Jɛnkunu mini Kunduŋ

Jɛnkunu mini Kunduŋ (‘Cat and Hyena’)

Chorus:

Cat had a baby and named him ‘The more the merrier’.

Hyena's child's name [was] ‘What in the world will eat him?’

Story:

Cat had a baby and named her ‘The more the merrier’.

Hyena also had a baby and called him ‘What in the world will eat him?’

Then, the sweet friendship of Cat and Hyena was like a woman and her lover.

Cat gave birth to three children. Hyena also bore three children.

It came to pass that Hyena's husband died before Cat's husband.

Cat would just wake up [each] morning and take care of every chore [in place of H's belated husband]

As she would just do whatever she could to give Hyena for her to take and share with her children.

…in terms of getting by, as her husband had passed away.

[One day,] Hyena said to Cat,

Boy, [considering] how our husbands have died and left us,

if we don't slaughter our children to eat,

we, won't be able to struggle to fill all of our bellies.’

Then, Cat was afraid of Hyena, [and] she told her, ‘Indeed, let's slaughter them.’

As soon as Hyena returned home, the fool, she didn't deliberate anymore.

She just slaughtered all three of her children

and picked out a baby hyena leg to give to Cat

that she should accept the baby hyena leg.

And she [Cat] accepted [it and] sat [there] hold[ing] it. After she [Hyena] left, she [Cat] sat [there] dumbfounded and said,

‘The Dagomba says that if your peer kills his chicken and gives you a portion,

your chicken will roam on one leg [i.e., you'll have to reciprocate a friendly gesture]’

As Hyena has given me a baby hyena's leg, she won't refuse a whole cat [in return].

‘[But] none of my children are going to lose their head.’

[But] she also couldn't not give Hyena a cat's leg.

[So,] what was Cat's solution?

She hurried to the market to buy pepper and buy salt and buy onions

and buy oil and [then] head home to put the baby hyena's leg [on the stove] and fry it up well

and it shriveled up to become a small leg like a cat's leg.

So, she brought it to give Hyena for her to accept a kitten's leg.

And she accepted it and ate it, and it tasted delicious to her, so she laughed and said,

‘Who'd've thought that tight-chested thing's children would taste so sweet?’

She didn't know that it was her [own] child's leg that they fried and sent back to give her.

They all also would brew pito and sell it in the market.

They would brew pito for two days. When they were ready to bottle it, they would fill three pots each.

Cat would let her three children leave ahead of her and each carry a pito pot.

And she herself would grab her little stool and put it on her head

and follow them to the market to [help] take down their loads for them,

and return back home to prepare porridge for them to eat.

And she herded her children into the room to lock [them in], and [then] went out to go in the shower.

She bathed and came out [of the shower] and rubbed oil [on herself], and [then] Hyena came by to ask her,

‘How is it that you've already [managed to] send along all of your pito like that?’

She [Cat] told her, ‘I sit on the ground and pick up one pot to carry,

and [then] take the other two and put them on top of the first one, and then stand up.’

She [Hyena] said, ‘Oh, I was thinking about what we were going to do [without our children to help us]

but you're not strong yet [can] carry [a load] like that, I'll also carry my stuff home.’

The fool, and [so] she went home to load the small[est] pot first,

and [then] put the two big ones on top of it in order to stand up.

What was wobbly fell down [and] it broke and left the small pot on her head.

And [so] she hurried back to Cat's house with it to tell her,

‘I carried my pito [like you said] and it fell down and broke and left [just] the little pot.’

She [Cat], told her, ‘It's not a big deal. Take it to the market.

If you sit down and sell, some womanizer will give you three pence.

It will be enough money to buy your salt.’

So, they got up [and went] all the way to the market.

After just a little while, she finished selling and was seated, and [then] it threatened to rain.

She told Cat, ‘I put my okro out to dry in the sun at home.

I'm not going to let the rain beat it again.

I'm going to go home to gather up that okro and pass by your house, Cat,

to pack up your odds and ends [left outside] and take them into you kitchen.’

