Tiny Tales: Traditional Stories in 100 Words: September 2021

The Hartebeest and the Hide

A traveller was once walking through a forest carrying a hide when he saw a lame hartebeest running along.

So that he could run more quickly, the man placed his hide on the ground and set off in pursuit of the hartebeest. He chased the hartebeest all day long until he was exhausted; finally he gave up.

When he returned to the place where he had left the hide, it was gone; someone had carried it away.

In the end, the traveller had nothing.

Hence the proverb: Take care so that you don’t mourn for the hartebeest and the hide.

Inspired by: "Mourning for the Hartebeest and the Hide" in Sechuana Reader by Daniel Jones and S. T. Plaatje, 1915.
Notes: You can read the original story online, and you can see the Tswana version also.

hartebeest

Pig and Baboon

Pig and Baboon used to be friends, and they lived together on the hillside.

One day, a very cold wind was blowing. Pig and Baboon sat on a rock, trying to warm themselves in the sun.

"This sharp wind could wear down someone's nose until it is blunt," said Baboon.

"Yes," said Pig. "It could even blow the fur off someone's behind."

"You don't have to be rude," snarled Baboon.

"You started it!" squealed Pig.

They argued, and finally Pig went to live down on the plains and Baboon went to live up on the hillltops.

They aren't friends anymore.

Inspired by: "The Pig and the Baboon" in The Wayao of Nyasaland by Hugh Stannus, 1917.
Notes: You can read the original story online.

baboon

The People and the Wolves

Wolves sometimes steal people's goats, or even a cow.

Hoping to save their goat or cow, people might shout at the wolves and throw small pebbles at them, but nothing more. They use no weapons against the wolves.

Why is that? Because when a wolf sheds blood, it dips its tail in the blood and then flings the blood at the man who attacked it, and that man dies.

People fear the blood of the wolf, so they do not attack.

Hence the proverb, "My blood is the blood of a wolf," meaning: Shed my blood, and you will die.

Inspired by: "Of the Wolf" in Tales, Customs, Names, and Dirges of the Tigre Tribes by Enno Littmann, 1915.
Notes: You can read the original story online.

African golden wolf

The Bird and His Wife

There was a bird, and he had a wife; her name was Em-Kaleb.

The bird's wife became sick, and her husband knew she was going to die, so he asked her, "After you are dead, should I kill a funeral cow for you? Or should I hold up your name, saying all the time: My wife! Em-Kaleb!"

She told her husband, "After I am dead, hold up my name."

Then she died.

Ever since, the bird keeps calling, "My wife! Em-Kaleb!"

This bird's call is also a proverb: "my-wife-em-kaleb" means a person who repeats the same thing over and over.

Inspired by: "Of a Certain Bird and his Wife" in Tales, Customs, Names, and Dirges of the Tigre Tribes by Enno Littmann, 1915.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The author did not give the species of the bird, so I chose this lovebird which is found in Ethiopia. The text says "funeral victim," but I found the translation "funeral cow" here: A Descriptive Study of Tigree Grammar.

lovebird

The Boys and the Lizards

The skink-lizard honors boys, so it says: "May the boys be many, and may the girls be few!"

The sand-lizard honors girls and says the opposite: "May the girls be many, and may the boys be few!"

The curse of the sand-lizard makes the boys angry, so they throw stones at the sand-lizards, trying to kill them.

When one boy kills a sand-lizard, he says to another boy, "I've killed your slave!" This provokes the other boy, who kills another sand-lizard to avenge the death of his slave.

On and on it goes, and thus the boys kill many sand-lizards.

Inspired by: "Of the Lizards" in Tales, Customs, Names, and Dirges of the Tigre Tribes by Enno Littmann, 1915.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The author is not sure about the identification of the lizards, but he attributes the Seps chalcidica (three-toed skink) to the boys, and the Lacerta agilis (sand lizard) to the girls.

skink photo by P. Dupont

sand-lizard

Fly, Crab, and Minnow

When Fly, Crab, and Minnow went walking, they saw a palm-tree.

"Who will climb up and cut the palm-nuts?" Minnow asked.

"I can!" said Crab.

"Here, take my knife," said Fly.

"No need," Crab replied. "I've got pincers."

But as she climbed, one of the little Crabs she carried on her back fell, hit the ground, and died.

Fly began eating the dead Crab.

When Minnow laughed, his jaw broke.

Fly ran to get help. He got sweaty from running, and when he wiped the sweat from his brow, he sliced his head open.

Wrongdoers all suffer, sooner or later.

Inspired by: "The Fly, The Crab, and The Minnow" in Negro Culture In West Africa by George W. Ellis, 1914.
Notes: You can read the original story online.

crab

The Hunter and the Bush-Goat

A hunter caught a bush-goat in his snare, but when he went to slit the goat's throat, he accidentally cut the rope and the goat broke free.

The hunter chased the goat for hours.

