Reading Notes: South Africa, Part A

The Monkey's Fiddle
Story source: South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910).

(vervet monkey)

One day a monkey left his land because things such as food and other animals were exhausted in his own land. The monkey went to a different land and lived with his uncle who offered shelter for him. The monkey worked for quite a while with his uncle in his uncle's land. When the monkey finally decided to head back to his own land his uncle gave him two gifts for working so hard over the past couple of months and not being paid. The monkey's uncle gave him a fiddle and a bow and arrow. While heading home, the monkey encountered some problems. The first person he ran into was Brer Wolf. Brer Wolf had been attempting to hunt deer all morning, but was not successful. Being nice, the monkey showed the wolf his bow and arrow and helped him kill a deer. The wolf became very jealous of the monkey's bow and arrow and begged the monkey to give it to him. The monkey refused to give it to him and the argued and argued. Soon, a jackal heard both of them and came over to see what was going on. They told him what was going on and he claimed that he could not make a decision on his own as to who should get the bow and arrow. The issue was brought to the court which consisted of a tiger, lion, and other animals. The sentence fell to the monkey meaning that the wolf got the bow and the monkey must be hung. Realizing his fiddle was at his side, he began to play it to the court. His charmed fiddle made anyone dance while it was being played. He began to play a song over and over and soon the animals began pleading for him to stop playing because they were becoming so tired. The lion begged him to stop playing and the monkey said he would only stop if he withdrew the sentence and acknowledge that wolf stole it from him. The wolf and lion agreed that wolf stole the bow and arrow. He stopped playing and seated himself on the nearest camel thorn tree. 


The Hunt of Lion and Jackal
Story source: South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910).

The Lion and Jackal were one day lying in wait for Eland. The lion shot the bow and missed, however, he hit the jackal. The jackal cried out. They went home in order to return to the eland later on. The jackal turned back in order to cheat the lion and follow the train of blood that was left. After he had gone some distance, he found the dead eland and cut out all of the fat. Meanwhile the lion was following the blood trail of the jackal and not the blood trail of the lead. When he found out he had been deceived he turned around and returned to the jackal. He found jackal in the elands carcass. The Lion was so mad and asked why the jackal cheated him. The jackal responded that he did not cheat him, that he prepared the fat for the lion. The lion ordered him to take the fat home to the lioness. The jackal took the fat home to his own family.