[But] Cat couldn't tell her that she shouldn't pass by her house.

But Cat's three children were at home.

And [so] she [Hyena] went home to gather the okro and pass by Cat's house.

And she stood in the gate and looked in.

And Cat's children, they had already packed up the things and were sitting down and playing.

She said, ‘Hmpf. Cat played me in this way, and I finished off my children and [she] let her own children be.

When Cat was about to leave the market and go home,

she [Hyena] had already cried out in anger to the point of getting pregnant and having a baby,

and went to tell Cat that she [should] send her a babysitter,

so that he would babysit her child. She [Hyena] had also given birth.

She wanted to finish off Cat's children.

[But] Cat couldn't refuse to give her a babysitter. She [Cat] told her,

‘Okay, go on home. I'll have a child come by.’

And after she had gone home, she then looked for a seive in order to observe her children

and see who is wise [enough for her] to send there.

She said, ‘Because, if you are not someone who is wise,

I think if you just send a child to her [Hyena],

she [child] will not [live to] see daybreak at Hyena's house.’

And she called her oldest child over to give him the sieve

so that he [should] take it and go fetch water for her to drink.

When he went to fetch, the water didn't make it back. She told him,

‘You're not wise, you can't babysit Hyena's child.’

And [so she] called the middle child over to give him [the seive]

so that he take it and go fetch water for her for her to drink.

When he went to fetch, the water didn't make it back. She told him,

‘You lack wisdom. You can't babysit Hyena's child.’

And [then] she called the [youngest] child to give it to him

so that he [should] take it and go fetch water for her to drink.

When he went to draw water and it leaked,

He plucked [some] leaves and padded the inside and looked for a solution

and used it to fetch water to give his mother.

She said, ‘Saaŋa, you are wise. You will babysit Hyena's child.’

Then, when he went, his mother bid him farewell [???? Vice versa?]

his mother strung beads around him

and looked for rubbing oil and looked for antimony and put it in a small dish and loaded him up.

‘Wee, take it to your auntie's house to babysit the child for two days and [then] come home.’

Then, Little Cat had never gotten beads to wear before,

and he took to looking at the beads around his waist

and then was going [around] swaying his hips, and the soft beads were around his waist singing:

Aba nanu nanunanunanu reee. Aba nanu nanunanunanu re.

Chorus:

Cat had a baby and named him ‘The more the merrier’.

Hyena's child's name [was] ‘What in the world will eat him?’

It was now that he arrived at Hyena’s house

and she of course had already eaten, and licked her lips waiting for him.

Just when he arrived, she said to him,

“I’ve already eaten and have sat down [as you’ve found me].

Take the leftover porridge to the kitchen there to make [some] soup to eat back here.

He said to her, “Auntie, I already ate before leaving to come here. I can’t eat anymore.”

When night fell, she took the baby and laid it down on a pillow, and told Kitten,

“A nursing mother doesn’t spend the night next to [her] baby. It’s the babysitter and the baby that spend the night [together].

Just lie down together on the pillow.”

Then, Kitten, he knew that his auntie was tricking him.

When night fell, what was Cat’s [Kitten’s] plan?

He left the pillow and ran into the bathing room,

and took a chamber.pot and put it on top of himself.

Night came and she [Hyena] came to look on the pillow

in order to seize Kitten. She didn’t see him.

And [so] she examined the whole room and searched and searched in vain,

and [then] came to lie down next to her baby. And it came to pass that she had to urinate.

and she got up to urinate into the chamber.pot.

And Kitten was in the bathing room listening.

When dawn broke, she gathered herself up and went out[side].

“Wee, let me get up and wash my face and come back here

and [while my] baby is sleeping soundly , I [will] go and look for where Kitten is.”

When she left [from ????? or for] her face-washing,

Kitten went out to sit next to the baby.

And she washed her face, and came back in to see him [Kitten] and ask him,

“Where did you spend the night last night that I looked and looked for you in vain?”

