African Folktales at Internet Archive: Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus

I was involved in some discussions at Twitter yesterday about the incredible value of public domain materials, so today I want to share a book — a very old book — of South African folktales: Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus by Henry Callaway, published in 1868. Not a typo: it is one of the earliest collections of African folktales. Because it is in the public domain, that means it is available at Internet Archive not just to read online but also to download in various formats. 

The book has the Zulu text side by side (hence the subtitle: "in their own words"), with a very literal English translation along with some notes and commentary by Callaway. The very literal style of translation does not make for the easiest reading, but the stories are absolutely fascinating, especially being documented this way so far back in time. 

You can read about Henry Callaway's life and career at Wikipedia. He was born in 1817, and went to South Africa as a missionary in the 1850s. He was deeply interested in Zulu traditions and culture, publishing Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus in 1868, and then The Religious System of the Amazulu in 1870 (that book is also available at Internet Archive).

There are so many fabulous stories in the Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories book, but for sure my favorite story of all is about the woman who rescued her children from inside the elephant: Unanana-bosele. I have transcribed the whole story and pasted it in below. There are lots of "swallowing-beast"-type stories in African folklore, but this is my personal favorite, especially because it is a heroic mother who rescues everyone in the end! Plus, there are talking animals. All my favorite things.

Lydia Umkasetemba (Lydia Wife-of-Setemba) was Henry Callaway's source for this story along with nine other folktales that he included in this book; she was one of his very few women sources. Because Callaway wrote down and published her story about Unanana-bosele, it has survived and is included in this anthology: Women Writing Africa, which is also available at the Internet Archive.

There are some useful notes in that book about the heroine's name, Unanana-bosele, which means like-a-frog (bosele), and how the story is connected to a proverb: "A person who is as obstinate as a frog which, when pushed away, keeps returning and hiding in remote areas of the house." You can see the heroine's obstinate character at the start of the story as she builds her house in the road, but it is also that obstinacy which allows her to prevail over her enemy, the elephant.

There was a woman who had two young children; they were very fine; and there was another child who used to stay with them. But that woman, it is said, had wilfully built her house in the road, trusting to self-confidence and superior power. 

On a certain occasion she went to fetch firewood, and left her children alone. A baboon came and said, "Whose are those remarkably beautiful children?" 

The child replied, "Unanana-bosele's." 

The baboon said, "She built in the road, on purpose, trusting to self-confidence and superior power."

Again an antelope came and asked the same question. The child answered, "They are the children of Unanana-bosele." All animals came and asked the same question, until the child cried for fear. 

A very large elephant came and said, "Whose are those remarkably beautiful children?" 

The child replied, "Unanana-bosele's." 

The elephant asked the second time, "Whose are those remarkably beautiful children?" 

The child replied, "Unanana-bosele's." 

The elephant said, "She built in the road on purpose, trusting to self-confidence and superior power." He swallowed them both, and left the little child. The elephant then went away.

In the afternoon the mother came and said, "Where are the children?"

The little girl said, "They have been taken away by an elephant with one tusk." 

Unanana-bosele said, "Where did he put them?" 

The little girl replied, "He ate them." 

Unanana-bosele said, "Are they dead?" 

The little girl replied, "No. I do not know."

They retired to rest. In the morning she ground much maize and put it into a large pot with amasi, and set out, carrying a knife in her hand. She came to the place where there was an antelope; she said, "Mother, mother, point out for me the elephant which has eaten my children; she has one tusk." 

The antelope said, "You will go till you come to a place where the trees are very high, and where the stones are white." She went on.

She came to the place where was the leopard; she said, "Mother, mother, point out for me the elephant which has eaten my children."

The leopard replied, "You will go on and on, and come to the place where the trees are high, and where the stones are white," She went on, passing all animals, all saying the same. 

When she was still at a great distance she saw some very high trees and white stones below them. She saw the elephant lying under the trees. 

She went on; when she came to the elephant she stood still and said, "Mother, mother, point out for me the elephant which has eaten my children." 

The elephant replied, "You will go on and on, and come to where the trees are high, and where the stones are white." 

The woman merely stood still, and asked again, saying, "Mother, mother, point out for me the elephant which has eaten my children."

The elephant again told her just to pass onward. 

But the woman, seeing that it was the very elephant she was seeking, and that she was deceiving her by telling her to go forward, said a third time, "Mother, mother, point out for me the elephant which has eaten my children." 

The elephant seized her and swallowed her too. 

When she reached the elephant's stomach, she saw large forests, and great rivers, and many high lands; on one side there were many rocks; and there were many people who had built their villages there; and many dogs and many cattle; all was there inside the elephant; she saw too her own children sitting there. She gave them amasi, and asked them what they ate before she came. 

They said, "We have eaten nothing. We merely lay down." 

She said, "Why did you not roast this flesh?" 

They said, "If we eat this beast, will it not kill us?" 

She said, "No; it will itself die; you will not die." 

She kindled a great fire. She cut the liver, and roasted it and ate with her children. They cut also the flesh, and roasted and ate.

All the people which were there wondered, saying, "O, forsooth, are they eating, whilst we have remained without eating any thing?" 

The woman said, "Yes, yes. The elephant can be eaten." 

All the people cut and ate. 

And the elephant told the other beasts, saying, "From the time I swallowed the woman I have been ill; there has been pain in my stomach." 

The other animals said, "It may be, O chief, it arises because there are now so many people in your stomach." 

And it came to pass after a long time that the elephant died. 

The woman divided the elephant with a knife, cutting through a rib with an axe. 

A cow came out and said, "Moo, moo, we at length see the country." 

A goat came out and said, "Mey, mey, at length we see the country." 

A dog came out and said, "At length we see the country." 

And the people came out laughing and saying, "At length we see the country." 

They made the woman presents; some gave her cattle, some goats, and some sheep. She set out with her children, being very rich. She went home rejoicing because she had come back with her children. 

On her arrival her little girl was there; she rejoiced, because she was thinking that her mother was dead.