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Flame Tree and Other Folk-Lore Stories from Uganda - Rosetta Baskerville · The Flame Tree and Other Folk-Lore Stories from Uganda

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  Speaker 1: Section zero of The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories
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  Speaker 1: from Uganda. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 1: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. The Flame Tree and Other
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  Speaker 1: Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. Preface. I am
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  Speaker 1: again indebted to Sir Apollo Caagua K C. M G
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  Speaker 1: M B E for some of the stories from his
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  Speaker 1: ingero zat Baganda. It is impossible to acknowledge by name
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  Speaker 1: all my Baganda friends, to whom I owe the rest,
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  Speaker 1: but each story recalls to my memory a vivid Uganda scene,
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  Speaker 1: a shady banana garden, a smoky kitchen, the bedside of
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  Speaker 1: a sick woman in a stuffy hut, or a camp
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  Speaker 1: fire beneath a star spangled sky. All gentle, soft voiced
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  Speaker 1: people who allowed me to share their lives for a
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  Speaker 1: little while, and tried, in their simple way to be
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  Speaker 1: kind to me. My thanks are due to Miss Muriel
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  Speaker 1: Robertson for allowing me to use her Uganda songs, and
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  Speaker 1: to the Westminster Gazette for permission to reprint them. Rosetta
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  Speaker 1: Baskerville and of section zero read by Laura Gibbs, Section
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  Speaker 1: one of The Flame Tree and Other folklore Stories from
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  Speaker 1: Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. The Flame Tree. Once upon a time there
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  Speaker 1: was a little girl who lived in the village of
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  Speaker 1: c Her parents had no other children, and as she
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  Speaker 1: grew older, they saw with joy that she was more beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: Every day people who passed through the village saw her
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  Speaker 1: and spoke of her beauty, until everyone in Chiaguey knew
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  Speaker 1: that the most lovely girl in the country lived in
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  Speaker 1: the village of Sea, and every one in the province
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  Speaker 1: called her the Maiden. The Maiden was a gentle, sweet child,
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  Speaker 1: and she loved all the animals and birds and butterflies
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  Speaker 1: and flowers, and played with them and knew their language.
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  Speaker 1: Her parents were very proud of her, and often talked
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  Speaker 1: of the time when she should be grown up and
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  Speaker 1: marry a great chief with many cows and gardens and people,
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  Speaker 1: and bring great wealth to her tribe. When the time
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  Speaker 1: came to arrange her marriage, all the chiefs came and
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  Speaker 1: offered many gifts, as the custom of the Boganda is,
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  Speaker 1: But the Maiden said, I will marry none of these
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  Speaker 1: rich chiefs. I will marry Tutu, the peasant boy, who
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  Speaker 1: has nothing, because I love him. Her parents were very
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  Speaker 1: grieved when they heard this, and would have tried to
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  Speaker 1: persuade her. But just then a messenger arrived from the
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  Speaker 1: Seki Bobo to say that the King of Uganda was
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  Speaker 1: going to war with Mumbubi, the chief of the Bova Islands,
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  Speaker 1: and all the chiefs went away to collect their people
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  Speaker 1: for the king's army. Then the chief of Sea, who
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  Speaker 1: was called Kibevu, called all his men together, and Tutu,
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  Speaker 1: the peasant boy, went with them. The army marched down
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  Speaker 1: to the lake shore to fight the islanders who came
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  Speaker 1: across the blue waters, and a fleet of war canoes
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  Speaker 1: painted and decorated with horns and feathers and cowry shells
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  Speaker 1: and beads. The maiden was very sad when she said
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  Speaker 1: good bye to Tutu. Be very brave and win glory.
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  Speaker 1: She said, then, my father will let me marry you,
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  Speaker 1: for I will never marry any one else. But when
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  Speaker 1: the men had marched away and only the women and
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  Speaker 1: children were left in the village with the old people,
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  Speaker 1: the maiden forgot her brave words, and only thought how
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  Speaker 1: she could bring Tutu safely back. She called to her friend,
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  Speaker 1: the Hawk, come and help me. Double Eye. Fly quickly
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  Speaker 1: to the lake shore, and see my peasant boy. Tell
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  Speaker 1: him I think of him day and night. I cannot
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  Speaker 1: be happy till he returns. The hawk knew too too well,
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  Speaker 1: for often on the hillside he had played with the children.
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  Speaker 1: The Baganda called him double Eye, for they say that
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  Speaker 1: with one eye he watches the earth, and with the
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  Speaker 1: other he sees where he is going. The Beganda reached
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  Speaker 1: the lake and there was a great battle, and too
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  Speaker 1: to the peasant boy was killed by a stone from
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  Speaker 1: an islander's sling. But the Baganda rallied and drove the
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  Speaker 1: enemy back to their canoes, and whom Bubi beat the
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  Speaker 1: retreat Drum and his men returned to Bouvuma. The hawk
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  Speaker 1: flies very quickly, and while he was still a long
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  Speaker 1: way off, he saw Tutu lying where he had fallen
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  Speaker 1: on the lake shore. The soldiers were bearing the dead,
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  Speaker 1: and the hawk watched to see where they would bury
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  Speaker 1: the peasant boy of sea, that he might show the
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  Speaker 1: maiden his grave. The maiden waited on the hillside for
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  Speaker 1: the hawk's return, and the moments seemed like hours. She
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  Speaker 1: called to a bumblebee who was her friend, go quickly
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  Speaker 1: to the lakes side and greet my peasant boy, telling
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  Speaker 1: my way here on the hillside for his return. The
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  Speaker 1: bumble bee flew away quickly, and when he reached the
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  Speaker 1: lake shore, he asked the hawk for news. The islanders
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  Speaker 1: have fled in their canoes. But Touto the peasant boy
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  Speaker 1: is dead. A stone from a sling killed him. I
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  Speaker 1: wait to see his grave that I may show it
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  Speaker 1: to the maiden. The bumble bee was afraid to go
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  Speaker 1: back with the news, so he stayed near the hawk
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  Speaker 1: and watched. Meanwhile, the maiden waited in a fever of impatience.
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  Speaker 1: Ever gazing at the distant lake and pacing up and down,
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  Speaker 1: she saw a flight of white butterflies playing hide and
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  Speaker 1: seek round a mimosa bush and called to them, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: white butterflies, how can you play when my heart is breaking.
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  Speaker 1: Go to the lake shore and see if my peasant
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  Speaker 1: boy is well. So the white butterflies flew away over
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  Speaker 1: the green hills to the lake and arrived on the
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  Speaker 1: battlefield just as the soldiers were digging. Touto his grave,
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  Speaker 1: and they settled sadly down on a tuft of grass,
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  Speaker 1: their wings drooping with sorrow, for they loved the maiden,
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  Speaker 1: who had often played with them in the sunshine. Far
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  Speaker 1: away on the sea hills. The maiden watched in vain
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  Speaker 1: for their return. Filled with fear, she cried to the Sun, O,
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  Speaker 1: chief of the cloud land, help me take me on
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  Speaker 1: one of your beams to the lake shore, that I
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  Speaker 1: may see my peasant boy and tell him of my love.
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  Speaker 1: The Sun looked down on her with great pity, for
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  Speaker 1: he had seen the battle and knew that Tuto the
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  Speaker 1: peasant Boy was dead. He stretched out one of his
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  Speaker 1: long beams and she caught it in her hands, and
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  Speaker 1: he swung her gently round until she rested on the
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  Speaker 1: lake shore. When she saw the soldiers lifting Tutu's body
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  Speaker 1: to lad in the grave, she cried to the Sun, O,
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  Speaker 1: chief of the cloud land, do not leave me. Burn
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  Speaker 1: me with your fire, for how can I live now
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  Speaker 1: that my love is dead. Then the Sun was filled
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  Speaker 1: with pity and struck her with a hot flame, and
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  Speaker 1: the soldiers were very sorry for her too, and they
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  Speaker 1: dug a grave for her next to Tutu's. And when
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  Speaker 1: the people of Sea visited the graves. The next year,
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  Speaker 1: they found a wonderful thing, for a beautiful tree had
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  Speaker 1: grown out of them, with large flame colored blossoms, which
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  Speaker 1: ever turned upwards to the sun. And they took the
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  Speaker 1: seeds and planted them in their gardens. And now the
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  Speaker 1: country is full of these beautiful trees, which are called
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  Speaker 1: flame trees, but the old people call them ki faba
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  Speaker 1: kazi because the stem is as soft as a woman's heart,
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  Speaker 1: and a woman can cut it down. And of Section
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  Speaker 1: one red by Laura Gibbs, Section two of the Flame
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  Speaker 1: Tree and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta of Baskerville.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox rec is in the public domain. The Buffalo Maiden.
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  Speaker 1: There was once a little girl who lived with her
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  Speaker 1: uncle and aunt. Her uncle loved her, but the aunt
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  Speaker 1: was always unkind to her. Now this aunt was really
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  Speaker 1: a witch, but no one knew it. One day she
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  Speaker 1: said to her husband, you must send that little girl away.
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  Speaker 1: I cannot stand her anymore. She is so naughty. But
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  Speaker 1: go first to the forest to the old wizard who
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  Speaker 1: lives there, and he will tell you what to do.
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  Speaker 1: So the man went to the forest, but he did
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  Speaker 1: not know that his wife had told the wizard what
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  Speaker 1: to say. The wizard said, take the little girl to
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  Speaker 1: the forest and leave her there. Then he was sorry
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  Speaker 1: for the man, and added, if you do this, good
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  Speaker 1: fortune will come to the child, but many years must
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  Speaker 1: pass very sadly. The man returned home. He took a
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  Speaker 1: gourd of milk and some indian corn, and told his
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  Speaker 1: little niece to follow him into the forest. When they
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  Speaker 1: had walked a long way, they sat down to rest,
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  Speaker 1: and the child was so tired that she fell asleep
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  Speaker 1: at once. Then the uncle put down the gourd of
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  Speaker 1: milk in the indian corn and went sorrowfully home. When
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  Speaker 1: the child woke, it was very dark in the forest,
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  Speaker 1: and she was terrified at the sounds round her, and
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  Speaker 1: feared the wild animals might come and eat her. But
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  Speaker 1: she heard a chirping voice in the tree above her,
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  Speaker 1: and saw a large cricket sitting on a branch just
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  Speaker 1: over her head. Climb up into this tree, said the cricket,
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  Speaker 1: and you will find a nice bed to sleep in.
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  Speaker 1: So the child climbed up into the fork of the tree,
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  Speaker 1: and there was a lovely place full of dry leaves,
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  Speaker 1: where she cuddled down and was soon fast asleep again.
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  Speaker 1: The next morning, she saw that several buffaloes were resting
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  Speaker 1: under her tree, and as she was very hungry, she thought,
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  Speaker 1: I will go and ask the cow buffalo to give
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  Speaker 1: me some milk. The buffaloes were very sorry for the
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  Speaker 1: child left all alone in the forest, and they said,
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  Speaker 1: you will soon die of hunger. Here, Come and live
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  Speaker 1: in our crawl in the jungle, and you shall have
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  Speaker 1: milk every day and a little hut all of your own.
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  Speaker 1: So the little girl climbed on the old cow buffalo's back,
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  Speaker 1: who was the granny in the herd, and went with
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  Speaker 1: her to the crawl, which was hidden away in the
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  Speaker 1: thick jungle. At first, she was sad and unhappy and homesick.
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  Speaker 1: She wanted her uncle and her friends in the village
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  Speaker 1: at home, and the old granny buffalo could do nothing
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  Speaker 1: to comfort her. Then the great bull buffalo who ruled
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  Speaker 1: the herd, called a council of animals together and said,
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  Speaker 1: how can we make this child happy who has come
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  Speaker 1: to live with us in the forest. The animals were
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  Speaker 1: much distressed, for they all wanted to be kind. But
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  Speaker 1: the child sat and sobbed, for she was lonely. And homesick.
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  Speaker 1: Just then, an old tortoise who had been asleep for
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  Speaker 1: many years woke up and came shuffling into the council.
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  Speaker 1: The child will be quite happy if you take away
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  Speaker 1: her heart, he said, for it is the heart of
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  Speaker 1: a woman that brings all the trouble into the world.
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  Speaker 1: If she cannot love, she will give no trouble. If
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  Speaker 1: she has no heart, she will be quite happy. So
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  Speaker 1: they cut out the little girl's heart and tied it
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  Speaker 1: up in wild plantain leaves and hung it up in
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  Speaker 1: a cedar tree. And they built her a hut under
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  Speaker 1: the cedar tree. And she settled down happily and cried
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  Speaker 1: no more, and her heart hung far above, out of reach,
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  Speaker 1: where no one could touch it. From that moment the
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  Speaker 1: child changed. At first, the buffalo granny was pleased because
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  Speaker 1: she stopped crying and was quiet, But soon she grew puzzled,
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  Speaker 1: for the little girl was so strange. Every day she
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  Speaker 1: did unkind things and laughed when she hurt the animals.
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  Speaker 1: She pushed the little cubs into the forest pool when
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  Speaker 1: they came to drink, and she climbed up into the
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  Speaker 1: trees and threw little birds that couldn't fly out of
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  Speaker 1: their nests, and when the mothers cried, she laughed at
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  Speaker 1: them and clapped her hands. There was one animal who
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  Speaker 1: had not been at the Great bull Buffalo's council. The
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  Speaker 1: little Hare was away at the time on a long journey.
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  Speaker 1: But when he returned and the other animals told him
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  Speaker 1: about it, he looked very grave. The little hare knows
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  Speaker 1: more about people than any other animal, for he often
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  Speaker 1: goes to the villages, and he understands men's language. He
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  Speaker 1: watched the little girl, and every day he grew sadder.
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  Speaker 1: Years passed by, and the child grew up into a
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  Speaker 1: beautiful woman, but she had no friends in the forest.
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  Speaker 1: All the animals were afraid of her. None of them
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  Speaker 1: loved her. If they growled, she stared at them and
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  Speaker 1: they slunk off, for her eyes frightened them. One day,
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  Speaker 1: the Seki Bobo's men were hunting buffaloes, and one of
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  Speaker 1: them followed a wounded animal through the jungle, when, to
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  Speaker 1: his surprise, he saw a lovely girl come down the
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  Speaker 1: forest path. When she saw the wounded buffalo, she laughed
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  Speaker 1: and went back, and the man was so frightened that
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  Speaker 1: he went back the way he had come and told
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  Speaker 1: the other hunters, and they told the chief. Then the
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  Speaker 1: chiefs sent a party of men to the forest, and
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  Speaker 1: they followed the hunter's trail and came to the buffalo's crawl.
