by Maria Tatar
as muskrats!
. . .
So, even though he had warned her,
she dried his bootliners in the heat.
By doing this, she made him turn back into a muskrat.
And this woman
also became a muskrat,
right there in the oxbow lake.
And now it is the end.
A BOARHOG FOR A HUSBAND
West Indies
In tales about Beauties and Beasts, the plot generally turns on a redemptive transformation from a beastly enchantment back to an authentic human self. But in this story about a boarhog, the animal is a master in the art of deception, turning himself into an attractive man. What also makes this tale unusual is the role of the Old Witch Boy, a cinderlad consigned to the hearth to carry out all the dirty work, a dark male double of the king’s daughter, abject and most likely an illegitimate son, hidden away, yet also in the end heroic.
Scalambay, scalambay
Scoops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalambay.
Once upon a time—it was a very good time—Massa King had an only daughter. And all the young fellows were constantly talking with each other about who was going to be able to marry her. They all came by to call on her, but none of them suited her. Each time one would come, her father would say “Now this is the one!” But she kept saying, “No, Daddy, this fellow here, I just don’t like him,” or “No, Mommy, this one really doesn’t please me.” But the last one to come along was a handsome young fellow, and she fell in love with him right away. And of course, when she fell in love, it was deep and wide—she just lost her head altogether. What she didn’t know was that she’d actually chosen a boarhog who had changed himself into a human to go courting.
Now the Massa King had another child, a little Old Witch Boy who lived there and did all the nasty stuff around the palace. He was always dirty and smelly, you know, and no one liked to be around him, especially the King’s beautiful daughter. One day after work the young fellow came in to visit his bride, and the Old Witch Boy whispered, “Daddy, Daddy, did you know that the fellow my sister is going to marry is a boarhog?” “What? You better shut your mouth and get back under the bed where you belong.” (That’s where they made the Old Witch Boy stay, you see, because he was so dirty.)
Now when they got married, they moved way up on the mountain up where they plant all those good things to put in the pot, roots like dasheen, tania, and all those provisions that hogs like to eat, too. One day, Massa King came up there and showed him a big piece of land he wanted his daughter and her husband to have for farming. The husband really liked that because he could raise lots of tanias—which is what boarhogs like to eat most.
So one day he went up to work, early early in the morning. Now there was this little house up by the land where he could go and change his clothes before he went to work. He went into one side of the little house, and he started singing:
Scalambay, scalambay
Scoops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalambay.
And with each refrain he would take off one piece of clothing. And with every piece he took off he became more of a boarhog—first the head, then the feet, then the rest of the body.
Scalambay, scalambay
Scoops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalambay.
Well, about noon, when he thought the time was coming for lunch to arrive in the field, he went back into the house and put back on his clothes, took off the boarhog suit and put back on the ordinary suit he came in. And as he got dressed he sang the same little song to change himself back into a handsome man.
Scalambay, scalambay
Scoops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalambay.
After a while, the Old Witch Boy as usual came with the food, but this day he came early and saw what was going on, heard the singing, and saw the man changing. So he rushed home and told his father again, “Daddy, this fellow who married my sister up there really is a boarhog. It’s true!” Massa King said “Boy, shut your mouth,” and his sister said, “Get back underneath the bed, you scamp you.”
The next day, the Old Witch Boy got up very early and went up the mountain and heard the song again:
Scalambay, scalambay
Scoops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalambay.
All right, he thought, and he went down again and he told his father what he had seen and heard. He even sang the song. Now Massa King didn’t know what to think. But he knew he was missing a lot of tanias from his other fields, so he loaded up his gun and went to see what was going on up there in his fields. Mr. Boarhog was up there changing and didn’t know he was being watched, but he thought he heard something so he kind of stopped. The Old Witch Boy started to sing, and Mr. Boarhog couldn’t do anything but join in with him. And so there they both were, singing:
Scalambay, scalambay
Scoops, scops, scalambay
See my lover coming there
Scoops, scops, scalambay.
And the man slowly changed into a boarhog. When the King saw this he couldn’t believe his eyes. He took his gun and he let go, pow! And he killed Mr. Boarhog, and carried him down the mountain. The King’s beautiful daughter couldn’t believe what she saw and began to scream and cry, but Massa King told her what he had seen and what he had done, and then she had to believe it.
They cleaned Mr. Boarhog’s body and had him quartered. And I was right there on the spot, and took one of the testicles and it gave me food for nearly a week!
THE MONKEY BRIDEGROOM
Japan
Japanese culture has a rich monkey lore, and in the Edo era, monkey worship was not uncommon. The monkey retained its power as a creature capable of warding off demons and diseases, and it was also seen as a patron of fertility, childbirth, and marriage. At the same time, monkeys were often portrayed as aggressive, malevolent trickster figures, and women were considered particularly vulnerable to their predations. The cherry blossoms on the tree, symbols of ephemeral beauty, add poignancy to the contrast between the lighthearted words of the girl and the pathos of the monkey’s song.
