MODER N PHILOLOGY Volume 122
Allegorical Speculation in an Oral Society The Tabwa -arrative Tradition
Robert Cancel
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MODER N PHILOLOGY Volume 122
Allegorical Speculation in an Oral Society The Tabwa -arrative Tradition
Robert Cancel
F.dilorial Polley
The Editorial Board of the University of California series in Modern Philology defines philology in the broadest sense. Accordingly, it welcomes manuscripts that deal with both Western and non· Western languages and literatures, including stylistics, criticism_, lite-rary theory, and interdisciplinary studies relating literature to other intellectual and aesthetic endeavors. Editions of exceptional importance also fall within the scope of the series. Fur-
ther information may be obtained from the offices of the University of California Press, Berkeley, CA 94720. Manuscripts should be sent either to the Press or to the Chair of the Editorial Board.
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Allegorical Speculation in an Oral Society The Tabwa Narrative Tradition
Robert Cancel
University of California Press Berkeley • Los Angeles • Londo n T h 1.e
One
UNIVERSITY OP CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS IN MODERN PHILOLOGY Edilorial Board: Snmucl C . Armistead. Jcan-Piene BarriccJJi. Gerd Hillen, Harold E. Toliver, Andrew Wright
Volume 122
t.."!--IVE.RSrrY OPCAl.IroRO~tA PRJ3SS 81!R.Iliogn:.pby: p.
IS8N O·Sl0-0!1'139-4 1. 'l'abwA. (African poople)-f.ol.k.lore. 2. Onl r;ntditiQti-Za.mbia!Uputa DirtricL 3. T a!c-7,.a.mbia-Klrputa District. (. Tille. IT. Series: Univen ity of C~li!m has developed an array of models and U1eories of poetic language and composition. \Vhethcr ordl or wriuen, all fictional narrative has cenain constant.
McLuhan and Walter Ong produced stimulating and influential works that described the differences between o ra.l and literate cultures 8 For the first time schola.rs were recognizing the real dynamics and complexities of oral art fonns, but they were also
moving away from crucial aesthetic relationships. Though these scholars identifie d the problems involved in simply treating material of o ral o rigin as literature, they tended to divide up the world into two discrete modes of communication. The oral was somehow romanticized, whereas the literute was ponruyed as an inevitable and necessary evil of technological evolution. An example of a stimulating but Oawed application of Ong 's ideas is Kevin Maxwell's study of Bemba Myth and Ritual: The Impact of Literacy on an Oral Culture ( 1983). MaxweU remarks on the nature of the Bemba as an oral society: Its peoples arc intensely aware of tbe power and action wllich their sounded words connote. Memory is the centra.! act of their knowing powers and tlteir knowledge is mnemonically formulated: successful knowledge is precious and has to be preserved fo r all practical purpose-s. Their Otougbts and expressions tend to be simply additive rather than complexly subordinate; the existential Oow o f na rrative cannot be encumbered wi th reasoned struclures. (xv) Oral knowledge is relatively rigid, typical and concrete. both in itS expression and in its conceptualization.... Bemba knowle
under study, or the cultural enactment that the group participates in. The data would then be demystified and relieved of the.ir homey connotatiort.'i. I am not sugw gesting U1at folldoristics has failed to give scholars valuable and original approaches to the study of oral traditions. On the contrary, the newer emphases on performance in context and on the text of or:tl perfonnance can be traced directly to folklore researchers. In fact, as scholars in the social sciences and humanities take up the challenge offered by Clifford Geem: in his "Blurred Genres" es.say (1983: 19-35) they will fmd many of the concepts and methods of folklorists to be imponanttools. My reservation.~ stem from the assumptions that underlie folklore research and how these affect lhe interpretation of data. There is too much of "the Other," as opposed to the rcsea~cher and b.is or her readers. that goes into interpretive dfons of many folklorists. These reservations do not extend to some of the innova1ive approaches folklorists have developed. Max Luthi is a scholar who stands somewhere between folklre and literary studies. Luthi sets himself the task of carefully describing the European folktale (1982). His concise and thorough study isolates traits that also apply to Tabwa oral narrative. The basic characteristics he enumerates include: one-dimensionality.
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depthlessness, abstract style, isolation and universal interconnectedness. and subli· mation and aU-inclusiveness. Luthi concludes that the charJcters of folktales are not developed to any t:reat degree of psychological depth; little is made o f motivation for actions, and characters ofien seem not to know wby they are on a quest or even exactly wbat they are looking for. The most gruesome events and situati.ons stand side by side with tbe most mundane. There is little depth of description or commentary in folktales; the elements of real life are Oattened out and denuded of direct referential import. '"The folktale iL'>Cif no longer understands iL~ own meaning. For all its motifs. from the numinous, magical, and mytltic, to the sexual and erotic, to the ordinary ones of daily life, are equally emptied of their substance" (71). Lutlti argues that this very thinness of character and motivation allows the fo lktale polyvalent meaning: "Not only is ·i t capable of assimilating and sublimating any element, it in fact reOects all essential components of human existence" (76). And, finally. Luthi identifies the poetic elements in the folktale that resist interpretation: A folktale can be interpreted, but any single interpretation will impoverish it and will miss what is essential. By being sublimated, all elements of the folktale arc so fully divested of their separate characteristics and so completely removed from the spheres in which U1ey originated tlJat they come to symbolize other spheres as well. (94) The weightless figu res of the fol ktale have the property of not demand· ing a specific interpretation. 111cy actually prohibit specific interpretations and al.low for (even call for) diver.;e ones. (95-96) Luthi's description is perhaps the most accurate and thorough yet written o f the folktale. However, his d iscourse reveals a Sil,'nificant omission when he differentiates between his subject and the "narratives of primitive tribes" (108). Further· more. he dismisses the efforts of stOT)~ellers who embellish tl1eir tales, claiming th.e ir addition of depth goes against the nature of the folktale. aearly, by denying the vitality of the oral perfom1ance. by framing its origins in an evolutionary scheme whereby earlier poetS or aJ'l!ists created the stories that less talented racon· teurs tben preserved and disseminated. Luthi creates a needless stratilication of oral tradition. Anthropological research will help here in investigating the context and functions of the living enactment that is SIOT)1elling. Anthropology grew out of U1c Victorian era, which saw European economic and political power expand throughout the world in unprecedented ways. It applied a scientific method, a postromantic rationalist discourse that sought new levels of objectivity, to the study of human societies; th.e enterprise coincided with an evol utionary view of biology that expanded to include social organisms as well. This evolutionary innuence was prominent at the birth or anthropology and the coincid· ing exploration and colonization of much of the nonwestern world. From tbc begin· ning, the approach of us and them was inherent in the postulation of "savage" as a category of social development. Savage peoples were those who exemplified our
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own earliest stages of evolution. Even as the vocabulary altered over the decades, the notion of studying "the Other" would remain. !6 From the beginning of my fieldwork I focused on tllC stol)~clling efforts and commentaries of Tabwa acquaintances :for my core data and collected ethnographic infonnatioo as a by-product of my interaction within the village. Simply put. I considered the oml rmditioo to be a complicated enough target of study without devising a sociocconcmic description of the Tabwa.t7 I fmd Russell Banks's observations in his novel The Book ofJamaica. particularly apt in their cautionary description of the barriers that a participant observer in a foreign culture encounters: Assume an increased ability to understand and speak Jamaican patois, an increased tolerance for the crisp fire of white rum. . . . I learned tlte names of the trees and the flowe.rs and the foods that surrounded me. lealllCd how to play dominoes as ferociously as a Jamaican, and even learned how 10 talk with Jamaican women sufficiently for them to forget for whole long momenL~ the tremendous economic position I represented. so that they would now and then briefly cease trying to tell me only what they thought I wanted to hear. This docs not mean that I then understood what they said to me. (1980: 27-28) Even such simple interactions as Banks describes are subject to numerous and complicated fonns of cultuml static and mis'llnderstanding. This is not to say that ethnographic description is impossible or undesirable, only that such efforts are fulllime projce,ts to be carried out by specialists. Yet. perhaps because of the long association between anthropology and the functional smdy of oml tradition.~\:, it is the rare work that treats only the aesthetic dimensions of African narratil'e traditions (e.g .. Scheub 1975; Okpewho 1979a, 1983). The earliest anthropological theories on oral traditions were inevitably tied to evolutionist notions of progress from primitive magic to ritual to religion to science (or some sequential variation thereof) and, in a similar way, from folktale to myth to dran1a to Uterarure (Raglan 1936; Frazer 1911 -1936; Eliade 1964). There are varied hypothese,~ concerning oral tales and their roles in human evolution, but it would be fair to characterize these theories as functionalist in nature. The fonnolation that still stands at one end of the spectrum of antllropological thinking on verbal an is Bronislaw Malinowski's notio:n of myth as "social chaner," as the unbending and holy compendium of tales that codify history and social organization (1948: 101. 107-8). Little room remains for creativity or spontaneity in this equation. l6 Sec Mine:r's humorous use of anlhropolog.ical jargon lO dcscnDc American culture in "Body Ritus] among the Naccrima.. ( 1956). l7 A sood dc,:tJ. of the literatur~ Of\ the Z:aifeotl\ T.s.bw:~ i$ applicable C() the. Zou:tlbiOO't Tabwa tiS well, but tl•ere are differences based on ecolog)'. history, and cum:nt economic development that also
distinguish them (""'my di=tation [1981]; ond A. F_ Robe.ns [19W. I983a, J983b. I983c]).
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which did n01 attribute such characteristics 10 !he enterprise or, by implication and often by outright claim, to !he people who engaged in it (97).1 8 Roughly comemporary with Malinowski's sem.inal findings are those of Franz Boas. who is often credited with establishing ~te branch of American an~tropology. Boas found that oral rraditions were not as fixed or as strictly functional as others had claimed. He concluded !hat !he model of a savage phase of social development was an overly restrictive one. 1.1te Native American peoples he studied showed variation among themselves and, especially, between societies. He saw that oral traditions and otlhcr forms of social and public enactments ("riruals") were meant not only 10 prescr.•e instirutions but also to question them and to accommodate change. 19 If Boas's multivalent functional model of oral traditions does not seem a ~oreal improvement over a monolithic functional model. its importance must be acknowledged because it ascribed to !he subjects of research a degree of choice and creativity in !heir practices. The methods have changed little since Malinowski invited his readers to "step outside tbe closed study of !he theorist into !he open air of !he AnlhropologicnJ field" (10). Utereby seuing out !he enduring model. There is first of all !he coUection of data-the rite of passage for the ethnographer-in a fieldwork sirualion. Tite data have to do with economic practices. kinship relations, settlement patterns -o f villages, various rituals of seasonal and personal passage, and close study ·Of language and its uses. This infomtation is gaUJCred while tile researcher lives among people who become, in some cases, friends or at least acquaintances a"d neighbors; Ute researcher takes time 10 Jearn the everyday patterns of interaction and cooperation !hat constirute !he data. If !his has been the established mcthnd of collection, a second tenet of anthropology has also been in effect for over a cenrury: the organizing and interpreting of data. This latter phase constitutes a form ·o f writing-in both the older and posL~Lructu ral is t senses-that inscribes originally scattered impressions into a systematic description. a theoretical construction that "invems," to use Roy Walllter's tcrm (1977), a people for the researeltcr's scholarly audience. AU this is as it should be for the endeavor which is antltropology; but in the last two decades the enterprise itself has been thrown into question. Anthropologists have been noting that vocabularies and models persist only slightly modified from the period of cr formula.
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details as "empty embellishment." calling the results of such effons "completely unlike the true folktale" (1982: 102). Luthi's dependence on wriuen texl~ instead of living performance) causes him tO overlook the storyteller's various prerogatives. The coloring of character c~ be a complex operation. with voice and gesture giving depth to what is often predictable dialogue o r declaration. The singing voice can inspire audience.s to partkipate in the most pedestrian of tales. The use of descriptive detail. even in obvious d igressions. can add texture and vividness to any basic plot. Is the storyteller expressive in voice and gesture? \Vhat is lhe tcllcr•s rela-
tionship to the specific audience during that session? Is the tone of the tale humorous or seriously didactic? How does the teller's personality shape the perfo rmance in context'! When the perfonner is not only in command of his or ber stage presence but also m inventive embellisher of narratives, the results can be both entertaining and tr:llsforming. One of the most accomplished storytellers I recorded is Mr. William Musonda. whose pcrfonning skills arc exceeded only by the high degree of deference shown him by his neighbors and relatives. In tbe tale I examine more closely in Chapter 6, Mr. Musonda weaves a lengthy. textured narrative using a fairly basic oickster pattem~ where.in a clever character keeps fooling olher, more powe.rful characters. to his overall benefit. He makes the story complexly evocative through several instances of elaboration, digressions (Basgoz 1986), where he details what certain characters arc Utinki ng and plantting or where be describes someone's status or condition in soclety. These elaborations arc forms of metacommentary, whereby narr.uion goes bc)Ond the b!l.sic advancement of plot to commenting on cxtranarrJLivc themes, the at."t of storytelling, or even on events going on during the performance (l3abcocl:. 1977; Bauman 1986). We can appreciate the high degree of creativity in such an effort only by evaluating it within the three dimensions of analysis. Another performer, Mr. Chota Chilengwc, is known as a powerful raconteur. His skills are formidable in t9mposing his verbal text and in delivering it. As much as the imagery in tile stories. Mr. Cllilengwe's personality and persorul history are factors in the tales he telll. These traits emerge in an examination of the performance context and in the themes of his stories. Calling himself a "oepbew of Tanga," who was an early Tabwa chief deposed by the current ruling Bashimba (known as Zimba. a genet C..'\l in the Luba language, in Zaiic) clan, 01ola
Chilengwc o ften pauses in his narrative.s tO give the exact time of cenain events in tlte tales. On occasion he will provide both "English" and metric time designations. ~-uch as saying some charJCter arrived at "two o'clock," then adding "(ley say fou rteen hours in current English usage." Though storytellers often situate place and time in their taies. this constitutes a particular case of sbowing off; it is purely performer-orchestrated, something to impress his audience with his knowledge of the complexities of timekeeping in contemporary life. Though such digressions
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may have little impact on the unfolding plot, they have a direct and almost visccrJI effect on the communication that is perfonnance. To identify the range of possibilities for constructing narratives and for externalizing them in performance we need criteria for the strategies involved. '11te living or performance context can create what Ronald aod Suzanne Scollon refer to as "focused" or "oonfocused" situations, wherein storytellers either promote or d iscourage audience input (Scollon and Scollon 1984). A focused approach is demonstrated by performers like WiiJiam Musonda, who rarely engage their audiences directly in commentary or the exchange of questions. By contrast, some stol)1cllcrs welcome such commeniS and queries from their listeners, often incorporating their contributions into the ongoing narrative. Similarly. the tales can be framed in ways that sociolinguist William Lahov calls "internal" and "external" (Labov 1972). An internal strategy moves the talc along with little or no reference to iL• thematic or moral message. and an external approach keeps such messages on the surface of the unfolding story. continually reminding an audience of the point of the narrative. AS we examine the tale-texts that follow, we will notice Ute way different performers employ these strategies, sometimes even using all four strategies at different moments of the same performance. Though usually identifiable in the verbal text, these strategies often appear in tone of voice or some other nonverbal marker, they are best perceived in the performance contexl
I begin my organization of data from the Tabwa storytelling system with
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formal description that is not unprecedemcd in either folklore or literary study (Thompson 1955-1958; Lord 1960; Nagler 1974; Scheub 1975). The Tabwa oral uadition is by no means a closed system, though I resist facile interpretations that simply point out the real elements of any story. James Boon (1986) has formulated a helpful model for looldng at the relationship between cultural enactment and society as a whole. Boon uses Barthe's distinction between a "work" and a "text" (1977). and sets these forms side by side with what he labels "Machineries" and "culture". The structures and relationships of machineries. or self-regulated cultural subsystems (or enactment genres such as oral narrative traditions which I consider here) are by no means structurally congruent with culture, as they do not necessarily directly represent real situations. Boon claims that these systems were never intended to exhibit sucb symmetrical correspondence with each othcr28 Tiley arc vehicles of cuJtural argument and praxis, ways in which change is examined and
dther integrated or rejected. There are, therefore. inherent clements of paradox on systemic levels that are crucial for the lively and enduring exchange that is culture. I 1t "Y« Bati·s plentiful Mach.ineric.~~: oF saws symbols do not simply slack up; nor should we presume lh.:lt they e\'et did. R:uher, they seem made (or conu-adiction and variable constructions to satisfy difFerent parties., e:.ch interpreting, 10 itS own Qd~·.mw.ge" (Boon 1986: 246).
