky
(and which is spoken of as if endowed with a separate person-
ality); the Cobweb is offended and refuses to take him back
to earth; the Dove offers to do so for a consideration, but,
on arriving, instead of giving her the promised gold, he
roasts and eats her. There was some justification for the
poor Dove’s remark when hesitating over the bargain: “ With
you people of the earth, if a man makes it day for you, you
make it night for him.”

Ellis 6 says that the Gold Coast tribes hold the human race
to be descended from the Spider — which probably means
that he was once a totem, or one of the animal deliverers and
Demiurges (like Yehl and Ioskeha) who may or may not —
this is not a point I feel competent to discuss — be glorified
totems. In any case, his character has suffered considerably
since his descent from mythology into folklore.

The usual Spider or “ Anansi ” story of West Africa is
of a type which falls into line with the Hare, Jackal and
Tortoise stories of other regions. He is a less pleasing
personality than these, and one is inclined to deny him a single
redeeming feature; but the Hausa, at least, do not appear
to take so harsh a view. Mr. Rattray 7 says: “ The Hyena is
. . . the personification in Hausa folklore of all that is

PLATE XXXIV

View on the Calabar River, Southern Nigeria.
After a photograph by P. Amaury Talbot.

SPIDER STORIES

323

greedy and treacherous. Quite a different character from
that ascribed to the gizo-gizo (spider), for instance, whose
cunning and plausibility are rather admired than otherwise.”
This cannot be said of the Temne, who, while duly impressed
by Mr. Spider’s cleverness, draw a very clear distinction be-
tween it and the more endearing wiles of Cunnie Rabbit.

We find him not only astute and resourceful, but mean,
greedy and cruel, and his treatment of his own family is a
scandal to any decent African. It is curious that his son
(sometimes called Kweku Anansi and, in the West Indies,
Tacoma) usually appears in a much more favourable light.
Whether this son is supposed to be a spider pure and simple
is not clear: the Bushongo cosmogony and various facts in
Bushman mythology prepare one for the weirdest relation-
ships between animals ; and the Temne, it appears, say that the
Spider’s wife is Koki, the “ Praying Mantis.”

Sometimes we are told — and the statement probably
marks a late stage of myth-development — that the Spider
was formerly a man. One Hausa story 8 says that he was a
smith who played a remarkably low-down trick on the Lion
and was by him torn to pieces and trampled in the dust. The
pieces joined together became the Spider. The Temne 9 say
he was once “ round lek pusson ” and acquired his present
more or less flattened shape through being stuck to, and for-
cibly detached from, the Wax Girl — the local equivalent
for the Tar-Baby. The explanation of his small waist given
by the same people 10 is this: Hearing that feasts were to be
held in the surrounding villages, the Spider determined to
secure a supply of meat from all. He therefore took up his
position in a central spot and gave each of his children a rope,
of which he had tied the other end round his waist. He then
instructed each of them to pull his end of the rope when the
feasting was about to begin at the village which he had reached,
so that their father might lose no time in repairing thither.

3 2 4

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Unluckily for him, all the dinners began at the same time,
so that he was pulled simultaneously in several directions,
and his figure shows the results to this day.

A peculiarity everywhere attributed to the Spider is his
inability to pronounce words in the ordinary way. In Hausa
he speaks with a lisp and says shaki for sarkin (“ chief ”),
doyina. for droina (“ hippopotamus”), etc. The Gold Coast
people describe him as talking through his nose. Even in the
West Indies his queer speech is invariably emphasised . 11

Typical Spider stories are found among Twi, Hausa, Vai
and Temne, to name no more. They are markedly absent
from the folklore of Calabar, Ikom, and Yoruba , 12 where the
Tortoise figures most prominently, and from that of Sene-
gambia and French Guinea, so far as I have been able to ex-
amine it, which favours the Hare — or whatever animal whose
name the French authorities have translated “ Herne ” This
is the case in the Tug-of-War story already mentioned.

The Spider, for all his cunning and resourcefulness, is not
invariably successful ; — witness the following tale, told by the
Hausa and, in a somewhat different form, by the Anyi of
the Gold Coast . 13

The Spider’s wife owned a cow, which the Spider — always
described as afflicted with an insatiable appetite — desired to
eat. He could not touch it (this is a point of African custom
too often overlooked) without his wife’s permission, which
she was not likely to give. So he feigned sickness and desired
her to consult a certain one-eyed wizard, to be found at a
place which he indicated to her. He then tied a patch over
one eye, took a short cut through the bush, and reached the
spot before she could get there. Not recognising him, she
paid the fee and said she had come to ask his advice about
her husband, who was very ill. He told her it was impossible
that the patient could recover, “ if you do not give him this
cow of yours, that he may go to the bush with it, to some

SPIDER STORIES

325

place where there is no one, not even a fly, and there kill it.”
(The stipulation for the absence of flies is felt by the narrator
to be the acme of meanness: the Spider does not intend to
lose even the smallest particle of the meat.) The wife went
home and found her husband groaning in bed. He was, as
might be expected, eager to try the remedy, and insisted, in
spite of his wife’s remonstrances, that he could crawl, if he
could not walk. In fact, he already felt so much better that
he got out of bed and caught the cow. They set out, accom-
panied by their son, but had to travel a long way through the
bush before they could find a suitable place and, even then,
there was one fly there. However, the Spider concluded
that this was negligible, so he killed the beast, skinned it,
and then, thinking that the red of the sunset, seen through
the trees, was a distant fire, sent off the boy to fetch a brand,
that they might roast the meat. While he was on the way,
the sun went down, but he could still see a red spot, which he
took to be a fire, though it was in fact the open mouth of the
bush-demon known as the Dodo. The boy tried to light
a bit of dry grass at the supposed fire, when he was startled
by a voice saying: “ Who are you? ” In his fright, he could
only answer: “ My father says you are to come,” and the
Dodo rose up and followed him. When they reached the place,
the Dodo said: “ Here I am,” and the Spider retorted. “ Who
called you? ” “ The Dodo said: 1 Your son called me.’ And
the Spider was about to strike the boy, but the Dodo said: ‘ You
must not beat him.’ So he refrained and cut off one lump of
meat and gave it to the Dodo. And the Dodo said: c For the
sake of a little thing like this does a friend summon a friend?
Add to it, increase it.’ And so on, and so on, until the Dodo
had taken all the Spider’s meat from him.”

But, even so, Dodo was not satisfied, but, on the Spider’s
pointing out that there was no meat left, said: “ Even if you
give me yourself, I shall not refuse.” The Spider, ignoring

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

326

this broad hint, handed over, first his son and then his wife,
whom the Dodo stowed away in the elephant-skin sack where
he had already secured the meat. As he was still unsatisfied,
the Spider began to pick young pumpkins which were growing
close by, but though he cleared the whole garden, he could
not fill the bag and found himself at the end of his resources.
“ So the Dodo opened the mouth of the bag and said: 1 Come
here, get in.’ And the Spider entered by compulsion, not of
his own wish.” 14
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:07:23 PM: Then Dodo tied up his bag, shouldered it and went on
through the forest, looking for a convenient place to roast his
prey. Presently the Camel came along, like a chief, with a
long trail of followers singing his praises. He took no notice
of the Dodo and passed on. Soon after, the Dodo met the
he-Goat, with a similar procession 5 he too passed on, saying
nothing. Then came the Rat and was about to pass likewise,
when his “ tail ” drew his attention to the fact that Dodo was
carrying something. The Rat, no doubt made suspicious by
past experience, stopped and questioned Dodo; but the latter
lost his temper and swallowed him — to little purpose, how-
ever; for the Rat, three times over, emerged unhurt from
various parts of his person. 16 “ Then the Dodo fell down
and died.” The Rat had the bag opened, and out came the
Spider with his wife and son. On hearing his story, the Rat
said: “Worthless one, take your meat and get off home.
Allah has been good to you this day,” and so departed;
while the Spider, not much disturbed by this candid address,
gathered up the meat of which he had so nearly been deprived,
went home with his family, and sent his slaves to cut up the
Dodo, who was apparently considered edible. 16

We have already seen that the Spider sometimes figures
instead of the Tortoise in the Tug-of-War story. 17 The
Hausa version of this presents some novel features and an
interesting sequel. 18 He is not concerned with asserting his

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327

dignity against the Elephant and the Hippopotamus — only
with obtaining a supply of food which, to do him justice, he
this time intends to share with his family. He brings the
Elephant a message, as from the Hippopotamus, asking for
a hundred baskets of grain and promising to send a horse in
return, at harvest-time. He makes the same promise to the
Hippopotamus in consideration of a hundred baskets of fish.
When the time comes to redeem his promise, he hands each
creditor the end of a rope, telling him that the horse is at
the other end, but is very wild and vicious. Both pull with
all their might, unconsciously move along the rope and at
last, meeting face to face in the forest, discover the trick.
Naturally, their first thought is to discover the Spider and
pay him out; but he is quite ready for them. He finds the
skin of a dead antelope, gets inside it and wanders about —
presenting, of course, a lamentable appearance. He meets
the Elephant who inquires what has reduced him to this con-
dition. “ I was unfortunate enough to quarrel with the
Spider, and he pointed his hand at me. Those at whom he
points his hand waste away as I have done.” The Elephant
believed him, for (like the Lion in a similar predicament) 19
“ he was a fool,” and at once gave up the search, and — the
Hippopotamus meeting with a similar experience — the Spider
escaped.

We may now relate an Ewe tale ?0 which in some respects
resembles the one given in Chapter V, though it makes no
allusion to the spirit-world. The Spider had a friend named
Detsyovi, who, during a time of famine, happened to be stroll-
ing through the Bush, when he saw a millstone grinding by
itself and a stream of honey flowing beside it. Detsyovi ate
as much honey as he wanted and then took some, with a sup-
ply of flour, for his wife and children at home. This he did
from time to time, and so they were enabled to live and grow
fat. One day the Spider (Yiyi) came to see Detsyovi and

328 AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

asked him where he got the food on which the family appeared
to be thriving. Detsyovi refused to tell him, on the ground
that he was too talkative. Yiyi, however, left him no peace
till he consented, but said they would wait till the next morn-
ing, when the women went to fetch water. The Spider was
too impatient to wait for daylight, but came along while it
was yet dark, with a water-jar on his head, rattling the gourd-
dipper inside it, and called out that the women were already
on their way to the well. 21 Detsyovi, looking out, saw that it
was still too early, and told him to wait till the women swept
out the courtyard. Yiyi at once took up a broom and began
sweeping, as noisily as he could, and then hurried to his friend,
telling him that it was time. But Detsyovi, seeing no sign of
daylight, said that he would go with him when the sun rose.
Then the Spider went a little way off and set fire to some
bundles of sticks, hoping that the glare would deceive Det-
syovi; but the latter refused to come out, and both went to sleep
again till morning.

When, at last, it was really daylight, they went into the
forest together, and Detsyovi led the Spider to the place where
the millstone was grinding and the honey flowing. Yiyi
shouted aloud: “Why! there’s food here, and we have to
go hungry! ” Detsyovi said: “Don’t make such a noise! ”
They both stooped down and drank some honey, and then the
Spider hoisted up the millstone on to his head. The stone
began to sing, telling him to carry it back and put it down;
but he would not listen. He went round with it to all the
people in the neighbourhood, who paid him cowries for various
quantities of flour, till his bag was full of money. But when
he grew tired and wanted to carry the stone back to its place,
he found that it had stuck to his head, and he could not lift it
off. The weight crushed him into small pieces, which were
completely covered by the stone. “ That is why we often
find tiny spiders gathered together under large stones.” 22

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329

If the Spider had not carried off the millstone from its place
in the forest people could have gone there to this day, in
times of scarcity, and got food.

Among the Ewe the Spider has, on the whole, the character
which we have already indicated, though there are one or
two curious traces of his figuring as a benefactor. Spieth
says : 23 “The Spider surpasses all the beasts of the field in
courage and cunning.” (His courage is not, as a rule, conspic-
uous elsewhere.) “ He gets the better of the Leopard . . .
and also of the Elephant ... he borrows money from a
chief and refuses, even after numerous reminders, to repay
it. By his magic power, he delivers the whole population of
a town from the destructive c sword-birdd Yet, on the other
hand, it was the Spider who brought sores, and even death,
into the world.”

The stories given as evidence of the last two statements
are not very clear, and are probably remnants of some older
tradition. Anansi has so few redeeming points in his char-
acter that it will be well to give the first of them , 24 with all
its obscurities.

Once, in time of famine, the children of God (Mawu) came
down to earth, and the Spider (Yiyi) asked them if his
daughter Yiyisa was there (in heaven, presumably). He
requested that, when they returned, they would take her a
small parcel which they were to fetch from his house. If
he were not at home when they called, they would find it lying
on the hearth and were to carry it away without further cere-
mony. This was because he intended to get himself tied up
in the parcel j and, for the same reason, he bade them tell his
daughter not to open it until she was in the inner compartment
of the house. t His daughter was, naturally, much surprised at
seeing him, but received him cordially and did all she could to
make him comfortable, only informing him that he would have
to go elsewhere for the night, as no one else slept in that

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

town . 25 The Spider asked the reason, adding that nothing
would induce him to leave the place. Yiyisa answered: “ There
is a bird here with a beak as long as from Ho to Tsibuj and,
if we stay, he will come and eat us.” The Spider replied,
boasting of himself by his laudatory names 26 : “The bird
will have no desire to eat me — me, the Little Gun! — me, the
Little Gourd! — I will stay here!” Accordingly, he re-
mained, and set about sharpening his knife to such an edge
that “ if a fly settled on it, it became as water.” During the
night, the bird set out, singing:

“ We birds, we birds, we eat human flesh!

We birds of Akem, we birds of the free-born, we eat human flesh!

When we cry aloud, no other bird cries!

When we cry aloud, the grass dies in the bush! ”

The Spider sat in the inner room, keeping up his courage
by the repetition of his praise-names, till at last the tip of the
bird’s beak — which preceded him by several hours —
reached the town. The Spider hacked it off with his knife
and continued to cut off fresh pieces, till he killed the bird.
Then he struck up his war-song:

“ We Spiders, we Spiders, we live in the wall!

We Spiders of Akem, we Spiders of the free-born — ”

and so on, adapting the bird’s slogan to his own use.

The people, when they came back and heard this, rejoiced
greatly, but told him there was yet another plague for him
to get rid of — a man covered with sores, who would not
permit them to sleep in their town. He desired them not to
leave the place, and, in the night, he heard this pestilent
person approach, singing:

“ Ado says, ‘ The angry man shall kill me! ’ ”

The Spider began to dance and went on till morning, when
he told the man to come again and sing to him. The people

PLATE XXXV

Women of the Bankutu tribe, shov
patterns on the body.

ing cicatrised

SPIDER STORIES

33i

assembled; the man sang, and the Spider danced with great
vigour, till at last he became infected with the man’s sores.

Nothing I have been able to discover throws any light on
this mysterious statement. It is not even clear whether the
sores were transferred from the man to the Spider, thus free-
ing the former, or whether the latter merely caught the infec-
tion. The narrator goes on to say:

“ At first Mawu had not made any sores in the world ” —
perhaps there is an idea of Pandora’s box here — “ but when
the Spider had got them, they spread among men. Formerly
they were only with Mawu, but now they are spread abroad
through the world, because of what the Spider did.”

It is thus evident that he was a very partial benefactor;
and in the next story , 27 though it appears that his intentions
were to some extent good, he only succeeds in causing dis-
aster. The tale, as we have it, cannot be very near its primitive
form, whatever that may have been; but its importance is
attested by the existence of two West Indian versions , 28 in
one of which (very obscure) Annancy marries his daughter
to Death, while in the other he sends her to Death’s house
as a servant.

This, too, begins with the statement that “ there was a
famine in the land.” Death, whose habitat is not clearly indi-
cated (he is taken for granted as dwelling within easy reach
of, but not among, mankind) kept himself alive by snaring
game. To do this more efficiently, he hoed a broad road about
six miles long and set his traps in it. The Spider, finding
that there was plenty of meat in Death’s house, came cadg-
ing there with a huge basket; and, in order to have an excuse
for repeating his visits indefinitely, he finally gave Death
his daughter in marriage.

Death warned his wife not to pass along the broad road
when she fetched water from the river; and, for a time, all
went well. But one morning, after heavy rain, unwilling to

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take the narrow side-path through the wet grass, she went
by the road, stepped into a trap and got killed. Death, when
he found her body, was hampered by no sentimental scruples,
but cut it up and set the joints to dry by the fire. Yiyi,
missing her when he paid his usual call, asked where she
was and was told that he would find her if he removed
some of the meat. Though not in general an affectionate
parent, he was so far roused as to say: “ I am now going
home, but I will come again ; and I am not going to take you
by surprise — I shall make open war on you.” He went
away, sharpened his knife to such a point that it would split
a fly, flung the weapon at Death and fled. Death discharged
an arrow, which set the Bush on fire but did not hit the Spider
— he being by this time safe in his house. Death lay in wait
for him outside the village and, in the meantime, amused
himself by shooting at the women who passed through the
gardens with their water-jars, on their way to the river. After
a while, he went to look, found that he had killed several,
and exclaimed in delight: “ Why, this is game! I need never
go and set traps in the Bush any more! ” In this way, Death
came into the world. The narrator seems to mean by this the
world of men — the animals having experienced Death’s
power for some time previous to the Spider’s unlucky
intervention.

Nothing more is said about the Spider himself — but it
is to be presumed that he escaped — at any rate for the time
being. In both the Jamaica versions, he is represented as
outwitting Death. He climbs the rafters, with his wife and
children, while Death waits below. One by one, they are
forced by exhaustion to let go and are seized and put aside
for future consumption. Annancy tells Death he is so fat
that he will “ pop ” if he falls on the ground, and so, “ if you
no want me fat fe waste, go an’ fetch someting fe catch
me.” 29 Death fetches a cask of flour from the next room,

SPIDER STORIES

333

and Annancy, dropping into it, raises such a dust as to blind
him for the time being and allow his victims to get out of
reach.

It may yet be possible to recover a more satisfactory version
of the Ewe legend, which may make these fragmentary tales
more intelligible and also throw some light on the Spider’s
mythological position.

CHAPTER XIV

STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT AND
WEREWOLVES

S TORIES about witches distinctly characterised as such
are not very common in Africa — certainly not among
the Bantu. The personage who, in European tales, would
figure as the witch more often belongs to the numerous and
weird family of ogres or amazimu. Bleek’s theory 1 that
Bantu “ ancestor-worship and belief in the supernatural give
rise to horrible ghost-stories and tales of witchcraft,” while
beast-fables are conspicuous by their absence, scarcely needs
refuting at this time of day; and Jacottet 2 comments on the
comparative rarity of such legends, except among the Herero,
a people peculiarly open to non-Bantu influences.

Some interesting particulars as to Hausa witches are given
by Tremearne , 3 most of them tending to bear out the above
view — viz., that the witch is rather a preternatural or, at
any rate, abnormal being than a mere human creature possessed
of magical skill. Thus we find that “ a witch and Dodo are
often interchangeable ”; “ when a witch is killed, every bit
of her must be destroyed, for even a single drop of her
blood can kill the victim ” — just as the remains of the zimwi
in the Swahili story give rise to a pumpkin-plant which de-
velops equal powers for mischief. Another unpleasant pecu-
liarity is the following: w All witches have many mouths which
they can cause to appear all over their bodies at will, and the
owner can turn them back into one by slapping herself.” 4 The
rimu of the Wachaga 0 is, in one case, detected by his pos-
session of a second mouth in the back of his head, and one tribe

STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

335

of ogres, according to the Baronga , 6 have one in the nape of
the neck, where it is usually hidden by their long hair.

