Part 1

Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

BLACK TALES FOR WHITE CHILDREN

_These_ BLACK TALES _for_ WHITE CHILDREN, _being a collection of Swahili Stories, have been translated and arranged by Capt._ C. H. STIGAND, _interpreter in Swahili and author of "The Land of Zinj," and Mrs._ C. H. STIGAND, _and have been illustrated by_ JOHN HARGRAVE, _author of_ "LONECRAFT."

BOSTON & NEW YORK: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

_First published 1914_

FOREWORD

Many hundreds of years ago Arab sailors began to explore the east coast of Africa, being driven southwards in their sailing vessels by the northerly winds or monsoons of one part of the year and returning to their homes by the help of the southerly winds of the other half of the year.

As trade with the coast grew, Persians and Arabs founded settlements on the coast, and the numerous islands and towns and kingdoms grew up. These original settlers mixed with the black races of the interior, and it is from this mixture that the people now called Swahili have sprung. The word Swahili, or Sawaheli, comes from the Arabic word Sawahil, meaning coast, and hence the east coast of Africa.

A language derived partly from Arabic and partly from several African Bantu tongues came into being. This is called Kisawaheli, or the Swahili language, and different dialects of it are spoken practically the whole length of the East African coast and the islands close to it.

The stories which follow are drawn from a number heard at different times and in different places, and they have been written down as nearly as possible as told by the Swahili himself. Some were told by story-tellers in the coast towns, others were overheard on the march in the interior or round the camp-fire at night.

These stories have not been kept in any book or written document, but have been repeated from mouth to mouth, perhaps for hundreds of years. Either they are narrated by a professional story-teller of a coast town, who hands on his stock of them to his son after him, or they are told by mothers to their children almost from the time they can toddle. These children, when they grow up, tell them, in their turn, to their children, but the story is always told in the evening.

During the day-time there is work to do and no good woman has time to waste in idleness. She must go out into the fields with her baby strapped on her back and hoe and weed the crops in the hot sun, she must grind the maize or millet into flour between two stones, winnow the grain, cook her husband's dinner, draw the water, collect firewood, and perform many other duties.

When the day's work is done and the evening meal is finished they sit round the fire outside the hut, for they have no lamps or even electric light. Perhaps they sit in a little courtyard, surrounded by a high palisade, for fear of the lions, or perhaps, no lions having been heard of late, they sit in the cleared space in the centre of the village, each family by its little fire. Then the mother tells her stories to the children, who soon get to know them all by heart, yet never tire of hearing them again and again. "Tell us, mother, the story of Nunda, so that we may join in the chorus--

"Siye mwanangu siye, siye Nunda mlawatu." (It is not he, my child, not Nunda the eater of folk.)

Or it may be on a journey after a long and tiring day's march, the evening meal is cooked and eaten, and then the tired porters lie round the camp-fire and call on one of their number to tell a story, "So that we may forget the toil of the day."

As the Swahili is himself a mixture of the Arab and the African, so his stories form a curious combination of the elements of both races. The finer and more witty points are generally of Arab origin, whilst the more homely and jungle scenes are drawn from Africa. The jin or fairy, both good and bad, has been brought from Arabia with the Sultan and the idea of wealth and precious stones.

The folk-lore, certain kinds of demons, and the jungle folk are entirely African.

Such stories as "The Cat's Tail," "The Fools," and "Shani and Tabak" were told in the dialects of Shela, Pate and Lamu, in which places there is a greater proportion of Arab blood. "Kajikarangi," "The Hunters and the Big Snake," and "Segu" are types of tales told by more African natives in the dialect of Zanzibar and the Mgao and Mrima coasts.

The Sultan is the king or chief. As the African coast kingdoms were often very small he was, as often as not, the chief of only one town or island, whilst in the next town another Sultan reigned.

The Wazir, or Vizier of Turkey, is his prime minister or head man.

