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BATANGA TALES.



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BY R. H. NASSAU.



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{Reprinted from The Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. XXVIII., No. CVII.,
January— March, 151 5.]



[Reprinted from the Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. XXVIII., No. CVII.,

January-March, 1915.]



BATANGA lALES.i

BY R. H. NASSAU.

The special region from which these observations are derived is the
equatorial portion of West Africa, more locally a tract three hundred
miles square, the field of work on which I was engaged in the service of
the Presbyterian church (north), its only mission on the entire African
Continent.

Beginning near the line of the equator, m.y travels extended a
hundred miles south of it, to and below Cape Lopez. In this district
were many small streams entering the South Atlantic, and two large
ones, — the Gabun^ and the Ogowe.' The latter enters the ocean by
four mouths, — to the northward, the Nazareth, into Nazareth Bay;
Ogowe proper, at Cape Lopez; and, south of that cape, the Mexias
and the Fernan Vaz. The first two enclose a delta, whose apex is
a hundred and thirty miles up the course of the river.

Exactly one degree north of the equator is the island of Corisco, a
microcosm of five miles in length by three miles in width, with perfect
little imitations of hills, prairies, lakes, and rivers. It stands almost
in the centre of Corisco Bay, from fifteen to twenty miles distant from
the shore-line. Into the bay empty two rivers of good size, — the
Muni 4 and the Munda. %

Fifty miles north of Corisco (on the way passing some smaller
streams) there is the large river Eyo (native) or Bonito (Spanish).
Forty miles farther north is the Campo; forty more, the Lobi; five
more, the Kribi; and eighty more, the Camaraon (Portuguese) or
Kamerun (German). Between the Ogowe and the Kamerun there is
a coast-line of four hundred miles. That quadrangle of four hundred
miles square is inhabited by scores of tribes, whose languages are
dialectic varieties of the Bantu.

I. THE FAVORED DAUGHTER.^

(Mpongwe.)

Ra-Mborakinda lived in his town with his women and sons, and
daughters and servants. Among his women were Ngwekonde (his

» This collection of tales shows, even more markedly than that of E. Chatelain, the
influence of Portuguese.

* Makwenge.

' Variously spelled Ogobai and Ogooue.

* Rio d' Angra ("River Danger") of commerce.

' For comparative notes see Johannes Bolte und Georg Polivka, Anmerkungen zu den
Kinder- und Hausmarchen der Briider Grimm, 1913, p. 461.



25 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

chief wife) and Ngwe-Iege, whom he neglected. But the latter had
a beautiful daughter named Ilambe, much beloved by him. Ra-
Mborakinda prized this daughter so much, that he left everything
to her direction.

One day he wished to start on a journey, intending to stay a long
time. He had, in his anxiety for her safety, a rule that she should
not go out of her house to walk far, lest she get into trouble. When he
was arranging to go, he gave all the keys and directions of everything
into her hands. He said to her, "As I shall be away a long time, I
leave all cloth and other goods for you to give out as you may see the
people need." Ilambe consented to do this work, and Ra-Mborakinda
went away. After he had been away for quite a while, and she thought
it time to give out cloth and whatever was required for the women, she
was very careful not to show partiality to her friends, not even to give
more to her mother. So, if she gave, for instance, two cloths to her
mother, she would give as many as five to Ngwekonde, and to all the
others what she thought they needed. Yet Ngwekonde was not satis-
fied ; even though she had been given more than others, her heart was
planning mischief to Ilambe. So Ngwekonde made up her mind, "I
will know what I shall do some day;" for she was jealous that the
petted daughter had been put into authority over her.

One day the people saw Ilambe walking on the premises, and they
remembered that she was going out of the bounds her father had
assigned her. They called, "Ilambe, Ilambe! where are you going?"
She replied, "I'm going^r a walk." Soon they all seemed to forget
to observe where she had gone; for Ngwekonde by her sorcery had
caused Ilambe's head to be confused, and had made the people
forget to watch her.

