Trickster is always a marked creature, an anomaly among animals or humans. His physical character and qualities, as well as his outrageous actions, remind the audience to laugh at his ridiculous antics. He is always a pest, vermin, one who lives in the wilds, but makes regular incursions into the human community bringing filth and contagion. When he appears in actual human form, as in “The Great Dikithi,” he is described as being one-eyed, one-armed, one-legged; his lack of physiological balance makes a moral as well as a physical statement. And like Dikithi, he is often capable of changing shape because he is a witch or controls some other kind of transforming magical power. He openly competes with everyone, human and animal, for food resources, but he eats badly; he eats meat uncooked, is a cannibal, a carrion eater. He is also a murderer, even of members of his own family; moreover, he is sexually voracious, again even within his own family.
As a matter of convention, the scene is set for Trickster by reminding the audience at the start of a narrative that at the beginning of time everything in nature was harmonious, everyone was friend and family to everyone else. This state is referred to only for dramatic contrast to the chaos that is about to be described, and the tellers do not dwell on the tranquility of such an Edenic condition.
Of course, these kinds of stories are not totally out of the realm of experience of the Westerner. Most of the Uncle Remus tales subscribe to this pattern of action, and focus on the doings of Trickster—Br’er Rabbit. But his antics are not quite so badly destructive and to be feared as those of the African Trickster. In a sense, as these are hilarious stories, they might best be understood as jokes without punchlines—jokes not unlike our “sick jokes” or “moron” stories, but in which the same kind of wildly destructive and self-destructive acts are succinctly described and glibly resolved in a punchline. (“Why did the moron jump off the Empire State Building? To make a hit on Broadway.”) The African equivalent of the punchline may be the explanatory statement found at the end of some of these tales; for example, “And that is why, to this day, the monkey lives in the trees and all the other animals chase him.”
Alan Dundes has noticed the characteristically African patterning of tales of this sort, discussing them in terms of a progression from contract (friendship or family) to a deception, a violation of the contract, and the dissolution of the bond and everything it stands for.1 Lee Haring, in a parallel study of narrative, independently notices that both in Black Africa and among Afro-Americans, one can see a pattern of false friendship that leads to a contract, the violation of the contract, a series of deceptions, and finally escape.2 Perhaps it is this last factor, the failure to punish the transgressor, which most strongly departs from our notions of story. But it is the vitality and the protean abilities of Trickster that are continually fascinating, and which carry, in yet one more way, the characteristic African message that life is celebrated most fully through the dramatizing of oppositions.
We feel the open-endedness of such actions especially strongly when these stories are strung together as they commonly are in actual storytelling sessions. In one tale given here, “The Story of Hlakanyana,” the stringing actually occurs within the single narrative, and is much like the Trickster tales of New World Indians in its cumulative power.
In another kind of spun-out telling, “All the Little Animals,” we have a particularly attractive and well-rounded rendition of a tale translated from an actual performance (the story includes the same kinds of ideophonic sound effects we saw in Laura Bohannon’s portrayal of Tiv storytelling). Here Rabbit explicitly represents all of the other little marginal animals, the sharp-toothed vermin, as they contend for food with the larger predators. It describes how Rabbit scares them away by hiding in a bag and surprising them, a device used again and again in these tales. Indeed, deception most commonly occurs through hiding (or sometimes through the ability of Trickster to sing or drum so compeilingly that others are lulled into complacency or placed in thrall). These undercover deceptions of Trickster’s can have quite grave consequences, as, for example, in “The Shundi and the Cock,” when the shundi dies trying to imitate an outrageous hiding trick.3
The final story, “Talking Drums Discovered,” demonstrates one further feature of these stories—that to be funny, they need not be about the actions of Trickster or the failure of friendship. Here the protagonist, Guinea Fowl, is more a fool or clown than a Trickster. But his misunderstandings lead to the same result—the creation of distrust among the animals, a distrust which continues to the present day.
1 Alan Dundes, “The Making and Breaking of Friendship as a Structural Frame in African Folk Tales,” in Structural Analysis of Oral Tradition, eds. Pierre Miranda and Elli Kongas Miranda (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1971), pp. 171–180.
2 Lee Haring, “A Characteristic African Folktale Pattern,” in African Folklore, ed. by Richard M. Dorson (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Co., 1972), pp. 165–82. See also Jay Edwards’s exploratory essay, in Afro-American Trickster Tales: A Structural Analysis, Folklore Monograph 3 (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University).
3 This pattern has been pointed out as characteristic of the African repertoire by Denise Paulme in “The Impossible Imitation in African Trickster Tales,” in Forms of Folklore in Africa, ed. Bernth Lindfors (Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1977), pp. 64–103.
45
Why Monkeys Live in Trees
Listen to the story of the bush cat.
The bush cat had been hunting all day, and had got nothing. She was tired. She went to sit down and rest, but the fleas wouldn’t give her any peace.
She saw a monkey passing. She called to him, “Monkey, please come and flea me” (for that is what friends do for each other). The monkey agreed, and while he was picking out the fleas, the bush cat fell asleep. Then the monkey took the tail of the bush cat, tied it to a tree, and ran away.