Where one Sultan reigned over several towns or islands he used to put into each a governor, called Wali or Liwali.

The elephant, from his size, is to the native a creature inspiring awe, who eats and tramples down his crops and breaks his fences.

The hyaena is harmless, and so only a subject for derision.

Over the whole of Central Africa the hare is considered as the most cunning of all the animals. African slaves have even brought tales of his wiles to America, where, under the name of "Brer Rabbit," he has retained his African reputation for guile.

I must acknowledge my indebtedness to my mother for arranging the rhymes which occur from time to time in the text.

C. H. STIGAND.

CONTENTS

PAGE

FOREWORD v

I THE LION OF MANDA 1

II PEMBA MUHORI 7

III THE CAT'S TAIL 22

IV THE YOUNG THIEF 25

V THE TRAPPER, THE LION AND THE HARE 35

VI NUNDA THE SLAYER 44

VII THE WOODCUTTER AND HIS DONKEY 51

VIII KITANGATANGA OF THE SEA 58

IX THE LION'S TALISMAN 65

X KIBARAKA 66

XI THE FOOLS 72

XII THE HYAENA AND THE MOONBEAM 82

XIII THE SNAKE-CHILD 83

XIV THE POOR MAN AND HIS WIFE OF WOOD 93

XV BINTI ALI THE CLEVER 97

XVI SEGU 109

XVII LILA AND FILA 111

XVIII THE HUNTERS AND THE SNAKE 118

XIX ALI OF THE CROOKED ARM 122

XX FEEDING THE HUNGRY 137

XXI SHANI AND TABAK 140

XXII A MAN AND HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW 150

XXIII THE JACKAL, THE HARE AND THE COCK 153

XXIV THE MAGIC DATE TREES 161

XXV PAKA THE CAT 172

XXVI THE OIL MERCHANT 178

XXVII BATA THE DUCK 190

XXVIII THE SULTAN'S DAUGHTER 196

XXIX THE LION, THE HYAENA AND THE HARE 198

I

THE LION OF MANDA

Once upon a time there was a lion who lived on the island called Manda, which is opposite Shela town, and the people of Shela heard it roaring nightly. In Shela was a rich merchant, and one day he gave out in the bazaar: "I will pay one hundred dollars to whosoever will go and sleep alone one night on the opposite shore, in Manda island." But for fear of the lion no man would do this.

Now in that same town was a youth and his wife who were very poor, for they had nothing. When this youth heard the talk of the town, he came to his wife and said, "There is a man who will give a hundred dollars to any one who will sleep on the opposite side one night. I will go and sleep there."

His wife said to him, "Do not go, my husband, the lion will eat you."

He said, "Let me go, for if Allah loves me I will not die, and by this means we will get the wherewithal to buy some food."

Then she said to him, "Go. May Allah preserve you."

So that youth, when evening fell, took a canoe and paddled over to Manda, and there lay down on the shore.

Now, when the youth had gone, his wife there behind him was sad because she had let him go, and her heart was very heavy with fear for her husband. So she took some embers and some sticks of wood and went down on to Shela beach, and there she kindled a little fire and tended it all night, so that her young man on the opposite side might see it and not be afraid.

In the morning he returned safely to Shela and went to claim his hundred dollars. But the merchant said, "You have not earned them, for you saw the fire that your wife made, and so you were not afraid."

The youth, when he heard those words, was very angry, and went to accuse the merchant before the Sultan.

So the Sultan called that merchant and asked him why he had not paid the youth his hundred dollars.

The merchant said, "Truly, I did not pay him the dollars because he did not earn them, for he had a fire to comfort him the whole night long. Now, Sultan, see if my words are not true and judge between us."

The Sultan then asked the youth, "Did you have a fire?" The youth replied that his wife had made a fire, so the Sultan, who wished to favour the rich merchant, said, "Then you did not earn the money."

