Twelve more folk tales of the Kimbundu people of Angola, told by their own storytellers and written down by the Swiss linguist Héli Chatelain for his Folk-Tales of Angola (1894) — the first great printed collection of Kimbundu tales, with the Ki-mbundu text and his literal English translations side by side. Our tellings are Chatelain's own translations, told as he printed them. Narrated by Morgana.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
The Four Uouas — Four sisters, one name between them. A suitor may marry all four or none — and four bundles of rats decide which wife he keeps.
The Blacksmith and the Blackbirds — The Blackbirds all look alike, and every one denies the debt. Blacksmith cannot name his debtor — until the Turtle-dove judges the case.
Dinianga dia Ngombe and Deer — The hunter shoots, kills and flays his deer — and the deer stands up out of its hide and argues the shame of it with him.
Lion and Wolf — Lion boasts there is none stronger. Wolf, from the thicket, names two who are — and the chase decides nothing.
Elephant and Frog — Frog tells the girls that Elephant is his horse. Then, on the road, he rides him there to prove it.
Jackal and Hare — Hare hides in a hole and opens two big eyes. Jackal meets an omen, and runs home crying.
Squirrel and the Kingship — "To-day, at once." Squirrel's one demand is the whole tale — and it costs him a crown.
Dog and the Kingship — The mats are spread, the chair is set, the lord is seated — and then Dog sees the breast of a fowl.
Frog and his Two Wives — East wife and West wife cook mush at the same moment, and both send for Frog at once. His croak is the answer.
Two Men, One Woman — Her father demands a living deer. Two suitors hunt it; the one who gives up is the one the elders choose.
A Father-in-Law and his Son-in-Law — "A darkness like the gloom of a blind eye" is answered by "a moonlight of bald-head shine" — and six old men judge the exchange.
The Past and the Future — Whence-we-come is praised and Where-we-go refused a drink, until the judge explains which name deserves the palm-wine.
Notes on the tellings: In the third tale, the deer Dinianga shoots and flays stands up alive out of its hide and walks away whole — no death stands in the tale. In the first tale the forty rats are trapped and cooked as food. In the tenth tale a beating is spoken of only in the elders' reasoning, as their ground for refusing the fierce suitor and choosing the gentle one; no blow is struck in any tale.
Source: Héli Chatelain, Folk-Tales of Angola (Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, Vol. I, 1894) — public domain; Chatelain's printed translations, OCR repairs only.
Narrated by Morgana. Music: opening and closing theme, "Subterranean Earth," heard again briefly between the tales; no music plays under the reading.
Chapters:
02:10 The Four Uouas
15:05 The Blacksmith and the Blackbirds
20:25 Dinianga dia Ngombe and Deer
23:18 Lion and Wolf
24:43 Elephant and Frog
26:54 Jackal and Hare
29:09 Squirrel and the Kingship
30:27 Dog and the Kingship
32:18 Frog and his Two Wives
34:25 Two Men, One Woman
41:47 A Father-in-Law and his Son-in-Law
46:31 The Past and the Future
