African Tales

29. Nyanja (Malawi) Kachirambe

156 29 Kachirambe 106 Nyanja (Malawi)107 Some young girls once said, “Come, let us go and pluck leaves for a relish with our porridge.” And when they were gathering them, one of the children saw the egg of a hyena and picked it up and put it in her basket. She said to her companions , “I have got all I want. I am going.” Her companions said, “When did you pluck the leaves, that you are off so soon?” She said, “I filled my basket some time ago.” So her companions told her to go. When she was gone, they saw a hyena. He came up to them and asked, “Who has taken my egg from here?” They denied having done so, saying, “We do not know, but the one who has gone off, perhaps she took it.” And the hyena departed. He came to where she lived and said, “Who has taken my egg?” The mother of the girl replied, “But the child came in with an egg, and it’s on the fire.” The hyena said, “Well, what am I to do?” The woman replied, “Wait. When I have a child, you shall eat him.” The hyena said, “Yes.” Another day, when the mother went to the water, the hyena asked her if she had had the child, and the woman replied, “No, not yet.” Every day, the hyena asked the same thing, and then one day he said, “If you do not quickly have that child, you are the one I shall eat.” Then the woman saw a boil on her shin bone; it was all swollen and soft. It burst, and a child emerged. He had a bow and a quiver full of arrows, and a little gourd of medicine, and a knife and dogs. And he said, “I have emerged, I, Kachirambe, the child born on a shin bone.” The mother of this Kachirambe was again asked by the hyena, when she went to the stream, if she had had the child. And she replied,“Yes, and the child is very clever. You cannot catch him, but I myself shall deceive him for you. Let me tie you up in a bundle of grass; then I shall go and tell Kachirambe, ‘Go and lift the bundle of grass that is there on the path.’” Then Kachirambe went and, standing a long way off, said, “You bundle, get up so that I may more easily lift you.” And the bundle got up by itself. Kachirambe said, “What bundle is it that gets up by itself? I have not seen such a one, and I do not intend to lift it.” And off he went to the village. The hyena then came alone and told the woman that her child was a clever one indeed. She told him that today she would deceive him over a falling stone trap for killing rats. Then she said to Kachirambe, “Go, set a falling trap; the rats are finishing the baskets.” Kachirambe got a large flat stone and a forked stick, and the stick to lay across it, and bark string, and he got the little bit of stick that sets the trap and tied it on. Then he took the bait and put it in the trap. In the evening, the hyena came to the trap and caused it to fall. Kachirambe’s mother called out, “Kachirambe, the trap has fallen.” Kachirambe said, “You trap, fall again, so that I’ll know that a rat has been caught.” And the hyena was at the trap—heave, bang! Kachirambe said, “What trap is it that falls twice? I have not yet seen one of that kind.” Then Kachirambe’s mother told the hyena, “Go and wait at the bean tree, and I’ll go and tell my child to go and pull beans.” So Kachirambe went and got his basket, then transformed himself into a fly. The hyena kept looking out for him, saying, “I wonder if he will come.” He did not see a sign, and then Kachirambe had got all he wanted and returned to the village. His mother was again astonished, saying, “Where did he get the beans when there is only one tree of them?” Then she said,“Today, I shall deceive him, telling him to go and bring firewood, and you, hyena, will corner him there.” She said to Kachirambe, “Go and get wood in the forest.” Nyanja (Malawi) 157 [3.149.234.251...