As that youth went forth from the presence of the Sultan, he jostled against a sage, who asked him his news; so he told him how he had been defrauded of his hundred dollars.

Then said the sage, "If I get your money for you, what will you give me?" The youth said, "I will give you a third." So they agreed together after that manner.

The youth then went his way, and the sage came to the Sultan and said to him, "I invite you to food at noon to-morrow in my plantation." The Sultan replied, "Thank you, I will come."

Then the sage returned to his house and made ready. He slaughtered an ox and prepared the meat in pots, but did not cook it. When the Sultan arrived next day at noon, the sage had the pots of meat placed in one place apart, and he had fires made in other places, far away from where he had put the pots. Then, having told his servants what to do, he came and sat on the verandah with the Sultan, and they conversed with one another.

After a while he arose and shouted to his servants, "Oh, Bakari and Sadi, stoke well the fires and turn over the meat."

When twelve o'clock had long passed the Sultan, feeling hungry, asked the sage, "Is not the food yet ready?"

The sage answered, "The meat is not yet done." So they continued to converse, till the Sultan became very cross owing to his hunger, and said, "Surely the food must be ready now." So the sage called out, "Oh, Bakari, and oh, Sadi, is not the food ready?"

They answered him, "Not yet, master." He then said, "Stoke up the fires well and turn the meat, that we may soon get our food;" and they answered him, "We hear and obey, master."

The Sultan then said, "Surely the meat must be cooked _now_, after all this time." So he arose to look for himself, and behold! he saw the fires all on one side of the courtyard, with servants busily feeding them, and the cooking pots all on the other side, also with servants tending them.

He turned to the sage and said, "How is the meat to become cooked, and the pots are in one place and the fires in another?" The sage replied, "They will cook like that, my master."

Then was the Sultan very wroth and said, "It is impossible to cook food like that."

"Indeed no," gravely answered the sage; "for is not the case the same between those cooking pots and their fires and the youth to whom you yesterday refused his hundred dollars and his fire, which was on the opposite shore?"

The Sultan then said, "Your words are true, oh sage! The youth did earn his hundred dollars. Send and tell the merchant to pay him at once."

So the youth got his dollars for sleeping on the island of Manda, and the sage did not accept from him the fee he had asked for. This is the story of the lion of Manda.

II

PEMBA MUHORI

There was once upon a time a man and his wife, and the wife gave birth to seven sons, and the seventh was called Hapendeki, and he was the last.

And these sons grew and grew till one day the youngest, Hapendeki, said to his father and mother, "What goal is there in life for a man?" and they answered, "The goal in life for a man is to find a nice woman and marry her and rest in peace."

So he said, "If that indeed be the aim of man you must look for a wife for me."

And they said to him, "You are too young, you will not be able to manage a wife."

And he said, "Never mind, look for a wife for me."

And they said, "No, you are not old enough yet."

So he answered them, "All right, if you won't get me a wife I will look for one for myself."

So he went and searched till he found a wife, and then there were shouts and trills as he brought her home and married her.

So they stayed indoors the appointed time of the honeymoon, and when it was nearly accomplished his wife said to Hapendeki, "Now that the honeymoon is nearly over I want some nice clothes to show myself in when the honeymoon is completed and I go out once more."

So the husband went out and sought all the Indians' and Banyans' shops, and bought all the best clothes he could in the town, and brought home one man's load of different kinds of clothes. And he said to her, "Here, my wife, look at the clothes I have brought you."

So she opened the parcel and looked at the things and said, "Do you call these clothes, my husband? Do you think that I could go out in such things, my husband?"

So the husband took ship and went to Maskat, and there he bought all the most beautiful clothes he could find, and dresses of silk and all kinds of garments, two bales full, and with these he returned home.

So he took ship with his two bales of clothes and arrived home again, and had them carried up to his house.

