some of the parallels between these hundred Hausa tales and the tales from Congoland which I have published elsewhere, the particular Congo volume being indicated by A or B.[1] Hausa story No. 15, (p. 212); A, pp. 388, 429. From the Hausa tale it appears that a long neck is regarded as a sign of beauty, and the same opinion is held on the Congo. No. 19, (p. 220); A, p. 46, for the second trial of the three slaves' sons. No. 23, (p. 227); A, p. 391. No. 24, (p. 229); A, p. 77. No. 37, (p. 266): A, p. 401,—where, however, the Crow, who claims all the animals killed by the Dove, is trapped by claiming the body of the chief huntsman (accidentally shot by the Dove), and so has to defray the great expenses of burial. No. 74, (p. 361); A, p. 122, a puzzle story with a different plot but centering round a precocious babe. No. 82 (p. 394 ; B, p. 205, for the incident of the basket which must not be opened. Nos. 86-7 (p. 408); B, p. 200, where appears Ngombe the Swallower of People, similar to Dodo in the Hausa stories.
Not only are there resemblances of the kind cited between Congo and Hausa tales, but, while reading the latter, I was frequently reminded by a phrase here, and a little trick there, of a bit of a Congo story. In Boloki stories still in my hands in Ms. there are instances of the ogre husband smelling his wife's sister who is hidden in the house, of tricking each other by interchanging children, of animals left to guard the camp being tied up one after the other and the camp looted, of captured animals escaping by pretending that the captor has only got hold of a stick, of shape-shifting, (e.g. of the Gazelle into a beautiful girl to deceive the Leopard), and of a cunning one (often the Tortoise) eating up all the food in the saucepan and replacing it by dirt, etc.
Folklorists are greatly indebted to Major Tremearne for this carefully arranged and very valuable contribution to their study, and will wish for it the success it so fully deserves. The photographs are interesting; the two hundred accurately produced drawings enhance the value of the book, and the lady who executed the originals is greatly to be congratulated on her work.
- ↑ A, Congo Life and Folk Lore, (Religious Tract Society); B, Among Congo Cannibals, (Seeley, Service & Co.).
