Village

Phone: 260-32-55049 (Thea Savory or Marylee Banyard,

The Moorings farm, Zambia)

e-mail:

(no emails over 300 words please).

Or visit us at The Moorings Campsite or The Malambo Centre, our training facility, ten miles north of Monze, Zambia.

Oral Culture

Khosa, Buffalo's mother

The Malambo women incorporate oral culture into their textile work by collecting traditional folktales from the old people. In the Centre the women sequence and piece the stories into wall hangings and story boards. Our first story was "The Boy and the Baobab", collected from Khosa, Buffalo's mother:

"The Boy and the Baobab" :

One day a boy and his grandmother went to collect firewood somewhere in the bush. They cut it and bundled it and started to return home. The boy carried the axe and his grandmother carried the wood. As they were going they passed a baobab tree (that big tree, mubuyu) with a huge hole in its trunk. They went near to see. The young boy went in the hole and the hole ...CLOSED! The old lady went around the tree to find some way to save the boy. The boy began asking about his family at home.

He chanted: (Here all the children join in singing and dancing) 'Where is my mother? Is she at home?'

And the grandmother answered "Yes, she is there." "

Where is my father? Is he at home?"

"Yes, he is there."

"Where are my chickens? Are they at home?"

"Yes, they are there."

"Where are my goats? Are they at home?"

"Yes, they are there."

The grandmother could not get the boy out. She went to the village and told the people. She was advised by a man who knew what to do. "We must kill a goat and get some blood. The blood from the goat will free our boy."

They returned to the tree with the goat and a mug. The man filled the mug with the goat's blood and sprinkled it around the closed opening in the trunk of the tree. The tree opened! Out came the boy. He was alive and well.

The man said "We must put the goat in the tree. In this way the boy will stay safe in the future." So they threw the goat in the tree. Then the grandmother picked up the wood. The man took the cup and the boy put the axe over his shoulder. They returned home together.

Update 29 October 2007