West Africa is a lush, hot and stunningly beautiful part of the world. This region has a rich tradition and culture, which generates a vast treasure of folklore. Some of these stories have been captured in a book titled Folk Tales of West Africa, which I am reading nowadays.
These stories have been handed down from generation to generation, to inculcate moral values. While reading them, one is transported to a world of magic and fantasy and is able to penetrate the dark, mysterious and seemingly silent West African jungle. They have a primitive simplicity and are often devoid of the unnecessary complications of our modern world.
Now, without any delay, allow me to share some of these folk tales with you.
How the Goat Outwitted the Leopard
There was a time when the goat was not tame and roamed around in the jungle, like the rest of the animals. At that time, all the animals used to drink water from a common pond. According to the law of the jungle, each animal had to clean the pond by turns.
“Whoever fails to do so or avoids his duty, will be sentenced to death,” announced the leader.
The she-goat had a little kid. She loved it so much that she did not want to leave it alone, while she was cleaning the pond. For one full year, she was absent from work. So all the animals were asked to attend a general metting of the jungle dwellers, under the biggest fruit tree.
“Friends, we are here to discuss the goat’s affair; it is very serious,” said one of the elders, who was presiding over the meeting.
“There is no need to discuss. Death! Death to her! Down with the goat!” shouted the others in unison.
“Yes, her crime is unforgivable,” said the leader.
Thus it was settled that somebody would be sent to kill her. It was agreed that the stag was the most suitable choice. So off he went to carry out the orders. He knocked at the goat’s door and asked: “Why have you not reported for work, for a whole year?”
“My kid is very small and I have to look after it,” replied the goat.
“Is that so? Is it a boy or a girl?” asked the stag.
“It’s your mother,” replied the goat.
The stag’s mother had died some time ago. He thought his mother was reborn in the goat’s house.
“I am not going to kill my mother’s mother,” he decided and went back without doing his job.
Many more animals were sent on the same mission, but the goat had the same answer for each one of them. No one had the heart to kill the mother of their reincarnated mother and so, no one got rid of the goat.
At last, the leopard volunteered, “I shall go and kill her!” he said and went up to her house. Why did you not do your share of work?” he asked.
“How could I? Your mother is reborn here. It’s my kid that is your mother,” replied the goat coolly.
“My mother is stil alive,” he said. “Aha! So this must be the trick that she’s playing in everyone here,” he thought.
“It must be my father who is your kid, since my mother is still alive!” said the leopard sarcastically.
“I have been caught!” thought the goat and tried to change her story. But it was too late, as the leopard was about to leap and grab her by the neck.
The goat jumped aside and rain towards the village at breakneck speed. She entered the door of the first hut she saw. It belonged to a man.
“Please help me, sir. The leopard is after me,” she begged the man.
“All right. You can stay here. Don’t worry, you are safe in my house,” he assured her.
The leopard waited for a long time to see if the goat would come out, but was disappointed. Finally, he had to return to the jungle.
“If it were not for that man, I would have killed her!” he snarled.
From that day onwards, the goat decided to become a domestic animal.
“If I have to save my skin and my kids, I shall have to take the protection if man,” she thought.
And even today, whenever a leopard sights a goat outside a village, he runs after it to kill it.
What Happened to Our Tail?
A long time ago, men also had tails like most animals. In those days, there lived a famous hunter, who was known to have killed many ferocious animals and monsters. He was called “the king of hunters.” He had two sons. The elder boy was in love with a girl from a nearby town, and wanted to marry her.
“I’ll take my father’s permission and then we will get married,” he told her.
“Father, I am convinced that she is the right woman for me. Please give us your permission and blessings,” he said.
“My dear son,” said the father. “In my time, I have hunted and killed almost all dangerous animals and creatures. The earth has cleared of such harmful monsters now. But I believe, there is still one dreadfully dangerous monster with several heads and flaming eyes. He has given me the slip many times. It is my wish that you hunt this creature before your marriage.”
“I must obey my father. And if I succeed in this mission, I will become famous and respectable like my father,” thought the eldest son.
The next morning, he equipped himself with a knife, a gun and sufficient foodstuffs, and left on this difficult mission. He was accompanied by his three faithful hunting dogs. He walked for several days and nights in search of the many-headed monster. For his supper, he would kill a couple of rabbits and share them with his dogs.
Days later, he came upon a little hut, situated on the banks of a small river. In front of the hut sat an old woman, washing her pots and pans in the river.
“Good morning, lady,” he greeted the old woman respectfully.
“Come on, son, share my meal with me,” invited the old woman.
He thanked her as he joined her and when he was taking her leave, the old lady said, “Here, take this calabash with you. It will help you in your journey.”
“It looks a little dirty; I think I’ll go and wash it in the river,” thought the boy.
He scrubbed it so hard that it suddenly broke into two pieces and from it emerged an egg, a coconut broom and a smooth little stone.
“Look what happened!” he told the old woman.
“Thank God, the calabash is broken. Now you can have all the three things. They will protect you from any harm. Whenever your life is in danger, throw the egg at your enemy, followed by the broom and the stone. But you must not forget the order,” the old lady told him.
He thanked her and set off on his journey with his dogs, and the three things he had obtained from the calabash. After a long, tiring trek, he found himself in a dense forest. The trees were so tall that the sunlight could hardly pass through. He was enveloped in total darkness.
Suddenly, the dogs began to bark very loudly. “What could it be,” he wondered, getting up to see why the dogs were barking like that. Standing up, he was shocked at the sight.
