When Kokosakyi, the Vulture, Speaks in Allegories to Bonekyerefo, the Hyena, He Understands Him
We do not really mean, we do not really mean, (that what we are going to say is true).
BONEKYEREFO, the Hyena, was living there, and they told him that his old mother had died. The Hyena wept, and wept, and wept, and set off to beg Kokosakyi, the Vulture; Akoko, the Hen; Odwan, the Sheep; Okra the Cat; and Kraman, the Dog, that they should accompany him to his mother’s funeral. All the animals started out; and they and he went off. When they arrived, they completed the funeral custom, and there only remained that they should purify themselves by bathing. They went and said to the Hyena, “Bathe, that we also may bathe ourselves.” The Hyena replied, “As for me, my old mother lies in the ground, and I will never purify myself until the forty-day funeral celebration has been held.” His friends said, “This is a serious matter we have seen” (for it meant they, too, must fast for forty days). Every day they rose up, and their bellies were torn (with hunger), but as for the Hyena, he retained complete strength. Now, one day the Vulture said, “Ah, that Hyena, I know him; at this very time he has risen up and gone to chew his mother’s corpse.” When the evening fell cool, Kokosakyi, the Vulture, flew away (and the sound of his wings was) fa, and he perched on a tall tree that was there in the thicket of the ghosts, and there he saw the Hyena strutting about. And he came, and went to the grave-mound, scratching, scratching, and he took out his mother’s corpse, and went and chewed it. The Vulture perched there. He said, “Hyena, congratulations, we give you thanks, but it is scoffing thanks.” The Hyena said, “I implore you, as for this, don’t mention it (to any one); whatever you say to me, I will understand your meaning and act immediately.” The Vulture flew off, fa (was the sound of his wings), and came home. Not long after, the Hyena arrived. The Vulture said to his friends, “To-day, even if it turns out as hard as a stone to achieve, we shall eat; besides that, we shall go to our village.” The animals said, “Really?” The Vulture replied, “You may look to me to arrange it.” The Vulture said, “Come, let us go.’” They set out and went to the Hyena’s house. The Vulture said, “Hyena, listen and let me tell you, to-day we wish to eat, and you, too, are going to eat; besides that we shall go to our village to-day, and what have you got to say?” The Hyena said, “I agree, I shall eat, that you, too, may eat.” Immediately the Hyena went and caught three sheep, with which to tie up their hunger, and gave them to his friends to eat, and he, too, partook of some. Then his friends set out and returned home. That is why we have a saying, “When the Vulture speaks in allegories to the Hyena, he understands its hidden meaning.”
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.
No Man Should Say, “This Is the Wife Whom I Love Best”
We do not really mean, we do not really mean, (that what we are going to say is true).
OBEREKUO, Wild-pigeon, and Onwam, Hornbill, and Okusie, Rat, were all married to one man. Now that man made Okusie, Rat, his favourite wife; and Oberekuo, Wild-pigeon, and Hornbill, as for them, he didn’t look after them at all well. When he used to rise up and go out on the street and see anything nice, then he bought it and brought it to Adueku (which is another name for Okusie). Now it wasn’t two days, and it wasn’t three days, when a sickness touched their husband so that he died. When he died, his kinsmen called the widows, saying, “You must come and weep.” Wild-pigeon came and lifted up (her voice):
“Du du, du du du du!
Du du!
Du du, du du du du!
Husband is dead,
Du du!
I shall never eat again,
Du du!
Until I meet my husband.
Du du!”
The (late) husband’s sisters said, “You have done something, you have done something (worthy of praise); you too, Onwam, come (hither).” Onwam came, and raised (her song of sorrow):
“Kya, kya, for my husband is dead!
Kya, kya.
For my husband is dead,
Kya, kya.
Husband is dead.
Kya, kya.
I shall never eat again!
Kya, kya.
Until I meet (my) husband.
Kya, kya.”
The (late) husband’s sisters said, “Onwam, you have done something, you have done something (worthy of commendation); Okusie, come (hither), for you and your husband have eaten something of much sweetness.” Okusie said, “Oh, don’t bother me so.” And she came and lifted up (her voice):
“Sankuroro Dampofo!
