ONCE A MAN MADE, a double marriage, one with a superior and one with an inferior wife. The inferior one then prepared a drug and caused the death of her mate, the owner of the hut.
When she was dead, the people said, “Let us bury her in the village.”
But the guilty woman said, “No, not in the village. That would no do, rather at the back of it. I feel the loss of my mate too much.”
The mourning was kept up for a long while. At last the chief said, “Let them eat, otherwise they will die.”
When this word was uttered, the women folk said, “Let us go to do field work.”
So they dispersed in order to go to the fields. But the guilty woman went up to the granary and took out some ears of corn. She then called to the dead woman, Saying, “Come and shuck this.” So saying she went and dug her mate out until she came forth from the grave in which she had been covered with earth, in order to go and shuck the corn.
When the dead wife had finished shucking it, she winnowed and sifted it, then took it to the grinding stone, and began to prepare this stone for use by beating it with a smaller one.
Mean while in the hut the living woman was cooking porridge. When she had finished stirring it, she said, “Come and have some food.”
Go into the hut! That is what her mate would not do. So the living wife said, “Then go and grind. You are a fool.”
The dead woman went to the stone and ground, singing all the while:
“First let me hand over to you little things,
my lady.
Lady Kois, let me hand over little things.
Kois, I have left you the husband;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the cowries;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the children;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the slaves;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the cotton goods;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the chickens;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the wild guinea chickens;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the baskets;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the fire;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you everything;
break me in two, yes.
Let me hand over all the rows.”`Let me hand over all the rows.”
She disappeared before the people came to the village.
The following day the people again dispersed in order to go to the fields. The woman also went, but soon came back and went to the granary and began to take out grain. All of a sudden she started toward the place where she had covered her mate with earth, saying, “Now, now! Come, shuck and grind; the sun is sinking.” And she went and dug her out.
The dead woman shucked and shucked. When she had finished shucking, she took the grain to the grinding stone, then once more began to beat it with another stone.
“Come along! said her mate, “come and have some food.”
“No,” she said, “I do not want any. Food is not what is in my heart.”
“Well!” said the other. “Where are the people who are going to look at you the whole day long? You died long ago.” Then she added, “What, eat! That is what you will do…. Then go and grind, dear, the sun is shining.”
Then the dead woman bent over the stone and began to grind, singing:
“First let me hand over to you little things,
my lady.
Lady Kois, let me hand over little things.
Kois, I have left you the husband;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the cowries;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the children;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the slaves; break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the cotton goods;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the chickens;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the guineas-chickens;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the baskets;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you the fire;
break me in two, yes.
Kois, I have left you everything;
break me in two, yes.
Let me hand over all the Kois.”
Meanwhile everyone left the fields and came back to the village.
The next morning people said, “Let us go to the fields.” After having gone to the field, the woman once more came back before the sun was high and went up to the granary. After that her mate again shucked, took the grain to the stone, and began to grind, singing the same song as on the previous days.
At dawn the next morning people said once more, “Now let us go to work.” But this time a number of people remained hidden in the grass. Then, fancy their surprise, they saw the woman go up to the granary, start taking some ears of corn and, on coming down, go and unearth her mate. Seeing that, they said, “This time it is plain, this is the woman who killed her mate.”
Then, as they saw the dead woman shuck the grain and go and bend over the millstone and heard her saying, Let me begin to grind,” and when they further heard the song, “First let me hand over… ” then, by the ghosts! They were all in suspense.
“Now,” said the dead woman, “let me move away from the stone.”
At this moment they got hold of the murderer…. “Let me go,” she said, “first hold a court of inquiry.”
But they just went and dug up a poison and mixed it and made her drink it by force. Meanwhile her dead mate had vanished.
Bakoo! They made a heap of firewood, dug her heart out, and burned her over the fire.
Now, little iron, my little story stops. Little iron, the end.
[ BENA MUKUNI ]