Chapter 8 - The Stars and the Stars’ Road - South African Folk-Lore Tales

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Why the hare's nose is slit.The curtains had not yet been drawn,
nor the shutters clos'd, and LittleYan looked with wide, serious eyes at
the full moon sailing serenely in thecold sky. Then he sighed, as
though thoughts too big for expression stirredwithin him, and turn'd absently towards the

(00:26):
purring fire. And why does thebig man make such a sighing, asked
Oto Carrol. It is like thewind in the mealy land at san under
Little Yan's eyes slowly withdrew their gazefrom some inward vision and became conscious of
the old native Otah. He said, why is the moon so far away

(00:53):
and so beautiful and so golden?Ach to hear him? Now, how
can O ta tell? It isMars? So just like grass is green
and fire is hot, so themoon is far away and beautiful and golden.
But she is a cruel lady sometimestoo, and it is through her

(01:18):
that the poor little hare runs aboutwith the slit in his nose. To
day tell us Sota. Little Yandropped on to the rug beside the basket
of Minikob's, and the others edgednearer. And why do you call the
moon. A lady asked, pityof the inquiring mind, But doesn't PASSI

(01:41):
know that the moon is a lady. Oh yes, And for all her
beauty, she can be cross andcruel sometimes, like other ladies, as
you will hear. Long long ago, when the world was quite young,
the lady Moon wanted some one totake a message to men. She tried

(02:01):
first one creature and then another,but no, they were all too busy
they couldn't go. At last shecalled the crocodile. He is very slow
and not much good. But thelady Moon thought she would pinch his tail
and make him go quickly. Soshe said to him, go down to

(02:23):
men at once and give them thismessage. As I die and dying live,
so also shall you die and dyinglive. Passy knows how the moon
is sometimes big and round, soand OTA's diminutive hands described a wide circle,

(02:46):
and remained suspended in the air likeshe is now in the sky.
Then every night she gets smaller andsmaller, so so so so so till
the crooked fingers come together with abang. There's no more Moon. She

(03:09):
is dead. Then one night asilver horn hangs in the sky, thin,
very thin. It is the newmoon that grows and grows and gets
beautiful and golden. By the aidof the small clawlike hands. The moon

(03:30):
grew to the fool before the children'sinterested eyes. And so it goes on,
always living and growing and dying andliving again. So the lady Moon
pinched old worm crocodile's tail, andhe gave one jump, and off he
started with the message. He wentquickly while the moon watched him, But

(03:55):
soon he came to a bend inthe road. Round he went with a
great turn. For a crocodile's backis stiff like a plank, he can't
bend it. And then when hethought he was out of sight, he
went slower and slower. Drift draft, drippity drift draft, drift draft,

(04:15):
drippity drift draft. Like a nearhalt red horse. He was toch too
lazy. All of a sudden therewas a noise sh and there was the
little hare ha ha ha, youlaughed, What is the meaning of this
drift draft? Drippity drift draft?Where are you going in such a hurry,

(04:38):
worm crocodile, I can't stop tospeak to you near hassy, said
worm crocodile, trying to look busy, and to hurry up. The lady
mooner sent me with a message tomen. And what is the message,
warm crocodile. It is a veryimportant one. As I die and dying

(05:00):
live, so also shall you dieand dying live. Ach. But that
is a stupid message. And youcan't ever run, um. You are
so slow. You can only godrift draft, drippity, drift draft,
like a near haltered horse. ButI go sh like the wind. Give

(05:23):
the message to me, and Iwill take it very well, said the
lazy crocodile. But you must sayit over first and get it right.
So near facy said the message overand over, and then sh he was
off like the wind. Here hewas, there he was, and you

(05:45):
could only see the white of histail, and his little behind legs getting
smaller in the distance. At lasthe came to men, and he called
em together and said, listen,sons of the baboon, a wise man
comes with the message by the ladymoon I am sent to tell you,
as I die and dying perish,so shall you also die and come wholly

(06:12):
to an end. Then men lookedat each other and shivered. All of
a sudden, the flesh on theirarms was like goose flesh? What shall
we do? What is this messagethat the lady Moon has sent? As
I die and dying perish, soshall you also die and come wholly to
an end? They shiver'd again,and the goose flesh crept right up their

(06:38):
backs and into their hair, andtheir hair began to rise up on their
heads just like ach. No.But Ota forgets these passes, don't know
how it is to feel so.And the wide smile which accompanied these words
hid the expression of slight teasing whichsparkled Inota's dancing black eyes, for he

(07:00):
knew what it was to be takento task for impugning the courage of his
young listeners. But nearf Fasy didnot care. He danced away on his
behind legs and laughed and laughed tothink how he had cheated men. Then
he returned again to the Moon,and she asked, what have you said
to men, Oh, Lady Moon, I have given them your message like

(07:27):
as I die and dying perish,so also shall you die and come wholly
to an end? And they areall stiff with fright. Ha ha Hasy
laughed at the thought of it.What cried the lady Moon, what did
you tell them, that child ofthe devil's donkey? You must be punished

(07:49):
footnote According to a Hottentot legend,the hare is related to the donkey end
a footnote. Ah, but thelady Moon was very angry. She took
a big stick, a kiri,much bigger than the one Ota used to
kill lions with when he was young. And if she could have hit him,

(08:13):
then Ota shook his head hopelessly.There would have been no more little
hare. His head would have beencracked right through. But he is a
slim Carrol. When he saw thebig stick coming near one two three,
he ducked and slipped away, andit caught him only on the nose.

(08:35):
Foy, but it was sore neerFARSI forgot that the Moon was a lady.
He yelled and screamed. He jumpedhigh into the air. He jumped
with all his four feet at once, and scratch, scratch, scratch.
He was kicking and hitting and clawingthe Moon's face till the pieces flew.

(08:56):
Then he felt better and ran awayas hot as he could, holding his
broken nose with both hands. Andthat is why to day he goes about
with a split nose, and thegolden face of the Lady Moon has long
dark scars. Yes, passes.Fighting is a miserable thing. It does

(09:18):
not end when the fight is over. Afterwards, there is a sore place
ach for so long, and evenwhen it is well, the ugly marks
remain to show what has happened.The best, my little masters, is
not to fight at all. Endof why the hare's nose is slit