Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/239

 Collectanea. 203

da na yi ka(r)ria dayawa. I should have greatly lied.

Da ma, ka{r)ria nan ta azuzttka. Formerly this lie was lucky.

Gobe da safe ka gewoya To-morrow morning you go around

bayan da(i)ki, sat ka ga behind the house, and you will see

azuriifa tinjiin a pile of silver (which)

gizzo ya subar. the spider has placed (there).

The story proper often ends with the words suka zona ("they remained"), an equivalent for our "they lived happy ever after- wards." The Hausa would not, however, bind himself to such a wide statement when he knows that the wife at any rate, (being only one of four), will not be altogether content.

The first few tales I have translated literally, so as to show the exact style of a Hausa story, but later ones I have rendered more freely.

I. The Spider, the Hippopotamus, and the Elephant. (S. D.)

The Spider got up and went to a river, and^ said, — " Hippo- potamus, the Elephant says she is stronger than you." She (Hippopotamus) said, — " She is not stronger than I." He said, — "Very well, to-morrow we shall bring you together in the wood." He took a leather thong and tied one end to the Elephant. He went to the river, found the Hippopotamus, and tied her with (the other end of) the rope. He returned to the higher ground. He caught hold of the rope and shook and pulled it. The Elephant said, — " The Hippopotamus is pulling me." The Hippopotamus said, — " The Elephant is pulling me." The Spider pulled hard, and they came {i.e. were dragged towards one another) and saw each other on the hill. Then the Hippopo- tamus said, — " So it is the Spider who has made us quarrel (joined us with strife), I and you." Then they untied the thong, and said, — "Let us throw away the thong and find the Spider." When the Spider heard he was being sought, he went away and found anold Oribi skin which had dried up, and he put it on (got inside). He waited in the sun (until) the skin dried up thoroughly, then he started off and came to (the place of) the Elephant. When she saw him, she said, — " O Oribi,

this is the best way to translate.
 * There is no such "and" in Hausa, — the pronoun being repeated, — but