Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/345

 On the Origiii of the Egyptian '' Zar!' 315

company. Before describing this zdr I will give a brief account of each of the participators, and the ancestral spirits who possessed them. There were three dancers, all of them haunted by the same spirits, Babinga and his wife N'gurma. Babinga was said to be a great A-Zande king, the first to make an iron throwing-knife(/v;/^<7) and to show his people how to use it. He married his cousin N'gurma, and they as well as their children, Nunga, Rusea, and Angora all became familiar spirits of their descendants. Farag, 3 corporal, said by his officer to be a very efficient soldier, was the principal actor. When he was an infant he had not been able to suck, so his grandmother fed him by chewing sugar cane and spitting the juice into his mouth. A kojur (A-Zande henza) was called, who recognized that the spirit of Babinga was in the child's body. A wild beast was killed (for his people possessed no cattle at the time) and a zdr (A-Zande ataro) was held, and although it was said that Babinga remained with the child he gave no sign of his presence until the boy was twelve years old, when he became very ill. It happened that he was captured by Zubeir Pasha at this period, and taken to Dem Zubeir, about eight days' journey north of his home. Here a cow and two sheep were killed, and Farag recovered from his illness, but ever since then it has been of vital importance to him to hear the drum (A-Zande gciza) every week. He need make no sacrifice, but if the drum be not played his head would throb and his chest ache. As soon as he hears this music his body trembles and he feels a strong impulse to dance. When in this condition, he sometimes receives orders from Babinga, which come to him as though he were dreaming, but unless he receives an order he does not offer a sacrifice. On parade, when the drum plays, Farag trembles, and it is only with the greatest difficulty that he refrains from dancing. Some years ago, N'gurma also took up her abode within his body, not with malicious intent, but because Babinga was pleased with Farag.