None of the chiefs was willing to approach him.
They kept silent.
But Spider spoke up.
"Kanu Below, I could go for you.
I could spin a web and climb to the sky.
I like the way you treated me.
I will help you." Rat said
"Me too.
I will go.
I like the way you treated me, Kanu.
I want to help."
Anteater said
"Don't forget me.
Let me help also.
I like the way you treated me, Kanu.
I am going to help."
Fly said
"And I will go along too.
I like the way you treated me, Kanu.
Now I am going to help."
Spider spun a web right up to the sky.
He fastened it to a cloud.
The four friends climbed up and began to walk around in the
sky country
looking for Kanu Above.
There was his court!
"Kanu! Kanu Above!
We have come from Kanu Below.
He misses his daughter so much.
We ask that you return her."
Kanu Above glared at these intruders.
He was angry.
But he said:
"Well, sit down.
We shall see."
Kanu Above called the women
"Go and prepare food for our guests."
But to one woman he whispered something in private.
Fly said, "This might be a job for me."
Fly followed that woman.
* * *
He watched.
The women prepared rice.
They prepared palm oil sauce.
They prepared meat sauce.
That woman took poison.
She poured it into the meat sauce.
Fly hurried back to his three friends. He buzzed in their ears.
"Don't touch the meat. It is poisoned."
"Don't touch the meat. They poisoned it."
"The meat is poisoned. Don't touch it."
The food was placed before them. There was a bowl of rice.
There was a bowl of palm oil sauce. There was a bowl of meat sauce.
"Thank you for the food," said the friends. "But in our country we never eat meat."
They pushed away the meat sauce and ate only the palm oil.
Kanu Above looked at them.
"Are these people clever? Or what?"
Kanu Above said
"Now you may rest in this house."
They went into a house.
Kanu's servants closed the doors.
Kanu's servants closed the windows.
They were locked inside that house.
They waited one ... two ... three ... four... five ... six days.
No one brought them food.
No one brought them water.
Rat said, "This is a job for me."
Rat gnawed a hole.
He went out.
Rat went into one house.
He took rice.
He brought it back.
He went into another house.
He took meat.
He brought it back.
Rat went into Kanu's house.
He took kola nuts.
He brought them back.
The friends ate and were healthy again.
Kanu's men saw that they were still alive. They brought brush to set fire to the house.
Anteater said, "Here is a job for me!" Anteater began to dig.
Fast, fast, he dug.
He dug a hole right under the wall. The four friends escaped.
They went before Kanu Above.
They brought with them one kola nut.
"Here is a kola nut.
We give it to you.
Our house burned down.
May we take back the child now?"
Kanu Above wondered
"Are these people clever? Or what?"
"I will bring the child," he said.
"But you must choose her.
If she is really yours you will know her."
lie sent the women to dress the girls. There were twenty young girls. They would all he dressed alike.
* * *
"Whoop!" she jumped.
The friends grabbed her. "This is the one.
We choose this one."
Kanu Above stared and stared.
"Are these people clever? Or what?
Well then, you may have that girl.
Take her to your chief.
And here are four kola nuts
to show my admiration for his four friends."
They took the girl and climbed down to their country again.
Kanu Below was so happy ... so happy ... to have his daughter home again.
He called all the people in the village.
"See what these four have done," he said.
"This is Spider.
You wanted to send him away.
This is Rat.
You did not want him in the village.
This is Anteater.
You did not want him around.
This is Fly.
You would have banished him forever.
Yet these are the ones who have brought back my
daughter.
To me these four are without price.
It is these four who will be my chiefs in the future."
And it was so.
This is the story of Kanu Above and Kanu Below.
The friends were worried.
They had never seen Kanu Below's daughter. How would they know her?
Fly said, "This is a job for me again." He followed the women.
He watched them dress the girls. They put beads around their necks. They put bracelets on their wrists. They put anklets on their feet. They braided their hair just so.
But one girl, they ignored.
No one helped her.
She had to put on her own beads. She had to put on her own bracelets. She had to put on her own anklets. She had to fix her hair all by herself.
Fly said, "That must be our chief's daughter. She is not from this place. They treat her poorly."
Fly flew back to his friends. He buzzed in their ears.
"The girl who jumps. She is the one."
"Grab the girl who jumps." "Watch for the girl who jumps. That will be the one."
They brought out twenty young girls.
They were all dressed just alike.
They were lovely in their beads and bracelets.
Fly buzzed around their heads.
"Not this one ... not this one ... not this one...."
Suddenly he bit one girl.
* * *
Tips for Telling
When telling this story I like to address a child in the audience as "Spider," another as "Fly," etc. I chide "Spider" for making those webs all over the place and ask him not to do it again.