But witchcraft, though not often mentioned in the tales,
occupies (as is only too well known) a prominent place in
African folk-belief. The terror which makes small boys —
and indeed older people — in Nyasaland reluctant to go out
after dark, is not ghosts or bogies, as we understand them, but
afiti, wizards. In East Africa, I have been assured in all
seriousness that wizards (wan go) are in the habit of knocking
at people’s doors by night, and woe to those who open and
answer them! They entice you (or perhaps induce you by
hypnotic power) to follow them into the forest and there kill
you. My informant did not expressly mention for what
purpose, but every one knows it; and the theory and prac-
tice of ufiti seem to be wonderfully uniform, from the Tana
to the Cross River, and beyond, for there can be little doubt
that it underlies the Obi and “ Voodoo ” rites reported from
the West Indies and the Southern States of America.

A mistake which has sometimes been made with regard to
these last is to treat them as normal manifestations of African
religion, whereas they represent not merely unauthorized but
illicit and positively criminal practices. It should be remem-
bered that most, if not all, of the slaves voluntarily sold by
their own tribe, in the days when the trade flourished, were
either criminals or debtors. Similarly, we find some writers
even now confusing witches and witch-doctors 7 — which is
much as if one made no distinction between the thief and the
policeman.

Witches, in general, do not seem to be credited with such
multifarious activities as in Europe. Though one does hear
of their causing injury or death through spite and revenge,
their principal raison d'etre as a society (in parts of East
Africa, at any rate, they appear to form an organized guild)
is to feed on the bodies of those recently dead — doubtless

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

336

in order to secure a cumulative supply of strength, wit, courage
and other desirable qualities. To this end, when deaths from
natural causes occur too infrequently, or the “ subjects ” are
unsuitable, they cause people to die by means more or less
occult. It is generally believed, and probably with reason,
by those in a position to know, that they possess an extensive
knowledge of poisons j and it also seems likely that they often
kill by suggestion . 8

The Nyasaland natives believe that it is not through poison
that the victims are killed, but (as our authority not very
clearly puts it) “ by supposed power against them through
medicine.” 9 Witches can make themselves invisible, dance
in the air, and move from place to place regardless of the
ordinary laws of matter ; and the dread of them explains many
funeral customs — e.g., the drumming and dancing kept up
night and day till the corpse is buried, the abandonment of the
deceased’s house, which is shut up and left to decay, the fact that
no one will sleep in it while the burial rites are going on, etc.,
etc. They make their fire on a recent grave, and it can be
seen for miles — hence any light of unknown origin is re-
garded with suspicion. (It is not an actual fire, but the
grave itself becomes luminous, “shining with an uncaused
light.”) I remember being assured that some flames of unu-
sual height and brilliancy, observed during the grass-burning
season on Nyambadwe hill, near Blantyre, were caused by afiti.
So, too, the Baziba 10 never venture near a fire seen in the
distance at night, believing that it marks the place where the
witches are seated in council, deliberating who shall next be
killed.
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:11:12 PM: Witches have power over certain animals, whom they em-
ploy as their messengers or familiars . 11 Such are the owl,
the hyena, the leopard, sometimes the lion, a kind of jackal,
snakes, etc. The Zulus believe that the baboon is sent out
by abatagati (wizards) on “ villainous errands,” as is also the

STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

337

wildcat. These errands are of various kinds. “ The leopards
will go to any house and carry off fowls or goats just as they
are ordered. The snakes, too, will hurt any victim chosen by
the wizard.” 12 Or, as the Zulus say, the wildcat may be
sent to suck other people’s cows, or to collect izidwedwe, i.e.,
old rags which have been in close contact with people’s bodies
and which may be supposed to absorb some of their personality
and, therefore, can be used for bewitching them.

When it has been decided to hold a cannibal feast, these
messengers, especially “ the owl who sits on the head of the
chief ” (presumably the arch-sorcerer) are sent out to summon
the witches to the grave where the unholy fire has been kin-
dled. The grave is opened (the well-known habits of hyenas
may explain this point), the dead man brought out, restored
to life, killed again, cut to pieces and eaten — sometimes on
the spot ; but sometimes the “meat” is carried home and
hidden, after being divided among the participants . 13

Every member of the witches’ corporation takes it in turn
to provide a victim, and no one is allowed to evade the obli-
gation, even if it entails the sacrifice of his or her nearest rela-
tion. A popular song recorded from Pemba 14 (by no means
contemptible as poetry) gives expression to this idea, being
the lament of a mother who has sacrificed her daughter and —
so to speak — sold her soul for nothing, since she has not
obtained what she was led to expect in return.

In the cases referred to above, the victim is consumed after
death and burial (whether always revivified and killed again,
as in Nyasaland and Zanzibar, does not seem clear) ; but with
some West African tribes (e.g., the Mpongwe), the procedure
is different. Here, if accounts are to be trusted , 15 hypnotism
appears to be at work. The witches remain, to all appearance,
asleep in their huts; but “ their real selves,” or, as theosophists
would say, their astral bodies, go out into the forest to hold
their nocturnal orgies, while, by the same, or some analogous

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

338

process, they bring out the “ self ” of the destined victim,
extract his “ heart’s life ” and consume it. The person thus
treated dies, if the whole of his life is eaten ; if it is not eaten
all at once he suffers from a lingering illness, but will recover,
if even a part of it is restored.

Corpses are sometimes restored to life for other purposes
than that of being eaten. Zulu sorcerers are said to dig up a
dead person in order to make of him (or her) a familiar,
known by the name of umkovu. They give certain medicines
to bring back the life, then “ they run a hot needle up the
forehead towards the back part of the head, then slit the
tongue ” 16 — or, according to another authority , 17 cut off the
tip, so that he can only speak “ with an inarticulate confused
sound.” These beings are sent out by night to work charms, or
place poison in the kraals. They go about “ shrieking, yelling
and making night hideous ” — though presumably not while
engaged on the errands just mentioned — and have the power
of compelling the grass to twine round the feet of a belated
traveller, so as to hold him till they come up. “If they call
a man by his name, and he is green enough to answer to it . . .
he is drawn like Sindbad’s ships to the loadstone rock . . . they
soon finish him, cut his throat, pull out his tongue and enrol
him in their . . . corps.” 18

The appearance of an umkovu in a kraal is a presage of
death, and if any one there happens to be ill at the time, it is
certain he cannot recover.

One of the rare Suto tales dealing with witchcraft may be
given here , 19 because it illustrates some points in what has
already been said, and also because of some remarkable coin-
cidences with one presently to be quoted, from the distant
region of Calabar. It is sometimes given as an account of the
way in which witchcraft was first introduced among the Basuto:
in that case it is not clear whence it was derived.

A young girl, recently married to a man who lived at a

STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

339

distance from her own home, was called one night by her
mother-in-law and went with her to a ravine, where they
found the people with whom the older woman “ used to
practise witchcraft, also ghosts ( dithotsela ) and baboons and
many other animals.” The woman had brought with her two
sticks, one black and one brown } and, having ordered the whole
assembly to sit down, she shook the black stick at them, and
they all died. She then waved the brown one towards them,
and they all returned to life. She then handed them to her
daughter-in-law and told her to use them. She waved “ the
staff that kills,” left the people dead on the ground and re-
turned home to tell her husband. In the morning, the chief of
the village called all the people together and found that there
was some one absent from many of the huts. He then went
with his wife to the place of the meeting and found the people
still stretched on the ground. The woman brandished the
brown stick, and they all returned to life: the ghosts (who had
presumably been embodied for the occasion) vanished away,
but the human participants were all seen to be naked . 20 On
reaching home, the young wife refused to stay any longer in
such a place, but returned to her parents, to whom she said:
“ I have been married among witches } I even know already
how to practise witchcraft} if I had known, I would not
have married there.” The mother-in-law was very angry
and, the next night, sent a familiar in the shape of an obe
(“ a fabulous animal of very large size ”) to fetch her. She
tried in vain to awaken her parents and the other people in
the kraal, was carried off and cruelly beaten with sticks by
the assembled witches. The obe carried her back, and when
her parents got up in the morning, they found her bruised
and swollen all over. The same thing happened again twice,
but on the fourth occasion the obe was killed by armed men
posted in accordance with a witch-doctor’s directions. The
witch came next morning and asked for the obe i s skin, which

340

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

was refused, and she was ultimately driven from her village
and “ went away for good.”

The story told by the Ikom of the Cross River (Southern
Nigeria) 21 also professes, if not to account for the origin of
witchcraft, at least to relate how it became known to that
particular tribe.

A chief named Ndabu, who had been childless for many
years, consulted a “juju man,” or witch-doctor, and was
advised by him to put away all his wives except one, from
whom, after certain ceremonies had been performed, he might
expect a family. On the birth of the eldest child, the witch-
doctor prophesied that one of the chief’s sons would “ some
day discover something which the Okuni people had never
heard or known of before.” One of the Okuni chiefs, Elullo,
became jealous of Ndabu’s power and influence, and conspired
with Elilli, one of the discarded wives, to get rid of him. Both
of these people belonged to the witch-society, the existence of
which was then unknown to all outside their own circle. They
could not directly injure Ndabu and his house, as he kept
powerful “medicine” to protect them; but they decided to
“ put a witch into ” the youngest son, Amoru, and so use
him for their purposes. Elullo then invited Ndabu, with
all his family, to dinner and bewitched the portion of food
set aside for Amoru. The effect of this was that, when
summoned during the following night by Elullo (who came
to the house in the shape of an owl), he was compelled to go;
but the influence seems to have been limited, for Amoru
retained his own individuality and, when given human flesh
to eat at the witches’ feast, hid it and only ate the yams pro-
vided with it. Every night, for six weeks, he was forced “ by
the witch inside him ” to go and join in their revels, but, in-
stead of eating the meat, he always took his share home and
carefully put it by. At last they told him “ it was his turn
to provide a body for food, but Amoru said he was too young

PLATE XXXVI

Charms to protect a village against witchcraft and
other evil influences. Bakongo tribe, on the Loange
River, a tributary of the Kasai. After a photograph
by E. Torday.

STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

34i

and had no one to give. Then Chief Elullo said: 1 You have
a father and mother and plenty of brothers and sisters, we
shall be pleased to eat any of them.’ ” The boy entreated
them in vain to let him off; but at last they agreed to wait
till his turn should come round a second time, when he was
to hand over one of his parents. As the time drew near, he
became more and more uneasy and at last confided in his
eldest brother, showing him the hidden store of meat to prove
that his words were true. They then agreed upon a plan
for catching the witches.

That night, when Amoru went as usual to the witches’
meeting, Elullo reminded him of his obligation, and he re-
plied that he would give his eldest brother, Nkanyan. The
chief told some of the people to go and fetch Nkanyan, tak-
ing with them the “ night-calabash,” which was always carried
by the witches on such errands, in order magically to prolong
the darkness. Amoru, however, insisted that Elullo, being
the chief, ought to accompany them, and he consented —
Amoru going first to show the way. When they entered the
hut, the man carrying the “ night-calabash ” held it out three
times towards Nkanyan; the third time Nkanyan sprang up
and smashed it with his matchet. Immediately it was daylight,
and the witches began to run out and try to escape. But
Nkanyan called the people from the other huts, and, being
naked, the miscreants were at once recognised and caught.
Ndabu called the other chiefs together; the witches were tried,
condemned, and burnt alive, and Elullo put to death with
tortures . 22 Amoru was sent for treatment to a noted witch-
doctor who “ took the witch out of his heart and put it under
a rock,” after which he was quite cured. “ The people then
collected all the ashes . . . and threw them into the river,
saying they had got rid of all the witches in their town.”

An exceedingly curious account of an organization intended
to counteract the doings of the witches’ guild was obtained

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

some years ago in Nyasaland. Unfortunately, I can only
give it from memory as received at second-hand, in the hope
that documents relating to this or similar cases may become
available at some future time. Societies of this sort are not
uncommon — in fact, the “ Human Leopards ” of Sierra
Leone were, in the first instance, a body whose object was to
protect the community against witches.

A member of the society was brought to trial for killing a
man, which he admitted, but justified, on the plea that the
victim was a witch. All the circumstances, and his character,
being taken into consideration, he was discharged with a caution.
His account of the society, and his connection with it was
somewhat as follows:

When he was a young man, a succession of deaths occurred
in the village where he lived, so rapid and so unaccountable
as to occasion a good deal of talk. He thought over the matter
for a long time and finally consulted his father, asking whether
he knew of any remedy for this state of things. His father
replied that there was one, and had he been younger, he would
have tried it himself ; that his son could do so, if he felt able,
but it was a great undertaking, requiring courage and resolu-
tion, as well as physical strength. The son declaring himself
willing, the old man told him to repair to a certain doctor,
whom he named, at a village some distance away, and put
himself under his direction. The doctor kept him under in-
struction for some time and, when his initiation was complete,
sent him home. “ On the way,” said he, “ you will meet a
funeral party. One of the bearers will give you his end of the
bamboo pole ” — to which the corpse, wrapped in mats, is
slung — “ you must take it and go on.”

When the young man had gone some distance, he saw the
head of the procession approaching along the narrow path, and
seized by a sudden panic, turned aside and hid in the long
grass, till he thought they had passed by. He came out again

STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

343

and went on, but presently saw a second funeral and again
hid himself. The same thing happened again, and gradually
the conviction dawned on him that it was one and the same
procession and that he could not escape. So he went forward
boldly and lifted the pole from the bearer’s shoulder to his
own. As it touched him, he felt a kind of explosion in his
head and knew no more. When he regained consciousness,
he was lying on the path alone. He got up and went on his
way without further adventure.

When he next met the doctor — after some time — he
related his experience, expressing some doubt as to whether
what he had seen might not be an illusion. The answer was:
“,You are right; there was no funeral, it was I.” Probably
the idea was to test his endurance by means of some hypnotic
trick; but in the absence of trustworthy details, it seems idle
to attempt any explanation.

When he reached home, he seems either to have formed a
local branch of the secret society or got into communication
with such members as may have been within reach. Their
procedure was to watch by night near a recent grave and seize
upon any person approaching it, who, by the nature of the case,
it was believed, could only have come on a ghoul’s errand.
They killed him by inserting a poisoned splinter of bamboo
into the body, in such a way as to leave no external traces. The
victim would go home and — conscious of guilt, or knowing
that he could prove nothing against appearances — dared not
complain and died in a few days. The last, however, know-
ing that Europeans took a different view, reported the matter
to the magistrate before his death. Hence the trial.

The belief that sorcerers can change themselves into lions,
leopards, hyenas, or other animals, seems to be found all over
Africa as a matter of actual, living belief. At any rate, it
is no more than thirty years since an old man was tried at
Chiromo (Nyasaland) on a charge of murdering unoffending

344

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

travellers — leaping on them out of the long grass, as they
passed. He admitted the murders, alleging, in all good faith,
that from time to time he turned into a lion; he always “ felt
it coming on ” and was at such times driven by an irresistible
instinct to kill some one. 23

We have seen that such animals are sent by wizards to do
their bidding; this is not incompatible with the belief (held
concurrently or as a local variation) that the wizards them-
selves may assume their shapes, and that the hyenas which,
unless due precautions are taken, invariably come and scratch
the soil from a newly made grave are, in fact, afiti. .This
implies the power of turning back again when desired, and is
distinct from the idea of the dead coming back in animal form;
yet there is a link beween the two in the notion that people
can, by taking certain medicines, ensure that they shall change
into certain animals when they die. This is probably, though
not in all cases necessarily, for the sake of working mischief,
so that such people may be classed as posthumous werewolves. 24

Sometimes it is believed that people turn into animals while
asleep — i.e., the soul leaves its human body and enters for
the time being that of an animal. Gaunab, the being in
Hottentot mythology who is sometimes described as the
<c devil,” can assume at will any shape, human or animal —
the latter, apparently, only by day. These avatars of his,
whether buck, jackal, or any other creature, are invulnerable
and never fly from the hunter. 25

When the late Walter Deane, a mighty hunter and much
beloved by the Congo natives, was killed by an elephant at
Lukolela in 1888, the natives insisted that this was no ordi-
nary elephant, but “ bad fetish ” — probably the expression
used by an interpreter familiar with Europeans. 20 This may
have meant one of three things: either ( a ) it was a “ were-
elephant,” the shape temporarily assumed by a hostile sor-
cerer, or (£) it might have been sent by such a sorcerer to

STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

345

kill Deane, or (c) — a case very similar to the last, but yet
distinguishable — it might have been the totem-elephant of
some enemy. In the absence of fuller information, the ques-
tion must be left undecided.

In Abyssinia, where (as among the Somali, Masai and
others) all workers in iron are a race apart and to some extent
outcasts, blacksmiths are supposed to turn into hyenas and
commit depredations in that shape, like the wolf in the class-
ical instance recorded by Apuleius. 27 A case is related by a
European who “ may be said to have been nearly an eye-
witness ” of the occurrence. 28 Coffin, who lived in Abyssinia
for several years during the early part of the last century, had
engaged one of these men as a servant. One evening he
came and asked for leave of absence till next day. “ This
request was immediately granted, and the young man took
his leave 5 but scarcely was Mr. Coffin’s head turned to his
other servants, when some of them called out, pointing in
the direction the Buda had taken: ‘Look, look, he is turning
himself into a hyena! ’ Mr. Coffin instantly looked round,
but though he certainly did not witness the transformation,
yet the young man had vanished, and he saw a large hyena
running off at about a hundred paces distance. This happened
in an open plain, without tree or bush to intercept the view.”

Whatever may be thought of the above, it is certainly an
item in folk-belief, which is what concerns us here; and the
same writer records elsewhere 29 how the people of Adowa
asserted that a man once shot at one of six hyenas and hit it in
the leg. They all made off, and when the men, who pursued
them with spears, came up with them, they saw “ five Budas
carrying a lame person.” The man was found to have a
fresh shot-wound in the leg, and the Budas — like the witches
in the two stories already given — had no clothes on.

