Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/351

 Collectanea. 327

persons, all seemingly equal, and each supreme in his own peculiar department. Their names and functions are as follows : —

1. Libanza. — The Creator, the strong, all-powerful one.

2. Nzakomba. — The Disposer of the hearts and thoughts of men. This deity is responsible for the good and bad thoughts in man ; for his kindly or evil disposition ; for his morality or lack of it.

3. Njambe. — The Destroyer. Death, sickness, evils of all kinds emanate from this deity. Nzambi of the Lower Congo; Nyambe of the Bobangi people, and other forms in cognate languages. The definition of this name varies according to locality. N.B. — Lower Congo, avibi-=h-\^; Bobangi, (^2 = bad; Monsembe, bi= bad ; and so on. Is this the root of Nzambi, &c.? I think it is very probable.

4. Kumba. — Crooked sticks, deformed and semi-sane people, and all malformations in nature are placed to the credit of this deity. N.B. — umba, v.t. to bend, to clinch, clench, curve, &c. This is probably the root of Kumba.

The Birth of Libanza.

Yondoka (a mythical creature) having brought into subjection all the animals, was at last conquered and slain by another Yondoko, who took his wife. They slept together, and the following morning when the wife went out to sweep the space before the house she saw a parrot that dropped a fruit called 7nunsansabii} which she picked' up, roasted, and ate. She said to her husband, " Fetch me some fni/isansabu." He struck his fetish horn in the ground, and told his wife that if blood came out of it she would know he was dead. He then took five satchels, and walking very far arrived at the fruit tree. A boy was sitting at the base of the tree. The man ascended, saying, " I am going to pluck minsafisabti.'" The boy said, " Pull me that one." The man asked, " This one? " " No," said the boy, "not that one, but that there." Man said, "This?" "No, that," said the boy ; until at last the man becoming angry plucked one, threw it at the boy and hit him on a sore. The boy cried and threatened him.

' Munsansabu, plural niinsaiisabu. A fruit much liked by the natives. In shape like a date. It grows on a beautiful tree.