Black Tales for White Children Part 20

Next day she sent another slave girl with food, as before, and gave her the same message. The stranger answered as at first.

Then the girl said to her father, "This slave has also stolen some of the food like the first one did."

On the third day she sent some food, as before, and the same message with another slave girl.

This time the stranger sent back the message, "To-day the moon is full, the tides are spring tides, and there are many stars in the heavens."

So she said to her father, "This one has not stolen."

Her father asked her, "How do you know, my daughter?"

She replied, "The meaning of the moon being full was that the big round bread was whole. When the stranger replied that the day was the thirteenth I knew that a piece of the bread was gone, and that it was as the moon is on the thirteenth day of the lunar month. The meaning of the many stars in the heavens was that the dish was covered with pieces of chopped egg. When he told me that the stars were only one by one in the heavens, I knew that some of the food had been taken, but when he said that there were many stars, I knew that the food was covered all over with the egg, and so that the chicken underneath was safe.

"The meaning of the tides being spring tides was that the jug was brimful of milk; but when he sent word that the tides were neap tides, I knew that some of the milk had been taken. So you see, my father, that this stranger is a man of wisdom."

Then the Wali was very sorry that he had not understood the stranger's words, and that he had not asked him to his house. So he went straightway to the mosque to look for him, and when he had found him he brought him home again and gave him food, and asked his pardon, saying, "I did not at first understand your words, now I know their meaning."

The stranger said to him, "How is it that now you know?"

The Wali replied, "There in the road I was suffering from the length of the journey and fatigue from the heat of the sun. After I had rested, and been fanned by the cool breeze in my house, I came to understand."

The stranger said, "Tell me then."

So the Wali told him the meaning, and the stranger then said, "Tell me truly, who was it who told you the meaning of my words?" and he pressed him much, till at last the Wali said, "It was my daughter who told me."

Then the stranger said, "That daughter of yours is my desire, she is the one whom I would wish to put in my house. I have been looking for a person like this your daughter, and now I have found her, ask of me anything, that I may give it you, that you may marry me to her; for I will have no life if I do not get a wife like that."

The father said, "I must go and consult with my child herself."

The stranger replied, "That is well, go and consult her, but what she answers tell me truly, do not hide it from me."

So the Wali went to his daughter and gave her all the news from first to last. Then he said, "Now, my daughter, the counsel and the choice are yours alone."

She answered him, "And I, if I do not get a husband like that, I want no other, and will choose to remain unmarried until I die. For if I do not get a husband like that, to me there is no advantage; it will be like two women marrying one another."

So the Wali went and gave her answer to the stranger, and he rejoiced greatly, for he had got his desire.

So her father married her to him, and this is the end of the story.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Giraffe]

Now Shani was the name of that stranger, and Tabak was the name of that woman who became his wife. Even now there are those who talk of Shani and Tabak, meaning some one obtaining his heart's desire, as Shani got Tabak, or who use these names for two people who are exactly suited to one another, as Shani was to Tabak.

XXII

A MAN AND HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW.

There was once a man, and he went and married a girl and went to live with her in her village.

One day that girl's mother came to him and said, "My son-in-law, I want you to do something for me. See, all my maize is being broken by the wind. You must go out and drive away the wind for me, so that it does not break my maize."

So that son-in-law went out into the fields and tried all day to drive away the wind, but he was unable to; the wind got the better of him, and in the evening he returned discomforted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "HE TRIED ALL DAY TO DRIVE AWAY THE WIND"]

Then he thought to himself, "My mother-in-law is a very bad person. Who would try to drive away the wind? It is not possible. Now I will find something that she is unable to do, and tell her to do it, so that she also will be discomforted."

So he went out into the bush and killed an animal and brought it back to the village. Then he called his wife and said to her, "Take this meat and give it to your mother, and tell her to cook and eat all the meat, but that she is to keep the gravy for me, and that she must spread out the gravy on the matting, so as to be ready for me."

So that girl brought the meat to her mother and gave her the message.

The mother-in-law then cooked and ate the meat, but left the gravy. Then she took it and tried to spread it out on the matting for her son-in-law, but it ran through.

Then that girl came and told her husband, "That gravy is not spreadable.

Mamma has tried to spread it out on the mat for you, but it has all run through."

Her husband answered her, "Your mother is a very bad person. One day she told me to drive away the wind from the maize, and I tried all day, and it was not possible. So I, too, wished to tell your mother to do something that was not possible; so I told her to spread out the gravy on the mat. I knew that she would be defeated, even as I was defeated."

XXIII

THE JACKAL, THE HARE AND THE c.o.c.k

Once upon a time there was a hare who was cunning with great guile. That hare went to the jackal and said, "I want to make friends with you, jackal. Our friends.h.i.+p will be that we walk about together and agree in every matter. Everything that I do you must do also, and everything that you do I must also do."

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Jackal, the Hare and the c.o.c.k]

When the jackal heard those words of the hare he was very pleased, and he thought, "This will be very good to have the hare for a brother, for he is very clever."

So the jackal agreed to make friends with the hare, and they walked about together. Till one day the hare said to the jackal, "To-day, my brother, we will each take a knife and a spear, and we will go and kill our mothers. I will go and kill mine, and you, jackal, must go and kill yours."

So they each took a spear and a knife and went their ways to kill their mothers. The hare went to his mother and took her and hid her in a cave.

Then he went to a tree which is called Mtumbati and smeared his knife and spear with the sap of that tree, which is red. Then he returned to the place at which he had agreed to meet the jackal.

Now the jackal was very grieved when he was told that he must kill his mother, and being without guile he said to himself, "I will stay away for a little while, and then say to my brother, the hare, that I have killed my mother."

So he went off, and returned again to the place of meeting, and there met the hare. The hare asked him, "Have you killed your mother, my brother?"

The jackal said, "Yes, I have killed her."

So the hare said, "Let me look at your spear and knife. See, here are mine, and you can see that I have killed my mother, truly."