Suriname folk-lore

50.

Anąnsi bɛn 'abi wąn umą pikin, ma ɛ̨ŋ sɛrefi bɛn lɔbi na pikin. Dąn a wani fō libi nąŋga na pikin, a no sabi fa a fō du. A go a lɛn' wąn blaka yas nąŋga wą' bruku, dąn a weri. Na nei̯ti dąn a gō na strati, go weri na krɔsi. Dą' a kɔ̨' ɑksi taki, ɛfu a no di̯a wąn pikin dɛ libi dɛm kari Atandɛ. Di a kɔm, a taki ɛ̨ŋ lɔbi na pikin, 'ɛm wani fō tro nąŋga 'ɩm. Ma den no mą' sabi taki na Anąnsi sɛrefi bɛn weri so kɔm dapɛ.

Di a puru na krosi, dan a kɔ̨ na 'oso. Dąn ɛ̨ŋ wei̯fi tai̯gi 'ɛ̨m taki, ‘Wą' Bakra bɛn kɔ̨ luku na pikin, ɛn a lɔbi ɛ̨ŋ na pikin. A wani fō tro nąŋga ɛ̨ŋ.’ Anąnsi taki, ‘Dati bǫ'.’ Ma na ɛ̨ŋ sɛrefi bɛn du so. A tai̯gi ɛ̨ŋ wei̯fi taki, ‘Mi no 'abi trɔbi. Na Bakra ką' tro nąŋga 'ɩm.’ Ma noiti te na Bakra kɔ̨' na 'oso a dɛ si na pikin papa, bikasi na ɛ̨ŋ papa sɛrefi bɛn dɛ pre fō na Bakra.

Wą' neti di na Bakra kɔm, dąn na mama taki, ‘Mi dɛ go slibi, ųn sidǫ' fɩsiti. Ųn na tu yųŋgu suma.’ Ma di den' bɩgin fō pre, dąn na metjɛ wani bɔsi na man. Fa a go fō bɔsi ɛ̨ŋ, no mō a si taki na ɛ̨ŋ papa. Dąn a bari taki, ‘Mi Gadu, mi mama, na mi papa sɛrefi wan' fō libi nąŋga mi.’ Dąn Anąnsi lɔ̨' gowɛ.

Di a kɔm na 'oso, dąn dɛm aksi 'ɛm ɛfu a so a du. A taki, ‘No, no, ma mi bɛn wani nyąm mi ɛgi fatu.’ Bika' na pikin bɛn moi̯ tumusi, a no bɛn wan' fō wąn tra suma libi nąŋga ɛ̨ŋ.

50. Anansi Disguises as a White Man.¹

Anansi had a daughter, but he himself loved the child. Then he wanted to live with the child, he did not know what to do. He went and borrowed a black coat and breeches, and he dressed himself in them. At night, then, he went down the street wearing his clothes. Then he came to ask, to say, if it was not here a child called Atende lived. When she came he said he loved the child, he wanted to marry her. But they could not know that Anansi himself came there dressed like this.

When he took off his clothes, then he came home. Then his wife said to him, said, ‘A White man came to see the child, and he loves the child. He wants to marry her.’ Anansi said, ‘That is good.’ But he himself had done this. He said to his wife, said, ‘I don't mind. The White man can marry her.’ But when the White man came to the house he never saw the child's father, because her father was himself playing the White man.

One night when the White man came, then the mother said, ‘I am going to sleep, you sit down and visit. You are two young people.’ But when they began to play, then the girl wanted to kiss the man. No sooner did she go to kiss him, than she saw he was her father. Then she cried out, she said, ‘My God, mother, my father himself wants to live with me.’ Then Anansi ran away.

When he came home, then they asked him if he had done this. He said, ‘No, no, but I wanted to eat my own fat.’² Because the child was very beautiful, he did not want to have another man live with her.

1 Told by 1. Compare Ivory Coast (Agni), Tauxier (II) 229, No. 1; for Nigeria (Yoruba), Frobenius 285, No. 42.

2 This is a proverb used when a man makes free with his own children, or with his siblings.