West African Folk Tales

by Hugh Vernon-Jackson

  “My brothers!” Koba cried when he reached his house and found two of his friends, “I have a terrible story to tell you of my escape from a lion whose roar is greater than any thunder.”

  After he told them his story, the two friends said, “Lead us to the place where the lion caught your bow.”

  Koba led the two friends all the way back to the place. When they arrived, they saw the bow in the low branches of a tree.

  “See,” said Koba, “the lion must have given my bow to this tree in order to return it to me. The lion is not only the king of animals, but he is also the king of trees.”

  The two friends said that it was the branches of the tree which had caught the bow, not a lion.

  “No, no,” Koba declared. “It was certainly a lion. He pulled the bow and I pulled the bow, but the lion being stronger than me forced me to leave the bow with him.”

  From that day onwards, for the rest of his life, Koba never dared go far into the forest or the bush from his home. However much his two friends might laugh, he feared that he would meet a lion, and that the lion would remember his promise to tell all other hunters never to hunt lions again. Koba himself never hunted again: he became a farmer.

  A Rich Man and his Goat

  In a small town in the north there once lived a rich but foolish man whose name was Abdullahi. This rich and foolish man owned many sheep, many cattle, and many goats, but unfortunately Abdullahi had no sons and no daughters.

  One day Abdullahi met the judge of the town.

  “Because you have neither sons nor daughters,” the judge of the town said to Abdullahi, “all your sheep, your cattle, and your goats will be given to the chief of the town when you die.”

  “Why is that?” Abdullahi asked.

  “In this town,” the judge replied, “that is the law.”

  Now Abdullahi was very angry when he heard this, because he did not want all his sheep, his cattle, and his many goats to be given to the chief of the town.

  “I will sell my animals in the market,” Abdullahi told his friends, “and I shall enjoy the money while I can.”

  When three rascals in the town heard what Abdullahi planned to do, they decided to play a trick on him and at the same time gain some advantage for themselves. When they saw Abdullahi go out of the town they greeted him. After greetings they asked where he was going.

  “I am going to get one of my fat goats,” Abdullahi told them. “I shall bring it to market and I shall sell it.”

  “We will be seeing you on your way back,” the three rascals said.

  After Abdullahi had gone, the rascals separated, each going to a different place beside the path where they waited for two hours.

  After two hours had passed the first rascal saw Abdullahi on his way back, carrying a fat goat on his shoulder. The first rascal greeted Abdullahi very politely and humbly; then he said, as if he were saying a shameful thing, “It disappoints me, my friend, to see a gentleman like you carrying a pig, which is against our religion, instead of a goat.”

  Abdullahi was very surprised. He put his hand to his head.

  “You cannot think I am carrying a pig,” he said, and he went on his way.

  Abdullahi had not gone far when he saw the second rascal sitting by the side of the path. The rascal was pretending to finger his string of beads and to pray. Abdullahi stopped to ask the pious man for his blessing.

  “How can I bless you,” the rascal said, “when you are carrying a pig?”

  Abdullahi rubbed his eyes as if he were trying to see what was the truth. Without a word, but with a much troubled mind, he went on his way.

  Abdullahi reached the third rascal, who also had a string of prayer beads in his hand. The rascal stood up when he saw Abdullahi and stepped to one side to show his disapproval.

  “You are doing strange things,” he said to Abdullahi, and he spoke with a stern voice. “You told me you were going to get a goat and now you are carrying a pig.”

  “Is it really a pig?” the foolish Abdullahi asked, and the rascal told him it was.

  “When you reach the market,” said the rascal, “all the townspeople will be horrified that you are carrying a pig.”

  This was too much for Abdullahi. He threw down his goat, thinking it was a pig, and ran into the town. He went to the compound of the chief of the town, and as he went he told the townspeople what had happened.

  “I am not well,” Abdullahi cried when he and the townspeople came before the chief. He told the chief the story of what had happened.

  But the chief and the townspeople understood how the foolish Abdullahi had been tricked out of his goat and they laughed and laughed at Abdullahi’s great foolishness.

  Meanwhile, the three rascals had caught the goat which Abdullahi had thrown down. They took it to another market and sold it, and then divided the money among themselves.

  The Boy who had to choose his Father

  Once upon a time there lived a very poor man and his son, who caught rats and sold them. They were so poor that if on any day they earned no money, they would have nothing to eat that day.

  One day when the poor man and his son were hunting rats, they found a large hole. When the father started to dig into the hole, a large rat came out, which the father caught and gave to his son to hold. Then the father started to dig into the hole again. Another large rat ran out. The father chased it, but it escaped. While the father was chasing that rat, the other one jumped from the hands of the son and it too ran away.

  “Now we have lost both rats,” the father cried to his son. “The night is coming and it is too late to catch anything else. We have nothing to sell and no money. We have no light for night hunting. Because of your clumsiness we shall have nothing to eat.” Saying this, the father took a stick and beat his son. He beat him until he seemed to be dead.

