?” One of them wanted to be the first to answer the policeman´s question. He said, "Somos nós - it is us.”
The policeman asked again, “Are you the ones who killed this man? - sao voces que mataram este senhor?” and another boy said, "Yes sir - sim, senhor", and the last said, "It is clear - a razao explica."
After that the policeman arrested those three boys and took them to jail.
The Rabbits and the Tiger
There was a rabbit who had three wives. Each rabbit wife had her own house.
One day the husband said, “My wives, I have to go to South Africa to look for work. You are going to stay alone. But you have to pay attention: beware of the bad tiger.”
Now the first rabbit wife’s house was made of reeds. The tiger arrived there and knocked on the door.
“Open the door please!”
“No, no, never, because you are going to eat me!”
“I’m going to destroy your house. I’m stronger than your poor house made of reeds.”
So the tiger destroyed the house. The house fell down and the rabbit ran away.
Then the tiger went to the second rabbit wife’s house. This house was made of sticks. The tiger knocked on the door.
“Open the door please!”
“No, no, never, you are going to eat me! You are useless to society!“
"No, I want to destroy your house right now. Today you are mine. You are my favorite dish!”
The tiger destroyed the house, and this rabbit also ran away.
Then the tiger went to the third rabbit wife’s house. The house was made of concrete blocks. The tiger knocked at the door.
“Open the door please!”
“No, no, never, because you are going to eat me!”
“But I have something for you. I just arrived yesterday from South Africa. Your husband sent you a lot of money. He sent this money with me to give to you.”
“Do you think I’m a fool? Shame on you! I won’t open my door.”
“Then I’m going to destroy your house!”
But he couldn’t destroy the house. The house was too strong. The tiger was very angry. He climbed onto the roof and jumped down onto the stove. But he fell into a big pot of hot water and died.
A Man and a Lion
Once upon a time, there was a man walking in the bush. Suddenly he met a Lion!
The Lion was resting in the short winter grass. The meeting was so unexpected that the man did not know what to do. He was full of fear and curiosity. At first, the Lion was surprised too, and a little afraid. But there was a low rumble from his stomach, which meant he was hungry. The man suddenly found himself up a tall tree, but later he couldn’t remember how he got there! He began to shout insults at the Lion.
The Lion lay down under the tree, waiting for his meal. As time went on, the Lion fell asleep, or so it seemed. The man in the tree didn’t know for sure, and he was too afraid to climb down the tree.
Soon the man began to fall asleep too. Then he woke up again. Finally he dozed off and went fast asleep. But then he crashed down on the sleeping Lion!
They both woke up confused and frightened. The lion forgot his meal and ran for his life. The man began to run in the same direction as the Lion. Then he realized that he was running with the Lion!
He changed direction and escaped being eaten by the Lion.
Ugly Boy and Old Bear
Once upon a time, there was a little boy that was very ugly, and an old bear. The ugly boy was living with his grandmother. The children did not like to play with him. They sent him away, “Go, go, get out of here, go away. We do not like you. You are ugly.”
So, Ugly Boy had no-one to play with. His grandmother loved him so much, she was always making cakes and nuts for him. In that area were nut trees, and when the nuts were ready to be picked, there came an old bear.
That bear would not let anybody pick the nuts. When the boys tried to pick them, the bear started to growl, “grrrr, Grrrr, and GRRR!” They were afraid of being eaten by the bear.
One day, the ugly boy came into the house saying, “Grandmother, grandmother, I am hungry. I am going to pick some nuts. I am not afraid of the old bear."
The grandmother cried, "Oh, my boy, you mustn’t! The bear will catch you and eat you!”
The ugly boy wouldn’t listen, and went to the place with the nut trees. There were so many nuts, and he collected them. After collecting them, the ugly boy sat down and started to eat the nuts. The bear appeared in the same place, but the ugly boy was not afraid.
The bear asked him, “What are you doing?”
“I am eating nuts,” said the boy.
“These nuts are mine. You must not eat them”.
“They are not yours.”
