Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/161

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Folklore of the Banyanja.
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could not remember the name of Chingangara. Finally he asked the Duck again to take him across and the Duck said, "Very well, hold the bad wing." So he held the bad wing and the Duck let him drop in the water and he was drowned.


The Little Red Man.

There were two children and they went to catch a mouse. They found a little hole in the ground and they began to dig it deeper. They dug for a long time and by and bye they had dug out a great deal of earth and then suddenly they found a little creature like a man; but small and red like the ground. They ran away to their home; but he ran after them; he was very angry and he sang:

"Dandea, dandea, dandea!
What children are these?
They have dug me up from my home,
I will go with them to their home.
Dandea!"

The children shut themselves up in their hut; but he was there too. They ran to another hut and shut themselves in it; but he was there too. They killed him and burned him in the fire like a log; but he was there again. They killed him and tied him up in a bundle and threw him away; but he was there, back again. Then they put him in a hut and burned the hut down; but he came back to them. Now they could not eat because he used to torment them when they wanted to take their food, saying, "Why did you take me from my home?" and singing, "Dandea (etc., etc.)." They were very frightened and tried very often to kill him; but they could not. At last they told their big brothers. The brothers took him and threw him in a river and drowned him; but he came back again. By and bye the two children were sick because he never let them eat. So the brothers put them and