Part 41 (1/2)
Travelling a short distance northwest from Kamerun we reach the Slave Coast of West Africa, to which A.B. Ellis has devoted two interesting books, including chapters in the folklore of the Yoruba and Ewe-speaking peoples of this region. Among the tales recorded are two which ill.u.s.trate African ideas regarding love. I copy the first verbatim from Ellis's book on the Yoruba (269-70):
”There was a young maiden named Buje, the slender, whom all the men wanted. The rich wanted her, but she refused. Chiefs wanted her, and she refused. The King wanted her, and she still refused.
”Tortoise came to the King and said to him, 'She whom you all want and cannot get, I will get. I will have her, I.' And the King said, 'If you succeed in having her, I will divide my palace into two halves and will give you one-half.'
”One day Buje, the slender, took an earthen pot and went to fetch water. Tortoise, seeing this, took his hoe, and cleared the path that led to the spring. He found a snake in the gra.s.s, and killed it. Then he put the snake in the middle of the path.
”When Buje, the slender, had filled her pot, she came back. She saw the snake in the path, and called out, 'Hi! hi! Come and kill this snake.'
”Tortoise ran up with his cutla.s.s in his hand. He struck at the snake and wounded himself in the leg.
”Then he cried out, 'Buje the slender, has killed me. I was cutting the bush, I was clearing the path for her.
She called to me to kill the snake, but I have wounded myself in the leg. O Buje, the slender, Buje, the slender, take me upon your back and hold me close.'
”He cried this many times, and at last Buje, the slender, took Tortoise and put him on her back. And then he slipped his legs down over her hips....
”Next day, as soon as it was light, Tortoise went to the King. He said, 'Did I not tell you I should have Buje, the slender? Call all the people of the town to a.s.semble on the fifth day, and you will hear what I have to say.'
”When it was the fifth day, the King sent out his crier to call all the people together. The people came.
Tortoise cried out, 'Everybody wanted Buje, the slender, and Buje refused everybody, but I have had her.'
”The King sent a messenger, with his stick, to summon Buje, the slender. When she came the King said, 'We have heard that Tortoise is your husband; is it so?'
”Buje, the slender, was ashamed, and could not answer.
She covered her head with her cloth, and ran away into the bush.
”And there she was changed into the plant called Buje.”
THE MAIDEN WHO ALWAYS REFUSED
Robert Hartmann (480) describes the Yoruba people as vivacious and intelligent. But the details given by Ellis (154) regarding the peculiar functions of bridesmaids, and the a.s.sertion that ”virginity in a bride is only of paramount importance when the girl has been betrothed in childhood,” explain sufficiently why we must not look for sentimental features in a Yoruba love-story. The most noticeable thing in the above tale is the girl's power to refuse chiefs and even the King. In Ellis's book on the Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast, there is also a love-story (271) concerning a ”Maiden who always refused.” It has a moral which seems to indicate masculine disapproval of such a feminine privilege. The following is a condensed version:
There was a beautiful girl whose parents were rich. Men came to marry her, but she always said ”Not yet.” Men continued to come, but she said ”My shape is good, my skin is good, therefore I shall stay;” and she stayed.
Now the leopard, in the leopard's place, hears this. He turns himself to resemble man. He takes a musical instrument in his hand and makes himself a fine young man. His shape is good. Then he goes to the parents of the maiden and says, ”I look strong and manly, but I do not look stronger than I love.” Then the father says, ”Who looks strong takes;” and the young man says, ”I am ready.”
The young man comes in the house. His shape pleases the young girl. They give him to eat and they give him to drink. Then the young man asks the maiden if she is ready to go, and the maiden says she is ready to go.
Her parents give her two female slaves to take along, and goats, sheep, and fowls. Ere long, as they travel along the road, the husband says, ”I am hungry.” He eats the fowls, but is still hungry: he eats the goats and sheep and is hungry still. The two slaves next fall a victim to his voracity, and then he says, ”I am hungry.”
Then the wife weeps and cries aloud and throws herself on the ground. Immediately the leopard, having resumed his own shape, makes a leap toward her. But there is a hunter concealed in the bush; he has witnessed the scene; he aims his gun and kills the leopard on the leap. Then he cuts off his tail and takes the young woman home.
”This is the way of young women,” the tale concludes.
”The young men come to ask; the young women meet them, and continue to refuse--again, again, again--and so the wild animals turn themselves into men and carry them off.”
AFRICAN STORY-BOOKS