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  Speaker 1: And there they saw a beautiful girl milking a buffalo
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  Speaker 1: and singing, I am the buffalo Maiden. The buffalo crawl
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  Speaker 1: is my home. The jungle land is my kingdom. Wherever
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  Speaker 1: I will, I roam. I hate the golden sunbeams that
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  Speaker 1: fill the glades with light. I hate the silver moonbeams
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  Speaker 1: that chill my hut at night. The birds are dumb
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  Speaker 1: when they see me. The animals are my foes, for
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  Speaker 1: I am the buffalo maiden, as all the jungle knows.
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  Speaker 1: They were afraid to speak, and they went quietly back.
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  Speaker 1: Then the seci Bobo went to the capital and told
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  Speaker 1: the chiefs and the king's council, and the king and
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  Speaker 1: all the princes heard that a beautiful girl lived all
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  Speaker 1: alone in the depths of the forest in a buffalo crawl.
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  Speaker 1: There was one prince braver and kinder than the others,
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  Speaker 1: and he was sorry for the girl. So he took
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  Speaker 1: one man with him and went to the forest to
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  Speaker 1: find her. When he found her, he loved her very much,
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  Speaker 1: But the girl only laughed at him and threw stones
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  Speaker 1: at him. Some of the stones hid him and hurt
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  Speaker 1: very much, and every day he grew more and more miserable.
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  Speaker 1: One day, while he was walking in the forest, he
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  Speaker 1: found a doe with a sharp thorn in its foot.
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  Speaker 1: He took the thorn out and carried the poor tired
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  Speaker 1: creature to its home. The doe was very grateful and said,
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  Speaker 1: tell me what I can do to thank you. And
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  Speaker 1: the prince answered, tell me how I can make the
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  Speaker 1: girl I love love me. The doe was very sorrowful.
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  Speaker 1: You will never make her love you. She is unkind
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  Speaker 1: and cruel to everyone. But I will ask the other
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  Speaker 1: animals and perhaps they can give me advice. So when
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  Speaker 1: the doe's foot was healed, she went to the big
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  Speaker 1: gray elephant and asked his advice. Tell your prince, said
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  Speaker 1: the big gray elephant, that the girl is cruel and unkind.
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  Speaker 1: He had better seek a wife in the capitol. So
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  Speaker 1: the doe went to the lion. If the Prince has
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  Speaker 1: been kind to you, he is much too good for
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  Speaker 1: the girl, he said. She is hard and cruel and
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  Speaker 1: never sheds tears. As the women and the villages do
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  Speaker 1: all the animals said the same thing. And at last
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  Speaker 1: the dough met the little hare and told him her trouble.
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  Speaker 1: It isn't her fault, said the hare. They took her
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  Speaker 1: heart away from her when she was a little girl.
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  Speaker 1: How can she be kind without a heart? Let the
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  Speaker 1: prince steal her heart that hangs in the cedar tree,
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  Speaker 1: and then she will love him. So the doe went
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  Speaker 1: and told the prince, you must steal her heart, which
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  Speaker 1: hangs in the cedar tree above her hut, but you
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  Speaker 1: must go alone at night. So the prince went alone
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  Speaker 1: through the dark forest at night and came to the
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  Speaker 1: buffalo's crawl. The moonlight was shimmering through the gray shadows
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  Speaker 1: as he picked his way between the sleeping buffaloes up
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  Speaker 1: to the maiden's hut, and there above him, in the
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  Speaker 1: cedar tree, hung the heart. He climbed the tree and
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  Speaker 1: clasped the heart in his arms, And as he did so,
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  Speaker 1: the girl, asleep in the hut below, felt a great fear.
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  Speaker 1: Someone has touched my heart. She cried softly and tremulously.
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  Speaker 1: She opened the door and saw the prince and fell
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  Speaker 1: at his feet, sobbing, Oh, my lord, you have my
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  Speaker 1: heart in your arms, take me too. So the prince
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  Speaker 1: took her away to the capital, and they lived happily
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  Speaker 1: together for many years. The big gray elephant called the
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  Speaker 1: forest countuncil together, and they passed sentence on the old
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  Speaker 1: tortoise and killed him because his advice had been bad.
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  Speaker 1: For this is the law of the Mabira forest. If
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  Speaker 1: any animal gives bad advice to the council, he is killed.
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  Speaker 1: And the forest council sent a messenger to the Prince
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  Speaker 1: and told him what they had done. And he was
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  Speaker 1: glad for though the heart of a woman causes all
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  Speaker 1: the trouble in the world, it also brings all the joy.
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  Speaker 1: And her tears are like the spring rains and make
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  Speaker 1: the earth beautiful. And of Section two read by Laura Gibbs.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Section three of the Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Thepapbana bird, the African cuckoo, does not
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  Speaker 1: sing cuckoo, cuckoo. It sings cuck coo, cuck coo, And
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  Speaker 1: it can sing this song for a whole hour until
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  Speaker 1: every one in the neighborhood is tired. Of hearing it.
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  Speaker 1: Then it flies to another tree, clears its throat, and
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  Speaker 1: begins again. The mother cuckoo is too lazy to build
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  Speaker 1: a nest of her own and to hatch her own eggs.
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  Speaker 1: If she finds a nice, comfortable looking nest, she lays
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  Speaker 1: an egg in it and flies away, hoping the owner
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  Speaker 1: will hatch it for her. But she forgets so soon
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  Speaker 1: that she never returns to see what has happened to
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  Speaker 1: her egg. One day, a mother cuckoo found a lovely
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: nest in the forest and laid an egg among the
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: four little eggs which were in it already. Then she
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: flew away and forgot all about it. When the owner
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: of the nest returned, she was too tender hearted to
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: throw the egg out, so she hatched it with her own.
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  Speaker 1: But the young cuckoo was so large and hungry that
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: he soon filled up the nest, and one day, when
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: the mother bird was away looking for food, he pushed
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: the four little fledgling out of the nest. A wild
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: cat was passing among the bushes down below, and gobbled
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: them up as they fell. When the mother bird returned,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: she found only the cuckoo in her nest, and she
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: searched everywhere for her children, crying as she went, mumpapana mumpabana,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: which means give me children, give me children. She searched
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: under the bushes and all round her nest, and then
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: went all through the forest, crying all the time, mumpabana
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: mum pa bana, till all the other birds and animals
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: knew of her sorrow. When the next nesting season came,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: she laid four more eggs and never left the young
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: birds after they were hatched. But she had got into
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the habit of singing this song. I left them safe
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: in the nest, mumpabana umpabana, seeking the food that was best.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: Umpa bana, mumpabana. How did the cruel thief come? Umpa bana, umpabana.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I'm wrecking my joy in my home pa banapa bana.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: The young birds heard it all day long and learnt
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: to sing it, and now it has become their tribal song,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: and they sing it for hours together and are quite
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: as tiresome as the cuckoo who just sings cuckucko, cuckucko
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: without grumbling about it. And of section three read by
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Laura Gibbs. Section four of The Flame tree and other
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: folklore stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. The absent Minded Bridegroom. Once
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: upon a time there was a man called Nagamba, who
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: was very absent minded. Everybody laughed at him, but he
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: did not mind. He had many friends and was quite
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: a good fellow. At last, the time came for his marriage,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: and he paid the dowry and a rare the feast,
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and married his sweetheart, and they started on the journey
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: to his house. But as they walked along, they came
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to a place called Nakusa, and Nagamba remembered that a
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: friend of his lived there, So he said to his bride,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: sit here and rest in the shade for a little while,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: and I will fetch you a cooling drink. When he
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: got to his friend's house, he found a feast going on,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: and many people he knew were there, and he sat
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: down with them and forgot the poor little bride sitting
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: in the shade waiting for a cooling drink. And the
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: sun went down and night fell, and still he sat
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: on and talked and joked and sang, and the dawn
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: broke in the east, and suddenly the cocks crowed. Nagamba
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: sprang to his feet. My friends, he cried, I am married,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: and my bride sits in the shade, waiting for a
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: cooling drink. They all went to find her, but the
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: girl had become tired of waiting and had returned to
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: her father's house and refused to go back to Nagamba.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: And as no one else would marry him, he remained
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: a bachelor all his life. And now in Uganda, this
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: has become a proverb. If a man is absent minded
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: and forgetful, his friends say, you will never get a wife.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: You will have the fate of Nagamba, the absent minded
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: bridegroom and of Section four read by Laura Gibbs. Section
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: five of The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories from
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: public domain. This singer Nimba Oluyimba oluimba langey. We march
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: over hills and valleys, hundreds of warriors strong, and I
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: take my heart from my shoulder and sing them a
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: marching song. I sing of a distant garden that looks
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: towards the setting sun in the cool green shade of
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the plantains. The shadows are soft and long. I sing
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: of a beautiful maiden, slim and tall, like a forest tree,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: with eyes as dark as the forest pools, and a
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: heart that is true to me. And when the war
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: is over and the warriors return to rest, I will
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: marry my beautiful maiden in the garden that looks towards
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the west. And each man marches in silence, for each
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: is a traveler alone. And no man asks what his
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: neighbor thinks, for the heart of man is his own.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: End of section five read by Lori Gibbs. Section six
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: of The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: The famine a long time ago, a terrible drought visited
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the countries round the Great Lake. The spring rains failed
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: every day. The sun rose like a copper ball and
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: made his burning way across a cloudless sky. No flowers
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: bloomed that spring, and the grass dried. Upon the hill sides.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: The banana trees and the shady gardens looked desolate and sad.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Their leaves hung down, limp and brown. And no heavy
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: bunches of golden fruit filled the air with sweetness. The
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: potato patches had been baked hard and dry, and no
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Indian corn had been able to struggle through the hard ground.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: At last, the people began to dig up the banana
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: roots and to eat the great coarse bulbs to keep
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: themselves from starving. The lake sank lower and lower till
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: the tall papyrus stood high above the water, and the
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: marshy ground was seen for miles among the shallows round
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the shore. Great rocks stood out round the falls at Gingjaw,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: and the water trickled in small rivulets over them, where
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: every spring the water of the great lake rush and
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: tumble and roar into the river Nile. Famine and want
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: spread over the land, but the part of the country
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: that suffered most was Busoga. There was a large herd
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: of elephants which lived in Zibondo's country, and they wandered
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: from place to place, seeking fresh grass and leaves and roots,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: and finding nothing. At last, the chief of the herd spoke,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: when I was a calf in the herd ninety years ago,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: I remember a famine like this, and I remember that
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: the Nile was so low that we found a ford
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: and crossed into the Mabira forest and found food there.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Let us go now and seek this ford, for the
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: waters of the river are low. So the herd moved
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: off towards the nile, and as they went they passed
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: through deserted villages and wasted country, and saw the thin,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: starving animals dragging themselves to the river. The chief of
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: the herd led them straight to the spot he remembered,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: and there they saw rocky ground gleaming through shallow water,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: and knew they had found a ford. There was one
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: cow elephant who was walking with her calf and cheering
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: him on. Courage, my child, she said, we are nearly there.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Think of the cool green glades we shall find in
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the Mabira forest. For this pitiless sun can never strike
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: through the thick creepers on the trees, and the water
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: pools are deep and dark. As she said this, her
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: small eyes fell on a pitiful sight. A mother monkey
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: had carried her baby down to the river to drink,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: but she was too weak to lift it. The cow
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: elephant lifted them both with her trunk and carried them
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: across the ford into the Mabira forest. The king of
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the cloud Land had seen the distress on the earth,
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: and as he looked down on Uganda, he saw what
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the cow elephant did, and his heart was filled with
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: pity for the starving people and animals. And he called
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: all his clouds together a great army, and they poured
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: rain on the sun baked earth, and where there had
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: only been hard ground, gardens and fields sprang up. The
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: hill sides became green with grass and brilliant with flowers.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: And the great Lake rose and poured its waters over
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the falls, and where the shallows had been round the
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: lake shore, the water was so deep that it reached
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: to the feathery heads of the papyrus, and the ford
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: across the river was lost under the tumbling, rushing waters.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: From that time, the monkeys have always been the friends
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: of the elephants, for though they are small, they can
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: help them. From their homes in the tree tops, they
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: can see the hunters coming, and they warn the herd.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: They see the hunters setting traps, and they tell the
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: elephants where they are. And this is why men prefer
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: to hunt elephants on the plains and hill sides, and
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: fear to hunt them in the forests. For they never
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: know whether the monkeys have seen their plans and have
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: told the herds their secrets. And of section six read
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: by Lori Gibbs. Section seven of the Flame Tree and
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. The Quits of Gomba.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: There was a battle going on round the village of Gomba.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: In the village there was a lame man who had
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: never walked. Every morning he was carried out into the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: sunny courtyard, and every evening he was carried back to
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: his house. But the battle was raging, and no one
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: remembered the lame man. As he lay in his house,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: he saw a blind man passing by, and a sudden
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: thought struck him. He called to the blind man, come here,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: my friend, I have something important to tell you. The
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: blind man groped his way with his long stick till
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: he stood before the lame man, who said, listen, my
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: no one has remembered us during the battle, and assuredly
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: we shall die, you who are blind, and I who
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: am lame. But I have a plan. Take me on
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: your back and we will escape from the village. I
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: will be eyes to you, and you shall be feet
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: to me. The blind man agreed to the plan and
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: hoisted the lame man on his back, and they escaped
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: from Gomba. When they reached safety, the blind man said,
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: give me a reward, for I have saved your life.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: But the lame man said not so, it was I
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: who saved yours. They spoke hot and angry words to
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: each other, and at last they decided to take the
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: case to the chief's council. But when the chief heard it,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: he said, there is no case. The lame man was
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: eyes to the blind and the blind man was feet
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: to the lame Both have saved their lives, which in
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: itself is a great reward. The words are finished. And
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: now this has become a proverb in Uganda. When the
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: two men quarrel, and both of them are in the
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: right or in the wrong, the people say it is
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: a case of the quits of Gombaugh and of section
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: seven read by Laura Gibbs. Section eight of The Flame
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Tree and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Dog
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: and the Leopard, Once upon a time, a leopard, who
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: had several cubs, hired a dog to be nurse to them,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: but she was very unkind to the dog, who was miserable.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: The dog was always thin and hungry. She only ate
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: what was left over when the leopard and her cubs
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: had finished a meal, and that was never much. One day,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: when the leopard was out visiting and the dog was
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: left at home with the cubs, she found some bones
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: in a corner and fell upon them ravenously. One of
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: the cubs crept up to look, and a bone hid
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: him in the eye and put the eye out. When
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: the dog saw what she had done, she was very
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: frightened and ran away into the forest. She ran on
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: until she came to the house of the old wizard,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: and then she thought, I will go and have my
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: fortune told. So she went into the house and told
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: the wizard what had happened. Now. The old wizard told
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: fortunes by cards, and his cards were bits of buffalo
