C. H. Stigand

“ So Paka followed the leopard many days and many weeks.
Till one day came a lion, and he fell on the leopard and killed him.
So Paka thought in her heart, "Now, this one also was not a manly one: he who is the man is the lion." ”

“ So at eight o'clock Hapendeki brought the seven heads, and all the lights were turned out, and he arranged them in front of the Sultan's palace, which was seven storied, one head he put on the roof and one head on every storey.
When the lights were turned on everybody fell back in fear and astonishment, for there, shining and glittering in the light, were the seven heads of Pemba Muhori. ”

“ That night, at twelve o'clock, the snake came out of his skin, and then Mizi pulled the thread and that girl awoke and opened her eyes and saw a wondrously handsome Arab youth: in all that country there was no youth so handsome as that son of the Sultan. ”

“ So Mizi went with the news to the Sultan, but he replied, "Go back and get eaten by that snake. We do not want any more of your folly; for you have taken the poor man's daughter and brought her to the snake, and she has already been swallowed up. Now you in your turn will be eaten, and to-day, I suppose, you have come to take leave of us."
Mizi returned and said to that youth, "He will not give the offering."
He replied, "Then leave him; he who has had no luck does not trust to luck. ”

“ That night, after the professor had gone, the youth dressed up as a soldier, and went out and met the soldiers of the Sultan looking for the thief.
He said to them, "That is not the way to look for a thief. The way to look for a thief is to sit down very quietly in a place, and then perhaps you will see or hear him." ”

“ He said to himself, "This must be the Nunda," so he shot his arrows and shot and shot till he had used all his three hundred arrows and the rhino fell dead.
Then he cut off a leg and set out for home, carrying it with him. When he got near the house he sung, "This is Nunda, this is Nunda who kills people."
And his mother, looking out from the upper storey, sang, "My child, that is not Nunda who kills people."
When he came into the house she said, "My son, that is not Nunda; it is a rhino." ”

“ Then that man saw that the lion did not recognise him for a man, so he took heart, and said, "No, it is not man, but the elephant I am afraid of, for I am the servant of the elephant, and he has called me to make a house for him. For the elephant fears this man whom you speak of, so I now go to make him a house, so that when he goes inside it man cannot get him." ”

“ BINTI ALI THE CLEVER
ONCE upon a time there was a Sultan and his Wazir, and that Sultan had seven children, all sons, and that Wazir had seven children, all daughters.
Those daughters of the Wazir had no mother; their mother had died, and they were very poor.
The sons of the Sultan used to laugh at the daughters of the Wazir, saying, "You poor people, what do you eat? It is our father who [Pg 98] pays your father his wages, and how do they suffice for you seven people who are in one house? You poor creatures, you have not even a brother to help you." ”

“ When I go out begging there is no one to come back to in my house or to cook my food for me whilst I am away."
So he went out to the forest and cut down a tree and carved out of it a woman of wood, and when he had finished he decorated her with jewels and necklaces of wood, and then brought her back to his house.
Then that tree turned into a woman, and he called her Mwanamizi, the child of a root, and he lived with her many days. Till one day, when that poor man had gone forth to beg, a slave girl ran out from the palace of the Sultan in search of a brand with which to light the fire. ”

“ She replied, "It is I, Kitangatanga of the sea." She arrived first in Maskat and found that house where he stopped and went and sat in it. Presently her husband arrived, moored his ship and went up to the house.
When he saw that woman sitting there he was very surprised and said, "How like you are to my wife whom I left in Kilwa, and also to that woman I married in Zanzibar."
Then he asked her, "Are you married?"
She replied, "No, I am a widow." So he said, "I will marry you for one hundred reals." ”

“ At that moment there came forth a hare, and when he had heard the case he said to the lion, "This man speaks not truly when he says that this animal is his wife, he only wishes to get all the meat for himself. Now my plan is that you and the man follow me, and I will show you that this is not his wife."
So the man and the lion followed the hare, and the hare and the man passed the second trap, but the lion entered in, and was caught up by the noose in the air. ”

“ When the animals heard the news of how the cock had deceived the hare, and when they heard that there was mourning in the house of the hare, they said, "Truly the words of the cock are true; he has great cunning, even more than the hare." ”

“ Then that snake said to Mizi, "Go and tell the Sultan that his little snake wants a stone house of seven storeys in which to live. He must look for craftsmen who are not afraid, to come and build the house, and what they ask must be given them." ”

“ 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. ”

