New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-05-18


by all the bonds Of mythology and language In
.ho ho,.dav of the comparative mythologists 1t
was thought that the equation Of the Greek
1<arberas and Sanscrit carvara, cabala, settled
the whole nroblen: or II It did not that the re-
,ation Of Uermes guide of souls, to the Sara
rne,as the supernatural hounds of the Nedas'
con,nleted the solution. But these harmonies OF
language are no longer TO be trusted II
Cerher,s was a primeval terror Of the Aryans
they NAV have borrowed him from other races
II would be a matter of curious interest 20 Know
how far the dog Of Hades is familiar 10 African
natives Evidently even in Angola he has not
reached the dignity Of three heads. Inc TACT
would surely be stated in tradition which is
cognizant NJ n monster worse than the hydra
killed by Hero lies. No sop Is necessary 70
quiet him. The hero. in the present case known
| by the name Of Sudikambambi merely scoidS
the animal. and enters the hut which answers 10
the Palace of Dis He comes like Peirithoos and
Theseus to carry off. not the wife but the daugh-
ter Of the internal king But he is not subject
TO the perils which befell them. He eats what IS
set before him. and sits where he likes without
the risk Of hearing. Virgil conjugate sedet sed-
ebit at him. But the old king is not going to
give up his daughter for nothing. He has tasks
worthy of his visitor. and one Of these Is the
Shaving Of the hydra. "My daughter" says the
king WAS carried away by Knoka kia Turnba
Go and rescue her" Sudikampambi soon
reaches Knoka's place. but learns that he has
! gone shooting He waits while. He sees
! driver-ants; here they come. lie beats them
] There come the red ants; he beats them. There
! come the bees; he beats them. There come the
! wasps; he beats them. There comes head OF
/ Kinioka: he cuts it off There comes another
head; he cuts 1t. too There comes another head;
/ he cuts the palm tree of Knoka; cuts the head;
there comes another head: he cuts the head OF
/ the dog of Kinioka; he cuts the head Of Kinioka;
there comes another head he cuts the banana
tree of Kinioka he cuts the head kinioka
is dead" Even If this monster-the passage is
ambguous-has only one head at a time. he Is
/ still remarkable product Of the fancy. In
another case. where a hero has to deal with a
cannibal cheftain. he finds a new head every
( time ne takes off an old one. on the other hand.
two-headed creatures figure in one Of the tales
as human beings.
The very word Kalunga, used as n name for
the underworld. suggests far-rcaching compari-
sons 1t is used says Mr.. Chateain. to signify
| death: the personfcation OF death in the shape
| Of the king Of the neither world; the world Of
shades itself the ocean; interjection Of won
! der. title OF respect given to a chief and with
certain tribesmen, to every freeman Of some I'M
portance. If remember that the usual Eng
fish word for the underworld was with the old
Scandinavians the name Of person. not
place: that the ocean known to the old
Assyrians as It is to the modern Hindoos the
stream Of death. we may conjecture that the ki-
| mbundu language illustrates phases Of
| thought through which other languages have
passed long since. In connection with the double
meaning Of Kalunga as both death and ocean,
it is worth remembering that some Renaissance
Of the Oriental dread Of the sea as a place Of
death cngs TO Homer's description Of Caypsos
Island. for of all mortals Ulysses only has crossed
the ocean that surrour ds IT, Naught else that
lives can reach it, not even the gallant ships in
which men venture far.
But with all these parallels near or remote. be-
tween Mediterranean and Angoan super
| stitions there is to be considered the fact that
| the strongest influences TO which the tribes OF
Angola have been subjected are those Of Portu-
| gal and Italy. In the first story which Mr..
Chatelain tells and in details throughout the vol
ume these South European influences be
| traced. 1t is not possible TO be sure Of indepcn-
dent origin unless in those points Of compare
| tive folklore which are so we'll settled to
| make the question Of origin subordinate. When
the reader comes across the notion Of a living
skull he thinks Of the Celtic Yellow Face and
/
stiton among certain tribes Of American Indians
But when he reads the clever tale in which a
! young man loses his own head by asserting too
| rashly that dry skull had addressed him with
| ineligible speech, he is almost ready to sus-
| pect a coin from the same mint that which
| gave the world Don GiOvanni-The Gentleman
who kicked a Skull in Professor Cranes italian
Popular Tales" Another story in NJ. Chate-
lans collection which has a South European,
almost a classical air. Is one In which a wizard
or cannbal is foied by the necessity familiar to
Old World superstition OF having TO remove,
grain by grain the heaps Of seed down be-
fore him. On the other hand. the apparent
fondness OF the Angolan for initiating in his
words the sound Of animal voices brings II into
comparison with remote growth OF popular
fiction, that OF the West Highlands Campbell
has preserved n fragment OF conversation be-
tween a and frog. which. he says. when
repeated In Gaelic. can be made absurdly like
the notes OF the creatures He tells also the
Gaelic version Of the affair between the cock and
the fox, which Chaucer related long ago. and
the words OF the cock can be pronounced so as
to initiate exactly the sound OF Growing. II will
be remembered that Chaucer attempted a similar
achievement in his version Of the tale. Theo-
critus In his eighteenth idyl seems to have
turned the last hexameter to initiating the voice
Of chanticeer. The same intent is plain in some
Of Mr.. Chateain's Angolan tales. KOlombolO
and Dikolomboo sounding names for the
male domestic fowl. They seem TO suggest his
note This suggestion is still clearer In the word
kokolokue coined for the purpose. But the long
drawn noise Of chanticleer seems TO be initiated
in these curious words "KiM ki kdi klma:
jixitu ngoho"-which are intended 10 explain why
the fox ceased TO fear the cocks comb. The
of h.. Froer lo cai1 tn Of tolo ~,
have been acquired Just after he married two
wives. for since that time he has always been
saying "Ngatangalare"-I am In trouble.
The tales In this volume are only portion Of