Suriname folk-lore

61.

Nɔt' sɑ dɛ na dųŋgru di no sɑ kɔm na krįŋ.

Konu Faro a bɛn habi baluba, bɩgi so. Ma a no wani no wan suma sabi tak' 'a baluba, ɛn nowan suma fen' si dɛm. Ma a no

[p. 252]

bɛn dɛ̨ŋki tak' wąn suma bɛn drapɛ, so ɛ̨ŋ hati bɛn brɔ̨n, a kari 'a suma fō kir' hɛm. A no wani suma sab'-taki 'a' baluba. So a diki wan bɩgi hɔro gi Anąnsi. Dą' Anąnsi go na hɔro, a pɔti hem mɔfo, a taki, ‘Konu Faro 'a' baluba - o!’ Nowąn suma no yɛre.

Ɛn dri yari na baka, dą' wąn bɔm kɔmopo let' na ɩni na hɔro pɛ a pɔti hɛm mɔfo. Ɛn so, a bɛn skrifi na bɔm sɩkin, ‘Konu Faro 'a' baluba.’

61. No Secrets.²

Nothing shall exist in the darkness that shall not come to light.

King Pharaoh had a beard, so big [pantomime showing length]. But he did not wish a single person to know that he had a beard,

2 Told by 4. Compare Hausa, Tremearne (III) 304-305, No. 55.

[p. 253]

and not a single person to see it. But he had not thought that a man was there, so he was angry, and he called people to kill him. He did not want people to know that he had a beard. So he dug a large hole for Anansi. Then Anansi went to the hole, and he put his mouth to it, and he said, ‘King Pharaoh has a beard-o!’ No one heard him.

And three years later, a tree grew right from the hole where he had put his mouth. And so, written across the trunk of the tree was, ‘King Pharaoh has a beard.’