The werewolf idea frequently recurs in folk-tales; but usu-
ally in a different, form from that hitherto mentioned; instead
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:11:50 PM: AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

346

of a man turning himself into an animal, we have an animal
turning himself into a man, for the purpose of securing for
his wife a human being whom he intends to kill and eat,
though his purpose is in most cases defeated, either by a
brother or sister of the wife, by some helpful animal, or other-
wise. The most popular beasts in this connection are the
leopard and the hyena. But the story occurs in innumerable
variations, the suitor being sometimes, not an animal but an
ogre — disguised, of course — or even a mere “ robber,” while
in a region long subject to European influence, he is, frankly,
“ the Devil.” It should also be noticed that the Wachaga
(whose folklore unites two separate streams of tradition) have
an extremely fluctuating conception of their irimu. Sometimes
he is called a “ were-panther ” (but even as such his shape
seems to differ from that of the ordinary leopard), but some 1 -
times he appears as an ordinary human being, except for a
second mouth at the back of his head, and yet again, as a
shapeless monster, with bushes growing out of him, like the
Zulu U silosimapundu. There is more than one Chaga tale
relating the courtship of such a being, and one where a hyena
(not called an irimu) forces a girl to marry him and keeps
her in his den till rescued by an old woman. But this tale, as
it stands, seems to be a confusion of two different themes, and
it is better to take a fairly typical one from Nyasaland . 30

A girl refused all suitors who presented themselves (this is
the usual opening and serves to point a moral against pride
and over-fastidiousness), but was at last attracted by a hand-
some stranger from a far country, who was, in fact, a trans-
formed hyena. Her parents consented, and the marriage took
place. After some days, the husband prepared to take his
bride home, and her little brother, who suspected something
wrong, begged her to let him come too; but she refused, be-
cause he had sore eyes . 31 He waited, however, and then
followed them, crouching down and hiding in the grass when-

STORIES OF WITCHCRAFT

347

ever he was about to come up with them. When he thought
he was too far from home to be sent back, he joined them
openly, but his new brother-in-law drove him back with threats
and blows. So he dropped behind, but still followed them
secretly and reached the village, where they so far took pity
on him that they allowed him to sleep in the hen-house. Here
he stayed awake, and when it was quite dark, he found that
many hyenas had assembled (during the day all the people
in the village had taken human form). They went round
and round the house where the bride was sleeping and sang:

“ Let us eat her, our game, but she is not yet fat enough ! ”

In the morning, he told his sister what he had heard, and
she refused to believe him; so, at nightfall, he asked her to
tie a string to her toe and pass the end out through the wall of
the grass hut, where he could get it. When the hyenas began
their dance, he pulled the string, so as to awaken her, and she
heard them for herself. Next day, he borrowed his brother-
in-law’s adze, saying that he wanted to make himself a spin-
ning-top, and constructed a wooden receptacle of some sort,
evidently having magical properties, for, not only was he
able to get into it with his sister, but, on his singing a certain
incantation, it rose into the air with them and carried them
safely home, despite the pursuit of the hyenas.

A story very similar to this is told by the Mpongwe , 32 of
a leopard who, hearing how a certain girl has announced that
she will accept no man as a husband whose skin is not perfectly
smooth and flawless, gets himself treated by a medicine-man
so as to fulfil the conditions and carries home his wife, who
has a narrow escape of being eaten, but is saved by an enchanted
horse, thoughtfully provided by her father. This horse,
however, introduces an alien element into the conclusion, and
will require a passing notice in our last chapter.

CHAPTER XV

RECENT AND IMPORTED MYTHS

I T DOES not come within the scope of these pages to
attempt definitions of mythology and folklore, or to say
where the line should be drawn between them. But it seems
to me that, in an old civilisation, though folk-belief may still
be a living thing, it does not as a rule throw up new shoots of
myth. Not that the mythopoeic faculty is by any means
dead, even in these islands, as witness the legends of the
Mons angels and the Russian army at Aberdeen. But there
is a difference — better felt than expressed — between such
fictitious narratives as these, disseminated (no doubt in all
good faith) usually through the medium of the newspapers,
and the equally fictitious narratives related and believed as
sober fact, in Africa. I should not include among the latter
such rumours as that of the miraculous fish caught at Zanzi-
bar and bearing texts from the Koran on his sides — an anec-
dote whose proper home would seem to be the columns of
Tit Bits or the Daily Mail. But any day in casual conversation,
one may hear of occurrences which might have been taken
direct from some mediaeval chronicle. One was informed,
for instance, how the women of Mambrui, during a long
drought, went on pilgrimage to a ruined mosque in the woods,
and there, in the pauses of their prayers, heard the spirits of
“ the old Sheikhs ” chanting, within the walls, “ Amin ” and
“La illah ill' Allah.” And the rain came down in torrents
before they reached home. Or how a godless soldier of the
Seyyid’s guards — “ one of those Hadhramis, you know, who
have no respect for anything ” — shot down the glittering

PLATE XXXVII

1. Ancient Pillar at Mambrui, from which the
urn is said to have been shot down.

2. Ruined house at Lamu. Note the rows of
niches along the wall which are used as shelves. They
were often filled with valuable china by rich Arabs.

RECENT AND IMPORTED MYTHS 349

bowl which used to finish off the top of the great pillar just
outside the town, and fell down dead before the fragments
reached the ground. Or how my informant’s grandfather
was cured of his blindness through remedies revealed to him
in a dream by “ our lord Hamza.” 1

A remarkable example of these modern myths is the follow-
ing, sent me in MS. by the Rev. K. Becker, formerly of the
Neukirchen Mission, at Kulesa on the Tana. His account is
translated from the notes of one of his native teachers, who
got the narrative at first hand from an aged woman at Mwana-
thamba — a village not far from Ngao. I may mention that
I had heard of the story before receiving Mr. Becker’s MS.
and had twice walked over to Mwanathamba in order to secure
an interview with Hadulu — said to be the heroine of the
tale — but without success.

This woman belonged to the Buu tribe, 2 who now occupy
the country round Ngao, about thirty miles from the sea.
According to the narrator, at the time when these events took
place — which we may put at from fifty to seventy years
ago — they were sunk in degradation and wickedness, chiefly
owing to their drinking habits. They used to make intoxicat-
ing liquor from the juice of a species of Borassus palm ( mu -
hafa\ which produces edible fruit ; and besides the other evils
arising directly from drunkenness, they killed so many palms
by persistent tapping, that the food supply was sensibly
affected.

Now a certain man named Mpembe, living at Sambae, was
one day visited by a white man, dressed in a long white gar-
ment; his hair, also, was long, like that of a European woman.
He told Mpembe, who was a man of influence and standing,
being a member of the witch-doctors’ guild, that he should ex-
hort his countrymen to leave off their sinful practices.
Mpembe obeyed, and with some apparent result, as the people,
though inclined to scoff at first, became frightened and effected

350

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

an ostensible reformation, though many of them continued in
secret to act as they had done heretofore. The stranger there-
upon visited Mpembe a second time and sharply rebuked him,
in so much that he nearly died of fright.

One day, about this time, three young girls were out watch-
ing the rice-fields, to drive away the birds from the ripening
crops. One of them belonged to the Buu tribe, and her
companions to the neighbouring tribes of Ngatana and Kalindi.
One day, when the birds were less troublesome than usual,
they left their posts to pick up firewood in the forest and saw
the white-clad stranger — his figure surrounded by a mysteri-
ous radiance — standing among the trees. They were terri-
fied and ran back to the rice-field, crouching down to hide
themselves in the standing grain. But, when they ventured to
look again, they saw him coming nearer — the nimbus which
surrounded him growing brighter all the time — till he stood
under a muhafa palm, when he bowed himself to the ground,
and they heard him say: “Amen! amen! the people cry,
1 Hunger! hunger! hunger! ’ Yet I have given you the fruit
of the mukindu and of the muhafa and of the mukoma , to
eat thereof, but ye have wasted and destroyed them through
your sin.” He had a long staff in his hand with which he
struck the trunk of the palm again and again, and at every
blow some of the leaves fell, till at last it was quite bare.
Except for the word “ Amen,” which, of course, was unknown
to the girls, he spoke in their own language. He then addressed
them as follows: “ I have done this that you may tell your
people of it and warn them that, if they go on spoiling the trees
and refuse to give up their other sins, I shall do terrible things
among them ! At such and such a place I saw a drunkard who
had climbed a palm; I said to him: ‘Come down! ’ but he
only mocked at me. I touched him with my staff, and he fell
dead. Tell your people to go and fetch his body, and let this
evil-doing cease out of the land! ”

RECENT AND IMPORTED MYTHS 351

Presently there arose a terrible tempest: the wind beat down
the rice in which the girls had hidden themselves and even
threw them to the ground, and they saw the stranger rise into
the air and disappear among the clouds.

At the same time, Mpembe, at home in his village, received
some supernatural intimation which caused him to tell the
people that the stranger of whom he had spoken to them
had appeared to three girls in the rice-field, and that their
friends ought to go and look for them, as they would be
helpless with terror. They went and found that it was as he
had said, and heard the whole story from the girls.

However, the warning had no lasting effect. The Wabuu
failed to mend their ways, and the stranger’s words were ful-
filled, for some time after this, the Tana changed its course
(as it seems to have done several times previously) and the
Buu tribe were forced to leave the fertile bottom-lands, which
ceased to be productive when no longer periodically flooded by
the river. Then, too, the muhaja palms died throughout their
country, and they were not only deprived of the intoxicating
drink in which they were wont to indulge, but of the fruit
which they might legitimately have used. The narrator then
goes on to describe the present distribution of the tribes repre-
sented by the three maidens and the first introduction of
Christianity.

It is, possible — as suggested by the missionaries at Ngao —
that some wandering friar, of whom all record is lost, may have
penetrated the Tana forests about the middle of last century.
But an examination of the story makes it more probable that
we have here a product of the myth-making fancy, under the
influence of Christian teaching, projected backwards to a
period long before the establishment of the Neukirchen
mission in 1887.

It is interesting to compare with this a Chaga tradition (un-
fortunately somewhat vague and scanty) reported by Gut-

352

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

mann . 3 At a not very distant period — “ the first Europeans
had already come to us ” — was seen the apparition of a light-
complexioned man floating through the air at high noon. He
had a bell in either hand and cried aloud:

“ Pay every debt thou owest to thy brother!

If thou hast an ox of his, restore it.

If thou hast a goat of his, restore it.

The King commands it!

Let every stranger in the land return to his home.

Every child kept in pawn ye shall set free.

Cease from deeds of violence, break the spear!

The King commands it! ”

At sunset he appeared again and was seen in different places,
but never touched the earth. The Chief of Moshi heard of
him and ordered his men to keep on the lookout. But,
though they sat gazing at the sky till driven indoors by the
chill of the evening, they never saw him again.

Another example of a recent — or at all events highly
modernised — story from the same region is that of the fight
with the pool already mentioned in Chapter IV . 4

Turning from indigenous myths of recent origin to those
which can be set down with tolerable certainty as introduced
from without, we are confronted by some very interesting
problems of diffusion. Where Arab influence has extended,
we may expect to find Moslem traditions ; and such legends
may be found more or less naturalised in the folk-lore of
the Swahili, the Hausa, and various peoples in the Eastern
and Western Sudan . 5 The tales of the Arabian Nights , too,
are widely current in East Africa, whether originally imported
in a literary form, or by purely oral transmission, it is hard
to say, but I am inclined to the latter supposition, judging
from the number of stories one hears (casually told by cara-
van porters and other quite illiterate people) which, though of
the same general character, are not to be found in that collection

RECENT AND IMPORTED MYTHS 353

and no doubt belong to the great mass of floating tradition of
which only a small part has been reduced to literary form in
the Nights.

India, too, has contributed, directly and indirectly, to the
folklore of East Africa. The story of the “ The Washerman’s
Donkey ” 6 has been traced to the Sumsumara Jataka and that
of “ The Heaps of Gold ” to the Vedahhha Jatak a, though
it has been derived through a Persian channel. 7 A version of
the “ Merchant of Venice ” was related to me in Swahili by
a Pokomo, as told to him by an Indian at Kipini who, he
supposed, had “ got it out of some book of his own.” 8

The stories of Abu Nuwas have already been referred to
as, in some cases, mixed up with those of the Hare. They
are not to be found in the Arabian Nights , but seem to be a
common property of Arabic-speaking story-tellers and are
contained in a chap-book circulating in Syria. 9 Some of his
adventures are identical with those of Khoja Nasreddin, the
famous Turkish jester, but not necessarily derived from them.
There are also points of contact with the Arab and Berber Si
Joha ( Jeha ). Abu Nuwas was a real person, a poet and
humorist who lived (a. d. 762— 815) at the court of Harun-al-
Rashid and — like Theodore Hook and others — gained such
a reputation for wit and whimsicality as to attract to himself all
the anonymous good things of his own day, as well as those cur-
rent before and since. Some of his repartees are really humour-
ous, but his specialty lies in practical jokes, and, according to
the legend, he became such a nuisance that Harun-al-Rashid
and Jaafar resorted to every possible stratagem to get rid
of him. These stratagems and the expedients whereby he
defeats them sometimes, in Africa, coincide more or less with
the more primitive Hubeane and Kalikalanje cycles ; and we
have seen how his name, Banawasi, has become a common noun,
denoting a clever, resourceful person, or even an epithet for
the Hare. Harun becomes, vaguely, “ the Sultan,” or “ the

354

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Chief ” — though in some Swahili versions his name and that
of Jaafar are preserved, — and at Delagoa Bay, he is even
localised into the Portuguese Governor of Mozambique . 10 A
favourite incident is that of his being ordered, by the Caliph
or the Governor, to build a house in the air. He sends up a
large kite with bells attached to it and, calling attention to the
sound which, he says, is that of the workmen’s hammers, he asks
for stones and lime to be sent up. This being declared im-
possible, he is absolved from his share of the contract.

Again, when the Sultan has ordered his house to be burnt
down, he appears resigned to his fate and only begs leave to
take away the ashes in a sack. These he sells to the Portuguese
(a people, in the narrator’s view, very easily gulled) for
their weight in silver, making them believe that the sack con-
tains valuable presents which he is taking to their king. Com-
ing back with the price, he reports that there is a wonderful
market for ashes in the Portuguese possessions; consequently
the Sultan and all the townspeople burn their houses down and
load seven ships with the result. These fall in with a Portu-
guese squadron on its way to avenge the trick; the ships are
sunk and only a few of those on board escape by swimming.
The Sultan seeks for Abu Nuwas, to have him killed, but he is
nowhere to be found . 11

Yet in spite of this, he shortly afterwards cheats a differ-
ent set of Portuguese and induces the Sultan to kill all his
cattle in order to sell the hides and bones at fabulous prices.
He is then thrown into a lion’s den, but tells the lion that the
Sultan has sent him to scratch him whenever his hide feels
uneasy. The beast is so pleased with this delicate attention
that he does Abu Nuwas no harm.

One of the jests common to Si Joha , 12 Nasreddin and Abu
Nuwas is that of the borrowed saucepan, returned with a
small one, because it has produced a young one in the interval.
On the next occasion, the lender is more than willing, hoping
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:13:20 PM: RECENT AND IMPORTED MYTHS 355

to get his own back with interest a second time — but the
saucepan never returns, the borrower explaining that it is
dead. 13

Anecdotes of Joha were told me at Lamu: they were chiefly
of the Eulenspiegel kind and evidently derived from Arab
sources. The one I remember best tells how when his mother
desires him to “ mind the door,” he takes it off the hinges and
carries it on his back. 14 Other jests of a somewhat similar
nature are related at Lamu as taking place at the neighbouring
town of Shela, the local equivalent of Abdera, Gotham, the
German Schilda or the French Saint-Maixent. In one of these,
a hunter, having taken a bush-buck out of a trap and being
in too great a hurry to slaughter it ritually, lets it go, charging
it with a message to his wife. The Berbers tell a somewhat
similar story of Si Jeha, 15 but give it quite a different turn.
Si Jeha had caught three hares and, one day, when expecting
some visitors, gave two to his mother, telling her to kill and
cook one and keep the other in a corner of the house. The
third he took with him to the fields. When the guests,
directed by his mother, joined him there, he let the hare go,
bidding it go and tell the mistress that it was to be killed for
breakfast. Seeing the men’s astonishment, he told them that
he had two wonderful hares, of which one always returned
to life when the other was killed 5 and, in proof of this, when
they reached home he showed them the live hare in the corner.
The distribution of these drolleries, and their relation to the
native African tales of Hubeane, etc., might well form the
subject of a separate volume.

At Mambrui, in 1912, an old lady named Mwana Mbeu
bind Sadiki, a native of Shela and said to be aged 1 1 6 (though
this I doubt), told me the following story. Unfortunately,
I could not take it down word for word in the original Swahili,
but I wrote out the substance of it soon afterwards :

A childless couple consulted a soothsayer, who told them

356 AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

that they would have a son if they followed his directions
(not recorded) j but he would turn out a spendthrift. The
son was born in due course, and they gave him a good educa-
tion, but by the time he had completed his university career
their whole property was consumed. Having absolutely
nothing left, they proposed to sell him, but he (taking the same
line as Admetus with his parents) pointed out that it would be
more to the point for him to sell them. More submissive than
the Greek couple, they agreed, and he disposed of them in re-
turn for clothes, a sword, a dagger, and a horse, and rode off.
On the way he fell in with a man carrying to the Sultan of the
next town a letter containing orders to kill the bearer on arrival.
(The reason of this was not made clear: the man was described
as a fsadi — a waster, or general bad character.) The messen-
ger handed over this letter to the young man, who agreed to
deliver it and put it into his turban for safety. Proceeding on
his journey, he found himself crossing a waterless desert
and was nearly dead with hunger and thirst when at last
he came to a well near which lay a dead ewe. There was
neither rope nor vessel of any kind at the well, but he unwound
his turban, forgetting all about the letter fastened into its
folds, lowered it into the well and sucked the water from it
after drawing it up. Finding the letter soaked, he spread it
out to dry, became acquainted with its contents, and destroyed
it. He cut open the carcase of the ewe, found that the lamb to
which she had been about to give birth was alive, killed,
roasted, and ate it. Then he journeyed on and at length
reached a country where the Sultan’s daughter had announced
that she would only consent to marry the man who could
beat her at chess — unsuccessful competitors to lose their
heads. The youth presented himself, played and won. He
was then required to enter on a further contest and to guess
riddles proposed by the princess. (The game of chess may be
due to confusion with another story, as there is no previous

*

PLATE XXXVIII

Bantu Types, Basuto

1. Woman grinding.

2. A family stripping maize.

RECENT AND IMPORTED MYTHS 357

hint of two contests.) He guesses all hers and then defeats
her by asking: “ Who is it who wore his father, rode his
mother, ate the food of the dead ” (it should rather be “ ate
of that which was never born ”) “ and drank the water of
death? ” Here the story, as told to me, ended with the mar-
riage of the youth and the princess.

Parts of it struck me at the time as vaguely familiar, yet I
could not place it, nor could I, for some years after, discover
anything analogous to it, till I happened to re-read Hindes
Groome’s Gypsy Folk Lore 16 and found that Mwana Mbeu’s
tale is substantially identical with the Turkish Gypsy story of
“ The Riddle,” though the conclusion of the latter — in
which the princess gets at the story by unfair means — is
wanting. The editor says: “ When I translated this story I
deemed it unique, though the Bellerophon letter is a familiar
feature in Indian and European folk-tales, and so too is the
princess who guesses or propounds riddles. . . . Now, ... I
find it is largely identical with Campbell’s West Highland tale,
1 The Knight of Riddles,’ No. 22 (ii, p. 36), with which cf.
Grimm’s ‘ The Riddle,’ No. 22.” 17 But in both these, as well
as in the further variants cited by Kohler and others, the
riddle is different, whereas the Turkish Gypsy version is very
nearly the same as Mwana Mbeu’s; it also occurs in a Russian
tale. Otherwise the European versions differ greatly from
it and sometimes from each other; but an Arab enigma runs as
follows: “ Who is he who rode on his mother, armed with
his father, and drank water neither of the earth nor the sky,
while he carried death on his head? ” 18

On the whole, it seems most likely that the original home
of the tale, in this form, is Arabia, whence the Gypsies carried
it to Europe.

