Suriname folk-lore

108.

Wą mą' bɛn dɛ. A go wroko na wąn presi. Dąn di a go 'a wroko, na mąn tai̯g' hɛm taki, ‘Mi 'ɛ go tai̯g' yu tu sani; kɩbri yu hatibrɔ̨ŋ fō tamara, ala sąn' yu ai̯ si, yu no mu taki.’

Bɩfɔsi na mąn bɛn gowɛ a bɛn libi ɛ̨ŋ wei̯fi. A no bɛn habi pikin. Dąn na mąn tą' ląŋga. Ma di a kɔm na hoso, dąn a miti wąn mąn na tapu ɛ̨ŋ bɛdi. A puru ɛ̨ŋ refolfer fō sütu na mąn, ma bifo' a sütu hɛm, a mɛmbre są' na mąn a taki hɛm: ‘Kɩbri yu hatibrɔ̨ŋ fō tamara.’ Dąn a no sütu hɛm. A no bɛn sabi taki na ɛ̨ŋ pikin bɛn kɔm bɩgi so. Bifɔ' a gowɛ' na umą bɛn tą' nąŋga bɛre, ɛn na ɛ̨ŋ pikin bɛn kɔm bɩgi so. Ɛf' a bɛn sütu, na ɛ̨ŋ srɛfi pikin a i go sütu.

Dɑti meki a bǫ' fō yɛre suma di taki, ‘Kɩbri hatibrɔ̨ŋ fō tamara,’ meki a no sütu na pikin kiri.

108. ‘Hide Anger 'til Tomorrow’.²

There was a man. He was going to a certain place to work. Then when he was going to work, the man said to him, said, ‘I am going to tell you two things; hide your anger until tomorrow, and all that your eyes see you must not tell.’

Before the man went away he left his wife. He had no child. Then the man remained away for a long time. But when he came home, then he found a man on his bed. He drew his revolver to shoot the man, but before he shot at him, he recalled what the man had said to him: ‘Hide your anger until tomorrow.’ Then he did not shoot him. He did not know that his child had grown so big. Before he went his wife had been with child, and his child had since grown so. If he had shot, he would have shot his own child.

That is why it is well to listen to a person who says, ‘Hide your anger until tomorrow,’ for that is why he did not shoot and kill his child.

2 Told by 1. Compare Jamaica, Beckwith (II) 155-156, No. 122; Santo Domingo, Andrade 239-240, No. 185.