Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/194

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Folklore of the Banyanja.

drink. At last he was nearly dead of thirst, so he went to the water and was killed in the snare.


The Orphan and His Host.

There was a man and his mother died. He had no home now and he wandered very far. At last he came to a hut in which another man was living. The man whose mother was dead said, "Let me share your hut, and be your brother!" and the owner of the hut said, "Very well." This man had many brothers and many mothers. The man whose mother was dead made up his mind to kill them. He went to a witch doctor and got some medicine; he came back and threw it in their huts, and they all died. He sang:

"Let all die!
Long ago my mother died,
Ever since I have been all alone.
Let all die!"

The other man also had a magic. He took the tail of a horse and waved it over the dead, singing:

"No, he speaks falsely, that other one!
They are not dead.
They will wake."

A shower of rain came and they awoke. The man whose mother was dead went to another witch doctor and got another magic. The man told his family, "Do not greet him or speak to him when he comes back; he brings a magic to kill you." When he came they called "Sakabona! Sakabona!" (greeting). The man said, "I told you not to greet him!" They all died. The man whose mother was dead sang again, "Let all die," etc.

The man of the hut took the horse's tail and waved it over the dead, singing, "No, he speaks falsely," etc.

A shower of rain came and they awoke.