Nsankuroro.
As for me, husbands are not hard to find,
Sankuroro Dampofo.
If he is dead, he is dead!
Sankuroro.”
Now she finished, and every one took it as a lesson for himself, that, “In this tribe no one should say, ‘This wife is my favourite wife.’ (The saying) owes its origin to Okusie’s (mock) lamentation.
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 Toothache and Birds Came into the Tribe
We do not really mean, we do not really mean, (that what we are going to say is true).
THEY say that there was once a very large town, and that a certain bird used to rise up every day in order to come and strip off the people’s jaws. Now Ananse, the Spider, heard about this matter, and he set out to go to that town. When he reached the town, he said to the townsfolk, “Why in a huge town like this, have all the jaws of all the people in it been detached?” The Head-man of the town said, “Father, a certain quite small bird, when the sun stands still like this (pointing upwards), came and seized us, and detached our jaws.” Kwaku Ananse, the Spider, said, “As for this, I do not agree to such a thing, and I shall myself kill it.” The Head-man of the village said, “Oh, this town was helpless, and you, a neck standing all alone, what can you do?” Ananse said, “Look at this, my knife; as soon as I have sharpened it, I shall cut off its head like this, bam!” When the sun stood still (i. e. at midday) the Bird came and perched on a tree, and lifted up (its voice):
“E, e, jaws, jaws, e,
E!
Jaws, I am going,
E!
Jaws, I have come, o!
And the Spider lifted up (his voice):
“Jaws, his father, e,
E!
Jaws, his father,
E!
His father, his father,
E!
His father, I have come, o!
E! his father.”
Then the Bird came and stood at the end of the street. He said, “Whose voice is that, that answers me back, and abuses my ancestors? I have split off all the jaws of the people of the village, not one is able to speak.” And again he lifted up (his voice):
“E, e, jaws, jaws, e,
E!
Jaws, I am going,
E!
Jaws, I have come, o!”
And Ananse replied:
“Jaws, his father, e,
E!
Jaws, his father,
E!
His father, his father,
E!
His father, I have come, o!
E, his father.”
Then Kwaku Ananse came and sat at the entrance (of his house). Now words and their left-behinds (i. e. I forgot to say) that all the people of the town had fled and left Ananse. And the Bird flew and came to the entrance of Kwaku Ananse’s (house); and Kwaku Ananse fled and entered his room, and dropped the matting (across the doorway), and the Bird lifted up (its voice): “E, e, jaws, jaws, e,
i!
Jaws, I am going,
E!
Now Kwaku Ananse ran away and entered a calabash used for eating, and raised (his voice) very softly:
“Jaws, his father, e,
E!
Jaws, his father,
E!
His father, I have come, o!
E! his father.”
Now the Bird was about to climb into the room to go and uncover the calabash used for eating, in order to catch Ananse, but Kwaku Ananse took his knife and cut off its head, bam! and half of the Bird flew away to the Edge-of-the-seacountry. Kwaku, the Spider, took the jaws that were hanging on the Bird, and put them down there; and he placed the Bird’s head on top; and he went off to call the townsfolk, saying, “You may come, for I have killed that Bird.” They said, “Oh, that’s Kwaku Ananse, he is a well-known liar, perhaps he is not speaking the truth.” They said, “Choose one sensible child to go and see.” The sensible one went and hid somewhere, and looked, and he saw that the creature’s head lay there, and he went and said, “Come, friends, for Kwaku Ananse has not lied.” All the people came. Now this one, when he took up his jaw, stuck it on. But you, who did not get your own, went and took that of your friend; that’s why Ananse hiding in the calabash you get ill with toothache. Now, as for that Bird, they went and fetched it from the Edge-of-the-sea-country, and they cut it into very small pieces, and scattered them about. That is how so many birds came among the tribe.
This, my story, which I have related, if it be sweet, (or) if it be not sweet, some you may take as true, and the rest you may praise me (for telling of it)