A WÊ tale about wickedness and honesty
A long time ago, men were steadfast and honest. No one used tricks to deceive their friends.
No one wanted to harm their neighbor and life was very pleasant. Everywhere reign trust and safety. It
was then that * Sahan arrived one evening, at nightfall, accompanied by his porters for his many luggage,
in a rich and well-populated village. The children who were playing, seeing this crew, ran to the chief's
hut to warn him. "Chief! Chief! There is a great lord arriving with many slaves." The chief * DOHO has
put on his most beautiful loincloth and settles on his stool, under the large baobab tree, in the center of
the village square, to welcome the powerful stranger. And all the inhabitants of the village gather
around him to honor the visitor. * Sahan greets the chief and gives him as a gift a carved chest
containing loincloths for his wives, two gourds of * bangui (palm wine) and cola nuts. The chief very
moved to be thus honored said this: "this evening, you are my guest because my wives are going to
prepare for you a big feast" So he leads the visitor with great fanfare into the reception desk. When *
Sahan has eaten well, he thanks chef * Doho and congratulates him on the cooking. Then the chef asks
him a few questions. "Oh Sahan you are rich and very powerful. Are you also a leader in your tribe? - No
said Sahan because I have no tribe, I travel constantly " The chef is very surprised and asks: "But, so
where did all this fortune come from? - From my mind, only, because I have the trick" Chief Doho is still
stunned and exclaims: "- What do you mean, Oh stranger? And what is this extraordinary virtue? Here in
my village, we all know that the only way to be rich and powerful, to have great fame and to inspire
respect is honesty " Sahan laughs and walks forward: " wickedness is more powerful than honesty"
"But, that is not possible!" Cried the chief again. "There is nothing more revered than honesty. It is
because the whole village recognized this virtue in me that I was chosen as chief. I can't believe you
noble guest. If you manage to show me that your virtue of malice is stronger than my reputation for
honesty, then I will be convinced and I will give you the most beautiful of my daughters in marriage. But
you cannot triumph and dishonor me in front of my blood brothers. " “That's what we'll see!” Sahan
replies. Then, he asks permission to retire to go to sleep because he is very tired from the trip. Strangely,
when everyone has fallen asleep in the village, Sahan slowly comes out of the passage reserved for the
hosts. And as, during the day, he had observed and noticed all the places of the village, he went directly
to the room where the chief performed his ablution according to custom without anyone seeing him.
And although no one other than the chief is allowed in, Sahan does. Since he had eaten a lot, he relieved
himself of a large pile of feces. Then, silently, he goes back to bed. The next morning, all the inhabitants
of the village all went to the chief to greet Sahan the guest. Sahan, after having made his toilet, also
goes there. But, a terrible smell invaded the yard. Everyone is inconvenienced. And people are like
"What's going on? Where is that awful smell coming from?"
We cannot do the libation ceremony for the guest in this pestilence. Otherwise the fetishes would be
angry. And the villagers began to look for the origin of the smell. This is how a child cries out "it comes
from the chief's ablution box" “But what a shame!” Cried the village elders. So, we suggested to the
chief to let his forbidden room open to go and see what was going on.
The unsuspecting chef opened the door for everyone to check that the room was clean. The elders who
approached, by surprise, saw in the middle of the room, a large pile of foul-smelling feces. "Horror!
Horror! Even animals do not defile their homes in this way" they cried. They add "And the chief did what
a beast wouldn't do! Because only the chief could enter the hut! He dishonored himself!" The chief is
amazed to defend himself. He can see, moreover, that no one would believe him. Indeed, it was a
malicious work by Sahan to win his bet against the leader. Then, Sahan approaches the chief and says to
him in a low voice "Zianh mon zianh doho! So call the prettiest of your all girls, my friend, because I
won!" The chief did not have time to realize the effect of the enormous trick his guest had just given him.
Sahan won and made malice triumph It is since that day that millet has spread everywhere and that men
have ceased to be frank and honest. It is also, since that day that the chiefs say that one should beware
of strangers.
End!
A tale of the WÊ (Guéré) people, West of Côte d'Ivoire
Lexicon
* Sahan: spider (borrowed from the Guéré language) he is the main character of almost all WÊ tales
* Doho: Mortar (borrowed from the Guéré language)
* Zianh my Zianh! : today is today! (group of words borrowed from the Guéré language)
* Bangui: name of palm wine in another ethnic group.
ANSWERS
1/ The fact to write down and translate tale is an exclusivity ; because tale
belong to oral expression ; writing and oral expressions are different each one
have its rule. During the process of translation the most difficult it was to make
our tale go to the oral form to writing form without alter the authencity of the
tale. But we must admit that our tal at the writing form has been deeply affected
it has lost some element that make him attractive at oral form ; when the tale is
telling the narator has a kind of gesture and the rythm of his voice that create a
special atmosphere where those who listen are totaly immerged in the story. At
the linguistic level we had to adapt our mother tongue rule to english gramatical
rule and find equivalent for some expressions but not for all expression.
2/ Our tale fulls an historical and a didactic function that allow us to know the
origin of wickedness or tricky among people according to the Guéré people.
Mainly, introduced by the character called « Sahan ». Who taught us about it.
3./ In our tale the focus was not put on particular characters, the main
protagonists were the stranger Sahan and Doho the chief. One defends the
good and other defends the bad.