Soon after Ilambe had gone out of the town into the forest, Ngwe-
konde also followed to go after her, without the people seeing her go.
Ilambe went aimlessly, with Ngwekonde behind her. Then, when they
were far from the town, Ngwekonde said, "Yes, I've got you now! —
you, with your pride because you are the beloved daughter! Do not
think that you will again see your father and mother." So she seized
and dragged Ilambe to the foot of a big tree, tied her to it, and began
to give her a severe beating. Ilambe pleaded, and said, "Ah,
Ngwekonde! Please, what have I done? In what have I wronged
you?" But Ngwekonde replied only, "No mercy for you!" and then
tied her hands fast to the tree. Then Ngwekonde returned to the
town. Soon after Ngwekonde had gone, Ilambe longed to get back to
the town, for she feared the forest. She began to try to loosen the
knots. She tried and tried and tried, but the knots were hard.

Darkness came, and she was very much afraid. Finally, after long
eflfort, she got the cords loosened; but she was weak, and faint with



Batanga Tales. 26

hunger. She thought, "When I started on the walk, it was at random;
and when I came to my senses, when NgAvekonde dragged me to the
tree, I did not know in what direction we came; and now I do not
know the direction back to the town." So she began to walk in any
direction. As she went on and on, at last she happened into a path.
She said to herself, "This path, even if it does not lead to my town, may
lead me to where people are." She went on and on, and after a while,
by daylight, saw that the view ahead opened. By that she knew that
she was getting near to some clearing and perhaps to some village.

Following the path, she came straight to a hamlet; but she was
afraid to enter it. She thought, "Perhaps the owners of this place
may be enemies of my father; and they may beat me, just as did Ngwe-
konde. I must hide." So she remained for a while on the outskirts,
and then slowly and gradually crept from tree to tree on one side of
the path, lest some one should see her. When she was close to the
hamlet, she peeped through the bushes to see whether she could
recognize any one; for she feared strangers. She saw no one at all,
and went on into the street, and entered a large house, and began to
look around her. She saw no person, but only goods and food. After
she had examined this large house, she went into a smaller one, which
was the kitchen, where the cooking was done. She exclaimed to her-
self, " Ah ! it is not very late, and I am very hungry. I will try to cook
something. And I must be quick, lest the owners come and find me,
and kill me." So she started to work. She took of different kinds of
food, and dried fish, and firewood, and begarf rapidly to cook. After
the pot had boiled, she took out a little of its contents, and began to
eat hurriedly. As to the remainder of the food, she went to the larger
house, and got clean dishes, put the food into them, and set them on the
table. Then she went out of the hamlet and hid herself in the bushes
near by. Soon after she had hidden herself there, the owners of the
place came. They were carpenters. They entered their house, and
behold! on the table, food that was still warm. They exclaimed,
"Who has done us this good thing?"

They looked all through the house and into the kitchen, but no
person was there. Then they looked outside, in the back-yard, and
no person was there. They said, "Perhaps some other day we shall
find out." So they went into the house, took their seats at the table,
and began to eat. As they ate they shouted, "You who have done
this, if you are a man or a woman, come out and show yourself!"
But there was no reply. Ilambe had heard them, but remained quiet.
So they said to themselves, "Nevermind. To-morrow we will by
artifice find out this person, whether it be a man or a woman. If it
be a man, we will take him for a brother in our work. If it be a woman,
then none of us shall marry her. She shall be our sister."



27 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

At night she did not enter the town, but remained hidden near.
Next morning the carpenters said among themselves, "We go to our
work; but one of us must return early, as if unexpectedly, and perhaps
we can find out this person." And they went to their work; but one
returned early.

In the interval, Ilambe was busy with her work of cooking. She
made the food and put it on the table. As she was passing from house
to house, the man who had been watching came softly behind her, and
seized her. She began to scream, and beg, "Please, please, let me
go!" He said, "Do not fear. You have done no wrong. Be quiet."
Then he asked her questions, and she told her story. So Ilambe was
quieted, and she completed the arranging of the food on the table.
Not long after that, the other men came; and the first man told them
of Ilambe. They said to her, "Remain quiet. You are our sister.
You need not be afraid of any thing. We will take good care of you."

The next day, off at their place of work, they began to buy nice
things for her. And they dressed her in fine clothes.

But they warned her, "One thing we must tell you. Be very
careful. Sometimes there is a certain big bird which comes here and
picks up people, and kills them. When it comes, people have to
remain in their houses, and shut their doors and windows." They
also told her that the usual time of the coming of the bird was at noon.
On another day they went away to their work, as usual. When they
returned, Ilambe made their food; and they went into the house to
eat it.

