Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/142

 1 1 o Reviews.

deny food even to a stranger, lest he may be a witch or a wizard. In the case of a death the corpse is carried round the village on a stretcher, and the chief, cutlass in hand, advances and addresses the deceased, " If I am the one who killed you by magic, advance on me and knock me." So the enquiry goes on until the corpse urges the carriers to butt against the guilty person. A person so accused can appeal for a change of carriers.

The spider in Ashanti folklore comes easily first as a hero in most of their animal tales. Mr. Rattray thinks that these stories probably had a religious or totemic origin, for to-day a sobriquet for the Supreme Being is Ananec-Kokroko, " the Great Spider."

The spider is credited with being very wise, but in Hausa folklore he is rather of the lovable rogue order. One day he collected all the wisdom of the world in a gourd, and was climbing up a tree to deposit it on the top. As he had tied the gourd to his belly, he got into difficulties, and his son, who was watching him, said, "Father, if you had really all the wisdom of the world with you, you would have sense enough to tie the gourd on your back." So in a temper he threw down the gourd, the wisdom got scattered, and men came and picked up what they could carry away.

The account of oaths, which are numerous, one being in the nature of a curse, is very interesting. A man who was about to be executed was usually pierced through both cheeks with a skewer-like knife which prevented him from " Swearing the King's oath," as this would have necessitated a trial before he could be executed. The description of the curious rapidity with which news is signalled by beat of drum is also valuable. In Ashanti when a subject sorcerer appears before his chief his nose is imme- diately rubbed with white clay, and during that day he is held responsible for any bad or good luck the chief may have, and is punished or rewarded accordingly. Wliite clay is used in various rites, and is smeared on an accused person who has been acquitted of a crime; the Milky Way is white with the myriads of clay- decked bodies of the dead.

The value of this useful book would have been increased by an index of subjects.