Suriname folk-lore

6. Anansi nąŋga Kɔnkɔni.

Anąnsi nąŋga Kɔnkɔni den bɛ̨' frieri wąn-tu medjɛ. Ma nō, dem medjɛ lɔbi Kɔnkɔni mɔro furu. Dąn Anąnsi 'atibrɔ̨ŋ. Dąn a go tai̯gi medjɛ taki, ‘Soso Kɔnkɔni waka so, te nei̯ti a-i xrotu na ɛ̨ŋ presi.’ Dą' den medj' taki, ‘Dɛm Kɔnkɔni fɩsti.’ Anąnsi taki, ɛf den wani mek' dę ɔri wąn fɩshɩty tɛ nei̯ti, dąn dę' tą' sribi dɛ, dąn den medjɛ sɑ si.

Ma nō, fɔs' den go, dą' Anansi tai̯g' Kɔnkɔni taki, a no mu kari ɛ̨ŋ ‘Anąnsi’ mɔro, a mu kari ‘Mi Ka.’ Dan 'a nei̯ti di den go didǫn, dąn Anąnsi opo, dą' ɛ̨ŋ xrotu wąn moi̯ hipi xrotu na Kɔnkɔni presi. Dą' di Kɔnkɔni wei̯ki, dą' i bari, ‘Mi Ka, Mi Ka.’ Dąn Anąnsi taki, ‘Ɛf' yu kaka, dą' yu go puru ɛ̨ŋ.’ Dąn Kɔnkɔni taki, ‘A no mi.’ Ma ala den metjɛ yeri wą' trǫ', so dem bribi Anąnsi no lei̯, wan Kɔnkɔni xrote ne ɛ̨ŋ presi. So den 'atibrǫ' nąŋga Kɔnkɔni, ɛ̨' den libi Kɔnkɔni. Dɛn dę tek' Anąnsi.

So Anąnsi wroko Kɔnkɔni nąŋga kɔni.

6. Slandering a Rival: Anansi and Rabbit.¹

Anansi and Rabbit were courting several girls. But now the girls loved Rabbit more. Then Anansi was angry. Then he went to tell the girls, say, ‘Rabbits behave this way, at night they defecate in their places.’ Then the girls said, ‘Rabbits are nasty.’ Anansi said, if they wished, let them prolong the visit (of Anansi and Rabbit) till night, then they would sleep there, and the girls would see.

But now, before they went, then Anansi said to Rabbit, he said, he must not call him ‘Anansi’ any more, he must call him ‘My Excrement’. Then at night when they went to lie down, then Anansi rose, then he defecated generously in Rabbit's place. Then when Rabbit awoke, then he cried, ‘My Excrement, My Excrement.’ Then Anansi said, ‘If it is your excrement, then you go and remove it.’ Then Rabbit said, ‘It is not mine.’ But immediately all the girls heard, so they believed Anansi did not lie that a Rabbit defecated in his place. So they were angry² with Rabbit, and they left Rabbit. They took Anansi.

So Anansi tricked Rabbit with cunning.

1 Told by 1. Compare for Ivory Coast, Tauxier (I) 286-7, Guro No. 27.

2 The idiom for anger is ‘the heart burned’, or ‘the heart came to burn’.