How Some One Got a Wife (And Also Saved) His Life by Means of Interpreting Symbols
We do not really mean, we do not really mean, (that what we are going to say is true).
THERE once lived three men and they wanted work. They went to the Tall-grass-country to buy nkyekye cloth and other things. (On their return to Ashanti) they made their nephew carry some of the goods, and went along selling them. They came to a certain big town. In the town was a Queen Mother’s daughter who refused to whomever she was given in marriage. Now these strangers (the traders) went there (to her home), but the Queen Mother’s child had gone “to beat” the washing. The Queen Mother (however) bought two cloths and put them aside for her daughter. When her child returned she saw the three men. She said to her old woman, “To-day I have seen him whom I desire, so kill a sheep and let me present it to them.” When they had finished cooking the food, the young girl went and took a stalk of elephant grass, cotton, a kola nut, and ground nuts, and placed on top of the food to go and present to the men. And she said, “He who can explain their meaning, him I shall marry.” And they went with the food. The men uncovered it, and they said, “If it were not the Queen Mother’s child who had brought this food, we should have some words to ask her.” The nephew of the men said, “If I were not afraid of you, I could tell you the meaning of those things.” They said, “Explain.” The child replied, “The girl says she has made her thoughts white like the cotton, and if she can get one of us who have come here, ought she not to marry? The meaning of the elephant grass is that, a day will come when she will get lost; the kola nut also means that a day will come when she will make him (her husband) chew kola (i. e. be sorrowful). The ground nuts means she wishes you to plant ground nuts for her, so that every year, when she goes to look at the roots she will get some to pull up.” So the Queen Mother’s child married the men’s nephew. When she had married him, the Queen Mother’s child asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “I am called Kwaku Susufuo,” that is to say, Kwaku-who-takes-trouble-to-think. The girl replied, “I, too, am called Akua-who-takes-trouble-to-think.” He married her with fitting ceremony. Next morning the three uncles set off to their own town. Kwaku-who-takes-trouble-to-think remained at his wife’s village. He remained there for a year, and when he rose up (in the morning), he and his friends used to sit and play at nte marbles. Now, one day when he was playing thus, he knocked out two marbles at one shot, but the people with whom he was playing, said they would not give them to him, and they even wished to beat him. He cast a look behind him, and saw a child standing there; he took a stone and gave it to the child to take and go and give to his wife. Now when his wife received the stone, she said to her mother, “My husband wishes to return to his town, for he says that when a bird remains too long on the ground, it receives a stone.” And the Queen Mother said, “When he goes, you must go with him.” Of a truth, she and he went off. And they met Kwaku-who-takes-trouble-to-think’s uncles. Now, some time after this, they said to him, “Kwaku-who-takes-trouble-to-think, get some string that we may go to the bush to set a trap in order to catch pigeons that we may offer hospitality to your wife, who is a stranger.” So they set out, but these elders had (really) agreed to kill him. They and Kwaku-who-takes-trouble-to-think went along; they reached (a lonely spot) on the road; they tied him up and told him, “We shall kill you.” Then he told them, saying, “When I went to my wife’s village, I found a great deal of money, and if you do not allow me to show you where it is, and I die, you will not find it.” They asked him, saying, “Where does the money lie?” He replied, “You must go to my wife and inform her that I have bought meat, and that (the vendors) say the price is ten peredwan (£80), and that she must search in the bag made out of strips of sheep’s hide; when she looks there and does not find it, let her look in the Krampan bag, if she does not see it there, let her look in the belt with the knives in it.” So they came and gave his wife the messages. And she, too, said, “The things are in the house of the village head-man, so let us go and get them.” She and they went to the head-man’s house; and the woman told the head-man the news, explaining, “The bag of rope made of sheep-skin means that they have bound him; the Krampan means that the vultures are trying to eat his flesh; the belt holding the knives means they are about to cut his throat. At once the head-man beat gong-gong, that they should proceed there to save Kwaku-who-takes-trouble-to-think. And they came back with him. He made them kill the three elders. That is why we say, “By means of interpreting symbols some one got a wife and (also) saved his life.”
This, my story, which I have related, if it be sweet, (or) if it be not sweet, take some elsewhere, and let some come back to me.
How Contradiction Came Among the Tribe
We do not really mean, we do not really mean, (that what we are going to say is true).