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will consistently refer to Utis relationship of structural friction or conflict when analyzing the referential elements in the narratives which follow. The next chapters set out Ute dimensions of analysis and Utcn apply Utcrn to the tales and Utcir contexts. I must point out Utat SCs.'tiOn.~ where tales were recorded were rarely spontaneous events. Cenainly my mere presence could have altered any number of the conditions of pe.rfmmance. However. having been a partidpant ob,ervcr in storytelling enactment~. and having listened to sessions Utat Tabwa friends recorded on their own for me, 1 do not sec a great variation between the elicited and Ute spontaneous event, lhough my presence would obviously affect the focus of narrative messages; performers often felt the need to explain or emphasize the moral o r lite point of their stories fo r me o r my wife. Chapter 2 sets out a formal method for looking at the way Tabwa narratives are constructed. A discussion of metaphor and allegory will inform my description of a model of composition. Otapter 3 focuses on the techniques and situations of performance, isolating a number of devices and dc.s cribing some performers who usc selected devices to create their individual styles of narration. Chapters 4 lhrough 6 examine sets of similar narratives, from the point of view of the dimcnsioru> earlier de.~cribcd: verbal text. traditional context. and performance context. Each analysis also incorporates referential material that is situated in Tabwa society, though this too, as Luthi suggests, undergoes a good deal of flattening or thinning out fo r usc in narrative imagery. Chapter 7 concludes the s tudy by summing up ideas developed in the
analyses and suggests ways that the Tabwa oral tradition perpetuates itself and in the process continually reinvents Tabwa culture.
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A Formal Approach and the Traditional Context
Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albious. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved, was not loved; and his life ended in disaster. This is the whole StOry and we might have left it at that had there not been profit and pleasure in the telling, and although there is plenty o f space on a gravestone to contain, bound in moss. the abridged version of a man's life, detail is always welcome. (Vladimir Nabokov, Laughter
In the Dark, 1969: 5) Tales may be told at almost any time and in any context; what makes them stories rather than simple conversation is their formal composition and fictional nanu-e. Though Tabwa speakers often ignore the boundaries between imaginative tales, true stories, and conversation when they employ verbal or physical techniques of perfor-
mance, we must isolate 11ctional narrative from conversation to concentrate on the way it is composed from a pool of plots and imagery. 1 Its construction adheres to princ iples of composition common to all na!Tative storytelling, and these can be derived by examining a number of tales. Over time, th.is traditional context, the memory of past performances and narrative possibilities, takes on a crucial role in the appreciation of stol)1elling events, but we must first consider this context as the source for the image.s and plots of individual tales. Tite Tabwa inshiJni tradition of oral narrative cxtemali7.cs and combines ancient and contemporary images in perfom1ance. Image is the basic unit of the 1 Bauman (1986) conducts a detailed and rcvc3l.i.ns study of ot'31 narrative pcrfom1.mccs th:u include personal n.:srrati..,c. lies, :snd uU tsle~:. His fi:ndi:ngs are sig.nifK"a:nt but m:ty not :'IJ>ply tO most in.~himi narrative performances boc.ausc these: buer :are fiction, but not necess.:vily lic.s1 the truth of 1.1\c .stoti.es is rarely in question. F\utht.'t, the intt.-rpcrsomd dyrnunic.s in lhe nnrr;ttivcs Bauman studied are csrcfully framed in vatious eoonornj e and social situ:n.ions lh:u rnay :SPJ>ly tO $0me comcJtts of Tabw-a natrati\'e petfonnance but not gcncr:tlly !(I those I witnessed and recorded.
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inshimi tradition. It is the visualization of a character, action, or rolationsh.ip. Images aro emotionally charged with memories of pa.~t performance.~; which a storyteller elicits in sequence, following the dictates of a plot in a cause and effect continuum, a movement from confiict to resolution.2 Plot provides the temporal tissue
for a narrative's numerous elements: characters. actions, and their inte.rrelationships. Repeti tion of these elements and relationships creates fonns, and these forms organize the emotional responses that adhere to the narrative images. Images, ordered by the developing forms, are manipulated by moving characters into the various relationships that roveal theme. The meaning of these relationsh.ips, the theme, is not entirely evident until the conclusion of Ute individual performance, and sometimes not even then. Theme, found in the organization of narrative ele· ments, is most often revealed as an allegorical relationship between those clemcnL~. Theme is usually deeper than the simply stated moral that seems apparent from the surfaoc movement to resolution. In most cases the moral is quite obvious: a girl turns down local suitors and manics a stranger who is actually a disguised malevolent creature wanting to ldll her. Or a father keeps food from his family during :a famine. Arroganoc manifested in the rejection of local suitors in favor of ~tr:l111gers is bad; keeping food from your family is bad. These simple truths do not rcqu·ire UlC complex processes and clements that constitute the narrative system? as Nabokov suggested in this chapter's epigraph. Even the simplest themes acquire form and depth from the rolationsbips that underlie the narrative surface. Any nwnbe.r of movements, repetitions, inve.rsions, and convolutions of action and character, wrench dynamic meanings, new experiences, from familiar plotS an.:I images. These operations are orchestrated by a storyteller to reveal the intended theme through allegorical comparison. But none of this activity is possible without plot. Plot provides the events in a narrative with a continuum, movi.ng them from beginning to end. There are numerous ploL~ in the communal inshimi memory. They consist of action outlines, indicating rather than specifying possible images, acts,. characters, conflicts, and resolutions. A specific plot is similar to wllat Aame and Thompson defined as a "talc-type.'•4 It can exist on its own as an entire narrative or can combine with other plots as part of a longe.r ta1e. However. since the 2 Bynum points out that the "sanction of fable is a tradition of ~Uing $tOries. not realil)' or anyone's actual cxpcric-oce. Those other tales he hu heut·d collectively inform tn Unwlamba (a Lamba person) as to how he should underS:und 'Wh;1t a Link Thing Did' [a narral.ivc from Doke's wlkx:o:ion (1976: 192-201)), Without thai same knowledge of E..amba !.ales, we who are not Awalantba can hardly e.xpoc;t to understand aright either this or any other single Lamba story"' (Bynum 1978: 53). l This point is made ag.a.in and again by scMlars questioning simplistic and literal func:t.ion:dist intetprecations of tales and social t!.n3Ctmcnl,.; for instances, soo Luthi (1982: 90) and Oeeru (1973: 448). 4 See Stith Thompson (1946: 41S) for basic dcfi_ njtions or the tcnns so important to Ute indexing acth·tty: talc-rype and motif.
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exact details in any one plot can vary considerably. it is not necessary to seek the specificity that indexing of types attempts-for indexing implies that a comprehensive catalogue is possible. Whether or not this is a realistic goal is secondary to the fact that the basic analytic value of sucih an endeavor lies in compiling a sizable list· ing of types.s If anytlting, tile effon is subvened by the reatity that story1elliog. t110ugh based in a communal context, is often an individual expression that creatively composes new stories or at least fosters the illusion ofnovelty. 6 During performance, tO give the plot defmite form the storyteller supplies the details from a communal nexus of images and plots. This traditional context pro· vides an audience with a good deal of insight into the development of a panicular plot (Havelock 1967: 41·42; Bynum 1978: 28, 53). Cenain situations lead tooth· ers. Any person going out into the wilderness to gather wild food or to hum is nearly certain to encounter a problem. People on a long journey usually come upon some obstacle to their progress. An audience responds to the familiar images rrnd developments of plot by anticipating more or less what will happen next. From Lbe time the performer selects and externalizes a panicular plot, the oprions for action begin to narrow considerably7 Each d-evelopment allows an audience to anticipate from a smaller set of possible occurrences. A pcrfomter. well-versed in the tradi· tion, can open up new setS of possibilities by introducing twists of plot to frustrate the audience's expectations. Plot U1erefore provides Ute basic surface and direction
of narrative movement as well as a means for a performer to channel and control expectations. This potenrial for manipulation is important in the creation of allegory. 5
Lee Haring (1982) h3$ 1.3ke.n an exciting St-ep to re...it.1lizc inde.xi.ng by combining the compillllion of •n~s and motif$ wil.h stc\l(;tw-aJ designations. He uses Aame and Thompson's standard system o£ rwmb«:rin.g motifs and tale-types and li$1$ them in ordt:r of appearance in ellCh nmali...e. He also describes the structure of e:a studying discourse acknowledge the "(onnul..aie" quality of even everyday speec-h; sec Deborah Tannen (1982: 2 5)). 1"hcsc clements pcrsi.c;t over ti.me i.n the. ttadit.ion. Thus I avoid the term m(Jlif, which connotes the indexing activiry. 13 Though tenn.i.nology has btt:n and continues tO be problem.atic in its disparity and de-finitions. a devolopc.d fon:n.ula need not constitute an cntiru opbodc-, tJtOugh it oftun is its ecnlflll olcrnent. In my initial mn.ly&es, I Klentify episodes thai. are rather oompact, dustcring around formulaic clements. In 1Mt:r analy$CS, episod-es reft:r 10 hu·get sesmoents of n.arntive:s., doser to the PrQppia.n "move,.. or what Br~mond and Paul.me n::fer 10 a.s a "soquenc;-c" (DrWnond 1973; Paulme 1976}. Both my uses of lhe tenn cQinc:We fairly ~ longer e-pisodes that repeat the same type or category of acts. with the differences between tltcse corurasted episodes evoking theme. Repetition, and the ensuing rhythmic relating of images. is again the major catalyst of comparison, fonnalized here in this patterned model. An audience easily remembers and anticipates o~crly structures. well· proportioned form. and searehc.~ for this type of regularity in each performance. PlotS. formulaic elements. and structural models are repositories of potential form. They anchor a performance in time and memory by providing remembered characters and acts in symmetrical relationships. These stable clements interact with each other and with the details that a performer uses to give them a specific image in combinations of movemenLS in a narrath·e sequence. from lhc poitu of view of its protagonist(s). Uhim.ately, however, the types tible image tltat closely resembles the tricking of
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the monitor lizard in NPl and NP2. This image is contained in a narrative that develops a different plot and theme. In brief. a chief bas all the old men in his country killed. An ogre appears and begins to devour the remaining people. Without elder councillors, no one knows what to do. One young man, having hid· den his father in a cave. secures the chief's promise that no hann will come ro the old man if he is summoned to solve the problem. The old man sits by the chasm where the ogre hides and begins feeding grass to a dog and nsima (ubwa/i) to a goat. The ogre keeps trying to correct lhis procedure. inching closer until people catch and kill him. A black ant is consulted aboul what to do ne
I don't survive. It's in my hands. it's in my hands. /flilibungu/IR,
I don't survive on your
I don't survive.
So mukwai, the child ran quickly. He ran quickly. He ran quickly. The child •. . the chi ... his father r.m quickly. He ran quickly. So mukwai, the child began to sing again: Father go and d ress. I don' t survh•e on your ilibungu, I don't survive. Father go and dress. I don't survive on your 1/ibungu, I don't survive. It's in my hands, it's in my hands. I don't survive on your ilibungu, I don't survive.
So mukwai, he arrived. He went mui..'Wai. He arrived at the ... he arrived at the house. He came and put the ilibungu on the veranda. And Utis kashimi is over. 4
A wild.growlng. iart-ias.ii.ng fruiL much )ike the mpu.ndu mentioned in NP5.
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Accompanied by two friends :and dressed in her school uniform, Weli Mpala was noticeably nervous as she perfonncd this brief, somewhat fragmented narrative. She s.ketched out a basic conflict and moved it toward resolution in an expansible image cha.~ scene built on the repetition of a song. Th ere was certainly no development of extraneous, or evc:n important, details, as she breatltlcssly raced through the talc, eyes fixed on the tape recorder. No information, save for the traditional context of similar tales, indicated what exactly happened at tl1e talc's conclusion. Yet even this skeletal prescmation reflects the basics of performance technique and compositional practiceS A young stOC)'lcllcr learns and continues to learn during the many evenings, from ch.i ldhood to adolesceoce. spent at home listening to relatives and friends performing. Even primary schools these days encourage the development of storytelling skills as a means of "preserving traditional culture.· Plots, images, and techniques of composing narrative are e$Sayed and refined in an aunosphcrc of constructive commenJary by the audience. famil y or peer group. One evening. a Bcmba woman who had been our language tutor anived at our home to perform narratives witll tltrcc of her children. First she told a story: then she encouraged each child in tum 10 tell one. She closely observed each performance. supplying a word here and an appreciative commcot thcre. We witnessed a more extrtOOy.
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Appendix Narrative.~
for chapter 3
Performance: N230, Getting Omnges from Monkeys Pcrfonncr: Aida Musonda, female, age 18 Date and Time: 18 July 1976, approximately 7:30P.M. Place: Mukupa Katandula Audience: 4 adults and 2 children ln this umulwnbe there was one coumry. In that country Lhere wac; a very
large river. Now in the center of this river, oranges grew. 111erc was a small monkey with those oranges who ate many ·o f them. Now the people wanted ... they wanted very much to cat those o ranges. But they were afraid of that little monkey. So, bow did they cat the oranges? The answer is this: in order to eat those oranges, they threw Stones; they began to hit the li ttle monkey consistently. Now thatliule monkey was on lhe river, and be did not have Stones with which to hit the humans. So he began geui.ng o ran.ges. plucking and throwing them at the people. And those people picked them up. Just like that, he was hitting them, until he had thrown many (omnge.s ]. They picked them up and ate them. This little umulwnbe is over. Pcrfonnance: N l3, A Chief Breaks His Own Law Performer: Samson Katai, male, age 28 Date and Time: 17 June 1976, approximately 8 P.M. Place: Mukupa Katandula Audience: 6 adults and 2 children There was a little tlting. People lived in a great village. just as now. Now, there was a very large country. At that palace, a chief brought these words, "Whoever defecates in tbc bush will have a case brought against him . Everyone must dig
a latrine." Even t.hose hunting, even those who have gone anywhere. however far. should hold it in and come back, even if one couldn't breathe properly because of
the pressure. So ... so there was no going out to shi~ if one was in the bush he could not defeute there because the chief had ordered that he return to tile village
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to !he pit latrine be had dug. And !he chief made !his an official law. [Performer greets a passer-by: "£e<J, mukwai."] There, because of !hat chief, people had to inform on anyone !hey knew had shit in !he wilderness, and he was t:aken and killed. Mukwai, on arriving he would be killed! In !bat way. tbe people suffered greatly. One fine day. !he chief, !he one who made !he law, set out to go for a walk in !he wilderness. Oh, in no time at all his stomach made noises as if it were in a parade. Mukwai, it had digested everything. No, !he ruler tried to hold it in. Oh no mukwai, fans are all !hat came out, continually like this: bwa! Like this: bwa! Fans. Now he looked towards !he village wbere he'd come from, and it was far away. He said to himself, "It's me whe> made !he law. What if I sltil here and !hey see me? What will !hey do to me'? I'll be killed." So mukwai. he tried holding his bunocks tog:ether. No mukwai. he couldn't. He was trying 10 force it back up, but it didn't help. After a while he felt like he would burst. He said, "Let me just sit down." So, he llid himself in a shrub. No. he shit. He shit and shit right !here. His stomach emptied out and be felt much li:ghtcr. "Now what will I do? I'll hide these feces." He buried !hem; a little bird was observing him. The little bird arrived and sat on a tree. It was looking at him . looking at llis discomfon. So, !hat chief, mubV<Ji, dre..~~ed himself [again] and set out to rerum to !he village. As he left !he fcc.cs, akl mubvai, !he little bird began a song: The leader of !he village made the Jaw. Kamusansa mbelebele. 73 Today you shit, you forgot. Kamusansa mbelebele. Tooay you shit, you forgot. Kamusonsa mbelebelee. The chief said, "Akl! You disrespectful linle bird, you." He took a stone to hit it wilh. But mubvai, it just said "Mbbbbbb." I! went and sat in a tree. I! again stared aJ llim. As he walked a few steps, it again followed him. mubvai: it followed. The leader of !he village made !he law. Kamusansa mbclebcle. The leader of !he village made !he law. Kamusansa mbelebele. Tooay you shit, you forgot. Kamusansa mbelebele. Tooay you shit, you forgot. Kamusansa mbelebelee. So !he chief said. "This is very embarrassing. If !his bird follows me to the village I will lose my respect. I've killed too many in !he village. Again, !hat law was decreed by me. Yangu! Father, wbat will! do?" So, he sat down. and !hat bird sat down on a tree. I! just followed him. It sang !hat song. He went, it sang. Mubvai, he went. it sang. So, he arrived at !he ouL~kirts of !he village. He SLOpped. not knowing wh.at to do. "Let the sun go down. The disrespectful singing of !his bird is not goC>d." When !he sun went down he lhought !hat the little bird had remained. 1'3 Th.i5 chorus.. probably an archaic pan of lhc song, could not be translated.