And the bird came at an unusual hour, and it killed Ilambe. When
the men came from the house where they had been eating, they found
her dead. They mourned for her. When they had made a coffin,
and placed her in it, they refrained from burying it ; for the body looked
so life-like, and did not decay. So they kept it suspended in the air,
and daily they went to look at her face.

2. TWO friends: a story of revenge.
{Batanga.)

Ugula, son of Njambu-ya-Manga, and Ugula, son of Njambu-
Mepindi, were great friends. Ugula, son of Njambu-ya-Manga, said,
"I am going to seek Ivenga in marriage." So he went in his canoe,
and stopped at the landing-place of her father's town. Hearing of
his coming, Ivenga dressed her maid-servant finely, saying, "You sit
in the house, in the hall; you wait for him. I want to know whether
he has come for marriage with myself."

When Ugula came up to the house, he found that servant-woman
there. He at once sat down with her, and he and she agreed on a
marriage that night.



Baianga Tales. 28

Next day they had their food and play and every thing to please
themselves, the woman forgetting that she was only a servant. When
another day broke, he said, "Now for the journey!"

Ivenga came out of the house, and stood in the street to meet them.
She called her servant, and said to her, "Do you assume this pride
because of your marriage with Ugula?" Then she beat her.

Ugula, in astonishment, said, " Is it possible that it was a slave whom
I married?" In his shame he took a pistol and shot its bullets into
his body; and he died.

Thereupon Ugula-mwa-Mepindi said, "I am going now to avenge
my friend ; " and he started with his man-slave on a journey to Ivenga's
town, as if to marry her. He dressed the slave in fine clothes, and he
told him, "Even if you find a woman in the hall of the house, do not
sit down, but pass her by, on to where Ivenga herself is."

So they arrived there, and the slave went up to the room where
Ivenga was; and he and she at once made a marriage, she thinking
he was Ugula.

Early next day the two men said, "Now for the journey!" The
townspeople went with them to escort Ivenga to the boat-landing.
There Ugula said to his slave, " Get into the boat ! " And he beat him,
and said, "You are made proud because you married Ivenga, eh?"
He seized him in his fine clothes, and threw him, splash ! into the water.

Ivenga, when she saw how it was, snatched up a gun, and firing it,
bang, bang, into her body, fell down, saying, "Is it possible that it
was a slave who married me!" Then she died.

Love for a friend lasts long. It took vengeance, as Ugula avenged
his friend, playing on Ivenga the same trick she had played on the
other Ugula.

3. JOHN-THE-WISE AND I-AM-JOHN.^

Njambu-of-the-Sea lived by the seacoast, and he begat a man-child,
by name John-the-Wise ; and Njambu said, "Whoever else shall give
that name to his child, it shall be killed." Thereafter any one so
named was at once killed. Many were destroyed in that manner.

Also Njambu-of-the-Inland begat a child; and the child called
himself a name, I-am-John. But his father spoke to him, saying,
"That name is not to be named in this land." The son asked, "Why?
Does a name belong to only one person?"

After that, this son went to the seacoast two or three journeys.
Finally he remained there. And his namesake, John-the-Wise, put
in his care a he-goat, on shares, as he said. Some time afterward
John-the-Wise asked him, "Have the goats increased? Has the goat

1 See Aurelio M. Espinosa, "Comparative Notes on Spanish Folk-Tales," notes on
Pedro diUrdemales (this Journal, vol. xxvii, p. 220); see also Reinhold Kohler, Kleinere
Schriften, vol. i, pp. 91, 230. — Ed.



29 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

given birth?" The other answered, "Yes, it has borne three times." *
So John-the-Wise repHed, "Can a male give birth to a child?"

Then I -am- John came and cut down a redwood-tree near to the
house of his namesake, John-the-Wise, who asked him, "What are
you cutting the redwood for?" I-am-John told him, "My father has
just given birth." ^ John-the-Wise said, "What! can a man give
birth?" The other one replied, "But you, you offered me a goat to
raise a flock on shares, and you tried to deceive me by sending a male."
Then John-the-Wise, in a rage, caused him to be tied that he might
be carried and thrown into the sea.

He was put into a canoe, and was taken very far out to sea, to a
certain island near White Man's Land, where the canoe stopped, and
the crew scattered ashore to seek for food at a town near by ; and they
left I-am-John tied in the canoe. There he was moaning, "I did not
wish to marry the daughter of a king;" that is, he had not been self-
assuming in his difficulty with John-the-Wise.

