Extra Reading: Lang / Africa A

Motikatika. This is such a fantastic fairy-tale! First the wife sends the husband on exacting missions, then husband does that to wife, so she runs into the water demon and promises him her child... but her child has magic powers! He uses bones to get advice. They told him to make all the other babies look like himself. When the mother was going to take him to the ogre, the bones told him to turn himself into a mouse; the next time, they told him to turn into a bird. Finally, the bones told him to switch the bed coverlets, so the ogre took his father. And why not: it was the father who sent her to fetch the water to begin with!

(illustration by H. J. Ford)

Jackal and Spring. This is the animals guarding the water story, with the jackal as the lazy trickster. He tricks the rabbit, he tricks the hare, and then the tortoise. There is no gum or tar involved; the tortoise just bites onto the jackal when he kicks. Jackal finally gets loose and just runs away.

Adventures of a Jackal. Jackal tricks Panther with new shoes, but birds bring water to soften the shoes. Now Panther wants revenge. Panther kills a cow and all the jackals come; he knows the guilty one because it keeps glancing at him. He cuts off that jackal's tail. Jackal then tricked the other jackals all into losing their tails, so the Panther gave up. Jackal and Hedgehog then bargain with shepherd for a sheep, but he gives them only the skin; his dog is inside. Hedgehog sees the dog's paws. The dog kills the Jackal; the Hedgehog gets away.

Adventures of Jackal's Eldest Son. There are three episodes in this story: I like the one about the jackal and hyena fighting over the green mantle the best: the lion says the one who rings the mosque bell first can keep it, but when the hyena runs off to the mosque, the jackal just takes the cloak. Then there is a lion's share type of story (who taught you to decide so well?), and finally an episode where the jackal tries to trick the hedgehog out of the butter but the hedgehog just rolls a stone on the jackal finally to kill him.

Adventures of Younger Son of Jackal. Jackal convinced Sheep to come farm with him. Then he wanted to cheat the Sheep, so the Sheep brought a dog in a sack and, fearing the dog, the Jackal gave most of the crop to the Sheep. This was a nice story with the Sheep taking charge of the situation!