Suriname folk-lore

[p. 380]

121.

‘Mi braka poptki, tai̯g mi ɛf' na leti dati, no so, me 'ɛ kɔti yu nɛki.’

Wan papa bɛn habi wan umą pikin, ma nɔtį 'a pikin ben lɔbi lei̯ki ɛ̨ŋ papa bɛn piani wan fei̯fer nąŋga paragrasi. Dɑti nō mō a bɛn lɔbi. Ala mamɛ̨ntɛ̨m hɛm nɛnɛ tyari hɛm go luku na grasi. Wan mamɛntɛm di den go, den 'asi bɛn go nyąm na grasi. Dąn de i fɛti, da brudu fadǫ' na tapu na grasi. Na umą pikin taki, ‘Mi nɛnɛ, luku fa hasi nyąm mi grasi, te den feti. Ma luku fa na rɛdi moi̯ na tapu na grǫn.’ Ɛn wantrǫ' wan stɛ̨n piki hɛm taki, ‘Luku fa na rɛdi moi̯ na tapu na grǫ'. Wɛ, ɛfu yu si Prɩ̨ns Sribiman! Ma na suma di taki na sani, bifosi ai̯ti dei̯ a musu kɔm agen, a sɑ si Prɩ̨ns Sribiman. Ɛn a sɑ si wan wawai̯, ɛn a sɑ wai̯ prɩ̨ns tɛ prɩ̨ns sa wei̯ki. Dąn a sa bɔsi prɩ̨ns. Ɛn a sɑ si wan batra nąŋga watra, a sɑ drɔpu gi ala pisi tiki di a si.’

Ma di a bɛn go a teki ɛ̨ŋ krosi, dąn a ben habi wan braka poptye nąŋga wan broko srebi nefi. Dąn a teki den a tya'i go tu dapɛ. Dąn a si prɩ̨ns, ɛ̨ŋ a teki na wai̯wai̯, a bɛgin fō' wai̯ prɩ̨ns. Di a wai̯ so tɛ ... wan gran-mɩsi bɛn sidǫ' sei̯. A ben dɛ wan tofer gran-mɩsi. Dąn a ɑksi hɛm taki ɛfu a no weri fu wai̯. Ma a bɛn taki, ‘No, no.’ No ląŋga na baka, na gran-mɩsi kɔm baka, a aksi ɛ̨ŋ taki, ‘Yu no wani go klei̯ne?’ Ɛn so wantrǫ' a bɛn opo fō go pɩsi. Na gran-mɩsi teki na wai̯wai̯, a bɛgɩn fō wai̯. Ɛn so, bɩfɔsi na umą pikin kɔm baka, prɩ̨ns bɛn wei̯ki. Ɛn na gran-mɩsi bɛn bɔsi prɩ̨ns, ɛn so na gran-mɩsi bɛn mu' tro nąŋga prɩ̨ns, bɩkasi na wɛt' bɛn dɛ suma bɔsi prɩ̨ns, na dɑti sɑ tro nąŋga hɛm.

Ma di den tro kaba, dąn da umą no den pɔti hɛm fō a luku foru. A bɛn dɛ tumusi sɔri, bika na ɛ̨ŋ papa kɔndre a bɛn dɛ wan prɩ̨nsɛs, ɛn di̯a a mu kɔm luku foru. Den bɛn mɛki wan moi̯ pikin hoso gi ɛ̨ŋ pɛ a di libi. Dąn tɛ neti tɛ a kɔmopo na wroko go na hoso, a dɛ weri ɛ̨ŋ moi̯ krosi, dąn a dɛ prei̯ wan sɩ̨ŋgi-dosu. Ma tɛ a kaba prei̯, dą' i teki na braka poptki nąŋga na srɛbi-nefi, a dɛ ɑksi hɛm taki, ‘Mi braka poptki, mi braka poptki, tai̯gi mi ɛfu na leti dati, no so, mi dɛ kɔti yu neki.’ Dąn a de pɔti hɛm baka, a go sribi.

Ma wan srodati bɛn pasa wan neti. Dąn a yɛre fa na singi-dosu de prei̯ so switi. A go kɩbri na sei̯ na hoso, dan a yɛre ala sani fō na

[p. 382]

umą dɛ aksi na braka poptke. Ɛn so a go tai̯gi Konum taki na umą di dɛ luku foru na so a dɛ du. Konum bɛn gō na srɛfi neti go 'ai̯ki. Fa-i-si na umą ɑksi na braka poptye ɛfu na lɛti dati, Konum bɛn naki na dɔro wantrǫ' fō opo na dɔro. Fa na dɔro opo, Konum si na umą, a kɔm flau̯ wantrǫ', bika' a no bɛn sabi taki na umą na wan prɩ̨nsɛs. Ɛ̨n a bɛn weri ɛ̨ŋ moi̯ krosi. Ɛn di Konum kɩs' hɛm srefi, a kari na umą taki ɛ̨ŋ sa kari wan bɩgi ogɛnsɩ, ɛ̨ŋ a mu frantwɔrtu sąn meki a dɛ ɑksi na braka poptkɛ so.