Then turning to the audience as a whole, I admonish them to keep this Spider among us. Later I point out Spider, Fly, and the others as our new chiefs. When Fly buzzes and bites the girl, I pinch one of the girls and whisper to her "jump."
This is a fine story which has much to say to us about working with our troublemakers rather than banishing them from our group. I prepared the tale especially for a mentoring group which was recently founded on the island where we summer. Some young boys had broken into homes, stealing money and guns. The island's response was to start a mentor program to "keep their youth among them."
About the Story
This tale uses elements of "The girl taken by Kanu" and "Kanu above and Kanu below" in Limba Stories and Storytelling by Ruth Finnegan (New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), pp. 274-280. "Kanu above and Kanu below" was collected from Kabi Kanu September 2, 1961. "The girl taken by Kanu" was collected from Niaka Dema November 10, 1961.
There are some interesting elements which I did not use in my version. You can
add them back in if you wish.
In "Kanu above and Kanu below," the girls have been beautified for the Bondo society initiation ceremony. When they arrive to be admired, Fly bites the daughter and she jumps.
In "The girl taken by Kanu," kola nuts are given as tokens when the messengers arrive and when they approach Kanu Above, and four kola nuts are sent to the chief below as a token from Kanu Above. In this tale the chief below is called simply "chief." Finnegan finds the use of the term Kanu for the person below unusual as that would normally refer to spirits of some sort. Kanu Above is of course a heavenly being.
The chief in "The girl taken by Kanu" says on hearing of the pests' actions: "It is good. I love men: for I am chief. Let them just stay with me."
This could be considered a variant of Motif H1385.1 Quest for stolen princess. However, its multiple skilled helpers make it more closely related to F601 Extraordinary companions help hero in suitor tasks (Type 513, 514 The Helpers). The most common variants of that type are the Russian tale "The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship" and the Grimms' "How Six Traveled Through the World." In those stories the helpers are men with unusual talents—Sharpshooter, Eater, Drinker, and such.
MacDonald's Storyteller's Sourcebook lists twenty-two variants from nineteen cultures under F601. A Hausa variant in which a chief's daughter is stolen by a robber chief and a young man gains five companions who rescue her, seems similar to our Limba tale.
The Limba variant, "The Girl Who Went to Kanu," ends with a discussion of which animal should wed the princess; they are awarded a cow instead, which they can divide. But this motif relates the story to H621 Skillful companions create a woman. To whom does she belong? and H621.1 Skillful companions resuscitate girl. To whom does she belong?
MacDonald's Storyteller's Sourcebook cites sources of this tale from Denmark, Greece, Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Ghana (Ashanti), North Africa, and Ethiopia (Somali) and cites variants from three west and central African sources (Liberia, Ashanti, Congolese) for H641.4 Four skillful brothers resuscitate father. Gerald McDermott's popular picture book Ananse the Spider (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1972) is an example of this tale.
* * *
Ko Kongole
There was a princess who was very beautiful.
Her father brought suitors to wed her.
She rejected them all.
That girl wanted a husband she could be proud of.
She wouldn't even let those suitors sit down.
Here comes her father (audience chants): Ko! Kongole!
Ko! Kongole!
(Father) "Mam'olilo, Mam'olilo!
(Ko! Kongole!)
I've found a husband!"
(Ko! Kongole!)
(Girl) "What is his name?"
(Ko! Kongole!)
(Father) "His name is Mr. Porcupine!"
(Ko! Kongole!)
(stop rhythm)
(Girl) "Mr. Porcupine? He's too prickly! Take away the chair and send him home."
(Ko! Kongole! Ko! Kongole!)
(Father) "Mam'olilo, Mam'olilo!
(Ko! Kongole!)
I've found a husband."
(Ko! Kongole!)
(Girl) "What is his name?"
(Ko! Kongole!)
(Father) "His name is Mr. Antelope!"
* * *
(Ko! Kongole!)
(stop rhythm)
(Girl) "Mr. Antelope?
He's too jumpy.
Take away the chair
and send him home."
(Ko! Kongole!
Ko! Kongole!)
(Repeat this pattern inserting any animals you like—elephant, leopard, lion—until you are ready to end the story.)
"Mam'olilo, Mam'olilo!
(Ko! Kongole!)
I've found a husband."
(Ko! Kongole!)
"What is his name?"
(Ko! Kongole!)
"His name is Mr. Rooster!"
(Ko! Kongole!)
"Mr. Rooster?"
Rooster strutted up and down. His head was high.
He was proud.
The girl liked the way he looked!
"Rooster! Rooster!
He can be my husband!
Bring him a chair
and let him sit down!"
(Ko! Kongole!
Ko! Kongole!
Ko! Kongole!
Ko! Kongole!)
The girl took a husband.