  “It will be easier to feed only myself in the future,” said the father to himself as he went away. “I shall not be troubled with such a clumsy, foolish son.”

  Soon after the father left his son there came on horseback a very rich man called Idirisu, the richest man in his town. Seeing the boy lying on the ground, he told his servants to help him, to pick him up, and to give him water. Soon the boy recovered.

  “You shall come back to my town,” the rich man said.

  Putting a gown of cloth on the lad and setting him on his horse, the rich man continued his journey.

  “You shall be my son,” said Idirisu to the boy.

  When the rich man reached his town, he went to his house and took the boy to live with him.

  The people of the town were very surprised to see Idirisu, the rich man, with an almost full-grown boy whom the rich man said was his son.

  “Where did you get this boy?” they asked him.

  “He is my son,” Idirisu answered.

  “We all know,” the people said, “that you have neither son nor daughter.”

  “My wife,” said the rich man, “went back to her village when she gave birth to this child and he grew up with her. I have now brought him back to my house.”

  The people were not satisfied that this was true. However, the rich man treated the boy as if he really were his son. He gave him much money and many presents and bought him a splendid horse. He even found a girl to be a wife for him.

  There were other rich men in the town who all had sons. They planned to test whether the boy who lived in Idirisu’s house was really his son. They dressed their own sons in their most expensive clothes, gave money to each of them, and mounted them on valuable horses. The sons asked the boy from Idirisu’s house to go outside the town, to go riding with them. He went, but not before Idirisu had quietly warned him, “Do just what all the others do.”

  Outside the town the rich men’s sons did what their fathers had planned that they should do. They gave all their money away to beggars. The boy from Idirisu’s house did the same. Then the rich men’s sons took off their expensive gowns and threw them away, as well as their expen
sive caps and other clothing. The boy from Idirisu’s house did the same. Then the rich men’s sons dismounted and drove away their horses. The boy from Idirisu’s house did likewise.

  When they all returned to the town the rich men’s sons told their fathers that the boy from Idirisu’s house had given away his money, thrown away his expensive clothes, and had driven off his valuable horse, just as they had done.

  “He must really be the rich Idirisu’s son,” they said at last.

  The years passed, and every year Idirisu was like a father to the boy, doing the best that he could for him.

  After many years the real father of the boy chanced to see his son out riding on a fine horse, outside the town. The father, who was still a very poor hunter of rats, recognized his son. When he asked about him, he heard that the young man was rich and was treated as the son of the rich Idirisu.

  Going to the town, the father went to the house of the richest man, Idirisu. He saw his son and he saw how truly rich he had become.

  “You are my son,” said the man.

  “Yes,” said the son, “I am.”

  The son went immediately to Idirisu and told him that his real father had come to the house, whereupon Idirisu went to the father.

  “Greetings to you, stranger,” said Idirisu. “You may lodge here for the night.”

  The father was given a room in which to sleep; good food, and much of it, was sent to him.

  During the night Idirisu went to the father; the father said that he had come to take away his son.

  “If you leave your son with me,” said Idirisu, “I will give you great wealth and anything you may ask.”

  “I want nothing,” said the father, “except my son.”

  Idirisu thereupon became very angry. Calling the son, he told him that his real father wanted him back, but that he, Idirisu, wanted him to stay.

  “Tomorrow we shall go out of the town,” Idirisu declared. “We shall take a sword.”

  The next day the rich Idirisu, the poor father, and the son went outside the town. Idirisu took a sharp sword with him.

  “Now decide,” Idirisu said to the son, handing him the sword. “Either kill me and follow your father, or kill your father and follow me.”

  “I would rather kill myself,” said the son, “instead of destroying either you or my father.”

  He raised the sword high above his head and threw it as far away as he was able. He then made his decision; it was a very wise one. Both Idirisu and the father were satisfied and so was the son.

  Now, reader, if you were the son, what would you have done? What would have been your decision?

  A Boastful Man who was not Brave

  There lived a man called Sule who was a farmer. He was very conceited, and thought that he was better than other men. Every day when he returned to his house from the farm he would say to his wife, who was called Ladi, “Do you think there is any man in this district who is stronger or braver than I?”

  “No,” Ladi always replied in order to please her husband, “there is no one stronger or braver than you.”

  When Sule heard her reply, he was always delighted, and he would laugh with pleasure. But Ladi told her mother and father what Sule had been saying.

  “He is foolish,” Ladi’s father said. “He should be taught that he is no stronger and no braver than any other man.”

  “Go,” Ladi’s mother advised, “go and tell Sule that you wish to visit your brother, who is of the same father and the same mother as yourself.”

  Ladi agreed to do this.

  “Tell Sule,” Ladi’s mother went on, “that you are frightened to go by yourself to your brother’s village because the path is through the forest. Ask him to go with you to protect you.”

  Ladi’s mother then explained the plan which had come into her mind. After this Ladi went back to her husband’s house. She said she wanted to visit her brother and asked Sule to go with her through the forest because she was too frightened to go alone.

  “I shall go with you,” Sule replied, “after one week has passed.”

