Tarbiyya Tatali

The Animal Fight.

Marie-Françoise — 2009-12-11T21:06:00Z

This tale is taken from our book of tales, ‘Once upon a time in Niger'. You can order it from our shop.

The Animal Fight.

Time was when animals used to wrestle. After harvest, as custom required, a fight was organised in every village. Griot Dadaya's big tom tom boomed through the packed arena. He sang the praises of Damo, the iguana, whose name means ‘slapped mouth'. He said :

Kai Damon da ke, abokin sure de daudawa (bis), that's to say: You, slapped mouth, friend of sorrel and of Soumbala.

Thereupon slapped mouth started inflating and deflating, his tail raised high over the crowd. Seeing Damo inflating and deflating, Guizo Guizo, the spider, decided to challenge him and put an end to his bragging. Suddenly, a great cry shook the crowd. It was Damo, shouting :

Hey, you ribcage out the spider! Find your true match, for I shall crush you.

And Damo kept bellowing.

There were in the audience some who thought the contest was unfair, and they spoke out, but others wanted the rivals to fight it out , saying : ‘the loser will learn to challenge his equal.' The two contenders entered the ring. A whistle blew the start of the fight.

Everyone held their breath. Fighting tooth and nail, the two wrestlers put up an appalling show. Damo, the slapped face, tried as best he could to crush the spider. Nimbly, the spider climbed on to Damo's back. Opinions differed, some claimed Damo's victory, others the spider's. The outcome was uncertain, so they were persuaded to resume the fight. It went on, and once again, quick as lightning, the spider climbed on to Damo's back, and he struggled vainly to shake his attacker off. Nevertheless, Damo's supporters demanded one more fight. And once again, it was the spider who came out victorious.

It was then that, from the top of the stands, Kurciya the turtle-dove said to Shaho the hawk :

I shall fight you, for I have just witnessed the spider's exploit over Damo.

Hearing that, some cried : ‘Ba'a san ma ci tuwo ba sai in miya ta ‘kare', in other words : ‘When there is no sauce left with the gruel the big eater reveals himself.'

Shortly after, the fight started. In a single stab, the hawk's beak crushed the turtle-dove's neck. Choking, the turtle-dove was barely heard to whisper:
- This fight is to be stopped at once ; it is dangerous and unfair. (bis)
The contest was stopped, but the turtle-dove's neck had been broken, and she eventually died.
Thus spoke the hawk :

You mocked me direly, turtle-dove. This will teach you a lesson!

The moral of the story is that one must respect one's neighbour, and everyone has to determine who is their match.

Issakitchi school.

Story-teller : Widow Gaya Ma'keri.

Student group : Abdou-Rahamane Soba, Assoumane Bawa, Nourou Boubacar, Moumouni Hassane, Nourou Hassan, Idi Saidou.

Person in charge : Mr Karimou Issa, School director.

Il était une fois au Niger

The formidable child

Marie-Françoise — 2009-11-15T21:03:02Z

This tale is taken from our book of tales, ‘Once upton a time in Niger'. You can order it from ourshop.

The formidable child

Once upon a time a woman kept grieving that she did not have a child. She prayed God to give her one. Kind and merciful, God granted her prayer. The woman gave birth to a handsome boy named Da'di, meaning Desired, or Long Expected.

Days, months and years went by. The child grew up and became his family's provider.

It came to pass that one day, the village chief, an evil-minded man, called Da'di's father and ordered him to milk the oxen of his yoke..

The father led the oxen to his son's place and reported the chief's orders; furious, Da'di grabbed an axe and went to the chief's place. Once there, he set to felling the tree that grew before the chief's home. Branches, boughs, leaves fell. It made such a racket that the chief came running and said :

Da'di, what are you doing to my tree ?
It so happens that my father has given birth, now I am to bring him some firewood.

But how can a man give birth to a child ?

But how can bulls be milked? Da'di retorted.

Much annoyed with the child's cheeky answer, the chief decided to get rid of him. He ordered his attendants to dig a very deep hole in which to bury Da'di. But, blessed as he was with magic powers, the latter started to dig another hole connecting with the first one. The day came for the burial. The child was buried by the chief's men. Thereafter, everyone was certain that Da'di, his mother's darling, was dead. But, after a while, the attendants saw the child coming toward them. Lo and behold, Da'di was alive!

The chief's anger and despair were boundless. And he decided again to resort to other means to eliminate the child. Therefore, the chief called his most faithful attendants and asked them to tie the child up in a bag and dump him into some backwater.

However, against all odds, the child was saved one more time, for a crocodile released him, and carried him to the river bank.

Da'di, alive and well, showed up once more at the chief's court.

Realising that he was dealing with a formidable child, the chief decided not to harm him ever more. Da'di and the chief then became good friends.

As our tradition has it, if you escape from your evil-minded fellow creature, you will become his friend.

Madé school.

Il était une fois au Niger

Halin Kichi : Jealousy

Marie-Françoise — 2008-04-11T21:21:43Z

This tale is taken from our first book of tales, ‘At School with Nigerien Tales', now out of print. You can order our second book of tales ‘Once Upon a Time in Niger' from ourshop.

