Lion`s Fire Sticks

Lion’s Fire Sticks
A traditional San story
Retold by Madena Kasanga, Kapilolo Mahongo and Marlene Winberg
Digital design by Satsiri Winberg from paintings and lino prints by the late !Xun artists,
/Tuoi Sam Samcuia, Flai Shipipa, Madena Kasanga and Julietta Carimbwe
This project is co-funded by the European Union
Copyright 2014 © Manyeka Arts Trust 121-617 NPO
ISBN 978-0-9922449-2-7
www.manyeka.co.za
Lion’s Fire Sticks
A traditional San story
Retold by Madena Kasanga, Kapilolo Mahongo and Marlene Winberg
This story starts in the old times when animals and
people lived together. In those days people did not
have the right to fire. They ate their food raw. Only
Lion had the power of fire.
The people and the animals came together to make
a plan. “What can we do to get the fire from Lion so
that we can cook our food?” they asked. They decided to wait until evening and started singing and
singing, clapping and clapping, calling everyone
together.
Come dance with us.
Come dance with us.
Come dance with us.
Many animals came from the bush to join in the
dancing and singing. Lion brought his fire sticks.
He rubbed the sticks, rubbed and rubbed. Soon a
little smoke appeared beneath the sticks. Lion blew
on the smoke and added some dry grass. A little
flame appeared and everyone brought a piece of
wood. Soon everyone was dancing around a fire.
Hare was a cunning and fast animal. The people
said to him, “While we are singing here and while
Lion is dancing with us, you must take his fire sticks
and run.”
So Hare grabbed Lion’s fire sticks and ran. He did
not make it because Lion caught up with him and
brought the fire sticks back.
The lion sang a boastful song.
To me it does not matter.
I don’t have a problem.
I can eat you with hair,
I can eat you without hair.
I don’t have a problem.
All of you are food to me.
Springbok could run and jump very fast. The people
said to him, “While Lion is dancing and singing
here with us, you must grab his fire sticks and run.”
When they were dancing and singing, Springbok
grabbed the fire sticks and jumped away into the
veld. But Lion said, “Why do I not hear the clippety-clop clippety-clop of Springbok’s hooves
behind me?”
Lion turned and saw Springbok running into the
veld with his fire sticks. So he ran after Springbok,
caught him and came back with his fire sticks.
Again, Lion sang his boastful song.
Then the people whispered to each other. They said,
“Let us ask Duiker. He is small and very fast.
“Duiker,” they said, “while Lion is dancing and
singing here with us, you must grab his fire sticks
and run away.”
When they were dancing around the fire, Duiker
grabbed Lion’s fire sticks and ran into the veld. But
Lion said, “Why do I not hear Duiker snort-snorting
behind me as before?”
He turned around and chased after little Duiker
who was leaping into the veld. Lion caught up with
him and returned to the fire with his sticks.
Again, Lion sang his boastful song.
To me it does not matter.
I don’t have a problem.
I can eat you with hair,
I can eat you without hair.
I don’t have a problem.
All of you are food to me.
“Oh,” sighed the people, “Which animal can help us
now? Ostrich has the longest legs of all, let us ask
him.” They explained the plan to Ostrich and he
grabbed Lion’s fire sticks this time.
Lion said, “Why do I not hear Ostrich’s high singing
voice behind me anymore?” He looked around, saw
Ostrich and chased after him.
After a long time, Lion returned with a tired face,
for Ostrich ran too fast for him. “From this day on,”
he said, “I will not leave any of you alone. I will
hunt you and chase you and eat you!”
And this is how Lion came to be everyone’s enemy
and how people got the power of fire.
My story walks till here
Mi tcisimu #hao uke koa ang
Manyeka Arts Trust
The Manyeka Arts Trust celebrates the traditions of southern
African San storytellers. When curators Kapilolo Mario Mahongo and Marlene Sullivan Winberg first started swapping
stories in 1994, none of Kapilolo’s extended !Xun family stories had been written down. They set out to document the
marginalised storytellers’ voices and for 20 years, recorded
and retold the kulimatji of this endangered tradition. That’s
how Manyeka Books were born. It honours the !Xun healer,
Meneputo Manunga Manyeka, whose last name means
healer. Listen to her and other !Xun voices at:
www.manyeka.co.za
Authors' note
In 1990, a generation of Angolan and Namibian !Xun San storytellers brought their
collective archive of knowledge with them to South Africa, where they came to settle
after decades of war in the region. In the spirit of this ancient tradition, where stories
belong to a community of oral storytellers, the written story marks but a moment in a
long line of generational memory. This series of San stories bring together a chorus of
rare voices that have seldom been heard outside the San storytellers’ own communities. The illustrations come from paintings and lino prints by the late !Xun artists,
including the late /Toui Sam Samcuia, /Thaalu Bernardo Rumao, Monto Masaku,
Katala Manuel Masseka and Julietta Carimbwe, whose work have become collectors’
items across the world. With the exception of Rumao’s illustrations of Dima and Owl
Man, none of the artists intended to illustrate specific stories in their paintings. Their
works were expressions of memory, lived experience, symbols, rituals or dreams.
Digital technology has made it possible for the book designers to assemble a collage of
images from San artists work to illustrate the stories and through juxtaposing images,
create books in memory of the storytellers’ oral and visual art. The stories were first developed as eBooks in response to the South African Institute
for Distance Learning's digital African Storybook Project, where the bridge from oral
to written literacy is supported by vibrant, page-by-page illustrations. The process was
further developed with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union,
Kalahari Desert Festival, Cave to Cave Storytelling Project and the Guadalajara Storytelling Festival in Spain - where all the stories were told in !Xun. We thank all our
partners for their unconditional support.
Collect all six titles in the Manyeka San Story Series
www.manyeka.co.za
This San story about people and animals’ adventure to steal
fire, features Springbok, Dassie and Ostrich in a lively fireside
song and dance drama. They plan to trick Lion, the owner of
fire, in a plot to grab his precious fire sticks. This version of the
traditional tale is a colourful and animated re-telling by veteran storytellers, Kapilo Mahongo and Marlene Winberg, illustrated with images from San artists’ paintings, /Tuoi Samcuia,
Flai Shapipa, Madina Masanga and Julietta Carimbwe.