{"id":10247,"date":"2024-09-05T12:00:18","date_gmt":"2024-09-05T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/?p=10247"},"modified":"2024-09-02T11:52:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T10:52:13","slug":"oral-literature-the-magician-and-the-sultans-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/09\/05\/oral-literature-the-magician-and-the-sultans-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Oral Literature. The Magician and the Sultan\u2019s Son"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was once a sultan who had three little sons, and no one seemed to be able to teach them anything; which greatly grieved both the sultan and his wife.<\/em><\/p>\n

One day a magician came to the sultan and said, \u201cIf I take your three boys and teach them to read and write, and make great scholars of them, what will you give me?\u201d And the sultan said, \u201cI will give you half of my property.\u201d \u201cNo,\u201d said the magician, \u201cthat won\u2019t do.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll give you half of the towns I own.\u201d \u201cNo, that will not satisfy me.\u201d \u201cWhat do you want, then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I have made them scholars and bring them back to you, choose two of them for yourself and give me the third; for I want to have a companion of my own.\u201d \u201cAgreed,\u201d said the sultan.<\/p>\n

So, the magician took them away, and in a remarkably short time taught them to read, and to make letters, and made them quite good scholars. Then he took them back to the sultan and said: \u201cHere are the children. They are all equally good scholars. Choose.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, the sultan took the two he preferred, and the magician went away with the third, whose name was Keejaa\u2032naa, to his own house, which was a very large one. When they arrived, Mchaa\u2032wee, the magician, gave the youth all the keys, saying, \u201cOpen whatever you wish to.\u201d Then he told him that he was his father, and that he was going away for a month.<\/p>\n

When he was gone, Keejaanaa took the keys and went to examine the house. He opened one door, and saw a room full of liquid gold. He put his finger in, and the gold stuck to it, and, wipe and rub as he would, the gold would not come off; so, he wrapped a piece of rag around it, and when his supposed father came home and saw the rag, and asked him what he had been doing to his finger, he was afraid to tell him the truth, so he said that he had cut it.<\/p>\n

Not very long after, Mchaawee went away again, and the youth took the keys and continued his investigations.<\/p>\n

The first room he opened was filled with the bones of goats, the next with sheep\u2019s bones, the next with the bones of oxen, the fourth with the bones of donkeys, the fifth with those of horses, the sixth contained men\u2019s skulls, and in the seventh was a live horse. \u201cHullo!\u201d said the horse; \u201cwhere do you come from, you son of Adam?\u201d \u201cThis is my father\u2019s house,\u201d said Keejaanaa.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, indeed!\u201d was the reply. \u201cWell, you\u2019ve got a pretty nice parent! Do you know that he occupies himself with eating people, and donkeys, and horses, and oxen and goats and everything he can lay his hands on? You and I are the only living things left.\u201d<\/p>\n

This scared the youth pretty badly, and he faltered, \u201cWhat are we to do?\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d said the horse.\u00a0 \u201cKeejaanaa.\u201d \u201cWell, I\u2019m Faaraa\u2032see. Now, Keejaanaa, first of all, come and unfasten me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The youth did so at once. \u201cNow, then, open the door of the room with the gold in it, and I will swallow it all; then I\u2019ll go and wait for you under the big tree down the road a little way.<\/p>\n

When the magician comes home, he will say to you, \u2018Let us go for firewood;\u2019 then you answer, \u2018I don\u2019t understand that work;\u2019 and he will go by himself. When he comes back, he will put a great big pot on the hook and will tell you to make a fire under it. Tell him you don\u2019t know how to make a fire, and he will make it himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen he will bring a large quantity of butter, and while it is getting hot, he will put up a swing and say to you, \u2018Get up there, and I\u2019ll swing you.\u2019 But you tell him you never played at that game, and ask him to swing first, that you may see how it is done. Then he will get up to show you; and you must push him into the big pot, and then come to me as quickly as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then the horse went away. Now, Mchaawee had invited some of his friends to a feast at his house that evening; so, returning home early, he said to Keejaanaa, \u201cLet us go for firewood;\u201d but the youth answered, \u201cI don\u2019t understand that work.\u201d So, he went by himself and brought the wood.<\/p>\n

Then he hung up the big pot and said, \u201cLight the fire;\u201d but the youth said, \u201cI don\u2019t know how to do it.\u201d So, the magician laid the wood under the pot and lighted it himself.<\/p>\n

Then he said, \u201cPut all that butter in the pot;\u201d but the youth answered, \u201cI can\u2019t lift it; I\u2019m not strong enough.\u201d So, he put in the butter himself. Next Mchaawee said, \u201cHave you seen our country game?\u201d And Keejaanaa answered, \u201cI think not.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d said the magician, \u201clet\u2019s play at it while the butter is getting hot.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, he tied up the swing and said to Keejaanaa, \u201cGet up here, and learn the game.\u201d But the youth said: \u201cYou get up first and show me. I\u2019ll learn quicker that way.\u201d The magician got into the swing, and just as he got started Keejaanaa gave him a push right into the big pot; and as the butter was by this time boiling, it not only killed him, but cooked him also.<\/p>\n

As soon as the youth had pushed the magician into the big pot, he ran as fast as he could to the big tree, where the horse was waiting for him. \u201cCome on,\u201d said Faaraasee; \u201cjump on my back and let\u2019s be going.\u201d So, he mounted and they started off.<\/p>\n

When the magician\u2019s guests arrived, they looked everywhere for him, but, of course, could not find him. Then, after waiting a while, they began to be very hungry; so, looking around for something to eat, they saw that the stew in the big pot was done, and, saying to each other, \u201cLet\u2019s begin, anyway,\u201d they started in and ate the entire contents of the pot. After they had finished, they searched for Mchaawee again, and finding lots of provisions in the house, they thought they would stay there until he came; but after they had waited a couple of days and eaten all the food in the place, they gave him up and returned to their homes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Keejaanaa and the horse continued on their way until they had gone a great distance, and at last they stopped near a large town. \u201cLet us stay here,\u201d said the youth, \u201cand build a house.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Faaraasee was agreeable, they did so. The horse coughed up all the gold he had swallowed, with which they purchased cattle, and everything they needed. When the people of the town saw the beautiful new house and all the cattle, and riches it contained, they went and told their sultan, who at once made up his mind that the owner of such a place must be of sufficient importance to be visited and taken notice of, as an acquisition to the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

So, he called on Keejaanaa, and inquired who he was. \u201cOh, I\u2019m just an ordinary being, like other people.\u201d \u201cAre you a traveller?\u201d \u201cWell, I have been; but I like this place, and think I\u2019ll settle down here.\u201d \u201cWhy don\u2019t you come and walk in our town?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI should like to very much, but I need someone to show me around.\u201d \u201cOh, I\u2019ll show you around,\u201d said the sultan, eagerly, for he was quite taken with the young man.<\/p>\n

After this Keejaanaa and the sultan became great friends. They lived very happily together, and Keejaanaa loved Faaraasee as his own soul. (Folktale from Tanzania) \u2013 (Illustration 123rf)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was once a sultan who had three little sons, and no one seemed to be able to teach them anything; which greatly grieved both the sultan and his wife. One day a magician came to the sultan and said, \u201cIf I take your three boys and teach them to read and write, and make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10247\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}