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: hide sewn over with cowry shells and beads. He got
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: them out of his goatskin bag and was just going
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: to tell the dog's fortune when he saw the leopard
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: coming down the forest path, and he whispered to the dog,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: there is the leopard coming here. Climb up into that
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: basket which hangs from the roof, and lie very still.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: So the dog climbed up into the basket in which
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: the wizard kept the bananas he was ripening for beer,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: and lay quietly down. In a few minutes, the leopard
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: arrived and poured out her story to the wizard. Tell
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: my fortune. She said that I may know if I
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: shall catch my enemy. The wizard took out his cards
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: and spoke, you will catch your enemy in the spring rains.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: If she goes out in the rain, you will catch
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: her in the sunshine. She will be safe. The rain
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: will be her downfall. I speak to those that are above,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: I speak to those that are below. Let her who
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: has ears here, let her who hears understand. The leopard
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: thanked the wizard and gave him a beautiful white hen
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: as a present, and went away home to her cubs.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: When the dog came down from the basket, the wizard asked,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: did you understand my warning? And the dog said, I understood, sir.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: I will never go out in the rain. The months passed,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: and one day, when the dog was out in the forest,
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: a heavy shower came on, the spring rains had begun.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: The dog ran in the direction of home, but suddenly
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: she saw an ant hill by the roadside, from which
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: the ants were beginning to fly. The dog stopped for
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: a moment to eat a few, and then as the
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: succulent creatures poured out of the antill, she lapped them
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: up with her tongue and forgot all about the wizard's
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: warning and did not see the leopard creeping down the path.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: The leopard sprang upon the dog and killed her. And
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: from that day leopards and dogs are enemies, and a
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: constant battle rages between the tribes. For the leopards, remember
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: how a dog blinded a cub and the dogs remember
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: the vengeance of the mother leopard in the Spring Rains
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: and of section eight read by Laura Gibbs, Section nine
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: of The Flame Tree and Other folklore Stories from Uganda
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: The Leopard, the Hare, and the Monkey. Once upon a
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: time a leopard and a hare lived together in one house.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: One day, the leopard said, let us go to the
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: village and steal goats. The hare did not want to
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: steal a goat, but he wanted the leopard to go
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: and bring some meat, so he thought of a trick
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: and agreed to what the leopard said. They started out
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: in opposite directions, but the hare soon doubled back and
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: followed the leopard, who crept up the hillside towards a
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: goat which was grazing by itself, and sprang upon it.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Then the hare shouted, and the leopard, thinking the goat
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: herds had seen him, dropped the goat and ran away.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: The hare dragged the goat under some bushes, and after
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: waiting till all was safe and quiet, took it home.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: The leopard was very surprised and rather sulky. When the
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: meat was nearly cooked, the hare went outside the house
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: and shouted. The leopard thought the herdsman had followed them,
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: and he dashed out and fled to the forest and
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: did not return till the morning. By that time, the
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: hare had eaten up all the meat, but he told
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: the leopard that the herdsman had come and taken it
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: all away. This happened several times till a monkey who
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: had watched them, told the leopard of the hare's trick,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: and that evening. Instead of running to the forest, he
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: only ran a little way and came back and found
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: the hare just sitting down to the feast. Although he
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: was very frightened, the hare managed to slip past the
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: leopard and jumped into an ant hill, which had a
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: large hole in the top. He crouched down and was
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: just out of reach of the leopard's paw. The ants
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: make their home a very hard red earth so that
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: no storms or rain can wash it away, and the
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: leopard knew better than to risk breaking all his claws
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: trying to dig out the hair, so he shouted, foolish creature,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: I will fill up the hole with fire and burn
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: you inside it. Do not think you shall escape my vengeance.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: He called to a crow who was sitting on a
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: tree near by, Come and guard my prisoner while I
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: collect firewood. But the crow never does anything for anyone.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: He is too disagreeable, and besides, he did not see
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: why the hare should be burnt in the ant hill,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: so he answered, I can't sit in the sun. The
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: dust gets into my throat and makes me hoarse. I
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: can't guard your prisoner. Find some one else. Just then
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: the monkey, who had told the leopard of the hare's
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: trick came along. Oh, my dear friend, said the leopard.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Come and guard the wicked hare, whom you help me
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: to catch. I'm going to burn him in the ant hill.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: So the monkey sat on the top of the ant
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: hill while the leopard went to collect firewood. As the
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: monkey sat there, he heard the hare munching something. What
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: are you eating, he asked. The white ants are swarming,
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: and I am eating them as they come up, said
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: the hare. I have never eaten such beautiful ants. They
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: are a miracle of creation. Give me some, said the monkey.
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: Lean down into the hole, said the hare, I bear
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: no malice, and he who eats alone has no joy.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: I will give you a handful. The monkey leaned down
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: into the hole, and the hare threw a handful of
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: dust up into his eyes. The monkey sprang back and
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: rolled off the ant hill, and the hare jumped out
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: of the hole and ran away. The crow, sitting on
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: a branch near by, laughed until his throat ate achd.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: The monkey wiped the dust out of his eyes and
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: looked ruefully at the ant hill. What shall I do
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: when the leopard returns, he asked. The crow put Coliscinth's
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: seeds into the hole, said the crow, and put some
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: rubbish on them, and tell the leopard you have begun
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: to build the fire for him. So the monkey did this,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: and when the leopard came back with the firewood, he
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: piled it up over the hole, and they set it alight.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: A collascinth's seed gave a loud pop. What is that,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: said the leopard. One of his eyes is burnt, said
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the monkey solemnly. Another seed gave up pop. That's his
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: other eye, croaked the crow. But now the seeds were
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: all thoroughly hot, and they all began popping together, and
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: the crow burst out laughing, And the monkey swung himself
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: up into the tree and laughed until his sides ached,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: while the leopard fumed with rage, for he knew the
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: monkey was playing some trick. He had to wait until
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: the fire burnt out and the smoke blew away before
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: he could look down into the hole, and then he
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: saw only ashes and twigs, and knew that the hare
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: had escaped. And from that day leopards have hated monkeys
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: and kill them if they meet them in the forest,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: and the monkeys sleep high up in the trees among
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: the branches that are too slender to bear the leopard's
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: weight if he should think of climbing up in the
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: night when he goes out hunting. And of section nine
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: read by Laura Gibbs. Section ten of the Flame Tree
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosette of Baskerville.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Mussoke the
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Moon Boy. Years and years ago in Uganda, there was
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: a woman whose banana garden bordered the high road, and
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: every night the travelers who passed by stole fruit and
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: vegetables out of her garden, and this made her very angry.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: So she took counsel with her old nurse who lived
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: with her, and they dug a ditch and covered it
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: with sticks and branches and earth and leaves, and said
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: to each other, the next thief who comes at night
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: will tumble in the next evening. The herdsman of the
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: chief was driving his cows home to the krawl, when
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: one of them strayed into the woman's garden and fell
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: into the ditch trap and broke its leg. The cowherd
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: was very angry and told the chief, and the chief
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: sent for the woman and said, why did you set
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: a trap for my cow. When the poor woman explained
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: what she had done, the chief was still more angry
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: and said, you meant to kill my people. You are
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: a wicked woman, and he ordered her to be beaten.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: The woman implored the chief to have mercy on her,
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: and he said, well, you may go home now. I
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: will not beat you. But the next child you have
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: shall be mine. If it is a boy, I will
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: kill him. If it is a girl, you may keep
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: her until she is twelve years old, and then she
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: shall be mine slave. Very soon afterwards, the woman had
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: a child, and it was a most beautiful baby boy.
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: She cried very much when she thought that her dear
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: little baby would be killed, so she sent her old
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: nurse to the chief to say that it was a girl.
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: The chief said, bring the child here that I may
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: see it. When the nurse came back and told the woman,
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: she cried more than ever. But just then a stranger
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: passed down the road and turned into the garden to
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: ask for a drink of water. She had a little
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: baby tied on her back, and she carried a roll
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: of mats on her head. The nurse gave her a
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: drink of water and said, we are two women in
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: great trouble, and then she told the stranger the story.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: The stranger said, I will lend you my little girl baby.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Go and show her to the chief and save the
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: life of your little boy. So the nurse went again
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: to the chief's house, and when he saw the baby,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: he said, tell the mother to bring this child to
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: me when she is twelve years old. Nobody suspected anything,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: and when the old nurse got home, she packed up
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: all their things, and at dawn the next morning, they
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: set out for Singo with the stranger who had been
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: so kind to them. The years passed and they all
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: lived happily in Singo, and the baby grew into a
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: beautiful boy, and they called him Musoke, which means rainbow.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: Every day Musoke took his goats on to the hill
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: side and played on a reed pipe as he walked,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: And the goats skipped about and jumped, but some were
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: staid old things and walked sedately. This was the song
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: Musoke sang in the morning when he took the goats
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: out before the sun was hot. Little black kids, little
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: white kids, speckled and striped and brown. I love them all,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: and they all love me. Our life is happy and
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: gay and free, eat and sleep and sing and play.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: That is our life of every day. Out to the
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: hills when the sun is low. What we talk of?
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: Who can know? Home to rest when the sun is high?
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: What do we dream of? They and I? Little black kids,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: little white kids, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. In
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: the evening, when he brought his goats home, he sang
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: another song to them on his reed pipe. Come home,
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: Come home, little brothers. The shadows are soft and long.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Come home, Come home, little brothers, And I'll sing you
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: a slumber song. For the plantains are peeled in the kitchen,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: and over the fire they steam, and the housewife has
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: saved the peelings for you, as luscious and cool and
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: green as they grew. Come home, Come home, little brothers,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. One day a messenger arrived from
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: the chief, who said, your little girl must be twelve
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: years old. Now the chief has sent for her. The
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: mother was very sad. She sent the old nurse out
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: to the hills where Mussolke was herding the goats, and said,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: tell my child to come home by the back way
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: and to sit in the kid hut till I have
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: told him what to do. Then she cooked food for
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: the messenger and said, when you have eaten, you shall
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: see the little girl and take her away with you.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: She dressed Musoke in a little bark cloth and put
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: bracelets on his hands, And as she did so, she
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: told him the story of his birth and said, I
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: have saved your life up till to day. I can
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: do no more. You must use your own wisdom. And
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: she told him a Luganda proverb, it is no use
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: asking the gods to help you if you don't mean
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: to run fast. Then she led Musoke to the messenger
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: and said, here is my little girl. Take her to
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: the chief. And she gave Musoke a present to take,
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: a big hen and some simsimseed in a packet of
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: banana fiber, and the old nurse went with them carrying
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: their roll of mats. The chief was very pleased with
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: the little girl and the present she brought, and he
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: gave the old nurse a hut and said, take great
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: care of this beautiful child, and see that she learns
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: how I like my meals cooked, that in time she
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: may be useful to me. At first, Mussoki was very
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: careful what he did, but he grew careless, and one
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: day he saw a reed pipe on the ground, and
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: in a moment he forgot everything and began to play
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: his old goat song, little black kids, little white kids,
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: speckled and striped and brown. The people heard him in amazement.
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Do girls play reed pipes? They cried, who is this child?
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Musok was frightened and ran home. And for some time
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: he was very careful, but he soon forgot again. And
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: one day he found some boys throwing stones into a
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: wild plum tree, and he took the stones and threw
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: them further and higher than any of the others. And
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: the boys were amazed and said, can a girl throw
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: How did you learn to throw stones? Then Mussoki was
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: frightened and ran home. But the boys told their parents,
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: and everybody began to talk about it, and at last
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: it reached the ears of the chief that there was
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: something queer about the little girl who had come from Singo.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: And he sent to the old nurse and said, come
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: to the council house tomorrow with the little girl, and
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: I will question you about the strange things she does.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: When the nurse heard this, she said to Musok, what
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: have you done, my child? Now the chief will find
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: that we have been deceiving him, and he will kill us.
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: That night, Musok lay awake, wondering what he should say
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: when they questioned him in the council house next day.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: And then he saw the moonlight shining through the chinks
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: of the reed door, and he slipped softly out into
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: the courtyard and sat down by a great stone. Everything
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: was beautiful and peaceful round him. The hut threw a
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: deep shadow across the courtyard, and behind it the wind sighed,
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: and the banana trees through long flickering shadows, which reached
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: him now and then, and all round him. The crickets
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: were chirpy, but no wise thoughts came to the poor boy.
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: He sat huddled up in his little bark cloth against
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: the big stone and wondered what he should say in
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: the council house next morning. A big, fluffy owl flew
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: past him and stopped in surprise. Why are you not
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: in bed, little girl, he said, I am not a
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: little girl, said Musoki, and he told his story to
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: the owl. Ask the moon to help you, said the owl,
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: and flew away. Musoki looked up at the moon, but
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: she seemed so far away and so cold and still.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: A black bat flew squeaking past him and startled him
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: a little. What are you doing out of doors at night,
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: little girl? He said, I am not a little girl,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: said Musoki, and told the bat his story. Ask the
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: Moon to help you, said the bat, and flew on.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: Musoki looked up again at the moon, but she seemed
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: still further away and colder and stiller than ever. A
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: big cricket hopped on to the stone by his side
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: and gave such a loud chirp that Musoki quite jumped.
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: Why don't you ask the moon? He said. Only the
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: moon can help you, but you must stand up and
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: shut your eyes and stretch your arms high above your
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: head when you speak to her. So Musoki stood up
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: and shut his eyes and stretched his arms high above
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: his head. And then he laughed, for he felt his
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: muscle swelling, and was glad that he was a boy. Oh,
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: dear Moon, have pity on me, and tell me what
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: to do and how to answer the chiefs and the
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: council house tomorrow. Then from far away came a gentle voice,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: Little boy, I have watched you for many years, and
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: I love you dearly. If you go to the council
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: house tomorrow and the chiefs question you, nothing can save you.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: Will you come and live with me in the cloud land?