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The Perfor/llllnce Context
Ala mukwai. it wasn't to be. He stood up, wanting to sneak into !he village. but it now sang louder:
The leader of !he village made the law. Kamusansa mbclcbcle. The leader of !he village made the law. Kamusansa mbclebele. Today you shit, you forgot. Kamusansa mbelebele. Today you shit, you forgot. Kamtuansa mbelebelee. So mukwai, as !hose people slept soundly. one over !here lifted his head and said. "Ala! Mother of Kampanda. have you heard !hat?" She said. "No. it's unbeliev· able." So, all !hose in !heir houses woke up, mulcwai. And the little bird continued to sing, in a way in which no other b ird had ever sung before. So mukwai, as the chief was about to enter his house, it !lew around his roof. As it sang. it Oew around the house. He came out, trying to drive it away. It continued singing. No. not even one person in the village slept. It continued singing; it continued. At sunrise the cock crowed, "Kokoliko! Kokoliko!" As the people came out. it continued singing. So, in the end it said, "The cltief ha~ shit in the wilderness. This chief, the one who finished people here in the viUage. It was he who made the law. Today I've come to bear wi mess that he shi 1." The people said. "Gather around." So. they gathered. mukwai. at the palace. When !hey cal.led !he ruler, mukwai. he was so embarrassed that he came reluctantly. When he came out. !he people had nolhing to say. And tllatlittle bird sat on the palace [roof] and questioned the chief. "All of you. gat11er around." "Yes, we've galhered. little bird." The chiefjust hung h.i s head. It said, "Give this one the same sentence of deatll as you gave others. This one shit in the bush, where we came from yesterday. The law he made says that whoever shits in the wilderness will be killed. And he killed people, so he must be killed." Mulcwai, in no time at all. everyone caught hold of him and. tore his clothes off; he was beaten with axe handles and was soon dead. And they left him there. No mukwa/, they killed that cltief because of the law he himsel f brought. It returned and turned on him. Mukwa/, tltis koshiml is over. And thatliale bird caused !he chiefs death. And the chief caused his own death. This koshimi is over. Perfonnance: NP6, A Duiker Cares for a Woman's Infant Perfonner: Mr. Stanley Kalumba. male. age 60 Date and Time: September I 983. approximately 5 P.M. Place: Nsama Audience: 3 adults, 9 children This is another mulumbe.1A There was
3
liale lhing. A chief had
3
very large
2A Mr. KaJumba had fi_ rsl told another, rath(!f humorous, tale about how Kalulu, the trickster h:ve. fools Lion and Bushbuck.
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village. He ruled many people. 1hat chief. Then there . . . there was a young woman who had no children, for some time. So then, that very woman lost the family that bore her: her mother died and her father d.ied. She had no family at aU. So she lived with her husbmtl. They lived Ulere for some time. Tl1en, because GOO Is merciful, He gave them the good fonune of a child. So they ~.ad only one child. The husband went to the garden to clear brush ... at ... very far away at ... ? At the village ruled by that chief. When he cleared the land. be planted finger millet, and it grew. By tbe time of tbe month of "April"21 the miUet hat ripened very well. Now 1hat woman worried, "I have a child but have no one to mind him so that I can harvest the finger millet. Well, that's all right." She went over there to the field. She arrived. When she began harvesting she picked only a liUic before the child began to cry hard. So she sat on a tree stump. She thought, 'Oh my. How can something like this hap;>en to me? I have no one to help me look af1er the baby. I have no mother. I have no father. I don't have any other family. So, what can I do?" Then a duiker emerged from the bush, running quickly. P:ukuru. Plukuru. It came running. So lhen it arrived at the plot. It said, "My mother. why are you talking to yourself?" She said, "My friend, I am talking to myself because I have no one to watch the baby. Now this child worries me badly. I'm not able to harvest lhe millet." The duiker said, "Fine, mukwai. Give it to me; let me help you look after this child." Then that girl Silid, "Yangu u! You? You're jus-t an animal. You
can't look after a baby. No mukwai, you might eat the baby." It said, "No m.u.twai. Just give hJm to me. I won't eat him. AU is well ." She said, "O.K. Fine." So mul.,oai, lhat mother gave the baby to the duiker. Then she begm harvesting finger millet. And that duikcr came out of the shrubs. and sat elsewhere, where it was comfonable. It began to sing a song. It said:26 Will they laugh at me? Will they laugh at you? Will they laugh at me? Will they laugh at you? So that young woman harvested. She grew tired. SI:te said, "Mukwai, give me the baby." So the duikcr gave her the child. She carried him on her back and went to the village. Then three days passed, and on the fourth day she went again, as before. She arrived. She harvested. She talked to herself. When lhe duiker arrived, it said, "Mukwal, bring the child. I will care for hlm. Mukwai, bring lim so that you can do your work properly." She said, "No mukwai." It said, "No mukwai, don't give it 1S Mr. Kalumba used the English word ra.lhct than the Bemba word, Shintk, for this month. 26 Mr. Kalwnba chose to clunt rather than sing this song.
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a thought. (Do you think) just because I'm an an.imall would eat your child? No. I will just care for him very well." She said, "Oh, all right, mu/..wai." She gave it the baby. It took care of him. It sat while the mother harvested. And it sang a song. The duiker said: Will they laugh at me? Will they laugh at you'/ Will they laugh at me? Will they laugh at you? So she harvested. That woman got tired. So she got the baby. She canied him and went away. Now, unfonunatcly. she went and told her husband. She went and told her husband. "You, my husband, over at that place where I go to the fields, where you planted, there is an animal who comes to watch tbe baby. But it says, '\Viii they laugh at me? Will they laugh at you?'" The husband said, "Oh. My wife, that's very good, that meat We will eat it. It's very good." He said, "Does it always come to watch my child? Now that an.imal is j ust dumb to come so close. So it says, 'Will they laugh at me? Will they laugh at you?"' The husband said, "O.K. Fine. So, my wife, let's go so that you lead the way tomorrow. Wben you lead us there. you will give tlle duiker tllC baby. As for me. when I arrive I will hide near by. Then I will shoot it with my bow and arrow." She said, "Oh. All right" So that young woman went in the same way. She arrived. Sho compl:llncd to
herself. The duiker anived. Pulu. Pulu. Pulu. Pulu. It said, "Mu/..wai, bring the child so tllat I may care for him." "Oh." She remembered her husband was coming. She said [to herself]. "Oh. My husband is coming behind." So she got the baby. She gave him to tlle duiker. So it cared fo r him just as before. It sang a little song. Will they laugh at me? Will they laugh at you? Will tlley laugh at me? Will tlley laugh at you'/ So tbe husband, in tllat manner, drew closer and closer. tie got up, mukwai. He drew back the bow. He had an arrow that was poisoned. He drew it back like tllat. Mpaa! No, be speared the baby! The baby fell down like that, and died. So the duikcr jumped up and stood like tllat. It said, "You see; my motller7 It's you I was singing the song for. I said, ' WiU tlley laugh at me? Will tlley laugh at you?' Now it's you who is laughed at As an animal from the bush, I showed [you] kindness, because I was concerned tbat this child not trouble you. (I said] 'Let me first take care of the baby.' But because you saw that I'm an animal you can eat. you went and tOld your husband. Now you see you've ldlled tlle child. I, the duiker, I've gone." 11tis ktlshimi is over.
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Al!egorical Speculation in an Oral Society
Perfonnance: NP7, A Bird Cares for a Woman's Infant Performer: Mr. Stephen Mukono, male, age 60 Date and Time: November 1983. approximately 9 A.M.
Place: Kaputa Audience: 7 adults and 30 children Before I begin, you youngsters just sit quietly and listen to what comes from my mouth. Do not impede the meaning of the kilshlmi I will tell 10u. There was that little thing. People lived in a land just as we do. Now it was time to work the fields. So. truly, the men set out to clear the fJCids. They burned the land then planted fmgcr millet They returned and waited. Now the millet ripened. They said, "Friends." "Yes?" "Let us go harvest the millet" "O.K. My mother, we will soon be drinking millet beer. Ha!" So the women set out in single file to harvest finger millet A path wound through the fields. Now there was one wbo .. . [aside to noisy children:) Eb! Eh! I'll soon have to burl insults at you! Child: But it was this ooe making noise. Another child: No, it's you! It's foolishness. So then one of these women came alone. "Is this one alone?" She said, "Yes I am." Her baby began to cry. He cried and cried. Then the woman rose. "So I'll have to care for the child. My motber and my younger siblings are aU dead. So what will I do? This finger millet will never get harvested." So she sat and cried. A large bird came along. It had a huge beak. It arrived. Kupu-kupukupu. It said, "Bring the baby here." She brought over the chilli. Then it soothed the child in its great bealc: Will !hey laugh at you'! Will !hey laugh at me? Shh! Child, don'tcry. The little baby calmed uown. So his mother harvested lhe crop. One said, "Let's go." They all set out She said, "Bring the child so that I can carry him home." So she carried lhc child. MY grandfalher. now the next day it sang: Will they laugh at you? Will they laugh at me? Shh! Child, don'tcry.
It returned lhe baby to her and she carried him to the village. Things weru on this way. They went on this way until tte crop was nearly completely stored. She told her husband, "This bird who cares for our baby is very
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big. If you could kill it we could bring it to the village." He said, "Really?" She said, '' Yes." "O.K. Tomorrow morning·." So they went back with their companions in the morning. Al.l were working when the child started crying. The bird who cared for the child carne down and sat. Will they laugh at you'l Will they laugh at me? Shh! Child. don't cry. So it received t1w child, and watched over him. That's all. The woman gathered all the remaining finger millet. [The task] was flllishcd. "Let's go my friend." "Let's go." This husband came with a riOe. So it began to do this: Will they laugh at you? Will they laugh at me? Shh! Child, don't cry. Then it shifted. [Performer begins gestJtring rapidly up and down, suggesting that the bird is using the baby as a shield against the husband's rifle) Will ~ley laugh at you? Wil.l they laugh at me? Shh! Child, don't cry. So .. . it tossed the child. Tile husband aimed the gun right over there. The bird saw him: Will they laugh at you? Will they laugh a1 me'l Shh! Child, don' t cry. So !hat was it. Mpoom! It held up the child, who cried ou~ "Wah! Wah!" "Oh my
dlild! Oh my baby!" '!ben it flew up. Kupu•kttpu. It landed in a large tree. "What is it?" She said, "He's killed the baby!" "Oh, wee! Oh, wee!" The news spread to the village. "Oh! A baby's dead! He's dead!" So the bird arrived and sat on a roof. Wbat did it
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4 Lion/Men and Humans:
The Evil Wilderness
Come and look! Let us take them for the purpose for which they were made. To the cinkQiobondo. I have been given to my lion husband, Come and look! (soog from a Bemba women's initiation rite [cltisungu ); Richards 1982: 189) Of the six narratives analyzed in chapter 2, five used a single expansible image-set as a structural center. One or more stock situations introduced a conHict, an expansible image :focused the narrative's elements on an action or song that led to resolution; in some cases another episode completed the namtive-perfonnance. Several of these nacratives developed from an expansible image structure into evocative thematic explorations. Structures become more complex as the tales take on conflicts, cnaracters. and action. The narrative-performances in th.is chapter form patterns that grow out of expansible image models, but these individual image-sets are in tum organiz.ed by another set of repeated acts or patterns. Images organized by a pattern, expansible image or something more intricate, give a specific narrative its overal.l shape. Complex patterning results when several expansible or patterned image-sets are developed in a single narrative. t All patterns
are built from repetition and its coincidillg relationships. A number of basic pOlarities or oppOsitions were set up in the narratives examined in the previous chapters: clever hero/troublesome land monitor. wise elder/destructive chief (ogre); arrogant girls/"good" ghost husbands; clever lion/stupid bushbuck and very clever Kalulu/clever lion. 1be exact oppOsitions are I IR:nise Paulme U$e:J the tenn "Comple:ll'" &ad sister, or cLever hero/stupid hero pauem diseussed evlier. Ch::spter2 di.seusseslhis pallcm, wtU¢h Puulme c;alls "Mirror Image.-
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away the lion/men's game meat, as well as their intended human game; it breaks the panem of episode two, whereby the lion/men hunted animals by day and debated bunting bumans at nigbt. The act of stealing the meat establisres the hero as protector and provider, ami reestablishes the proper relatioru;hip between brother and sister, between human and human. The songs which the characters sing in this third episode also reiterate their proper relationships. The hero praises his magical drum. while ironically addressing his brother-in-law. The girls praise their brother. repenting their previous act.ions and allying themselves with him. The lion/men chant a saying that suggests what they will do to the humans if they catch them. As if in reSPOnse to this chant the songs of the hero and sisters arc linl<ed sequentially, a union which reflects the newly reinforced proper order. The effectiveness of these songs contrJSts with the lion/men's song in Lhe final episode. They sing of "bringing Chilombo home" in hopes of again convincing the people in the village that they toJ are human. 11tis effort diametrically inYCrtS the events of the first episode. Instead of fooling the humans and ingratiating themselves, the lion/men are tricked and killed by the now harmonious community. Ms. Sara Mwamta moves her characters between the inhumanlbuman poles on two levels. behavioral and spatial. As the arrogant girl acts contrary to proper marital procedure and alienates herself from her brother, she moves ever closer to lhe inhuman pole personified by the lion/man. and joins her bct-.aviora1 shift to tbe physical movement into the wildcmc.'>S. The household the lion/man and his wife set up is a grolesque parody of lhc proper human marriages the girl had carl.icr spumed. The brother must move his sisters away from this sphere and back to their
proper home. The drum is Lhe key to the resolution. since it clearly demonstrates the hero's prowess, provides an e;cape vehicle, and establishes the flight pattern that allows the hero to chastise his arrogant sister. It moves them from both inhuman space and inhuman dominance. 6 The initial episode, which illustrates a succesMul "hunt" by the inhuman suitors. is reprised in their daily forays for game. The brother, by saving his sisters and stealing the stored game, literally takes the meat from his predatory in-laws. In the final episode, the lion/men fall into a pit. animals caught in a game trap. The humans assume their proper roles, no longer the hunted but the hunters. At the same time, the more significant problem. allegorically played out in the domain of lion/men, is resolved. The arrogant girl is chal!ised and properly reintegrated into human society. The events constituting the plot develop 6 The drum is produced l:)' t.slcing wood from a natural environmc:nt and sOOjecting it to a culrural and
ilfti.sti~
proc-s, c.,....ing-11
rc1~ttioru.hip
between lhc bu$h
culrurallhat I discuss later. Bynum (1978) treatS elementS
~tnd
lhc
vill~~otc,
&he rl.M\Ii'Al
a.~\d
the
or this dichotomy th ~t crop up in WOrld·
wide oral narrative traditions
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Lion/Men and Humans
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symmetries !hat create a structure, or shape, wbictl attistically reveals !he narrative's !heme. The storyteller who began this session was the headman of a section of Kapula village. (Attended mosUy by immediate famil y, the session at the Sababas' home was one of my earliest effons at recording in the Kaputa area in 1976.} He contributed a historical sketch of the T:abwa in Zambia and in the Kaputa chicfship ~'J)Cci fically. His son (who was the father of most of the young people present} was the lhird to speak, after a story by th.c grandson; the son presented additional historical material, dealing mostly with hunting and fishing regulations in the area and their enforcement by colonial officers. Ms. Mwamba was the fourlh to perform, and the varied audience received her tale politely, at times enthusiastically. Adolescents are among the most demanding audiences because they make their presence known, almost always looking for ways to be noticed. Ms. Mwamba did a very good job of holding their auention and incorporating most of them into the several songs in the performancc7 The plot is a very common one in the Tabwa area and can, in fact, be found in several pcnnulations throughout the African continentS At Kaputa, where the district goverrunent offices arc staffed by many workers from all over Zambia, the didactic connotations concerning marriage to strangers seem especially vital and appropriate.9 Sara Mwamba. in 1976 a young woman of seventeen years, possesses exactly the age and eligibility of the maidens who are central characters in this ubi· quitous plot. In fact. there is a Bemba saying that is applied during the initiation of young women (chisungu} that adds depth and irony to the evems of this talc. As an image of praise and submission, a song's lyrics claim "Nape/wa na mulwne wa nkalamo. iseni mutambe!." (! have been given to my lion husband, come and look!).10 The new husband is seen as a powerful being who is co be obeyed and honored. t1 (There are other stages of the initiation ceremony, not surprisingly, which do not hold the husband in such high regard.} The theme of marriage to an 7 Discussed in chap. 3. I There are nwnerous variatioN on lh.i$ bas-ic n~U"Jative image \htoug.hout Africa. exemplified in written literanue by Turuola's "'Complete Oendeman" in The Palrn.lVin.e Drinlwd (1953). Similar narratives and(s). They are referred to generically as "visanguka," or "changelings." Simply put, sorcerers (or witches) are known to take the fonn of deadly animals. Among the Tabwa they generally become lions, though they might become crocodiles--"lions of the water" (A. F. Robens, 1980: 499)--r snakes, and attack their· human adversaries (A. F. Roberus 1986a; Joset 1955; Marks 1984; Jordan 1977). The deadl y nature of the husband therefore allegorically represents the unknown. the dangers of marriage ou·tsidc the immediate village or area. This allegorization also reflects the real tensions between in-laws (Robcns 1980. 1986b: 80-81; Marks 1984: 73). As I have has suggested and as evident also in the following tale, lhere are several thematic foci in this narrative armature. Perfonnancc: NP9. Lion/Men Marry Humans Perfonner: John Mulala, male, age approximately 7012 Date and Time: 21July 1976, approximately 3 P.M.
