DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0324
308
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
6. It is believed that signs of guilt are visible in the eye of a murderer; medicine is
procured in the hope of getting rid of these signs.
7. The possession of the hair of another person is supposed to give the possessor power
over that person, hence a medicine man, when the patient he has been treating is cured,
shaves the patient and keeps the hair until payment is made.
8. A native with light greenish-grey eyes is not to be trusted. He is said to have eyes
like a cat and is called majerijeri; these eyes are rare among natives.
9. It is unlucky for a child to get into a basket; he may be burned.
10. Should a woman turn the porridge pot upside down, every one who has eaten will
become constipated. For the same reason, a woman, after turning out the porridge from
the pot, just touches the top of the mass of porridge with the bottom of the pot.
11. A woman will never leave the pounding stick in the grain-mortar. Should she do so,
the heavens would fall.
12. When a zebra is killed, a knot is tied in its tail so that eating of the meat shall not
cause indigestion.
13. It is unlucky to sit upon a headrest, the msamilo. The person would surely be
bitten by a snake.
14. If a man commits murder, and his wife is pregnant at the time, she must sleep on
the spear used.
15. Children are told that they must not eat at night; that if they are hungry, they
must lie quiet and try to go to sleep again. If they don’t obey and sit up eating porridge,
a long hairy arm will come through the fastened door and beg for some, the voice of the
unseen saying:
“Nyao chimkuti’choni nusya ni mjasa!”
“Give me that which you put to your nose to smell and throw away,”
the repeated movements of the hand to the mouth (nose) and back^to the pot being sup-
posed to make the “ bogey ” think that they are not really eating but merely smelling and
throwing away the food.
16. A male should not scrape the porridge off the porridge stick; this is only allowed
to the woman. Should a man do so, it is supposed that when he goes hunting, he will hit
anything he shoots at, only in the tail.
17. There is a saying that the men and boys may eat little pieces of porridge which fall
out of the pot, while cooking, on to the supporting stones and it will give them power to
escape unhurt from battle. The fragments are called nr/id'wpwAjo, (from ku-lupuka “ to
escape”).
18. Children are instructed to take their food sitting down instead of being in a hurry
and standing to take it. They are told that if they do not obey, their porridge will not go
into their stomachs but into their legs and swell out their knee-joints.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
6. It is believed that signs of guilt are visible in the eye of a murderer; medicine is
procured in the hope of getting rid of these signs.
7. The possession of the hair of another person is supposed to give the possessor power
over that person, hence a medicine man, when the patient he has been treating is cured,
shaves the patient and keeps the hair until payment is made.
8. A native with light greenish-grey eyes is not to be trusted. He is said to have eyes
like a cat and is called majerijeri; these eyes are rare among natives.
9. It is unlucky for a child to get into a basket; he may be burned.
10. Should a woman turn the porridge pot upside down, every one who has eaten will
become constipated. For the same reason, a woman, after turning out the porridge from
the pot, just touches the top of the mass of porridge with the bottom of the pot.
11. A woman will never leave the pounding stick in the grain-mortar. Should she do so,
the heavens would fall.
12. When a zebra is killed, a knot is tied in its tail so that eating of the meat shall not
cause indigestion.
13. It is unlucky to sit upon a headrest, the msamilo. The person would surely be
bitten by a snake.
14. If a man commits murder, and his wife is pregnant at the time, she must sleep on
the spear used.
15. Children are told that they must not eat at night; that if they are hungry, they
must lie quiet and try to go to sleep again. If they don’t obey and sit up eating porridge,
a long hairy arm will come through the fastened door and beg for some, the voice of the
unseen saying:
“Nyao chimkuti’choni nusya ni mjasa!”
“Give me that which you put to your nose to smell and throw away,”
the repeated movements of the hand to the mouth (nose) and back^to the pot being sup-
posed to make the “ bogey ” think that they are not really eating but merely smelling and
throwing away the food.
16. A male should not scrape the porridge off the porridge stick; this is only allowed
to the woman. Should a man do so, it is supposed that when he goes hunting, he will hit
anything he shoots at, only in the tail.
17. There is a saying that the men and boys may eat little pieces of porridge which fall
out of the pot, while cooking, on to the supporting stones and it will give them power to
escape unhurt from battle. The fragments are called nr/id'wpwAjo, (from ku-lupuka “ to
escape”).
18. Children are instructed to take their food sitting down instead of being in a hurry
and standing to take it. They are told that if they do not obey, their porridge will not go
into their stomachs but into their legs and swell out their knee-joints.