Suriname folk-lore

39. Anąnsi go pre fō Datra.

Anąnsi nō, mek' wą' 'ɔspital, taki, ɛ̨ŋ sabi fō drɛsi siki mą'. Nō Tigri bɛ̨' 'abi sɩksi p'kin, dem p'kin bɛn dɛ sɩki. Wɛ, di Tigri yeri tak' Anąnsi dɛ so wą' bǫ' datra, a tyar' dɛm p'kin go mek' Anąnsi luku dem. Anąnsi taki, ‘Mi ką' mɛk' dem p'kin kɔm bɛtre, ma i mu' tya' dem kɔm na 'ati-'oso, kɔ̨' didɔ̨' fō wą' tįn dei̯.’ Tigri sɛni ɛ̨ŋ p'kin kɔm na Anąnsi.

Anąnsi nyą' ala dem p'kin Tigri. Dąn, di Tigri kɔm fō luku dem p'kin, a tai̯g' Tigri taki, Tigri no ką' si dɛm. Ɛ̨ŋ gi' dɛm wą' drɛsi, suma no ką' tak' nąŋga dem. Di Tigri gowe, Anąnsi prakseri taki, te Tigri kɔ̨' luku dem p'kin baka, są' i sɑ tak' Tigri? A prakseri, a taki, ‘Mi sab' są' mi go du kaba.’ A suku tɛtei̯, d'a span na tɛtei̯ na ɩn' na kamera. Dąn a 'ąŋga den p'kin Tigri bɔ̨nyo na na tɛtei̯. Dąn di Tigri kɔ̨' luk' na pikin baka, a tai̯g' Tigri taki, ‘Yu no ką' si dem p'kin 'ɛte, ma ɛfi yu wani, mi sɑ meki yu yeri fa dɛ a lafu.’ Dą' taig' Tigri taki, ‘Luku na t'tei̯ dia. 'Ar' ɛ̨ŋ p'kinso, dą' i sɑ yeri fa i dɛm dɛ lafu.’ Ma Tigri n'e si na ɩn' dem kamera. Te a 'ar' na t'tei̯, den dem bɔ̨nyo, dɛm meki, ‘Tchara, tchara, tchara.’ Dąn Tigri yɛri, a dɛ̨ŋki taki na den p'kin bɛn dɛ taki. Di a kɔm wą' tra dei̯, Anąnsi du so sɛref' baka. A mek' Tigri har' 'a t'tei̯. Di Tigri har' 'a t'tei̯, dąn dɛm bɔ̨nyɔ meki, ‘Tchara, tchara, tchara,’ baka. Tigri gowɛ. Di a go na 'oso, a tei̯gi ɛ̨ŋ frō taki, ‘Dem p'kin de kɔm moi̯ bɛtrɛ, bika' de-a tak', “Tchara, tchara, tchara, tchara”.’ Ala dei̯ tɛ a go luku dɛm p'kin, na na wą' ‘Tchara, tchara’ a yeri.

Wą' dei̯ a i ɑks' Anąnsi taki, ‘Tą'! Ma san' wą' tak' dati? Ala dei̯ na wą' “tchara, tchara, tchara” den p'kin taki! Mi n'e ferstand. Mek' mi sɛrɛf' go luku n' ɩn' na kamera.’ Fa-i-si a opo na dɔro, a si soso bɔ̨nyo 'aŋga na den t'tei̯. A drai̯ g'a dɔrosei̯ fō go nak' Anąnsi. Anąnsi lɔ̨' gō a pɔst' ɔro.

Dati mek' Anąnsi dɛ tą' te tidei̯ na ɩn' pɔst' ɔro.

39. Curing the Sick: Killing Tiger's Children.¹

Anansi now made a hospital, and he said he knew how to cure sick people. Now Tiger had six children, and the children were sick. Well, when Tiger heard that Anansi was so fine a doctor, he took the children to have Anansi examine them. Anansi said, ‘I can make the children better, but you must bring them to the hospital to lie there for ten days.’ Tiger sent the children to Anansi.

Anansi ate all the little Tigers. Then when Tiger came to see his children, he said to Tiger that Tiger could not see them. He gave them a medicine and people could not talk to them. When Tiger went away, Anansi studied, what should he say to Tiger when Tiger came to see his children again? He studied, and he said, ‘I know already what I am going to do.’ He found a cord, and he put up the cord in the room. Then he suspended the little Tigers' bones from the cord. Then when Tiger came again to look at the children, he said to Tiger, he said, ‘You cannot see the children yet, but if you like, I will let you hear how they laugh.’ Then he said to Tiger, he said, ‘See that string there. Pull it a little, and you will hear how they laugh.’ But Tiger did not see inside the room. When he pulled the string, then the bones made ‘Tchara, tchara, tchara.’ Then Tiger heard, and thought that the children were speaking. When he came another day, Anansi did the same thing again. He had Tiger pull at the string. When Tiger pulled at the string, then the bones made ‘Tchara, tchara, tchara’ again. Tiger went away. When he went home, he said to his wife, he said, ‘The children are better, because they say “Tchara, tchara, tchara, tchara”.’ Every day when he went to see the children, he heard the same ‘Tchara, tchara.’

One day he asked Anansi, he said, ‘Tan! but what does that mean? Every day the children speak the same “tchara, tchara, tchara.” I don't understand. Let me go in the room to look at them myself.’ As he opened the door, he saw only bones and cord. He turned and rushed outside to strike Anansi. Anansi ran away into a post hole.

That is why Anansi lives in the post holes until today.

1 Told by 1. Compare, Sierra Leone (Temne), Cronise and Ward 226-230; Hausa, Rattray (IV), ii, 100-104, No. 28; Nigeria (Ikom), Dayrell (II) 58-61, No. 22; Gabun, Nassau, (I) 125-126, Banga No. 12.