“They are mine. If you don’t run away, I will eat you!”
“The nuts are not yours. And you may be bigger than me, but you are not braver.”
“Oh yes I am,” said the bear.
The ugly boy said, “OK, I will tell you what we will do. First you try to scare me, and then I will try to scare you. And the one who is not afraid will have all the nuts.”
The bear laughed, “Ho, ho, ho, hoooo…! Do you think you can scare me? OK, let’s try.”
The bear tried first and the ugly boy kept on eating the nuts normally. He didn’t show any fear.
Then the ugly boy ran to his grandmother to ask for his bow and arrows. After he took them, he went back and climbed a tree. Then he called to the bear, “Come here, come here! I will scare you!”
When the bear went to the tree, she stood on her hind feet and opened her mouth and laughed, “Ha, ha, haaaa…!” at the ugly boy. And the boy shot an arrow and killed the bear!
Then the ugly boy ran home. “Oh, Grandmother! All the boys from here can gather the nuts because I have killed the wicked old bear. I shot the bear with my bow and arrow and she died.”
The Curious Girl
Once upon a time, there was a teenage girl who was about to be married. She waited and looked for a boy to come and marry her. After a while a boy appeared and they got together.
During this time, they started to prepare what had to be done before their marriage. Her mother taught the girl all the familiar work done at home. She didn't forget the moral values and customs that she had to learn, also from her husband's parents as well as from her husband. But the girl had two faults: she was curious and she was greedy.
When it was time to go and live with her husband's parents, her mother explained to her again what she should and shouldn't do.
One day her mother-in-law was about to go and spend some time at their farm. She gave the girl a certain quantity of beans. "Look, here are some beans, cook them for dinner," said her mother-in-law. Then she left the place and went out.
As the girl ate a lot, she thought that the quantity of beans was not enough, but she didn't say anything, because she wanted to make sure her mother-in-law would be absent. She was very curious and very greedy, and she wanted to protest that the beans were not enough when her husband went to the farm too.
So she went to where her mother-in-law stored her things in her house. She didn't know that her mother-in-law had secret things there, but she opened all the vessels right to the last one. It was not easy to open, but she used all her strength and she succeeded. Surprisingly, inside she found a hyena, because her mother-in-law was a sorceress! The girl was frightened and she wanted to run away, but the hyena ran over to close the door and stopped her from leaving.
At night when her mother-in-low returned home and saw what had happened, she was ashamed. "Why did you have the courage to do that?" said her mother-n-law. "It's like being naked in public in front of my own son." The curious girl was quiet with nothing to say. As soon as her husband came he sent her back to her home with everything she had stored up when they were married.
So now the curious girl isn't married because all the boys know her story.
The Bank
Once upon a time, a Rabbi
t discovered a bank in the town. The code to get in was “Close”. And to get out was “Open”. The Rabbit went there and took out some money.
On his way back from the bank, he found his friend, Monkey. The monkey asked him, “Where did you get that money from?”
The Rabbit replied, “I got it from the bank. If you want to get in there, say “Close," the door will open. And say “Open” and the door will close”.”
“Ok, I got it,” the Monkey said.
The monkey went to the bank and said “Close” and the door opened. Then he said “Open” and the door closed itself. He took more money than the Rabbit did.
When he wanted to get out again he said, “Open”, but the door did not open. He kept on saying “Open,” but it didn’t open. Then he heard some voices coming from the outside. He jumped inside the sack of money.
The owner of the bank was there. He asked one of his assistants to lift the sack. The assistant said, “It’s heavy.”
“Why is it heavy? It’s only a sack of money.”
The owner went over to help his assistant to lift the sack, and then he said, “It is really heavy.”
When they opened the sack, they saw the Monkey in it. They took him out and beat him stupid. Then they turned him out of the bank.
So the monkey went back home with his hands hanging empty beside him.
The Mason
One day, a mason who worked for a building construction company resigned his job. He wanted to be free so he could spend more time with his family. His boss accepted his resignation. But, before the mason left the company he wanted him to do one last job. The mason accepted his boss’s request, although he didn’t want to work for the company anymore.