  Ladi told her parents when she and Sule would be leaving. Meanwhile, Ladi’s parents told a powerful soldier to go to the forest, to pretend that he was going to kill Sule, so that Sule would have to prove whether or not he really was as strong and as brave as he said.

  After one week had passed, Ladi and one of Ladi’s sisters, together with Sule, started their journey through the forest. Ladi carried a gown, a blanket, and two white caps as presents for her brother. Sule carried a bow and arrows, and also carried a spear, a sword, and a big knife.

  “I shall protect you,” Sule said, “from any danger.”

  They walked and they walked for a very long time. When they reached a place where two paths crossed, Ladi led the way down the path where she knew the powerful soldier was waiting. Suddenly, when they reached a very large mahogany tree, the powerful soldier came out in front of them. He was wearing only a goat-skin and he carried a big wooden stick.

  “Stop!” cried the powerful soldier, raising his big stick. “Where are you from and where are you going? Do you not know me? I am the King of the Forest.”

  With these words he strode towards Sule, Ladi, and Ladi’s sister, pretending he was going to beat them. Ladi and her sister threw down what they were carrying and ran behind Sule. Sule threw down his bow and arrows, and also his spear, his sword, and his big knife, and started to run away.

  “Stop!” cried the powerful soldier, catching hold of Sule. “I shall take away the two women and you I shall kill.”

  Then he said to Ladi, “What is your name?”

  “My name is Ladi,” she replied.

  The powerful soldier put down his stick.

  “Ladi!” he exclaimed. “That is the name of my mother. I could never hurt anyone with that name. Please forgive me.”

  He said to Ladi’s sister, “What is your name?”

  “My name is Ladi,” she replied.

  The powerful soldier said to her that he could never hurt her because she had his mother’s name. He asked her also to forgive him.

  Then the powerful soldier said to Sule, “What is your name?”

  “My name,” Sule replied, “is Ladi.”

  The powerful man looked at Sule and said in a terrible voice, “How could you have the name of a woman? You are a man.”

  “Truly,” said Sule, “believe me that I am a woman.”

  When Sule said these words Ladi and her sister and the powerful soldier laughed and laughed. They laughed until they cried. Then they told Sule that they had tricked him. They returned to their village, and everyone in the village laughed at Sule.

  After that, when anyone asked Sule who was the strongest and bravest of all the men in the district, Sule would reply, “I am the strongest and bravest man, but only in my own compound.”

  One day Sule sewed a penny on to his blanket as a decoration. That night he sat outside in the courtyard of the compound talking to his friends. They sat talking until it was late and the moon was high. When Sule went to lie down to sleep, he had forgotten about the penny sewn on to his blanket. As he wrapped the blanket around him he felt the coldness of the penny. Jumping up quickly, he cried, “Snake! Snake!”

  Sule’s friends came running to help, bringing sticks. They beat the blanket, but there was no snake. Then they saw the penny sewn on to the blanket. They laughed and laughed. They laughed until they cried. Then they told him that he had tricked himself.

  “You are not the strongest and bravest man,” they said to Sule, “not even in your own compound.”

  Now Sule became very ashamed. He went to his room, and while everyone was sleeping, he collected all his belongings and then went quietly out of the compound.

  “I shall leave here for ever,” said Sule to himself as he left the village, and he was never seen again in that district.

  The Story of Ja’afaru and his Mother’s Sons

  There was a certain man called Ja’afaru wh
o lived in a large city. With him lived his brothers, the two other sons of his mother. Their father was a rich man and old.

  One day their father became ill. Lying down, he called his sons to him and told them that he would soon die. After twelve days of illness he said, “Here is my house and here are my riches.” Then he died.

  Three days passed, and on the fourth day after the father had died the judge called the sons to him. Their names were taken, and it was proved that they were the sons of their rich father.

  “I shall send my deputy,” said the judge, “and he will divide your father’s property and riches between you according to the law.”

  The sons returned to their father’s compound, and the deputy of the judge went to the compound. He spoke to each of the sons and he inspected their father’s property. He then divided the property between the sons and saw that each received his correct share. When he had finished he went away.

  Two of the sons took their wealth and went out into the city. They hired drummers and singers to praise them. They bought wives, they bought rich clothes, they ate expensive food, and they drank wines which made them insensible. But the son called Ja’afaru did not waste his money, for he became a trader who worked hard and traded wisely. He gained profits from his trading and he increased his wealth.

  Meanwhile, the two brothers had lost everything which they had received from their father. They went to Ja’afaru’s house and saw how successfully he was trading.

  “Ja’afaru, our brother,” the two brothers said to him, “please lend us some money. We will buy and sell ground-nuts. We will return your money from the profit we will make.”

  Ja’afaru gave them the money.

  The two brothers left the city at once and went to a near-by town. There they went to a house of gambling, and there they soon lost all the money which Ja’afaru had given them.

  Then the two brothers went to the market-place. They begged for food, crying, “We are without even one-tenth of a penny. Please help to feed us.”