The Nunda, Eater Of People
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The Nunda, Eater of People is an abridged version of a Swahili
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...
titled " ''Sultan Majnun''" (), collected by Edward Steere (1828–1882) in ''Swahili Tales, as told by natives of Zanzibar'' (1870).
Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a folkloristics, collector of folklore, folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectur ...
included it in ''
The Violet Fairy Book ''The Langs' Fairy Books'' are a series of 25 collections of true and fictional children's literature, stories for children published between 1889 in literature, 1889 and 1913 in literature, 1913 by Andrew Lang and Leonora Blanche Alleyne, a marr ...
'' (1901). It is Aarne-Thompson type 550, the quest for the golden bird/firebird.


Synopsis

A Sultan was very proud of his garden and of six of his seven sons, but he scorned the
youngest son The youngest son is a stock character in fairy tales, where he features as the hero. He is usually the third son, but sometimes there are more brothers, and sometimes he has only one; usually, they have no sisters. In a family of many daughters, ...
as weak. One day, he saw that his date tree was ready to fruit; he sent his oldest sons to watch it, or the slaves would steal the fruit and he would have none for many a year. The son had his slaves beat drums to keep him awake, but when it grew light they slept and a bird ate all the dates. Every year after that, he set a different son and finally two sons but for five years the bird ate the dates. The sixth year, he sent a man of his. His youngest son asked why he did not send him. Finally the father agreed. The youngest went, sent his slaves home and slept until early. Then he sat with corn in one hand and sand in the other. He chewed on the corn until he grew sleepy and then he put sand in his mouth, which kept him awake. The bird arrived. He grabbed it. It flew off with him, but he did not let go, even when it threatened him. In return for its freedom, the bird gave him a feather and said if the son put it in a fire, the bird would come wherever he was. The son returned, and the dates were still there. There was much rejoicing. One day, the sultan's cat caught a calf and the sultan refused compensation on the grounds that technically he owned both. The next day it caught a cow, and then a donkey, a horse, and a child and then a man. Finally it lived in a thicket and ate whatever went by but the sultan would still not entertain any complaints. One day, the sultan went out to see the harvest with his six sons and the cat sprang out and killed three. The sultan demanded its death, admitting it was a demon. Against his desperate parent's wishes, the youngest son set out after the cat, which was called "The Nunda (Eater of People)" and could not find it for many days. Finally, he and his slaves tracked it over a mountain, through a great forest. The prince and slaves threw spears into it and ran away. The next day they carried it back to the town. The people and Sultan rejoiced because they had been delivered from the bondage of fear.


Versions

The tale was also collected in
Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...
by George Bateman, with the name ''Mkaaah Jeechonee, the Boy Hunter'': his father is
Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
Maaj'noon and the huge cat is called Noondah. This version skips the episode with the bird and focuses on the hunt for the king's giant feline. Another translation of the tale was ''Nunda the Slayer and the origin of the One-Eyed'', whose source is reportedly from the
Swahili language Swahili, also known as as it is referred to endonym and exonym, in the Swahili language, is a Bantu languages, Bantu language originally spoken by the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique (along the East Af ...
. This version lacks the introductory part with the bird and begins with the Sultan feeding his pet cat until he grows large enough.


Analysis


Tale type

The first part of the tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 550, "Bird, Horse, and Princess", or, previously, "The quest for the Golden Bird". The second part of the tale involves motif B.11.2.3.1, "The monster that devours everything". The second part of the tale sometimes exists as an independent story, such as the version ''Hadisi ya nunda'', collected and published by German linguist .


Motifs


The Nunda monster

Professor
Alice Werner Alice Werner CBE (26 June 1859 - 9 June 1935) was a writer, poet and teacher of the Bantu languages, Bantu languages.es), she compared it to a series of stories from other African peoples about "The Swallowing Monster" that grows larger with each thing it devours and/or is capable of eating entire villages. The word ''nunda'' is also said to mean 'fierce animal', 'cruel man' or 'something heavy'. The Nunda is also known as , from the Swahili ('strange one') . It appears to be a creature of large size, possibly a giant cat.


Other motifs

Edward Steere noted the resemblance of the hero's name, Sit-in-the-kitchen, with ''
Cinderella "Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...
'', another folktale character that sits in the ashes."Preface". Steere, Edward. ''Swahili tales''. London: Bell & Daldy. 1870. p. viii

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See also

* Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf *
The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples "The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apple" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Златна јабука и девет пауница, Zlatna jabuka i devet paunica) is a work of Serbian epic poetry. It is classified as Aarne-Thompson type 400*, "The Swan maiden, Swan M ...
* The Golden Mermaid * The Golden Bird *
Simurgh The simurgh (; ; also spelled ''senmurv, simorgh, simorg'', ''simurg'', ''simoorg, simorq'' or ''simourv'') is a benevolent bird in Persian mythology and Persian literature, literature. It bears some similarities with mythological birds from di ...


References


External links


''Nunda, Eater of People, Audio Version''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nunda, Eater of People, The Nunda, Eater of People Fictional birds Bird deities Legendary birds Fictional cats Mythological felines Monsters Cat folklore ATU 500-559 Edward Steere Fairy tales about talking animals