Place: Mukupa Kalandula Audience: 3 adults. 4
adolcsecnL~.
and several children
There was a little person. A person married a woman. He fat11ercd how many childiren, the youngest l>eing a male? Five. [A.ride to audience wherein the 12 Mr. Mulala had worked for many years in the Coppc:rbalt area of Zambia; several t.cnns
in his
nlllTtltivc oome from a lingua ff'IJ\C:I oommoo among minc:rs, called cikabanga, der'i\•ed from Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, English, Bc:mba and several ocher African languages.
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performer refers to the researcher's desire to learn Tabwa terms:] That's ciBemba. it's ci-Tabwa she wants. Five. The youngest child. the fifth. was a male. There were four ("folo," from tbe English word) girls. Young men used to come to these four women. They refused [to marry]. She said. "No I can't marry an uncouth person." [Performer's wife laughs at the imagery and, perhaps, at the word he uses for an uncowh person "majomini," which is from cikabanga] When another came, she said, "No, I can't marry an uncouth person." Another came, she sald, "I can't marry an uncouth person." Then how many oflhem? Two, told b~r." Heh-Heh. The unooutb people are also good." How many of them got married?
Audience member (Perfom1er's wife]: Two. How many remained? Audience member (wife]: Two. Three. with the male child. Now [two men] set out on a journey. They went out there. They wanted to marry girls. They came to a chlefs village, like this one here of Mukupa. They found these girls. One said, ·we want to marry you." "You wa.nt to marry us?" He said, "Yes." They saw that "so-and-so" were ... they were there. So they arrived there. No. truly they found that they were very beautiful girls. They were radiant, 1ruly extraordinary. So that one said,"] want this one." And the ot11er said, "And I want [this one]." All right, fmc. So. lihcy married. When they married they said, • And where do you men live?" "I live in another place. at 'somewhere."' His friend said, "Yes, that's where we live." "Yah, yah, yah. That's too fat away!" [Performer actually says. 'Too falaway," using the English phrase.] He said, "No. We will go with you, wives." "Good.." she said, "we'll see what the future holds." So mul.wai, they set out there. They followed the husbands. Then this youngest child went and hid, the little man followed behind. He went hiding behind them. "No! Slay. Just stay, just stay, just stay." He just followed them. Tiley went and found a shelter. "My friend, so is this the village you told us about?" He said, "It's a shelter. Sit down. Let us go and hunt here." So, in order to catch game they became lions. Catching. catching. Catching. Catching. TI!Cy returned. They ate. they ate, they ate. they ate. they ate. they ate. In the morning. "Let's go and hunt there." They came back. They ate, they ate. they ate. they ate. they ate. they ate. Now they spent one week there. Then they were like this, one slept here. the other over there, and that youngest child slept ncar the door. [From this point on. the tale ts punctuated by the rhythmic sound of a nearby woman pounding grain in a mortar) Then U1ey said, "Let me eat Ibis ·One?" He said, "She's not yet fat enough." "Let's eat this one?" "She's not yet fat enough." "Let's eat this one?" "He's not yet fa! enough." Ala! Now that young,est male child knew, he said, "Uhmn uhmn. Those brothers-in-law are not human! They're lions." So that day he set out to go
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to the wilderness. He began to carve a little drum. He carved, he carved, he carved, he carved, he carved, he carved. He made it well. Then he took it and tried it. He played it, tidididididididi! It went up, it returned, it stopped, and he hid it Now from where they had gone 10 hunt, the in-laws came back very tired, returning to rest, mo. mo. mo. mo. They came and flopped down there. Night fell. "Let's eat th;is one?" He said, "No, she•s not yet fat enough." "Let's cat this one?"
"No, She's not yet fat enough." The bo·y just passed out in fright after seeing this. Morning came, he said, "You two young girls, my sisters, you are really useless. Those people you married are fierce beasts." She said, "Aa! Heb. Heb. This youngster is lying." He said, "Well, fine." Then this youngster roll.ed a bit of bark rope, like this. He tied this one. He came and tied this one. They went to sleep, they slept When they dozed just as they were about to fall into deep sleep, the lions came and got up. "Let me eat this one?" Those brothers-in-law! "Let me eat this one?" He said, "No, she's not yet fat enough." "Let me cat this one?" "She's not fat enough." Now they were no longer humansAudience member: Lions! They were lions. So now tltese young girls saw everything very clearly. She said, "Yawekwa! The child . .. that good little boy, that very good little male child. Yangwe! So truly that youngster was not lying." She said, "No. be wasn't lying." So mukY.·ai, when the sun rose lhc:y said, "You young women, today we will go hunting very far away to search for meat We want more." They said. "Yes. travel well.'" The husbands began in the morning to go, they were hunting. When they were hunting tllere, those who remained behind organized lhcmsclvcs. He said, "Take this meat." That's what he stored in tile boat.t3 They stacked it in the boat. They stacked it, they stacked it, they stacked it, they stacked. And he tested it Over in lhat place there, the lions had a premonition, they said, "The wives are gone! The wives are gone. The wives are gone. The wives are gone. They've gone!" Now they came running quickly. Ubu! Ubu! Ubu! Ubu! Ubu! Ubu! Ubu! Ubu! They found them sitting at the top of the tree. The boy said, "Since you've come. we'll be going." It set out like an airplane. plulululu! It went. it went, it went, it went, it went, it went, it went, it went. it wc.nl, it went. Now they were following them. "It's going to fall, we will catch it" Nothing happened. "Catch it, catch it. catch it?" Nothing happened. And into the village, puuunn! They entered. As they arrived, mukwal, they fell ncar their house. "What's there?" He said, "They are lions!" So. the: husbands said, "You barely escaped. Today you would have seen something." So, that father ll Mr. Mulala refers to lhe magical escape vehicle as a boat from here to the end pc:rhO.p$ forgeu.ing he called it a drum 4:"Mlier in lhe narrative.
or the story,
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started to embrace !hem. "You're saved! You're saved! You're saved!" They explained the story just as 1 have narrated it. So. that father and mother were just ululating. That is the meaning of t:he thing they say. "A small man in !he house is good. It is that young man who always sit.' at the ready." This kashimi is over. This performance's pattern. like the preceding narrative, reflects the conflicts of the central plot. The lion/men dominate the first two episodes and the young hero dominates the last two. In the initial episode. the pauem of turning down suitors is developed and broken by t11e arrival and acceptance of the lion/men hus· bands. The pauem acquires a certain depth and texture in the detailed description of lhe five children, and the marriages of two of original four intransigent daughters. The episode ends with an allusion to animosity between the young brother and his sisters. As be follows the newly-weds. the hero is simply told to "stay [sha/a]." presumably at home. The formulaic refusal of suitors is a more clearly delineated action than the familiar. but here truncated. argument among siblings. The second episode revolves around the formula that details the argument between the lion/men (though formulaic argument found in other versions of this talc is not in fact developed here). !he d iscovery by the brother and later by his sisters of the lion/men's identity, and !he daily hunting forays. As in NPS, the carving of the magical dllllll, actually promincru in the third episode, is embedded in the second episode, wllich develops two important sets of details. The daily hunts of the inhuman in-taws culminate wi.lh the family feasting on this game. The performer emphasizes these acts within the overall expansion of the familiar events by twice describing how "they ate, they ate, they ate, they ate, they ate [baalya, etc] ." Fattening up the game with more game sharpens the plight of the humans and highlights the intentions of the inhumans. The second significant development is the rather mild manner in wllich the sisters rebuke their brother for claiming they have married lions. A sister simply laughs and lightly points out that, "This youngster is 1ying." The third episode-the entire tale in fact- has no obvious formula. since it lacks repeated songs and chants. The plot itself and lhe acts tllat comprise it are formulaic or stock situations. Vengeful or rebuking actions by the hero toward his sisters are noticeably lacking. Only the chase. punctuated by repeated idcophones and the evil in-laws' ineffectual comments. constitutes a central repeated image. The e pisode and the chase conclude with the arrival at the village and the lion/men's final admonition of the humans. The final episode is deceptively uneventful save for the happiness of the hero's family and the saying. "A small man in the house is good. It is that young man who always sits at the ready." This concluding saying encapsulates the thematic focus of the performance. Although the improper marriage of human being to beast and the strained
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relationship between the siblings is inexlricably woven into the narrative's develop· ment, the central focus is the llcro's own development and achievements. Sug· gested from the outset when the performer twice tells the audience that the youngest of the five children is a male. his role is dear: the vigilant youngster sleeps ncar the house's door in order 10 protect his sisters; his foresight in carving the magical drum is set against the initial youthful fear that causes him to fairu the second time he witnesses the lion/men debating. This mixture indicates the continued. though diminishing, dominance of the lion/men pattern in episode two. The boy's ingenuity reassens itself in this episode when he makes barl< rope and ties it, we assume, to each sister to awaken them, quite literally, to their danger. The most obvious indication that the performer is focusing on the boy"s heroic acts, and consequently diminishing instances of sibling conOict, is the hero's com· plete lack of animosity toward the sisters who did not believe him . The rift 'between !hem is played down by the gentle way in which the sisters rebuke him and in the manner they later refer to him as "the good little male cllild," and "so truly that youngster was not lying." Rather than admonishing either sister, the boy moves directly to the preparations for the escape-which the performer expresses simply by sa.ying "those who remained behind organized themselves." Even at the: end, no one is taken to task for past actions. The lion/men husbands simply warn, "You barely escaped. Today you would have seen something." The inhuman/human polarities, which provide !he narrative's con.llict and dramat.ic tension, also act as the raison d.' ~tre for the hero's rise to prominence. His trial, overcoming the dangerous lion/men. marks his coming to maturity. Packing the d:rum with game meat is the most significant indication of the bero's success. He steals the meat being used to fatten the human game. By becoming both protector and provider, the linle brother usurps the role of the inhuman husbands. The imponant role of a brother in this society is clearly iUustrated here; and we must also note that the young heroines do not extricate themselves from their predicament. as we might expect if the tale were to focus on their development and matura· tion. As he transpons his sisters home, tlle young hero completes his own transition into a responsible adult. 14 The final saying, referring to the utility of a "sma.U mao in the house," highlights the thematic focus of the narrative and is, in tum, illuminated by the images developed in the performance. The theme also fulfills the storyteller's didactic intentions regarding his audi· ence, especially the foreign researcher. IS Mr. Mulala emphasizes this intent early on 14
Like the Bemba. lhe Tabwa do not have a fonnal procesi of male initiation into manhood. In the nanati'\le we ate considering,lhe development of young het'ou is a literllt)' process lhat does :not reftcct or refe:r lO real forms of initiatton. nus absenoe does not. however, deny the hero's growth in personal and so-cial stature as the la1e unfolds. Rather, as felscph Campbc-U (1949: 37..38) suggests--adding his psychoanslytieaJ insights to Van Ge:nnep's model o( rites of passage (1960}---the hero matures and !~C:el!-d:t in ways thAt reftectlhe growth proeMW llf both the indiVidutl and l.hC larget society. 1s lltis pttfonnance was recorded by Donna Cancel, to whom lhe performer ref en at one point.
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when he reminds the audience. and perhaps himself. that the researcher wants to hear "Tabwa" rather than "Bemba" words and wisdom. At this session. with his wife offering occasional comments and unering supporting sounds of approval or amusement. he seems 10 be providing the researcher with a "lesson" in Tabwa social and familial relationships. His wife prefaced this tale witb two narratives that first describe some elements of chiefsbip and succession and then problems of co-wives who do not get along. one trying to outdo the other. Mr. Mulala follows the tale examined here with two historical or informational discourses on hunting around Lake Mweru Wantipa and on problems engendered when people mock one another. Though the siOtyteUing session was organized by Mr. Mulala, it shifted from the focused and external didactic approach he and his wife employed to broader, more superficial themes as younger narrators took their rums and framed much more humorous, self-aggrandizing tales. John Mulala eschews songs or chams in his performance, instead repeating verbs and ideophones 10 create a rhythmic context of narrat.ive action. Avoiding the more familiar formulaic argument of "I will follow," "No, stay," he has the siSters say "No! Stay. Just stay, just stay. just stay"; the repetitions emphasize significant actions: "they ate." "catching. catching," and "tbey stacked it. they stacked it". Though his decision not to employ songs is most likely a personal stylistic choice, t6 it eliminates songs that might focus aneotion on the sisters' reconciliation with their brother and the brother's praise of the magical drum (boat). It allows the audience to consider the hero's personal growth, as the final saying in the narrative suggests. To establish a context for the narrative's plot and thematic development, it will help us, at this point, to summarize Ute preceding analyse~. The basic paucrn, or shape. of the narratives so far examined is of four episodes. with an evil lion/man (or lion/men} dominating the first two episodes and the young hero dominating the last two. It sets up polarities that oppose good and evil behavior-or rather human versus inhuman-and human and inhuman space-or village versus "bush." Simply put. Ute hero must save his sistcr(s) from her (their) inhuman husband(s). bringing her (them) literally from the evil wilderness 10 the positive, human village. Within this basic structure, its armature, each performance focused on one of several possible thematic relationships. NP8 emphasized the human/inhuman polarities by focusing on the reuniting of the siblings and the final episode where the humans in the village join to kiU the evil lion/men. This resolution is an inversion of the initial
episode where lion/men successfully infiltrate human space. The allegorical 16 See Mr. Friday Kampalala's performance of the man-de:nies.food·tO·fam.ily narrative in the appendix to chap. 6. He chose not to sing a song in this tale; when questioned, he fim clairne.d it had none. Women in the audience murmured that lhete wll$ one. Only after I nng a few bats of lhe song. 10 the surprise and amusement of the- si7,.!ble-crowd. did Mr. Kampala.Ia .:.gree !.hat in fact this story usually had a song. I agree wilh William Musonda's claim Uw men generally do not sing in narrative~pe:rfonnances-though singing at beer-drinks. at least by older men, is another matter.