Halin Kichi : Jealousy

A man had two wives, and the smaller one had a daughter. The wife died leaving her daughter alone. The girl grew up and did all the work she was asked to do.

One day she heard the name of the King's son, Aboudouka. When her stepmother went to the market she gave her 25 francs to purchase Aboudouka. The stepmother looked for him all around saying,

Sell me Aboudouka.

And the answer was,

Aboudouka is not here. Keep going. You will find him.

When she arrived at the right place she asked for Aboudouka, and a man stood up and said,

I am Aboudouka. You can go back home. I will find you.

The woman said,

No, my daughter gave me 25 francs to purchase and bring back Aboudouka.

Yes, I know. I will find you at your house.

The woman went home and said to the girl:

Do you know that Aboudouka is a person?

The girl hung her head, sighing.

In the evening Aboudouka came to her house and said,

Sallam Allekum.

He moved aside with the young girl to talk. When their chat ended he went back home. The next day he came back and brought gold to put into the girl's bedroom. Then the bedroom became more beautiful and shone like the stars in the sky

The wicked stepmother said,

I am going to have a look at your room
.

She looked at the room, and the “kichi” (jealousy) caught her . She went to the market and purchased needles. She put the needles on the bed where Aboudouka lay down when he came to visit the young girl. When the prince Aboudouka lay down on the bed he got pricked by all the needles. After the talk with the girl he went home and became seriously ill.

One day the young girl said,

Aboudouka has not come for a long time. I will go and visit him in his village.

The girl walked and walked. Then she became ‘Badossa'. She ended up in front of a tree that said to her,

The little prince Aboudouka is seriously ill. Here is a remedy. Take my bark and mix it with some water in a small calabash. He will be cured when he drinks this water.

The girl arrived in the village, found the palace of the king and asked,

Is Aboudouka sick?

The king replied that his son was sick.

Please let me go and take him a medicine.

The king told her,

All the bark we have given him has not cured him and you, the Badossa, you tell me that you have medicines. Go! He is lying over there.

She went into the hut and asked for a small calabash and some water. She put the bark into the calabash and told Aboudouka,

Drink this water.

Aboudouka drank the water and was cured. He gave her his gold ring, and the girl went back home and became a girl again.

But the king sent elders to the village of the girl to kill her. The elders came to the girl's house and they saw the the prince's gold ring in the room. Surprised, they went back to the king and told him what they had seen.

The king told them to return to the village and bring back the girl. The king questioned her. She explained what had happened – her wicked stepmother had caused Aboudouka ‘s serious illness.. The king understood, and the prince married the young girl.

Nigerien tale submitted to a tales contest by the school of Ajole. The contest was organized by « Aide et Action » and the RAEDD at the tales festival Gatan Gatan.

Teller: M Zabeirou Dan Zama
Pupils: Boumaminou Abdou, Ibrahim Koché, Mahamadou Abdourahamane, Aziz Barké, Hassira Halidou, Mariama Abdou.

Staff teachers: M. Boubacar Sani, Mme Aïchatou Abba

A l'école des contes nigériens

A Great Famine

Marie-Françoise — 2008-04-11T21:20:21Z

This tale is taken from our first book of tales, ‘At School with Nigerien Tales', now out of print. You can order our second book of tales ‘Once Upon a Time in Niger' from ourshop.

A great famine

Once upon a time a village was struck by a great famine.

Mato and his numerous childen had nothing to eat. Mato went and visited Doguwa to get food on credit.

Doguwa lent a bull until the next year and told Mato :

When I come, I want you only to say my name in exchange for the bull that you have to give back. My baptism name is Tchilo Tchilo Mata Nakambari.

Mato accepted, went and sold the bull to purchase food. He made his children repeat the name of Doguwa several times a day to remember her name.

Days went by and when Doguwa was supposed to come, all the family had forgotten the magical name.

They proposed to leave the village to avoid the anger of Doguwa, they took their luggage and left.

When they arrived under a tamarind, the wife of Mato asked for a few minutes to feed the baby.

Suddenly they heard the baby saying:

Tchilo Tchilo Mata Nakambari.

All of them were surprised and came back to the village and waited for Doguwa who entered and greeted

Salama Allékoum.

Mato answered:

Wa Allékoum Salam.

What is my baptism name?

Your name is Tchilo Tchilo Mata Nakambari.

When Doguwa heard her name she left.

This tale tells us that we must not neglect anything in life, not even the youngest children.

Nigerien tale submitted to a tales contest by the school of Argoum (IECB1 Doutchi). The contest was organized by « Aide et Action » and the RAEDD at the tales festival Gatan Gatan.

Teller: Mme Kallé Digé.
Pupils: Ramatou Oumarou, Rilwano Kallé, Bachirou Mounkaila, Barak Issa, Sakina Mamane.

Staff teachers: M. Ousmane Tamo, Mme Alio Salamatou

A l'école des contes nigériens