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: Once I had a little boy of my own, but
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: he fell out of his cradle into the great lake
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: and became an island. And since then I have been
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: very lonely, for the stars are far away and never
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: talk to me. Mussok said, how can I come to
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: you right up in the sky, and the moon answered,
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: I will send a shower of rain and make a rainbow,
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: and you must climb up on that. In a few minutes,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: Mussoki felt the rain beginning to fall, and soon a
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: beautiful rainbow appeared, and he said to the cricket, tell
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: my old nurse where I've gone, and give my greetings
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: to my mother, and tell them I'm quite safe. I
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: could not play at being a girl anymore. Then he
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: climbed up on the rainbow, and the moon took him
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: in her arms and laid him in the lovely pearl
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: cradle where her own little boy used to lie, and
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: told him not to lean out too far. In the morning,
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: no one knew where he had gone, and they never
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: found him. But if you look up at the moon,
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: you will see something like a cloud lying across it,
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: and an england. They call that the man in the moon,
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: but it is really Mussauke, the moon boy in his cradle.
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: Perhaps some day you may see a moon rainbow. You
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: may have to watch for many nights, for it is
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: very rarely seen. Some people have never seen one at all.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: And of Section ten read by Laura Gibbs. Section eleven
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: of the Flame Tree and Other folklore Stories from Uganda
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: The Elephant that wanted to dance. Once upon a time,
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: the big gray elephant gave a great feast and invited
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: all the animals in the Mabira forest to come to
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: a beautiful glade that no man had ever seen. And
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: there they feasted in the moonlight and sang songs and
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: made jokes and danced. There was one hare who danced
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: better than any other animal, and the big gray elephant said,
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: little hare, you are a marvel. You dance like a sunbeam.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: There was a foolish young elephant at the feast, and
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: he watched the hair dancing to and fro and up
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: in the air, and he wished he could dance too.
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: He thought so much about it that for some days
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: after the feast, he was quite ill, and he did
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: not sleep at night, And at last his mother asked him,
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: have you any sorrow, my child. He did not like
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: to tell even his mother what was worrying him, but
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: he went off alone to the hare's house and implored
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: him to teach him to dance. The hare was very
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: surprised and did not know what to say. At first,
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: he looked at the elephant's heavy legs, and he said, kindly,
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: one must begin very young to dance. You elephants can
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: do so many clever things which the other animals cannot do.
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: I don't think it would suit your figure to dance.
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: So the young elephant went sorrowfully home. When the other
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: hares heard of his visit, they laughed very much, for
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: who had ever heard of an elephant dancing. A week passed,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: and the young elephant invited the hair to his house.
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: He gave him a beautiful dinner, and then said, I
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: must learn to dance. I think of this all day,
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: and I dream of it all night. You must teach
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: me to dance. The hare looked at him in despair.
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: Your legs are too heavy, he said, at last, your
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: hind legs are much too heavy. Then he went home
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: rather annoyed. Again the elephant sent for him, but this
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: time the hair would not go. He sent a message saying,
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: if you can get a doctor to cut off some
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: of your heavy flanks so that you will be lighter
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: on your feet, I will try and teach you to dance.
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: The foolish elephant called in an ape who professed to
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: be a great doctor, and the ape cut all the
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: flesh off his hind legs until only the bones were left,
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: and sewed the skin up again. The elephant sent the
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: meat to the hair with a message, now you will
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: see that I am in earnest. When my legs have
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: healed up, we will begin the dancing lessons. The hares
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: laughed and laughed when they got the message, but they said, well, anyway,
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: we will have a good feast. So they sent for
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: all their relations and had a big dinner of elephant's
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: steak with sem sem sauce. A few days afterwards, the
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: elephant sent an antelope with a message, I am very ill. Indeed,
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: my legs do not heal up, and my doctor thinks
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: he had better sew on the flesh he cut off,
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: So will you please send it back by the antelope?
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: What was to be done. Some of the steak remained
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: over from the feast, but they could not send it
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: back for it had been cooked. The dancing hare said
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: to the antelope, stay here and dine with us, and
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: afterwards we will talk over the business. He said this
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: to gain time and think of a plan. When the
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: antelope tasted the elephant's steak, he said, this is very
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: good meat. What is it? And the hare said little
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: rock conies that we catch on the hillside. If you like,
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: we will hunt some before you go home. The antelope
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: was delighted and they set off, but the hare led
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: him to a pit trap, and he fell in and
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: was killed. When the antelope did not return, the elephant
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: sent a buffalo with the same message, and the hares
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: played the same trick on him. The young elephant was
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: very ill, indeed, but when the buffalo did not return,
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: he made a last effort and sent a crafty old leopard.
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: None of the forest animals like the leopards very much,
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: for they have such bad manners, and the leopard would
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: not have gone on any message for anyone, But he
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: was a little afraid to refuse the young elephant, who
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: was a relation of the king of the forest, so
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: very grumpily he agreed to go. The hares were terrified
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: when they saw him coming, and the old mother hare said,
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: I suppose we must give him dinner, but I don't
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: like it a bit. His table manners are awful. The
• 54:06
  Speaker 1: leopard gave the young elephant's message, sniffing and snuffling as
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: he spoke, and stopping every now and then to give
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: a little grunt. And the hares kept up their courage
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: all through dinner, and the dancing hare led him to
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: the trap. The leopard had seen many traps, and he
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: sniffed suspiciously round this one. Then he snarled at the hare,
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: you young villain, he cried, I can see what you
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: have done to the other messengers. He turned suddenly round
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: in great anger. All his teeth bared and would have
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: caught the dancing hair, but he slipped away and ran
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: down the hillside. There was a river at the bottom
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: of the hill, and the hare ran in and out
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: of the papyrus clumps, where the leopard could not follow him.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: Then he let himself down into a water hole till
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: he was quite wet, and ran back again. The leopard
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: had lost the scent entirely and was running up and
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: down the bank sniffing. And when he saw the hair
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: so wet that his fur looked like a black rag,
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: he thought it was some queer creature that lived in
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: the swamp. Little wet animal, He cried, have you seen
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: a hare anywhere about? No, answered the hare. They seldom
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: come here, they live in the forests. I know that
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: you are stupid, said the leopard rudely. And as the
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: sun was setting and he was very hungry, he hurried
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: back to tell the elephant his story. But when he
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: arrived near home, he found much sorrow in the forest,
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: for the poor foolish elephant was dead. And though the
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: hares were really very sorry for they loved their king,
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: the big gray elephant, whose relation the young one was,
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: yet they felt it really was his own fault for
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: being so silly and for believing anything an ape said,
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: for no one in the forest who has any sense
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: takes the advice of an ape. And of section eleven
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: read by Lord Gibbs. Section twelve of The Flame Tree
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Man who
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: Knew too Much. Once upon a time there was a
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: man who had a most beautiful garden round his house.
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: The soil was so good that everything in his garden
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: was larger and better than any in the neighborhood. His
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: women did all the work, and he just showed off
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: his garden to visitors. And because he was bad tempered,
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: they flattered him, and he became so proud and arrogant
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: that one day he said, when Kimtu, the first man,
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: planted a garden, he made some big mistakes. Had I
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: been there, I would have advised him very well. For look,
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: this large pumpkin is growing on a small creeping plant,
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: and those small plums on that great plum tree. I
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: should have put the pumpkin on the plum tree and
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: the plums on a small plant. And because his friends
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: were afraid of him, they said how wise he was,
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: and flattered him more than ever. The next day he
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: was sitting under his plum tree when a plum dropped
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: down and hit him in the eye and hurt him
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: very much. He had to have his eye tied up
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: and could not bear the light for some days. While
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: he was sitting in the dark, he had time to think,
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: and he said to his friends, what a foolish man
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: I was to think I knew more than kinto the
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: first man, And how foolish you are to flatter me,
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: For had a pumpkin fallen from the plum tree, I
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: might have been killed. After this he became wiser, and
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: his friends left off flattering him. End of Section twelve
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: read by Lor Gibbs. Section TI thirteen of The Flame
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: Tree and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville.
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The story
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: of Insanghi and the Apes. Once upon a time, far
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: away upon the mountains, there was a village in which
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: the people were very unhappy, for some huge apes came
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: every day and stole little children. There was one poor
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: widow woman who had three little girls, and she hid
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: them away in her house and never let them go
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: out for fear the apes might see them. But every
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: day her fears grew that she might lose her children,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: as other people in the village had lost theirs. And
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: the little girls were growing weak and thin because they
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: never went outside their dark house and never got any
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: fresh air or sunshine. At last, the woman went to
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: an old, wise tortoise and asked him, tell me what
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: I can do to save my children from the apes.
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: And the tortoise said, apes never take children who are
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: over twelve years old. If you can hide your little
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: girls till then no apes will touch them. But I
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: should advise you to take them away to a cave
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: in the mountain side, where they will get fresh air
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: and room to run about. So the tortoise showed the
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: woman a cave. It was big and airy and had
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: a little entrance which could be closed by a stone
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: inside and could not be opened from the outside. And
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: there the woman took her three little girls and showed
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: them how to close the entrance when she had gone,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: and she told them not to open the door to
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: anyone except herself. I will come every day with a
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: basket of food, she said, and I will sing a
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: song as I come, so that you will know it
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: is me. If anyone comes to the door who does
• 59:48
  Speaker 1: not sing my song, do not open it. The next day,
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: the woman brought a basket of food, and she sang
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: this song as she climbed up the mountain path. Three
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: in a cave, three in a cave. Only three in
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: a cave all day long while the sun is shining
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: all night long while the moon is shining. Only three
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: in a cave, Only three in a cave. When the
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: eldest girl was twelve years old, the woman took her home,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: and the two younger ones longed for the years to
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: pass when they might leave the cave two, for they
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: had no playmates but the lizards. But it was not
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: safe till they were twelve years old, and the only
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: glimpse they got of the outside world was when they
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: opened the door for their mother, who now sang as
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: she came. Two in a cave, two in a cave.
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: Only two in a cave all day long while the
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: sun is shining all night long while the moon is shining.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: Only two in a cave, Only two in a cave.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: Then the day came when the second girl was twelve
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: years old, and only the little one, whose name was Insanghi,
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: was left in the cave. She was lonely and cried
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 1: very much, for now she had no one but the
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: lizards to play with. But her mother said, I will
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: come earlier and stay longer with you every day, for
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: now your sisters are at home and can do the
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: work there. Now there was one old ape who saw
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: the two little girls digging in their garden and wondered
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: where they had come from, for he had never seen
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: children in that house. And he watched and saw the
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: woman go up the mountain path with a basket of food,
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: And as she climbed, she sang one in a cave,
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: One in a cave, Only one in a cave, all
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: day long, while the sun is shining, all night long,
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: while the moon is shining, Only one in a cave,
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: Only one in a cave. When she arrived at the cave,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: and SOANGI ran out to meet her, and the old
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: ape hid behind a rock quite near. For several days
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: he listened to the woman singing, and when he thought
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: he had learnt the song, he went to the cave
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: door and sang it. But in SONGI heard it inside
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: the cave was terrified, for the ape's voice was like
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: a hoarse old crow, and her mother's voice was like
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: a bird's. The old ape was very angry, but he
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: went away into the forest and found a young cousin
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: of his who was a great mimic and could copy
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: people's voices. Together, they hid behind the rock and listened
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: while the woman sang. And SONGI ran out to meet
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: her mother and begged her to take her home, for
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: the ape had been to the cave. The woman was
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: very distressed, but she said, I must go home and
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: tell your sisters, and I will stay with you till
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: you are twelve years old. Your sisters can bring us
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: a basket of food every day. I must go now
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: and make arrangements. When she had gone, the apes went
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: after her, sprinkling sharp thorns on the path, and then
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: they hurried to the cave, and the young one sang,
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: copying the woman's voice. Perhaps it was not exactly right,
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: but in Songy was too frightened to notice little mistakes.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: She was so glad that her mother had returned so
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: quickly that she opened the door at once. The apes
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: caught her and carried her away right into the middle
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: of the forest. She cried all the way, and wherever
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: her tears fell, little white flowers sprang into blossom. Meanwhile,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: her mother had made all arrangements at home and was
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: returning to the cave. But every now and then she
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: had to stop to take a thorn out of her foot,
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: and this delayed her. At last she reached the cave
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: and found it empty, and the lizards told her what
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: had happened, and they told her to follow the trail
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: of the little white flowers which were in Songhi's tears.
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: The poor woman hurried back to the village and told
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: the people what had happened, and the men came out
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: with spears and knives to hunt the apes. And they
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: followed the trail of little white flowers right into the
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 1: middle of the forest, and here they found a big
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: tree which was the king Ape's palace. Up this tree,
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: the apes had carried in some but as they dragged
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: her up, her foot was caught on a sharp branch,
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 1: and the blood dropped down onto a creeper with thick
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: green leaves. And wherever a drop of blood fell, a
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: beautiful crimson flower blossomed like a convolvulus, only with thick,
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: soft petals. The men prepared to make a big fire
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: round the tree, and when the apes saw that their
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: king's palace was going to be burnt, they all collected
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: to defend it, and there was a great battle, and
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: all the apes were killed and in Songhi climbed down
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: the big tree, and then the men lighted a fire
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: and burnt it to the ground. That was the end
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: of the king Ape's palace. And since that day apes
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: have been afraid to go near villages or steal children,
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: for their mothers always tell them what happened to the
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: king Ape's palace. But the birds and bees carried the
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: seeds of the little white flowers all over the country,
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 1: and the old people called them in Songhi's tears. And
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: you can still see the crimson creeper with flowers like
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: a convolvulus, only with thick, soft petals, but you must
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: search for it in the deep forests. Some people have
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 1: never seen it. But there are some people who never
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: see anything. And of section thirteen read by Laura Gibbs.
