Suriname folk-lore

[p. 212]

35.

Konu bɛn ab' wąn uma-p'kin. A taki, suma wan' tro nąŋga 'a p'kin, a mu' kɔ̨' nyąm wąn krabasi pɛpre sɔ̨ndra meki, ‘Fffahh’. Wąn dei̯ Anąnsi taki, ‘Mi 'ɛ go si ɛf' mi no kąn go tro nąŋga ɛ̨ŋ p'kin.’ Anąnsi kɔmopo, a go. Ma di a go, ala san' a de tak' nąŋga Konu, a i tak' so, ‘Fffahhh, odi mi Konu, fffahhh. Fa mi Konu tą', fffahhh? Ma mi Konu, mi kɔm, fffahhh.’

Di ɛ̨ŋ nąŋga Konu tak' moi̯, Konu de luk' ɛ̨ŋ. Konu taki, ‘Mąn, wɛ fa yu tak' so dąn?’ Anąnsi piki ɛ̨ŋ, ‘Fffahhh, na so mi tak' tą', fffahhh.’

Ala dɑti Anąnsi wroko trɩki fō te a nyąm 'a pɛpre, dąn te 'a pɛpre brɔ̨n ɛm, dąn Konu no ką' sabi taki na na pɛpre de brɔ̨n ɛm. Anąnsi go, Konu 'ɛ gi 'ɛm na pɛpre. Ma ala di na pɛpre brɔn hɛm, dąn a de meki, ‘Fffahhh.’ Dąn a nyą' den krabas' pɛpre. Dąn Konu dɛ taki, ‘Na so na mąn taki tą', dɛ so na pɛpre n'e brɔ̨n ɛ̨ŋ. Bika' na so a i taki, ala san' dati hɛm taki a meki so, “Fffahhh”.’

So dat' Konum bɛn musi mek' a tro nąŋga hɛm p'kin. Ala di na pɛpre brɔ̨ŋ ɛŋ, Konu no dɛ mek' anmerkɛn tak' na pɛpre ‧ɛ brɔ̨n ɛ̨ŋ.

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35. The Pepper-Eating Test.²

The King had a daughter. He said, whoever wishes to marry his daughter, must come and eat a calabash of pepper without making ‘F-fah.’³ One day Anansi said, ‘I am going to see if I cannot marry his daughter.’ Anansi left [his house] and he went. But when he went, everything he said to the King, he said so: ‘F-fah-howdo, King, f-fah. How is the King today, f-fah? But King, I came, f-fah...’

While he and the King were talking nicely, the King looked at him. The King said, ‘Man, well why do you talk like this then?’ Anansi answered him, ‘F-fah, this is my way of talking, f-fah.’

All that Anansi worked as a trick in order that when he ate the pepper and when the pepper burnt him, then the King should not know that the pepper was burning him. Anansi went, and the King gave him the pepper. But, when the pepper burnt him, then he made ‘F-fah.’ Then he ate the calabash of pepper. Then the King said, ‘Such is the man's speech, and so pepper does not burn him. Because so he talks, everything that he said, he made so, “F-fah”.’

So the King had to let him marry his daughter. When the pepper burnt him, the King did not notice that the pepper was burning him.

2 Told by 4. Compare Sierra Leone (Temne), Cronise and Ward 129-131; Sudan (Mossi), Tauxier (II) 418, fable No. 5; Ivory Coast, Tauxier (I) 274-275, Guru No. 6; Gold Coast (Ashanti), Rattray (I) 129-131, No. 35; Togo (Dagbamba), Fisch 158, No. 7; Nigeria (Warri), Herskovits, M. and F. (II) 448-452, No. 1; (Edo), Thomas (II) 27-28, No. 7.

3 According to the teller of this tale, this is the sound made when tasting something hot.