Suriname folk-lore

142.

Wą' suma bɛn lɔbi tapu nanyąm na ɩni ɔ̨ŋfu. Wą' dei̯ a bori alei̯si nąŋga spɩt-pesi. D'a tap' i na ɩn' na ɔ̨ŋfu baka. Neti, di den d'dǫ', dą' i yeri yorka taki 'a tap' ɛ̨ŋ stupu. Na wą' taki, ‘Di wi a gowɛ, pɛ ųn dɛ gō?’ 'A wą' fō den taki, ‘Mi 'ɛ go na Mɩs' Anna 'oso, kɔ̨' was' mi futu.’ 'A tra wą' taki, ‘Mi ɛ go na Alexi 'oso, go drɩ̨ŋ watra.’ 'A tra wą' taki, ‘Mɩsi Maria libi wąn pat' nąŋga alei̯si na ɩni ɔ̨ŋfu, m'ɛ a go nyą' pikin so.’ So na suma prakser', a taki, ‘Tą! A no bǫ' suma i taki.’

M'mąntɛ̨' d'a opo, a go na ɩn' 'a ɔ̨ŋfu, a si na n'yąm. Ma no wąn suma bɛn go na ɩni. Spɛsial fō a kąn si ɛf' na tru taki wą' yɔrka bɛn nyąm na ɩni, a kar' wąn tra suma p'kin, a gi' na n'nyąm. Ɛn sō, di na p'kin nyą' na n'yąm, a sɩki. Den go na luk'mąn, go luku są' du ɛ̨ŋ. Lukumąn taki, ‘Na wąn yɔrka dɛ sɩki ɛ̨ŋ.’ Dąn i kar' na yɔrka kɔm na i 'ɛdɛ. Di na yɔrka kɔm, wɛ, wątrǫn i b'gɩn tak' so, ‘Ąhą, ną mį ną splįt-pįs alei̯sį dį 'ą s'mą bɛ̨n gį 'ą nyąm.’¹ Dąn den kar' 'a suma kɔm, di bɛn gi' ɛm na n'nyąm. Dąn na yɔrka tai̯g' na suma taki, ‘Ną yų mį bąsį, bęn tąkį mį mų kįrį. Ą dį nǫ nyą' ną n'nyąm, 'ą dᾳt' mękį mį nǫ kɩ̨s' yų.’¹

1 Very nasally, for this is the way the yɔrka talks when he is speaking through the lukumąn.

1 Very nasally, for this is the way the yɔrka talks when he is speaking through the lukumąn.

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So dem kɔm pur' na yɔrka na p'kin tapu, ɛn dem pɔt tapu gi' ɛ̨ŋ f'a n'ɛ kɩsi ɛ̨ŋ mɔro. So dat' mek' a no bǫn fō tɛ yu libi n'nyąm, sribi, f'yu go nyąmi ɛ̨ŋ baka. Yɔrka dɛ nyąm nąŋga suma.

142. Yorka Come for Left-overs.⁷

There was once a person who liked to leave food in the oven. One day she cooked rice and split peas. Then [after she had eaten] she put it back in the oven. At night, when they lay down, she heard the ghosts talking on the stoop. One said, ‘When we go away, where will you go?’ One of them said, ‘I am going to Miss Anna's house to wash my feet.’ Another one said, ‘I am going to Alexi's to drink water.’ Another said, ‘Miss Maria left a pot of rice in the oven. I am going to eat a little of it.’ So the person studied, and said, ‘What! No good people [are these who] are talking.’

In the morning when she got up, she went to the oven, and she saw the food. But nobody had disturbed it. In order to see if it was true that a ghost had eaten some of it, she called another person's child, and gave him the food. And so, when the child ate the food, he became sick. They went to a diviner to divine what was troubling him. The diviner said, ‘A ghost has made him sick.’ Then he [the diviner] called the ghost to come into his head. When the ghost came, well, then all at once, he began to speak so, ‘Ha, the split peas and rice which someone gave him to eat, were mine.’ Then they called the person who had given him the food. Then the

7 Told by 1. Compare Togo, Cardinall 93-95; U.S. (Sea Islands), Parsons (II) 71-72, No. 62 I.

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ghost said to that person, said, ‘It is you my master had said I must kill. Since you did not eat the food, I could not catch you.’

So they exorcised the ghost from the child, and they gave him a charm so that it might not come to him again. That is why it is not good to leave food overnight and eat it later. The ghosts will eat with the living.