From the point of view of the diffusion of folk-tales, five
stories grouped by Junod as “ Contes Etrangers ” 19 are ex-
tremely interesting. One of these, “ Bonaouaci ” (= Abu

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

358

Nuwas) has already been noticed. The adventures of Djiwao
(Joao) are a mixture of exotic and native elements. The
former are to be sought rather in the East than in the West,
though there may be some European touches. We are re-
minded of three different tales to be found in Swahili: Sultan
Darai (the episode of the enchanted castle and the serpent —
here replaced by Sakatabela, a white woman with seven heads),
Sultan Majnun (the “ Nunda, eater of people ”), and Kiba-
raka (the magic horse which delivers the hero). 19a The end
of the tale brings in the old trick of Hlakanyana boiling the
mother of the cannibals ; but the victim in this case is Gwanazi,
chief of Maputa — who, by the bye, was still living when the
story was taken down.

Only one of these tales seems to be distinctly European,
“ La fille du roi,” which, the narrator said, her informants had
heard in Portuguese from some of the Europeans for whom
they worked at Lourengo Marques. It is Grimm’s “ The Shoes
that were Danced to Pieces,” of which at least one Portuguese
version has been recorded . 20 A few Portuguese stories have
found their way to Angola 21 — if anything, it is rather sur-
prising that there are no more.

But one of the most remarkable instances of diffusion is
the story given by Junod under the title “ Les Trois Vaisseaux.”
A “ white man ” 22 has three sons, all of whom, unknown to
their father and to each other, are in love with the same girl.
Each asks his father for a ship and all three set out on a
trading voyage — so thoroughly has the tale been localised
that we are told the names of the three districts near Delagoa
Bay where each of them landed in order to sell his goods. An
old woman persuades the eldest to buy an old, broken basket,
which has the properties of the magic carpet; while she sells
to the second a magic mirror, and to the third a powder which
will restore the dead to life. They see in the mirror that the
girl with whom they are in love is dead and being laid out; the

RECENT AND IMPORTED MYTHS 359

eldest brother transports all three back in a twinkling by means
of the basket, and the third resuscitates the maiden. The ques-
tion now is who had the greatest share in saving her life, and
consequently who shall marry her — and, in this version, it
is left undecided.

A Yao version, “ The Story of a Chief,” obtained in Nyasa-
land some twenty years ago, 23 is altered almost beyond recog-
nition and has lost much of its exotic character^ moreover, the
point is somewhat obscured by the statement that it is a man
who has been brought back to life and whom, consequently, each
of the brothers claims as his slave. 24

I cannot help thinking that this belongs to the class of legal
problem stories, where the audience is sometimes expected to
supply the conclusion, 25 and that in the genuine form no deci-
sion is reached. It is found (with an unsatisfactory decision)
on the Kru coast, 26 and bears a certain resemblance to the
Congo “ How the Wives Restored their Husband to Life ”, 27
which may, however, be quite independent. Here, the women
agree to settle the matter in this way: “ Let us each cook a
pot of food, and take it to him as soon as he can eat} and let
him decide out of which pot he will take his first meal! ” He
decided in favor of the one who actually revived him, “ and
the majority of the people said he was right in his judgment}
but the women round about said he should have put the food
out of the three pots into one pot, and have eaten the food thus
mixed.”

The foregoing is only a hasty survey of a few outstanding
points in what might well be a separate field of investigation.
It is subsidiary to the main purpose of this book, but some
notice of it is necessary in a comprehensive view of the subject.

APPENDIX
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:24:25 PM: AFRICAN

ADDITIONAL MYTHS SUPPLIED BY CAPTAIN
J. E. PHILIPPS OF THE UGANDA PROTECTORATE

RUANDA (East Central Africa)

{Ex -German, Congolese and British )

Principal Authorities:

1. The Muniginya Mututsi Nirimbilima, first cousin of the Sultan

Yuhi Musi.nca, reigning Umwami of Ruanda.

2. The Mwega Mututsi woman Kantarama of Induga County

(Ruanda Proper).

3. The Muhutu Arcadi Nderese of Bugoie County (N. W. Ruanda).
4 The Muhutu Rwakazina of Bufumbira (Brit. Ruanda).

5. The Mututsi Kabango of the Rutshuru (Congolese Ruanda),
and others.

I

THE COMING OF MAN (Ba-tutsi)

The Mututsi Kigwa, a Muniginya, came down to Induga from the
heavens with his wife, a Mwega, and his two sons named Katutsi and
Kahutu. He found on earth the aboriginal clans of Bagessera, Bazigabe
and Basinga, all Ba-Hutu. All were equal. There was no King. They
attacked the family with stones. They knew no other weapons.

On his deathbed Kigwa instructed his sons to teach the aborigines the
arts of civilization, which they did. The smelting of iron, and the manu-
facture of spears and knives resulted.

Katutsi had a daughter. He told Kahutu to go to another hill across
the river and marry her.

He wished to establish a separate branch of the family to avoid too close
intermarriage.

Kahutu at first refused as the relationship was too close, but faute de
mieux consented so that the race should neither lose its purity nor die out.

PLATE XXXIX

Bantu Types

People of the Safwa tribe (north of Lake Nyasa).
(See page 372.)

APPENDIX

373

Kahutu’s wife (and her offspring) were thenceforward called the
“ Abega ba Kulya,” “ The nether Princess(es).” Cf. Luganda: Mu-Mbega,
or Mu-Mbedja = a princess.

It was stated by Katutsi that “ The Banya-GiNYA shall bear kings.” To
which Kahutu replied: “ And the Ab-EGA the mothers of Kings.”

The word “ Ruanda ” = “ the Kingdom,” in the Kinya-RuANDA tongue.

The story is taken down verbatim from (i), but varies considerably in
detail as told by other informants, usually as to whether they are Ba-tutsi or
Ba-hutu. The inhabitants of the Induga County alone consider themselves
to be of the true Ruanda stock.

II

THE COMING OF CATTLE (THE COW).

By the Banya-RuANDA Cattle are considered second only to man in the
world-creation.

Umwami Ndori (Ndahiro) had a daughter, Nyiraruchaba, who was
driven out from their home (Ulugo) by him.

She went into the wilderness of Kanagge above Msaho (Lake Kivu).
Her father thought her dead.

Nyiraruchaba saw two strange animals in a rocky forest glade. One was
a cow and the other its (bull) calf. The cow appeared to be rubbing
itself in the mouth of a small rocky depression. When it moved into the
forest, she went and examined the place and found a white liquid in a
pool. This she tasted and found good.

Every morning she watched the cow: first it suckled the calf and then
descended into the hollow to try and relieve the pressure of milk in its
udders, by rubbing against a mound in the cave mouth, as the calf could
not drink enough.

While in the forest shortly afterwards she met an exiled Muhutu who
possessed nothing, and they lived together. Nyiraruchaba had been drink-
ing regularly of the milk to sustain her and wanted someone to help her
to keep and tame the cow for herself. She suggested first catching the
calf. But the Muhutu was afraid and said: “ If we catch the calf, the
mother will go away and not give us more milk.” But she caught the calf
herself, without help, and put it in their hut of leaves. Next day she went,
taking the calf as a protection against an attack by the mother’s horns. She
let the calf suck and then went and drank from the udders herself. Daily

374

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

she did this till the cow became accustomed to her and it was no longer
necessary to conceal herself with the calf to do so. Eventually she learnt
to milk into a primitive vessel. Her man told her to do this daily. Both
drank. One day at the edge of the wilderness she met a strange man who
said: “I seem to know you.” She said: “Perhaps.” He said: “We are
all in distress. The King is ill of a mortal disease.” She gave him a
clay vessel of milk to take to the King as medicine. She placed a reed-
“ straw ” in it and told the man to take it to the King, but that the effective-
ness of the medicine would be spoilt if it was told that the donor was a
woman. She feared her father might suspect sorcery from a woman.
Ndahiro consented to try it, after the bearer had tasted it, and in two days
he recovered after years of sickness. After pressure, it was revealed that it
came from a girl in the wilderness. Eventually Nyiraruchaba was sent
for and found: the cow and calf followed her to the King. He was over-
joyed to see her. She said the milk was the sap of trees, fearing harm to
the cow, of which she was fond.

One day, however, the King came upon her milking the cow, naked.

He discovered the secret, but was angry to find his daughter naked,
against taboo.

The cow had calves by the bull calf, and the King had great power and
honour as their possessor.

He ordered his daughter to teach the herdsmen to milk, and that women
were never again to milk cows. Some years after the “ Abapfumu ” (priests)
of Bukara predicted the appearance of large herds of cattle from the
caves near Lake Ruhondo (Mulera) and that there would be no more,
peasantry or poverty. All would own cattle and all be equal as at first.

The King, apprehensive for the government of the Ruanda (realm),
decreed that all cattle were a royal appurtenance, as they are in Ruanda to
this day. The cattle appeared in the reign of Cihanga and he apportioned
them to his people as his herdsmen.

And thus it is in Ruanda to this day.

Taken down verbatim from (2). Variations in detail in other narratives
is inconsiderable.

APPENDIX

375

III

THE COMING OF MAN (Ba-Hutu)

{British Ruanda: Bufumbira)

(a) Luganzu is in Ruanda (Bufumbira) tradition the first man on earth.
He is believed to have descended from the heavens and first set foot on
earth at this spot (Plate XII). The footprints of a cow, calf, and dog are
clearly visible, as also marks representing that of a bow and arrow.

The footprints of Luganzu and the kneeprints of his wife are also
shown. These had to be cleared of moss before photographing. The
Muhutu Chief Muzerero of Nyarusiza (Bufumbira) is here seen in the
traditional position and attitude of Luganzu. A passing Munya-RuANDA
woman is posed in the knee marks of Luganzu’s wife.

The place is a mile north of the foothills of Mt. Sabinyo (Birunga
Range). The Anglo-Belgian (Congo) frontier runs upon the slight rise
seen in the near background.

(b) Luganzu’s cattle trough (Plate XIII). Curious rock formation.
The troughs contain no water except occasional rain pools and are not
now used to water stock. Twenty yards from the site shown in Plate XII.

A young Mu-Tutsi is seen seated. The peculiar Ruanda hair pattern
(Umusunzu) is very visible. The Ba-TuTSi maintain it longer and more
carefully than the other two Banya-RuANDA races, viz, the Ba-HuTU and
the Ba-TwA.

NOTES
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:24:41 PM: AFRICAN

ADDITIONAL MYTHS SUPPLIED BY CAPTAIN
J. E. PHILIPPS OF THE UGANDA PROTECTORATE

RUANDA (East Central Africa)

{Ex -German, Congolese and British )

Principal Authorities:

1. The Muniginya Mututsi Nirimbilima, first cousin of the Sultan

Yuhi Musi.nca, reigning Umwami of Ruanda.

2. The Mwega Mututsi woman Kantarama of Induga County

(Ruanda Proper).

3. The Muhutu Arcadi Nderese of Bugoie County (N. W. Ruanda).
4 The Muhutu Rwakazina of Bufumbira (Brit. Ruanda).

5. The Mututsi Kabango of the Rutshuru (Congolese Ruanda),
and others.

I

THE COMING OF MAN (Ba-tutsi)

The Mututsi Kigwa, a Muniginya, came down to Induga from the
heavens with his wife, a Mwega, and his two sons named Katutsi and
Kahutu. He found on earth the aboriginal clans of Bagessera, Bazigabe
and Basinga, all Ba-Hutu. All were equal. There was no King. They
attacked the family with stones. They knew no other weapons.

On his deathbed Kigwa instructed his sons to teach the aborigines the
arts of civilization, which they did. The smelting of iron, and the manu-
facture of spears and knives resulted.

Katutsi had a daughter. He told Kahutu to go to another hill across
the river and marry her.

He wished to establish a separate branch of the family to avoid too close
intermarriage.

Kahutu at first refused as the relationship was too close, but faute de
mieux consented so that the race should neither lose its purity nor die out.

PLATE XXXIX

Bantu Types

People of the Safwa tribe (north of Lake Nyasa).
(See page 372.)

APPENDIX

373

Kahutu’s wife (and her offspring) were thenceforward called the
“ Abega ba Kulya,” “ The nether Princess(es).” Cf. Luganda: Mu-Mbega,
or Mu-Mbedja = a princess.

It was stated by Katutsi that “ The Banya-GiNYA shall bear kings.” To
which Kahutu replied: “ And the Ab-EGA the mothers of Kings.”

The word “ Ruanda ” = “ the Kingdom,” in the Kinya-RuANDA tongue.

The story is taken down verbatim from (i), but varies considerably in
detail as told by other informants, usually as to whether they are Ba-tutsi or
Ba-hutu. The inhabitants of the Induga County alone consider themselves
to be of the true Ruanda stock.

II

THE COMING OF CATTLE (THE COW).

By the Banya-RuANDA Cattle are considered second only to man in the
world-creation.

Umwami Ndori (Ndahiro) had a daughter, Nyiraruchaba, who was
driven out from their home (Ulugo) by him.

She went into the wilderness of Kanagge above Msaho (Lake Kivu).
Her father thought her dead.

Nyiraruchaba saw two strange animals in a rocky forest glade. One was
a cow and the other its (bull) calf. The cow appeared to be rubbing
itself in the mouth of a small rocky depression. When it moved into the
forest, she went and examined the place and found a white liquid in a
pool. This she tasted and found good.

Every morning she watched the cow: first it suckled the calf and then
descended into the hollow to try and relieve the pressure of milk in its
udders, by rubbing against a mound in the cave mouth, as the calf could
not drink enough.

While in the forest shortly afterwards she met an exiled Muhutu who
possessed nothing, and they lived together. Nyiraruchaba had been drink-
ing regularly of the milk to sustain her and wanted someone to help her
to keep and tame the cow for herself. She suggested first catching the
calf. But the Muhutu was afraid and said: “ If we catch the calf, the
mother will go away and not give us more milk.” But she caught the calf
herself, without help, and put it in their hut of leaves. Next day she went,
taking the calf as a protection against an attack by the mother’s horns. She
let the calf suck and then went and drank from the udders herself. Daily

374

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

she did this till the cow became accustomed to her and it was no longer
necessary to conceal herself with the calf to do so. Eventually she learnt
to milk into a primitive vessel. Her man told her to do this daily. Both
drank. One day at the edge of the wilderness she met a strange man who
said: “I seem to know you.” She said: “Perhaps.” He said: “We are
all in distress. The King is ill of a mortal disease.” She gave him a
clay vessel of milk to take to the King as medicine. She placed a reed-
“ straw ” in it and told the man to take it to the King, but that the effective-
ness of the medicine would be spoilt if it was told that the donor was a
woman. She feared her father might suspect sorcery from a woman.
Ndahiro consented to try it, after the bearer had tasted it, and in two days
he recovered after years of sickness. After pressure, it was revealed that it
came from a girl in the wilderness. Eventually Nyiraruchaba was sent
for and found: the cow and calf followed her to the King. He was over-
joyed to see her. She said the milk was the sap of trees, fearing harm to
the cow, of which she was fond.

One day, however, the King came upon her milking the cow, naked.

He discovered the secret, but was angry to find his daughter naked,
against taboo.

The cow had calves by the bull calf, and the King had great power and
honour as their possessor.

He ordered his daughter to teach the herdsmen to milk, and that women
were never again to milk cows. Some years after the “ Abapfumu ” (priests)
of Bukara predicted the appearance of large herds of cattle from the
caves near Lake Ruhondo (Mulera) and that there would be no more,
peasantry or poverty. All would own cattle and all be equal as at first.

The King, apprehensive for the government of the Ruanda (realm),
decreed that all cattle were a royal appurtenance, as they are in Ruanda to
this day. The cattle appeared in the reign of Cihanga and he apportioned
them to his people as his herdsmen.

And thus it is in Ruanda to this day.

Taken down verbatim from (2). Variations in detail in other narratives
is inconsiderable.

APPENDIX

375

III

THE COMING OF MAN (Ba-Hutu)

{British Ruanda: Bufumbira)

(a) Luganzu is in Ruanda (Bufumbira) tradition the first man on earth.
He is believed to have descended from the heavens and first set foot on
earth at this spot (Plate XII). The footprints of a cow, calf, and dog are
clearly visible, as also marks representing that of a bow and arrow.

The footprints of Luganzu and the kneeprints of his wife are also
shown. These had to be cleared of moss before photographing. The
Muhutu Chief Muzerero of Nyarusiza (Bufumbira) is here seen in the
traditional position and attitude of Luganzu. A passing Munya-RuANDA
woman is posed in the knee marks of Luganzu’s wife.

The place is a mile north of the foothills of Mt. Sabinyo (Birunga
Range). The Anglo-Belgian (Congo) frontier runs upon the slight rise
seen in the near background.

(b) Luganzu’s cattle trough (Plate XIII). Curious rock formation.
The troughs contain no water except occasional rain pools and are not
now used to water stock. Twenty yards from the site shown in Plate XII.

A young Mu-Tutsi is seen seated. The peculiar Ruanda hair pattern
(Umusunzu) is very visible. The Ba-TuTSi maintain it longer and more
carefully than the other two Banya-RuANDA races, viz, the Ba-HuTU and
the Ba-TwA.

NOTES
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:31:31 PM: AFRICAN

Citation by author’s name refers to the same in the Bibliography. Where
an author has written several works they are distinguished as [a], ,
[c], etc.

Introduction

1. The type is what strikes the newcomer among any people, just
as a stranger will often perceive the family resemblance between
brothers and sisters who are considered most unlike by their own
relatives. A Welsh schoolfellow once told me that “ all English
people looked alike ” to her, when she first came out of Wales into
England.

2. Chatelain, pp. 16,17.

3. Ibid., p. 2 2. Chatelain, after stating what I believe to
be perfectly true, that “ the myths and tales of the negroes in
North, Central and South America are all derived from African
prototypes,” goes on to say: “ Through the medium of the American
negro, African folk-lore has exercised a deep and wide influence
over the folk-lore of the American Indian.” This I take leave to
doubt. It will scarcely apply, one would think, to remote tribes in
the Amazon basin; and, since I have found how closely the adventures
of the Mouse-deer in the Malay Peninsula correspond to those of
Brer Rabbit (see Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, ix. 203),
and have been told of parallels in Gaelic folk-lore (unpublished as
far as I know), I incline more and more to the view that the same or
similar incidents may occur to people independently all over the
world, and receive in each case the appropriate local setting. Of
course this is not to deny the possibility of derivation in other cases.

4. The “ semi-Bantu ” or “ Bantoid ” languages, which are dis-
cussed and illustrated in Sir. H. H. Johnston’s Comparative Study of
the Bantu and Semi-Bantu Languages, may prove to be a series of
connecting links which will leave the linguistic dividing-line less clear
than we had supposed. Meinhof and Westermann’s theory as to the
origin of the Bantu languages would, if substantiated, tend in the same
direction.

5. Colenso, s. v. inkata.

6. Roscoe, [a], p. 369.

7. D. A. Talbot, p. 157. See also two interesting letters on

NOTES

399

this subject by Mr. James Stuart (a magistrate of many years’
experience among the Zulus) and Mr. N. W. Thomas in the
Athenceum for May 29, 1915.