A white man from the town on the island happened along, and he
heard him crying out, "I do not wish to marry the child of a king."
The white man, misunderstanding, thought that I-am-John was being
tied and taken on this journey to compel him to marry some king's
daughter. This the white man thought would be a fine thing for him-
self. So he said to I-am-John, "You're a fool ! Let me embark. You
get out." So the white man stepped into the canoe and untied I-am-
John, who then, at his request, tied him, and then went out of the
canoe.

When the crew returned, they found, instead of I-am-John, a white
man tied, and groaning, "I want to marry the daughter of a king."
The crew thought him crazy, and said, "Such a fool as this will rejoice
to die." So they took him and cast him into the sea, and returned to
their country. In the mean while, I-am-John, the son of Njambu-of-
the-Inland, had gone up to the town, and after a time he married the
woman whom the white man had deserted for "a king's daughter."

The woman made a feast and invited many, and said, "Since my
white husband died, I have not married; but to-day I am married."
And she and her husband remained there for a while. Then this John
obtained great wealth and power. He ordered that a man-of-war
should be gotten ready, and it was immediately prepared. He and his
people sailed from the island back to the shore of the country of
Njambu-of-the-Sea. They anchored there; and the sailors and
soldiers landed, and went up to the town of John-the-Wise. They set
it on fire, and burned it all.

1 But really I-am-John had eaten it.

* Powdered redwood is used as a medicine, and I-am-John pretended he was getting
it for his father in child-birth.



Batanga Tales. 30

4. THE THREE ILAMBES.

{Batanga.)

Three people named Ilambe went to get magic "medicine" at the
town of Njambu-ya-Mabenga; of these, two were men, and one a
woman. They happened on their way to see a squirrel lying on a
branch of a tree, which, when it saw them, went back into a hollow
in the tree.

The eldest Ilambe picked up a fruit and threw it so accurately that
it closed the mouth of the hole so tightly that he no longer could even
see where the hole was. Then Ilambe the second struck the palm of
his hand on the tree, and the tree at once fell down on the ground
flat with a crash. He dug in the hollow, and caught the squirrel;
and he said, "This digging Is the digging of Ilambe the second."^
And they went on their way, following the path.

After a while the woman said, "Let us rest!" So they sat down
together. She pulled out a jomba from her basket, in searching for
other food she had prepared, and found it was the squirrel already
cooked. This had been done by some magic power.

So they said, "What other medicine do we need to go for at the
town of Njambu-ya-Mabenga?"

So they went back to their own town.

5. KNOWLEDGE, STRENGTH, SKILL — WHICH IS THE GREATEST? ^

(Batanga.)

There was a great queen, known in her own kingdom and in all
other kingdoms for her wisdom, kindness, and justice. Her own
kingdom had prospered greatly under her .long reign. Wherever her
trade had gone to other nations, they also had become rich; and
wherever even her armies had gone, they always conquered, and in con-
quering brought freedom and happiness by her good and just laws.

In another country far away lived three men, noted, — the one for
his knowledge, the second for his strength, and the third for his skill.
The first one was a student. He studied all books; he thought out
many things that are not written in books; he could read the signs of
the winds and of the stars ; he could hear and see where others did not ;
he knew what was happening in places far off. The second was a
worker. He had strength to do all kinds of hard work; he could
make any thing that was to be fashioned by power of hands; he made
all needed tools, and built great canoes. No one could work so long
or so hard with axe, or oar, or paddle, as he. The third was a doctor.

^ He said this, praising himself for his successful capture of the squirrel.
* See Reinhold Kohler, Kleinere Schriften, vol. i, pp. 298, 389. — Ed.



3 1 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

He had skill to find out the properties of all herbs and trees ; and he
knew all the symptoms of disease, and just what medicines to apply in
any case. No one died who could obtain his aid in sickness.