The mason said, with his hands behind his back, “I have been thinking about my family today. And I . . . I . . . came to the conclusion that I need to spend more time with them.” He rubbed his head with his hand. “So I would like to . . . I mean . . . stop working, you know.”
The boss’s mouth dropped open.
“Stop working? You are such a good worker. And you want to leave us?
“I am not leaving you, but ….it sometimes happens, you know.”
“Okay, I understand. But I would like you do one last job. I have an important project. Only you can do this.”
“Yes, but I . . . . . Okay, I will do it.”
The mason wanted to leave the company as soon as possible. He did a quick and bad job. He bought the cheapest fake material he could find in the local market. He hired little boys from the streets, whose only experience in construction had been a few months ago when they played at building small ugly houses out of mud.
As a result, the pillars of the house were very weak. The people living in that house would be in danger. If the house broke into pieces and fell down, they would die.
After building the house the mason called his boss to have a look at it. His boss went there and said,
“My dear friend. It is a long time that you have been working for my company. You always did such a good job. You were always faithful and you never disappointed me.”
The mason hugged the boss, “I know. I always tried to please you, my friend.”
The boss pointed at the house and said,
“I would like to thank you by offering you this house!”
The Tar-Baby
Once upon a time, there was a couple that used to own a big farm. They had a lot of peanuts on their farm. Many animals used to eat their crops on this farm. The rabbit was so clever that it would spot the couple whenever they went to the farm. All the animals with four legs would go to the farm to eat the crops of this family. But the rabbit would shout, “Bandits! Bandits!” as soon as the couple went to the farm. Then the animals ran away from the couple. That happened many times.
As time passed, the couple realized their crops were being destroyed by animals. They decided to put a doll with glue all over its body in order to protect the farm. They thought that the doll would frighten the animals.
Actually, it did frighten all the animals, except the rabbit. The animals went to the farm the next day and decided not to go there again because they thought the doll would catch them. But the rabbit was courageous enough to go back to the farm two days after the doll had been put there. When the rabbit got to the farm, it approached the doll and said to it, “If I slap you with my right hand, you will die.” The rabbit slapped the doll and it got stuck to the doll.
Then, the rabbit said again to the doll, “If I slap you with my left hand you will die.” The rabbit slapped the doll and its left hand got stuck. The rabbit said to the doll, “If I kick you with my two legs, you will die, my friend.” The rabbit did so and got stuck to the doll. The rabbit continued saying to the doll, “If I butt you, your head will break and then you will die”.” Again, it got stuck to the doll. So, all the parts of the rabbit ‘s body got stuck to the doll.
On the very same day, the couple and their youngest daughter, aged twelve, went to the farm and found the rabbit stuck to the doll. They gave the rabbit to the girl in order to cook it at home. So the girl took the rabbit home to give to her older sister to cook.
When she arrived home, she told her older sister to cook the rabbit. But the rabbit gave the young girl different orders. The rabbit said they were to cook the big cock that the family had, dress the rabbit up in the suit of the man of the family, and serve up the cock. As the rabbit ate, they were to open the windows of the house. So the girls cooked the cock. After they had finished cooking, they gave the rabbit their father`s suit and served him. As the rabbit was eating, the girls opened the windows of the house. The rabbit put the bones of the meat into the pockets of the jacket.
Sometime before the rabbit finished eating, the couple arrived. When the rabbit heard them speak, it jumped out of the window and ran away. They ordered their dogs to catch the rabbit. As the dogs approached the rabbit, it gave the dogs the bones that it had put into the pocket of the jacket. The dogs stopped to eat the bones.
The rabbit ran as fast as it could. It disappeared completely. It ran up to a patch of mud and jumped into it. It came out all black, and stopped right on the path the dogs and people were running along. When they got to the rabbit, they could not recognize it and they asked, “Didn`t you see a rabbit running past?” The rabbit answered, “No!”
