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  • 8/3/2019 Pages From African Stories

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    African Stories

    Accompanied

    by Songs in Limba

    Written and Narrated by

    Augustine T. Marah

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    Copyright 2010 by Augustine Marah

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

    reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in anyway by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording

    or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher,

    except as provided by Canadian copyright law.

    African Childrens Stories: Accompanied by Songs in Limba

    Published by:

    Academy for Continuous Self Improvement

    ISBN: 978-1-897544-31-0

    Digitaly printed in Canada by PageMaster Publication Services Inc.

    www.pagemaster.ca

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    Contents

    An Introduction to a Story aboutInitiation into adulthood among

    the Limba People of Sierra Leone. 1

    Te Story of the Cat and the Mice 4

    How Mr. Spider Won His Bride 8

    Te Ugly Monster and the Village Belle 15

    Te Jealous Step-Mother 26

    Te Foolish Polygamist 30

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    An IntroductIontoA StoryAbout

    InItIAtIon IntoAdulthoodAmongthe

    lImbA PeoPleof SIerrA leone.

    The Limba people o Sierra Leone, West Arica, are the

    third largest tribe in the country, ater the Mendes and the

    Temnes. They are generally known to be gentle and peace-

    loving people, compared to other tribes. As a matter o

    act, the word limba oryimba means wait or be patient.

    The word limba is also close to the word yumba, meaningman or human being as opposed to maama, the word or

    animal or beast.

    In Limba society or tradition, especially in the olden

    days, boys and girls did not automatically become adult

    men and adult women at the age o eighteen; they had to

    go through an initiation ceremony. Initiation is a special

    traditional ceremony where boys and girls become o age;

    boys become men and girls become women. Being initi-

    ated in a traditional Arican society is like turning 18 in the

    West or in North America or Canada; you move rom being

    a Minor to a Major. Ater initiation, you now have access to

    certain privileges or rights you didnt have access to beore

    as a minor. As an initiated (person), you can drink alcoholor smoke without necessarily asking the consent o your

    parents; you can now vote during elections and you can

    even get married, i you choose to do so. So this is a very

    important period o transition in lie.

    The initiation ceremony took place in a secluded place

    in the bush. As expected, the initiation ceremony or boys

    involved only men, and women or that o girls. The initi-ated youth had to stay in the bush or at least eight weeks

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    the clan, the land and customary practices about every

    area o lie. Among other things, the boys and girls learned

    gender roles accepted by the society, particularly as it per-

    tains to amily values, such as raising children. Needless tosay that each gender had its own roles to play.

    During the eight weeks, the youth were spoiled rotten

    with ood and gits. They were given almost everything

    and anything they asked or. It was like enjoying your last

    childhood privileges. The period o initiation was also a pe-

    riod the youth would spend time away rom their biologi-

    cal parents or the rst time in their lives.

    As a matter o act, a special place was prepared or them

    to sleep in the village and they spent the day at a special

    place in the bush about two or more kilometers away rom

    the village. That place was out o bounds or everybody ex-

    cept the initiated, the mentors and other men or women

    in the village or other surrounding villages.Every day, they would leave the village at dawn and they

    would return only at dusk under the cover o darkness. In

    act, all the boys wore a kind o uniorm made o country

    cloth with hats that covered their aces, so that even the

    men who saw them in the morning would not be able to

    distinguish their relatives as the newly initiated go out o

    town in the evening in a single le.

    On the whole, since these ceremonies took place be-

    ore the arrival o oreign civilizations in Arica, like western

    education, the initiation was the societys orm o ormal

    education. It is no wonder that the newly initiated were

    always taken care o by mentors and other adults in the

    village, instead o amily members. Male amily memberslike uncles or older brothers could visit but they would not

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    tives, each initiatee would choose a mentor, normally an

    older young man, at least ten years older than the candi-

    date himsel. However, the mentor would almost always

    have to be a trusted riend o the amily, but not neces-sarily a relative. The mentors perormed their duties under

    the watchul eyes o the very old men in the society.

    During the stay in the bush, all the initiated had to be

    well-behaved, well-mannered and cultured. They had to

    remember all the rules and regulations they were being

    taught. Among other things, boys and girls are taught the

    importance o team building. To oster the spirit o team-

    building and team efort, when one youth made a mis-

    take, the whole group was punished or the crime. In other

    words, the consequences o one mans behavior in society

    went ar beyond the individual himsel. I you look at this

    rule or lesson rom the broad social context, one crime a-

    ects not just the victim and his or her amily, it afected

    the whole village or clan.

