THE SACRED MILK OF KOUMONGOÉ

Edition and rights: Original English text from Project Gutenberg ebook #31201, marked public domain in the USA. The literary text below is reproduced without AI rewriting.

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Far away, in a very hot country, there once lived a man
and woman who had two children, a son named Koané
and a daughter called Thakané.

Early in the morning and late in the evenings the
parents worked hard in the fields, resting, when the sun
was high, under the shade of some tree. While they were
absent the little girl kept house alone, for her brother
always got up before the dawn, when the air was fresh
and cool, and drove out the cattle to the sweetest patches
of grass he could find.

One day, when Koané had slept later than usual, his
father and mother went to their work before him, and
there was only Thakané to be seen busy making the bread
for supper.

‘Thakané,’ he said, ‘I am thirsty. Give me a drink
from the tree Koumongoé, which has the best milk in the
world.’

‘Oh, Koané,’ cried his sister, ‘you know that we are
forbidden to touch that tree. What would father say
when he came home? For he would be sure to know.’

‘Nonsense,’ replied Koané, ‘there is so much milk in
Koumongoé that he will never miss a little. If you won’t
give it to me, I sha’n’t take the cattle out. They will just
have to stay all day in the hut, and you know that they
will starve.’ And he turned from her in a rage, and sat
down in the corner.

After a while Thakané said to him: ‘It is getting hot,
had you not better drive out the cattle now?’

[Pg 144]
But Koané only answered sulkily: ‘I told you I am
not going to drive them out at all. If I have to do without
milk, they shall do without grass.’

Thakané did not know what to do. She was afraid
to disobey her parents, who would most likely beat her,
yet the beasts would be sure to suffer if they were kept
in, and she would perhaps be beaten for that too. So at
last she took an axe and a tiny earthen bowl, she cut
a very small hole in the side of Koumongoé, and out
gushed enough milk to fill the bowl.

‘Here is the milk you wanted,’ said she, going up to
Koané, who was still sulking in his corner.

‘What is the use of that?’ grumbled Koané; ‘why,
there is not enough to drown a fly. Go and get me three
times as much!’

Trembling with fright, Thakané returned to the tree,
and struck it a sharp blow with the axe. In an instant
there poured forth such a stream of milk that it ran like
a river into the hut.

‘Koané! Koané!’ cried she, ‘come and help me to plug
up the hole. There will be no milk left for our father
and mother.’ But Koané could not stop it any more than
Thakané, and soon the milk was flowing through the hut
downhill towards their parents in the fields below.

The man saw the white stream a long way off, and
guessed what had happened.

‘Wife, wife,’ he called loudly to the woman, who was
working at a little distance: ‘Do you see Koumongoé
running fast down the hill? That is some mischief of the
children’s, I am sure. I must go home and find out what
is the matter.’ And they both threw down their hoes
and hurried to the side of Koumongoé.

Kneeling on the grass, the man and his wife made a
cup of their hands and drank the milk from it. And no
sooner had they done this, than Koumongoé flowed back
again up the hill, and entered the hut.

‘Thakané,’ said the parents, severely, when they reached
[Pg 145]
home panting from the heat of the sun, ‘what have you
been doing? Why did Koumongoé come to us in the
fields instead of staying in the garden?’

‘It was Koané’s fault,’ answered Thakané. ‘He
would not take the cattle to feed until he drank some of
the milk from Koumongoé. So, as I did not know what
else to do, I gave it to him.’

The father listened to Thakané’s words, but made
no answer. Instead, he went outside and brought in two
sheepskins, which he stained red and sent for a blacksmith
to forge some iron rings. The rings were then
passed over Thakané’s arms and legs and neck, and the
skins fastened on her before and behind. When all was
ready, the man sent for his servants and said:

‘I am going to get rid of Thakané.’

‘Get rid of your only daughter?’ they answered, in
surprise. ‘But why?’

‘Because she has eaten what she ought not to have
eaten. She has touched the sacred tree which belongs
to her mother and me alone.’ And, turning his back, he
called to Thakané to follow him, and they went down the
road which led to the dwelling of an ogre.

They were passing along some fields where the corn
was ripening, when a rabbit suddenly sprang out at their
feet, and standing on its hind legs, it sang:

Why do you give to the ogre

Your child, so fair, so fair?

‘You had better ask her,’ replied the man, ‘she is old
enough to give you an answer.’

Then, in her turn, Thakané sang:

I gave Koumongoé to Koané,

Koumongoé to the keeper of beasts;

For without Koumongoé they could not go to the meadows:

Without Koumongoé they would starve in the hut;

That was why I gave him the Koumongoé of my father.