When he came into the house his wife cooked food for him, and he sat down and ate, and when he had finished he said to his wife, "Now open those two bales and see the clothes I have brought you." So she opened the bales and looked at the clothes and said, "Do you call these clothes? you must be a fool to have bought things like these. Are these things fit for your wife to wear? Do you wish me to wear grass and bark cloth? Do you imagine that I could wear things like these?"

So he said, "My wife, these are the best that I could find, now say, what sort of clothes are those that you want?"

So she said to him, "My husband, the only clothes fit for me to wear are clothes made of the skin of Pemba Muhori, the great sea serpent."

Next day he went to his father and mother and told them how he had bought every kind of expensive clothes for his wife, but that she refused to wear anything but the skin of Pemba Muhori.

His father and mother said to him, "Did not we tell you that you would not be able to manage a wife?" and his elder brothers said, "You, the youngest, must needs marry before us, your elder brothers, and this is what comes of it."

So Hapendeki said to his mother, "I do not want words or advice, all I want you to do is to make seven loaves for me, and to make up a parcel for me containing these seven loaves and seven cigarettes and seven matches."

So his mother baked seven loaves and made up the parcel, and next day he took his sword and the parcel and set out. He travelled and travelled through plains and forests, plains and forests, for one month, till at the end of the month he came to a big lake. He sat down on the shore and ate one loaf and lit one cigarette and smoked it and thought, "Pemba Muhori must be in this lake," so he sang--

"Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there? My wife has sent for your skin to wear."

All was silent, so he picked up his load and journeyed on through desert and hills, desert and hills, till he came to a lake larger still, at the end of the second month, and he sat down and ate a loaf and smoked a cigarette and sang--

"Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there? My wife has sent for your skin to wear."

All was silent, so he travelled on and on till he came to a third and bigger lake, and now he had spent three months in the way.

So he sat down on the shore and ate a loaf and smoked a cigarette and sang again, but all was silent, so he travelled on, and at the end of each month he came to a bigger lake, and he ate one loaf and smoked one cigarette.

Till, at the end of the sixth month, he came to an enormous lake, bigger than any before, and its breadth was the distance of Tabora from the coast.

And he said, "Pemba Muhori can hardly miss being in here," so he ate a loaf and lit and smoked a cigarette and then he sang--

"Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there? My wife has sent for your skin to wear."

But all was silent, so he picked up his load and went on and on, and now he had only one loaf and one cigarette and one match left.

At the end of the seventh month he came to a lake as broad as from Ujiji to Zanzibar, and on its shores was white sand, white like bleached calico.

So he sat down and thought, "Now I have come to the last of my food. What am I to do if I miss Pemba Muhori here?"

So he ate his last loaf and tried to light his last cigarette, but the match went out, so he threw it into the lake saying, "What matter? Now I have nothing."

Then he sang--

"Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there? My wife has sent for your skin to wear."

Then there was a noise like thunder, and great waves went foaming away to the shores, and Pemba Muhori appeared with his seven heads and said, "Who is making use of my name?"

So he answered, "It is I, Hapendeki," and took his sword and smote off one head, and picking it up he put it on one side. Then the snake came and said, "Who are you that are not worth eating at a mouthful?"

Hapendeki took his sword and cut off another head and the snake disappeared in the water again, and he took the head and laid it on one side.

And so the snake came at him again till he had cut off the third, fourth and fifth head and put them on one side.

Then the snake said, "What sort of witchcraft is this, that you who are so small think you can kill me?" and he rushed at him again, and Hapendeki cut off his sixth head and put it on one side. Then the snake rose up and came at him, and Hapendeki cut off his seventh head and ran away.

Then the snake's body writhed and twisted, and he lashed so with his tail that the mountains fell into the lake and the waves tore up the hillsides.

When all was still again, Hapendeki returned and picked up the heads, which were a heavy load, and as he picked up the sixth he staggered, but he said to himself, "I must take them all home to show my wife." So he made an effort and picked up the seventh head, and when he had them all, he suddenly looked round and behold, he found that his journey home was finished and that he was already in his house.