(Ko! Kongole!)
The girl married Rooster.
(Ko! Kongole!)
He was proud!
(Ko! Kongole!)
(stop rhythm)
The people brought tables.
The people brought food.
The wedding feast was set.
Everyone ate.
It began to rain.
It rained and it rained.
Out in the yard
the worms came out,
came out of their holes
and wriggled on the ground.
Rooster saw that.
Worms just wriggling and wriggling in the rain.
Rooster jumped up!
Rooster ran out into the yard.
"Tslk ... tslk ... tslk ... tslk...."
Rooster began to gobble up those worms!
(Ko! Kongole!
Ko! Kongole!)
Oh what shame!
(Ko! Kongole!)
Her husband eats worms!
(Ko! Kongole!)
She turned away the others.
(Ko! Kongole!)
Now she has a husband ...
(Ko! Kongole!)
who just eats worms!
* * *
Tips for Telling
Start the audience chanting:
Ko! Kongole! Ko! Kongole!
If the audience members are accustomed to participating in story-play, they may take up the chant and keep it running behind your lines throughout the story. Most audiences will need your lead between the narrative lines for each refrain. A soft hand clap accompanies the chant, if you like. It can be great fun to act this out, letting the audience provide a dancing chant as each suitor comes onstage and parades around.
The chanting stops when the girl looks at her suitor and begins to comment. She surveys him slowly, comments "Porcupine? Not him. He's too prickly!" She now takes up the chant, saying:
Take away the chair and send him home!
Ko! Kongole! Ko! Kongole!
The speed of the story picks up at the end, as Rooster is selected and the wedding arrangements take place. Story collectors Mabel Ross and Barbara Walker (cited below) say of their Nkundo teller:
The procession of suitors having been completed, the narrator proceeds quickly and economically to the denouement.... The tumbling-over-itself of the concluding portion is suggested by the intermixture of verb tenses and the rapidity with which the events are summarized.
The contrast between the orderliness of the courtship procedure and the mad scramble accompanying the unsuitable marriage serves to underscore the moral the narrator expects the listeners to draw from the tale.
Deliver the tale's last sequence slowly and with great shame.
Now she has a husband who just eats worms.
About the Story
A fine variant of this story appears in "On Another Day ...": Tales Told Among the Nkundo of Zaire by Mabel H. Ross and Barbara K. Walker (Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1979), pp. 210-215. They provide interesting notes for the tale there.
In a variant from Nigeria, it is the king who marries a cock's daughter and is embarrassed by her pecking (Elphinstone Dayrell, "The King Who Married the Cock's Daughter" in Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1969 [reprint of 1910 edition], pp. 42-45). The tale reminds one of the Aesop fable that corresponds with Motif J1908.2 Cat transformed to maiden runs after mouse. In this story, Jupiter (or Venus) has turned a cat to a maid so she can wed the man she loves. The cat's true nature is revealed when
a mouse is released. Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature cites also a Nama source from Africa with Motif J1908.3 Frog-woman betrays self by croaking.
Animal suitors are not uncommon in African narratives. See the tale "Onalu" in Uche Okeke, Tales of Land of Death: Igbo Folktales (New York: Doubleday, 1971), pp. 66-68. And see "Gecko" in this book.
* * *
Ningun
Ningun was the most beautiful girl in the village.
And Ningun knew it.
Almost every young man in the village had asked Ningun to
marry him.
"Ningun ... would you marry me?
You are so beautiful ..."
"Marry you?
Just look at you.
Skinny legs.
Pointy nose.
Lumpy ears.
No way would I marry you."
And Ningun would turn away in disgust.
With every young man it was the same.
"Oh Ningun ... you are so lovely.
Would you marry me?"
"Would I marry you?
You must be joking.
You walk like a turtle.
Your hair stands up on end.
And look at your beady little eyes.
No way would I marry you."
In this village one young hunter was stronger and more
handsome than all the rest.
Ningun's father thought surely this hunter would be a good
match for his proud and lovely daughter.
So the hunter came to court Ningun.
"Ningun you are such a fine young woman.
And I am the strongest hunter in the village.
Would you not like to marry me?"
Ningun looked that hunter over.
She was too proud even for him.
"You think I would marry you?
* * *
I think not.
Look at your big feet!
Look at your long gangly arms. Look at your big lumpy nose! No way would I marry you."
The hunter was so embarrassed.
He had never thought of himself as gangly before.
He didn't know he had a lumpy nose.
And he hadn't noticed how big his feet were.
He went away in shame.
Ningun's father said
"This has gone far enough.
If you won't pick a husband ...
I will pick one for you.
If you haven't picked someone by Saturday night ...
I will choose you a husband."
The Story-Teller's Start-Up Book Page 14
