Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 342: Uganda- Musoke The Moon-Boy (Baskerville)

Transcript

EP 342: Uganda- Musoke The Moon-Boy (Baskerville) · Sandman Stories Presents

• 0:25
  Welcome back, listeners to Sam Man's Story's Presence, A
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  folklore podcast where I redo to sleep or until the next story.
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  I'm your host, Austin, and if you'd like more Sandman, go
• 0:35
  ahead and check me out on Patreon.
• 0:38
  And that's where you get all the spicy stuff, all my research,
• 0:42
  all my stories that would not make it on the clean feed.
• 0:45
  And you can join up for free 99. And a big shout out to Dan from
• 0:49
  Bunny Trails and Kate from Strange Animals.
• 0:52
  They've been financially supporting the podcast since the
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  beginning and have made me into a wealthy billionaire in
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  Zimbabwean dollars. The support is always
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  appreciated and today we are back in the book of Ugandan
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  folklore. In this story, a woman tries to
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  keep out fruit thieves and it backfires.
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  Can she keep her son safe from the coral chief?
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  Yes, with the help of the moon. OK, let's begin.
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  Musoke, the moon boy. Years and years ago in Uganda
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  there was a woman whose banana garden bordered on a High Road
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  and every night the travellers who passed stole fruit and
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  vegetables out of her garden. And this made her very angry.
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  So she took counsel with her old nurse who lived with her.
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  And they dug A ditch and covered it with sticks and branches and
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  earth and leaves, and said to each other, The next thief who
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  comes in at night will fall in the next evening.
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  The herdsmen of the chief was driving his cows home to the
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  crown, when one of them straight into the woman's garden and it
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  fell into the ditch trap and broke its leg.
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  The cowherd was very angry and told the chief, and the chief
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  sent for the woman and said, Why did you set a trap for my cow?
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  When the poor woman explained what she had done, the chief was
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  still more angry and said You meant to kill my people, you are
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  a wicked woman, and he ordered her to be beaten.
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  The woman implored the chief to have mercy on her, and he said,
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  Well, you may go home now. I will not beat you, but the
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  next child you have shall be mine.
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  If it is a boy, I will kill him. If it is a girl, you may keep
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  her until she is 12 years old, and then she shall be my slave.
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  Very soon afterwards the woman had a child, and it was the most
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  beautiful baby boy. She cried very much when she
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  thought that her dear little baby would be killed, so she
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  sent for her old nurse to go to the chief and say it was a girl.
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  The chief said, I don't believe you bring the child here so that
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  I might see it with my own eyes. When the nurse came back and
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  told the woman, she cried more than ever.
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  But just then a stranger passed down the road and turned into
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  the garden to ask for a drink of water.
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  She had a little baby tied on her back and she carried A roll
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  of mats on her head. The nurse gave her a drink of
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  water and said We are two women in great trouble.
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  And then she told the stranger the story.
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  The stranger said, I will lend you my baby girl, go and show
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  her to the chief and save the life of your little boy.
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  So the nurse went again to the chief's house, and when he saw
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  the baby he said, Tell the mother to bring the child to me
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  when she is 12 years old. Nobody suspected anything, and
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  when the old nurse got home she packed up all their things, and
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  at dawn the next morning they set out for Shingo with the
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  stranger who had been so kind to them.
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  The years passed and they all lived happily in Shingo and the
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  baby grew up into a beautiful boy and they called him Musoke,
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  which means rainbow. Every day Musoke took his goats
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  to the hillside and played on the Reed pipe as he walked, and
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  the goats skipped and jumped about, but some of them were
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  very old and they only walked slowly.
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  This was a song Musoke sang in the morning when he was taking
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  the goats out before the sun got hot.
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  Little black kids, Little white kids, speckled and striped and
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  brown. I love them all and they love
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  me. Our life is happy and gay and
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  free. I eat and sleep and sing all
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  day. That is our life.
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  Every day. Out to the hills when the sun is
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  low, what can we talk about? Who can know?
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  Home to rest when the sun is high, What do they dream of?
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  They and I. Little black kids.
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  Little white kids, et cetera, et cetera.
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  In the evening when he brought his goats home, he sang another
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  song to them on his Reed pipe. Come home, come home, little
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  brothers, the shadows are soft and long.
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  Come home, come home, little brothers, And I'll sing you a
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  slumber song. For the plantains are peeled in
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  the kitchen and over the fire they steam, and the housewife
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  has saved the peelings for you as luscious and cool and green
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  as they grew. Come home, come home, little
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  brothers, et cetera, et cetera. One day a messenger arrived from
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  the chief who said Your little girl must be about 12 years old
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  now the chief has sent for her. The mother was very sad.
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  She sent the old nurse to the hills where Mussoke was herding
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  goats and said, Tell my child to come home by the back way and
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  sit in the kitchen until I've told him what to do.
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  Then she cooked food from the messenger and said when you have
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  eaten, you shall see the little girl and take her away with you.
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  She dressed Mussoke in a little bark cloth and put bracelets on
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  his hands and as she did so she told him the story of his birth
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  and said I have saved your life up until today, I can do no
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  more. You must use your own wisdom.
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  And she told him a Luganda proverb, It is no use asking the
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  gods to help you if you don't mean to run fast.
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  Then she LED Mussoge to the messenger, and said, Here is my
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  little girl, take her to the chief.
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  And she gave Mussoke a present to take a big hen and some SEM
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  SEM seed in a packet of banana fiber.
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  And the old nurse went with them, carrying their roll of
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  mats. The chief was very pleased that
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  the little girl and the present that she brought, And he gave
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  the old nurse a Hut and said, Take great care of this
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  beautiful child, and see that she learns how I like my meals
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  cooked, so that sometime in the future she may be useful to me.