8. This word is not, in South Africa, applied to unmixed “ na-
tives,” such as Zulus or Basuto. Most Cape Hottentots are of
mixed blood, as a result of slavery in the past.

9. JAS, xii. [1913], 74.

10. Hollis, [a], p. 330. The smiths are spoken of by Hollis as
though they were Masai, but it is probable that they were originally
a distinct tribe.

11. E. g. y Nyanja, mi-zimu; Chwana, ba-dimo ; Chaga, wa-rlmu ;
Duala, be-dimo; Swahili, wa-zimu. It is worth noting that the
same root, with a different prefix, is used to denote the monstrous
cannibals or ogres who figure in so many Bantu fairy-tales — ama-
zimuy madimoy mazimwi , marimu, etc. Duala, exceptionally, uses
the same word for both.

12. Tylor, i. 328-41, where these stories are explained as nature-
myths.

13. Meinhof, [c], p. 110.

14. This, as we have seen, must not be taken too absolutely, but
it would be interesting to ascertain if, and how far, legends of the
“ dreadfulness ” of the Abatwa exist in parts where the earlier
population has been peaceably absorbed.

15. Ellis, [a], p. 208.

Chapter I

1. Ellis, [a], p. 28.

2. Rattray, [c], pp. 10, II.

3. Taylor, , p. 47.

4. Irle, pp. 72, 73.

5. Dennett, , p. 167.

6. Rattray, [c], pp. 20, 21. Ellis spells Nyankufon , Rattray
Onyankofong. The diacritic marks used by the latter have not been
reproduced.

7. Torday and Joyce, pp. 20, 24, 38, 41, 120. “ Bumba ” is

evidently from the verb bumba ( umba ) used in many Bantu lan-
guages for “ make,” in the sense of shaping, moulding, as clay, etc.
Lubumba is the name of the Creator among the Baila and other
people living east of the Bushongo.

8. Irle, p. 73.

9. Chatelain, p. IO.

10. Dennett, [a], p. 2.

400

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

11. Ibid., p. 133.

12. Smith, p. 300.

13. Macdonald, i. 59-75, esp. pp. 66-7.

14. Hetherwick, JRA1 xxxii. [1902], 89-95.

15. Bleek, C omfarative Grammar, § 390.

16. Ibid., [a], p. 1 12.

17. Junod, [c], ii. 405.

18. Ibid., ii. 281.

19. Ibid., ii. 390.

20. Ibid., ii. 392.

21. Ibid., ii. 327-8.

22. Dundas, JRAI xliii [1913], 31.

23. Callaway, , pp. 7, 16, 19, etc. As to Unkulunkulu, there
has never been any doubt that this means “ the great, great one,”
being a reduplication of the root -kulu, “ great.” But why is it not
“ Umkulumkulu,” as one would expect, for a noun of the person-
class? Perhaps inkosi was originally understood, — inkosi-enkulun-
kulu would be “ the great, great chief ”; and to make this adjective
into a proper name, the initial vowel alone, not the whole prefix,
would be dropped and u substituted.

24. Literally “ reed.” The connection between reeds and human
origins will be considered in the next chapter.

25. Van der Burgt, p. 214.

26. Roscoe, [a], p. 290L

27. Ibid., p. 312L That is, officially recognized under the old
regime, prior to the introduction of Mohammedanism and Christianity.

28. Ibid., pp. 146, 313.

29. Junod, [c], ii. 281.

30. Chatelain, p. 10.

31. Torday and Joyce, p. 20.

32. Jacottet, , iii. 1 18.

33. Ibid., ii. 102.

34. Fiilleborn, p. 316.

35. Jacottet, , iii. 1 18.

36. Macdonald, i. 295.

37. Orpen, quoted by A. Lang, Myth, Ritual, and Religion , 2
London, 1906, ii. 3 5 f .

38. Dennett, [a], p. 74. In an Angola story (Chatelain, No. xiii)
“ the Sun’s people ” descended to earth by a spider’s thread, to fetch
water. Can there be a hint here of the sun’s rays drawing up moisture?
English country people speak of “ the sun drawing water,” when the
rays become visible as pencils of slanting light in a cloudy sky.

39. Callaway, [a], p. 152 ( ubani ongafot } igodi lokukufuka aye

NOTES

401

ezulwinti ) ; , p. 56. The spider’s thread or a rope or a vine
as a means of ascent occurs in Polynesia, Melanesia, and Indonesia
(see Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, ix. 66). Descent or
ascent by a basket or cord or spider’s thread occurs among American
tribes, north and south ( ibid ., x. 290 ; W. H. Brett, Legends and
Myths of the Aboriginal Tribes of British Guiana , London, 1880,
p. 29.)

40. Junod, [c], ii. 410; [a], p. 237, note 2.

41. Ibid., [a], p. 237.

42. Callaway, [a], p. 147, and see note at end of the story.

43. Gutmann, [a], pp. 5, 6.

44. Ibid., , p. 153. The word translated “kraal” is itimba
in Ovir’s version, which means the little pen in which lambs and kids
are placed for safety during the daytime, while the flocks are grazing.
Raum has tembo , as to the translation of which he seems doubtful.
Gutmann renders it by “ Hof des Mondes.”

45. See Mythology of All Races , Boston, 1916, ix. 72, 78.

46. Gutmann, , p. 152.

47. Ibid., pp. 149, 150.

48. See note 41, supra.

49. Fulleborn, p. 335.

50. Macdonald, i. 298.

51. Gutmann, [a], p. 34.

52. Cronise and Ward, p. 265.

53. Tremearne (No. 84), p. 401.

54. Ibid. (No. 93), p. 424.

. .55. Gutmann, , p. 132.

Chapter II

1. Junod, [c], ii. 28b.

2. Macdonald, i. 74.

3. Ibid., i. 284.

4. Torday and Joyce, p. 20.

5. Ibid., p. 39.

6. Information obtained from Bwana Amiu, an old Somali trader
living at Mambrui, who had had dealings with the Wasanye and knew
them well. He said the tree was that called Mkupa by the Swahili
and Garse ( a pronounced almost like u in “ but,” though the
Wasanye give it the broad sound of a in “ father”) by the Galla,
and that it played an important part in marriage and funeral cere-
monies. This last statement was confirmed by the Wasanye at
Magarini.

402

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

7. Callaway, , pp. 9, 15, 3 iff., 41.

8. Ibid., pp. 15, 42.

9. Colenso, p. 213, last note, under Hlanga ([/); cf. the Chwana
use of the corresponding form, lo-tlhaka , which clearly means “a
reed.”

10. Callaway, , p. 42.

11. Casalis, , p. 254.

12. Junod, [c], ii. 326.

13. SAFJ ii. [1880], 92L ; also Irle, pp. 28, 75.

14. Casalis, , p. 54.

15. Quoted in Werner, p. 71 ; for Kapirimtiya see Scott, p. 215,
and Macdonald, i. 279. Cf. Moffat, p. 263.

16. Stow, pp. 37, 47.

17. Ibid., p. 3.

18. Hollis, [a] , p. 226.

19. Irle, p. 75.

20. Hollis, [a], p. 266.

21. Stannus, JRAI , xliii. [1913] I2lf.

22. Roscoe, [a], p. 214. Here it is only said that Kintu was “ sup-
posed ” to be descended from the gods. The Galla (with whom the
royal house of the Baganda is believed to have affinities) distinctly
state that the progenitor of the Uta Laficho (their principal clan)
came down from the sky.

23. Manuel , p. 149; Roscoe, [a], p. 460.

24. Emiumbo — i.e., bundles of plantains tied up in leaves for
cooking.

25. The list includes maize and sweet potatoes, which, as they
were introduced into Africa by the Portuguese only in the 1 6th century,
must have been inserted in modern recensions of the legend.

26. Roscoe, [a], pp. 136, 214.

27. Stanley, pp. 218-220.

28. JAS xii. [1912— 13], 363-4.

29. Hollis, [a], p. 153.

30. Ibid., , p. 98.

31. Melland and Cholmeley, p. 21. See also the Nyanja tale of
“ Kachirambe ” in Rattray [a] p. 133.

32. Hahn, pp. 37, 38, 48, etc.

33. Ibid., p. 61 ; Moffat, p. 258.

34. Ibid., p. I22ff.

35. Kroenlein, p. 329.

36. Schultze, p. 447.

37. Hahn, p. 61 ; see also pp. 65-74, 86-89, 9 2 > an ^ Schultze
p. 448.

NOTES 403

38. Kerr Cross in Nyasa News, No. 6 (Nov. 1894), p. 189;
also Fiilleborn, p. 316; Merensky, pp. 112, 212.

39. Melland and Cholmeley, 20.

Chapter III

1. Callaway, , p. 3.

2. Scott, p. 419.

3. Fiilleborn, p. 15.

4. Junod, [c], ii. 328.

5. Occasional Pafer for Nyasaland , No. 2 [1893], p. 3 ^*

6. Taylor, , p. 136.

7. Macdonald, i. 288.

8. Jacottet, , ii. III.

9. Ibid., , iii. Il6.

10. Ibid., , ii. 109 (a different story from that referred to
in note 8).

1 1. Kropf, [a], p. 156.

12. Krapf, , s. v. m'fisikafri (sic), p. 230, and gisikafiri
(sic), p. 83.

13. Duala stories given in MSOS iv. [1901], 223 ( Afrikanische
Studien), cf. also, p. 18 1.

14. Christaller, in Buttner [a], i. 53ff.

15. Globus, Sept. 23, 1909, p. 174.

16. Meinhof, , p. 19.

17. Wundt, cited by Meinhof, , p. 18.

18. Meinhof, [c], p. 38. cf. MSOS iv. 183.

19. Bleek, , pp. 69-73.

20. See Schultze, pp. 147-8.

21. Lloyd, , p. 37.

22. Hollis, , p. 98.

23. For an illustration of this tube see Hollis, , p. 26. More
ornamental ones are made by the Baganda.

24. See Man, xiii. [1913], 90.

25. Abarea did not say, but on reflection I think that he must have
meant, that the bird was afterwards deprived of his topknot, as having
proved a faithless messenger. The species of hornbill with which
I am tempted to identify him, has no crest.

26. Gutmann, [a], p. 124; , pp. 1 1 9, 156.

27. A Masai and Nandi “ burial ” custom, borrowed by the
Kikuyu and others. The ceremonies connected with this exposure
(see Hollis, [a], p. 304, , p. 70). show that it is not a case of
callous indifference.

404

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

28. Gutmann, [a], p. 125.

29. Ibid., [a], p. 125, , p. 40.

30. Gutmann, [a], pp. 124-5; > p. 65.

31. This suggests the practice of witches (see infra, ch. xiv). But
there is a close connection between hyenas and witches.

32. In this case it was not the woman who was to blame.

33. Roscoe, [a], p. 315 and, for Mpobe, p. 465; Manuel , pp.
16 1 , 179.

34. Seidel , iii. (1897), P- 3^3 : “ Mugosha, bana bamwe
babili ne Lirufu.” With this notion of Lirufu , cf. M. Kingsley,
p. 1 17: “One side of him” — a spirit supposed to haunt the Bush
in Calabar, Cameroons and the Ogowe region — “ is rotten and
putrefying, the other sound and healthy, and it all depends on which
side of him you touch whether you see the dawn again or no.”

35. Chatelain, pp. 95, 225, 274 (note 251), 304, 308.

36. Ibid., p. 249, cf. also p. 223, story of “ King Kitamba kia
Xiba.”

37. Ibid., pp. 11, 274 (note 245), 283-4.

38. Thomann, pp. 134, 138, 143.

39. “ Tom Tit Tot,” “ Rumpelstilzchen,” etc. The motive
occurs in al Jamaica story given by Jekyll, p. 1 1 (cf. also “ Mr.
Titman ” in Smith, p. 20), but this is probably of European origin.

Chapter IV

1. See Kingsley, especially chapters 5 to 9; Spieth and Ellis,
; passim .

2. Raum, pp. 334 ff. Cf. Gutmann, [a], pp. 142-7.

3. Gutmann, , p. 152.

4. Mzimu or mu-zimu as a locative appears to be used in Swahili
for a place in which offerings are made to the spirits (see Krapf,
s. v.). Zimwi (originally li-zimwi, and therefore cognate with
Zulu i-zimu, Sutu le-dimo ) means a kind of ogre or demon, like
the irimu of the Wachaga, Wakikuyu, etc. The word is more or
less obsolete in ordinary Swahili, having been replaced by the im-
ported shetani or jini.

5. See Callaway, , p. 148, note. Perhaps the meaning may
be “people of our stock” (“seed”), see i-dlozi in Kropf’s Kaffir
Dictionary.

6. .In Swahili, the names of animals, whatever their grammatical
form — they usually have the ninth prefix or its equivalent — are
given the concords of the person-class. In some languages, while

NOTES

405

retaining their own class in the singular, they are given a special
plural prefix.

7. Werner, p. 46.

8. Callaway, , p. 144.

9. Raum, p. 338.

10. Gutmann, [a], p. 129.

11. Ibid,., , pp. 104, 1 3 1-2.

12. Ibid., [a], p. 130.

13. Casalis, , p. 261.

14. Callaway, [a], p. 318.

15. Ibid., p. 317.

16. Obst, in Mitteilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten , ii
[1900], 130.

17. Melland, p. 24.

18. Gutmann, , p. 105, etc.

19. Raum, p. 336.

20. Gutmann, , p. 107.

21. Ibid., [a], pp. 1 6 gff.

22. Raum, p. 336.

23. Ibid., loc. cit.

24. Gutmann, , p. 109.

25. Ibid., p. 106.

26. Ibid., loc. cit.

27. Velten, [c], p. 180.

28. Scott, p. 416.

29. Junod, , p. 387.

30. Ibid., [c], ii. 350.

31. Ibid., ii. 379.

32. Ibid., ii. 356, 358.

33. Scott, s.v. nkalango, p. 450.

34. Strychnos sf.

35. Junod, , p. 305.

36. Ibid., pp. 385, 388.

37. Rehse, p. 388.

38. Junod, [c], ii. 359.

39. See Meinhof, , p. 18.

40. Callaway, , p. 142.

41. Ibid., p. 198.

42. Macdonald, i. 62.

43. Callaway, , p. 199.

44. Junod, [c], ii. 312, 358.

45. Callaway, , p. 215.

4 o6

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Chapter V

1. Gutmann, , p. 104.

2. Some of these stories, relating rather to an upper than an under
world, have already been mentioned in Chap. 1.

3. Junod, [a], p. 264; but see his note on this story.

4. Callaway, [a], p. 331.

5. Tylor, i. 338.

6. Callaway, [a], p. 296.

7. As we shall see in Chapter XIV, certain animals (or familiar
spirits in their shape?) are employed as messengers by witches. The
leopard is certainly counted as one of these in Nyasaland — though
not so prominent as the owl and the hyena; and this is given as a
reason why the Zulus never mention his proper name, ingwe, in
ordinary conversation — calling him isilo “(the) wild beast,” far
excellence. At the same time, Isilo was a title of the Zulu kings and
(as in Uganda) no one outside the royal house might wear or use
a leopard-skin. See also (for the Lower Congo), Dennett [a], p. 69.
Is there any connection between these two ideas? or do they belong to
entirely separate streams of tradition?

8. A legend attached to a ruined site, near Kipini, called Kwa
W aanawali Sabaa, relates how seven little maids, pursued by Galla
raiders, called to God for help, when the earth opened and swallowed
them up. (Information obtained on the spot in 1912.)

9. This “ False Bride ” motive recurs in various African stories;
a good example (combined with the “ Holle ” motive) is the tale of
the Kirondovo in Gutmann, [a], pp. 34-6.

10. Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmarchen , No. 24, with some (not
all) of the variants enumerated in Bolte and Polivka, i. 207ff; Hausa,
“The Ill-Treated Maiden,” Tremearne, p. 426; Temne, “The
Devil’s Magic Eggs,” Cronise and Ward, p. 265.

11. J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie , Gottingen, 1835, p. 164,
etc. English variants of the Holle story in Halliwell-Phillips, p. 39,
J. Jacobs, English Fairy Tales , London, 1890, No. 43, More English
Fairy Tales, lb., No. 64; West India, in Smith, p. 31, “Mother
Calbee.”

12. Gutmann, , p. 117, Nos. 63, 68; Junod, [a], p. 237.

13. Co-wives, in “Three Women,” p. no; in Chaga tale,
Gutmann, [a], pp. 34-6; Duala, in Lederbogen, MSOS vi. [1904],
82; Konde, a tale mentioned by Fulleborn, p. 335.

14. Tremearne, p. 401.

15. “ Kgolodikane,” SAFJ i. [1879], HO.

16. Notes 9 and 13, sufra.

NOTES

407

17. Gutmann, , p. 1 1 8.

18. See Note 16, to Chapter IV.

19. Gutmann, , p. no, cf. also [a], p. 36.

20. Probably a tabu affecting one returned from the spirit-world.

21. Zimmermann, i. 163, cf. “ Candoo ” in Smith, p. 28.

22. This no doubt refers to the retribution which was to follow
disobedience. But it is not clear why, after coming to pieces and
being restored to life, Anansi should be let off with a beating after
his second transgression. Perhaps the incident is intended to account
for the spider’s patched and mottled appearance.

23. SAFJ , i. [1879], 75.

24. Wolff, p. 135.

25. Chatelain, p. 127.

Chapter VI

1. Cf. Mythology of All Raees , Boston, 1916, x. 255, 298.

2. Junod, [c], ii. 327-8, see also pp. 279-80; Merensky, in
Mitteilungen der geogr. .Gesellschaft •zu Jena , vi. [1888], III— 4;
Meinhof, , p. 33; [c], p. 117.

3. Callaway, [a], pp. 3-40.

4. Macdonald, i. 297.

5. Chatelain, p. 13 1, “The Son of Kimanaueze,” especially pp.
I 33 » I 4 I -

6. Dennett, [a], pp. 7, 74. For Duala, see Lederbogen in MSOS
iv. [1902], pt. 3, fassim.

7. Rehse, pp. 134, 371. Ryang’ombe, the “Eater of Cattle,”
seems to be known also among the Bahima (Roscoe, , p. 134,
speaks of “ the fetish Lyagombe ”), the Warundi (Van der Burgt,
p. 216), and the Wanyaruanda (idem., and P. Loupias in Anthrofos,
iii. [1908], 6). Van der Burgt explains his name as meaning possibly
“ celui qui coupe les cordes du prisonnier”; he is the chief of
departed spirits (so also Rehse, p. 134), and was once a man, but
after his death took up his abode in the Kirunga volcano. As the
word ng > ombe is still used for “ cattle ” in Kiziba, where also the
legend of his ox-eating exploits (on the day of his birth!) is current,
but not among the other peoples named, it is possible that his name
and cult were adopted by the latter, while the meaning of the name
and perhaps of the legend was forgotten. It is remarkable that,
while Rehse says his cult in Kiziba is confined to the Bahima (the
Hamitic ruling race who came in from the north), in Ruanda, ac-
cording to P. Loupias, the royal family (with one exception expressly
mentioned) and high chiefs are never initiated into his mysteries,
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:32:35 PM: AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

408

which belong to the Bahutu, the Bantu people previously in occupation.