He said, “[As] you were looking for me last night, I was watching you.”

She asked him, “Where were you last night?”

He said, “I was in the bathing room,

and took that chamber.pot and put it on top of myself.”

She told him, “Oh, you are very wise.

Tonight, I will spend the night in there.”

When night fell, what was [little] Cat’s plan?

He left the bathing area [alone]and ran to the side of the pot

and took some small cotton and laid it on himself.

When night fell, she [Hyena] came to look in the bathing area

in order to seize him. She didn’t see him.

And [so] she lied down next to her baby and woke up the next morning and went out and came back in.

And he [Kitten] was sitting down, and she [Hyena] asked him,

“Where did you spend the night last night this time

such that I searched and searched for you in vain like that?”

He said, “Auntie, I didn’t spend the night anywhere apart from this room.”

She said, “It was in this room that you spent the night last night

and I looked and looked for you in vain?”

He said, “[As] you were looking for me last night, I was watching you.”

She asked him, “Where were you last night?”

He said, “I laid down in this bathing room, on the side of this pot

and took some pieces of cotton and laid them on myself.”

At that point, she understood how wise [little] Cat was.

She couldn’t capture him like that. And she [?? or he, switch reference misses here] ran outside.

When she was about to return, she returned with honey and palm kernel oil.

to tell Kitten that she had gone to beg for some medicine [to bring] back here.

Only a babysitter and child smears it on.

“Wee, take this thick one and smear it on yourself,

and take this light one and smear it on your little brother.

His body isn’t strong yet.

[But] this medicine has a taboo also. If you smear it on,

noone can spend the night anywhere except on the pillow.”

And [then when she] had completely left, Kitten dipped his finger into them and licked them.

What she said that he Kitten should smear: honey.

What she said that he [should] take and smear on little Hyena: palm kernel oil.

He said, “Oh, my auntie is really being tricky.”

When night fell, what did [little] Cat do?

He took the palm kernel oil and smeared it on himself, and took the honey and smeared it on little Hyena.

And they lied down together on the pillow.

When night fell, she came to lick [little] Cat. She licked palm kernel oil.

She knew that that was her baby. She left him alone,

and went to lick her baby. She licked honey.

She knew that [that was] Kitten. She chomped him in two,

and took Kitten and set him on her leg,

and was cutting [off some] stomach for him to be chewing on.

And then she asked him, “Wee, that tight-chested thing’s stomach is delicious, isn’t it?”

At that point, Kitten didn’t want to respond saying “Meow,”

and she [Hyena would] recognize that that was [little] Cat. He [just] nodded his head,

and they chewed on little Hyena and woke up the next day.

When day broke, she [Hyena] didn’t see her child.

She saw Kitten as he was gathering himself up to go out.

She realized that she had mistakenly seized [her baby].

She called Kitten [over] to tell him that he should go home.

That if she should give birth again, he [should] came back to babysit.

“Wee, your little brother passed away last night, and we arranged to bury him.

And you were just in slumber.

But if you’re about to go home, there’s a squash lying on top of the trash dump.

You go out to pick it up. If you make it home, you all [should] cook it and eat it.”

Kitten entered the room to pack his things and go squash-picking.

And [then] he was struck with suspicion on the way. And he stopped and said,

“Hyena, she’ll challenge [???????] herself and turn into something more than even a squash.

If it’s [the case that] it’s her, I will know.

If it’s [the case that] it’s not her, I’ll carry the squash home.”

And [then he] called, “Squash?”

Dead silence.

“Squash?” Silence. He said,

“and a squash doesn’t respond as usual, and a person is [to be] picking it.

[In] our town, if you just call to a squash, it responds.”

And [he] called, “Squash?”

She responded saying “Mm.”

He [Kitten] said, “What squash has ever responded. I didn’t come this far to [be] seize[d] so easily.” [????????]

It was then that Kitten changed [directions] fleeing home to his mother’s house.

And the soft beads were around his waist singing:

Aba nanu nanunanananu ree.