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relationship suggestS !hal marriage to unproven strangers is the same as marriage to deadl y lions. In NP9, the thematic emphasis is on the young boy's growth into a hero. Sibling animosity and collective human action are played down -though au lhese themes are potentially present in lhc narrative armature- in favoroflhe boy's initial uncertainty, developing ingenuity, and frate rnal responsibility. In both narra· tives, lhe same basic polarities, characters, and action arc orehcstrated by performersto sui.ke slightly different chords. The following performance employs lhe same essential clement3. with certain important
variation.~.
Performance: NPIO. Lion/Men Marry Humans Performer: Rabbon Chola. male. age 30 Date and Time: 7 September 1976, approximately 4 P.M. Place: Kaputa Audience: I I adults and 25 children There was a little person. He lived in a large village. That is to say, there were two people. They were living in lhe middle of lhe bush. And lhey were living right there in the middle of lhe wilderness. They were young men, actually. They were about twenty-five years old. As it was. lhey began thinking, saying, "I should marry." And the aher one there said. "I should marry [too). my friend." "But where will we marry?" Then one a.~ed "Couldn't we marry right here in our village?" He said, "No. It could not happen. because it's not good to ma.rry in the village where you're bom." "O.K. We could go a very great distance. Going about fifty miles away would he good." So. they set out. They tied thei r blankets into a bundle. Then they set out on the journey. They went. They went. I think about one week passed. One said, "We could marry right here in this village." No, the other refused. J-:e said, "No, this village is too small, it's not good marrying here, no, because I won't be admired for my styCsh clothes here. and I. Mr. Bwalya. am very handsome. No, it's no good marrying here." Then Ben said, "No. It's good to marry right here, because lhe bush recedes with [lhe addition of] new bouses." Bwalya !.aid , "No my friend. it's not good to marry here. This litUe village is too small, I want a large village." So, they set out. They began the jo urney. They journeyed. Th:y arrived at
another chiefs village. So, the chief received lhem. No, they just refwcd. Bwalya said, "I will soon marry." Ben said. "No. my friend. I don't want to marry in these villages. They arc too small. Life will be hard for us. Mosquitoes will bite us very badly. Don't you sec these villages are nn good?" Bwalya said, "I want to marry in a place like lhis." He said. "No, my friend. let's go." They set out. Now you know that walking 6fty m.iles on foot is a very great distance. They took about three weeks.
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So, they anived at that capitaiP They did this. So m11kwai, they saw some young girls. These persons wanted to marry. In no time at all they both manied. Ben and Bwalya both manicd in that chiefs village. Ben said to him, "Truly, Ulis tittle village is really nice. It would be good to marry (here)." Then Bwalya asked him, "Arc you happy now?" He said, "Yes. Ttlis exact village is very nice." So, they lived there. They lived. You know, their ways were bosed on the place where they C$1e from. Their way of dressing and of working were all from there. At their home of maniage, they said, '"My friend let's go back." He said, "Yes. Let's go back." Where those young men came from was not a village to live in. It was not good. There were only two mud shelters. So. they set . . . they said, "Next week we will go." The wives told their parent~. saying, "And so, our husbands have said next week we will go to their borne. to their home of birth." They said, "Ob. That's all right" So. the week arrived. Mary's little brother said, "I will follow." She said, "No. You. What about tllosc runny eyes? You will not go and embarras.~ me." Her brother said, "No. Let me come with you." She said, "Absolutely not." His brother-in-law said, "Let him come along, my wife." She said, "Absolutely not. I don't want this one. He will go and embarrass me. Look at those eyes. You ... you arc eating Ulis mucus! He .. . I don't want him, no." So, she Oatly refused. And her friend said to her. she said, "Let him come." So. finally she agreed. She said. "Fine. I agree only because you've made such a case out of it. I don ·r want him [along]. He'll go and embarrass me, thi.~ .. . lllis . . . Look at that, he's eating this stuff that's oozed . .. this what·-do-you-call-it ... from his body! I don't want him, no. Of what use is he? He can't even help me." Then her friend said, "Let him come along, this is how people grow up." So, they set out. They went and went. They went to the home of [their husbands'] birth. They lived there for many years. For almost five years. Now those people who had married did not know anything about the nature of their in-laws. Then, one night, tllc husbands transformed themselves i.nto lions. In the midd.l e of the night, they began to debate. "Let's eat this one?" "She's not yet fat enough." "Can I eat this one?" "She's not yet fat enough." "Can I eat this oneT' "He's not yet fat enough." But their little brother-in-law overheard them, that one whose sister Mary despised him. So, the youngster was sick in his stomach. Diarrhea. Then, "Brotller-in-law! Brother-in-law! Help me outside. I must sbil" So. they took bim out [AIIdience laughs at this set of events) He didn't defecate. It was a maner [Woman member of audience tells tJw children w quiet down at this point by saying "Chongo!" (noise)] of fear. 11 The tcnn wnu.n.tmba can mean the chiefs villag.c. his compound (palace). the scat of power, etc. I use "capital- as- a generic gloss as the pc:rfom'W:'::r u.ws it hct~.
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So. he . . . they returned to the house. In the morning, after his brothers-in-law had gone to hunt, he told his sister, :saying, "These people that you've married, they're lions." His sister said, "You l;ttlc fool you. You're stupid. That's why I didn't want you to come along. You have no brains." Her friend said, "No, don't insult him. Take it easy." She said, ''No, he has no brains. Do you hear how he is disgracing our husbands, saying they':re lions? You useless thing you." He said, "Oh line, if you want to call me a useless thing then forget it. I've got an idea. I have a string. I'll tie that string to your big toe. Right there on your big toe. Now, when your husbands begin to roar, as lions. I'll pull the string. Tben you'll wake up." So mukwai, it happened [again) in the night, the lions came. "Let's eat this one." "No, she's not yet fat enough." "Can I cat this one?" "No, she's not yet fat enough." Now, he tugged at his sister, until she heard. So, mukwal, now they !lid the very thing their brother bad done. They were sick to their stomachs. "No. come and take us outside." They didn't do anything. [Audience laughs again aJ this imagery) They didn't shit. They couldn't. So they returned to the house. After they returned to the house, in the morning, the husbands went out, because they were hunters, they went. Now, they were conferring, saying, "So. Friday, on Frid.ay for sure, we wiU cat them." That younger brother of theirs did this: he began to carve. He went and cut down a tree, a mufungulume tree. 18 After he cut down the mufungulume tree. he began to carve. Carving. Carving. Carving. There is no house I can compare to the one they had heaped the meat into. In that house, they had heaped all their belongings. It was that brother of hers, of the wife who despised him. He got that drum. He took all the belongings. He placed them all inside the drum. It was a small drum. But that little drum held all the belongings and all the meat. That is, !be meat !bat was in !be OOODSHED. t9 So then, right there, he began to test that drum: Mbitimbiti, the fine little d rum. Mbltlmbitl, the fine little drum.
When he beat it... when he beat it it went very high up. Then it carne down agai n, rolling, rolling, rolling. He yelled, Mbitimbiti, the fine little drum. Mbitimbiti, the fine little drum.
So, just like that. In that [same] way all the time. So, he tried it and realized that this drum was very fine. He came and put it away. He waited for the day they were supposed to be eaten. ll This local word I could not trace to any specific uee; four or five varieties are usOO in lhe making
of drums. 19 The perfonner uses this exact English word. which signifies a well-stocked storage bin.
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So. Friday came along for that young man. Those in-laws had gone to the bush, and when they were tetuming, he said, "My sister. I won't take you. They will just eat you. You've insulted me, saying I wasn't a man. You were saying I had ' mucus in my eyes.' So. I won't take you. You've reviled me. I'm not a man eh?" So, he took her friend who had defended him. He put her in the little drum. Then their in-laws set out. As they returned to the village. when they were coming very near, about one mile, he heat that little drum.
Mbirimbiti, the fine little dr- [Performer /ea1•es chant unfinished in ordi!r w rush inU> narr.uivc and to CUI off the audiences responding chorus] He took the other one, that sister remained. She remained. crying. "I'm dying! I'm dying!" She cried desperately. So, he went to where his in-laws were. He landed very close by. They said, "Yakwe, we've missed the humans!" So, then they thought they might catch it. No, he beat it. lt leapt up. They said. "Maybe we'll
catch them." Then he beat ~. and it leapt up to a tree, very close by . .. what-doyou-call-it . .. by where they lived, in the back yard of the house. They said. "Oh, they've left one behind." He snatehed her up. He put her inside the drum. Then she staned to sing. What my brother did, r.e mwine wnusclebende. What my brother did, ne mwine wn!L<elebende. Or I would have died in the wilderness. ne mwine wnuselebendi!. In the wilderness with no people. ne mwine wnuselebellde. Tabantc, child of Muyembe, nc mwine wnuselebendl!e. So. he heat the drum. He beat it. He heat it. He beat it. It just went very high up. It returned again to the gtOUnd. It came rolling. It rolled. "Maybe" . . . the brothers-in-law said. "Maybe we'll urab it. Maybe we'll grab it." They had already become lions. They said, "Maybe we '1.1 catch them, we' ll each them." No. nothing doing. It leapt. It settled on the bank of a small river. Now, they were sa)1ng. "Oh, we're going to catch it." They swam across. They swam across. As they got to the other side, he beat it It returned to the other side of the river. Now he began to taunt them. Now, he told his sister, "So. that's it. I'll go. leaving you behind. I'll return you right back there. Let them cat you because you insulted me." She said, "I beg you, my brother,! won't ever insult a man again. I won't do it again. I did in.~ult you, it's true. You've spoken the truth. But I'll never do it again. So, now I know that a man is truly a man." So, she sang the little song: What my brother did , ne mwine wnuselebende. What my brother did. ne mwine wnuse/ebende. Or I would have died in the wilderness. ne mwine wnuu/eberuie. 1n the wilderness with no people, ue mwitte umuse/ebeHde. Tabantc, child of Muyemba, ne mwine wnuselebendee.
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Now. the l.ittle drum was just running. right there, running along the ground. So. as it arrived on the grass. it traveled along the top of the grass. Again it retuned in order for them to just mock his in-laws. They had become snakes ... they had become lions. They were no longer humans. They returned right lhtre. And the meal they [the in-laws] bad killed was there. He went and again loa·led it inside. The little drum was very small. Perhaps two feet in length. and its width was only three feet. So, iL held all of tJtis. Now he su.icJ. ··o.K. LcL·s go." Now l)t:U.iug out, he beat it. Pululu! He beat it: What my brother did, ne mwine wnuselebende. What my brother did, ne mwine umuselebende. Or I would have died in the wilderness. ne mwine wnuse/ebende. In the wilderness with no people. ne mwine wnuselebende. Tabante. cruld of Muyemba, ne mwine wnuselebendee. So, mukwai, it set out. It arrived at their borne in the village. When they arrived at the village. they began explaining to the people about what those in-laws who mar-
ried his sisters did. Then they explained. They explained. They explained. Then the father of that Y•lungster thanked rum. tie thanked biro. And at the edge of the viUage by the riverbank, they [the lion/men) said, "So, you've saved your sister. U not for you. your sister would have died." And IUs sister said, "So. wterever I go. I wiU be with you mr brother. I wiU never again despise a mao like you." This finishes my mulumbe. Tttis narrative is composed of five episodes. The first consists of the introduction of the two suitors and their journey through two viUages before deciding to
marry in a third. The expanded formulaic situation is the bickering between the suitors and their movements to new sites; this pattern is broken when they both agree to marry women from the third village. The next four episodes follow much as did those in the two previous versions of this tale. The initial episode depans from these versions in two ways. The lion/men are intrOduced as two young men who live in a strange viUage in the wilderness and travel from place to place seeking wives.20 It seems as if the performer did not reaUy know where he wanted to ~o when he be~an the narrative; there is little logic 20 In one ve-rsion or litis tale, N348, for reasons not apparent but J>O$$ibly familiar 1n the tnditionaJ conte;\l. the pufonner lntroduces doe tW() arrogMlt mtiitk:ns as coming from a villa~e of "madmen, thieves. witches": lh.is version contains several details-such as the implication Lt..at lhe lion/man husband bad been eatittg the offspring of the marriage--which obviously assume the audience's prior knowledge of them &om olhet perfonnanccs, since they arc not Coreg.rounded in any way in lhe narrative. In a version o( Ibis tale by Mrs. Falina Makunp, the lion/man husband doc:~ eat the children his wife bean.
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in the suitors' arguing over which vill:age was best to live in when. in fact, they wanted to bring their human quany to their wilderness home. In the second episcde, the comments by the arrogant sister are scathing as she denies her brother pennission to come along on the journey. 'The performer gives both episodes. and the balance of the narrative. vivid detai.l and depth: he names some charactersBen. Bwalya and Mary; he carefully notes distances and the passage of time. Taking time even from the climactic chase• sequence the performer minutely describes the size of the magical drum. Patterns developed in the rest of the narrative give the initial episode thematic relevance. This running argument recurs in deadlier fonn in the third episode when the tion/men debate devouring their human family. Just as the initial pattern is broken by choice of the desired village, the second pattern is broken by discovery of the evil in-laws' identity and creation of an escape vehicle. These two patterns of dominant lion/men parallel the argument pauems of brother and sister. First she needlessly reviles him; then she insultS him for suggesting her husband is a lion; finaDy. in the fourth episode. the brother invens the pattern, berating his sister and threatening to leave her to die at the bands of her inhuman husband, a pauern that ends only when the humans arrive at their village. The human/i.nhuman polarities add 10 the symmetry of these patterns of argument. An initial movement from wilderness to village is. later in the l!l3JT3tivc, revealed to be a movement from inhuman to human space; it is reversed wheo hum.ans agree 10 many inhumans. The physical journey to inhuman space is accompanied by a spiritual or behavioral shift to inhumanity by the sister. This pattern is bisected by the friend who also moves into inhuman space but retain.~ her human sympathy for the younger brother. With his action the hero reiterates this bisected pattern, as in NP8, when he rewards the good "sister" at the apparent expense of the bad sister. Wben U>e final episode begins, the movement of human lO inhuman has finally been halted. Only after the long chase and chastisement sequence can this resolution come about, an episode that breaks the negative patterns of both the evil in-laws and the hostile siblings. In the mirror-opposite realms of irnhuman and human, the bickering of the llon/mco over wheo to eat their prey refle.cts the arguments between human siblings. The former argument wi'U benefit the bumans whereas the Iauer seems to benefit the inhumans. This allegorical comparison suggests the appropriate mannc.r of behavior in each sp:.ttial and spiritual
realm. The same tension between opposing spheres creates the dynan>ic context for all the narratives in this set. This particular performance balances its themes of human versus inhuman bein:gs, the young hero's rise to prominence, and sibling animosity. The lion/man and human battle is depicted throughout the narrative; the brother's stc:aling the game meat again symbolizes his taking up the evil husband's role as provider and protector. The young brother changes .from a little boy with runny eyes to a hero
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who is praised by his falher and sister in !he final episode. The sister's song, her pleas !hat she "will never insult a man again," and her fmal repetition of this promise point to !he hero's attairunent of manhood. However. !he alignment or patterns of i.nhuman and human argument, the intensity of emotion expressed between siblings, and the bisected paucm of the sympathetic girl friend combine to suggest that the conOict between hero and sister is the central one. Even the initial episode depicting lion/men searching for a villa.g e in which to setUe beCOmes, in retrospect, a mirror of the sibling conflict to come. In fact, the various conOicts and themes developed in the narrative interact with each other on literal and figurative levels. It is this complex interaction that weaves the several basic themes into a richlytextured performance. In a complex way,the few images and acts of NPIO that do not strictly follow the shape of the previous performances, play the new expectations and anxieties !hey create against the more familiar versions of the narrative. By not revealing the identities of the suitors-initially ponraying them as humans, only hinting at their abnormal home and habits, and having lhe couples live in the lion/man village for a long: time--Mr. Rabbon Chota heightens the audience's interest. Mr. Chota not only keeps listeners off balance with his plot structuring but also keeps full control of the tale. not allowing them to become involved in the singing of songs. He very quicldy sings or chants the songs and never slows down to allow a chorus to join him;21 he thus ensures that his is the only voice heard and that he retains temporal contTOI of the tale's unfolding. This desire to keep control of the talc and its exegesis is consonant with the situation in which the narrative was perfonned. Mr. Oaola bad invited me to his home 10 re-cord narratives but began the session by tel· ling me and the audience his life story. As an extension of that self-focus, the focused str•tegy he employed in the performance kept the attention on his creative oratorical skills. In this frame of reference, his demonstration of control was an effective one. malting him the center of attention.22 Ccnainly each of the preceding performances evidenced a degree of skill in the evocation of narrative images and themes. The basic shape of this set of narratives should be seen as a somewhat flexible paradigm wilbin whose frame varying relationships and themes can be worked. Villains toy with human prey, the 21
The tape of lhis per{onnancc confirms the several aue:mpts by audience members to sing along.
which Mr. Chota cut short: he either quickly ended the song or went on to anothc:r ve:rse without waiting for his neighbors to sing their parts. 22 This perfonnance was followed by NPS~ "Lion and His Nephews," by Japhct Chibale. Mr.