The bush cat awoke. She wanted to get up and leave, but she found her tail tied to the tree. She struggled to get free, but she could not do it, so she remained there panting.
A snail came along. “Please unfasten my tail,” cried the bush cat when she saw him. “You will not kill me if I untie you?” asked the snail. “No, I will do nothing to you,” answered the bush cat. So the snail untied her.
The bush cat went home. Then she said to all her animals friends, “On the fifth day from now, announce that I am dead, and that you are going to bury me.” The animals said, “Very well.”
On the fifth day, the bush cat lay down flat, pretending to be dead. And all the animals came, and all danced round her. They danced.
The bush cat sprang up all at once. She leaped to catch the monkey. But the monkey had already jumped into a tree. He escaped.
So this is why the monkey lives in the trees, and will not stay on the ground. He is too much afraid of the bush cat.
—Ewe
46
All the Little Animals
It was the little animals, all the little sharp-toothed animals, all the fierce animals—they lived in a certain valley, and their town, no one visited it. So they lived there a long time, always killing the larger animals and bringing them back, just killing animals and bringing them back, killing animals and bringing them back.
Then one day Rabbit was out wandering and decided to go to the valley because it is a very good place for rabbits to find food. But the other animals, all the peaceful animals, told Rabbit, “Rabbit, don’t go there! That’s where the clan of dangerous, sharp-toothed animals live.” Rabbit thought about it, and didn’t go. After that, when Rabbit went out, he would go sneaking around the valley, avoiding the valley, always avoiding the valley.
Rabbit thought, “But what is this? This land belongs to all of us, and they say there is a ruler, there is a chief. Now, if you are a ruler, won’t your subjects go to visit you? Won’t strangers come to greet you?” But the others said, no, he shouldn’t go there, because the chief kills animals. “Since you are a larger animal, if
you go there, he will kill you,” they said.
Rabbit thought, Rabbit said, “Okay, now that I have heard that the powerful ones hate us, what we will do is this: We will seem to chase each other and thus appear to be each other’s enemies. The enemies will chase each other out of this valley.”
Rabbit waited a while, son of a gun! Now Rabbit had a large flock of chickens and the chickens laid many eggs, so many that if you were to come to the place, wow-wee! The eggs filled all the storage places around the house! So Rabbit went back and forged a great big bell, just the mouth of the bell alone was this wide! Its clapper was so big that if you struck it, wow-wee! So Rabbit took a big basket of eggs, Rabbit took the bell and then went to the edge of the river that belonged to Lion and his people, there where the dangerous animals lived. He climbed into a stand of reeds, Mek Mek Mek Mek Mek Mek, and squatted down.
He waited there and suddenly he heard, son of a gun! the chief of the village. It was he, Lion, who sent them to come and draw water. The chief was Lion. When he sent them to do something, they would come and do it. If he didn’t send them, they wouldn’t come.
So, Lion sent Fox, he said that Fox should come and draw water so that they could prepare food for him, Lion, to eat, so that when the sun was up, ser, they could scatter to hunt for animals. When Rabbit heard the feet of Fox bounding, kirik kirik, he readied the basket of eggs that he had, setting it down beside himself, he readied the bell, untying its cover, putting it close at hand. Then when Fox arrived, just as he took his pot and began to rinse it out, hokoro hokoro, to wash it out before filling it with water, Rabbit began with his great bell, singing his hunting song which boasts to the animals:
Gbeveveveveveve!
My dogs don’t hunt with bells, sic ’em, Big Lion!
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem
It will get in my eyes, tendee
Hyena, it will get in your eyes, tendee vem
It will get in your eyes, tendee
Fox, it will get in your eyes, tendee vem,
Vem tendee
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem,
Vem tendee
Hyena, it will get in my eyes, tendee vem
It will get in my eyes, tendee
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem,
Vem tendee
Son of a gun! Fox listened. “Now, what kind of a bell is this that makes the earth shake all around? Since we moved to this place with our fathers, nothing like this has ever come to the edge of our stream. What is it?” He stopped a moment to listen before tearing off for town, and Rabbit let loose with a rotten egg! The egg flew, tqqq. As Fox cocked his head to listen, lop! The egg landed on the top of his head, and Rabbit shouted, “Touch it with your hand! Touch it! Touch it!” And when he touched it and then smelled it, by God—
My head is open, to fe, fe ye
The world is ruined, to fe, fe ye
Scatter, scatter, to fe
Die, it is Rabbit’s water, to fe
See, it is Rabbit’s water, to fe
See, it is Rabbit’s water, to fe
My head is open, to fe, Chief,
The world is ruined, to fe
See something has come to the water’s edge,
to fe, fe ye
Rabbit’s water.…
And Fox ran, kiliwili! And, bakatak bakatak bakatak, he burst into the compound, saying, “Chief! The world is ruined! Since we built our town here nothing like this has happened!” And the chief said, “What is this?” He asked what had happened, and Fox replied, “Something has come to the edge of the water and I am terribly scared! Since we began living together here with you, I have heard of nothing like this.” That’s what Fox went back and told the chief, who responded, “No, sir! Are you such a coward? You just always eat things raw, you just eat things raw without even putting them on the fire and cooking them before you eat them. You’re too much of a glutton!”
