The stories are told round the fire on nights that are too dark for dancing. The various groups will arrange themselves round the blazing hearths, and after the news of the day has been exhausted, one will tell a story suggested by some item of news, or the action of a friend, or the saying of an enemy. The story is told with dramatic power and forcible eloquence, the narrator acting the various parts and imitating the sounds of the different animals. In some of the stories there are choruses, and these are taken up and sung heartily to the clapping of their hands.
There is no greater treat than to listen to a Congo story told in the original by one of these born story-tellers--the lights and shadows caused by the flickering fire, the swaying body of the narrator, the fixed attention and grunts of approval of the listeners, the great dark beyond, the many mystic sounds issuing from the surrounding bush and forest lend a peculiar weirdness to the story and its teller.
A father correcting his children will tell them a story to enforce his teaching, and though wise words might be forgotten, the story will remain in the memory with guiding or deterrent power; sons and daughters repeat these stories to their parents if they think they are not being properly treated according to native ideas.
During a lawsuit the native advocates in stating the case for their clients will tell stories with great effect, or will illustrate a point against their opponents by relating a parable suitable to the occasion; and the judge will often give his verdict by recounting a fable, and if they do not know one appropriate to the case they will invent one, and should it happen to be a happy invention it will pass from mouth to mouth, and thus into the folklore of the district; the current stories, known to all, are a survival of the fittest, and some of them are here placed before the reader.
CONGO FOLKLORE TALES
I
How the Fowl evaded his Debt
Once upon a time a cock Fowl and a Leopard began a friendship, and not very long afterwards the Leopard lent some money to the Fowl. It was arranged that on a certain day the Leopard should receive the money at the Fowl’s residence.
On the morning of the appointed day the Fowl ground up some red peppers, and mixed them with water so that it looked like blood, and when he heard that the Leopard was on the way to his house he went into his courtyard and said to his slaves: “When the Leopard arrives and asks for me, tell him my head has been cut off and carried to the women in the farms to be combed and cleaned.” Then he hid his head under his wings and told them to pour some of the pepper water on his neck, which they did, and it fell to the ground like blood.
The Leopard arrived and asked for his friend the Fowl. The slaves repeated what they had been told, and, on the Leopard hearing it, he wished to be allowed a closer view of the marvel, and on beholding the red-pepper water dropping to the ground, he thought it was all true.
On returning later he asked the Fowl how it was done, and the Fowl replied: “When you reach your town, you cut off your head, and send it to the farm to be combed and cleaned, and there you are.”