“Oh my God, it’s the fierce, many-headed monster!” he exclaimed, looking at the creature facing them. He repeatedly shot at him with his gun but the creature was unaffected. He grew more fierce. His eyes spewed out flames which blinded the dogs.
“I must not lose courage,” thought the boy and attacked the animal with a knife. The fight continued for two days. Finally, the monster was overpowered and killed by the boy. He heaved the dead creature onto his shoulders and began his return journey.
“Father will be very happy and proud to see my kill,” he thought and was very pleased.
The dark jungle was so vast, that by the time he reached its edge, the sun had already set.
“I think I’ll relax here for a while. I feel so exhausted,” he decided, and lay down to sleep.
Early in the morning, the dogs began to bark again. He was amazed at what he saw.
“What on earth is this?” he gasped, seeing the ferocious monster in front of him. “What do I do now? This is bigger than the one I killed! And I have used up all my cartridges,” he panicked. The monster raged and roared.
“There is nothing I can do except run for my life,” he thought, and ran as fast as he could.
But the creature pursued him. The boy suddenly remembered the kind old lady’s words about the things which had come out of his calabash.
“I hope it helps,” he prayed.
He took the egg out of his pocket and flung it at the monster. The egg fell to the ground, broke and transformed into a lake.
“Wow, this is great!” exclaimed the boy. But the creature soon swam across the lake and advanced towards him. He quickly took out the broom and as it fell to the ground, it turned into a thick forest.
“Now he won’t be able to catch me,” thought the boy, but before long, the creature managed to cover that distance as well.
“I have nothing left but the stone,” he thought and threw it at the monster. Immediately, the little stone turned into a huge mountain.
“At last, I am safe. He will never be able to climb that huge mountain,” thought the boy. But the luck did not favour him, because the monstrous creature had scaled the mountain and was soon approaching him.
“Oh my God, he is too close now,” gasped the boy and ran as fast as he could. By now, he had reached his house. He knocked wildly and yelled, “Quick, quick, open the door!”
The creature was just a few yards away. Just as the door opened and the boy rushed in, the creature grabbed his tail. When the door was bolted, it wrenched the tail off. But the boy was safe.
“Oh my God! Where is your tail?” asked his younger brother.
“I cut it off because I don’t need it. It almost cost me my life,” he sighed.
Since that day, man’s tail seems to have disappeared for good.
Anansi Loses His Head
Once upon a time, there lived a spider called Anansi Kwaku, who thought very highly of himself. He blew his own trumpet, and sometimes acted thoughtlessly, and often paid dearly for it.
Once, a great famine plagued the land where Kwaku lived. All the animals and people had to go far out into the bush to look for food. They searched and searched but all in vain. Kwaku suddenly had a brilliant idea.
“Why should I look for meat, like everyone else? Why shouldn’t I look for fish instead?” he thought.
So he decided to go in search of a stream, full of fish, so that his wife and he might eat. He had to walk a long distance before he came to a stream with abundant fish.
“At last, I have succeeded!” he sighed.
But soon, he saw that he was not alone. There were some strange looking people standing in the stream and emptying it, to catch the fish.
“Brothers,” shouted Anansi from the other end, “may I come and help you?”
“Come,” they said.
No sooner had he entered the stream than he realised that the people, busy splashing, were not ordinary people. They were, in fact, spirits. The other strange thing he noticed was that they used their skulls to scoop out the water.
“You must have seen what no one is supposed to see,” said the spirits. “You must allow us to remove your head, so that you can scoop out water with your skull, just like us.”
“That shouldn’t be much of a problem,” said Anansi. “I am clever enough to fix it back, before I go home with all that fish for my wife and me.”
The spirits removed his head and handed him his own skull. They all bent down to scoop the stream dry. Anansi was rather enjoying himself. The spirits sang their very special magic song which Anansi liked, and he wanted to join them. But the spirits warned him.
“You can sing now,” they said, “but you should only sing it as long as you are in the stream with us. Never, ever on your own. Will you remember that?”
“Of course, I will remember,” Anansi said. “I am the cleverest creature, after all. It’s such a small task for me.”
They all splashed and sang the same song over and over again. As soon as the stream had been emptied, the spirits collected all the fish from the dry bed. Then they filled a big basket for Anansi.
Anansi set out towards home with his basket. Suddenly, on the way, he heard the same song again.
“Ah, the spirits have begun to sing somewhere,” he thought and started to sing at the top of his voice.
The next thing he knew, his skull had fallen on the ground. He tried to put it back but it kept falling off.
“Spirits! Spirits! Spirits!” he yelled, “My head has fallen off. Please come back and help me.” And they did so, in an instant.
“No more of our secret song, you silly spider,” they said, after fixing his head. “We are not going to help you if you repeat the mistake.” And they left.
Anansi also went his way, but a little further, he heard the same song and he was tempted to sing again.
And down came his skull. He picked it up and tried to fix it, but it just refused to be there.
“What have I done?” he cried. “What will people think of me? How will I show them my face?”
Soon, he came to a path with tall grass.
“Path of paths, please save me,” the headless spider begged. “One day, I promise to make you very rich.”
“All right, come in!” said the oath and the grass parted, to make way.
“Thank you, I will never forget you,” said the spider and in he went, safely hidden from the spirits and the people he knew.
That is why we see Kwaku Anansi with a little head and big body.
Kalampedia 