Reading Notes: Congo, Part B

  Notes for Folklore of the Fjort stories, collected by R. E. Dennett 

Songye power figure from the Congo, sometimes called a fetish, from R. McCoy (source: Wikipedia).

"The Fetish Sunga"/"How the Fetish Sunga Punished My Great-Uncle's Twin Brother, Basa."

• Basa
• The narrator's great uncle's twin brother 
• A very clever fisherman 
• Caught great quantities of fish each day 
• He smuggled catches into the house so no one would know he'd been fortunate 
• He lied to friends and family about the fish he caught 
• His house was always full of rotting fish 
• The fetish Sunga 
• A woman that grieved over the fisherman's lies 
• She sends a servant to his fishing hole to summon him 
• One day, Basa catches so many fish that he has to make new baskets to carry them 
• He hears clapping and a voice that says, "Come to my mother."
• He follows the voice
• It leads him into the river, which then dries up 
• All the fish disappear
• The riverbed turns into a road for them 
• They come upon a town in which he is honored 
• The Sunga lays the table for him, loaded with food and wine 
• He drinks all the wine 
• The Sunga deprives him of speech, so he can't lie anymore, and sends him away

"The Fight Between the Two Fetishes, Lifuma and Chimpukela"

• King Jack
• From Cabinda 
• Occupied by the Portuguese 
• Retired into the interior of the KaCongo 
• Owns the Fetish called Lifuma 
• Lifuma 
• Used to living by the sea 
• Celebrated with his people when they returned from the sea with tons of fish in their canoes 
• Forced to retire inland, between Futilla and Cabinda 
• Tries to obtain possession of a part of the sea-beach that he thought should belong to his "hinterland" 
• Leaves waters of Lake Chinganga Miyengela to travel to Kaia 
• He picks shells and pebbles and fills a jug with salt water to carry back home to claim land for his people by the sea 
• Almost gets back safely 
• Ngundu, the bird, sees him and alerts Chimpukela 
• Chimpukela 
• The people's Fetish of Kaia 
• Roughly asks Lifuma what he is carrying 
• Lifuma and Chimpukela fight 
• Chimpukela trips over an anthill 
• Lifuma falls on a thorn of the Minyundu tree, breaking his leg 
• Spills his saltwater 
• Chimpukela takes all of Lifuma's shells and pebbles 
• Chimpukela essentially bans ant hills from his country, supposedly explaining why you never see them there now 
• Lifuma curses the bird Ngundu, the Minyundu tree, canoes, saltwater, and everything pertaining to the beach 
• Supposedly explains why none of these things exist in his country now