And when the rabbit heard that, he cried: ‘Wretched
[Pg 146]
man! it is you whom the ogre should eat, and not your
beautiful daughter.’

But the father paid no heed to what the rabbit said,
and only walked on the faster, bidding Thakané to keep
close behind him. By-and-by they met with a troop of
[Pg 147]
great deer, called elands, and they stopped when they saw
Thakané and sang:

Why do you give to the ogre

Your child, so fair, so fair?

‘You had better ask her,’ replied the man, ‘she is old
enough to give you an answer.’

Then, in her turn, Thakané sang:

I gave Koumongoé to Koané,

Koumongoé to the keeper of beasts;

For without Koumongoé they could not go to the meadows:

Without Koumongoé they would starve in the hut;

That was why I gave him the Koumongoé of my father.

And the elands all cried: ‘Wretched man! it is
you whom the ogre should eat, and not your beautiful
daughter.’

By this time it was nearly dark, and the father said
they could travel no further that night, and must go to
sleep where they were. Thakané was thankful indeed
when she heard this, for she was very tired, and found
the two skins fastened round her almost too heavy to
carry. So, in spite of her dread of the ogre, she slept till
dawn, when her father woke her, and told her roughly
that he was ready to continue their journey.

Crossing the plain, the girl and her father passed a
herd of gazelles feeding. They lifted their heads, wondering
who was out so early, and when they caught sight of
Thakané, they sang:

Why do you give to the ogre

Your child, so fair, so fair?

‘You had better ask her,’ replied the man, ‘she is old
enough to answer for herself.’

Then, in her turn, Thakané sang:

I gave Koumongoé to Koané,

Koumongoé to the keeper of beasts;

For without Koumongoé they could not go to the meadows:

Without Koumongoé they would starve in the hut;

That was why I gave him the Koumongoé of my father.

[Pg 148]
And the gazelles all cried: ‘Wretched man! it is
you whom the ogre should eat, and not your beautiful
daughter.’

At last they arrived at the village where the ogre
lived, and they went straight to his hut. He was nowhere
to be seen, but in his place was his son Masilo,
who was not an ogre at all, but a very polite young man.
He ordered his servants to bring a pile of skins for
Thakané to sit on, but told her father he must sit on the
ground. Then, catching sight of the girl’s face, which
she had kept bent down, he was struck by its beauty, and
put the same question that the rabbit, and the elands, and
the gazelles had done.

Thakané answered him as before, and he instantly
commanded that she should be taken to the hut of his
mother, and placed under her care, while the man should
be led to his father. Directly the ogre saw him he bade
the servant throw him into the great pot which always
stood ready on the fire, and in five minutes he was done
to a turn. After that the servant returned to Masilo and
related all that had happened.

Now Masilo had fallen in love with Thakané the
moment he saw her. At first he did not know what to
make of this strange feeling, for all his life he had hated
women, and had refused several brides whom his parents
had chosen for him. However, they were so anxious
that he should marry, that they willingly accepted
Thakané as their daughter-in-law, though she did not
bring any marriage portion with her.

After some time a baby was born to her, and Thakané
thought it was the most beautiful baby that ever was seen.
But when her mother-in-law saw it was a girl, she wrung
her hands and wept, saying:

‘O miserable mother! Miserable child! Alas for
you! why were you not a boy!’

Thakané, in great surprise, asked the meaning of her
distress; and the old woman told her that it was the
[Pg 149]
custom in that country that all the girls who were born
should be given to the ogre to eat.

Then Thakané clasped the baby tightly in her arms,
and cried:

‘But it is not the custom in my country! There,
when children die, they are buried in the earth. No one
shall take my baby from me.’

That night, when everyone in the hut was asleep,
Thakané rose, and carrying her baby on her back, went
down to a place where the river spread itself out into a
large lake, with tall willows all round the bank. Here,
hidden from everyone, she sat down on a stone and began
to think what she should do to save her child.

Suddenly she heard a rustling among the willows, and
an old woman appeared before her.

‘What are you crying for, my dear?’ said she.

And Thakané answered: ‘I was crying for my baby—I
cannot hide her for ever, and if the ogre sees her, he
will eat her; and I would rather she was drowned than
that.’

‘What you say is true,’ replied the old woman. ‘Give
me your child, and let me take care of it. And if you
will fix a day to meet me here I will bring the baby.’