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: Section fourteen of The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Soliloquy of old age in a Banana garden.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: Dawn has crept with many colors through the clouds, but
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: the daylight is young and very weak. Chill round my
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: hut lies the mist in broken shrouds and Already forth
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: I go my work to seek. Through the long, hot,
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: weary hours, I hoe them earth, and the shadows of
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: the trees grow short and small. I am old and
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: weak and tired, and little worth. All my life long,
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: I have been in some one's thrall. Oh, I smell
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: the bitter smoke of many fires. I have cooked, and slaved,
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: and labored in submission. I've borne the fitful passion that
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: soon tires. I have suffered men's misusage and oppression. I've
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: spent myself as mother, wife, and daughter. I have given
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: them my all, and now am cursed. How often from
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: the stream I brought the water? Yet none have ever
• 1:06:42
  Speaker 1: asked me if I thirst. Muriel Robertson, Uganda, nineteen twelve,
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: reprinted by permission of the Westminster Gazette, end of section fourteen,
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: read by Lord Gibbs, Section fifteen of The Flame Tree
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The law concerning
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: fortune tellers or the wise leper. Once upon a time
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: there was a woman who had a beautiful daughter, whom
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: she loved very much, and she was very anxious that
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: she should find a nice husband. So many men wanted
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: to marry the girl that the mother thought it would
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: be very difficult to choose. There was one very nice
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: chief who lived in Kildondo, but the mother was so
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: worried about it that at last she went to a
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: witch doctor who told fortunes, and asked him to tell
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: her whether the Kyardondo chief would be a good husband
• 1:07:48
  Speaker 1: for her daughter. Now, this old witch doctor wanted to
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: marry the girl himself, so he made a great fuss,
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: getting out his cards, which were made of buffalo hide
• 1:07:59
  Speaker 1: sewn over which and beads, and then he told the
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: woman her fortune. On no account, let your daughter marry
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: the Caldondo chief, he said, she will be most unhappy
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 1: if she does. There is another man who will make
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: her a good husband, but I cannot tell you who
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: he is yet. He then taught the woman to sing
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: a song which he said would prevent her daughter from
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: leaving home. It was a bewitched song. So the woman
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 1: went home, and all the preparations for the girl's marriage
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: to the chief were made by her guardians, And at
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: last messengers came from the chief to take the bride
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: to Kildondo. As they started down the road. The mother
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: followed and sang the song the witch doctor had taught her.
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 1: Alone alone alone, cook and carry and dig with never
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 1: a day of ease. My hut is dark, and the
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: fire is low, and the night wind sighs in the trees.
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: Stay with me, daughter mine. Pity my eyes so dim?
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: Who is the stranger chief that you leave me to
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 1: go to him? Alone? Alone? Alone? When the bride's party
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 1: heard this song, they all stopped, and as the old
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 1: woman went on singing, they turned slowly back and followed
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: her to the house. And the girl went into her
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 1: mother's hut, and the messengers returned without her to Kildundo.
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: The chief could not understand what had happened, so he
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: sent other messengers for his bride, and the same thing
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: happened three times. The messengers always returned without the girl
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: and could not give any account of what had happened.
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: Everybody in Kalodondo heard about it, and they said the
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: girl is certainly bewitched. Now there was a leper man
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 1: living near the chief's house, to whom he had been
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: very kind, And the leper went to the chief and said,
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: send me to fetch the girl, for I too know
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: something about witchcraft. If the girl is to blame, I
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: will not bring her. But as she has only been
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 1: bewitched by some wicked person, I will surely bring her
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 1: to you. So the chief sent the leper man to
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: fetch his bride, and he set out carrying a little
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: goat skin mat and a reed pipe. When he came
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: to the woman's house, he sat down in the courtyard
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: outside on his little mat and began to play his pipe.
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 1: When he had finished, they thanked him for the tune,
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: and he got up and went away, but he left
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 1: his little mat in the courtyard. When he was a
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: little way down the road, the woman noticed the mat,
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: and she said to her daughter, look, the leper has
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: left his mat. Go after him with it, but do
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: not touch it with your hands. Lift it with a
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: stick and carry it to him like that. So the
• 1:10:45
  Speaker 1: girl took a long reed and lifted the goat skin
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 1: mat on it and hurried after the leper. When she
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 1: came near him, she called, look, my friend, here is
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: your mat, which you left in our courtyard. My mother
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: has sent me with it. The leopard did not answer,
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: but suddenly he began to sing, and as he sang,
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: the girl followed him down the road further and further
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: from home. He sang this song. Great and good is
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 1: my chief full of grace, or his words wealthy the
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: province he rules, in gardens and flocks and herds. There
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 1: shall the girl he loves be happy beyond her dreams.
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 1: Come with me, maiden, and prove all that this happiness means.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 1: When the woman saw that her daughter did not return,
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: she went to find her, and saw her far down
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: the road, following the leper, and still carrying his little
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: goat skin mat on the reed. At once she thought
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: that some trick was being played, and she hurried after them,
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 1: singing her bewitch song. But she was old and her
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: voice was too feeble to reach so far, and neither
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: the girl nor the leper heard her. They went straight
• 1:11:56
  Speaker 1: on and came to the chief's house in Cadondo. The
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 1: chief was much pleased, and all his people rejoiced, for
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 1: they had felt it very much that he had been
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: slighted by the girl and her people. And there was
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: a great feast, and the chief gave his bride a
• 1:12:12
  Speaker 1: beautiful house and many servants, and she was quite happy. Meanwhile,
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 1: the poor old mother sat mourning in her hut, thinking
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: that the girl would be very unhappy and that many
• 1:12:23
  Speaker 1: misfortunes would come to her. But as time went on
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: and the girl grew happier and happier, at last the
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 1: woman sent a messenger to the chief to tell him
• 1:12:33
  Speaker 1: the whole story, for she knew that the witch doctor
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: had lied to her. The chief went to the capital
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 1: and told the story in the King's council, and they
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: sent for the witch doctor to hear what he had
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: to say. My lords, he said, I have done wrong.
• 1:12:49
  Speaker 1: I wanted to marry the girl myself, so I lied
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: to her mother. Then the king commanded that the witch
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: doctor should be killed. And that day a law was
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: passed in the king King's council, and it was published
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: throughout the country, and everybody heard it that if any
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: woman goes to a witch doctor to have her fortune told,
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: a man of her tribe must go with her and
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: hear everything that is said. This became a custom in
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: Uganda in the old days. But now there is a
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: new law, and no one may go to a witch
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: doctor at all. And if the police find a man
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 1: telling fortunes, they take him to prison. But still some
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: people are foolish enough to go in secret and have
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: their fortunes told even though they know. This story and
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: of section fifteen read by Laura Gibbs. Section sixteen of
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: The Holy Man. There was one and some Uganda who
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: made great friends with an Arab who came to Uganda
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: to trade in ivory. And this Arab, who had traveled
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: in many lands, told him interesting things about the people
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: of different races. He told him how in some countries
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 1: there were men who forsook the world and lived alone
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 1: in great solitude, leading lives of study and silence, in
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: which they learned many things about the Great Spirit and
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: the laws of the universe. And these men became very
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: wise and very holy. When the Muganda heard this, he said,
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: I also wished to be a holy man and spend
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: a life of solitude learning wise things. So he said
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: good bye to all his friends and chose a hilltop
• 1:14:45
  Speaker 1: where he built a grass hut under a great tree,
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: and his wife left a basket of food at the
• 1:14:51
  Speaker 1: foot of the hill every day, near the spring from
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: which he fetched water. He spoke to no one, and
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: no one saw him. In a long time past, now,
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 1: an old owl lived in the great tree, and he
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: watched the man build his hut and wondered what he
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: had come there to do. But every day he watched
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: and nothing happened. The man just sat at his hut
• 1:15:14
  Speaker 1: door and looked out over the hills and valleys until
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 1: the sun set. Then he fetched water in his basket
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: of food and shut the door of the hut till morning.
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: The owl had lived many years and had seen many
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: strange things, but he thought that this man was the
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 1: strangest of them all. So he decided to ask him
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: what he was doing. He flew down and perched on
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: a low branch and greeted the man below. Who are you,
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: he said, And what are you doing on my hilltop
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: under my tree? The man answered, I'm going to be
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: a holy man and learn much wisdom. Therefore I have
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: come here to live alone and learn about the great
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 1: Spirit and the wonderful laws of the universe. What have
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 1: you learnt so far, asked the owl. I haven't learned
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: anything yet, said the man, except that it is very
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: hard to live alone and talk to no one. I'm
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: glad you have come to see me today. Perhaps you
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: can give me some advice. The owl ruffled up all
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: his feathers and then shook them down again, which is
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 1: what all birds do when anything amuses them. Certainly I
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: can give you advice, he said, the best way to
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: learn wisdom is to solve riddles. I will ask you
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: a riddle every evening before I go out, and you
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 1: can think over it till the next evening. Every day
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: I will give you a new riddle to guess, and
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: you will become very wise. Here is one to begin
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 1: with today. I have a wife. Everything about her is good.
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: What is my wife? The man thought and thought all
• 1:16:50
  Speaker 1: the next day over this riddle, and at sunset the
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 1: owl told him the answer. It is a cow. The
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: milk is good, the meat is good good, the skin
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: is good, the horns are good, the bones are good.
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 1: There is nothing bad in a cow. Then he gave
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 1: him another riddle. I have a wife. She is very small,
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: all her children are enormous. Again, the man thought and
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: thought all day, but could make nothing of it. So
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: the owl told him the answer. It is a pumpkin seed.
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 1: The seed is very small. All the pumpkins are enormous.
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: Then he gave him another riddle. I have a wife.
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: All her children are born white, but as they grow
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: up they turn black. The man spent all day thinking
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: over this riddle, and in the evening the owl flew
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: down and told him the answer. It is a wild
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: plum tree. The plums are first white, as they ripen
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: they become black. This went on for many days that
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: the man never guessed a riot, and at last the
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: owl asked, do you feel you were learning much about
• 1:18:04
  Speaker 1: the great Spirit and the wonderful laws of the universe. No,
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: said the man. I am much disappointed. I had hoped
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: to become very wise and holy, but I don't feel
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: any different, only more lonely than ever. Then said the owl,
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: we will try another method. This evening, before the sun sets,
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: we will go down and sit by the stream and
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: see what we can learn there. So they went down
• 1:18:29
  Speaker 1: the hillside and sat by some bushes near the road,
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: from where they could see everything that passed, but were
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: quite hidden. A man came down the road carrying a
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: goat skin bag full of cowry shells, and he put
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: this down while he filled his gourd with water from
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 1: the stream lower down where the water ran clear of
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: the road. Another man came past it this moment, and
• 1:18:51
  Speaker 1: he saw the goat skin bag, and he looked up
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: and down the road and saw no one. So he
• 1:18:57
  Speaker 1: picked up the bag and ran off as fast as
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: he could. Soon another man came down the road, driving
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: a sheep before him, and he stopped at the stream
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: to let his sheep drink. And while he was doing this,
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: the first man, who had now filled his gourd with water,
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: came to look for his goat skin bag, and he
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: accused the owner of the sheep, saying, you have stolen
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: my bag of cowry shells. The owner of the sheep
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: was very angry. Do you call me a thief? He cried,
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 1: you pass judgment without any reason. I have not seen
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: your goat skin bag. They grew more and more angry,
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: and finally they fought with their spears, and the owner
• 1:19:36
  Speaker 1: of the sheep was killed. When the owl saw that,
• 1:19:40
  Speaker 1: he said to the mugandha, now what have you learned.
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: The man put his head in his hands and said,
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: I am bewildered. An innocent man loses his property and
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: becomes a murderer and kills an innocent man. While the
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: thief gets off free. What are the wonderful laws of
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: the universe? Then the owl said, I will tell you
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: the answer to this riddle too. The chief law of
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 1: the universe is that the sins of the fathers are
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: visited on the children. Now listen. The owner of the
• 1:20:13
  Speaker 1: goatskin bag had inherited the cowry shells from his father,
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: who was a rich man. But he had obtained his
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: riches by killing a stranger secretly and at night, and
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 1: stealing all his goods. One day, the father was found
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: dead in his garden, and no one knew who had
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: killed him. The murderer was the owner of the sheep,
• 1:20:35
  Speaker 1: and justice has overtaken him. The man who stole the
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: cowry shells is the son of the murdered stranger, so
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: that really he has taken back his own inheritance. But
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: he does not know this and must be brought to justice.
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: This is the way that evil spreads among men. One
• 1:20:53
  Speaker 1: man is always avenging another's deeds. You will do no
• 1:20:57
  Speaker 1: good by living on a hilltop thinking about it. Go
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 1: back to your village and work, and you will then
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: learn many things about the wonderful laws of the universe.
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: Two duties lie before you. You must bring these two
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: evil doers to justice, the man who stole the goatskin
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: bag and the man who killed the owner of the sheep.
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: Then the man went home to his village, and next
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: day he told the chief what he had seen, and
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 1: they brought the two men to the council and passed
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: judgment upon them. And the man spoke so wisely and
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: gave such good advice that all the chiefs and the
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: council were impressed. And his fame reached the ears of
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: the king. And in after years he became the chief
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: justice in the King's council and decided all the important cases.
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: And whenever he found a case too difficult for him,
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: he went to the owl on the hilltop for advice.
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: And the owl was always pleased to help him, and said,
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: you see that what I told you is true. Solving
• 1:21:56
  Speaker 1: riddles is the road to wisdom. It is a poor
• 1:21:59
  Speaker 1: thing for a man to sit on a hilltop alone thinking,
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: but it is a great thing to help one's country
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: by bringing evildoers to justice. And of Section sixteen read
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: by Laura Gibbs. Section seventeen of The Flame Tree and
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. The Cheats of Kijongo.
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: Once there was a man who was a cheat, and
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: he wandered round the country selling his goods and markets
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: where no one knew him, and everywhere he cheated. One
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: day he collected a lot of rags and bits of
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: soft rubbish and made them into a neat roll, and
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: put it all into a small piece of good bark
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: cloth and rolled it up and tied it beautifully with
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: broad bark cloth ribbons, until it looked like a roll
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 1: of real good bark cloth yards and yards long. Then
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: he went to a market called Kijongo. Now there happened
• 1:23:05
  Speaker 1: to come to the same market that day another man
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: who was a cheat. In Uganda, the people eat white
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 1: ants and like them very much. They taste something like shrimps,
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: and you cannot get them all the year round, only
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: when the rains begin twice a year. Then the people
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: put a framework of reeds over the ant hills and
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: cover this with bark cloth, and the ants come out
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: and swarm in the bark cloth. Then they are taken
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 1: to the courtyards, all the wings are removed and the
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: ants are fried. They are a great delicacy. The ants
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 1: have long white wings which are thrown away. This cheat
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: had collected a lot of ants wings and made them
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 1: into a nice parcel with banana fiber and on the
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: top he put a few real fried ants and went
• 1:23:49
  Speaker 1: to market, where he met the first cheat trying to
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: sell his bark cloth. Will you buy white ants? He said.
