The people saw now that they had been deceived, and the chief was mad with rage at having been made appear foolish before the eyes of the people and at the loss of time from the hoeing. So he ordered poor Naling’ang’a to be put to death there and then, and his head to be cut off and thrown beside the skull as a warning to all to speak the truth.
When the execution was over and the people had all departed the skull turned round to poor Naling’ang’a’s head, and said, “My friend, Naling’ang’a, tell me, what killed you?” And Naling’ang’a replied, “My tongue.” “As with me,” said the skull, “my tongue caused a great quarrel and the people killed me.”
The Story of the Freeman and his Slaves
There was a freeman that had many slaves and he went with them on a journey. When they were on the journey the slaves sent the freeman, saying, “Go for water.” But he refused, and the slaves themselves went and drew water. When they returned with the water the freeman said, “Give me some water to drink.” But the slaves refused, saying, “We don’t want you to drink our water. Go to the well and draw water for yourself.” So the freeman had to go to the well himself. When he was about to drink, the slaves pushed him into the water and killed him. But a drop of blood leapt upwards and fell on a leaf of a tree, and thereupon became a bird and sang:—
“Ku! Ku! Ku!”
The slaves got ready for their journey, but the bird went before them and came to the village, and said, “They killed me. Make beer when the strangers come.” When the slaves entered the house to drink the beer the people set fire to the house and burned them.
The Story of the Children and the Serpent
There was a certain man that hoed his garden, and said, “Now that I have hoed my garden, what shall I do? These children finish the food in the garden.” Then he went to look for bark and made a rope out of it and put it into the garden. When the children said, “Let us steal,” the rope became a serpent that drove off the children, who ran to the village, and said, “Father, in the garden yonder there is a snake.” And he said, “Let us go there and see.” When they came to the garden the father said, “Look now, that is a rope. You thought it was a snake. Is it that you were stealing the maize? You must never do so again.”
Such are African fairy tales, but there is a very great difference between a written story and one told by word of mouth. The teller stands up and, with hands going and eyes rolling and body bending backwards and forwards, imitates whatever birds or beasts, their calls and their cries, there are in his tale. At intervals he sings out a line or two of chorus, which is taken up by the audience and sung with great delight. Many additions are made in the spoken tale, and the written one is but the shadow of the other.