His wife was astonished to see him and said, "My husband, how did you return?" and he answered, "By the grace of God."

Then she cooked food for him and said, "Now eat." And he said to her, "Last time I ate here you told me that I was a fool for not getting you the clothes you wanted, now look first in the parcel I have brought and see if they are indeed the clothes you want before I eat."

So his wife looked at the load and was astonished, and the neighbours came and looked and were astonished, for there were the seven heads of Pemba Muhori.

Then that youth thought to himself, "I must now teach my wife a lesson, as she has put me to a lot of trouble and worry;" so he told her to prepare a large feast for the next day, and he invited all his friends to come.

Next day his friends came and they all ate till they were full, and he then said to his wife, "My wife, bring me water that I may drink."

His wife brought him water, and he looked at it and said to her, "Do you call this water, do you think that this is fit for your husband to drink?"

So she went away and brought him milk, and he said to her, "What is this you have brought me? Am I a baby that you think that I can drink this?"

So she went and brought him honey-wine, and he said to her, "Am I a drunkard that when I ask for water you bring me wine?"

So she said to him, "My husband, what kind of water do you want? tell me, that I may get it for you."

So he said, "That water you brought me smelt of frogs. I want water from a lake in which there are no frogs."

So she took a water jar, and putting it on her head went forth, and he, taking his sword and putting it over his shoulder, went after her, and followed at a distance to see what she would do.

And she travelled on and on till she came to a big lake and said to herself, "Perhaps this water will do." So she sang--

"My husband has sent me out to draw Water no frog has touched with his claw."

And the frogs answered, "K--r--r--r, K--r--r--r."

So she took her water jar and travelled on and on till she came to another big lake and sang again--

"My husband has sent me out to draw Water no frog has touched with his claw."

"K--r--r--r, K--r--r--r."

So she travelled on and on, and her husband followed, watching from behind, and every lake she came to and sang the frogs only answered, "K--r--r--r, K--r--r--r."

At last she came to a great lake, and there she sang--

"My husband has sent me out to draw Water no frog has touched with his claw."

All was silent, so she said, "This must indeed be the water my husband wants." So she filled her water jar, and, turning round to go home, she saw a huge demon coming forth saying, "I smell man, I smell man."

Her husband behind, who knew how to talk to demons, called out,

"Demon bwe! bwe! bwe! Demon bwe! bwe! bwe! My wife run quickly past me, Demon bwe! bwe! bwe!"

So his wife ran past him, and as the demon followed after her he cut off his tail, and at that moment he found himself in his house again and his wife found herself on the threshold.

She tried to take the water jar from her head to pass in at the door, but she found that it had stuck there, and she was not able to move it.

Then a neighbour came forward and tried to pull it off, but he could not, then came two men and then five and then twenty, but they could not get the water jar off. Then fifty tried, but failed, and at last five hundred men tried to pull it off, but it was of no avail.

Then came out the husband and said, "My wife, put down that water jar," and he slapped her in the face and at that moment the water jar fell off.

His wife said to him, "What do you strike me for?" and her husband said, "My wife, do you not see that that was the medicine that broke the charm and released you from the water jar? Did you not see that five hundred men were unable to get it off, and that I, by just slapping you, was able to get it off?" But the woman would not be satisfied, so went off to the Sultan and accused her husband before the Sultan of beating her. So the Sultan sent his soldiers to fetch Hapendeki, and when he was brought said to him, "How is this that you have beaten this woman your wife?"

So Hapendeki told him the story from first to last, and the Sultan said to him, "Have you the heads of Pemba Muhori?"

He answered and said, "They are there in my house."

So the Sultan said, "Bring them here that I may know that your story is true."

So Hapendeki said, "I will bring them here at eight o'clock to-night, but I want you to turn out all the lights when I come and only turn them on when I tell you."