In a certain place there lived an old man. One day he went out to dig up gobo [burdock] roots, but he couldn’t dig out a single one. Just as he was wondering what to do, a monkey came along and called out, “Grandfather, grandfather, shall I help you pull up gobo roots?”
“Yes, please help me. If you will dig up some roots for me; I’ll give you one of my daughters as your wife.”
“Will you really do that!” the monkey cried. “Then I shall come to claim her in three days.”
The old man, thinking that the monkey surely would never come to claim one of his daughters, agreed to all he said.
While they were talking, the monkey began pulling up gobo roots and soon had a large pile of them. “The monkey certainly has pulled up a lot of roots; perhaps he really intends to come for one of my daughters,” the old man thought to himself, beginning to get a little worried.
Finally the monkey had pulled up every gobo root in the field. “Well,” he said to the old man, “I shall surely come for your daughter.” Then he scampered off.
The old man thought to himself: “He must really intend to come. Why did I ever tell him that I’d give him one of my daughters? What shall I do? What shall I do? I don’t think that any of my girls will agree to become his wife. I must try to persuade one of them.” The old man walked sadly home, talking to himself.
When he got home, he called his eldest daughter and, after telling her what had happened, said, “When the monkey comes in three days, will you go to be his
bride?”
“What!” she cried. “Who would ever want to become a monkey’s wife!” and she refused even to consider it.
The old man then called his second daughter and asked her the same thing.
“Why,” she cried, “what a fool you are! Who would ever make a promise like that? I may be older than our youngest sister, but I’m not going to become that monkey’s bride. I don’t think anyone would do it,” and so she refused completely.
“Since the other two have refused,” the old man thought to himself, “I don’t think that the youngest will agree either. However, I’ll have to ask her; there’s nothing else to do.” He went to his youngest daughter and told her what he had promised and that the monkey would be coming in three days to get his bride. “Your sisters have both refused. Will you please go and be his bride?” His face paling, the old man made his request.
The girl thought for a while, then replied, “Yes, father, since you have promised, I will go.”
Upon hearing this, the old man was overjoyed, crying, “Really! Will you really go?”
“I will go because of my duty to you,” said the girl, “but you must give me three things to take with me.”
“What things do you want?” he asked. “I will give you anything you request.”
“Please give me a very heavy mortar, together with a heavy maul for pounding rice and one to [about 50 pounds] of rice.”
“What!” he cried, “is that all you want! If so, you shall have them,” and he soon brought them to her.
On the third day the monkey came as he had promised. The youngest daughter said to him: “I am to become your bride, but when we go back to the mountains, we will want to eat rice mochi, so let’s take this mortar, maul, and bag of rice with us. You can carry it all on your back.”
The monkey loaded everything on his back. It was very, very heavy, but since his bride had requested it, he did not want to refuse, and they set off up the mountain, the monkey carrying his heavy load.
It was just the beginning of April, and on both sides of the road the cherry trees were in full bloom. They traveled along until they came to a place where the road went close to the edge of a deep canyon. At the bottom of the canyon there was a river. At this point the branches of the cherry trees fell over into the canyon, making such a beautiful scene that the girl stopped, saying to the monkey, “Oh, such a lovely cherry tree. Won’t you please climb up and get me a branch of those cherry blossoms.”
Since this too was a request of his bride, the monkey agreed and began to climb up into one of the trees. “Please get some flowers from the topmost branch,” the girl cried from below, so the monkey continued to climb higher and higher. “Isn’t this about right?” he asked, but the girl urged him higher and higher until he had climbed up to where the branches were very small and weak.
The load on his back was very heavy, and the branch he was on was very small; suddenly it broke, and the monkey fell headlong into the canyon below, landing with a splash, dossun, in the river. As he sank from sight with the heavy mortar on his back, he sang this song:
I do not regret my death,
But oh, how sad for my poor bride.
And he soon disappeared from view.
The girl was very happy and returned to her home.
Naa, mosu mosu, komen dango. “Well, hallo, hallo, rice cakes.”
TALE OF THE GIRL AND THE HYENA-MAN
Ghana
This tale was collected by a British colonial administrator in a region now known as Ghana. Angela Carter called the story the “best of all ‘Mother knows best’ stories.” In it, the motif of a magical flight is invoked, with a girl who escapes a villain by changing herself into a tree, a body of water, and a stone. The traditional magical flight involves throwing obstacles (combs, needles, or whatever is at hand) in the path of a pursuer, but here the heroine becomes a shape-shifter, turning herself into the stumbling blocks. The story is ingeniously calculated to lure listeners into a conversation with its riddlelike ending.
