The Adventures of Libanza; or, a Boloki version of Jack and the Beanstalk

But as he appeared to be such a poor, weak boy covered with yaws, the master laughed at him, and twitted him with his smallness. However, on being repeatedly asked, the master gave the boy the snares, and he caught thirty monkeys in a very little time, and brought them back to the camp to be divided among the hunters.

While the hunters were busy dividing the monkeys, Libanza and his sister took some meat and ran away. After journeying for a long distance they came near to a large town, and again Libanza turned himself into a boy covered with yaws.

The people of the town were pounding sugar-canes for making sugar-cane wine; but a man seeing them claimed them as his slaves, and brought them and sat them on the end of the large wooden mortar in which the other men were pounding up the canes.

After a time Libanza said: “Give me a pestle, [the pestles for crushing sugar-canes are like heavy clubs, made of hard wood, and weigh from 20 lbs. to 30 lbs. each] so that I may crush the canes.” But the people laughed that so small a lad should make such a request.

However, after he had repeatedly asked, they gave him a pestle, and Libanza used it with such vigour that it snapped in two. They brought him two others, and taking one in each hand he pounded so strongly that they also broke; and thus he broke all they had in the town except the last one, and with that he ran away, and the people feared to follow him.

As they travelled, Nsongo caught sight of a person in the distance and wanted to marry him; but on being called the person would not come to her. So Libanza changed himself, first into a shell and then into a saucepan, and followed the man; but in these disguises Libanza was not able to catch the man for his sister because he ran away filled with fear,

Libanza then turned himself into the handle of an axe, and when the man came to pick up the handle, Libanza caught him and led him to his sister. Now this person had only one leg and simple stumps for fingers; and Nsongo, on a closer view observing these deformities, refused to have him for a husband.

Libanza and his sister, Nsongo, resumed their wanderings, and on passing a palm tree Nsongo saw a bunch of ripe palm nuts, and she implored her brother to ascend the tree and cut down the nuts. Libanza climbed the palm tree, and as he ascended it the palm tree grew higher and higher and higher, until the top was hid in the heavens, [the word used here is bolobo = the upper regions, of which place they had very hazy ideas. About tlie lower regions — longa — they always spoke more definitely, and would describe what took place there] and there Libanza alighted, leaving his sister down below on the earth.

When Nsongo was left on the earth she heard a rumbling noise, which she thought was her brother, Libanza, scolding up above. She called a “wizard,” and asked him how she could rejoin her brother.

The “wizard” said: “You must call a Hawk, and tell him you want to send a packet to your brother, Libanza; and then tie yourself up into a packet and put yourself on the roof of a house, and when the Hawk sees it he will say, ‘That is surely the parcel I am to take,’ and the Hawk will carry you up above.”

Nsongo did as she was told by the “wizard,” and the Hawk saw the bundle and picked it up; but twice on the way the Hawk rested and tried to open the parcel, and would have done so, but at each attempt he heard a deep sigh proceed from the interior of the bundle, and desisted.

At last the Hawk reached the place where Libanza was, and said to him, “Here is a packet which your sister has sent to you.” Now when Libanza essayed to undo the parcel, out came his sister.

Libanza became a blacksmith, and there was in that country a person whose name was Ngombe, and because he swallowed people every day he was also called Emele Ngombe (Ngombe the Swallower).

When Libanza heard about this Swallower of people, he called his bellows blower, Nkumba (Tortoise), and they heated an ingot of iron. Now as the Swallower was passing the smithy he made the sound “Kililili,” and Libanza mocked him by sajnng, “Alalalala.” Ngombe the Swallower then asked: “Who dares to ridicule me?” And again he murmured, “Kililili.” And Libanza answered him by saying: “Ngalalala, [his is the full name of Libanza. It means: The one who makes things with force and noise and runs oif with them, whose scraped fingernails are tied with cane, he who is Libanza the brother of Nsongo] I am anjaka-njaka lokwala la lotungi, Libanza, the brother of Nsongo.”

The Swallower went at Libanza with his mouth wide[1]stretched to gulp him down, and as he went his lower jaw dragged along the ground. Libanza stirred the molten metal, the Tortoise blew the bellows, and as the Swallower rushed forward with his mouth wide open Libanza threw the liquid metal right into the gaping jaws, and the Swallower of people fell dead.

There are several folk-lore stories that have crystallized for us their ideas concerning Libanza, and it is interesting to note that such stories are called Mabanza (plural form of Libanza), and these contain a statement of some of the doings of Libanza, whereas their word for fable, parable, story is mokulu. The common opinion was that Libanza lived on the earth, and was the first to go into heaven. His origin, life, and adventures as told in their folk stories are briefly as follows:

Libanza’s mother (names of father and mother were never given) gave birth first to elephants, the various kinds of bush animals, the different varieties of flies and insects, and to the amphibia; then his mother told him to come out, but before Libanza would do so he ordered his mother to scrape her finger-nails; when she had done this he threw out spears, shield, a chair covered with brass nails, and finally came out himself.

Libanza’s father, according to another folk story, was trapped and killed while stealing some nsafu fruit for his wife. And he acquainted his wife of his death by causing a fetish horn he had left with her to overflow with blood. As soon as Libanza was born he inquired about his father and the manner of his death, and set himself to punish the one who had killed him, which after a series of futile attempts he finally accomplished by slaying the murderer of his father. Then comes the story of his own adventures, which reach their climax in the destruction of the Swallower of people.

It is not at all improbable that Libanza is the name of some great chief who by his resource and courage delivered the people from great peril and oppression, and around whose name have gathered many myths, and to him is ascribed great magical power. In the original story much magic is performed to meet the various difficulties that arise, as changing himself into different shapes, making horns and saucepans move and speak, and resurrecting broken and dead animals. No moral qualities were ascribed to Libanza, but he was regarded as being very strong, and rich. When our steamer, the Peace, made her first journey up-river, the Boloki of Monsembe told me that they thought it was “Libanza going to Singitingi (Stanley Falls) to visit his sister Nsongo.” They could hear the noise of the engines, but as they could see no paddles they thought that “the river mingoli (water-spirits) were pushing the steamer along.”

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