Suriname folk-lore

96. Ɔndrofeni.

Wą mąn go na busi, go hɔnti. Di a waka so tɛ ... a yɛre suma dɛ, ɑksi yɛpi na ɩni wąn bɩgi hɔro. A luku na ɩni na hɔro, a si wąn libisuma, wąn sineki nąŋga wąn alata. So a taki, ‘Sineki na wąn takru meti, Alata so srɛfi. Mi sɑ lɛpi Libisuma.’ Ma bakatɛm a kɔm prakseri. ‘Meki mi lɛpi ala dri, Sineki, Alata, nąŋga Libisuma lei̯ki mi srɛfi.’ So Sineki teki ɛ̨ŋ pasi, Alata ɛ̨ŋ pasi, ɛn Libisuma go nąŋga hɛm makandra na hɛm hoso. No dąŋki srɛfi a bɛn kɩsi fō dem dri dɩsi a bɛn lɛpi na dɛdɛ.

Ma Alata kɔm prakseri taki, a musu lɛpi da suma dɩsi bɛ̨n du hɛm bǫ'. So a go na bąŋk-hoso, a broko wąn prąŋga, ɛn a fufuru furu mɔni ɛn a tyari hɛm gi Libisuma fō pai̯mąŋ, fō dɩsi a bɛn hɛlpi hɛm fō dɛdɛ.

So libisuma bɛn dɛ makandra, ɛn a si ala sani. So a go na skotu ɛn tɔri hɛm mati. So dem sɛni skotu kɔm na hɛm mati hoso, ɛn tyari hɛm go na dųŋgru-hoso. Di da nusu bɛn pąŋya na foto,

[p. 308]

Sineki kɔm yɛre dɑti. So a wani si wąn fasi fō lɛpi da Libisuma dɩsi bɛn puru hɛm na dɛdɛ.

So da Konim fō da kɔndre bɛn habi wąn moi̯ Prɩncɛs. Sineki taki, ‘Ɛfu mi beti dɩsi Prɩncɛs, ɛn sɔri Libisuma wąn drɛsi fō meki na Prɩncɛs no sɑ dɛdɛ, den sa puru hɛm na dųŋgru-hoso.’ So Sineki go na ɩni palei̯s fō Konim, ɛn beti da Prɩncɛs. Na baka dɑti a go hesi na busi, ɛn broko wiwiri dɩsi sɑ dɛ wąn drɛsi fō puru na Prɩncɛs na dɛdɛ hąn', ɛn tyari hesi na Libisuma na ɩni dųŋgru-hoso, ɛn sɔri hɛm fa a musu meki na drɛsi fō da Prɩncɛs sɑ tą' na libi.

Konim kari ala datra na ɩni foto fō drɛsi hɛm umą-pikin, da Prɩncɛs. Ma nowąn datra bɛn kɔni nɔfo fō sabi wąn drɛsi. So Konim bɛn sɛni nųnsu go na ala prei̯si fō da suma dɩsi kąn drɛsi hɛm pikin, dɑti sɑ kɩsi leti-mɩndri fō hɛm kɔndre, ɛn a sɑ tro nąŋga da Prɩncɛs. So Libisuma na dųŋgru-hoso bɛn ɑksi Konim fō kɔm na ɩni palei̯s fō drɛsi da Prɩncɛs. Dą' Konim taki, ‘Ala kɔni datra bɛn meki noiti, ma dem no kąn drɛsi mi pikin. So yu dɛ̨ŋki yu kąn drɛsi hɛm?’ Libisuma taki, ‘Ya, Konim, mi dɛ da mąn dɩsi sɑ drɛsi hɛm.’ Ala suma fō da kɔndre bɛn kɔm makandra na ɩni palei̯si fō si da konimąn dɩsi sɑ drɛsi Konim pikin. Libisuma teki dɛm wiwiri na makandra, ɛn meki hɛm drɛsi. So a lɔbi dɑti na da prei̯si pɛ Sineki bɛn beti da Prɩncɛs. Na wąn yuru na baka, da Prɩncɛs bɛn kɔm bɛtre, ɛn go sɔntu lei̯ki a bɛn dɛ bifosi. So Konim bɛn presiri tumusi. A kɩsi da tɔrimąn, ɛn a pɔti hɛm na dųŋgru-hoso. Ɛn da drɛsimąn bɛn tro nąŋga ɛ̨ŋ Prɩncɛs, ɛn a bɛn trǫ' Konim fō da kɔndre.

Na tɔri kɔm kaba.

Mi srɛfi bɛn dapɛ, ɛn mi sek' hanu nąŋga da Konim ɛn da Prɩncɛs.

96. Animal Gratitude and Human Duplicity.²

A man went to the bush to hunt. As he walked so till... he heard people asking for help from a deep hole. He looked in the hole, and he saw a human being, a snake, and a rat. So he said, ‘Snake is a bad animal, and so also is Rat. I will help Human Being.’ But after a while he came to study. ‘Let me help all three, Snake, Rat, and Human Being who is like myself.’ So Snake went his way, Rat his way, and Human Being went home with him (the hunter). He did not even receive thanks from the three he had saved from death.

But Rat came to study that he must help the person who had done him a good (deed). So he went to the bank and he broke a board, and he stole much money, and he brought it to Human Being as a reward for having saved him from death.

So the human beings were together, and he (the rescued man) saw everything. So he went to the police, and told on his friend. So they sent policemen to his friend's house and took him away

2 Told by 11. Comparative references as for preceding tale, except those of Helser and the Penards.

[p. 309]

to prison. When the news spread through the city, Snake came to hear that. So he wanted to find a way to help Human Being who saved him from death.

So the King of that country had a beautiful Princess. Snake said, ‘If I bite this Princess, and show Human Being a medicine to keep the Princess from dying, they will free him from prison.’ So Snake went to the King's palace, and bit the Princess. After that he went quickly to the bush, and picked herbs that should be a medicine for saving the Princess from the hands of death, and he carried them quickly to Human Being in prison, and showed him how he must make the medicine, so that the Princess should remain alive.

The King called all the doctors of the city to cure his daughter, the Princess. But not one of the doctors was clever enough to know a medicine. So the King sent the news everywhere that he who could cure his daughter would receive half of his kingdom, and he would marry the Princess. So Human Being (who was) in prison asked the King to come to the palace to cure the Princess. The King said, ‘All the clever doctors have tried their utmost but they could not cure my daughter. So you think you can cure her?’ Human Being said, ‘Yes, King, I am the man who will cure her.’ All the people of the kingdom came together in the palace to see the wise man who would cure the King's daughter. Human Being took the herbs, and made his medicine. So he rubbed that on the place where Snake had bitten the Princess. An hour later the Princess was well, and healthy as she had been before. So the King was very happy. He caught the slanderer and he put him in prison. And the medicine-man married the Princess, and he became King of the country.

The story comes to an end.

I myself was there, and I shook hands with the King and the Princess.