Then Thakané dried her eyes, and gladly accepted
the old woman’s offer. When she got home she told
her husband she had thrown it in the river, and as he
had watched her go in that direction he never thought of
doubting what she said.

On the appointed day, Thakané slipped out when
everybody was busy, and ran down the path that led to
the lake. As soon as she got there, she crouched down
among the willows, and sang softly:

Bring to me Dilah, Dilah the rejected one,

Dilah, whom her father Masilo cast out!

And in a moment the old woman appeared holding the
baby in her arms. Dilah had become so big and strong,
[Pg 150]
that Thakané’s heart was filled with joy and gratitude,
and she stayed as long as she dared, playing with her
baby. At last she felt she must return to the village,
lest she should be missed, and the child was handed
back to the old woman, who vanished with her into the
lake.

Children grow up very quickly when they live under
water, and in less time than anyone could suppose, Dilah
had changed from a baby to a woman. Her mother came
to visit her whenever she was able, and one day, when they
were sitting talking together, they were spied out by a
man who had come to cut willows to weave into baskets.
He was so surprised to see how like the face of the girl
was to Masilo, that he left his work and returned to the
village.

‘Masilo,’ he said, as he entered the hut, ‘I have just
beheld your wife near the river with a girl who must be
your daughter, she is so like you. We have been deceived,
for we all thought she was dead.’

When he heard this, Masilo tried to look shocked
because his wife had broken the law; but in his heart he
was very glad.

‘But what shall we do now?’ asked he.

‘Make sure for yourself that I am speaking the truth
by hiding among the bushes the first time Thakané says
she is going to bathe in the river, and waiting till the girl
appears.’

For some days Thakané stayed quietly at home, and
her husband began to think that the man had been mistaken;
but at last she said to her husband: ‘I am going
to bathe in the river.’

‘Well, you can go,’ answered he. But he ran down
quickly by another path, and got there first, and hid
himself in the bushes. An instant later, Thakané arrived,
and standing on the bank, she sang:

Bring to me Dilah, Dilah the rejected one,

Dilah, whom her father Masilo cast out!

[Pg 151]
Then the old woman came out of the water, holding
the girl, now tall and slender, by the hand. And as
Masilo looked, he saw that she was indeed his daughter,
and he wept for joy that she was not lying dead in the
bottom of the lake. The old woman, however, seemed
uneasy, and said to Thakané: ‘I feel as if someone was
watching us. I will not leave the girl to-day, but will
take her back with me’; and sinking beneath the surface,
she drew the girl after her. After they had gone, Thakané
[Pg 152]
returned to the village, which Masilo had managed to
reach before her.

All the rest of the day he sat in a corner weeping, and
his mother who came in asked: ‘Why are you weeping
so bitterly, my son?’

‘My head aches,’ he answered; ‘it aches very badly.’
And his mother passed on, and left him alone.

In the evening he said to his wife: ‘I have seen my
daughter, in the place where you told me you had drowned
her. Instead, she lives at the bottom of the lake, and has
now grown into a young woman.’

‘I don’t know what you are talking about,’ replied
Thakané. ‘I buried my child under the sand on the
beach.’

Then Masilo implored her to give the child back to
him; but she would not listen, and only answered: ‘If I
were to give her back you would only obey the laws of
your country and take her to your father, the ogre, and
she would be eaten.’

But Masilo promised that he would never let his father
see her, and that now she was a woman no one would try
to hurt her; so Thakané’s heart melted, and she went
down to the lake to consult the old woman.

‘What am I to do?’ she asked, when, after clapping
her hands, the old woman appeared before her. ‘Yesterday
Masilo beheld Dilah, and ever since he has entreated me
to give him back his daughter.’

‘If I let her go he must pay me a thousand head of
cattle in exchange,’ replied the old woman. And Thakané
carried her answer back to Masilo.

‘Why, I would gladly give her two thousand!’ cried he,
‘for she has saved my daughter.’ And he bade messengers
hasten to all the neighbouring villages, and tell his
people to send him at once all the cattle he possessed.
When they were all assembled he chose a thousand of
the finest bulls and cows, and drove them down to the
[Pg 153]
river, followed by a great crowd wondering what would
happen.

Then Thakané stepped forward in front of the cattle
and sang:

Bring to me Dilah, Dilah the rejected one,

Dilah, whom her father Masilo cast out!

And Dilah came from the waters holding out her hands
to Masilo and Thakané, and in her place the cattle sank
into the lake, and were driven by the old woman to the
great city filled with people, which lies at the bottom.

[Contes Populaires des Bassoutos.]

[Pg 154]