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: The other man was hungry and said, I don't want
• 1:24:00
  Speaker 1: to buy them, but I will exchange my role of
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: bark cloth for them, and they agreed to exchange. Both
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 1: went home very happy, but imagine their surprise when each
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: opened his bargain and found he had been cheated. This
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: has become a proverb in Uganda. When a sharp deal
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: is done and the dealer is disappointed, the people say
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: it is a case of the cheats who met at
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: Kijungo Market. And if you know this story, you understand
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: what they mean. End of section seventeen read by Laura Gibbs.
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: Section eighteen of The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 1: from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: the public domain. The story of the frog. If a
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: frog comes into a house in Uganda and you call
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: a boy and say, drive that frog away. He will
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: not do so, but he goes and calls a married man,
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 1: who drives the frog into the garden. And if you
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: ask the boy, are you afraid of frogs? He will
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: say no. But it is our custom to call a
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: married man to drive one out of the house. Now
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: I will tell you how this became a custom. Long ago,
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: there was a widow who had a beautiful daughter, and
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: they lived in a round hut and a banana garden.
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: One day, the girl saw a frog in the road.
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: The poor creature was panting along in the sun, for
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: it was midday and there was no shade. Every moment
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: it grew weaker, and soon it would have fainted. But
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: the girl picked it up and carried it into her
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: shady banana garden and put it down in a pool
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: of water, where it soon revived. The next day, as
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: the girl was peeling bananas in the kitchen, she heard
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: a croak at the door, and there was the frog.
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: Good morning, He said, I have come to thank you
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: for saving my life. Some day I may be able
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: to repay your kindness. They became great friends, and the
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: frog came every day to the kitchen and told the
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: girl many stories about the animals. One day he noticed
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 1: that she looks sad. What is your sorrow? He said,
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: cannot you tell your friend? So the girl told him,
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: my guardians are arranging for my marriage, and there are
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: four men who want to marry me, and I do
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: not know which to choose. The frog said, now I
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: will give you some advice. Choose a man who has
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: a kind heart, that is greater wealth than flocks and herds,
• 1:26:39
  Speaker 1: and a great chieftainship. But the girl said, how am
• 1:26:43
  Speaker 1: I to know which one has a kind heart. Then
• 1:26:46
  Speaker 1: the frog said, we will make a little plan and
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: find out. I know that you have a kind heart
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: because you saved my life. I will help you to
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: choose a man who is kind to animals. If he
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: is kind to animals, he will be kind to you.
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: So they arranged a plan, and the girl went to
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: her guardian and said, I want to choose my husband
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: for myself. I want the four men to come one
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: by one on an appointed day, and I will choose.
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: The guardian consented, and they arranged a day and laid
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: freshly cut grass down in the house, and the girl
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: dressed herself in a beautiful bark cloth and sat on
• 1:27:26
  Speaker 1: a new mat, and three old ladies of her father's
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: tribe sat near to her to see that everything was
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: done properly and in order, But they knew nothing about
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: the frog. As the first lover entered the porch, the
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: frog hopped out in front of him and croaked. He
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: drove it away angrily and went into the house, and
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: the girl refused him at once. This happened to three
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 1: young men, and as the fourth entered the porch, he
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: stepped carefully over the frog. And when he had greeted
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 1: the girl and the old ladies, he said, there is
• 1:27:59
  Speaker 1: a frog in the porch. Does the croaking annoy you?
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 1: Not at all? Said the girl. I like frogs. I
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 1: am glad of that, said the young man, for I
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: like frogs too. Then they both burst out laughing, which
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: was a very improper thing to do, and shocked the
• 1:28:17
  Speaker 1: old ladies very much, but it made them friends, and
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: the girl decided to marry him, and they lived happy
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: ever after. That is why a boy will never drive
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: away a frog. He thinks that if he does so,
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: the girl he wants to marry will refuse him. End
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: of Section eighteen, read by Laura Gibbs. Section nineteen of
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 1: The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: The Hare who earned a cow and a chieftainship. Once
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: upon a time, a large family of hares lived together
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 1: in a beautiful forest glade. One day, the old chief said,
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: I want to make a feast before I die, but
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: I have no meat. If only some one would give
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 1: me a cow, I would kill it and give you
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 1: all a great feast, my children. One young hare heard
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: the chief speak, and he said, I will find a
• 1:29:23
  Speaker 1: cow for the feast. The others all laughed at him.
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 1: How will you find a cow, they cried, If you
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: were to drive it through the forest, the big animals
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: would all try and take it from you, and how
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 1: would you defend it. But the young hare said, I
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: will bring it, for I have a plan. But you
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: must all help me and lend me your things if
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: I need to borrow them. First, we must build a
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: round hut and make a high fence all around it.
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 1: So all the hare set to work, and they built
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 1: a round hut and a high fence, And the young
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: hare brought a hollow log into the hut in which
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: a family of bumble bees had made their home. They
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: were very big bumble bees, and they all had very
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: loud voices, and as they all talked together, the noise
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: in the log was like the noise that a crowd
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 1: of people makes outside the council house when a big
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: case is being tried by the chiefs. Then the young
• 1:30:17
  Speaker 1: hare went across the valley to the krawl and said
• 1:30:20
  Speaker 1: to the chief herdsman, the king has built a beautiful
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 1: camp in the forest and is going to make a
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: big feast. He has sent me to fetch the most
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: beautiful cow in your crawl. If you do not give
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 1: it to me, you will all be killed. The herdsmen
• 1:30:35
  Speaker 1: laughed very much, for they knew that the young hare
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: was playing a trick on them. But they said, you
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: shall have your cow, but you must earn it. Stay
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: with us for a week, and every evening when we
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: returned to the crawls, you must tell us tales of
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: the jungle and sing us the forest songs, and sit
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: with us round the fire at night and amuse us
• 1:30:55
  Speaker 1: for a whole week. The hare was delighted with the idea,
• 1:30:59
  Speaker 1: and ever re evening when the sunset had faded, and
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: the soft shadows lay on the hills. When the cows
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: had been driven into the krawls and Kasanke, the little
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: red bird whom the cows love, had been fed, the
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: herdsmen would settle round the fire and listen to the
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: wonderful stories which the hare told them, and the songs
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: of the forest which everyone loves to hear. For a
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: whole week he lived in the krawls, and the herdsman
• 1:31:23
  Speaker 1: said he had earned his reward, and they gave him
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 1: a beautiful cow with long, sharp horns, and he set
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: off for the forest, driving it with a long reed.
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: The first animal he met was the hyaena. I was
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: coming to your house, said the hare. The king wishes
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: you to attend him at once at his new house
• 1:31:41
  Speaker 1: in the forest with the tall fence round it. So
• 1:31:45
  Speaker 1: the hyaena turned and followed the hare. As they went
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: through the forest, they met the lion, and the buffalo
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: and the leopard, and to each the hare gave the
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: same message, and they all followed him till they came
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 1: to the new house in the forest with the tall
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: fence round it. Wait here, said the hare, till I
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: call you, And he drove the cow inside the fence.
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: Then he beat the hollow log with his reed, and
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 1: all the bumble bees buzzed together, and the animals outside
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: the fence crouched down in fear, for they thought a
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: crowd of people were with the king. The other hares
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: were frightened when they saw the big animals so near.
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: What are you going to do? They cried. They will
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 1: soon discover that you have deceived them, and the buffalo
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 1: will trample us with her hoofs, and the lion will
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 1: eat us, and the hyaena will get the scraps. But
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 1: the little hare was quite calm. Bring me a basket
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 1: and an axe, and a big knife and a pruning knife,
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 1: he said, And he went out to the trembling animals,
• 1:32:43
  Speaker 1: who still crouched in fear, for the bumble bees had
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: been thoroughly disturbed, and were all saying what they thought
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 1: about it, each trying to buzz louder than the rest
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: of the family put together. The king is going to
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: give a feast, said the hare to the trembling animals,
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: And you shall each have meat, but you must earn it.
• 1:33:02
  Speaker 1: The king has a task for each of you. Then
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: he gave the lion the basket and told him to
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: fetch water from the stream. And he gave the buffalo
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 1: the axe and told him to chop firewood from the rock.
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 1: And he gave the leopard the pruning knife, and said,
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 1: go into the jungle and cut a bamboo without a joint.
• 1:33:24
  Speaker 1: The king desires a long, straight bamboo without a joint.
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 1: And he said to the hyena, you are to skin
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: the cow with this knife. But I warn you, if
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: you so much as lick the meat, you will be killed.
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: So the animals went away, each hoping to earn the
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: king's favor. But when the lion saw the water pouring
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: through the basket, he was frightened, for he thought it
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: was his fault, and he dropped the basket and ran away.
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: The buffalo gave a hard blow at the rock with
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: the axe, and of course the handle broke. He thought
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 1: it was his fault, so he dropped the axe and
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: ran away. The leopard wandered from one clump of bamboos
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: to another, looking for one with no joint. And finally,
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: when the sun was setting, he was miles and miles
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: away and too tired to go back, And as he
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 1: was afraid the king might punish him, he crossed a
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 1: swamp into a new province and made a new home there. Meanwhile,
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: the Hyaena began to skin the cow. He worked for
• 1:34:26
  Speaker 1: some time, and then he licked his paws, and then
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: he could resist the meat no longer. The hare was
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 1: hiding near, and he raised the alarm. The Hyaena is
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: eating the king's meat. And he beat the hollow log
• 1:34:39
  Speaker 1: with his reed, and all the bumblebees buzz together, and
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: the Hyaena thought that the people were coming out to
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 1: kill him. So he dropped the knife and ran away,
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: and did not stop running until he came to Kavirondo.
• 1:34:53
  Speaker 1: Then the Hares made a great feast for their old chief,
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: and they chose the clever young Hare to be the
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: new chief and rule the tribe, for they saw that
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: not only had he wisdom, but that he was calm
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: in the face of danger, and that is a great virtue.
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: And of Section nineteen read by Laura Gibbs. Section twenty
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: of The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: by Rosette of Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: public domain. Song of a Muhima herding cattle in Bugerreire.
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: From beyond the running river comes the sun Behold, oh,
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: my children, it is day. Forth across the plain. I
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: drive my lowing herd gently. My children keep the way,
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: many their hoofs, and many their long horns. And I heard,
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 1: and I heard, lest they stray, low voiced and never weary.
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: From far places, far across the pasture of the plain,
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: comes the wandering wind among my moving herd. Cool will
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 1: it be in the time of the rain, And through
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: their horns held high, I hear it singing, And I heard,
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: and I heard in the plain from out the earth.
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: The night is coming fast. Homeward to the east lies
• 1:36:19
  Speaker 1: the way close within the crawl. Now still upon the
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: ground rest my children very weary. And I watch the
• 1:36:28
  Speaker 1: shadows of their horns in the moon. And I heard
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: through my sleep till the day. Muriel robertson Uganda, nineteen twelve,
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 1: reprinted by permission from the Westminster Gazette and of section
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 1: twenty read by Laura Gibbs, Section twenty one of The
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville.
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Lion
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: Girl a long way from Uganda, towards the Congo border,
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: there is a tribe of shepherd people. They live in
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: crawls with their cows. They plant no gardens and build
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: no villages, but they move from place to place, driving
• 1:37:19
  Speaker 1: their herds to good pasture and building crawls where they
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: find it. The cows have long horns pointing upwards, and
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: as the herds move across the plains, the horns look
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 1: like a forest, and although the hoofs make no noise
• 1:37:32
  Speaker 1: in the rich, soft soil, the horns have a music
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 1: of their own as they knock together, like many castanets
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: being played down in the plain. There was once a
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: woman of the shepherd tribe who had a baby girl,
• 1:37:45
  Speaker 1: and one day, while the child was crawling on the floor,
• 1:37:48
  Speaker 1: some chickens pecked at it. The child shook itself twice,
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: and the mother saw, to her horror that it became
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: a lion cub and seized the chickens and ate eat
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: them up. Then it shook itself twice and became a
• 1:38:04
  Speaker 1: little girl crawling on the floor. The woman was afraid
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 1: to say anything to any one about this remarkable child,
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: and as it grew older, it ate young calves and goats.
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: At last, the mother spoke to her little girl my child,
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 1: you make me very ashamed of you, for you do
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: such queer things. If any one were to know what
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 1: you do, the tribe would certainly kill you, and probably
• 1:38:29
  Speaker 1: they would kill me too. The little girl answered, I
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: see that you are right. I will not play my
• 1:38:35
  Speaker 1: tricks any more. I do not want you to be
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: ashamed of me. The years passed and the child grew up,
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 1: and the time came for her marriage. The arrangements were
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: all made, and the bridegroom sent messengers to fetch her
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 1: to his new crawl. When they arrived, the mother said,
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: I have not yet finished dressing. The bride ask the
• 1:38:55
  Speaker 1: messengers to sit outside and wait for a little while.
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: Now with the messengers had come an old lady who
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: was a granny in the bridegroom's tribe. And she was
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 1: a very inquisitive old woman. And while the others sat
• 1:39:09
  Speaker 1: down to wait for the bride, she slipped up to
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: the crawl and listened to what the mother said to
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 1: her daughter. Inside, my child, you will remember your promise
• 1:39:19
  Speaker 1: to me and not play any of your tricks. And
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: the bride answered, do not fear unless they anger me
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: very much, and I forget. I will never play those
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: old tricks again, and the mother said, even if they
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: anger you, my child, do not play those tricks. They
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: frighten me. The old woman listening outside, was filled with curiosity,
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: and she returned to the waiting messengers, wondering very much.
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 1: Then the bride came out and they took her to
• 1:39:49
  Speaker 1: her husband's crawl. The lion girl was a good wife
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: and a good mother, and her children played no queer tricks,
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: and the old granny watched and waited, but nothing happened.
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: And at last she went to the young wife and said,
• 1:40:04
  Speaker 1: my friend, pity an old woman, and tell me something
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: I want to know, for I cannot be happy by day,
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: and I cannot sleep at night for thinking of what
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: I heard your mother say to you about your tricks.