Finally the hunter shouted, "Wait! You know that twins cannot eat goat meat. I'm a twin, my wife is a twin, and my children are twins. You've got nothing to be afraid of. I was just joking with the knife."

"If you, your wife, and your children are twins who can't eat my meat," the goat replied, "then why have you been chasing me for hours?"

Inspired by: "The Man and the Goat" in Negro Culture In West Africa by George W. Ellis, 1914.
Notes: You can read the original story online. These are Vai stories from Liberia. The animal called "bush goat" in the story is a kind of duiker.

duiker photo by Jean

The Boar and the Elephants

A boar found his way into the midst of a herd of elephants.

Meanwhile, some hunters were stalking the elephants. A man raised his gun, aiming for one of the elephants, but the bullet struck the boar instead.

"Are you hit?" the elephants asked one another.

"Not me!" "Nor I!" the elephants shouted amongst themselves. "What about you, Boar?"

"It is some kind of accident," Boar replied. "The bullet has struck me!"

Then Boar died.

Hence this proverb: "It is some kind of accident," said the boar when he was struck down in the midst of a herd of elephants.

Inspired by: "The Tale of the Boar and the Elephants" in Tales, Customs, Names, and Dirges of the Tigre Tribes by Enno Littmann, 1915.
Notes: You can read the original story online.

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The Leopard and the Duiker

Duiker went to see his friend, Leopard. Realizing Duiker was hungry, Leopard told his wife to prepare a meal.

Leopard's wife took plantains and stewed them with fish. She also took a charm and put it into the stew, which she then served to Leopard and his guest.

Duiker immediately began to devour the stew, but instead of thanking his host, all he said was "Zam! Zam! Zam-zam-zam! Zam!"

Because Duiker was so rude, Leopard cursed him. "You ungrateful creature! From now on, "zam-zam" will be all you can say."

That is why even now you hear Duiker saying "zam-zam."

Inspired by: "How Okpweng Antelope Got His Language" in Bulu Folk-Tales (in Journal of American Folklore) by George Schwab, 1914. The Bulu are a people who live in Cameroon.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The story is told about "okwpeng," a tiny antelope, cephalophus dorsalis castaneus. The story does not explain what the charm does exactly, but since it seemed like the Duiker was a victim of some kind of magic, I made that more explicit in this story.

duiker

When Rabbit and Antelope Were Starving

Rabbit and Antelope were both starving.

"We need to keep the food we have inside us longer," said Rabbit. "Let's sew each other down below, but just partly, not completely."

Antelope agreed, and they sewed each other down below... but Rabbit sewed Antelope completely shut.

Then Antelope swelled up and died.

A man found her body and took it home for butchering. He started by cutting the stitches Rabbit had sewn. All that had been stuck inside came out, and Antelope leaped up and bounded away.

She wasn't dead after all, and she hated Rabbit for how he tricked her.

Inspired by: "Hare: Grey Antelope, Again" in The Life of a South African Tribe: volume 2 by Henri Junod, 1912.
Notes: You can read the original story online. For another encounter, see: Rabbit, Antelope, and the Beans.

(grey rhebok)

The Spider's Toes

Bushcat was tired of Anansi's tricks, so she decided to kill him.

"Six" is the name of Bushcat's mother; if you say that name in Bushcat's house, you fall down dead. So Bushcat invited Anansi to her house for dinner, and after dinner, she said to Anansi, "I've got five toes on my foot: one, two three, four, five. How many toes do you have, Anansi?"

Bushcat knew spiders have eight toes!

"Well," said Anansi, "this toe is one, and this is two, three, four, five, but I don't know the names of my other toes."

That's how Anansi escaped.

Inspired by: "Why the Bush-Cat Calls Hoo-I Hoo-I at Night" in We Two in West Africa by Decima Moore and F. G. Guggisberg, 1909.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The author notes: "A Kwahu story told by Mr. Crawther." But Bushcat doesn't give up; the story continues: Bushcat and Anansi.

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Bushcat and Anansi

Bushcat tried again. "I never met a creature so ignorant!" she said. "I can count all my toes: one, two, three, four, five. I can't believe you're so uneducated that you don't know how to count your own toes."

This made Anansi angry. "I can count them!" he shouted back. "One, two, three, four, five, six..." and when he said "six," he fell down dead.

Bushcat gobbled him up.

Then, in the night, Anansi chewed inside her. "You bit me," he said; "I bite you."

"Hoo-i!" Bushcat yowled. "Anansi's killing me! Hoo-i!"

That's why Bushcat yowls "hoo-i" in the night.

Inspired by: "Why the Bush-Cat Calls Hoo-I Hoo-I at Night" in We Two in West Africa by Decima Moore and F. G. Guggisberg, 1909.
Notes: This is a continuation of The Spider's Toes. The original story does not say exactly how Bushcat made Anansi angry, so I had her insult his intelligence.