8. Dempwolff in Ehrenreich, iv. 249, Rattray, [a], p. 133;
Macdonald, ii. 336.

9. A hyena in two cases, which is no doubt the earlier form of
the incident. In the Nyanja version (Rattray, [a], pp. 54,: 133)
there is an unexplained peculiarity; a girl finds a hyena’s egg and
carries it home to her mother, who puts it into the fire. The Hyena
comes to demand the egg and has to be appeased with the promise
of the unborn child. I have come across no other reference to the
eggs of the hyena, though there seems to be a widespread idea that
its reproductive organs are abnormal.

10. Hahn, p. 134; Schultze, p. 447.

11. Hahn, pp. 65-7; Bleek, , pp. 77, 7 8—9 ; Meinhof, [a],
pp. 172-7; Schultze, p. 447.

12. Meinhof, [a], p. 177.

13. Hahn, p. 66; Bleek, , p. 77; Schultze, pp. 448, 450.

14. Bleek, , p. 78.

15. Hahn, pp. 85, 86, 92.

16. Schultze, p. 450.

17. Meinhof, [a], p. 172.

18. Probably it is a hole dug in a sandy river-bed during the
dry season, when the water trickles out so slowly that it takes a long
time to secure a supply.

19. Hahn, pp. 42, 43, 45, etc., and references there given to
Kolbe and others.

20. Bleek, , p. 80; Meinhof, [a], p. 174. The berries called
“ wild raisins ” are the fruits of a shrub called by the Herero omu-
vafu.

21. Properly lUriseb (with cerebral click and high tone on first
syllable), also spelled Urisib and Urisip. It is symptomatic of the
chaotic state into which Hottentot traditions have fallen, that
Schultze’s informants make Uriseb the son of Ga-gorib, the
“ Thruster-down,” whom, as a matter of fact, they only mention
as “ Uriseb’s father” (p. 448). There is also considerable con-
fusion between Tsui-Goab and Haitsi-aibeb, if the two are not identi-
cal, as Hahn thinks.

22. Junod, [c], ii. 327-8.

23. Merensky, “ Till Eulenspiegel in Afrika,” in Mitteilungen
der geogr. Gesellschaft xu Jena , vi. [1888], Ilif.

24. Callaway, [a], p. 3.

25. Ibid., pp. 37-40. This story is elsewhere given to the hare
(for variants see FL xv. [1909], 344; African Monthly , vii. [1910]
247). Since writing the article in the latter I have discovered several

NOTES

409

other versions, notably a Hottentot one (Schultze, p. 415), and “ The
Hare’s Hoe,” to which Junod ([c], ii. 223) says he knows of no
African parallel. The existence of well-marked Berber and South
European variants seems to point to its having come into Africa from
the Mediterranean region, and to have been adapted by the natives
in some cases (not in all) to the myth of their favourite animal.
Thus the Hottentot, the European, and the Berber versions make
the protagonist a human being or the jackal; the Bantu usually tell it
of the hare, though sometimes of a boy (Luyi), a girl (Herero), an
old woman (Bena-Kanioka), or a man (Nyasaland, Elmslie, FL iii.
[1892], 92), and West Africans of the spider, cf. Tremearne, pp.
237, 367, 380, and reff. there given; Schultze, p. 415.

26. Rehse, p. 155.

27. Baumann, , p. 186.

28. Tylor, ii. 335R

29. See Breysig, pp. 10, 17, etc.

30. Jacottet, [c], p. 70, another version, p. 76; see also [a], p. 204,
and Casalis, [a], p. 97.

31. Cf. Khwai-hemm of the Bushmen (infra, p. 289); Isiququ-
madevu und Usilosimapundu of the Zulus (Callaway [a], pp. 34,
86, 184); Seedimwe of the Subiya (Jacottet, , ii. 54, 61, 67), etc.
In Kikuyu (Routledge, p. 309) 'the Swallower is the Rainbow.

32. Junod, [a], p. 201 ; cf. also Kachirambe (Rattray, [a],
P- 133 )-

33. Breysig, p. 12.

34. Thomann, p. 145.

35. A fumfkin of similar character is found in a Shambala tale
(Seidel, , p. 174), in Swahili ( Kibaraka , p. 25), and in Hausa
(Rattray, , pp. 300, etc.).

36. Similarly, Kalikalanje (Macdonald, ii. 339 ) kills his mother,
after destroying the demon Namzimu.

Chapter VII

1. Schultze, p. 387.

2. Breysig, pp. i8f., 39; for Marduk, pp. 105, 108,

3. Meinhof, , p. 20, see also p. 17.

4. Spieth, in Abhandlungen des deutschen Kolonialkongresses,
for 1905, p. 504.

5. S. Reinisch, Sitzungsberichte der fhilos. histor. Klasse der Kais.
Akad. der Wissenchaften in W ein, cxlviii. [1904], Abh. v. 93, cited
by Meinhof, , p. 17.

6. Lloyd, , p. 67.

4io

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

7 * Ibid., pp. 38, 53.

8. Bleek, [c] , p. 9; Lloyd, , pp. 38-9, 51, 53.

9. Lloyd, , p. 399.

10. Barnes, p. 1 1 1.

11. Taylor, , p. 97.

12. Bentley, pp. 16 1, 381.

13. Ibid., p. 370.

14. Hahn, pp. 23, 43, 74, etc.

15. Plural of Kimia = Swahili Kilimia, “ the hoeing star,” from
lima, “ hoe.” The name is almost universal among Bantu tribes,
from the Tana to the Great Fish River. The Pokomo and the Yaos,
and possibly a few others, make the word a plural: the group is gen-
erally treated as one body.

16. Lloyd, , pp. 85-98. Bleek, [c], p. 11, gives a somewhat
different version, quoted in Lloyd, p. 96. The two versions have been
combined in the text.

17. Torrend, p. 314; Theal, [a], pp. 56-66, , p. 323.

18. Lloyd, , pp. 73ff.

19. Gutmann [a], p. 149.

20. Lloyd, , pp. 45-55.

21. Hollis, , p. 97.

22. Gutmann, [a], p. 178. Ellis ( , p. 65) records a similar
notion of the Ewe, but it is possible that he misunderstood his infor-
mants, as nothing is said of it in Spieth’s more recent work, based
on much fuller material.

23. Gutmann, [a], p. 177. For greeting of new moon, see
Taylor, , pp. 49, 63. (Giryama); Van der Burgt, p. 235
(Warundi); Dennett, [a], p. 7.

24. Gutmann, [a],p. 180, ,p. 144.

25. Dennett, ,pp. 113, 142.

26. Spieth, p. 533; Ellis, , pp. 47-9. For a Hausa tradition,
see Fletcher, p. 94.

27. Cf. Dahse in ZE xliii. [1911], 46-56.

28. Jacottet, , ii. 146, cf. also for Luyi, iii. 139.

29. Callaway, [a], pp. 293-5.

30. Gutmann, , p. 153, “ Der durchhauene Regenbogen.”

31. Routledge, p. 308.

32. Ibid., p. 309.

33. Jacottet, [c], p. 56, and note on p. 58.

34. Callaway, , p. 383, cf. Mythology of All Races, Boston,
1916, x. 287L

35. Rehse, pp. 129, 146. Kayurankuba is said to be a son of the
lake-spirit Mugasha (apparently identical with the Mukasa of the

NOTES

411

Baganda). According to some, Kayurankuba causes thunder by
striking the rocks (with his spear?). Cf. the legend given by Rehse,
P- 329 -

36. Hewat, p. 91.

37. Gutmann, [a], p. 178.

38. Dennett, [a], p.7; the story given below is also referred to
in , p. 1 19.

39. Gutmann, , p. 149, and the curious legend in Rehse, p. 388.

40. Dennett, , p. 120.

41. Ibid., [a], pp. 133-4.

42. See pp. 1 17, xi8, 132, supra.

43. Hollis [a], pp. xix, 264-5, cf- P* 278. Merker, however,
(p. 197), says that the expressions Ng’ai nanjugi and Ng’ai narok
are not to be taken in the sense given in the text, but really mean,
“the divine red” and the “divine black” (or “blue”), being ap-
plied to the red of sunrise and sunset, and to the cloudless sky.
“ Tatsachlich sehen die Leute in diesen Erscheinungen keine Gotter,
auch nichts Gott ahnliches oder gleich ihm zu verehrendes.” At
the same time he admits that God is often called Ng’ai narok in
prayers, but the Masai themselves are unable to explain this epithet.
Thunder and lightning, according to this authority, are not inde-
pendent beings, but the phenomena produced by Ng’ai’s eldest son,
Ol gurugur, who thus “ verkiindet . . . dass Gott den Menschen
wegen ihres schlechten Betragens grollt, und ermahnt sie zugleich
zur Besserung.” Barsai, Ng’ai’s eldest daughter, is responsible for
the rain, which is a sign that God is well pleased with the state of
things on earth. Others have taken Ng’ai as a personification of rain.

44. Lloyd, p. xv.

45. Steere, SAFJ , i. [1879], 121.

46. Swahili sea-lore, of course, is largely borrowed from the Arabs
and perhaps from Indonesia, whence came the outrigger canoe and,
no doubt, the coconut. There are some mysterious beings: Makame,
— whose rock is at the back of Mombasa Island, between the Indian
burning-ghat and Mzizima — and Sheikh Manamana, to whom
boatmen make offerings as they pass, throwing some trifle into the
water. I have not been able to discover anything about Makame
of Mombasa, but a legend (too vaguely and fragmentarily heard
to be recorded) about a similar person near the north point of Zan-
zibar Island, suggests that he was originally a drowned man. The
sea is called Mbu by the Congo Bavili (Dennett, [a], p. 8; ,
pp. 1 14, 123) and its indwelling spirit (who is also the North Wind)
Chikamasi.

47. See pp. 126, 179, supra.

412

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

Chapter VIII

1. Klamroth, “ Die religiosen Vorstellungen der Saramo,” ZKS
i. [1910], 37, 1 18, 189. A most valuable document.

2. Spieth, p. 684.

3. A. Werner, “ Pokomo Folk-lore,” FL xxiv. [1913], 469-72.

4. By a writer in Blackwood’s Magazine , November, 1917, who,

however, calls the creature ngoloko. (This name I heard applied,
by the Pokomo, to a certain fabulous serpent of gigantic size. See
the above-quoted paper in FL p. 467.) The writer of the article
was shown a curious footprint alleged to be that of the “ ngoloko ” ;
but I learn from a correspondent that a European who had seen a
tracing made from this footprint pronounced it to be that of an
ostrich, and this is confirmed from the testimony of another person,
who had himself examined the footprint. A Swahili correspondent
at Lamu writes: “As to the Ngoloko, it is true: the Lamu people

call him by the name of milhoi ; people sometimes see him, and the
man who sees him — if the milhoi does not succeed in killing him —
loses his senses. The milhoi is tall and has one leg like that of an
ass.” If he meets a man, he begins by asking him the names of
all his relations, and then, if he stands still in astonishment, he
strikes him with his claw. But if you recognise him in time, you
can put him to flight by threatening to strike him with a saw — the
only thing he fears. (The reason for this is that he has seen huge
trees sawn through in the forest and cannot understand how so
small an instrument produces so great an effect — a touch of actu-
ality which must have been introduced in recent times.) The writer
goes on to say that he knows an old man at Witu, who has seen
and wrestled with the milhoi (this, not explicitly stated elsewhere,
is a point of contact with Chiruwi) and lost his senses in consequence.
“And in the books of Islam there is the account of him: they say
he originated with the jinn who ascended to heaven to listen to
the voices of the angels ” [the MS. has “of the jinn’’ but I feel sure
this is a clerical error], “and were struck down with zimwondo ”
[presently explained to be shooting stars] “ by the angels.” (See
also Steere, 1884, p. 240, s. v. milhoi .) Of course this account is
coloured by various — no doubt partly literary — influences.

5. Hollis, [a], pp. 127, 265.

6. Schultze, p. 392.

7. Ibid., pp. 404, 448.

8. Taylor, , p. 32.

9. FL xxiv. 472.

10. Scott, p. 97.

NOTES

4i3

11. Krapf, , pp. 162, 387.

12. Colenso, p. 592; Kidd, [a], p. 127.

13. Chatelain, p. 91. For one-legged beings in Celtic folk-lore
(the Fachan ), see J. F. Campbell, Pofular Tales of the West High-
lands, Edinburgh, 1890, iv. 298. For Melanesian one-legged
beings see C. E. Fox and F. H. Drew, JRA 1 xlv. [1915], 188.

14. MS. notes.

15. Scott, uhi sufra; Macdonald, i. 71 ; Stannus in Man, xv.
[1915], 132.

16. Smith, pp. 284, 457.

17. Jacottet, , ii. 138, cf. p. 122.

18. Junod, [a], p. 197, and , pp. 291, 313, 363; also Calla-
way, [a], p. 199 and note; Tremearne, pp. 123, 212, 401, 454;
Chatelain, pp. 32, 254, 279, 334 note; Irle, p. 76; Fiilleborn,
pp. 55, 335; Cronise and Ward, pp. 21, 179. For Mugasha, the
one-legged lake-spirit of the Baziba, see Rehse, pp. 129, 146.

19. Jacottet, [a], p. 246 (and note), [c], p. 160. With this
story it is interesting to compare that of “ Mbukwana’s Wife and
Daughter,” in Junod, , p. 241, and that of “ Umxakaza-Wako-
gingqwayo ” in Callaway (where the Half-men are called Amadh-
lungundhlebe ') .

20. See Jacottet’s note on “ Hase fuhlaele fu, ha u na tema fu,”
[c], p. 164: He gives up this sentence as unintelligible, but the clue
supplied by his rendering of the latter half, together with the hint
that “ the words are probably meant to be Zulu,” suggested the
conjectural equivalent given in the text.

21. See Colenso, p. 705, s. v., and Bryant, p. 756 ( uMdava ).

22. P. 1 1 8, note 11, and p. 18 1, note 4, sufra.

23. Gutmann , p. 73, No. 37, “ Der wandelnde Dornbusch.”
The following tales, Nos. 38—45, deal with the Irimu in his
various manifestations: in some of them he shows affinity with the
Werewolf. One remarkable point (p. 75) is the possession of a
second mouth at the back of the head. This feature is known to
the Baronga (Junod, [a], p. 257), and something like it is attributed
to witches by the Hausa (Tremearne, pp. 154, 425, 433).

24. Watoto na Zimwi, in Kibaraka, p. 25. Variants: Tselane,
Jacottet, [a], p. 69, and [c], p. 62; U situngu-sobenhle , Callaway,
[a], p. 74; Demana and Demazana and “ The Cannibal’s Wonderful
Bird,” Theal, [a], pp. 111, 125; “The Child and the Drum”
(Gazaland), Kidd, , p. 233; Kgolodikane (Chwana), SAFJ
i. [1879], 1 10; a Herero one recorded by Buttner under the title
“ Die alte Frau welche die Kinder in den Sack steckt,” ZAS i.
[1887], 189; Duala, Lederbogen in MSOS ( Afrikanische Studien)

4 H

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

vi. [1903], 78 (“ Der Madchen und der Mann”) and numerous
others. The Hausa “Mender of Men” (Tremearne, p. 401)
resembles these in its opening incident: some girls, picking herbs in
the forest, take refuge from a shower in a hollow baobab-tree; the
Devil (here called “ Iblisi,” — an Islamized conception) closes the
tree and refuses to let any of them out unless she gives him her
cloth and her necklace. All do this, except one, who accordingly
remains imprisoned, but is fed through a hole by her mother. Here
the tale coincides with “ Tselane ” (the reason for the girl’s being
shut up alone is more intelligible than in the latter), and the Hyena
who is subsequently introduced behaves exactly like the Ledlmo can-
nibal, except that he eats his victim on the spot instead of carrying
her round in a bag. The sequel, relating how the mother took her
daughter’s bones to “ the City where Men were Mended,” brings
the story into the “ Holle ” group.

25. Cronise and Ward, pp. 172, 178. The first of these intro-
duces the “ Debbie ” as the Swallower (cf. Kholumodumo , etc.), with
the additional details that he can only be split open by an enchanted
thorn, and that an old woman among the people released insisted on
going back for her possessions and perished in consequence. The
“ debble ” in three other stories (pp. 152, 160, 167), while less cer-
tainly identifiable with the izimu, is sufficiently curious; his power of
shape-shifting is a conspicuous feature, and in one he assumes the
form of a bearded stone which causes every passer-by making audible
remarks on its peculiarity, to fall down unconscious.

26. Routledge, pp. 315, 324.

27. Gutmann, , p. 73.

28. Ibid., p. 87, No. 44, “ Die Frau des Rimu.”

29. In the variant given by Raum, the wife accidentally discovers
his cannibal propensities, by going into his compartment with a
lighted torch. Here the lrimu is a hyena, and a genuine versipellis,
for every night, he says, “ Skin, turn inside out! ” and becomes a
hyena. Every morning, at dawn, he says, “ Hair, turn inward! ” and
becomes a man. The Were-Hyena will reappear in Chapter XIV.

30. No explanation is given of how she escaped: it would seem
from what has gone before that a knowledge of the password would
not avail to open the rock from the inside. Perhaps some detail has
been omitted by the narrator. The device by which discovery is
delayed (the original crudity has been softened in the text) not infre-
quently occurs in African tales, and is well known in European folk-
lore. Sometimes, by way of euphemism, the fugitive is made to spit
on the threshold, the hearth-stone, etc, with the results indicated above.

31. Gutmann, ,p. 92.

NOTES

4i5

32. Apparently growing wild — an abnormal occurrence, for
though a wild banana-tree is not uncommon in some parts of Africa,
it never bears fruit. In Nyasaland it is called msorokoto (while the
cultivated banana-plant is mtochi ), and the children collect its black,
shining seeds to string into necklaces.

33. Supra, p. 250. Cf. also the story of “ Sultan Darai ” in Steere’s
Swahili Tales, where a pumpkin or cucumber-plant springs up from
the dead mother’s grave. Here, however, the connection between the
plant and the deceased is not immediate.

34. Jacottet, [c], p. 4.

Chapter IX

1. Taylor, , p. 32.

2. Beech, in Man xv. [1915], 40.

3. Krapf, , s. v. Mbilikimo , p. 214.

4. Taylor, , p. 35.

5. Johnston, [a], p. 53.

6. Stannus, in Man xv. [1915], 1 3 1 .

7. Callaway, [a], pp. 352—5. Much the same account was given
to Chatelain (pp. 269—70) of the Batwa in Angola. In the text
Callaway translates the word given as “ arrow ” by “ bow,” but the
original is ngomcibitsholo. It is worth noting that the bow is an
essentially Bushman weapon, and that this word for “ arrow,” con-
taining a click and having no recognisable Bantu analogue, probably
belongs to the Bushman language.

8. F. Boyle, The Savage Life, London, 1876, p. 36.

9. Torrend, p. xv.

10. Rosen, pp. 88ff. In the Pokomo language h corresponds to
the cerebral t of Swahili: thus, -tatu, “ three,” becomes -hahu. These
same people are called Wat by the Galla. This word cannot be
supposed to have any connection with Wa-twa, unless it were the
original form and the Bantu had mistaken the initial Wa for a
prefix. But this is a question of etymology, which has no place here.

