Reading Notes: Stories From Congo, Part B

Photograph of school buildings in a Congo village. Source: Link.

The Antelope And The Leopard (Link)

• Leopard made a bet with an antelope that if he could hide from the antelope without being found, he could kill him, so he did and some time later the antelope found him
• Being angry, the leopard told the antelope to go hide so he could see if he could find him as easily, so the antelope agreed and said he'd save the leopard's life
• The leopard searched for a while but couldn't find the antelope, so he gave up, got some food, and went to his town to eat
• Once the leopard got back and finished eating, he decided to called his people together and continue searching for the antelope
• Once everyone was gathered, he order his slaves to crack nonje nuts from the jungle, so when they cracked the first one a beautiful dog jumped out and ran to each of the leopard's four wives only to be beaten and nearly killed
• On the brink of death, the dog became a beautiful damsel, so the leopard immediately ask her to be his wife, but she said only if he killed the other four
• After the leopard killed the four wives, she asked him to remove his claws, his fearful eyes, his ears, his feet, and his teeth, so he did and was soon nearly dying and weak
• As he was dying, the maiden turned into the antelope and told him he did that because the leopard thought to kill him previously to avoid giving his life to him
• This is why the leopard always kills the antelope when meeting one

How The Spider Won And Lost Nzambi's Daughter (Link)

• Nzambi on earth had a beautiful daughter and decided no person on earth unable to bring her heavenly fire from Nzambi Mpungu would be able to marry her
• As her people wondered how anyone would obtain the heavenly fire, the spider said he would marry her if they would help him, so they agreed as long as they received an award afterwards
• So the spider reached the place where the heavenly fire was and dropped back down to earth leaving a long silk thread for the tortoise, woodpecker, rat, and sandfly to use
• The woodpecker made a hole in the roof for them to enter through, and Nzambi Mpungu asked what they wanted, so they asked for the heavenly fire
• She said she was going to her people to tell them what happened, so the sandfly followed her undetected and heard her announcement
• When Nzambi Mpungu returned, she asked how she could be sure that they weren't lying about coming for Nzambi on earth, so she sent them back to earth to bring her a bundle of bamboos
• The tortoise went down to get the bamboos while the others remained, and when he returned she told the rat to go beneath the bundle of bamboos while she set it on fire, and if he escaped then she would know they weren't lying
• The rat escaped as described, so she believed them and went to talk to her people again with the sandfly nearby to listen to her announcement
• When she returned, she said they could have the fire as long as they could tell her where it was kept, so the spider answered that it was in one of the five cases within the fowl-house, which was correct
• They all returned back to earth and the spider presented the fire to Nzambi, so he got her daughter in marriage
• The rest were upset, though, about who should actually get the daughter since they all helped get the fire, so Nzambi settled the argument by paying each of them her "market value" and sending them away
• The daughter remained a maiden and waited upon her mother forever

The Turtle And The Man (Link)

• A turtle and a man build themselves a small town, but hadn't planted anything yet so they started to get hungry and decided to build a large trap to catch an antelope
• At first, the trap was too large and so the turtle suggested that they divide it and each have their own trap, so the man divided it and the turtle took the best one
• That night, the man caught nothing and the turtle got an antelope, but he realized he could not lift it out of the trap so he called everyone to come dance
• A nearby wild ox heard the people dancing and singing and went to see what it was about, so the turtle explained his situation and asked for help getting the antelope out
• The ox brought the antelope to the turtle's house, cut it up, brought water, and cleaned the plates for the turtle, so the turtle offered him a share, but told him he must bring some leaves to wrap it in first
• While the ox was out gathering leaves, the turtle took all the meat into his house and locked himself inside, so when the ox returned to ask for his share, the turtle rejected him and insulted him to turn him away
• Out of anger, the ox went to destroy the turtle's trap, but ended up being caught
• After the turtle called everyone to come dance again, a nearby leopard came to investigate the noise, so the turtle explained his situation and asked for help
• The leopard brought the ox to the turtle's house and helped cook the meat, so the turtle offered him a share, but told him to go get leaves to wrap it up in
• While the leopard was out gathering leaves, the turtle took the meat up into his house and locked himself inside so when the leopard returned, he rejected him 
• Out of anger, the leopard went to destroy the turtle's trap and was successful, then pretended to be trapped by placing the rope around his neck and laying
• The next day, the turtle went to his trap and found the leopard, so he went to start getting him out, but the leopard jumped up and bit his head off before he could
• The leopard then went to the turtle's house and ate up all his meat, and the man saw him there and asked what he was doing, so the leopard explained what had happened and the man agreed that the leopard was doing the right thing

The Gazelle And The Leopard (Link)

• Gazelle tells the leopard that they should cut down the bush so the women can plant when it rains, but the leopard says he cannot go that day, so the gazelle goes alone
• The gazelle does the same the next day, then on the third day the leopard asks him to go with him to the plantation, but the gazelle says that he is sick and cannot go, so the leopard goes alone
• The next day, the leopard asks the gazelle to go, but finds that the gazelle is gone, so he goes alone again and this happens every day until the work is done
• When the women start planting and harvesting, the antelope returns and decides to have a feast with all that is growing on the plantation, which makes the leopard angry since he believes that it should be all his, so he sets a trap to catch the "thieves"
• The next day, the gazelle leads all his friends to the plantation and tells them to be careful of the leopard's trap, but an antelope falls in and the leopard kills him
• Hearing of this, the gazelle becomes annoyed and claims that since the leopard is their chief, it is their right to eat from the plantation since he should be providing for his people, so the gazelle decides to get revenge on the leopard
• As the gazelle gathers all his friends together with a drum beat, the leopard also hears it and decides to go see what it is, and when he arrives he is killed
• The gazelle then sends the leopard's skinned head to his wife and she eats it unknowingly, which the gazelle shames her for, but she said he was the shameful one for sending away any food after murdering him