(serval)

The Honeyguide Bird

The honeyguide bird looks for beehives. Then he flies to the people. "Che-che-che!" he cries. The people follow where honeyguide leads them. Then they take the honey, while also leaving some for honeyguide as his reward.

You must reward the honeyguide bird.

One time, honeyguide told the people, "Che-che-che!" and they followed him, but he didn't lead them to honey; he led them to a sleeping lion! The lion woke up and roared, and the people were scared and ran away as fast as they could.

"Honeyguide showed us evil today," the people said, "he did not show us honey."

Inspired by: "Segu the Honey Guide " in Black Tales for White Children by C. H. Stigand and Mrs. C. H. (Nancy) Stigand, 1914.
Notes: You can read the original story online. These are stories translated from the Swahili. For more about Stigand, see Wikipedia. The honeyguide is called "Segu" in this story; for more information about the honeyguide bird, see: Audubon.org. The original storyteller does not say just why Segu played this trick on the people, but it sounds like they did not reward him as they should have!

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The Nest of a Thousand Eggs

The king's hunters found a nest containing a thousand eggs.

"I want to buy one of those eggs," said the king.

But the bird refused. "God appointed me to guard the eggs," she said, "not sell them."

The king's soldiers then robbed the nest.

When the bird found the empty nest, she came to the palace. "Now I will fight you," she told the king.

The bird defeated the king and all his soldiers.

God then flooded that land, turning it into a river. A tree arose from the water where the bird nested; she guards the eggs even now.

Inspired by: "The Bird and the King" in Kiungani, or, Story and History From Central Africa by A. C. Madan, 1887.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The author says this is a story from the Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) region, but without additional information. The story does not say anything about the species of bird; below is a grey-crowned crane which lives in Malawi.

The Dead Man and the Turtles

The people found a dead man lying on the ground. He had fallen from the sky, and the light of the moon shone on his body.

The people called the animals. "Who will carry this dead man across the river?" they asked. "And who will carry the moon?"

Two turtles volunteered.

The turtle who had long legs carried the moon to the other side of the river.

The turtle who had short legs carried the man's body, but drowned in the river.

That is why the dead moon comes back to life every month, but the dead man never returns.

Inspired by: "The Phases of the Moon" in George Grenfell and the Congo, volume 2 by Harry Hamilton Johnston, 1910.
Notes: You can read the original story online. This is an Azande story.

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The Elephant and the Shrew

One day when the elephant was walking along the road, she encountered a shrew.

"Get out of my way!" trumpeted the elephant. "I am bigger than you!"

"Curse you, elephant!" the shrew shouted back. "May the long grass cut your legs!”

“I put a curse on you too," bellowed the elephant: "may you meet your death when you walk in the road!"

The elephant then stepped on the shrew and squashed her to death.

Since that time, the two curses have come true: the long grass scratches the elephant, while shrews die if they ever try to cross the road.

Inspired by: "The Elephant and the Shrew" in George Grenfell and the Congo, volume 2 by Harry Hamilton Johnston, 1910.
Notes: You can read the original story online. The author notes: "A story from the Wele Mubangi River, and is told among the Azande (Nyamnyam)." About the shrew, he also adds: "It is a curious and unexplained fact that shrews of the genus Crocidura are constantly found lying dead on the bare ground of the native paths in tropical Africa." For a story about the shrew who is afraid to cross the road because of this curse, see: The Shrew and the Hunter.

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The Sultan's Daughter and the Snake

As a man rode into town, an old woman warned him, "The sultan's daughter wears a snake that eats people; the janitor, a camel, eats people; and the guard, a dog, eats people."

"What can I do?" asked the man.

The woman gave him grass, meat and a stick. "Feed the camel grass, feed the dog meat, and touch the snake's head with this stick; that will kill it."

The man followed the old woman's advice: he escaped the camel, he escaped the dog, he killed the snake, and he married the sultan's daughter and they lived happily ever after.

Inspired by: "The Snake who Ate People" in Specimens of Somali Tales (published in Folklore) by J. W. C. Kirk, 1904.
Notes: You can read the original story online, as told by: Ismail, Habr Toljaala, Ahmed Farah, professional poet, aged about 24.

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The Warriors and the Monkeys

"Kill no monkeys," the priest warned the warriors. "If you do, your war-party will fail."

A cowardly warrior planned to kill a monkey; he didn't want to fight.

When they met two monkeys on the way, the coward lagged behind, pretending to tie his sandal. He killed one monkey. The other wept and shrieked, "Curses upon the human who killed you, my brother!"

When the warriors attacked, their weapons were useless. The clubs bounced off their enemies; their arrows were as harmless as flies.

The warriors realized the coward had done this, so they killed him and returned home, defeated.

Inspired by: "The Warriors and the Monkeys" in The Masai: their language and folklore by Alfred C. Hollis, 1905.
Notes: You can read the original story online.

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