• 1:40:17
  Speaker 1: What was it you promised not to do. Then the
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: lion girl was seized with anger, and she shook herself
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: twice and became a full grown lioness and growled at
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 1: the old woman. And the poor old granny was so
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 1: frightened that she went quite mad. And the lioness shook
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: herself twice and became a woman again, and ran and
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: called the people of the krawl come quickly. The poor
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: old granny has gone mad in my hut. Now, the
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: old granny had a favorite daughter, and this woman came
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: and took her away and took care of her. But
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 1: every night in her sleep, the poor old woman talked
• 1:40:55
  Speaker 1: about the young wife and the lioness, until the daughter
• 1:40:58
  Speaker 1: became suspicious, and she told the other women in the crawl,
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 1: and they went together to the lion girl and asked
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: her what happened when the old granny went mad in
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: your house? For she talks incessantly about a lioness. The
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: lion girl was seized with anger, and she shook herself
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: twice and became a full grown lioness and roared at
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 1: the women, who ran away terrified. Then the lion girl
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: went away across the plain and was lost in the jungle,
• 1:41:28
  Speaker 1: for she was afraid the men of the tribe would
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: spear her now that her secret was known. All this
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: trouble came about because the old granny was so inquisitive
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: and of Section twenty one read by Laura Gibbs, Section
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 1: twenty two of The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 1: the public domain. The wonderful goat. Once upon a time
• 1:42:04
  Speaker 1: there was a man called Kato who had a large
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: herd of goats, and he noticed that one goat was
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: larger than all the others. It grew and grew, and
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: at last it was so enormous that people came from
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 1: all parts of the province to see it, and they said,
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 1: this goat is a fit present for the king. No
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: one has ever seen its equal. Kato determined to go
• 1:42:28
  Speaker 1: to the capital and give his wonderful goat to the king. Now,
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 1: in the mountains near his village there lived a band
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 1: of robbers who used to plunder passers by and take
• 1:42:38
  Speaker 1: their goods and sometimes kill them. So Kato was afraid
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: to make the journey to the capitol alone, and his
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: brother agreed to go with him. But first he went
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: to the witch doctor to have his fortune told, which
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: was a very silly thing to do. As you will see,
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 1: the robbers had seen the enormous goat and wondered how
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: they could steal it, and unfortunately, while the chief robber
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: was returning from the village market, he saw Kato going
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: towards the witch doctor's hut. For he lived alone on
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 1: a hilltop. The robber knew of a short cut, and
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 1: he hurried round and arrived first at the hut, and
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 1: promised the witch doctor a large reward if he gave
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: certain advice to Kato. When Kato arrived, the witch doctor said,
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 1: you are going on a journey, but you must go alone,
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: and until you reach your destination, you must eat no
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: salt and drink no banana beer. If you do either
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: of these things, misfortune will overtake you. When Kato returned home,
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: he told his brother, and he also told his wife
• 1:43:49
  Speaker 1: to use no salt in the kitchen until he had
• 1:43:52
  Speaker 1: started for the capital. Then he made his preparations, and
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 1: one morning, at dawn he started out, driving his goat
• 1:43:59
  Speaker 1: before him, with a gourd of water tied round his
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: waist by a thong, and a parcel of food, and
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: a bag slung over his shoulder, and carrying in his
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: hand a spear wrapped round with plantain fiber, for no
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: traveler may carry a naked spear. By midday he had
• 1:44:17
  Speaker 1: reached the mountains, where the road passed between great boulders
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 1: of rock on which the turquoise blue lizards played all day.
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 1: He was hot and tired, so he sat down in
• 1:44:29
  Speaker 1: the shade to rest and eat his dinner. He was
• 1:44:32
  Speaker 1: so hungry that at first he ate without thinking. But
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: as he felt rested, he realized that the dinner was
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 1: very good, and suddenly he remembered the witch Doctor's warning,
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: and he wondered if there was salt in it. The
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: more he thought over it, the more convinced he was
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: that he had eaten salt. He started off again on
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: his journey much agitated, and he had not gone very
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 1: far when one of the robbers met him, and, after
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: giving him a friendly greeting, said why are you driving
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: a pig? That is a very unusual thing to do.
• 1:45:05
  Speaker 1: Kato looked at the robber in amazement. A pig, he cried,
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 1: I have no pigs. This is my wonderful goat. I
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: am taking to the capital to give to the king.
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: Oh really, said the robber, and he said good bye
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: very quickly and hurried away. Kato was still thinking that
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: the man must have been at a drinking feast to
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: say such an extraordinary thing. When another of the robbers
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 1: met him. That is a fine pig, said the robber.
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: Where did you get it? It is a goat, said Kato.
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: My wonderful goat that I am taking to the capital
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 1: to give to the king. The robber looked very much
• 1:45:44
  Speaker 1: surprised and went on his way. Three more men of
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: the robber band met Kato on the mountain path, and
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: each one stopped in surprise and made some remark about
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: his pig. Suddenly, the witch Doctor's warning flashed across his mind.
• 1:45:59
  Speaker 1: If you eat eat salt, or drink banana beer, misfortune
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: will overtake you. I have eaten salt, and my goat
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: has been bewitched and become a pig. He cried, and
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: he was so frightened that he left the goat and
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: ran all the way back to the village. In his home,
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 1: when he arrived, he told his wife and his brother,
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: I have been bewitched. I shall surely die. The hot
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: journey in the sun, the fright he had had, and
• 1:46:27
  Speaker 1: the exhausting run home brought on a fever, and he died.
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 1: And the robbers took the goat and made a great
• 1:46:35
  Speaker 1: feast and sent a large joint to the witch doctor
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 1: with the present they had promised him. But Kato's family
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 1: not only lost him and the wonderful goat, but they
• 1:46:46
  Speaker 1: were more firmly convinced than ever before that the witch
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 1: Doctor was a marvelous man. End of Section twenty two
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 1: read by Lord Gibbs. Section twenty three of The Flame
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 1: Tree and Other Folklore Stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville.
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The River Ferry.
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: A very long time ago, a dreadful plague swept through Uganda.
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: Whole provinces were laid waste and returned to jungle for
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: those who had possessed the land had died, and there
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: were none to inherit the villages and gardens. In one village,
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: every one died except one little girl, and she wandered
• 1:47:35
  Speaker 1: away down the road till she came to the river Nile.
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 1: She had a very very very long name, which means glory.
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: She sat down by the river, very lonely and miserable,
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: and while she was wondering what to do, a fisherman
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: came past. The child told him her story, and he
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: was sorry for her and took her home with him,
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: and his wife was kind to her, and for a
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 1: little while they lived happily together. But the dreadful plague
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 1: swept on and killed the fisherman and his wife, and
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: again the little girl sat desolate and hungry by the
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 1: river Nile. Suddenly she saw the tail of a great fish.
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 1: As it turned in the water. Glory was a little frightened,
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: for she had never seen such a huge fish in
• 1:48:22
  Speaker 1: the river before. To her surprise, as it came nearer,
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: she saw that it had a woman's head, and that
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: half its body was that of a woman. The fish
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 1: spoke to her, do not be afraid, little girl. I
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: have seen you here very often, and I want to
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: be your friend. Tell me your sorrow. Glory did not
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: feel frightened any more. She said, I am all alone.
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 1: Everyone I know has died of the plague. I cannot
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 1: dig and plant a garden all by myself, and I
• 1:48:53
  Speaker 1: cannot live all by myself, and I don't know what
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: to do, and she began to cry. The fishwoman came
• 1:49:01
  Speaker 1: nearer and pulled herself up on a rock, and Glory
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 1: stopped crying to look at the beautiful tail, covered with
• 1:49:08
  Speaker 1: golden brown scales, which flashed in the sunlight as the
• 1:49:12
  Speaker 1: drops of water ran off it. What a beautiful tail,
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 1: you have, she said. I am the fairy of the
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 1: river Nile, said the fishwoman, And we all have beautiful
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: tails in my country? Where is your country? Asked Glory.
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 1: The river fairy pulled herself into a more comfortable position
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: on the rock and began. You see the great lake
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 1: which stretches away above the Ribbon falls. When you look
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: at it, you see only the top of a wonderful land.
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 1: Under those blue waters, far far down lies a beautiful country.
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 1: It is not like the country you know, but it
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: has fields of soft green sea weed, forests of great
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 1: sea palms, sea flowers of every color, and she shade.
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: In the middle of this country is the lake city,
• 1:50:04
  Speaker 1: where the King of the fish people lives, a wonderful
• 1:50:07
  Speaker 1: city of caves cut in the rocks. There are long
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: streets full of blue water, and the caves are the
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: homes of the fish people. There is one cave larger
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 1: and more beautiful than the others, and that is the
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: King's palace. All the fish people are his servants. We
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: each have our own work, and we all obey his orders.
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: My work is to watch the entrance of the river Nile.
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: All day. I live in my cave under the falls,
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 1: and at sunset I swim by a passage through the
• 1:50:39
  Speaker 1: rock into the great lake. Abob and go to give
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 1: my day's report to the king of the lake city.
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: Very early in the morning I come back, and at
• 1:50:48
  Speaker 1: dawn I am in my cave again at work. There
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 1: are other fairies who guard the entrance of rivers which
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: flow into the great lake, but mine is the only
• 1:50:57
  Speaker 1: river which flows out of it. My river dashes over
• 1:51:00
  Speaker 1: the falls and hurries away to the rapids, and on
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: and on through deserts and plains till it reaches another
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: great sea. I should like to see your cave and
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: your lake city, said Glory. Can you swim, asked the
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 1: river fairy. No, said Glory, But I could sit on
• 1:51:20
  Speaker 1: your back. The river fairy laughed. I am afraid that
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: would not do, for we should have to swim under
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: the water, and you would lose your hold and be drowned.
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 1: Unless you consent to become a fish maiden, you can
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 1: never see the lake city and my cave under the falls.
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 1: How can I become a fish maiden, asked Glory. It
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 1: needs a great deal of courage for a mortal to
• 1:51:45
  Speaker 1: join us. I should have to cut off your feet,
• 1:51:48
  Speaker 1: and from them a tail would grow. Glory looked down
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: at her little brown feet and dug her toes in
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 1: and out of the soft sand, and said, I don't
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: want my feet cut off. I must not stay any longer,
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 1: said the river fairy, I will be here again at daybreak,
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: And she slipped off her rock into the foaming water
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 1: and disappeared under the falls. When Glory was left alone,
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: she felt very unhappy and longed for the river fairy
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: to come back. She was very hungry too, and went
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: to look for some food, but the gardens were empty
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 1: and overgrown, and she could hardly find any fruit. Every
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 1: now and then she looked down at her little brown
• 1:52:31
  Speaker 1: toes and said to herself, I don't want my feet
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 1: cut off. She watched the big red sun drop down
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: behind the hills, and quickly the darkness fell round her.
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 1: She crept into her cold, empty hut and shut the
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: reed door and tried to get warm under the bark cloths,
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: but the night was damp and foggy, and she shivered
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: all alone. She heard the owls hooting to each other outside,
• 1:53:00
  Speaker 1: and the bats squeal as they hung on to the
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: porch of the hut for a minute or two on
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 1: their way to hunt, and poor little Glory sobbed, bitterly,
• 1:53:10
  Speaker 1: worn out with cold and hunger and loneliness. Suddenly she
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 1: sat up. I will give up my little brown feet
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 1: and go and live with my kind friend the river ferry,
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: she said to herself. She drew aside the reed door,
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: and the frightened bats fled squeaking away into the shadows.
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 1: She huddled her little bark cloth round her and crept
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: down the path to the river. But just as she
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: was reaching the bank, a huge form loomed out of
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 1: the mist, and a cow hippo came, puffing and blowing
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 1: and snorting up the path. Glory hid behind a bush
• 1:53:47
  Speaker 1: and did not dare to move until she saw the
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 1: dawn begin to break. Streaks of light flashed quickly across
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: the sky. The bats darted backwards and forwards, the birds
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 1: began to twitter and wake, and suddenly the sun rose.
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: Glory hurried down to the river, and there sat her friend,
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: the fishwoman, on the same rock, her golden brown tail
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 1: catching the rays of the rising sun. Oh, dear river fairy,
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: she cried, I have changed my mind. I want to
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: come and live in your cave and be your little girl.
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 1: Then she gave such a start that she nearly fell
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 1: into the river, for she heard the same puffing and
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 1: blowing and snorting coming down the path. It is only
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 1: my great friend, the cow hippo, said the river fairy.
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 1: The huge hippopotamus stopped and looked at the child. I
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: thought all the mortals had died, she said. Only this
• 1:54:42
  Speaker 1: little girl is left, said the river fairy, and she
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 1: wants to become a fish maiden and live with me.
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: Very wise of her, said the cow hippo, But she
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 1: looks very hungry. Poor little Glory was quite worn out
• 1:54:57
  Speaker 1: with cold and hunger and the long spent on the
• 1:55:01
  Speaker 1: river bank. And when she tried to get up, she fainted.
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 1: The river fairy and the cow hippo did everything they could,
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: for they were much distressed. They laid her in the
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 1: warm sunshine on the soft sand, and rubbed her hands
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 1: and feet. We must get her some food, they said
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 1: to each other. I have only raw sweet potatoes, said
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 1: the cow hippo, and she can't eat them uncooked, for
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 1: I've often seen the fires which mortals make. If we
• 1:55:28
  Speaker 1: could get some sweet bananas, she might eat those. By
• 1:55:32
  Speaker 1: this time, the sun was well up, and the whole
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 1: world was awaking to the life of a new day.
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 1: A cheeky looking monkey swung himself down by a branch
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: and screamed, how have you slept? How have you slept?
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: Hippo and fish people come here at once, commanded the
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: cow hippo, and the monkey turned to somersault and landed
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: on the ground. Do you know the golden sweet bananas
• 1:55:54
  Speaker 1: that mortals eat, asked the cow hippo. Of course I do,
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 1: said the monkey. I've eaten bunches of them myself. Then
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 1: go and fetch a bunch at once, said the cow hippo.
• 1:56:06
  Speaker 1: The monkey scratched his head, and then he looked up
• 1:56:09
  Speaker 1: at the sun and blinked his eyes. Then he scratched
• 1:56:12
  Speaker 1: his shoulders and said, meekly, did you ask me to
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 1: do anything? Now listen to me, said the cow hippo firmly.
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 1: You are to go very quickly and fetch a bunch
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 1: of gold and sweet bananas. Where from asked the monkey.