“ So the husband called for his horse, and the wife ran in and brought out another bag of a thousand dollars, and as he mounted she gave it to him, saying, "Take this, my husband, and give it to him for your father, and if you gallop after him down that road you will surely overtake him."
Now Omari had ridden away on his donkey till he came to a plantation, then he turned his head and saw, in the distance, the dust made by a galloping horse. There was no one on that plantation except one male slave, and so Omari said to him, "Do you see that dust? It is made by a man of great violence. ”

“ When her vessel drew near, the Sultan's son rowed out to meet her. He climbed on board, and there he saw a handsome Arab youth sitting on the deck.
Binti Ali arose, and they greeted one another after the fashion of men: "Peace be with you," "And with you peace." [Pg 102]
She went ashore with that son of the Sultan, and they came to the palace.
When they came to the palace he said to his father, the Sultan, "How shall we see that this is a man and not a woman? Let us give him very hot gruel, and if it is a woman she will not be able to drink it, and then we will kill her." ”

“ ONCE upon a time there was a poor woodcutter, and his work was to go out every day into the forest and cut wood. In the evening he used to load up his donkey with the wood he had cut and return to the town, where he sold it. The money he got each day was only sufficient for the food of himself and his wife for that day. ”

“ When the hare comes I will sit in the courtyard and hide my head under my wing. Serve up food to the hare, and when he asks, 'Where is my friend the cock?' show him his friend and say, 'There is his body lying in the courtyard, but he has sent his head away to have audience of the Sultan, and to speak his cases for him.' Tell the hare like that. ”

“ And the riches she brought with her, which her dog Atakalo had taken from the [Pg 107] Sultan's treasure house, were brought to land; and when he saw them her father rejoiced greatly.
After a space of ten days she said to her father, "I know that Sultan Makami's son is making a plan to get me. If he comes here and asks for me in marriage, do not refuse him, but agree. My cleverness, which I have in my heart, is that which will save me."
One day the Sultan of Makami's son arrived, and came to the Wazir and said, "I want your daughter, Binti Ali, in marriage." ”

“ He thought to himself, "Here I am without food, and there is no land in sight. I will most certainly die of hunger and thirst, and now, in addition to all my troubles, I have two tusks growing from my mouth, and they are of such a weight that I can scarcely move. ”

“ His wife said, "But, my husband, we have no food and no money in the house. What are we to do if you do not go and work?"
He answered, "Never mind. God is able to feed the birds when they are hungry, and so He is able to feed me."
So he stopped there in bed. Now a neighbour of his had a vision that night that in a [Pg 54] certain cave was a great treasure stored. He wanted to go and search for it, and when he heard that the woodcutter was not going to work that day he thought that he would borrow his donkey to bring back the wealth, if his vision came true. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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, [Pg vii] collect firewood, and perform many other duties. ”

“ Now when all the animals heard how the hare had deceived the jackal, and made him kill his mother, and how he had made him live on nothing but insects till he died, they were very [Pg 156] angry with the hare. Then they held a meeting, and it was asked, "Who is a match for the hare in cunning?"
The cock said, "I am; I am able to deceive the hare and kill him."
All those animals said to the cock, "You, cock, are not the equal of the hare. What sort of cunning have you to match yourself against the hare?" ”

“ The tale comes from the Wazir and his daughter, the last born, who was called Binti Ali the Clever. [Pg 109]
XVI
SEGU THE HONEY-GUIDE
SEGU is the honey-guide. His work is that he lives in the forest and flies about looking for bees' nests, and when he finds one he goes to look for men. When he finds them he says, "Che! che! che! che!" until those sons of men look up and say, "Ah, there is Segu. Let us go with him that he may show us honey."
So these people follow Segu, who flies in front from tree to tree saying, "Che! che! che! che!" ”

“ As the Swahili is himself a mixture of the [Pg viii] 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. ”

“ THE JACKAL, THE HARE AND THE COCK
ONCE upon a time there was a hare who was cunning with great guile. That hare went to the jackal and said, "I want to make friends with you, jackal. Our friendship will be that we walk about together and agree in every matter. ”

“ If he has had to borrow the wherewithal with which to cultivate, surely he has already harvested his field, for he has to pay away his profit.'
"Lastly, when he saw the bier and asked, 'Is that man dead or alive?' he meant, 'Has that man any children? If he has left a child he is alive although he is dead, for his name is still there. ”

“ Behold, that dog Atakalo had brought a brand and set fire to the palace. Then the Sultan and his son and all the people in his house rushed out, with their turbans in their hands, to see what was the matter and help put out the flames.
Binti Ali went down swiftly to her ship and got on board, and meanwhile Atakalo had run round and bored a hole in the bottom of every boat and ship in the Sultan's harbour. Then [Pg 105] Atakalo came back to her vessel and said, "Mistress, I have finished."
So she weighed anchor and changed into her woman's clothes. ”