THERE was once a certain man called Hate-to-be-contradicted, and because of that, he went and built a small settlement (all by himself) and went to live in it. And the creature called the Duyker went to (visit) him, and he went with him and sat down at the foot of a palm-tree. And some of the palm nuts fell down. The Duyker said, “Father Hate-to-be-contradicted, your palm nuts are ripe.” Hate-to-be-contradicted said, “That is the nature of the palm nut; when they are ripe, three bunches ripen at once; when they are ripe, I cut them down, and when I boil them to extract the oil, they make three water-pots full of oil; and I take the oil to Akase to buy an Akase old woman; the Akase old woman comes and gives birth to my grandmother, who bears my mother, who in turn bears me; when mother bears me, I am already standing there.” The Duyker said, “As for all that, you lie.” And Hate-to-be-contradicted took a stick and hit the Duyker on the head, and killed it. Next the little Abedee antelope came along. And he went off with it and sat under the palm-tree, and the same thing happened. And thus it was with all the animals. Now, Kwaku Ananse, the Spider, went and fetched his cloth, and fetched his bag, slung it across his shoulders, and went off to Hate-to-be-contradicted’s village. He greeted him, “Father, good morning.” Hate-to-be-contradicted replied, “Y’Aku, and where are you going?” He replied, “I am coming to you.” And he took his stool and placed it under the palm-tree. Hate-to-be-contradicted said, “Cook food for the Spider to eat.” And when it was cooking, Ananse and Hate-to-be-contradicted sat under the palm-tree. And some of the palm nuts fell down. And Ananse took them and placed them in his bag. And he continued doing so until his bag was full. The food was brought, and Ananse ate. When he had finished eating, some of the palm nuts fell down, and Ananse said, “Father Hate-to-be-contradicted, your palm nuts are ripe.” Hate-to-be-contradicted said, “It’s their nature to ripen like that; when they are ripe, three bunches ripen at once; when they are ripe, I cut them down, and when I boil them to extract the oil, they make three water-pots full of oil, and I take the oil to Akase, to buy an Akase old woman; the Akase old woman comes and gives birth to my grandmother, who bears my mother, that she in turn may bear me. When mother bears me, I am already standing there.” The Spider said, “You do not lie, what you say is true; as for me, I have some okros standing in my farm, and when they are ripe, I join seventy-seven long hooked poles (to reach them to pull them down), but even then they do not reach, so I lie on my back, and am able to use my penis to pluck them.” Hate-to-be-contradicted said, “Oh, I understand; to-morrow I shall come and look.” The Spider said, “Surely.” When the Spider was going (home), he chewed the palm nuts which he had gathered up, and spat them out on the path. Next morning, when things began to be visible, Hate-to-be-contradicted set out to go to the Spider’s village. Now when the Spider had arrived first (the day before), he had gone and told his children, saying, “A certain man will come here, and he hates to be contradicted, and when he arrives and inquires after me, you must tell him that yesterday I had said I was going off some place, when my penis broke in seven places, and I had to take it to a blacksmith to repair, and as he could not finish it at the time, he says he has gone to have the work finished.” Not long after, Hate-to-be-contradicted came along. He said, “Where has your father gone?” They replied, “Alas, father went somewhere yesterday, and his penis got broken in seven different places, and he took it to a blacksmith, but he could not finish the job at the time, and father has gone to have it completed, and (you,) Father, did you not see the blood on the path?” Hate-to-be-contradicted said, “I saw it.” Hate-to-be-contradicted asked, “And where is your mother?” (The Spider’s child replied,) “Mother, too, yesterday she went to the stream, and her water-pot would have fallen and broken had she not saved it from doing so by just catching at it in time, but she didn’t quite finish saving it from falling, and has returned to-day to do so.” Hate-to-be-contradicted did not say anything. Now Ananse arrived. He said, “Cook some food that Hate-to-be-contradicted may eat.” As the children were cooking the food, they only used one single little perch but an immense quantity of peppers; they made the soup stew very hot. When they had finished, they set it down before Hate-to-be-contradicted. Hate-to-be-contradicted ate. Now the peppers pained him; he wanted to die. He said, “Ntikuma (the Spider’s child), draw water for me that I may drink.” Ntikuma went to the water place; he never brought the water. Hate-to-be-contradicted said, “Ntikuma, where is that water?” Ntikuma said, “Ah, the water which we have here (in our water-pot) is of three different kinds; that belonging to father comes first, that of my mother’s co-wife is in the middle, and that belonging to my own mother is at the bottom (of the pot); and because I want to draw for you only the water belonging to my own mother, if I do not take great care when drawing it, it will cause a tribal dispute.” Hate-to-be-contradicted said, “You little brat, you lie.” Straightway, Ananse said, “Beat him so that he die.” Hate-to-be-contradicted said, “Why should they beat me so that I may die?” The Spider said, “You say you hate to be contradicted, and yet you have contradicted some one, that is why I say they must beat you so that you may die.” So they beat Hate-to-be-contradicted so that he died. Then Ananse cut up his flesh in little pieces and scattered it about. That is why many persons who hate to be contradicted are to be found in the tribe.
This, my story, which I have related, if it be sweet, (or) if it be not sweet, take some elsewhere, and let some come back to me.