Oral Literature in Africa (57 page)

Other stories could be called thrillers. The hero struggles against ogres and monsters who are trying to devour him. These fearsome ogres are stock characters in many stories in Bantu Africa. There are the one-legged, two-mouthed cannibalistic ogres of East African tales, for instance, the
Di-kishi
cannibal of Angolan stories (sometimes appearing as a named ‘hero’, Dikithi (Larson 1963)) with his one eye and a single leg made of beeswax, or the half-man, half-animal monsters of some tales in Malawi or the Congo.
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We also meet various powerful monsters, giants, and spirits in West African stories, many of them man-eating but apparently less often physically deformed; a number of them are clearly closely related either to animals
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or to the djinns and genies familiar from Islamic sources. In all these cases, the basically non-human and asocial character of these figures comes through clearly either by reason of their deformities or through their association with non-human creatures.

Even without the appearance of exotic characters and settings, an
element of fantasy is often apparent. In one Sierra Leonean story, to give just one instance, a pregnant woman’s belly grew ‘as big as Sierra Leone and Great Britain put together’ Innes 1964: 18). All over the continent kings are represented as possessing exaggerated wealth and power, heroes are revived from death, girls are wooed by hundreds and thousands of suitors, young men win whole kingdoms for themselves by force of arms or politic love, or hunters kill and capture fabulous beasts who bring them all their desires. In the areas strongly influenced by Islam, particularly on the East Coast, we also hear of sultans with wealthy and glittering entourages and of the miraculous assistance given to a hero by genies.

The actual way in which the storyteller’s imagination can combine fantastic elements with his knowledge of the real varies not only from society to society but also from narrator to narrator. Each has his own contribution to make of wit, satire, elegance, or moralizing. It is too simple to pick on just one element, like ‘realism and lack of sentimentality’ or ‘placid serenity’, and extrapolate this to apply to African narratives in general.
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Some are realistic; some very definitely are not—unless by ‘realism’ one merely means that a narrator builds on his own experience of reality to add point and vividness to his literary inspiration, in which case assertions about ‘realism’ become meaningless. Similarly some stories may give an impression of serenity; others most definitely do not. It is better to say that the opportunities for various kinds of literary effect are exploited differently in different contexts, and that even when some of the themes are the same, the actual tone and impact of the story itself may vary in different areas and according to different narrations.

Two brief stories can illustrate this point. In both there is an element of fantasy and a concentration on human action—but the stories are very different in tone.

One Cannot Help an Unlucky Man (Hausa)

There was a certain Man, a Pauper, he had nothing but husks for himself and his Wife to eat. There was another Man who had many Wives and Slaves and Children, and the two Men had farms close together.

One day a Very-Rich-Man who was richer than either came, and was going to pass by on the road. He had put on a ragged coat and torn trousers, and a holey cap, and the People did not know that he was rich, they thought that
he was a Beggar. Now when he had come up close, he said to the Rich-Man ‘Hail to you in your work’, but when he had said ‘Hail’, the Rich-Man said ‘What do you mean by speaking to me, you may be a Leper for all we know!’ So he went on, and came to the Poor-Man’s farm, and said ‘Hail to you in your work.’ And the Poor-Man replied ‘Um hum’,
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and said to his Wife ‘Quick, mix some husks and water, and give him to drink.’ So she took it to him, and knelt,
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and said ‘See, here is some of that which we have to drink.’ So he said ‘Good, thanks be to God’, and he put out his lips as if he were going to drink, but he did not really do so, he gave it back to her, and said ‘I thank you.’

So he went home and said ‘Now, that Man who was kind to me I must reward.’ So he had a calabash washed well with white earth,
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and filled up to the top with dollars, and a new mat
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was brought to close it. Then the Very-Rich-Man sent his Daughter, who carried the calabash, in front, and when they had arrived at the edge of the bush
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he said ‘Do you see that crowd of People over there working?’ And she replied ‘Yes, I see them.’ He said ‘Good, now do you see one Man over there working with his Wife?’ And she replied ‘Yes.’ ‘Good’, he said, ‘to him must you take this calabash.’ Then she said ‘Very well’, and she passed on, and came to where the Poor-Man was, and said ‘Hail’, and continued ‘I have been sent to you, see this calabash, I was told to bring it to you.’