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  At first Mosoke was very careful, but then he grew
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  careless, and on one day he saw a Reed pipe on the ground, and
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  in a moment he forgot everything and began to play his old goat
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  song. Little black kids, little white
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  kids, speckles, striped and brown.
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  The people heard him in amazement.
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  Do girls play Reed pipes? They cried.
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  Who is this child? Mosoke was frightened and ran
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  home, and for some time he was very careful, but soon he forgot
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  again, and one day he saw some boys throwing stones at a wild
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  plum tree. He took the stones and threw
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  them further and higher than any of the others, and the boys were
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  amazed and said, Can a girl throw?
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  How did you learn to throw stones?
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  Then Mosoka was frightened and ran home.
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  But the boys told their parents, and everybody began to talk
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  about it, and at last it reached the ears of the chief that there
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  was something strange about this little girl who had come from
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  Shingo. And he sent to the old nurse and
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  said, Come to the council house tomorrow with the little girl.
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  I will question you about the strange thing she does.
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  When the nurse heard this, she said to Musoke, What have you
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  done, my child? Now the chief will find out that
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  we have been deceiving him, and he will kill us.
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  That night Musoke lay awake, wondering what he should do.
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  What should he say? What will happen when the
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  council questioned him the next day?
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  And then he saw the moonlight shining through the chinks of
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  the Reed door, and he slipped softly out into the courtyard
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  and sat down by a great stone. Everything was beautiful and
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  peaceful around him. The Hut threw a deep shadow
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  across the courtyard, and behind it the winds sighed, and the
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  banana cheese through long flickering shadows which reached
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  all around him now and then, and all around him the crickets were
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  chirping. But no wise thoughts came to the
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  boy. He sat huddled up in his little
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  bark cloth against the big stone and wondered what he should say.
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  The next day at the council house a big fluffy owl flew past
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  him and stopped him in surprise. Why are you not in bed, little
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  girl? He said I am not a little girl,
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  said Musuke and he told the owl his story.
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  Ask the moon to help you, said the owl, and it flew away.
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  Musuke looked up at the moon, but she seemed so far away and
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  so cold and so still. A black bat flew squeaking past
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  him and startled him a little. What are you doing out of doors
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  at night, little girl? He said, I am not a little girl,
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  said Musoke, and he told the bat his story.
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  Ask the moon to help you, said the bat, and it flew on.
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  Musoke looked up again at the moon, but she still seemed
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  farther and farther away, and even colder and Stiller than
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  ever. A big cricket hopped onto the
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  stone by his side and gave such a loud chirp that Musoke quite
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  jumped. Why don't you ask the moon?
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  He said. Only the moon can help you, but
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  you must stand up and shut your eyes and stretch out your arms
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  high above your head when you speak to her.
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  So Mizoki stood up and shut his eyes and stretched his arms high
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  above his head, and then he laughed, for he felt his muscles
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  swelling, and he was glad that he was a boy.
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  Oh dear Moon, have pity on me and tell me what to do and how
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  to answer the chief at the council house tomorrow.
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  Then from far away a gentle voice said.
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  Little boy, I have watched you for many years and I love you
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  dearly. If you go to the council house
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  tomorrow and the chiefs question you, nothing can save you.
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  Will you come and live with me in cloud land?
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  Once I had a little baby of my own, but he fell out of his
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  cradle into the great lake and became an island.
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  And since then I have been very lonely, for the stars are far
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  away and never talk to me, Musoke said.
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  How can I come to you right up in the sky?
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  And the moon answered. I will send a shower of rain and
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  make a rainbow that you must climb upon in a few minutes.
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  Musoke felt the rain beginning to fall, and soon a beautiful
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  rainbow appeared, and he said to the cricket, Tell my old nurse
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  where I have gone, and give my greetings to my mother, and tell
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  them that I am quite safe. I could not play at being a girl
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  any more than he climbed upon the rainbow, and the moon took
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  him in her arms and laid him in the lovely Pearl cradle where
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  her own little boy had used to lie.
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  And she told him not to lean out too far in the morning.
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  No one knew where he had gone, and they never found him.
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  But if you look up at the moon, you will see something like a
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  cloud lying across it. And in England they call it the
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  Man in the Moon. But it is really Musoke, the
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  moon boy in his cradle. Perhaps someday you may see a
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  moon rainbow. You have to watch for many
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  nights, for it is very rarely seen.
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  Some people have never even seen it at all.
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  The end. Aw man, I felt bad for the mom
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  who was just trying to protect her crops, but maybe there was a
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  better way. And I also feel bad that she
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  lost her son, but it seems like it might have been the best
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  solution in a terrible situation.
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  I think the chief kind of went overboard with the no I got to
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  kill him. If you agree or have other
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  thoughts, I would love to hear from you.
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  Yes, you and the podcast shout out is to That's What They say.
• 13:59
  Hosted on Michigan Public Radio. This show goes over nuances in
• 14:02
  the language with Michigan professor and Kurzan.
• 14:06
  It's a lot of fun and it's a short show only around 5 minutes
• 14:08
  or so. And the listener shout out is to
• 14:12
  Leo Vardun in the Netherlands. I've only been to Amsterdam, so
• 14:16
  it'd be nice to see in another city in the Netherlands.
• 14:19
  I think it would also be cool to hear Frisian, which is one of
• 14:21
  the closer relatives of English. And if I get to go to this cool
• 14:25
  city, I would be interested in seeing the Frise L'enbowen
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  Museum and Agricultural Museum. That's where we get the word
• 14:33
  Bower. So all my Michigan friends who
• 14:35
  play euchre and there's a left Bower and a right Bower.
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  And so I say to my listener in Leoarden, I say in Frisian,
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  Tankwar E Goenacht. Thank you and good night.