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    the Storyofthe cAtAndthemIce

    Millions o years ago, at the beginning o time, Man and

    Woman and all the animals on the ace o the earth, all thecreatures o the earth used to get along really well. Even

    the cat amily and the mice amily used to be great riends

    and neighbors. It wasnt until a very important ceremony

    o celebration into womanhood, the coming o age cer-

    emony or girls that everything changed between the ami-

    cable relationship o the cat and the mouse.

    Well history has it that when the universe began, there

    were enough ruits and vegetables or all the animals in

    the deepest oceans and those on the land. So no animal,

    no beast, no crustaceans, insects or humans killed another

    animal or ood. Everybody was well taken care o and they

    all lived happily in the oceans and gardens o abundance.

    However, the cordial riendship between the cat andthe mouse came to an abrupt end during a traditional cer-

    emony o initiation into adulthood to which the cat had

    been appointed or chosen to play the honorable and pres-

    tigious role o mentor (teacher) or thousands o mice.

    Well, unbeknown to all the parents o the mice girls, a

    particular emale cat who had been chosen to be the men-

    tor or a thousand inductees, had gone hungry or months

    because she had been isolated by those in her community

    or having broken sacred rules and traditions o the society

    o cats.

    On the day o the initiation ceremony, the mentor in-

    structed her students to make a single le to go to the

    bush or this very important occasion. She told them thatpart o the ceremony involved singing and clapping. More

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    absolutely no girl was to turn around at any point dur-

    ing this three mile journey into the bush. It had been ru-

    moured that whoever broke this rule was known to have

    disappeared into thin airIn every Arican culture, tradition or community, the

    young must always respect the old. In act, even i some-

    body is older than you by a single day, you must always

    ollow the orders or instructions o those older than you,

    without questioning. You would be severely reprimanded

    i you disobeyed any elder. This meant we had ingrained

    respect or old age.

    In this particular instance, the mentor-cat was to play

    the sacred role o passing on the cultural values, customs

    and traditions o the mice amily even though she was a

    cat and not a mouse.

    On this ateul and eventul evening, when the young

    mice had ormed their Indian le or straight line, the catmewed her orders and began to sing. She started by teach-

    ing them the rerain:

    Koandoan mereh mereh koandaon meriyeh

    Koandoan mereh mereh koandoan meriyeh

    I will be singing the very ancient song o initiation or

    you mice girls that your parents, your grandparents, yourgreat grand parents and their ancestors sang when they

    were initiated.This is what you must sing in chorus at inter-

    vals when you hear me pause.

    It is customary to sing the ceremonial song beore you

    narrate the story. Here are the words o the rerain:

    Story teller or narrator:

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    Audience repeats the rerain:

    Koandoan mereh mereh koandoan meriyeh

    Koandon mereh mereh coandoan mreiyeh

    Story teller:

    Tha gbubun, tha gbubun, thurumeh thurumeh,

    Pa Sayku baiinda mun thnthehkureh, aw-a-a!

    Na kaima bondoe , kaima taypo taymuray !!!

    Audience repeats the rerain:

    Koandoan mereh mereh koandoan meriyeh

    Koandoan mereh mereh koandoan meriyeh

    Story teller:

    Magben, magben, magben, Kaima kaima,

    Kana weraykaysay, weraykaysay, kana weraykaysay

    Una yohoe tay-muray

    Rerain (audience):

    Koandoan mereh mereh koandoan meriyeh

    Koandoan mereh mereh koandoan meriyeh.

    Story teller:

    Nan nan ni na mehu, na mili mala,

    Na korio Rikoh koko roko hati koray yamayey

    Rerain (audience):

    Koandoan mereh mereh koandoan meriyehKoandoan mereh mereh koandoan meriyeh

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    village. They all repeated the rerain religiously as they

    marched along in a straight line.

    Quite unlike the usual practice o where the mentor

    leads her protgs, the cat kept singing and surprisinglywent to the back o the line. Halway between the village

    and the ceremonial location, the ravenously hungry men-

    tor started devouring the mice rom the back o the row.

    There was no way the other mice would know what was

    happening to their colleagues because they were orbid-

    den to turn around. It was not until almost all the mice had

    been eaten by who was supposed to protect them, that the

    remaining ew got wind o what was happening. Thanks to

    the ceremonial rerain those mice girls who survived no-

    ticed that thunderous voices o the numerous mice girls

    was no longer as loud as it had been when their journey

    into the bush began.

    Since the remaining mice escaped rom their ordeal,they disappeared in the bush and have never again been

    near cats. Thats how the enemity between the cat and the

    mice started.

    What do the words o this song mean?

    Well, the cat was calling or invoking the blessings o the

    ancient mentor o the culture called Pa Sayku. She said,wetravel through the valleys and the hills o this land, dressed

    in our taymuray (short skirts) to be initiated into the Bon-

    doe Society, we look so pretty.

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