Now the Poor-Man did not open it to see what was inside, his poverty prevented him,
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and he said ‘Take it to Malam Abba, and tell him to take as much flour as he wants from it, and to give us the rest.’ But when it had been taken to Malam Abba, he saw the dollars inside, and he put them into his pockets, and brought guinea-corn flour and pressed it down in the calabash, and said ‘Carry it to him, I have taken some.’ And the Poor-Man [when he saw that there was some flour left] said ‘Good, thanks be to God, pour it into our calabash,
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and depart, I thank you.’

Now the Very-Rich-Man had been watching from a distance, and [when he saw what had happened] he was overcome with rage, and said ‘Truly if you put an unlucky Man into a jar of oil he would emerge quite dry.
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I wanted him to have some luck, but God has made him thus.’

(Tremearne 1913: 242–3)

Wacici and Her Friends (Kikuyu)

Wacici was a very beautiful girl, admired by many people for her elegance and charm. Her girl friends were very jealous of her and always ill-treated her.

One day her friends were going to visit a
mwehani
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to have their teeth filed, spaced, and beautified as girls used to do. Wacici joined them. He was a man of great fame who was highly reputed for his skill. They all had their teeth well done and the girls looked very attractive and charming, but no one looked as pretty as Wacici. The expert praised Wacici’s teeth and beauty and added that she had natural beauty and charm in everything. This annoyed her girl friends very much.

On their way home they stopped and talked to young men from time to time. They laughed as they spoke to the boys, ‘Aha-aaa! Uuuuuu! Eia!’ This is the most romantic laughter which was artificially employed by Gikuyu girls specially when speaking to boys. ‘Aha-aaa! Uuuuuu! Eia!’ They continued to laugh repeatedly as they spoke to young men and the boys would admire their teeth and their charm and sense of humour.

‘You have been to the tooth expert, have you not?’ the boys inquired.

‘Aha-aaa! Uuuuuu! Eia!’ The girls continued to laugh.

‘Wacici is looking most attractive (i.e. an expert in beautifying teeth), one boy remarked kindly, ‘she is really gorgeous and wonderful.’ And all the boys agreed and repeated this remark to Wacici. This infuriated the girls, who were very jealous of Wacici’s beauty and many of them wanted her out of their company.

The girls continued their journey towards their homes and on the way they all conspired to bury Wacici alive in a porcupine hole which was somewhere in the forest near the road.

It was suggested that they should all enter the forest and gather some firewood to take back home as it was the custom that girls should return to their homes with some firewood after a day’s outing. They all agreed to do this and Wacici particularly was very eager to take home some firewood. She was not only a beauty but also a very good girl who upheld the respect expected of Gikuyu girls, and her mother loved her dearly.

When the girls reached the porcupine hole in the forest, they grabbed Wacici and pushed her down the hole and quickly buried her alive. She was taken by surprise and she did not have a chance to scream as she thought that they were playing with her. They did not beat her or do anything harmful to her body. They sealed the hole very carefully on top, quickly left the forest and returned to their homes; they did not speak to
anybody about Wacici.

That evening Wacici did not return home. Her parents waited and waited. When she did not come they went about asking Wacici’s friends if they had been with her that day or whether they had seen her anywhere. They all denied having been with her or seeing her anywhere that day. All this time Wacici was crying in the bottom of the porcupine hole in the forest while her parents were wandering all over the villages looking for her.

‘Where has she gone to?’ her mother asked. ‘Could a young man have eloped with her?’ Her disappearance caused so much concern that her father had to go to consult witch-doctors and seers and ask what had become of his daughter.

Next morning Wacici’s father met somebody who had seen his daughter in company of the other village girls going to the tooth expert. He reported this to his wife and without wasting any time he went to see the dentist in order to verify this information. The dentist confirmed that Wacici and her friends had been to see him and that he had done their teeth on the day she was reported missing. Also on his way home Wacici’s father met some young men who had seen and spoken to his daughter with the other village girls. He returned home and reported to his wife and the family all the information he had gathered.

