Types ATU0055 the animals build a road (dig a well)
ATU 0130A the animals build themselves a house
Motifs
B0239 assembly of animals to build a house
K0355 trickster pollutes house so that he is left in possession; he is in upper room and throws filth on those below
Notes
See also Jones 23.
Baer: "The situation in this story is commonplace in Africa - the animals get together to build, Rabbit refuses to work then enjoys the result of everyone else's efforts. The joint effort is usually digging a well and the fact that after refusing the help dig, ahre not only drinks the water but in many versions muddies or pollutes it, seems to be related to this story."
Mofokeng quoted by Baer: "the story of hare at the well of the animals ... as ... one of the most powerful of Africa's indigenous creations"
Baer cites the slavery twist: "When the creatures are doing the work and passers-by all say that he is working harder than the rest, this certainly seems to reflect conditions on the plantations - the black man working and the literate white man getting the credits and the benefit. After the mansion is completed, it's the manw ith the pencil behind his ear who lives there."
Baer concludes: "This appears to be a New World story, with no close analogues in Africa or Europe."
No comments:
Post a Comment