And that is the end of the story.
The Witch's Drum
Karingana wa karingana!
- Karingana!
In Vilankulos there was a river called Phumo. Many children used to play at the riverside. Whenever they wanted to cross the river they would sing first so that the water would go down.
- Karingana!
Once it was a very hot day. A group of children went to the river to play. Suddenly the witch captured one of the children by magic! After a couple of minutes they realized that there was one missing. Then they went back home and told the child’s parents.
- Karingana!
After that the witch put the child into a drum so that she would sing whenever he played the drum. Then he went to many houses and said, "If you give me a bottle of beer I will play my drum and everyone will enjoy the song."
- Karingana!
The witch enjoyed his beer for a couple of days. And he never paid for it at all!
- Karingana!
One day he entered the home of the child’s family, by mistake, and said, “If you give me a bottle of beer, I will play my drum and everyone will enjoy the song.” The child’s family gave him a bottle of beer.
- Karingana!
By chance one of her sisters heard her voice. She wanted to figure out if it was just a mistake, or not. So she brought in a lot of beer, until the witch got drunk. She opened the drum and saw that it really was her sister and she pulled her out.
- Karingana!
So she rescued the child. Then she decided to get revenge. She put a swarm of bees into the drum and closed it. Half an hour later the witch woke
up and took his drum. As usual he went to another house and said, “If you give me a bottle of beer, I will play my drum and everyone will enjoy the song.”
-Karingana!
This time there was no song at all. He was surprised. He wanted to find out what was going on. He opened the drum. Suddenly, he was stung by bees all over his body. And he died like that.
-Karingana!
The Man who Married Two Women
Once upon a time there was a man who had married two women. But he was truly only in love with the second one.
As proof of his love, the man built her a comfortable house out of good materials. But the first wife was taken for granted, and spent the night in a horrible place. Actually, she was treated just like an animal!
So every day, when she is doing her housework, she sings this song to forget her pain:
wa yinga
wa yinga
wa yizwa mbuti mbe
lava va ku randziwa
va etlela mungomeni
lowo wa maxapa
wa yinga
lava va ku nyenyiwa
wa etlela rangeni
le ga timbuti mbe
wa yinga
wa yinga
This means, in English:
wa yinga
wa yinga
you can hear the goat go “beeeh!”
she who is loved
sleeps in a fine house
wa yinga
she who is not loved
sleeps in the place
where the goats go “beeeh!”
wa yinga
wa yinga
Note by Graça Rafael Daniel Dzucule: This traditional story I heard from my grandmother, in Xitswa, my mother tongue. Then I translated it into Portuguese and English. For some words, like the first line in the song, it is impossible to find similar words in English, or even in Portuguese.
About these Stories
These stories come from southern Mozambique, from the provinces of Inhambane and Gaza, except for one from further north. I asked my students at UniSaf to think of stories they remembered being told at home as a child, or had heard told by their elders, but it is possible that some of them come from other sources.
In traditional times a family would be sitting together in the evening, and the grandmother or another older relative would tell a story in the language of the area, by the light of a fire or a lamp. The storytelling was quite interactive, beginning with special formulaic words to announce what was coming, and continuing with repeats of the initial call phrase from the audience, like a chorus. Damas Calisto Calege has tried to show how it would be in his story-within-a-story, "Karingana," as has Sabir Ibraimo Abdul Carimo in "The Witch's Drum."
Many stories contain traditional songs, often repeated several times, and performed with all the drama the teller can muster. "Why don't we Kill our Mothers?" is one of these, and so is the last story in the collection, which gives a woman's perspective on a polygamous situation. There would also be loud reactions and comments from the listeners, the kind of participation associated, for me at least, with a gospel concert! And the same lively involvement happens when traditional stories are brought into the classroom.
Most of the stories contain animal characters, from the days "when animals could talk," and they have a strong moral or didactic element. As everywhere, oral literature was clearly part of the system of transmission of cultural values. But the Rabbit, who dominates the mythology, is a very