A certain girl was given by her parents to a young man in marriage. She did not care for the youth, so she refused and said that she would choose a husband for herself. Shortly after, there came to the village a fine young man of great strength and beauty. The girl fell in love with him at first sight and told her parents that she had found the man she wished to marry, and as the latter was not unwilling the marriage soon took place.
Now it happened that the young man was not a man at all, but a hyena, for although as a rule women change into hyenas and men into hawks, the hyena can change itself into either man or woman as it may please.
During the first night the two newly married ones were sleeping together, the husband said: “Supposing that when we go to my town we chance to quarrel on the road what would you do?” The wife answered that she would change herself into a tree. The man said that he would be able to catch her even then. She said that if that was the case she would turn into a pool of water. “Oh! that would not trouble me,” said the hyena-man, “I should catch you all the same.” “Why, then I should turn into a stone,” replied his spouse. “Still I should catch you,” remarked the man.
Just at that moment the girl’s mother shouted from her room, for she had heard the conversation: “Keep quiet, my daughter; is it thus that a woman tells all her secrets to her man?” So the girl said no more.
Next morning, when the day was breaking, the husband told his wife to rise up as he was returning to his home. He bade her make ready to accompany him a short way down the road to see him off. She did as he told her, and as soon as ever the couple were out of sight of the village the husband turned himself into a hyena and tried to catch the girl, who changed herself into a tree, then into a pool of water, then into a stone, but the hyena almost tore the tree down, nearly drank all the water and half swallowed the stone. Then the girl changed herself into that thing which the night before her mother had managed to stop her from betraying. The hyena looked and looked everywhere and at last fearing the villagers would come and kill him, made off.
At once the girl changed into her own proper form and ran back to the village. The story of her adventures was told to all, and that is why to this day women do not choose husbands for themselves and also that is why children have learned to obey their elders who are wiser than they.
THE STORY OF FIVE HEADS
South Africa
George McCall Theal emigrated from Canada to South Africa and became a teacher there. He worked as a journalist and in publishing for a time, but returned to teaching and became a leading historian of the British colonial era. “Kaffir” was a term used to refer to a non-Muslim African at the time Theal was documenting tales. Today it is considered a derogatory term for black Africans. “The Story of Five Heads” is akin to tales about kind and unkind girls, morality tales that show virtue and hard work rewarded, cruelty and laziness punished. By placing the emphasis on behavioral codes, the tale diminishes the element of fright generated by the prospect of marrying a chief with five heads.
Once there was a man with two daughters, and both had reached the age of marriage.
One day the man decided to cross the river to another village, where a great chief was living. The people there asked him for news, and he said that he had none. Then he asked for news about their village, and they told him that their chief was looking for a wife.
The man returned home and said to his two daughters, “Which of you wants to become the wife of a chief?”
The elder of the two, who was called Mapunzikazi, said, “I would be happy to marry him.”
Her father replied, “The chief at the village I visited yesterday is looking for a wife, and you, my child, will go to him.”
The man summoned all his friends to go with his daughter to the village of the chief. But the girl refused to let them go with her. “I am the only one who is going to marry,” s
he said.
Her father replied, “How can you talk that way? Isn’t it customary for friends to accompany a girl when she decides to present herself as a bride? Don’t be foolish, my child.”
The girl replied, “I am going by myself to meet the chief and become his wife.”
The man let his daughter do as she had resolved. She went alone to the village to present herself to the chief as a bride, and no bridal party accompanied her.
On the way to the village, Mapunzikazi met a mouse.
The mouse said, “Shall I show you the way?”
The girl replied, “Get out of my sight, as quick as can be.”
The mouse replied, “If you act like this, you don’t have a chance.”
Then Mapunzikazi met a frog.
The frog asked, “Shall I show you the way?”
Mapunzikazi replied, “You are not good enough to speak to me, for I am going to be the wife of a chief.”
The frog said, “Off with you! You will see soon enough what will happen to you.”
The girl began to grow tired, and she stopped by a tree to rest. A boy who was herding goats nearby walked over to her. He was very hungry.
The boy asked, “Where are you going?”
Mapunzikazi replied with anger in her voice, “How dare you speak to me? Get away as fast as you can.”
The boy said, “I am very hungry. Can’t you give me some of your food?”
“Go away,” she replied.
The boy said, “You will never get back home if you act like this.”
Mapunzikazi continued walking, and this time she met an old woman sitting next to a large rock.
The old woman said, “Let me give you some advice. You are going to see some trees that start laughing at you. Don’t laugh back. You will find a big bag of thick milk. Don’t take a sip from the bag. You will meet a man carrying his head under one arm. Don’t let him give you any water.”
