Chapter 6 - The Sun - South African Folk-Lore Tales

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The sun. A bushman legend Otar, having disposed of his nightly tot,
held his crooked hands towards the cheerfulblaze and turned his engaging smile alternately on
it and his little masters. Ah, what it is to keep a bit

(00:20):
of the sun even when the sunis gone. Long ago, OTA's people,
the bushmen, did not know aboutfire. No, my bassies.
When the big fire that makes theworld warm and bright walked across the sky,
they were happy. They hunted anddanced and feasted. They shot the

(00:42):
fine big bucks with their little poisonedarrows, and they tore pieces off and
ate the flesh with the red blooddripping from it. They had no fire
to make it dry up. Andthe roots and einties that they dug out
with their sharp stones, those twothey ate just as they were. They

(01:02):
did not cook, for they didnot know how to make fire. But
when the white man came, thenthey learnt. Basi's sea. OTA's head
is big, bigger than the bass'shead, but that does not help.
It's the inside that matters, andthe white man's head inside. Here.

(01:25):
Ota tapped his wrinkled forehead Allah,but it can hold a lot in the
olden days, when OTA's people werecold, they crept into caves and covered
themselves with skins, for they hadno fire to sit by. Yes,
they were sorry when the old manin the sky put down his arms and

(01:46):
lay down to sleep. What oldman asked, pity? Do you mean
the sun? A? Yeah?Doesn't BASI then know that the sun was
once a man. It was longlong ago before UTA's people lived in the
world, perhaps in the days ofthe Urdy race that were before even the

(02:07):
flat bushmen, who were the firstpeople we really know anything about. In
those days, at a certain placelived a man from whose armpits brightness streamed.
When he lifted one arm, theplace on that side of him was
light. When he lifted the otherarm, the place on that side of

(02:28):
him was light. But when helifted both arms, the light shone all
around him. But it only shonearound the place where he lived. It
did not reach to other places.Sometimes the people asked him to stand on
a stone so that his light couldgo farther, And sometimes he climbed on
a copy and lifted up his arms. Ah Then the light streamed out far

(02:53):
far and lighted up the felt formiles and miles for the higher he went,
the father the light shone. Thenthe people said, we see now,
the higher he goes, the fartherhis light shines. If only we
could put him very high, hislight would go out over the whole world.

(03:16):
So they tried to make a plan, and at last a wise old
woman called the young people together andsaid, you must go to this man
from whose armpits the light streams whenhe is asleep. You must go,
and the strongest of you must takehim under the armpits and lift him up,

(03:37):
and swing him to and fro soso, and throw him as high
as you can into the sky,so that he may be above the copies,
lifting his arms to let the lightstream down, to warm the earth
and make green things to grow insummer. So the young men went to

(03:57):
the place where the man lay sleeping. Quietly they went, my bassies,
creeping along in the red sand,so as not to wake him. He
was in a deep sleep, andbefore he could wake the strong young men
took him under the armpits and swunghim to and fro as the wise old
woman had told them. Then asthey swung him, they threw him into

(04:23):
the air Hi hi, and therehe stuck. The next morning, when
he awoke and stretched himself, liftingup his arms, the light streamed out
from under them and brightened all theworld, warming the earth and making the
green things grow. And so itwent on day after day. When he

(04:46):
put up his arms it was bright. It was day. When he put
down one arm, it was cloudy. The weather was not clear. And
when he put down both arms andturned over to go to sleep, there
was no light at all. Itwas dark. It was night. But
when he awoke and lifted his arms, the day came again, and the

(05:10):
world was warm and bright. Sometimeshe is far away from the earth,
then it is cold, it iswinter. But when he comes near,
the earth gets warm again. Thegreen things grow and the fruit ripens.
It is summer. And so itgoes on to this day. My basis

(05:31):
the day and night, summer andwinter, and all because the old man
with the bright armpits was thrown intothe sky. But the sun is not
a man, Ota said downright,villem. He hasn't any arms, no,
my bassy, not now he isnot a man any more. But

(05:55):
bassies must remember how long he hasbeen up in the sky. Spans and
spans and spans of years, alwaysrolling round and rolling round, from the
time he wakes in the morning tillhe lies down to sleep at the other
side of the world. And withthe rolling busses he has got all rounder

(06:16):
and round her. And the lightthat at first came only from under his
arms has been rolled right round him, till now he is a big ball
of light, rolling from one sideof the sky to the other. Cousin
Minnie, who had been listening ina dessultory way to the fireside chatter as

(06:36):
she wrote at the side table,started and lean towards the little group.
But a single glance was enough toshow that so interested were the children in
the personal aspect of the tale,that there was no fear of confusion arising
in their minds from Otre's decided subversionof an elementary fact which she had been

(06:58):
at some pains to get them tounderstand and accept. And his arms,
Ota inquired little Yan in his earnestway. Do they never come out now?
Ota beamed upon him proudly. Ah, that is my little master,
always to ask a big thing,Yes, passy. Sometimes they come out

(07:24):
when it is a dark day.When he has put his arms out,
he is holding them down and spreadinghis hands before the light so that it
can't shine on the world. Andsometimes just before he gets up in the
morning, and before he goes tosleep at night. Haven't passies seen long
bright stripes coming from the round ballof light? Yes, yes, assented

(07:49):
his little listeners eagerly. Those arethe long fingers of the sun. His
arms are rolled up inside the fieryball, but he sticks his long fingers
out, and they make bright roadsinto the sky, spreading out all round
him. The old man is peepingat the earth through his fingers. Basis,

(08:13):
must count them next time he sticksthem out and see if they are
all there. Eight long ones thoseare the fingers, and two short ones
for the thumbs. OTA's knowledge ofarithmetic was limited to the number of his
crooked digits, and the smile withwhich he announced the extent of his mathematical

(08:33):
attainments was a ludicrous cross between proudtriumph and modest reluctance. When he lies
down, he pulls them in.Then all the world grows dark and the
people go to sleep. But Ota, it isn't always dark at night,
pity reminded him. There are starsand the moon, you know. Ah,

(08:58):
Yes, the little stars and thelady Moon. Ota will tell the
bassies about them another night. Butnow he must go quick, quick,
and let Lease rub his back withboohoo. When friend old age comes,
the back bends and the bones getstiff, and the rheumatism foi, but

(09:22):
it can pinch. Therefore, mybassies Ota Cook's bosses from the felt to
rub on boohoo and cook a makrankaand Caru bosses. They are all good,
but boohoo is the best. Yes, boohoo for the outside, and
the basses fire water for the inside. He looked longingly at the cupboard,

(09:46):
but wood and glass are unresponsive untilacted on by human agency. So possessing
no open sesame for that unyielding lock, Ota contented himself by smacking his lips
as he toddled away, and ofthe sun a bushman legend