One day the wise man, by his knowledge of what was occurring else-
where, brought the news that the great queen was very sick, that her own
doctors were not able to cure her, that her people were seeking for new
skill or new medicine, and that, if these were not obtained, she would
die. He said he was sorry for her, and wished she might get well.
And when he had told this news, he sat down. He did nothing more,
and had nothing more to say. Then the doctor stood up and said,
"Surely I am the one who is needed there at the sickness of the great
queen. Though all those other doctors have failed, I am sure I
should not, with my great skill. What a pity that I am not there!
She would be sure to live if I were there to discover her disease and to
choose the necessary medicine." And he sat down, and said no more;
nor did he do any thing else. Then the strong worker stood up and
said, " I am not only sorry for the great queen, but I am willing to try
to do something for her. I have here my great canoe that only I
with all my strength was able to make, and no one but myself is able
to paddle it. I am willing to take this doctor to the queen's country,
and let us see whether he can save her life." Then all the assemblage
said his plan was good, and that it should be carried out. So the
doctor took his medicines and got into the canoe, and the strong man
paddled him safely over the big waves, and quickly brought him to the
town of the great queen. Her people were glad when they heard that
a great doctor had come.

He soon found out the disease, and then he quickly cured it. The
queen recovered, and she paid him a large fee. Her people rejoiced
in her recovery, and they praised the doctor's skill. Then the doctor
got into the canoe again, and the strong man rowed him safely back
to their country. There the doctor began to show the wealth he had
received and to boast of his skill, that had been greater than that of
all the queen's doctors. But the strong man — who had received
nothing, and whose kindness had made him offer to use his strength to
carry the doctor in his canoe — began to murmur, "Of what use would
have been all your skill, if I had not had the strength to convey you
to that country? But for me, you would have been sitting down here
with your skill lying idle, and the queen would have died. I am the
one who has saved her." But the wise man interrupted them both,
and said, "Of what use would have been your skill and your strength,
if I had not informed you of the necessity for their use? You both
were in ignorance of the fact of the queen's sickness, and would have
remained in ignorance but for me ; and she would have died had I not
brought you the news of her need of you. I am the one to be thanked



Batanga Tales. 32

for her life." And each one argued over again. The worker and the
doctor together said to the wise man, "Your news of itself was of no
use. Without us, it would only have made people unhappy at their
helplessness to relieve." Then the wise man and the doctor together
had their argument against the worker, of the uselessness of mere
strength, if it have nothing valuable for which to exercise itself. So
all three kept on arguing, — two against one, and two against one, —
and they never were able to decide which was the greater, — knowledge,
or strength, or skill.

6. AN AFRICAN PROVERB.^

"Ho timbakeni o makodo."^

(Benga.)

There were two men, friends and neighbors. The one, Ogula, said,
"Chum, I am about to go to a far country to travel, and in my going
I leave with you this my barrel of sitdnye.^ Take good care of it
for me." His friend Boloba replied, "Yes; but that's nothing to do."
The one friend Ogula went, and travelled in the far country. While
he was there, it happened that his friend Boloba's wife was to become
a mother, and that pregnancy caused a longing for no other vegetable
but that very sitdnye. Next morning she begged her husband for
that food, and he was vexed with her for asking him to break his trust.
But it was just the same day by day. At last he said, " I say, if it is so,
I will lose money; but I will at once take my friend's sitdnye. When
he is about to return, then I will buy other for him." He took the
barrel ; just as he was opening it, money fell out on the floor. Said he,
"So, then ! This is the barrel which my friend said was of sitdnye, this
one of money? Well, then, let me take the money, and return him
sitdnye; for he named sitdnye."

When the space of ten years had passed, then his friend Ogula
arrived. And this man Ogula said to the friend Boloba, "Hand me
my barrel which I left with you." His friend Boloba handed over to
him promptly a barrel of sitdnye. When Ogula opened it, he found a
barrel full of sitdnye, fresh and undecomposed. Then he wondered,
saying, "I left with my friend Boloba a barrel of money, and he gives
me back a barrel of sifdnye?" Then Ogula called his friend, saying,

1 Richard F. Burton, Supplemental Nights to the Book of One Thousand Nights and
a Night, Ali Khwajah and the Merchant of Baghdad, vol. iv, pp. 405 et seq. See
also Ibid., p. 597; Theodor Benfey, Pantschatantra, vol. i, p. 283, ii, p. 120; C. H.
Tawney, Katha Sarit Sagara, vol. ii, pp. 41, 635.

2 "Let us go back to the-place-that-vvas-left." Mafeodo literally means "the deserted
site of a village."

* The food they ate in that land.