Di den kɔm na na ogɛnsɩ na fei̯si fu ala den hei̯ suma a taki, ‘Ya, na mi papa kɔndre mi bɛn dɛ wan prɩ̨nces, ɛn di̯a mi mu' kɔm luku foru.’ Ɛn a fɛrtɛri ala san' bɛn pasa, nąŋga na gran-mɩsi fa a bɛn du nąŋga ɛ̨ŋ meki a tro nąŋga prɩ̨ns. Ɛn so den kɔm gi hɛm reti, ɛn den kiri na gran-misi.

No bǫnyo fō ɛ̨ŋ den meki wan drei̯trapu fō a krɩ̨n go na tapu ɛ̨ŋ bɛdi. Ɛn na buba fō na gran-mɩsi a bɛn meki wan tapɛt fō bradi na grǫ'. Ɛn na hɛdɛ a bɛn meki wan lampɛt kan fō wasi ɛ̨ŋ fei̯si.

Ɛn so a kɔ̨n tro nąŋga prɩ̨ns baka. A bɛn dɛ hɛm xeluk.

[p. 381]

121. The Sleeping Prince.¹

‘My black doll, tell me if that is justice, or I will cut off your neck.’

A father had a daughter, but the child loved nothing so much as the field of grass which her father had planted. Only that she loved. Every morning her nurse took her to look at the grass. One morning when they went, the horses were feeding on the grass. Then they fought, and fought, and blood fell on the grass. The girl said, ‘My nurse, look how the horses are eating my grass till they fight. But look how nice the red is on the earth.’ At once a voice answered her, it said, ‘Look how nice the red is on top of the earth. Well, if you were to see the Sleeping Prince! But the one who said the thing must come before eight days are up, and she will see the Sleeping Prince. And she will see a fan, and she should fan the prince until the prince shall awaken. Then she should kiss the prince. And she will see a bottle of water, and she shall sprinkle all the sticks which she sees.’

But, when she went she took her clothes, and she had a black doll and a broken razor. Then she took them and carried them there, too. Then she saw the prince, and she took the fan² and began to fan the prince. She fanned so till... an old woman sat by at the side. She was a witch. Then she asked her, she said, if she was not tired of fanning? But she said, ‘No, no.’ Not long after, the old woman came back, and she asked her, she said, ‘Don't you want to go urinate?’ And so at once she got up to go urinate. The old woman took up the fan and began to fan. And so, before the girl came back, the prince awakened, and the old woman kissed the prince. And so the old woman had to marry the prince, because the law was that the one who kissed the prince should be the one to marry him.

But when they were already married, then the woman made her look after the fowls. She was very sad, because in her father's country she was a princess, and here she had to look after the fowls. They built a nice little house for her to live in. Then at night when she returned from her work, she put on her fine clothes, and she played a singing box. But when she finished playing, then she took up the black doll and the razor, and she asked it, she said, ‘My black doll, my black doll,³ tell me if that is justice, or I will cut off your neck.’ Then she put them back and she went to sleep.

But a soldier passed one night. Then he heard how sweetly the singing box played. He hid at the side of the house, and he heard

1 Told by 1. Note the general resemblance of this story, in point if not in incident, to the type of tale where a servant takes the place of the real princess by taking her clothing and ornaments, to be later discovered through the real princess' singing an identifying song, as, e.g. in Equilbecq, ii, 227-232, where a Malinké tale of this kind is given.

2 Another example of forming a noun by duplication, as wai̯wai̯, ‘fan’, from wai̯, ‘to fan’.

3 The black doll apparently had magic powers, and in this invocation the spirit within it is called upon to bring to light the deception.

[p. 383]

everything the girl asked the black doll. And so he went and told the King that the girl who looked after the chickens, did thus. The selfsame night the King went to listen. Just as the woman asked the black doll if that was justice, the King knocked on the door that she open the door at once. As the door opened the King saw the woman and at once he fainted, because he did not know that this woman was a princess. She was wearing her fine clothes. And when the King came to himself, he called the woman and said he would call a big audience, and she must explain what made her ask that of the black doll.

When they came to the audience, she said before all the important people, ‘Yes, in my father's country I was a princess, and here I must look after the fowls.’ And she related everything that had happened between her and the old woman, and she had acted toward her, to cause her (the witch) to marry the prince. And so they found her in the right, and they killed the old woman.

From her bones they made a stepladder to climb to the top of her bed. And from the skin of the old woman she made a carpet to spread on the ground. And from the head she made a wash-basin in which to wash her face.

And so she came to marry the prince later. It was her destiny.