CI10Ja's nephew. Mr. Chibalc inherited a fairly cooperative aOOicncc, Mr. Chota's immediate neighbors and relatives. I had no opportunity co question Mr. Chibalc on his choice or ruttratives; oertainJy bOlh have evil lion clwacte:rs who many humans. As p.ut of lhe perfonnancc oontext, it is interesting 10 note that lhc hero of the second tate is a nephew of lhe domineering lion/man, just as the perfo:rmcr is a nephew of the proccding storyteller.
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Uon/men play the same role in this narrative that they play throughout the set Their desire for fauened human game allows the resolution of the various confliclS as the heroes assen themselves. Observation and positive action characterize the youthful heroes of these narratives. They arc willing to defy their elders by exposing the half-human villains.23 Performance: NPII, Lion/Men Marry
Human.~
Pcrfomter: Mrs. March Mulenga, female, age approximately 50 Date and Time: 28 September 1976, approximately II A.M. Place: Kaputa Audience: 10 adults and 25 children There was that little person. It lived in a very large viUage. Now !hat person bore many children. Very many children. There were six children. They had not married. Audience member: Young girls? There were only girls. Now, there were six girls who had not married. Then. there was only one wbo refused to marry. [There is a constam din of noise/rom the audience as this perfonnance begins, with conversations and children's play making up nwst of the commotion] Her mother said, "Child, men are coming here to marry. But :you refuse. When will you marry?" She said, "I will marry, but I don't want to [yet)." "Oh my. a child of this son could end up married to an old man."24 Now what happened tbcre? This is what happened. A finely dressed gentleman came. "Grandmother, I want you." She said, "Surely. l prefer those from afar. but those from nearby? No." Her younger brother said, "My sister, you've accepted this one from far away, but you spurn those from nearby." She said. "Someone from afar could take me far away, so that I could go and bave fun in bigger towns." O.K. So, now uhmn ... so, she married. When she married she Jived with her bus· band. She lived with her husband. He took her aside. "My wife, let's go to my hom-c. You will go and meet your mo!her-in-law." "Let's go, mukwai." So. they set out The brother said, "I will come with you, my sister." She said, "No. stay. You arc uncouth. How can you go with us tO the in-laws?" So, the husband took his wife and went And that young man went along hiding and foUowiog (hem. He 23
A tale-told by Ms. Aida Muwnda combin.cs lhc pluck o! lhe young brother of !.he. lion/men sct with lhat or lhe maiden who is co\U'ted by lhos.e changelings (see NPI2 in append~ to !.his cltup.). 24 Tlut i.s,a;he might wait too long \o be desi.r>ed by a younger, more attractive man.
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hid and followed them. He hid and .. . they arrived by a tree. A big shelter was there under the tree. "My husband, is this where we have come?" He said, "It's right bere. We will go to your mother-in-law's the day after tomonow. We want 10 obtain some meat for them, because an elder must have meat in readiness." "That's O.K." So, they stayed there. They slept And she was with that younger brother. As they slcpt-[Audience member tells a child, "Come here, you"}-tben the husband got up in the night. He found his wife asleep. And his young brother·in·law was asleep too, as was his other sister-in-law . . . He arose with his brother. Then be said, the eldest did, the very man whom sbe married, he did lhis, "Can 1 eat this
one?Audienoc member: She's not yet fat enough. -Can 1 cat her?" "No," his younger brother said. "No, my elder brother, she is not yet fat enough." Audienoc member: Uh humn. "She's not f:at enough, ch?" He said, "Yes." O.K. Now they retumed there. They slept for two nights then returned 1o lhe village. As they were returning to the village, lhe husband said, "My wife, when we rerum, 1 will continue alone. You will remain, because lhen I will rerum 1o gc't you to go to your mother.;n.taw's." O.K. So, he returned. (Older woman's voice is nwre fWtkeable as she carries on a conversation] "My wife, I'm going for meat."
So, he set out 1o hunt in the wilderness. without a gun. The "gun" was magic. He came to a tree. He stood still. He scanned the plain. He saw a herd of puku (small antelope}. He said, "Yes, see that's where I'll go." He shook himself and became a lion. He arrived right there on the plain. That's wbere be anacked. He attacked. l{e attacked. Then he came a.nd piled up lhe meat. He. began cooking some fresh meat. He skinned it He was satisfied. The rest be carried to the vii· !age. "You, my wife, tell your mother to go and get that little amount of meat there at the edge of the village." When they went. they found lots of meat. "Ala! How has our son-in-law killed so much meat by himself'1" She said. "Mukwai, my hus· band is in the bush, that's where he is staying. But he kills game :llong with others, his relatives." "Re:llly?" She said "Yes." O.K. So, they began eating, mukwai. They were fonuoatc to have such an in-llaw. They feasted until they were stuffed. Since !he went :llone into the bush. his brolher-in-law [said]. "Let me follow lhis brother- in-law!" As he went. his brother-in-law followed behind. He ju.~t followed him. He followed him. He followed bim. He arrived at the tree where he usually stopped. He arrived and shed his trousers. He shed his shirt. He shook himself and became a lion. So, he set out. He attacked a heard oJ water buffalo, mukwai.
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And his brother-in-law arrived and said . . . no .. . he just stared, he said, "Yeyh! Yeyh! Yeyh!" So this brother-in-law began coming. Nse nse nse nse nse nse. Carrying an animal in his mouth. He dropped it down. He skinned it. He skinned it He skinned it. Now his brother-in-law did this with his he~d. He began to do this. "What's this? What's this? Is this the ann that I shake? Is this the he:ad I duck? It's the buzzard that's circling .and going." He staned out. Now he returned to the village. Then that little brothe r-in-law said, "My friend:' His friend said, "Yeah?"' ''Let's play soccer." So, they beg.an playing soccer. He said, "My friends, :Jet's make up sides. some here and me here. Now we're even." He played very well. kicking the ball, mpaa! "Now, what is this that's shaking? Can it be that large leg that I shake? The buzzard is ci rcling and going." Goal! The ball went in. His brother-in-law pondered there, "Is this brother-in-law following me? Maybe he has followed rue?" He sat there silently. His wife said, "What's wrong? You're not. eating the ubwali?" He said, "No, I'll cat later." He called his brothe rin-law. "In-law?" "Yes." "What abotn that praise you were chanting at the game. Where did you hear it?" He said. "My grandfatller, we went to Puta. That's where we went to play soccer. That's where someone said it." "Ala?" He said, "Yes." "Yah! That one knows a lo~ eh!" The next morning, his brother-in-law was there again. He followed him. His brolher-in-law returned to where Ute lion usually took off his clothes. He climbed the lrCC. He obsCivcd how he was dodging his own shadow. He was eating there. tlle lion was e.ating and his shadow kept ruovbtg there! He said, "Yakwel Is it this head I shake? Is it this ann that I've shaken? Is it this leg that I step with? The buzzard is circling and going." He returned. Befo re he arrived, his young brother-in-law ruad already arrived at tlle village. He found him playing soccer. "Is it that head that I've swung 'round? Is it this arm that I've shaken? The buzzard is circling and going." Audience member: And what of his father (brother), the elder one? That yo ...youngest said, "My sister, uh uhn, tllat husband you've married
Audience member: Is a lion. Audience member: He's an animal. "Don 't you see?" Sbe said, "No, stop lying like this you uncouUt idiot. That's what I was telling you. You're uncouth." He said, "I'm uncouth? Haa!" "See? . .." Audience member: This one's mother ... [She said to her mother]"Thls c hild of your.; ..."
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Audience member. There are just lions around. • ... be careful." (It was not clear if the perfonner was still imitating the daughter's dialogue or addressing the old woman in the audience who kept commenting on her storyj2S So, !hey stayed !here. They slayed !here. He said, "Now I won't be following him. He suspeciS now. He knows il's me. He'll eat me." So. wben be set out in !he morning, be wenl alone. He went !here. In lhe early morning, he said, "My wife. now we will go on a journey to my mother's place." She said, "That's where we are going?" "Yes." "My sisler, are you going to !he in-laws'?" She said, "Yes." ''Then I will follow." "You will follow?" "Yes. I wiU follow." She said, ''No, you will stay, you uncoulh clown." Audience member: "She said, she said!!" (Woman is tilunting the performer's repetitive use of this construction to start numerous sentences] "Ala, !hey will eat you, don'tlhink you'll rctum" "Do you see, molher, what he's saying. This one waniS to ruin my marriage. Let me beat him." "Calm down, Ibis youngster is just unruly. Leave him alone, you might harm your brother. Even lhe one you've married is still not of the same blood. In marriage you never get an heir.'' 26 So mukwai, lhe time of lhc journey came. They set out in the early morning. Bakapa-kapa. And that brother-in-law followed. hiding. tie went. He went. He wem. until !hey arrived on the plain, where !here was no village, at a tree. "My mate. this is where we've arrived?" "It's only a stopping place. We will go on tomorrow. Let's sleep right berc.'' They slept there three nights. In lhe early morning, the young brother said, "This person will only undersland when !bey eat her. I will make her see." While his brother-in·law shook himself in the night, he came and grabbed his sister' s toe. Nakwee! And he tied it with a small string and woke her. She found. mukwa/, only lion's manes, they went: Puku puku puku. Puku puku puku puku puku. "Can I cat? Can I cat?" He said, "No, she'~ not yet fat enough." "Can I cat? Can l cat?" He said. "No, she's not yet fat enough!" O.K. Now then. in lhe morning, when she got. up, she defecaled feces in there. [Perfomrer laughs aJ her own image, shares some conspiratorial·sowzding remarks with audience members that are inaudible on tape] "What's wrong. my wife?" She said, "I'm sick with diantca. My stomach hurts me a lot" So, her little brolher carved a small drum. He scraped. He scraped. He scraped. Fmally he finished. He stretched a skin onto iL These brothers-in-law went hunting. They said, "This very lS A$ in NP8. where the perfonner·'s brother says lhe same thing to her during the narration. :M Her mother refers to lhe strong bond between sister and brolhcr in a malrilineal society; it means that her children will inheri.t from lhat same brother.
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day we'll eat her. We'll eat them all, including the brmher. Today they'll be in for it."
Audience member: [A child says this] They got up. She said, "My brother, are we going?" He said, "Who are you going with? As for me, I'm taking this one here. who dlidn't drive me away. As for you, they'll jw.t eat you. • He got that little drum. He got all the goods and all the meat and piled them there. Uhmn! He filled that little drum. He came and placed the other sister in the drum. That's who was inside. lie beat it, mbii! The drum jumped up to a tree. O.K. So he did this. He said, " Yeyh . Yeyh . Yeyh. No. My sister you will just stay there and die today. They are speeding baek wearing manes, it's as if they come back as humans. See the dust." She shit again. [Audience members laugh loudly at this image] "Yangu! Father! I'm dying. [Perfonner is laughing also]lt's my own fault that I'm dying. My Father! God! Ee! My brother, my brother, I beg you. I won't do it again!" When he came down there he said, "Climb in." Just as she stepped in, he beat it, mbii! It jumped up .. . It jumped up. She remained on the ground. She said, "Yangu! Father' I'm dying!" Then she cried, "My brother, I beg you. Whatever you want at the village I 'll give you. Whatever you wan~ I'll even be your servant. I will work for you. Father! My brother!" He said, "Look, now there they are. [Brother's voice is taunting, trying to frighten the sister even more, as audience laughs at these verbal histrionics] Where are they? There at Shimiti's" [Near a section of the village called Sbikapya). Then she watched the dust that was rising up. She said. "No, fath .. . do what you want. [Performer uses a panic-striclwn, pleading voice 10 deliver these lines] Now I'm dying. Just let me die today. Let me die." He said, "Don't collapse. control yourself." At last she saw them. They were as far as Bana Kalcnga's house there. He said, "Come on, you dope!" She squeezed in, but her leg remaioed hanging outside. He said, "Bring in that one too." She forced it in. "Sit inside." So. she sat inside. He perched on top. He said, "Yeyh. Yey!z . Yeyh. No. My in-laws return today. Truly, they return, yes." They were out of breath. When tbcy were right there at Bana Kalumba's, their tongues hung OIJit, ready to eat. He hit the drum, mbiil They flew up to the roof. He said, "You have e~ten too many, you murderers, today we will sec." So, it hopped along. The girl inside said: If not for my young brother, e/e /yo muse/ebende. If not for my young brother, ele /yo muselebende. I would have slept inside the enemy, e/e /yo muselebende. In the bush with no people, ele /yo muse/ebende. Citahanta. child of Muyembe, ele /yo muselebendee. So mulcwal, they said, "Let's catch this lirUe drum here. This one, let's catch it." Whenever they drew near to grabbing it, it rose, mbii, to a tree. [Performer delivers the following dialogue and tf.escribes actions ••ery rapidly, slowing only
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when she uses the ideophanes "fo{o-fo"J He commanded. "Come on now. ·come on. Let's go. Let's go." It moved just above the ground. this extraordinary drum. It moved just above the ground, near the ground. They called, "Give it up." They kept trying to catch it. They kept trying. It rose. It passed. It zigzagged. They tried to catch it. They tri ... And it rose up. "Let's go. Let's go. Let's move away." It went away then, until it perched in a tree. He said, "Let's go. Let's go. Let's move away." It went away theo until it again perched in a tree. He said, "Let's go." When they came they were panting. Fo{o{o-fo-fo{o. [At this point the
perflJrmer responds to a conunent from: the older wpman who has been speaking IIJ her throughout the tale, answering, "Yes. my mother'1 They reached the edge of the village. So. that's where they were. It stopped outSide the village. there at Mowa's place. She began a song; his sister said: If it not for my young brother. e/e /yo muselebende.
lfil not for my young brother. ele tyo museleoende. I would have slept inside the enemy, e/e /yo muse/ebende. In the busb with no people, ele /yo muselebende. Citabanta child of Muycmbe, ele lyo muselebendee. So, they were at the tree on the edge of the village. And those lions came and stopped right there. uhnaa! And, that drum ftew up to a roof. She shit. It was coming out of the drum. They were soaked in it. [Audience laughs) They were soaked in it, [Performer also toughs ) since she had diarrhea. It was coming ou·t looking like hippos. Ala mukwai! No, those people by the lions called, "You, in the village! Save us from the lions. Shoot tlJCse animals. these foolish animals. Look how you wlll be killed in thi~ village." "Come on." They took spears. They tool< axes. They took, whatever. They set out They left. The lions said. "You're lucky to be alive. Don't ever marry a stranger again. Marry only those who you know. You were saved jusl in lime. or we would ha.vc eaten you." This kashimi is over. Audience member: It's over. This performance is perhaps the most complex version of the lion/man set. In the first of four episodes. the refusal of suitors. marriage to a lion/man. and the journey to the wilderness shelter are described. A group of images not found in the previous versions of this narrat_ive occur in the second episode: after aniving in the wilderness, the lion/man and his intended victims return to the viUage for a series of hunting forays; the brother learns the terrible secret and tauntS his inhuman in-law. Episodes three and four continue down the (by now familiar) path of the. versions e>y." So then they dumped (her] down. Two remained in the little drum, that's where they remained, [he and) the one who liked him. So, she cried . "I beg you, just take me. I'm allso a person. I beg you, I dldn't know. I wouldn't have married him." He said .. "You saw how he was eating your Chi!· dren.:33 You're in for it." 3l l l is dif6cult to ttU whether the pcrfonncr ts merely using a figurative exp-ession or referrin.g to another narrative where lhe husband. or a vilJain, ate hi.11 wife'$ clU.klre.n.