11. Van der Burgt, p. 4.

12. Torday and Joyce, pp. 22, 39, 52.

13. Gutmann, [a], p. 6.

14. Ibid., , p. 1 3 1, No. 81.

15. Ibid., , p. 132, No. 83.

16. Ibid., , p. 1 3 1 , No. 82. Neither of these last says any-
thing about the big heads of the dwarfs, who seem to have in all
respects the appearance of ordinary children.

17. Junod, [c], ii. 405.

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

1 8. Macdonald, i. 291.

19. Jacottet, , ii. 141, gives a Subiya account of the Tulala-
Madindi, “ those who sleep in holes ” — a race of pygmies much
like those described in the text, but with a physiological peculiarity,
not elsewhere mentioned: they live only on the juices of meat, and
their digestive arrangements are unlike those of ordinary human
beings. In a note to this passage (p. 142), he mentions a Basuto
legend of the little men called Lujara Marete , who are described as
asking the usual question, “ Where did you see me first? ” Jacottet
demurs to Chatelain’s account, as the Little People are never can-
nibals, and the Amazimu never small.
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:33:28 PM: Chapter X

1. Frazer, i. 1.

2. See Livingstone, p. 12: “The different Bechuana tribes are
named after certain animals. . . . They also use the word £ bina,’
to dance, in reference to the custom of thus naming themselves, so
that, when you wish to ascertain what tribe you belong to, you say,
‘ What do you dance? ’ ” He does not further mention the dances,
which, no doubt, were intended to influence the totems.

3. Frazer, iv. 4.

4. Roscoe, [a],p. 320.

5. Dundas, JRAI xliii. [ 1 9 1 3 ] , 66.

6.. Ibid., p. 32.

7. Ellis, , p. 100, cf. pp. 71, 74.

8. Gutmann, [a], pp. 37-44.

9. MS., written out for me (in the “ Nyika ” dialect of the
Warabai) by a native teacher at Kisulutini. I heard a similar story
being related to my porters by an old woman at Fundi Isa, but was
not able to take it down. A variant, in which the sexes are reversed,
is given by Velten ( , p. 71) under the title “ Geschichte von
Sultanssohn der ein Affenkind heiratete.” The ape-maiden’s tail
is taken charge of by her grandmother, who magnanimously says, “ I
will wear two tails, that she may become a human being and we may
be saved.” When she becomes proud and refuses to feed or recognise
her relations, the grandmother returns at the head of the clan and
hands over the tail in the face of the Sultan’s family.

10. Gutmann, [a], p. 38.

11. Hollis, , p. 6.

12. Junod, [c], i. 336.

13. Junod, “ Le chat de Titichane,” [a], p. 253, “ Le gambadeur
de la plaine,” , p. 353, also [c], i. 338.

NOTES

4i7

14. Frazer, iv. 52-55, see also i. 125, ii. 293, 552, 561, in. 451.

15. Possibly we are to understand that he was invisible by day,
as the husband, when watching the gardens at night, sees and shoots
him. It is to be noted that the failure of the wife’s incantations
is only final when dawn appears before the totem is completely
resuscitated.

16. Mansfeld, pp. 220-3.

17. Hollis, , p. 8.

18. Where two totems are mentioned, the clan has been sub-
divided.

19. Bentley, p. 353, s. v. mfangu.

20. Macdonald, ii. 366. The title of this story, “ The Girl that
refused a Husband,” and its opening sentences belong to an entirely
different one and have no connection with what follows.

21. Junod, [a], pp. 138-42.

22. Wolff, pp. 120, 132. There is a totemic touch, also, in
Uvwikeve (/£., pp. 112, 132) where directions are given not to kill
the lice on an infant’s head, on the ground that they are “ its soul ”
( ntima gwa mwere). I have not, so far, come across a louse totem.

23. An even better illustration is the story of Unyandemula
(Wolff, pp. 123, 145), where the girl, who has run away from home
after being punished by her parents, is swept off by a flooded river
and discovered in the way mentioned above, when her younger sister
comes to fetch water. She is restored to her home through the agency
of a witch, who warns the parents that she must on no account be
scolded, or she will turn into water — which ultimately happens. This
is a link with the European group of <£ Undine ” stories; cf. also
the Xosa “ Tangalomlibo ” (Torrend, p. 314; McCall Theal,
p. 56). We are also reminded of the numerous legends in which
totem-ancestresses, on being reproached with their origin, resume their
former shape and are lost to their husbands. The Twi legend referred
to in Chapter I shows quite clearly the totemic character which is quite
obscured in the cases given in the text.

24. Weeks, p. 361.

25. Johnston, [c], ii. 921.

26. Chatelain, pp. 157, 183, 197, 209.

27. Jacottet, [c], p. 32, note.

28. Merker, pp. 214-5.

29. Hollis, [a], p. 107.

30. Harris, [a], p. 61.

31. Meinhof, , pp. 29, 30.

32. E.g. Cronise and Ward, p. 296.

33. I.e. in the tales, as distinct from his place in the myth already

4i 8

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

discussed. He sometimes wins a race by a trick, in a variant of the
famous Hare and Tortoise (the European Hare and Hedgehog) story.
He is also found in Ronga stories (cf. Junod, [a], pp. 89 117, 136).

34. See Junod, [a], p. 87, and further, “ L’Epopee de la
Rainette,” p. 109. This frog is locally called chinana. I have seen
it at Blantyre, in the Shire Highlands, where the Anyanja call it
chiswenene or kaswenene (the ordinary frog is chule ), but never
heard of its figuring in folk-tales.

35. The Parrot (Fang), the Crowned Crane (Zambezi), the
Honey-guide (Ila), the Dog (Benga and Duala), the Gorilla (Mpon-
gwe), the Zebra, the Swallow, etc.

36. Theal, , p. 275.

37. Junod, “ Le petit deteste,” [a], p. 170.

38. Nassau, “ Borrowed Clothes,” , p. 198.

39. Related in conversation by Dr. Sanderson of Nyasaland.

40. It seems clear, from Stow’s account (pp. 32, 33), that the
Bushmen had totems. Each tribe had its “ emblem ” (e.g., the
Python, Eland, Rhinoceros, Elephant, Ostrich, etc.), “conspicuously
painted in some central part of the great cave of the chief of the
clan.” Stow does not mention the Mantis among these “ emblems ”

— but he may have outgrown the status of a mere clan totem;
and he appears to be represented in some of the cave-paintings.

41. I have heard the same term used for a butterfly — I think
at Lamu. The Mantis is also called 1 junda-jungu, “ break the pot.”

42. Tunod, [c], ii. 312.

43. Ibid., p. 358.

44. Hahn, pp. 42, 45, and reff. there given.

45. Kidd, [a], p. 183; , p. 210. .

46. By the Anyanja, and the Swahili (see above, Note 41).
The Giryama call it “ break the bow ” ( vundza uha ), probably
with some similar notion. But the Zulu isitwalambiza simply means
“ the pot-carrier,” from the attitude of the forelegs, which are
raised as though carrying a burden, or — as the European prefers it

— as if praying. (One of my earliest recollections is being told that
the people near Trieste used to say the mantis was “ praying for rain.”)

47. Bleek, [c], pp. 6-9; Lloyd, [a], p. 5; Bleek in his 1873
Report, gives a list of twenty-four texts relating to the Mantis, most
of which, unfortunately, are still unpublished. For Orpen’s account
of the Maluti Bushmen’s “ Cagn ” (not apparently recognised as the
Mantis), see his article in Cafe Monthly Magazine, July, 1874, and
Bleek’s comments thereon.

48. Lloyd, , p. 53.

49. Bleek [c], pp. 6-9.

NOTES

50. A. Lang “ Natural Theology,” in Ballades in Blue China ,
London, 1883, p. 108.

51. Lloyd, , pp. 3-15.

52. Ibid., pp. 23-33.

53. Lloyd, [a], p. 5.

54. Bleek, [c], p. 9.

Chapter XI

1. Lloyd, , p. 61.

2. Junod, , p. 280.

3. Cf. Junod, [a], pp. 89, 90.

4. Beech, p. 58; cf. Krapf, , p. 152. “ Kipanawazi (sic), a

kind of hare. The Kipanawazi is believed by the Mohammedans to
ferry souls over a river. It will ask them who has beaten it with a
muiko [ mwiko , wooden spoon] . . . and will then say a-ku-findusha
[he overturns you].” The above is sufficiently obscure, and I have
never come across any other reference to this belief. But mwiko also
means “ a taboo,” and possibly the meaning is that the infringement
of such would upset the ferryman’s boat.

5. E.g., the order to produce eggs; the building of a house in the
air, etc.

6. Jacottet, [c], p. 33.

7. Hollis, [a], p. 107.

8. There does not seem to be any rabbit, properly so called, indig-
enous to Africa, though there are several species of hares, and possibly
one or more of these may have intermediate characteristics. It is
curious that, in some stories ( i . e . , a Giryama one printed by Taylor),
we hear of the Hare having “ a house with several entrances,” which
can only be a burrow. It is possible that the animal meant in these
cases is that known in South Africa as the “ Jumping Hare ” ( Pedetes
caffer: Sfiringhaas of the Boers), which is not really a hare at all,
and “ constructs complex burrows in which several families live
together” (Lydekker). The “ Steppenhase ” (Gutmann), Kilyo-
dang > a of the Wachaga, who attribute to him most of the usual hare
stories, may be an East African species of Pedetes.

9. Madan, p. 57.

10. Campbell, ii. App. viii. p. 365. The seven “ Bootchuana ”
tales here given are described as “ absurd and ridiculous fictions, pre-
sented to the notice of the reader only because they exhibit, in a
striking manner, the puerile and degraded state of intellect among the
natives of South Africa.” The source of the tales is not indicated,
and it is clear from the style that they are not exact translations of

420

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

native texts. Those which are versions of well-known tales have
some interesting variations, suggesting that some features of older
tales have been preserved.

11. Junod, [a], pp. 90-109.

12. So Hlakanyana makes a whistle out of the Hare’s bones; and
the Hare, in one Suto version (see Jacottet, [c], p. 16 note), from
those of the “ Rabbit” ( hlolo ). In Jacottet’s version of the latter,
the Hare steals a flute belonging to a frog. There seems to be a
reminiscence of this in the “ quills ” which Brer Tarrypin made out
of “ de big een er Brer Buzzard’s wing-fedders ” (Harris, , No.
14, end), and on which he played a triumphant air. Cf. also the
following story (No. 15), “ Brother Fox Covets the Quills.”

13. So, with the Baganda ( Manuel , p. 279), the Hare induces the
Elephant to let him cut slices of flesh from his thighs, so that he can
dance more easily.

14. It is a common trick of the Hare to raise the alarm of war and
then rob the gardens; cf. Macdonald, ii. 332 (Yao), and a Makua
version (MS.) obtained from Archdeacon Woodward.

15. The Tar-Baby incident occurs in other connections, but this
is the most frequent.

16. Cf. Jacottet, [c], p. 26, and the references there given; also
Harris, , No. 20, p. 102, “ Brother Rabbit takes some Exercise.”
This theme occurs in European folk-lore as “ Chicken-Licken ”
(Halliwell-Phillips, p. 29; R. Chambers, Popular Rhymes of
Scotland, Edinburgh, 1847, P- 211).

17. See Harris, [a], No. 17, “ Mr. Rabbit Nibbles Up the Butter.”

18. Ibid ., No. 12, “ Mr. Fox Tackles Old Man Tarrypin.”

19. The Baronga — at least the men of full age — wear head-
rings like those of the Zulus, but brightly polished, whereas the Zulus
consider a dull lustre the correct thing. The material is either beeswax
or a kind of gum found on mimosa trees, which is plastered over a
ring made of plaited grass or bullock’s sinews. Similar naive attempts
at disguise (invariably successful) are removing the skin (frequent in
Nyanja stories), cutting off the ears, plastering with mud, etc. Brer
Rabbit, when he victimises Miss Cow ( Uncle Remus , IX), adopts no
disguise, but is not recognised when he puts his head out of the brier-
patch, because “ his eyes look big as Miss Sally’s chany sassers.” So
in the Angola “ Jackal and Hare ” (Chatelain, p. 209), Hare is
unrecognisable because he “ opens big eyes in the hole.” The disguise
in “Brother Rabhit Frightens His Neighbors” ( Nights , XXII),
is probably a recent touch. “ Dey aint seed no man w’at
look like Brer Rabbit do, wid de cofFee-pot on he head, an de cups
a-rattlin’ on he gallus, en de platters a-wavin’ en a-shinin’ in de a’r.

NOTES

421

. . . ‘ I’m ole man Spewter-Splutter, wid long claws en scales on
my back! ’.”

20. The famous Tar-Baby episode occurs in this story, and else-
where in numerous variants, ranging from Mozambique (Makua) to
Cameroons (Duala), and even beyond the Bantu area. Weeks suggests
(p. 367) that “ the Tar-Baby is the fetish called Nkondi, but in the
story as we have it, a concession is made to civilization ... in what
I believe to be the original story, the Nkondi image causes the victim
to stick by its own inherent fetish power. ... It is apparent that
the narrators have lost faith in the magical powers of their fetish and
have introduced the wax and the tar to render their stories a little more
reasonable to themselves.” This explanation seems to be supported by
the independent testimony of a Duala native, who told Prof. Meinhof
that figures covered with pitch are set up in forest clearings as a protec-
tion against demons (Spukdamonen) . The figure holds a bowl of por-
ridge in its hand as a bait: the demons demand some, and, getting no
answer, strike it and stick fast ( [c], p. 1 19). Among the mischievous
tricks of these spirits is mentioned that of their setting up again the trees
which have been felled. A similar incident (grass and weeds coming
up again after hoeing) occurs in the Xosa story of “ The Bird that
made Milk” (Torrend, p. 296), where it is the bird that works the
magic. In the Kongo and Mbundu versions, it is the Leopard who is
caught by the Tar-Baby, with the Temne, Vai, etc., the Spider (Cro-
nise and Ward, p. 96, Johnston, , p. 1087). Ellis ( , p. 275),
gives an Ewe variant, where the adventure is ascribed to the Hare and
forms part of the tale to be given presently in the text.

21. Junod, who had not a complete version before him, fails to
recognise the importance of this incident and doubts ([a], p. 86)
whether it really belongs to the same Hare and should not rather be
attributed to some other species, not distinguished for intelligence.
As told e.g. by the Giryama, the episode appears in its true light.

22. The Ewe have the curious variation that the animals decided
to cut off the tips of their ears and extract the fat from them, which
was to be “ collected and sold, and with the money they would get
for the fat, they would buy a hoe and dig a well.” Most versions
agree in representing the Hare as fraudulently profiting by the work
of the other animals, which he has refused to share; but the Winam-
wanga (Dewar, p. 11) describe the animals as trying to procure water
by stamping on the ground. (This is not stated to be a magical
operation, but a Swahili parallel where they are described as singing,
makes it probable that it was.) All fail except the Hare, who is
ungratefully driven away and prevented from drinking by the rest.
He revenges himself in much the same way as described in the text

422

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

and is eventually caught by the Tortoise. The Winamwanga live to
the northwest of Lake Nyasa. A similar Nyanja story in Rattray,
[a]. P-139-

23. This is told by the Baganda in a different connection, but in the
Sumbwa version it follows on the Tar-Baby episode. Cf. Brer
Rabbit’s stratagem to get rid of Brer Buzzard, when the latter was
watching the hollow tree in which he was hidden ( Nights , p. 229).
“ ‘ I got de ’vantage on you, Brer Buzzard . . . kaze I kin see you
en you can’t see me! ’ Wid dat Brer Buzzard stuck he head in de
hole en look up, en no sooner is he do dis dan Brer Rabbit fill he eyes
full er san’.” ... I have been obliged to follow a somewhat eclectic
method in the text, as it is impossible to give in full, or even to
summarise, all the various Hare stories.

24. This story is related in Biittner [a], p. 95, of the Hare and
the Mongoose and explains why the former has long and the latter
has short ears: the adventure ended in a fight, in which the Hare tore
off his opponent’s ears and appropriated them.

25. For this incident in another connection, see supra , p. 215.
It is so widely distributed that one is inclined to think it one of the
primitive elements in the Hare legend; perhaps it has some ultimate
mythological significance, though hardly, I think, that attributed to
it by Prof. Meinhof. In a MS. Giryama version, which I owe to
the kindness of Mr. Hollis, the mothers are not to be killed but sold
to the Coast-men for bags of grain — cf. Monteil, p. 135, “ Le
Lievre, la Hyene et l’Autruche.” The Hottentots tell this story of
the Jackal.

26. The story was related to me with this finale by an old Swahili
named Mwenye Ombwe, at Maunguja, near Mombasa. The episode
which follows is given mainly from a version taken down in Pokomo,
at Ngao in 1912. (See FL xxiv. [1913], 475-) It occurs, in a
different connection, in Taylor, , p. 126, as the conclusion of
a tale, the earlier part of which is identical with “ The Hare and the
Lion,” in Steere.

27. Bleek , pp. 8-IO.

28. Taylor , p. 130. I have a MS. version dictated in Gir-
yama by Aaron Mwabaya at Kaloleni; but it wants the opening
incident given by Taylor, which supplies the motive for the
sequel. Other variants: Chinamwanga, Dewar, p. 129; Ronga (or
rather Makua), Junod, [a], pp. 1 3 1 , 135; and in America, “ Compair
Lapin et Michie Dinde,” in Fortier, p. 24, as well as a version pub-
lished in an American magazine by the late J. Chandler Harris. In
Nyasaland, the tale is told of the Cock and the Swallow, or of a bird
called ntengu and the wild cat; and elsewhere we find further
variations.

NOTES

423

29. Part of this story occurs as “ The Hare and the Elephant,” in
Hollis, [a], p. 107, with some additional touches. The Hare, after
finishing the honey, asks the Elephant to hand him up some stones for
throwing at the birds. He then puts them into the honey-bag that the
loss of weight may not be noticed, and asks to be set down. On find-
ing out his loss, the elephant pursues him, and he takes refuge in a
hole; the elephant, inserting his trunk catches him by the leg, and
the Hare calls out that he has got hold of a root. The Elephant lets
go and lays hold of what is in fact a root; the Hare groans and cries,
“You are pulling me to pieces! ” and finally makes his escape. He
takes refuge with the Baboons, who, on being questioned by the
Elephant, agree to betray him in return for a cup of the Elephant’s
blood. He allows them to shoot an arrow into his neck (as the Masai
do to their cattle) and bleed him into a small cup which — unknown
to him — has a hole in it: the cup is never filled, and the Elephant
bleeds to death.

30. Schultze, p. 451.

31. Ibid., p. 496.

32. Bleek, [a], p. 67; Metelerkamp, p. 78. The story of the
Animals and the Well is told of the jackal by the Hottentots: see,
inter alia , “The' Story of a Dam,” in SAFI i. [1879], 69, and
“ The Animals’ Dam,” in Metelerkamp, p. 88. There is a note-
worthy detail which affords a point of contact with the Tar-Baby
story: the Tortoise covers his shell with some sticky substance, in order
to catch the Jackal.

33. A Khassonke (French Sudan) version, however, attributes
it to the Hare (Monteil, p. 29, “ Le Lievre et l’hyene a la peche
des mares de Doro ”). He induces the Hyena to let him mount by
telling him that no one is allowed to come to the fishing except on'
horseback, and that all the horses will be fed on dried fish. Thei
greedy Hyena falls into the trap at once, but gets no fish and is
driven away by the information that, as the catch has been so good,
it has been decided to sacrifice a horse to the water-spirit. The Hyena
is still running, adds the narrator.

