Traditional tales from the children of Maga
on Mischa in Cameroon (Cameroon), 30/Apr/2010 07:29, 34 days ago
We had a traditional story telling competition for the children at our schools in Maga- the children were told to ask someone in their family to tell them a traditional story and then to write it in French. This was a strategy to try and abridge the perceived divide between preserving traditional culture and the imported values of 'Western education'. We also wanted the students to get some practice writing their own stories in French, rather than just copying off the board. Below are a few of my favourites- as my friend commented, "Why do we say that it's computer games that make children violent?"Four peopleOne has thin feet, one has a big stomach, one is clumsy and one has a big head. They went into the bush and they found a doumier (a kind of fruit tree) with only one fruit. The one with the big head decided to climb the tree. When he climbed his head caught fire. The one with the big stomach said I will bring back this fruit to the house. He got quite far and then he fell and his stomach got a hole in it. The one who is clumsy said I must now get this fruit, but he fell and his feet broke. The one who is thin said it’s me who must get the fruit. He got quite far when his foot got stuck in a hole and he died.(Vaina Thomas, 10, Malka primary school) Two brothersTwo brothers were living alone. Their parents were dead and they grew up together. They looked after sheep at their house. The older brother got married. For his marriage they younger brother had given money for the dowry. In the family it was the younger brother who looked after the animals. One day the older brother decided to go into the bush with the animals. When the wife had seen her husband was away she went into the bedroom of the little brother of her husband to ask him to have sex with her. The little brother refused, and this was very daring of the woman. She went into her own bedroom and lit the fire and rested naked on the bed and cried saying to her husband that his little brother wanted to rape her. The older brother said to the younger brother,“What did you do when I was away?”The younger brother said that it was the wife who wanted to sleep with him and he had refused. The older brother said no, it wasn’t like that. In the night the older brother took a sharp knife and cut of the testicles of his little brother. In the morning the little brother took his things and disappeared to another village.The lesson of this is that you should analyse the stories that people tell. If you don’t you’ll have difficulties with your brothers.(Voulnamou Philipe, 8, Simatou primary school) The brave fisherwomanOnce there was a woman called Marie. Marie was a very brae woman. Every day she went to look for fish. One day she went fishing in the swamp and she spent the whole day at the swamp. It was already five o’clock and she had only got little fish. She said to herself “I cant’ go home with these fish, they are little fish. I will put them back in the water and I will come back and feed them every day.” Then she went home. She went to feed the fish morning and evening, the fish grew until they became as big as hippopotami. One day Marie was travelling and her neighbours came and stole the fish. When she got back she saw her fish weren’t in the swamp. At the same a neighbour was cooking Marie’s fish. He cooked it all. When he wanted to eat the fish his hand was paralysed on the plate andhe started to cry for help. Marie came to help him and she saw her fish and she made an official complaint and he paid a million francs.(Honné, Maga primary school) The OrphanThe orphan left the village where his father and mother died to go to another village. On his way he found an egg. He took the egg and continued on his way to the village he was going to. When he arrived he covered the egg with a calabash. The egg broke and gave a chick. The chick grew. He met by chance someone who swapped the cockerel for a goat. By swapping in this way he eventually got a cow. The orphan fed himself on the milk of the cow. He built a house and at this house he washed himself in the milk of the cow. He found the cow gave at least five buckets of milk when he milked it.When the king heard of this he ordered for the cow that fed the orphan to be seized. The messengers of the king seized the orphan’s cow by force. When the cow arrived at the king’s house it gave no milk. The king decided to kill the cow and that the royal family would eat all the meat of the poor orphan’s cow. When someone tried to kill the cow during the night they died.They went to see the medicine men, who said they should go and beg mercy from the orphan. They begged forgiveness from the orphan. He refused. They proposed to give him the kingdom. He said no. They offered a thousand goats. He said no. They offered a thousand cows. The orphan said yes and sang“My cow, my cow. God has left you in my hands so you can feed me. Even if he has hurt me leave the king alone.Afterwards the family was saved and the king gave the thousand cows to the orphan. So the king became the friend of the orphan. In the end the orphan became a rich man in the village of the king who had made him suffer.(Dougka Martine, 15, Malka primary school)