The Clever Adventures of Mafani: A Traditional African FolkTale

Once upon a time, there lived a boy whose name was Mafani.

One day, Mafani came to his grandmother and said, "Grandmother dear, please let me have a cutlass! I want to go and set some bird traps!"

"I cannot let you have a cutlass, my son. I fear you will hurt yourself," his grandmother replied.

But Mafani was not easily discouraged. He picked up a fragment of a cooking pot, sharpened one end of it on a stone, and used it instead of a cutlass. Then he went and cut a number of long, slender shoots, covered them with a thick, sticky substance he had prepared from the sap of a gum tree, and planted them in the midst of a grass patch.

He had barely placed the traps when a turtle dove perched on one of them and was caught. Mafani took the dove to his hut and prepared it for his midday meal. However, his grandmother took the bird and ate it herself.

Then Mafani said to his grandmother, "When I asked you for a cutlass, you would not let me have it, but now you have eaten my bird. It is only fair that you pay me for it." And his grandmother gave him a cutlass.

Mafani took the cutlass and went on a journey. Along the way, he met some people who were building a dam so they would have enough water for the dry season. They were having difficulty driving in the stakes because they were not properly sharpened.

Mafani watched them for some time. Finally, he walked up and said, "Why don't you sharpen your stakes? How foolish of you to waste your time and strength this way!"

"But we have no cutlass with which we could sharpen the stakes," the people replied.

"I have an excellent cutlass with me, sharp enough to cut through a log," said Mafani. "I can lend it to you if you'd like!"

So they took Mafani's cutlass and sharpened their stakes. But in their eagerness to finish quickly, they used the cutlass rather roughly and broke it in two.

Then Mafani said, "You have broken my cutlass and must pay for it." And they gave him several calabashes filled with drinking water. He took these and continued on his way.

After a while, he met some people who were collecting edible ants. Having been out in the heat for some time, they suffered from thirst. When Mafani came along, they begged him to let them have some water.

"I am willing to help you, but don't drink it all," said Mafani. But when the people tasted the water, they kept drinking until not a drop was left. Mafani said, "Now pay me for the water!" And they gave him a measure of ants.

As Mafani passed on, he saw some birds busily collecting oil seeds for their evening meal. He approached them and said, "Why do you eat these seeds? They will surely make you sick. You should try some of these ants instead. Here, help yourselves, but give me back the rest!" And he handed them the measure of ants.

The birds began to eat and kept eating until the last ant was gone. Then Mafani said to the birds, "Now that you have eaten all the ants, it is only fair that you pay me for them." When the birds heard this, they flew to a nearby tree and plucked plenty of fruit, which they gave in exchange for the ants. Mafani took the fruit and continued on.

After he had traveled some distance, he came to a big hill. He was too tired to climb the hill with a load on his head, so he threw himself down in the shade of a palm tree to rest. There he met a party of hunters. They were very hungry and looked longingly at Mafani's fruit. When Mafani saw this, he told the men to help themselves. In a short time, they had eaten all the fruit, leaving not a bit.

This was not at all to Mafani's liking, and he said, "Listen, friends! I invited you to help yourselves to some fruit, but I did not give you permission to eat it all. Now that you have eaten every bit of it, I must insist that you pay me for it." And they paid him with the leg of a pig.

As Mafani continued on, he came to a lonely hut where an old woman was drying salt by the fire. He placed the meat the hunters had given him on the fire to roast. When it was well done, the old woman took it and ate it all. Then Mafani said to the woman, "Since you have eaten all my meat, it is only fair that you pay for it." The woman agreed and gave him a measure of salt.

Shortly after, as Mafani was passing over the top of the hill, he met the Wind, who was driving dry leaves and fibers from a nearby ceiba tree before him. "How foolish of you," said Mafani to the Wind. "You should take some of my salt instead." The Wind took hold of the salt, and in the twinkling of an eye, it was all gone.

Then Mafani said to the Wind, "Did I not tell you to take only part of my salt? Now that you have taken it all, you should pay for it." Then the Wind called another wind, caught it in a bag, and gave the bag of wind to Mafani.

As Mafani continued on, he met the wife of a chief who was cleaning corn. Mafani said to the woman, "How strange that you, the wife of a powerful chief, should clean the corn yourself! Why not use some of the wind in my bag?"

The woman took the bag and untied it to use the wind. In a moment, all the dust and chaff were blown away, leaving only the clean, full-weighted corn. But the bag that had contained the wind was now empty. "Why did you use all the wind?" Mafani asked. "Now you must pay for it. I was willing to do you a favor, but I don't care to be cheated!" The woman, being well-to-do, paid him with a double measure of corn.

After Mafani had left the woman, he noticed a flock of wild pigeons by the wayside, busily picking berries. He said to them, "For goodness' sake! How can you live on such miserable fare? Why not try some of my corn?" And he opened his bag and set it before them.

In an incredibly short time, the pigeons had eaten all the corn. Not a single kernel was left. When Mafani asked the pigeons to pay for the corn, they gave him a measure of oil seeds. From these he made oil, put it into a calabash, and continued on.

He came to a town where a woman had died. They were making preparations for her burial. Everything they needed was at hand except one very important item—oil with which to anoint the body. When Mafani heard of their trouble, he offered them some of his oil. After they had used the last bit of it, Mafani demanded other oil in return. Being unable to pay, they let him have the dead woman. Mafani took the body and went away.

When he came near another town, he took the body, placed it against a tree on the edge of a precipice, and entered the town, where a wrestling match was taking place. Mafani stood and watched for a while. Then he said to one of the maidens nearby, whose beauty and rich clothing had caught his attention, "I pray you, go and call my wife, who is waiting for me just outside the town. Her name is Mawum."

The maiden went and found the woman leaning against a tree, apparently sound asleep. She called, "Mawum! Mawum!" When there was no answer, she went to wake her. But when she touched the body, it fell over and rolled down the precipice.

The maiden was terrified. When she had sufficiently recovered from the shock, she ran back and told Mafani, "Your wife has fallen down the precipice!" Mafani said to the maiden, "What have you done? I shall hold your father responsible for my loss!" The maiden's father then gave his daughter to Mafani and said, "Take her; she is yours. May she be the life of your life and the joy of your heart."

Mafani took his bride and returned to his grandmother. They were very happy together and lived to a good old age.