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 1: From where they grow? Said the cow hippo. A flight
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 1: of gray parrots had come from over the nearer islands
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 1: in search of food, and as they rested for a
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: moment on a tree near they heard the conversation. One
• 1:56:41
  Speaker 1: of them flew down and said to the cow hippo,
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 1: it is absolutely useless to send the monkey on any
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 1: errand alone. He will simply forget what he has set
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: out to do. We will go with him and see
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 1: that he brings the bananas. I don't want you, said
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: the monkey sulkily. But in a minute he began to
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: laugh and jump about and dance, and forgot that he
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 1: was offended. All the animals know how silly the monkeys
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 1: are in this way, but they forgive them many things
• 1:57:09
  Speaker 1: because they are so funny. The monkey went off with
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 1: the parrots, and every time he stopped to play, they
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 1: shrieked at him, remember the bananas. And at last they
• 1:57:21
  Speaker 1: brought him back safely with a big bunch of ripe
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 1: golden fruit, and Glory ate them until she was hungry
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: no more. Then she cuddled down in a nook in
• 1:57:30
  Speaker 1: the river bank and went fast asleep. While she slept,
• 1:57:35
  Speaker 1: the cow Hippo and the river fairy watched over her,
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: and when she woke, they asked her, do you still
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: want to be a fish maiden? And Glory looked down
• 1:57:44
  Speaker 1: at her little brown feet and replied, yes, today I
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 1: will come to you. I cannot go back to my
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: cold hut anymore. Then the river fairy gave her some
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: seaweed to eat. It tasted very bitter, but as soon
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 1: as she had eaten it, she fell asleep. And while
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: she slept, the river Fairy bound her legs together with
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 1: broad bands of seaweed and cut off her little brown
• 1:58:08
  Speaker 1: feet with a sharp shell, and at once a little
• 1:58:11
  Speaker 1: tail appeared growing from them. Then she slipped into the
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 1: water and carried Glory to her cave under the falls,
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 1: and laid her on a lovely soft bed of seaweed.
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 1: There she slept for a whole week, and every day
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: her tail grew more beautiful, and when she woke it
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 1: looked like mother of pearl. She was very hungry when
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 1: she woke after her long sleep, and the river Fairy
• 1:58:37
  Speaker 1: gave her seaweed and sea fruit to eat. And now
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 1: it did not taste bitter, for she had become a
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 1: fish maiden and could open her eyes under water and
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 1: swim about and turn her tail in the white foam.
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 1: Then the river Fairy took Glory to the lake city
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: and presented her to the king of the fish people.
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 1: They swam down the blue streets bordered by caves and
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 1: sea palms. Beautiful sea plants and flowers were on every hand,
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: and then they reached the king's palace and bowed before
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 1: the king. The king was an old, old man who
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: had ruled the fish people for hundreds of years. He
• 1:59:16
  Speaker 1: looked earnestly at the little girl and spoke, little fish maiden,
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 1: you are to live with the river ferry and guard
• 1:59:24
  Speaker 1: the falls of the Nile. You are to learn her work,
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: so that in years to come, you too may help
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 1: us in keeping our beautiful lake country pure and clean,
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: that the water which dashes over the falls may carry
• 1:59:36
  Speaker 1: greetings from the great lake to the great Sea which
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: lies far away to the north. And Now in Uganda,
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 1: when the sun has set and the fires are lighted
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 1: in the fishermen's huts near the River Nile, and the
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 1: people have eaten their evening meal and gather round the fire,
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 1: they tell stories. Perhaps a fishermen will say, once I
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 1: saw a big fish near the falls, as big as
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 1: a woman, with a head and shoulders and arms like
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 1: a woman. And the others will say, how wonderful, how wonderful.
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 1: But in their hearts they think he is lying, he
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 1: did not see this fish. But the fisherman is not lying,
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 1: for he has seen glory. The fish maiden, who is
• 2:00:23
  Speaker 1: now the river ferry and guards the Ripon Falls. Here
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 1: the Great Lake sends its blue waters over the rocks,
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 1: and they hurry away, foaming towards the rapids, and on
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 1: and on over the deserts and plains until they reach
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: the Great Sea, which lies far away to the north
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: end of section twenty three read by war Gibbs. Section
• 2:00:56
  Speaker 1: twenty four of The Flame Tree and Other Folklore Stories
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 1: from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville. This LibriVox recording is in
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: the public domain. The royal puff adders of Budo outside
• 2:01:10
  Speaker 1: the main gate of the Lubiri, as the dwelling of
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: the King of Uganda is called, stands around grass hut.
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 1: In it burns a fire, and it is the duty
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: of a special chief to see that this fire never
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: goes out during the king's lifetime. In the old days,
• 2:01:27
  Speaker 1: when the king died, the katikiro announced to the people
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: the fire has gone out. Then the chiefs chose a
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 1: new king from among the princes and killed all the
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: others to prevent a rebellion. These customs have died out,
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: but the fire still burns in the little grass hut
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: near the gate of the Lubiri. And if you go
• 2:01:48
  Speaker 1: there you will see it. When the chiefs had chosen
• 2:01:52
  Speaker 1: a prince, they took him to Budo Hill. On this
• 2:01:55
  Speaker 1: hill there are some great trees. They can be seen
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: for many miles around, for they stand out clear against
• 2:02:01
  Speaker 1: the sky. Under these trees, a little hut was built,
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 1: and here the young king had to pass the night
• 2:02:08
  Speaker 1: alone before the coronation ceremonies. A long time ago, a
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 1: certain king of Uganda died, and a young prince was
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 1: chosen to succeed him, and was taken by the chiefs
• 2:02:21
  Speaker 1: to Boudou Hill. He entered the hut under the sacred
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 1: trees and prepared to keep the vigil. The night fell
• 2:02:29
  Speaker 1: and the hut was in complete darkness. All around him
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 1: was silence, broken only by the sounds of the night,
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 1: the chirping of a cricket or the occasional squeak of
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 1: a bat. The young king sat alone and meditated on
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 1: the life that lay before him. Suddenly he heard a
• 2:02:48
  Speaker 1: rustle in the grass walls of the hut, and fear
• 2:02:52
  Speaker 1: gripped him. Every hare seemed to stand on end, for
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 1: he knew that a snake had crept into the hut,
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: and that he was alone with it in the darkness.
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 1: The boy was no coward, and he would have faced
• 2:03:05
  Speaker 1: a big animal with courage. But a snake is the
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: foe of every man, and brave men fear to meet one.
• 2:03:12
  Speaker 1: In the dark, he sat still, not daring to move,
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 1: and suddenly he heard a hissing voice near him, say,
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 1: young King, put out your hand and lay your fingers
• 2:03:25
  Speaker 1: on my head, for I wish to talk with you,
• 2:03:29
  Speaker 1: and I am deaf and can only hear you through
• 2:03:32
  Speaker 1: the touch of your fingers on my head. Trembling with horror,
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 1: the boy obeyed, and in the dark he groped for
• 2:03:40
  Speaker 1: the flat, chilly head of the snake and laid his
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: fingers on it. Immediately, the snake spoke again. I am
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: the king of the puff Adders. Buda Hill is our
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 1: tribal home. Many of us have wandered into the other provinces,
• 2:03:59
  Speaker 1: but we come here to die in our old age.
• 2:04:02
  Speaker 1: Everywhere that men see us, they kill us, for they
• 2:04:06
  Speaker 1: fear our poison. But we have not killed your people
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 1: in anger. We are deaf and cannot hear the approaching
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 1: footsteps of man. When they tread on us, we defend ourselves.
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 1: The young king listened in silence, and then asked, what
• 2:04:24
  Speaker 1: do you wish me to do? I ask you as
• 2:04:28
  Speaker 1: a favor to grant us a refuge, send a command
• 2:04:32
  Speaker 1: throughout the country that no man is to kill a
• 2:04:35
  Speaker 1: puff adder on Budeaux Hill. Then we shall have a
• 2:04:38
  Speaker 1: refuge in a place of safety, and we will be
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 1: your servants and serve you well. How will you serve me?
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 1: Asked the king. Can snakes do work, not the same
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 1: sort of work as men. But we can be very
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 1: useful to you, for we can foretell the future better
• 2:04:58
  Speaker 1: than all the witch doctors, for it is we who
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 1: give them their knowledge. If you make friends of us,
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 1: the witch doctors can never harm you. The young king
• 2:05:09
  Speaker 1: was silent, thinking what he would do, for he feared
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 1: the witch doctors and would gladly have rid himself of
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 1: their tyranny. At last, he spoke, I will give the
• 2:05:20
  Speaker 1: command you wish as soon as I am proclaimed king,
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: and this hill of Buddho shall be your refuge and
• 2:05:26
  Speaker 1: place of safety. But you must give me some proof
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: of your words, for how do I know that you
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 1: are not lying? The King of the puff adders thanked
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 1: him in the same low hissing voice, and then began,
• 2:05:40
  Speaker 1: young King, I will tell you the future of your country.
• 2:05:45
  Speaker 1: Mark my words well, for all that I tell you
• 2:05:48
  Speaker 1: will surely come to pass. You are proud and arrogant,
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: and you have much to learn. You will learn much
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 1: as the years pass. But your people will call you
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 1: he who causes the tears to flow. You have much wisdom,
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 1: and you will make good laws and benefit your country,
• 2:06:09
  Speaker 1: and you will regret the hardness and cruelty of your youth.
• 2:06:14
  Speaker 1: Strangers will visit your land and teach you many things,
• 2:06:17
  Speaker 1: some bad and some good. But the day will come,
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 1: young king, when your chiefs will come and tell you
• 2:06:25
  Speaker 1: that notable strangers have arrived in Uganda. And the chiefs
• 2:06:29
  Speaker 1: will ask you, shall we kill these men, who are
• 2:06:32
  Speaker 1: different to any men we have seen before. On your
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 1: answer will depend the whole future of your country. For
• 2:06:40
  Speaker 1: these men will be the forerunners of a great force
• 2:06:44
  Speaker 1: which your sons and your grandsons will not be able
• 2:06:47
  Speaker 1: to resist. They will teach you new wisdom and new work,
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 1: and they will bring new gods before whom the witch
• 2:06:55
  Speaker 1: doctors will disappear. Test these strangers by whatever means you
• 2:06:59
  Speaker 1: will will, but know this that on your treatment of them,
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 1: the generations to come will judge you wise or foolish?
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 1: What will you do that day? The king said, If
• 2:07:13
  Speaker 1: I receive them well, and they are the forerunners of
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 1: a great force, they will eat my kingdom. They will
• 2:07:21
  Speaker 1: not eat your kingdom, answered the puff adder, but they
• 2:07:24
  Speaker 1: will rule over your land. Your sons and your grandsons
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 1: shall be kings of Uganda, but in a new era,
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 1: one of which your ancestors never dreamed. What will you
• 2:07:36
  Speaker 1: do if I kill them? What will happen? Asked the king.
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 1: More of their countrymen will follow, But on your treatment
• 2:07:46
  Speaker 1: of these first comers, the future of your land depends.
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: The king was silent for a long time. Then he said, sullenly,
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 1: I will give up my country to no man, But
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: when these strangers arrive, I will receive them kindly. In
• 2:08:05
  Speaker 1: the morning, the chiefs came and the young king left
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 1: his hut. And after the coronation ceremonies were over and
• 2:08:12
  Speaker 1: he entered on his new duties. To the surprise of
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 1: all the chiefs, his first proclamation was this that no
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 1: man should kill a puff adder on the hill of Budo.
• 2:08:25
  Speaker 1: The years passed in wars and short times of peace.
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 1: The young king was proud and arrogant, and though he
• 2:08:32
  Speaker 1: made good laws and governed well. He was so cruel
• 2:08:35
  Speaker 1: and hard that his people called him he who causes
• 2:08:39
  Speaker 1: the tears to flow. Arabs visited Uganda and brought many
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 1: new things, and new customs, and new cruelties followed in
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 1: their wake. One day the chiefs came to the king
• 2:08:53
  Speaker 1: and said, some strangers have arrived from the south. They
• 2:08:57
  Speaker 1: are not Arabs, and they are different to any men
• 2:09:00
  Speaker 1: who have come here before. Shall we kill them? The
• 2:09:05
  Speaker 1: king heard their words in silence. He sat with bowed head,
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: lost in thought. Vividly before him grew the memory of
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: a night long ago, when he had sat in a
• 2:09:16
  Speaker 1: dark hut on Budo Hill with his fingers on the
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 1: head of a puff adder. Again he heard the hissing voice,
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 1: as it said, Know this that on your treatment of them,
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: the generations to come will judge you wise or foolish.
• 2:09:32
  Speaker 1: What will you do? That day? Silently, the chiefs knelt
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 1: before the king, waiting for him to speak. His reign
• 2:09:40
  Speaker 1: passed before him in one clear picture after another. He
• 2:09:44
  Speaker 1: had made his country great, He had made wise laws.
• 2:09:48
  Speaker 1: He had been hard and cruel, but strong. The puff
• 2:09:51
  Speaker 1: adder had spoken truly. Again, he heard the question, what
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 1: will you do. Slowly, Hea raised his head, but he
• 2:10:01
  Speaker 1: did not look at the waiting chiefs. His eyes seemed
• 2:10:04
  Speaker 1: to look far beyond them, into the future. Receive these
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 1: strangers kindly, he said, in a low voice. Bring them
• 2:10:13
  Speaker 1: here to me, and let no man do them any harm.
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 1: Many years have passed since those old days. The great
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 1: trees still stand on the hill of Budo and can
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 1: be seen for many miles round. The hilltop has been cleared,
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 1: and houses and gardens stand where before there was only jungle.
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: And in making this change, many puff Adders were killed
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 1: by the workmen, for men had long since forgotten the
• 2:10:42
  Speaker 1: first proclamation made by a young king, and the days
• 2:10:46
  Speaker 1: gone by yet to day. If you visit the spot
• 2:10:50
  Speaker 1: under the great trees where once the hut built for
• 2:10:53
  Speaker 1: a king's vigil stood, you must walk warily. For a
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: gleam of red and gold in the grass. Warn you
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 1: that the puff Adders still hold to their ancient refuge
• 2:11:04
  Speaker 1: and claim the privilege once granted by a king to
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 1: live on the hill of Budo. And of section twenty
• 2:11:12
  Speaker 1: four read by Lord Gibbs, and of the Flame Tree
• 2:11:19
  Speaker 1: and other folklore stories from Uganda by Rosetta Baskerville