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The Two Sisters Tachi Nanga was known the world over because no one could match his dexterity at making drums. He could stretch animal hide to the exact pitch so skillfully that people came from far and wide, traveling for days, sometimes months, to place their orders or simply watch him work the hide. They say it was like magic. His fingers handled the hide the same way a diviner’s palm coaxes cowries or kola nut halves for their messages. But the two sisters whose lives were changed by Tachi Nanga knew nothing about his fame as a drum maker and drummer. It was rather his buttocks that endeared him to the girls. These girls had lost their mother when they were quite young. She died giving birth to the third child, who was unfortunately stillborn. The girls were neglected by their relatives , and although their father remarried, things did not change with their new mother. They felt like orphans and alone in the world. They were often sent to the farm, where they were made to toil all day, and when they returned home had nothing or very little to eat. They complained, but their father would not come to their rescue. One day, the older daughter made a drastic decision. She cooked food for herself, packed all of it in a neshre,1 and left the 83 1 Plural, meshre. A container made of cane, used mainly by women, to transport things to and harvested foods from the farm. It can be used to carry anything. Men do not carry meshre (although young You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. compound. She did not know where she was going. Not that it mattered to her. She remembered the saying that a road will lead you to another road and another road and another, so she kept on walking. Passersby who questioned her got the same answer: “I am not going anywhere.” She walked for a day, through the night and yet another day. and finally arrived at the banks of a river. The hairs stood erect on her arms, for the river was as dark as night. She walked cautiously toward the river and as she approached it, she saw an old woman, older than anyone she had ever seen in her life. The woman was so old her back was completely bent. She was sitting near the river, her head between her thighs, her left hand in a dark pool of water. The girl hesitated, shifted the neshre on her back, and walked up to the old woman. The old woman lifted her head very slowly, squinted at the girl, and put her head back between her thighs. The girl walked past her, leaned her neshre against a rock, took in a deep breath, and swung the neshre from her back and around onto her thigh. She then lifted the neshre from her thigh to the ground, tipped it against the rock, and walked back to the old woman. “Mother, my greetings to you.” “What’s your name, my child?” “Grandmother, my name is Manda.” “Where are you from? What brings you here, my child?” “I’m only wandering about, Mother. I don’t know why.” “I’ve been sitting here for a long time with nothing to eat. Do you have any food in your neshre?” 84 / Makuchi boys do)—men use bags or sacks that they carry over their shoulders or they use bendjob (see the story “King-of-Scabies”). Because the neshre is carried on the back, the part that lies on the back is flat and the rest of the container has a widening semicircle-like oval shape that opens out from the flat side, up, and around. A specially woven belt, about two inches wide, known as a tou is used to carry the neshre. When carrying a neshre, the tou runs from the back of the neshre, up by the ears, to the woman’s forehead and is adjusted for comfort. You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. Manda removed four bundles of achu and a cup of soup and gave the...

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