Then he sent Hyena. Hyena was a very strong animal, Hyena was a strong person, Hyena could run down and draw water quickly and come back and prepare cassava to eat so that Lion could leave. And so Hyena rushed down, hoVoVovo. When he arrived at the stream he rinsed, rinsed, and rinsed, and as he washed out the pot quickly, son of a gun! Rabbit heard and put his hand to the bell!
Gbeveveveveveveve!
My dogs don’t hunt with bells, sic ’em, Big Lion!
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem
It will get in my eyes, tendee
Hyena, it will get in your eyes, tendee vem
It will get in your eyes, tendee
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem
All dead, tendee
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem,
Vem tendee
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem,
Vem tendee
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem
It will get in my eyes, tendee
It will get in your eyes, tendee vem
It will get in your eyes, tendee
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem,
Vem tendee
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem
It will get in your eyes, tendee
It will get in your eyes, tendee vem
Wow! Hyena heard that, Hyena heard that and said to himself, “No, sir! The kind of song that is being sung here in the reeds, see, it’s bad!” Then as Hyena turned to run, zak vakdilak, to escape up to the top of the hill to listen from there, lop! As he leaped to flee, Rabbit let loose with a rotten egg, and as Hyena turned his head like this, lop! the egg hit him on the top of the head! And Rabbit shouted, “Touch it! Touch it!” And when he touched it and smelled it, mm mmm!
My head is open, to fe, fe ye
The world is ruined, to fe, fe ye
Scatter, scatter, to fe
Die, it is Rabbit’s water, to fe
See, it is Rabbit’s water, to fe
See, it is Rabbit’s water, to fe, fe ye
BaDambang daDambang baDambang baDambang baDambang baDambang purup! he burst into the compound after the chief! And he said that since he had begun living in that town he had never seen anything like that! So he should send some other really strong person to draw the water. As for himself, he wouldn’t go near the place!
So all the little sharp-toothed animals came and tried to draw water. But they couldn’t. Rabbit closed off the way. Finally Lion said, “No, sir! Now, you are all great followers and when I looked at you, I felt proud. But I have sent you into battle and you have each run away. Okay, who else is there that I should send? As for you all, you’re just running from nothing! I am the chief here! There is nothing that will defeat me!” And so he set out, he came closer, ever closer to the water’s edge, and, son of a gun! he shook.
Pufufuk kpinggim!
I take and throw the buffalo, ringgim!
I take the buffalo, I throw it, ringgim! throw it,
ringgim! rim! rim!
He stretched his neck, nge nge nge. He came forward.
Tukpik kpinggim!
Tiktik kpinggim!
Rabbit sat over in the stand of reeds listening, “What kind of noise is that? My bell makes more noise than that! Okay, so you make such a big fuss because you don’t think that i, a rabbit, am very big?” Lion moved forward and then said that his buddy, whoever it was, his friend, the man that was making noise in the reeds there, should come out and take a look. At that, Rabbit set his hand to his bell!
Gbeveveveveveveve!
My dogs don’t hunt with bells, sic ’em, Big Lion!
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem
It will get in my eyes, tendee
Lion, it will get in my eyes, tendee vem
It will get in my eyes, tendee
The little animals are all dead, tendee vem
It will get in my eyes, tendee
Hyena, it will get in my eyes, tendee vem,
Vem tendee
The
little animals are all dead, tendee vem
It will get in my eyes, tendee vem
Hyena, it will get in my eyes, tendee vem
When Lion heard that, he said, “No, this place, the place, the children really did find something bad here!” And then, as Lion was going to turn, ngaldak, and escape, Rabbit let loose with the rotten eggs, he let loose with the rotten eggs, lop lop! They hit the big man’s head twice, “Chief, touch it! Touch it!” When he touched it and smelled it, mm mmm!
Children, my head is open, to fe, fe ye
The world is ruined, to fe, fe ye
Let’s scatter, scatter, to fe
See, it is Rabbit’s water, to fe
See, it is Rabbit’s water, to fe
See, it is Rabbit’s water, to fe, fe ye
My head is open, to fe, fe ye
The world is ruined, to fe, fe ye
BaDambang baDambang baDambang baDambang baDambang baDam-bang purup! into the compound, and they—all the women—had already prepared everything, and it was just headlong flight, pamdal! All the animals fled, and they ran on and on and on and on and on and on.
As they came to the middle of the barren plain, he said, “Children, stop a bit!” And they stopped, rip, all his sharp-toothed followers, all his young men stopped, and he asked, “Now, our big bag that we put our powders for killing animals in and our charms, where did we leave it?” And they answered, “Oh, Chief! We left it in the kofia tree in your compound, where we put it!”
African Folktales Page 21