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So. then they put her inside, when they [the lion/men] were very close. So ... they put her in the litlle drum. and he heat it, mbee!! No ... Mbimbi. the litlle drum. Mbayane. the litlle drum. Mbimbi, the little drum. Mbayane. the little drum.
So, t11e lions wem, !hey went They arrived at ... !hey arrived at Chilambc. They dumped down game,jiWu! So ... uh ... this lion threw down meal. He said, "The one who will drink at the stream of Kabaansa is . .. Eene ni walila. Eene ni wali/a Kamba mukundika. Kamba mukundika.
Slutu bliki. Shiwamasala. Shiwamasa/a ngoni.34 So. the young man .. . the girl, was drunk [from fear], watching her husband trying to catch them. She said. "Just hold on to me, my brother. I beg you!" So. they set out; they passed. So then he put her in [securely]. Mbimbi, the little drum. Mbayane, the little drum. Mbimbi. the little drum. Mbayane, the litlle drum.
They arrived at !he top of a palm tree. The lion/men arrived at the fool of the tree. [and] that's where !hey stopped. So, the husbands danced at the base of the tree. They danced. They danced. They danced. They danced at the base, they danced. So, one said, The way you ate lha! one is the way you'U eat this one.
It's quiet. Mother of Kapelclo. wife of the pounder of hom~. ll's quiet. Mother of Kapelclo. the one who mentions you goes. ll's quiet. Mother of Kapclclo_ So, it fell on the husband's head. The little drum came right on it. mboo! So then he died. He died. This kashimi is over.
Performance: N14. Humans Court !Uon/Men Performer. Aida Musonda. female. age 18 Dale and Time: 17 June 1976. approximately 7:30P.M. Place: Mukupa Katandu.la Audience: 6 adults and 2 cllildren
34 1be meming of this song was completely obscure to my infonnants and me. The words might be in Za.frean "Kilabwa.'" since the performer is from Zaire.
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'There was a little person. People lived in a country. So in one country there fell .a great famine. Now there were very many- [Samson Katai admonishes his youngest child, who is fretting, by whLipering "You, stop crylng'l ... young girls. 'They set out, they said. "We are going to pick mushrooms.'' 35 So when they went there to pick mushrooms. they lost the direction of the village. As UlCy wandered aimlessly, they saw smoke coming from shelters. Right over there in the shelters where the smoke was coming from, there lived only lions. Now arriving there at the shelters, they found the lions bad become humans. 'The lions welcomed them, they said. "Ala. young women!" "Yes. :greetings." 'They said. "So. mukwai. Where did you come from. young women?" 'They Sg man, what's this?" He said. "A/a! The young woman who my friend the lion brought ... tch! _ .. 01e one who he brought is Lhc one who's caused all this. And now I don't know what to do. They attacked me." "It's O.K." "Really?" He said. "It's no problem. Look. in Ole night I'll come and bite the chief. Now after I bite the chief, listen, this is the medicine. these two leaves. You will chew them in your mouth, an4 then ancr you've c!!cwed l!ll!m then you'll rub it where I'll bite the chief." He said, "Oh, O.K. boi, thank you." So. that man went back. They said. "Oh you've come." "Yes." "O.K. Jet's go." So 01ey arrived at that palace. One said, ".So, truly this person. ala. Kalalampanga is a
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witch! Ala, he's a witch! Ala, he's a witch! Ala, he's a witch!" They began to beat and beat him. That young woman said, "Ala, you're just mistreating him." So, then, they went and put him in a litde hut, and poured water in it (to make him damp and uncomfonable]. So, I t!Unk. it was twelve o'clock at night when the cobra came to the ehief and bit him. "Yangu! The chief! Ala! The chief has died! The chiers been bit· ten!" "What son of bite?" He said, "Ala, it's a cobra that bit him." Now they searched and searched. The people dido 't know about medicine. They went and looked far away, they looked for a doctor. They said, "Perhaps t!Us will do it?" But truly they just failed. They said, "No, go and find others." Blit the others also failed. Now one who was seated in the meeting hall said, "How about the one who came, Kalalampanga? Now listen, he spent lots of time in the wilderness. He must have learned everything about diseases. and the medicines for snake bite, because he's the One·who-sleeps-in·the·bush, not in the village." One said, "A/a! He's a witch, he might come and finish him off: he'll finish off the chief. Maybe be's the ooe who bewitched him." And others said, "No. just go and gel him." So. then !bey went to that house, to the young man. "You listen, the chief has been bitten." He said. "Really?" "Yes." "Really. I could try a linle. Now I'm not very hopeful. because it's only an attempt." They said, "It's O.K.. just go and try." So, the man then went there to the what-do-you-call-it . .. the counyard. So. he arrived there. "Yangu! Where was the chief bitten?" Tiley said, "Here." "Oh, O.K." He got the medicine: he began to ehew it, he chewed it, he chewed it. Then he rubbed it where the chlef had been bitten. Right away the chief arose, he got up. Now the chief, ala, was completely healed. When the morning came that chief said, "Fine: and who healed me?" They said, "It's this one, Kalalampanga. That one who came and abducted your child, who 'ldlled' her." "Yangu! Really?" "Yes." "O.K., call him." So they called !bat young man. "Uh huh. my fatber, truly I thank you." Now aU the people gathered. "You people, now come here, I want you. You've seen what my 'father' did. Truly it was the One-who-sleeps-in·the·bush who took my child, who took her to the wildcmcs.~. But he is all right, because he came and healed me. Now, I'll divide the country. All of you who are here. this one is your ehief. And I will rule t!Us country that's here." So, that man was given a country to rule. [Addresses audience] Fine. now I've come to question you. Let's begin with
the lion and the cobra and that one who came out of the wilderness. Now who is th.e one who acted the best? Audience: It was the cobra. Performer: The cobra?
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Aud·ience: The cobra. Performer: Yes, O.K., it came and saved its friend. Now me, I think that the lesson here is that all of them did weU. The way they did weU is this: that lion djd not do wrong. lie was not wrong in this way. As for the lion, Kalalampanga eouldn 't do anything there in the bush, how coulod he marry? Now who was the ·One who showed hlm how to marry? Audience: The lion. Performer: It was the lion. Now we get to the cobra. That cobra is the one who gave hlm the chlefshlp, when they said to hlm, "I'U divide this country of yours." So what did he do? lie gave him the c:biefship. Now we come to that person who went and informed on the one in the wilderness, even that one did well. lie brought that person, the One-who-sleeps-in-the-bush. or he would never have found his way to the village. Now that one helped him because he got him out of the wilderness and brought hlm to the village. So everyone did well. This kaslllmi is finished. Aud·ience: Your name . .. give him your name.
Performer: I am Robert Mwcnda. This pcrfonnance is composed of five episodes and an epilogue in which the perfonner discusses the theme with his audience. 1l1e hunter debates with the tr'Jpped animals in the first episode. The pattern of this argument, with the episode that contains it, culminates in promises of positive reciprocity after the animals are freed. The grateful lion provides the hunter with meat. and in the second episode a wife. Kidnapping the chief's daughter is a formulaic action common to three of the four narratives in this set.t In tllC third episode, the honey-gathering human establishes a question-and-answer pattern by spealdng to the hunter's wife about her situation, then trying to convince the chief of what he has seen. This episode ends with the bunter's capture and his wife's protest.~. The fourth episode depictS the cobra's encounter with the hunter, and the execution of Iris plan, also a constant in tl1ree of the four performances in this set. Calling together his subjects, in the fifth episode the chief explains the humer•s good deeds and gives lhc hero half his coun-
try to rule. The storyteller, Mr. Roben Mwenda, coocludes with a cooundlrum-Uke examination of the narrJ.tive, focusing on lhc question of which character acted most beneficently toward the hunter. 1
The lppelldix tu ch:.p. 5 cont.Uns a fifth member of this set. NPI S. wilh similar polaritte.s and pkH
eletnenlS.
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The interaction of the hunter, the deadly animals h, frees, and the honeygatherer creates spatial and behavioral oppositions. Hunter and animals are bound both by their positive reciprocal action and by the wi.ldemess or bush area where they live. The honcy-gatt.crer and the other viUagcrs in the narrative exhibit unjustified brutality towards the hunter. 1ltis contrast of behavior creates bush/village and animal/human polarities. Moreover, the narrative's st.ructure can be viewed as three episodes of positive reciprocal action and one of negative action. Each episode has one main actor, in rum, the hunter, the lion, the honey-gatherer, and the cobra. Aligned wilhin the positive axis of behavior are hunter, lion, and cobra. contrasted to the honey-gatherer. ln the last episooo of positive reciprocal action, the chief repays the hunter's kindness in the human world just as the animals repaid his generosity in the natural realm. The pancmed image structure of this performance depends on the way characters act within the categories of reciprocal action. Although the honey-gatherer is not specifically indebted to the hunter as the animals are. the performer carefully contrast« his ra.«h behavior with that of the animals. The irony or animals acting more benevolently than humans is an imponant el.ement in developing the behavioral oppositions that delineate the allegory. When !he honey-gatherer visits the hunter's wife, the details of the conversation stress her happiness in the natural setting. By simply informing the chief wbe.re his daughter is, the honey-gatherer shows a distinct lack of sensitivity and discretion. This impetuous human behavior is reinforced when the chiers emissaries beat the hunter anj throw him into a cold, damp ceiL Negative human characters a.re opposed to the hunter, his family, and the grateful animals in what can most properly be called a nature/human set of polarities. And the storyteller moves the hunter into the bo>b, natural space. to ally him with animals who reciprocate his positive behavior. Spatial movements are essential to the narrative's thematic development. By first losing his way in the bush, the hunter becomes associated with the lion and cobra. He lives in a crude shelter and is known by the name Kalalampanga (Onewbo-sleeps-in-the·bush). He survives through the life-giving acts of the lion and cobra. One provides him life-sustaining meat and a wife ,.bo bears him children, and the other not only saves his life but gives him the curative knowledge or medicine in the process. Thi~ flourishing of creative, life-oonnoting skills is oomrasted with the brutal acts of the humans. In Ute overall pauem of narrative movement, the hunter journeys into nature, gains vital life-giving skills, Ow returns to the tainted human society. Nature is the source of wisdom and valuable skills. a model of proper behavior and creativity. Although the chief rewards Kalalampanga for saving his life, the deeper significance of this event i~ the hero's return and rise 10 power. suggesting the coming of a new, more harmonious order, one which can achieve a proper balance between human and natural realms. The hunter. the
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human who routinely moves between both worlds. is best equipped to realize these needed changes. Allegorically matching natural and human worlds, lhc reciprocal action
episodes structure the n3JT'Jtive's lheme.2 The essential irony of animals acting more humanely than humans, makes the final message all the more effective, since their beneficence make.~ lhe human world seem all the more tainted. There is a fme symmetry in the patterned episodes and ~llatial movements, delineating a model for positive action in nature to be transported to the human world. The vivified chief, fmally. measures up to the animals as be too reciprocates the hunter's generosity in the fiflh episode. This mesh.ing of good deeds coincides with the patterned episodic sets. adding to the allegorical power of the narrative. In the epilogue to the narrative. Mr. Mwenda undermines its obvious theme, drawing out the audience and trying to put across his view of the narrative's me3Jling. To understand his view and the reason for his effons, we need to look at llle context of his perfonnanee. The session took place early in my initial stay at Mukupa Katandula; people were beginning to understand and acoept my presence and purpose in their viUagc. Knowing I wanted to record tales, a few women invited me to a beer-drink where several men had consented to perform stories for my benefit. The afternoon session was set indoors to avoid disruption. Amid llle clink and clatter of the metal bowls used to portion out maize beer (karara or, to u:se the more common tenn, chibuku), Robcn Mwcnda was the first to tell a story. His desire to impress and to create a sucoessful performance probably led him to question his peers regarding the theme of the tale. As if responding to a prayer-leader at Sunday service-or to an elder relating an "important" story-the audience reacted politely to the initial question, waiting for Mr. Mwenda to eu. "I never drop dow.n carcasses of people, I drop down carcas.<es of game. Odi [you in) my house." His friend s.aid_, "Kalibu [come in)."s " What! [Spoken in a high voice. to express surp-rise] I don't want anyone in my house. And now I've found a person here, in my llou.~." He said, "My friend, come in." So. his friend went in, and sat at a dist.mcc from him. "My friend, where did you come from, gr-•ndfather of Bwalya?" "''ve come hunting honey. Then I saw smoke coming up, and the rain soaked me. So where could I run? I mn right bcre to the shelter. Then l found all this game piled up. I said, since I was hungry, I thought this friend might give me ubwali tO eat and he 'II give me meat to take to lhc village." "''ve never met tltis so.n of person." "And so my friend, I waited for you to arrive." "Good." Then his friend said, " Do you think I deal with people?" He said. "Grandfather. take it easy, I can help you. Good. As I've explained to you, my friend, don't think that I'll hatol you." "My friend, I don't usually see any people. I live alone and now that you have found me, you 'U kill me." He said, "No, I won' t kill you; I wiU give you good advice. Tomorrow you'll go and dig a pit. After you dig the game pit, I'll help you. You wiU see what will come into tlle game pit: you 'll see it." So, his friend gave him meat and he went In the rooming he went and dug a game pit He camouflaged the opening. [Perfonner says to a child sharing a small. long stool with Joim, "Move over my friend. so that I may speak"] In a shon while. tltat morning his friend found the trap had been s-prung. He pocped inside and saw there was a lion and a cobra in that game pit. Now be 8 1'he terms "od,- and "k.alibu"' are used &.'1 tbe Swahili "Jwdi" and "Wihu" Ate. When entering 111 house or approac,hing unseen. one perso.n c-.alb out "Odi! .. to a.lert others; the respondent sa;y:J "Kalibu (Come m]."