Wacici’s brother, who knew most of the girls who were said to have been seen with his sister, had known for some time that most of the girls had been jealous, and hated Wacici. He suspected foul play.

He left home quickly and tracked the route through which the girls had returned from the expert. He knew that if they gathered some firewood, they must have entered the forest on the way. He went into the forest to check if his sister had been killed there.

When he came near the porcupine hole he noticed that it was freshly covered and that there were many footmarks which suggested that many people had been there. He examined them very carefully. He also saw a bundle of firewood which had been abandoned. This time Wacici could hear some noise and footsteps above her. She was crying and singing and calling her brother’s name.

When he listened carefully he heard the voice of Wacici clearly and he had no doubt that she had been buried there by her girl friends who were jealous of her beauty.

He called out, ‘Wacici-i! Wacici!’ Wacici heard him and she felt so happy that he had come to liberate her. She answered quickly, ‘Yuu-uuu!’

At once her brother started digging and removing the soil. He dug and
dug until he came to where she was sitting and crying. He carried her to the surface and examined her: she was in good shape except that she had weakened because of hunger and fear. He took her home and her parents were so happy to see her again. She was given a good bath and a lamb was slaughtered to offer thanksgiving to Mwene-Nyaga who had preserved her life.

Wacici reported what her friends had done to her. The following morning the evil girls were arrested and sent to a trial before the elders in a tribunal court and their fathers were heavily fined. They had to pay many heads of cattle and many rams and bulls were slaughtered and a lot of beer had to be brewed for the judges and the elders to eat and drink. The bad girls were exposed and they were all shunned in society and were unable to get husbands for a long time. Wacici was widely respected and she got married and became a mother of many children and lived happily ever after. (Njururi 1966: 86–9)

The characters in these tales are sometimes given names. Some societies have their own favourite named heroes, often of a trickster type, for instance the Lamba Kantanga (a little mischievous fellow), the Zanda Ture or Tule (an amusing rogue), the Zulu Uthlakanyana when appearing as a human (a deceitful and cunning little dwarf), the Fon Yo (a glutton with various supernatural powers), and so on. As with animal tales it would be misleading to assume that all these stories about named characters fall into clear-cut cycles in an attempt to give an overall and in principle unitary history of the hero. In some cases at least there seems to be no attempt at consistency or chronology, the stories are told as short independent narrations on different occasions, and their inclusion into one united narrative may represent the outlook of the Western systematizing scholar rather than the intentions of the narrators.
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Other characters in African stories are named but totally independent in that they occur in only isolated stories. The names are merely taken, it seems, from everyday names in current use and given to a character for ease of reference. Or, alternatively, the name itself has meaning and contributes to the effect of the story, though without necessarily carrying on into other similar stories, like the Zande ‘Man-killer’ and ‘One-leg’, or the Limba brothers ‘Daring’ and ‘Fearful’.

In very many cases, however, the characters are not given names. They appear just as ‘a certain woman’, ‘a chief, ‘a small boy’, ‘a hunter’, ‘two twins’, and so on. Each literary culture has its own stock figures whose characteristics are immediately brought into the listeners’ minds by their
mere mention. Thus the Ila are particularly fond of stories about fools (Smith and Dale ii 1920: 404ff), the Kamba especially like tales about those ‘chosen from the extreme bracket of society’ like the one-eyed, sickly, orphan, widow, very poor or despised (Mbiti 1959: 257) and the Hausa, among others, make great play with the theme of the unfaithful wife. Some stock characters have wide application and appear in various contexts in the stories of many African peoples. We often hear of the actions of a jealous husband, a boaster, a skilful hunter, an absurdly, stupid person, a despised youngster making good, a wise old woman, an oppressive ruler, twins, good and bad daughters, or young lovers. The basic human dilemmas implied by so many of these figures have clearly brought inspiration to hundreds of story-tellers practising their otherwise diverse skills throughout the continent.