The Clandestine Ox

ATALE DIFFUSED throughout West Africa possesses, in its initial episode, the motif of a person entering the body of a living animal (ox, bull, cow, elephant) in order to feed upon it; a theme that in memory of a novel by Marcel Ayme we propose to name The Clandestine Ox. A Bambara version will give a fuller idea of the events which follow this beginning in the canonical intrigue.1 During a famine Hare sneaks into the stomach of a bull belonging to the Spirits, from it cuts chunks of flesh, takes them back home, and feasts on them with his relatives. Intrigued, Hyena's wife comes to borrow fire and obtains at the same time a bit of the meat. Hyena pretends to have a toothache and, seeking out Hare, begs him for a cure. When Hare puts his paw into the mouth of the alleged patient, Hyena bites him and agrees to unlock his jaws only if Hare promises to take him the next morning to the place where he has his food supply. The narrator comments in passing that this violence is superfluous: Hare would have given up his secret willingly. To wait until morning seems too long to Hyena, who cannot fall asleep; since his mother coughs when dawn begins to break, he beats her to make her cough in order to indicate the dawn prematurely. Hare and Hyena finally leave, and both enter the bull's stomach. Hare has carefully warned Hyena that he may satiate himself upon the animal's flesh so long as he does not touch the heart. Hyena takes no notice and slices through the heart, causing the death of the bull and the arrival of the guardian spirits, who are suspicious of the cause of the bull's demise and decide to carve up the body. In great danger of being lynched, the two confederates try to hide: at Hare's suggestion Hyena takes refuge in the stomach, while Hare himself flees into the gall bladder. The Spirits begin their autopsy and set aside the viscera, throwing away the gall bladder and its contents. Hare frees himself and puts on a show of indignation: while he was peacefully taking his siesta, they thoughtlessly inundated him with ordure. The Spirits apologize to him. Dirtied by gall but clean of suspicion, Hare puts his talents of divination to the service of the inquest: the bull has died from an evil which resides in its stomach. Take that organ, tie it up, strike it! Hyena is beaten to death in his sack of flesh. The grateful Spirits award Hare a portion of the meat. In its current state, our collection of this tale includes ten or twelve versions. Their area of distribution (Wolof, Bambara, Malinke, Mossi, Dogon

Genealogy · African history and culture studies · History