Twelve tales open a new shelf: tales of the Sudan collected in 1905 on the White Nile and the Blue Nile by Yacoub Artin Pacha, published in his Contes populaires du Soudan égyptien (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1909) — billed by collector, rivers and book, not as a survey of all Sudan's peoples. Some were told in Nubia, between Aswan and Wadi Halfa; one comes from the Hadandowa of the Red Sea hills; several were told at Khartoum; the rest are Shilluk and Dinka tales of the White Nile. In a fresh English translation for KacheliTV.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
God and the Neighbours — a farmer prays for his sick cow, then tries to pay his neighbours for removing a donkey; they know a cow when they see one. The Neighbours' Arithmetic — two coins of twenty paras, one of forty: a judge must untangle the sum. The Fox and the Crow — the fox swears Solomon has declared peace among the animals; the crow has doubts. A Wise Woman — told she can win back her husband only by curling a lion's whiskers, a wife sets about it with patience. The Merchant and the Monkeys — his red caps are stolen in the forest, and returned by the monkeys' king. The Man and the Siren of the Nile — carried under the river, a husband longs for home until a judge sets him free. The Creation of Man — man and woman, first made in one being. Fire — the dog fetches a flaming branch from the serpent who guards it. Do Not Beat Your Dog — the dog who brought the fire, and the words that protect him. The Falcon and the Rope — once a rope joined heaven and earth. The Cow and the Dog — why cows have one row of teeth, and why the dog's mouth is split with laughter. The Vulture and the Atoi — two birds, two answers to the oldest question.
Passage notes, as told: in A Wise Woman, the wife prepares a young goat each evening to feed the lion, and wins his trust over five days; no one is harmed. In The Man and the Siren of the Nile, the siren carries the sleeping man into the river and lies that his sister has died; he is unharmed, she is well, and a judge orders his release. In Fire and Do Not Beat Your Dog, the dog's tail catches alight carrying the fire, and the grass burns; the dog is unhurt, and the moral forbids beating him. In The Cow and the Dog, the first cow falls from the sky and breaks her front teeth — a comic origin tale. The book's first tales mock their southern neighbours in the manner of their time; here they are named neutrally, and in the first tale they are plainly right. Five more tales are excluded by name under the shelf rule — The Dog, the Cock and the Fox; The Lion and the Hyena; The Hare and the Giraffe; The Hare and the Crow; The Hare and the Ram — and one, The Neighbours and Their Prophet, is held for a ruling; one more, Inequality in Life, waits for Part Two.
Chapters:
0:00 Folk Tales of Sudan — Part One (introduction)
1:29 God and the Neighbours
3:02 The Neighbours' Arithmetic
4:05 The Fox and the Crow
5:10 A Wise Woman
7:35 The Merchant and the Monkeys
8:56 The Man and the Siren of the Nile
11:22 The Creation of Man
11:38 Fire
12:14 Do Not Beat Your Dog
13:42 The Falcon and the Rope
14:26 The Cow and the Dog
14:54 The Vulture and the Atoi
Yacoub Artin Pacha, Contes populaires du Soudan égyptien (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1909) — public domain.
Narrated by Benedetto. Music: instrumental bed, "Wind Swept Flight."
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