Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/332

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292
The Tar-Baby Story.

tempted to embrace. I have not seen Chatelain's book, but the story is probably very much on the same lines as those already given.[1] The Ambundu of Angola seem to possess a rich store of tales, and a language sufficiently like that of their more eastern kin to be learnt without difficulty. Herr Seidel (in a handy little collection entitled, "Geschichten und Lieder der Afrikaner," Berlin, 1896) gives two or three specimens, among them a turtle story which is the exact parallel to the adventure of Brer Tarrypin and Brer Bar. The German translator, who has evidently made his version from the English and not from the Kimbundu text, has, by a curious slip, entitled it "Die Turteltaube;" but it is quite evident from the story itself that the water and not the winged turtle is the one meant. A man from Lubi la Suku found a turtle in the bush, and it was proposed to kill it with axes, but the turtle sang:

"Turtle of Koka, and axe of Koka!
No axe can kill me!"

Stones, fire, and knives are all suggested in turn with a

  1. The story given by Chatelain (p. 183) is of great interest. In outline it is this:—Monkey and Hare (Kabulu) rob Leopard. He consults "the old one" for a charm to catch them. The interviews with the witch are no doubt a transcript from life. At last, by her advice, Leopard makes wooden "images of girls," and smears them with gum of the wild fig-tree. Monkey and Hare, endeavouring to flirt with them, are caught. Leopard puts Monkey and Hare "in his side-bag" and takes them home, intending to cook them on the morrow. But the next day his father-in-law's death is announced, and he has to attend the funeral. In his absence, Monkey and Hare persuade his wife to let them out of the bag and give them the keys of the trunk, that they may dress and follow to the funeral. They dress, one as Captain and the other as Ensign, and go to the funeral. At the funeral they pretend to be sent by "the Lord Governor" to catch Leopard. He is bound and carried home. There they torture him, pillage his house, steal his clothes, and decamp. Hence the monkey always sleeps on a tree and the hare in the bush, so as to be secure from surprise by the leopard. The leopard's spots were caused by the torture. The honorific prefix Ngana is given to Leopard, and sometimes to Monkey and Hare. Ed.