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peeped in and found a lion and a cobra and a human. "Ala! There arc three of you. There's a lion; if I help you out you'll grab me. If I help out the snake, !he cobra. he'll bite me. Now what will I do? And !he person is a fellow human being. I'll soon find him in my bouse." So the person. his friend. began to speak; he said, "My friend, help me out. I'm your fellow human." "Won't you trick me if I help you out?" "No." And !he lion said, "Human, take me out first. I would belp you more !han he will." He refused. And the CO•bra said. "Human, help me out. I will help you." Fine. The person stretched out :his walking stick; be helped !he cobra out. Again he Stretched out !he walking stick; he helped out !he person. The person told him, "Now look, you have helped me out, [but] people arc difficult." He helped them all out. "So my friend. you will be grateful for what I do fo r you. You'll be grateful for what I do for you." With that, they went off. The cobra went The lion went. The person went. So !hat person went to the village, 10 !he palace, he went to tell what happened. So, !hen just like !hat, !hat person in !he wilderness said. "Now I want 10 marry. How will I marry?" He [the lion] went to the pond, and hid there. he hid. He found this chi.ld of the chief, !hat orte whom the chief cherished . Uhmn! [Performer claps once] The lion grabbed her. "It's the chiefs child, she's been caught!" Tbe lion carried her off. They failed 10 get her back. He took her to !he shelter of the person. They searched until !he sun went down. The drums of the
chief's palace sounded. In !he end. they gave up. "Is the chief's child lost?" "She's lost, yes." So, again tlle cobra went; be set out. He went to !he person. He said, "Lion. look. you have brought !he chief's daughter. Now. I could belp; you could get !he chief's country. Lion. you grabbed and brought this chiefs child here. Now. I the cobra will help you." So !hat cobra said. "I'm telling you. !his is tbe chief's child. Ulis is the one whom you grabbed and brought to the middle of the bush here. When they come here. they'll come to take !he child of !he chief. in order to rerum her to the vmage. So, on the path where !hey take !hat person, !he Onc·who·lives· in·the·bush who married !he chiefs child who was grabbed by the lion. I will come there and they will throw down the load (!hey carry) on a pole. I'll come and atlack them. in order to [later] bite !hat chief." And truly, they came and took the chiefs child. and that person with her. And when !hey arrived in the middle of the wilder· ness !here. the cobra attacked. so that l:le could tell him the plan for saving the girl and young man. They said, "Yangu! This snake. eel" So, !hey dumped the load, that chief's child who bad been abducted. The cobra remained !here. After !hey ran away, they did not return tO take that . .. that chiefs child. The cobra began to speak, "You see, !hat's how I'll help )'Ou. They will come and carry !his person here. Again !hey . .. these !hey . . . tllcy'vc run away [but] they are coming [back] 10 take her away. When they take !his person. you'll go in ... into !he house and I'll come to the backyard. As I've told you, I will help you. So, when . . . when I
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go into the backyard ... and the cobra [Peiformer seems a bit undecided for a nwmentl ... that ... I wW wait there. 'Then I'll go quickly to that chief and bite him as he comes out to urinate. I'll go and bite the chief here, on !he leg." So truly, they brought the chief's child there to the compound. Then, he came out, saying, "Oh, let me go and throw out this water [euphemism for urinate]." Tile snake bit ltim. They said, '"The chief ha.~ been bitten! The chief has been binen!" Tite cobra stayed in the comer. Then it came out of the house; it came outside. They said. "The cltief is bitten! The chief is bitten!" "Go look for medicine! Look for medicine!" They searched. They searched. They just failed. So this young man they tied up was the one who lives in the bush. They said. "What about that young man you brought yesterday. that one who lived there, can't he help us with some medicine?" The cobra said. "When !hey come to get you I'll have the medicine ready to give you. As they carry you. if they handcuff your te,gs and arms. you wW say. 'Mukwai. since you have handcuffed me like this. I am a slave. Doesn't a slave speak here in this courtyard? Although you hate me, in the way you came and grabbed me, can't I go to the chief and search for medicine in the backyard?' You will hear if they ag:rce. they will say. · Ah! He'sjust lying. what kind of person is this? Can he have a knowledge of medicine? Tbe chiefs advisors failed. so can this one find !he medicine?'" "This is enough; the chief is binen and is dead. I know you can give the chief an antidole." He said. "Mukwai. I could 1ry a linle." So. another adl'isor said. "My friends. don't argue too much. This one you despise could help us; perhaps he can cure the chief." He said, "Mukwai, we'll guard him with these handcuffs." His friend. the other advisor, said, "No, ho•W could be help when he's being guardedi?" He said, "So. mukwai, bind my arms and leave my legs untied, and let me try to fi nd medicine here in the backyard, and don't follow me. I won't run away." So trul y. the other advisor said, "You. let tllis person go and try to find !he medicine." That small young man went to the back. He found the cobra. The cobra placed Ule medicine in his hands. He crushed it in his hand, like that. Then he went to the advisors. while the cobra was in the back waiting. He said, "Advisors, mukwai. I found the medicine. now let's go to the palace mukwai. to that wealthy man. Let me try a bit" He uncovered the chief's eyes. then took a paper and rolled some tobacco in it with the medicine. He began to smoke. He smoked.jjloo! One time. He went to !he chief's nostrils. pooj! He blew out smoke. Again he smoked. Then he forced open his mouth, again he forced smoke into him. So, there. the chief . .. "Quiet. everyone." Tile chief finally sneezed. "I'm d)1ng!" They said, "Everyone quiet. Quiet" Then the other advisor said, "Free !hat p
mushrooms. "My husband. why are you rushing? Be fore you refused these 1'
18
See Ooke {1976: 150·53): w his sis..:rs in the lion/m.an
t:des. l9 10c lion/man set shows this paucm of reversal when thC' yow1g brolher takes over lhe hunting and purSuit p;~ltem from his evil in-taws.
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mushrooms, saying, 'Give !hem to my children."' The founh and fi.fih episodes are bound in an invened way to lhe first and second by lhcse events and by such welldeveloped details as repetition of lhe falher's trip to his parents' home and lhe fact !hat his trouser belt is now too loose on his !binning stomach. The husband's collapse marks the shift of polar dominance, and also the shift of the spatial relationship between the two types of food. In fact, once the secret is discovered, we can argue that lhe final two episodes arc developed in order to set the foods into their proper location a.' well as to send the viUain into exile. The eye-fruit and mushrooms arc depicted as metaphorically opposing objeciS: one is a fruit of the viUage, of plenty; lhe olher is lhc food of lhe wilderness, of famine. Mushrooms are the wild-growing, meager food source that is used as a last reson. From the beginning of the famine, "People picked only small mushrooms; that is what they ate." Once the father begins visiting the magical tree, mushrooms become tbe literal embodiment of bis deception. He substitutes the UMourislling food, with hypocritical self-denial, and keeps the eye-fruit for himself. This magical fruit, oo the olher hand, comes from the eye of the long-suffering wife. Tbe performer lavishes a good amount of descriptive detail on its wondrous propenics: "large fruit, which were sweet and glistened like water. When he ate just one, the deceiver was very satisfied." Eye-fruit, a physical product of the mother, must be supplied to the family in the viUage, whereas the mushrooms, the "fruit" of the father's evil, must be returned to the wilderness. To move lhe correct foods to the proper location requires two stages: bringing the eye-fruit home in lbe foun.h episode; gcuing the father to cat mushrooms in the
last episode. Irony is a powerful pan of this transfer as the family claims to grow fat on the famine food provided by the villain wllile the father grows thin without the fruit and must cat the same mushrooms he had earlier rejected. The spatial transfer of fruit to viUage and mushrooms to wilderness is completed when the father is exiled from his home, rtnally forced, apparently, to subsist entirely on the food of famine. Quite literally, the food of plenty is returned to the positive pole and the food of famioe is bound to the negative force. Eye-fruit and mushrooms are developed by the performer into a pair of symmetrically invened metaphorical elements, whose rllytbmic growth and final alignment in the performance reflect the allegorical organization of the narrative. There is a generational theme that also colors this narrative, originating in the two visits the husband makes to his parents. He obtains advice from his parents about planting the eyes to survive the famine. Later on, he rctum~ 10 visit them as l1is children and wife scheme to ovenum his evil acts. The heroic wife of the tale mentions in passing that her clever son resembles her own deceased mother, claiming !hat her mother's spirit is alive in the grandson. The image of good seeds and bad seeds, embodied in the fruitful and barren eyes, respectively, therefore also carries through Ole notion of good parcniS and bad parenl~ influencing the growth of
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!heir offspring. Alllhese relationsltip.-secds. eyes. fruil/musbrooms. parents. and children-refiectlhe !hematic concerns of lhe perfonncr. Rosemary Mwaasha galhcrs all lbesc !breads convinci.ngly in her tale and utilizes an excellent singing voice and an understated dramatic capacity to bring the images tO life, before her intimate audience: her husband, children, and sister. Even a cursory review of this tape reveals Samson Katai's amusement and affinnation of the narrative at various points in the perfonnance. In the perfonnance context. the narrative follows Mr. Katai 's humorous and hyperbolic tale of two giant ogres battling for control of an entire country (N218), Aida Musonda's talc about an orphaned boy seeking his remairting relatives by singing an identifying song (N229), and Ms. Musonda's brief dilemma tale about how monkeys on an island were tricked imo throwing oranges over to the people on the river bank (N230).20 Aller Mrs. Mwaasba 's inuicate perfoi;T11ance, which reHccted elementS of each preceding talc, the family concluded the session by singing a song in three-pan harmony. Although this talc resembles NP20, it bas several notable differences. The father is tbc villain here. causing the mother and ch.ildren to suffer because of his greed. There is less ambiguity here, as details carefully describe clearly motivated acts and thematic values. Yet both narratives build on expansible image-sets. which they resolve. by breaking a beneficial pattern in the first and breakimg a destructive one in the second. Altl10ugh their structures are virtually identical, tile crucial difference is !hat NP21 develops a greater number or theme-connoting details. The father's hypocritical acts serve to foreground his villainy and to create the dramatic opportunity for his family tO reverse his evi.t deeds. These acts also oppose mush· rooms and eye-fruit; objects in the narrative embody its thematic concerns. These concerns move beyond the obvious food hoarding acts-in themselves they reHect the actual, serious. scarcity· occurring at certain times ·o f year-to the kinship relationships discu.'l~ed in carlie< chapters. It is significant, for instance, that the mother of the heroic son acknowledges her own deceased mother at one point of the story, thereby reinforcing U>e dc.o;ccm ideology that traces the lineage lhrougb !be mot11er's ancestors. The husband's family, by contrast, is a source of the central problem. By al.lying chi.tdren and mother against a greedy fathe,r, the ta.le also alludes to the ambiguous role of husbands in Tabwa society: valued for U1eir abilities as providers but ultimately removed from the longtenn benefits of inheriting or passing down their wealth within the matrilineage. Tite n3JT3tivcs sugge,st these
tensions wit:hin the allegorical frame of the denial of food. Denial and scarcity cause other tensions in the following tale.
20 All tales i dentified by number lwc at~ in my collection.
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Pcrfonnance: NP22, 1bc Charlatan Diviner Perfonner: William Musonda, age 60 DaJc: 8 November 1983. approximately 3 P.M. Place: Kaputa Audience: 5 adults, 8 children There was a poor person. Again. he was useless. And he suffered from lack of food. He had no siblings. He had no wife. And he'd never married, since the time of his binh. This little person was very useJe.ss. Most of the time he went hungry. His food was just what wa.s in the bins where they threw rubbish. Right in these he could find a bit of bread. He would open [the lids]. He picked. He ate. This is how he was. He just suffered. He just suffered. There was a large village, filled with people. It was full of wealthy people; wealthy people just filled the village. It was not a village where there was hunger. It was a village of food. Now one day, in the morning, that poor man just went [there] planning to rerum He found a chief sitting on a stool in the early moming, very early. They had brought him waJer. He was baJhing. He had taken the ring from his hand. [Aside: Now in 8emba they say "ring" (indaminwe). j2l He had put it on the ground. He washed his face. Finally. he fmished. stood up. and just left. So now there passed a rooster. a chicken who eats anything. Because of the way the ring was shining ... ee! He pecked iL Ah! He swallowed iL So that little person saw the chicken !tad swallowed the chiers ring there. But he said nothing. he just went off. "&?" The chief began searching for the ring. "Ring! Ring! Ring! My ring. My ring. My ring. My ring." He called his elders and advisors. "Find the ring, wherever it is." That's where they looked for the ring. The diviners, and others also helped. They searched and questioned people. No, nothing. They did not hear anything of the ring. "So you are not villagers or elders of the chief. So I rule only fools who do not know anything. The ring was just lost without a trace? No, this doesn't please me." So tile advisors of the chief began to look embarrassed, saying, "We're disgraced." Days passed as they questioned themselves. Now that little person who was suffering greatly, he began his lying. saying, "People are not difficult to cheat I will cat and be satisfied. There is really only one path people prefer, especially we Africans, we like medicines; those that can be sniffed, those worn round the waist. and !bose tied anywbere. with a shin worn on top so that I appear like a person but inside there are bad things. They would laugh at me. 'Those things you wear, those things. what are they fo(/' 'No, they are to protect my life.' That's whaJ people like. For them, their lives are protected by cham1s. If I stan to dig for roots and 2·1 Up to this point MU$0nda had used the term for ring borrowed from English. "ilingi"; during the remainder of the story, he allC:mates lhe the English with the Tabwa term.
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make holes in the roots and put things in with beads, then I'll be eating quite well. Now they'll see that I'm a doctor [diviner], an evoker of spirits." He did this to a sticlc he hollowed it out well and drew something on it, then he tied beads and a head scarf and a hom around it and smeared it with oil and other things. When !he stood it uprigb~ it just dripped water and oil. He said, "Now I'm a diviner." People said. "You were born and grew up here. Where did you get these magiC31 powers?" He said, "You know a person tr3vels all night in an airplane; I travel on binds, that's bow I travel. I'm a doctor. I dreamed that ghosts carried me into the bush. I could even locate that thing [the ring]. To find that ring. I'd locate it" They said, "Yo·u? It was impossible for these people to lind it Bow could you?" So tbe chief eventually heard that there was a little person there. The chief said. "That person. is he a doctor?" "Yes. He says that ghosts carry him off to the bush at night" He said. "Well go call him." So they went and summoned him. "Can you find it?" He said, "Yes. I ca-n find it" Taking his wallcing stick, he said. "Where were you washing, chiel7" He said, "Here." [Peiformer acts out dlviiUltlon by banging stick on ground and growling as if possessed] "Puum! Ruurahr. Puum! Ruurahr. Kokoliko! [cock's crow]" He began lying right there, because with his own eyes he'd seen that roos1er swallow the ring. "Puum' In the chief's rooster is wbere the ring is. It's shining here. It's shirling here." The chief said. "Yangu eel My rooster is one I like very much. Is the ring inside him?" He said. ''Yes. it's in there." "Truly young man. you arc just lying. You will die if they cut open the rooster and find nothing inside; you will die with the rooster." He said," Now chief, it is the rooster you will give me as a reward so that! can usc it to m:ike my medicines." "If it's true. catch the rooster." (Peiformer imitates the clucking of the rooster as It moves about then is suddenly snatched up ] Kwe. Kwe. Kwe. Kwe. Kwe ... Ebnn! So they cut off its head. they cut it open. They found the ring in i ts stomach. "Truly litis is a doctor." "Hell. Hell. Hell." Tile news spread to all the people. That little person ate and was full. He had the respect of the chief. He wa.~ no longer useless. This was a person. The chief said, "This litlle person is a doctor." So he stayed on and lived with the respect he'd gained in the eyes of the chief. Days passed. Days passed. But one day he dreamed that, "Tomorrow very early at the first cock crnw, then the second, and the third, and the fourth. and tlle fiflll. and the sixth. and at the seventh I will set out to treat that person. Now !hat I'm a doctor I can just lie, because peo,ple just believe lies. One has only to believe
that I can treat him." He slept. until morning. There were some thieves who broke into the chief's treasury and stole seven sacks of money.22 Now they feared using the money. "We 'II just refrain from spending for some time, until things quiet down, Then we will stan to spend: ' They went and dug a hole; as lhcy uicd to l2 Musonda uses
111'1
Engli$h borrowing to indicate tllc storage p13oe of the chiefs money, "sefu
(sole)".
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Allegorical Specu/aJion in an Oral Society
throw in one sack. the rooster crowed. Then that little doctor who lies said, "One!" There those people whispered. "Have you beard that person? He said, 'One."' "I've heard It's that powerful doctor." He said, "Hutun. That one has his own concerns. Throw the rest in." They threw in another sack. The rooster crowed a second time. "Two!" He counted as he had dreamed, and there there were seven sacks of money and the rooster crowed seven times. Tbe last was the seventh. So they buried the money. They said, "That doctor's very bad. Let's go to him. Let's talk him into keeping our secret" So they arrived atl!he door and knocked. Kun. Kun. "What is it?" "So, we've come doelor. Just open, up, we waru 10 lalk." He opened up. They entered. "What is it? En orale. Rappons and Comptcs Renjus scr. I, no. 7. Ba.ndundu. Zaire: Centre d'Etudcs Ethnologiqucs. Kallen, Jeffrey L., :md Easunan, Carol M. 1979. "I Went to Mombasa, Thcro I Met An Old Woman ..." Journal of American Folklore 92: 4 18-44.
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Univcrbily of California Press Berkeley 94720
ISBN 0.520..()9739-4