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Ankole Folk Tales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

F. Lukyn Williams
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Extract

Ankole is a district in the south-west of the Uganda Protectorate. Its inhabitants, as a result of fifty years of British administration, are being gradually welded together into one people, the Banyankole. There are, however, two distinct ethnic groups in the country: the Bantu aborigines who till the soil and the cattlekeeping Bahima. The latter were Hamitic invaders from the north, who brought with them their own long-horned cattle, easily distinguishable from the small shorthorned zebu type found already in the country. Their one aim in life was and is the well-being of their herds.

Résumé

CONTES POPULAIRES DE L'ANKOLE

Cet article est composé d'un choix de contes populaires recueillis par l'auteur, au cours d'un long séjour parmi le Banyankole d'Ouganda. II y a deux groupes ethniques distincts dans la région, qui se confondent en un seul peuple: les habitants primitifs qui sont des agriculteurs, et les Bahima, éleveurs de bétail, qui ont envahi la région du nord. Les contes populaires comprennent beaucoup d'histoires sur les animaux, parmi lesquels le lièvre occupe une place importante. Quelques-uns des sujets sont trouvés dans d'autres régions d'Afrique, et plusieurs sont, évidemment, d'origine bantoue.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 1951 , pp. 32 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1951

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References

Notes

page 34 note 1. This tale presupposes a time when Ankole had few cattle in it, which was the case before the advent of the Hamitic immigrants. It is, however, frankly a tale told for children, and, while explaining the past, shows them that there is a use for everything and encourages them not to harm any living thing.

In the trials inflicted on the hunter one is reminded of Kintu making his three tests before Gulu, as told by the Baganda. Miss Werner has pointed out in her Myths and Legends of the Bantu how the ascent to heaven by means of a spider's web is a very early idea among the Bantu. The beliefs in the easy descent known to the heaven peoples, and the solid arc of the sky, are well exemplified here. Though undoubtedly of Bantu origin the tale takes into account life among the Bahima of today.

page 34 note 2. A Muhima would not know his wife among many women, because of the custom of all Bahima women covering their heads, except in the privacy of their own huts and under certain conditions in the kraal. The covering was at one time made of cow-hide; but nowadays cotton cloths or blankets, soaked in butter, serve the purpose. Nothing of the face, except occasionally a pair of eyes, is visible to the stranger. A further indication that the tale is not of Hima origin is that it is necessary for the man to make use of the tick-bird to discover his cow. No Muhima would need to do this, as he knows each of his cows intimately by sight and name, and would be able to pick it out by its physical characteristics or by calling out its name.

page 35 note 3. Blood-brotherhood is frequently practised in Ankole, and is established between two persons by a ceremony which entails each participant tasting the blood of the other. The bond thus sealed places upon each certain obligations of brotherhood and friendship, whereby one would look to the other for help in time of need.

page 35 note 4. The reference to the number of cattle in Ankole needs a little explanation. Ankole is one of the best short-grass grazing areas in Uganda. Though the cattle population at the present time is not much above a quarter of a million, yet they are concentrated for the most part in fairly narrow confines, and it is unquestionable that at one time there were many times this number, but diseases and droughts have reduced them pitifully.

page 35 note 5. The ant-eater is a common inhabitant of Ankole. It was at one time much sought after as a food delicacy, a hunter often crawling down a hole after it. A safety rope was attached to his body so that his friends could pull him out if the hole caved in. The skin of the ant-eater is used to make shoes for the Omugabe, the paramount chief. No one else may use it.

page 35 note 6. The tick-bird is a small brown bird which is seen in numbers near most cattle in Africa. The birds spend most of their time hovering about or sitting on the backs of the cattle, and very often make sores on the animals from their constant pecking.

page 35 note 7. The rain-bird is a form of cuckoo, whose plaintive note can usually be heard when rain is imminent. Its resemblance to a partridge in size and colouring is referred to in the Ankole proverb, ‘If you take a partridge from a child you give it a rain-bird instead’, i.e. if you take from it something of value you should give back something that resembles it.

page 37 note 1. The River Kagera rises in Ruanda, and runs north and then east until it empties itself into Lake Victoria Nyanza. Karagwe is the country on its southern bank, now forming part of Tanganyika Territory. Part of the river forms the southern boundary of Ankole today. Mpororo was the area which mostly lay to the north of the river, but also extended into Ruanda itself. Both Mpororo and Karagwe were at one time independent kingdoms, ruled over by Hima aristocracy.

page 37 note 2. This tale clearly comes from the same source as ‘The monkey who left his heart in a tree’, known in so many parts of Africa.

page 38 note 1. This tale combines two tales told by Sir Apolo Kagwa in his Engero za Baganda, and retold by the Rev. F. W. Rowling. The Deceivers in Kikonjo used scraps of bark cloth and ants' wings in their bundles. The tying of a man in a bundle reminds us of The Stolen Pledge in Sir Apolo's tales, but the circumstances are somewhat different.

page 38 note 2. Buhwezhu is a hilly country in the west of Ankole District. Ankole is the name used in all parts of the district to denote the eastern cattle areas.

page 38 note 3. It is quite unusual for Bahima to eat millet, except in times of famine, but for the purposes of the tale this is ignored. Bahima women, nevertheless, must eat millet during their monthly periods, when they are not allowed to touch milk, for fear of upsetting the output of milk from the cattle. There are, however, certain ceremonies when millet is used by the Bahima, such as when inheriting a mother's beads; at the accession of the Omugabe, or paramount chief of Ankole; at the giving in marriage, and at burials.

page 39 note 4. The placing of the dead on a bed outside the house has reference to the time when the Bahima placed their dead on framework structures, or in trees, and did not bury them. There is little doubt that this used to be done, though the modern Muhima will stoutly deny it. Sir Harry Johnston refers to this custom in his Uganda Protectorate. The only acknowledged survival of the practice is found in connexion with the burial rites of the Omugabe; and even this fell into abeyance when the great Omugabe Ntare died in 1896, owing to the country being at war with the Banyaruanda at the time.