34. Schultze, p. 461.

35. Gordon, p. 61.
Title: Re: African Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:34:09 PM: Chapter XII

1. Cf. inter alia , Jacottet, [c], p. 32, “The Jackal.”

2. Harris, [a], p. 89, No. 18, and p. 130, No. 26.

3. Junod, [a], pp. 87, 109, 127, 149.

4. Cronise and Ward, p. 70.

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

5. Hobley, p. 1 14.

6. Some variants: Bakwiri (Schuler in MSOS xi. [1908], 201);
Duala (Lederbogen, Ibid., iii. [1901], 204); Subiya (Jacottet, ,
ii. 40); Ila (Smith, p. 116).

7. Bleek, , p. 32; see also “The Ostrich Hunt” in Mete-
lerkamp.

8. Ibid., p. 27; see also Introduction, p. xxvii. Bleek thinks this
story is “ probably of Hottentot origin.” Whether he had any evi-
dence for this beyond its “ striking resemblance ” to the undoubtedly
Hottentot tale of “ The Giraffe and the Tortoise,” and his own
assumption that Bantu tribes have no animal stories, does not appear.
(In the latter the Tortoise chokes the Giraffe which has swallowed it.)
It seems to me that its mention of the Rain as a person suggests deri-
vation from the Bushmen, to whom Hottentot folklore doubtless
owes a great deal, while the Herero and some other Bantu tribes
have also been directly in contact with them.

9. Supra , note 22 to p. 297.

10. In “The Girl who Ate Pork” (Kibaraka, p. 91), a story of
non-African provenance, though no doubt embodying some African
touches, the serpent to whom the woman has promised her first-born
child, on finding that she is prepared to keep her word restores the
infant to her, after twice “ putting it into his mouth and taking it
out at his nose ” — a performance of which I find no other cases re-
corded.

11. Monteil, p. 45.

12. Ellis, [c], p. 258.

13. E.g. Cronise and Ward, p. 231, “Mr. Spider pulls a supply
of beef.”

14. This feat is given by the Mandingo (Monteil, p. 49) and by
the Bemba ( JAS ii. [1902-03], 63) to the Hare; by the Temne
(Cronise and Ward, p. 117) to the Spider. But I think that it prop-
erly belongs to the Tortoise.

15. Nassau, [a],p. 37. Variants: Duala (MSOS iii. [1901], 170);
Yabakalaki-Bakoko of the Cameroons (Seidel, [a], iii. 275). This
version also adds that the two beasts subsequently discovered the trick,
and the Tortoise has been hiding from them ever since.

16. Jacottet, ii. 38 note. The various versions of this story
are as follows: Basuto (Jacottet, [a], p. 42, and see notes in Junod,
[a], p. 100); Bena Kanioka Kassai region ( Anthrofos , iv. [1909]
449); Subiya (Hare, Jacottet, ii. 38); Benga (Nassau ,p. 129,
No. 14. No. 16, p. 140, is to some extent a variant of this); Xosa
(Theal, [a], p. 115. In this case the Monkey is sent, and forgets
the name on the way back. No other messengers are mentioned, nor is

NOTES

425

it said that Hlakanyana succeeds in learning the name; but he pro-
ceeds to plunder the tree and inculpate the Monkey). Other variants
mentioned by Jacottet and Junod have nothing to do with the name
part of the story. These are: Ronga (Junod, [a], pp. g 8ff ., the
story of the Hare already alluded to in Chap. XI) ; North Transvaal
( Revue des traditions 'pofulaires , x. [1895], 383); Lower Ogowe
(Mizon in Ibid., iv. [1889], 648 — a variant of Nassau’s No. 16,
“ Tortoise, Dog, Leopard, and the Bojabi Fruit”). Jacottet also refers
to an Ewe story recorded by G. Hartler (in Seidel, [a], vi. [1901],
127); but this is a version of “ Chicken-Licken,” “ Henny-Penny,”
etc., so close to our own and told in a way so unlike the genuine
African story that I cannot help suspecting it to be a recent impor-
tation from Europe.

17. This does not apply to the Benga story given in the text, which
seems to me in several respects less primitive than Jacottet’s Suto
version.

18. Junod, [a], pp. 98 et seq.

19. Jacottet, [a], p. 43: “ Motlatladiane motlatla ne signifie rien,
ce sont de simples assonances.” The Subiya call it bundelemoo , the
Bena Kanioka muchiabanza — words of which no one seems to know
the meaning. Whether bojabi is the recognised name of a tree in
Benga at the present day, Nassau does not explain.

20. Nassau, , p. 129. In the Suto version the Lion, as chief
of the animals, sends off a succession of messengers (not particular-
ised by name) to Koko (the first ancestress of the tribe?) to ask the
name of the tree. They chant it on the way back, but all stumble
against an ant-heap and forget it. At last the Lion goes himself,
but fails likewise. The Tortoise then goes and stumbles like the rest,
but contrives to keep his wits and remember the name. The Lion,
angry that so insignificant a creature should be more successful than
himself orders him to be buried. All the animals then went to eat
the fruit of the tree, carefully leaving that on the topmost branch
untouched. (No order to this effect has previously been mentioned
but it is clearly implied in what follows — cf. Junod, [a], p. 102 “ la
branche du chef.”) During the night, the Tortoise comes out of his
hole, eats the fruit on the top branch and buries himself again. “ Le
lendemain le proprietaire de l’arbre leur demanda: c Pourquoi avez-
vous si mal agi, de manger les fruits que je vous avez dit de ne pas
toucher? ’ Les animaux lui repon dirent: ‘ Ce n’est pas nous qui
y avons touche, nous ne savons qui a pu les manger.’ On deterra
la tortue, et on lui demanda ce qui en etait: elle repondit: ‘ Comment
avais-je pu les manger, puisque vous m’aviez si bien enterree? ’ ”

The Subiya version, which, as already said, makes the Hare the

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

hero, names an Antelope ( unsa ) and the Chameleon as messengers,
and adds that, on the arrival of the second, Leza told him that, if
he forgot the name this time, the next who came to ask for it should
die. The Hare, however, found grace in his sight and was spared.
In the Bena Kanioka version, the only messenger sent prior to the
Tortoise is the ngulungu , Antelope. Maweza, when telling the Tor-
toise the name gives him a little bell which, he says, will recall it to him
if he forgets it. The animals show themselves ungrateful and refuse
the Tortoise a share of the fruit; after they have eaten of it themselves,
they kill him (probably, though this is not said, battering his shell
to pieces). But the little ants knead clay, make him a new body
(stick his shell together?) and restore him to life. The animals kill
him once more, and again the ants restore him. This time he uproots
the tree, and all the beasts perish. So far as I know, this conclusion
stands alone. The story has points of contact with the numerous
ones which try to account for the laminae of the Tortoise’s shell.

21. Seidel, [a], iv. [1898], 137.

2 2. These people, whose proper name is Luo (Jaluo), live near
the northeastern corner of the Victoria Nyanza. I regret to say that
I did not succeed in taking down a complete version of this tale, and
have had to trust largely to memory; but it strangely 1 resembles
“ L’homme au grand coutelas ” (Junod, [a], p. 144), except that the
Tortoise is substituted for the^Frog.

23. Nassau, , pp. 33, 34.

24. Callaway, [a], p. 339.

Chapter XIII

1. Anansi is the Twi name of the Spider. Rattray, , ii. 294,
says: “ The Ashanti name for a story, even when the Spider does not
appear in the narrative at all, is anansesem , literally ‘ words about a
spider.’ ” Hence the well-known expression “ Annancy ” (or
“ Nancy”) stories in the West Indies. Cf. Tremearne, pp. 31-33.

2. Chatelain, pp. 133, 135.

3. Dennett, [a], p. 74, OF p. 31.

4. Lederbogen, MSOS (A frikanische Studien), iv. [ 1 90 1 ] , 180.

5. Schon, p. 200.

6. Ellis, [a], p. 339, [c], p. 259.

7. Rattray, , i. 108.

8. Ibid., i. 128.

9. Cronise and Ward, p. 1 09.

10. Ibid., p. 279.

11. Rattray, , ii. 90, 92, 124, 306, 307; Jekyll, pp. 4, 9.

NOTES

427

On the Gold Coast he is said to talk through his nose. It may be
remembered that the Bushmen have a special dialect (with peculiar
clicks) for each of the animals figuring in their tales. Cf. also M.
Kingsley, p. 140, and Zimmermann, ii. 17.

12. Ellis, [c], p. 258.

13. Rattray, , ii. 106; Delafosse, p. 170. The latter has an
additional incident at the beginning; the Spider marries “ Heaven’s
daughter,” who had been promised to whatever suitor should succeed
in breaking up a plot of ground without scratching himself while the
work was going on. The Elephant and all the other animals fail
to pass the test; the Spider succeeds by a trick. “ Dodo ” is called
“ La Mort ” by the French writer, and the story ends with his swal-
lowing all the beef and leaving the Spider none. Concerning Dodo,
whose characteristics are somewhat variable, but who certainly belongs
to the tribes of Ogres, Mazimwi , etc., see Tremearne, pp. 124-6 and
tales Nos. 14, 32, 73, etc. Of these, No. 32, “ How Dodo fright-
ened the Greedy Man,” is virtually identical (except that a man takes
the place of the Spider) with the one in the text, though shorter.
Rattray’s version is literally translated from a complete Hausa text
and contains some crudities, necessarily softened down in our abstract.

14. Rattray, , ii. p. 1 14. The bag looks like a more civilized
substitute for the actual swallowing of the older and cruder story.
The same may be the case in such stories as that of “ Tselane,” “ The
Child in the Drum,” etc., where, too, it may be meant to make the
rescue more plausible.

15. Cf. the curious incident of the Elephant and the Tortoise re-
ferred to on p. 313.

16. In Tremearne, the conclusion is different; the son, left by
Dodo to watch the bag, lets his father out, and they make their escape.

17. Sufra y note 14 to p. 314.

18. Rattray, , ii. 124.

19. Ibid., ii. 81, where this incident forms the conclusion of “ The
Spider and the Lion.” Cf. also Thomas, p. 63.

20. Spieth, p. 573.

21. Similar tricks occur in “ The Spider and the Crows ” (Rattray,
, ii. No. 28), where he (a), lights a fire to make them think day
is breaking, (b) beats the fowls to make them raise an outcry, (c)
gives the Moslem call to prayer.

22. Barker, p. 84.

23. Spieth, p. 34*. (Starred references to this work denote pages
in the Introduction.)

24. Spieth, p. 584.

25. A Hausa tale given by Tremearne (p. 397) mentions a town
where no one is allowed to sleep. No explanation is given.

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AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

26. Literally “ drink-names.” Ewe chiefs and warriors, at drink-
ing-bouts, take “ great names, greater than themselves,” which they
shout on these festive occasions, and also in battle, in order to keep
up their courage and terrify their enemies. See Spieth, p. 622.

27. Spieth, p. 590.

28. Smith, p. 69; Jekyll, p. 31.

29. Jekyll, p. 33. This version differs from Miss Smith’s in mak-
ing the barrel full of quicklime, instead of flour.

Chapter XIV

1. Bleek, , p. 25.

2. Jacottet, [c], p. 266.

3. Tremearne, pp. 153-156.

4. Ibid., p. 154.

5. Gutmann, , p. 75; Tremearne, p. 397.

6. Junod, [a], p. 247.

7. E.g. Craster, pp. 302, 31 1, 317. On this, see M. Kingsley,
pp. 163, 168, 21 1, etc.

8. See M. Kingsley, p. 162.

9. Scott, p. 345.

10. Rehse, p. 131.

11. Scott, p. 312 ( manchichi ), 45 1 ( nkandwe ), 345, 648; Miss
D. M. Abdy in JAS xvi. [1917], 237. The Leopard’s employment
in this capacity may be distinct from the quasi-sacred character which
attaches to him all over Africa (a subject not yet fully worked out),
marked, e.g., by the skin being reserved for chiefs, in some cases for
the Supreme Chief only. Among the Zulus of Natal, the proper
name of the leopard, ingwe , is tabu: the reason given being his con-
nection with wizards. But it is curious that another of these “ famil-
iars,” the hyena, should, in East Africa (where, however, as far as
I know, he is not associated with witchcraft), be regarded as more or
less sacred. Cf. inter alia , Krapf, , p. 68, s. v. fisi, and Hollis,
, pp. 7, 11.

12. Miss Abdy, JAS, xvi. [1917], 237.

13. For details, see Scott, pp. 345, 648; Miss Abdy, of. cit., p.
235; and cf. Craster, pp. 254, 299. Nassau, [a], p. 123, says that
when the “ witchcraft company hold their meetings, an imitation
of the hoot of the owl, which is their sacred bird, is the signal call.”

14. Craster, p. 300.

15. Nassau, [a], p. 123, [c], pp. 150-168.

16. Colenso, p. 282.

17. Bryant, p. 322.

NOTES

429

18. Natal Colonist , Dec. 27, 1873. I remember being told by a
native in Nyasaland that, if addressed by a mfiti at night, one must
on no account answer him; however, testimony was by no means uni-
form on this point, some saying that the right course was to defy him
and threaten him with the muiavi ordeal. Baboons are said in Natal
to be witches’ familiars, and a solitary “ rogue,” turned out of the
troop when old and vicious, might have given rise to some of the
stories about imikovu , but they are not nocturnal in their habits.

19. Jacottet, [c], p. 266, and Casalis, , p. 289.

20. This seems to be a common condition of witch-revels. It is
sometimes mentioned as a means of recognising witches when sur-
prised by night. See Abdy, loc. cit., p. 234; Krapf, , p. 260.

21. Dayrell, p. 32.

22. Such touches are not common in African folk-tales, not so
much so as in Grimm. But a study of these Ikom stories reveals a
crudity and ferocity which are not typically African. One may per-
haps conjecture that Calabar, being one of the principal foci of the
slave-trade, attracted to itself, in the course of three centuries, the
worst elements in two continents.

23. Johnston, [a], p. 439.

24. Scott, p. 562 (Anyanja); JAS v. [1906], 267.

25. Schultze, p. 450 (Nama). See also Nassau, [a], pp. 201-3;
Du Chaillu, pp. 52—3.

26. J. R. Werner, pp. 277, 320.

27. See refs, in J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough , 3 x. 308—14,
especially p. 313. It seems scarcely possible to maintain in Africa the
distinction drawn by this eminent authority between werewolves and
witches.

28. Pearce, i. 287—8, note.

29. Ibid., ii. 340-1.

30. MS. notes.

31. In the variants, the child who effects the rescue usually suffers
from some skin disease or other disability, which is given as a reason
for not desiring his or her presence.

32. Nassau, , p. 68, “Leopard of the Fine Skin.”

Chapter XV

1. For these and similar stories, see FL xxv. [1915], 45 7 f.

2. The four Pokomo tribes of the Lower Tana are Ngatana,
Dzunza, Buu, and Kalindi: the second being comparatively unimpor-
tant. See FL xxiv. [1913], 456—7. The Tana has repeatedly
changed its course during its annual inundations; the last important

430

AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY

occasion of its doing so seems to have been about sixty years ago,
when (as related in the sequel to the legend), the Buu tribe had to
shift to their present abode in the neighbourhood of Ngao.

3. Gutmann, , p. 151, “ Der Glockenbote.”

4. Ibid ., p. 109, see supra, p. 188. As to the bringing up to date
and imparting local colour to either imported or native stories see
Junod, [a], pp. 274-6, 284 (note 1), 291 (note).

5. See Monteil, pp. 166-202. The legends there given do not
include those of Moses and the beggar whom God refused to help
( Kibaraka , p. 38), and of David and the old woman who laid a com-
plaint against the wind for carrying off her flour ( ib ., p. 130). I
have been unable to get any information about the originals of these.

6. Steere, p. 3. See FLJ iii. [1885], 128, 1 30.

7. Notes and Queries, Ser. xi. iv. [1911], 82.

8. FL xxvi. [1915], 63.

9. M. Pickthall, Oriental Encounters, London, 1918, p. 275. Mr,*
Pickthall informs me, in a private letter, that most of the Abu Nuwwas
stories referred to in the text “ in Syria and Egypt are ascribed to
Johha (or Hajj Johha). Abu Nuwwas was always the court jester in
the stories that I used to read and hear. The greatest yarn of all —
nearly interminable — is of how he extracted money out of Haroun-
er-rashid by the news of his own death and escaped the proper punish-
ment of such a fraud. How far these stories correspond to the actual
history of Abu Nuwwas ... I do not know; but all the stories I
have heard concerning him had something of the colour of history.”
Some of the genuine Abu Nuwwas stories are certainly current in
Swahili.

10. Junod, [a], p. 292. Some Abu Nuwwas stories in Beech, ,
pp. 58-85.

11. See A. Campbell, Santal Folk-Tales, p. 25, quoted by Hindes-
Groome, p. 263.

12. See Moulieras, ii. 4, 12, 13. The Berber stories published by
Moulieras seem to be derived from a very old Arabic collection. It
is interesting to observe that those stories have spread into Sicily and
Italy, where the name Joha has become Giufa or Giucca. But the
latter seems more of a simpleton than Joha, who is a mixture of cun-
ning and imbecility, the latter no doubt assumed in many cases. “ Les
anecdotes oil il figure sont en effet de deux sortes: dans les unes, il
cache sous une sottise apparente un esprit caustique et narquois; dans
les autres, il nous apparait comme le niais le plus ridicule ” (Basset, in
Moulieras, ii. 6).

13. Moulieras, ii. 89.

14. Ibid., ii. 18. It is a favourite incident in Italy.

NOTES

43i

15. Ibid.y ii. 143.

16. Groome, p. 9.

17. Ibid.y p. 12.

18. Bolte and Polivka, i. 188—202.

19. Junod, [a], pp. 274—322. The stories are: “ Les aventures
de Djiwao,” p. 276; “ Bonaouaci,” p. 291 ; “ Les trois vaisseaux,” p.
304; “ Le jeune garqon et le grand serpent,” p. 314, and “La fille
du roi.”

19a. An enchanted horse figures in a Mpongwe tale (see p. 347
supra), showing that, in this form, it must be of fairly recent origin.

20. Bolte and Polivka, iii. 80; cf. also “The Three Girls,” in
Groome, p. 14 1.

21. Chatelain, pp. 43, 53.

22. Evidently an Indian, as appears later on.

23. A. Werner, pp. 247-9.

24. There may, however, have been some misapprehension on the
translator’s part: mundu ( — homo , not vir) may equally well mean a
man or a woman, and if the intention of marriage was not explicitly
stated, the mistake might easily arise.

25. Dennett, [a], pp. x-xii.

26. Thomann, p. 136. Here the conclusion is sufficiently repug-
nant to the moral sense: “ Mais le pere dit a son tour: ‘ Tous trois vous
avez le meme merite et il n’est impossible de donner trois maris a ma
fille. Je ne peux done que vous autoriser a etre ses amants.” It is only
fair to say that this conclusion would not be generally accepted by
Africans. In the only other case where a decision is stated the girl is
compelled to remain single (I have unfortunately lost the reference).

27. Dennett, [a], p. 32.