When I first moved out to Kenya, a friend gave me a vintage book with Swahili myths and stories. It had many interesting and fun tales to tell, but regardless of those, the stories I have been told by our guides and staff are far more interesting as I recon those are stories told by their Grandmothers around the fireplace as entertainment and education. So they are a living record of a tribal understanding of the world…
Most stories include God. Or Laibon, as they call him here. Laibon created all the animals as well as the different peoples. When he had done so he had them coming to him with requests for things they wanted or needed (which is of course asking for trouble…). The maasai asked for cows and was given them – meaning all the cows in the world belongs to the Maasai and therefore they only take back what was originally given to them when they go for cattle raids… The white man asked for knowledge (and until recently the Maasai thought very little of it, but now they have started to change their minds a bit an elder told us. It must be the cellphones…).But I am sidetracking myself. This morning it was the story of the Zebra I wanted to share. It came naturally to my mind as I went out to put on my coffee this morning.
The pyjamaman is here! Funfun! It always makes me smile! But. What is this thing with the stripes?
Well, you see, it happened like this. The animals had been on Earth for a while and was getting used to it. And they were getting bored. Everyone looked the same! grey brown grey brown everywhere. Blah! So they went to God to complain…
By now Laibon was getting a bit fed up by these constant demands for attention and needs and wants from the creatures he had created so he told them: ok ok, I will do it. But you have to find out among yourself how to distribute it: I will place a variety of materials in a cave and it should be suficcient for all of you but I refuse to be involved in the designs…
All the animals were very happy when they heard this, and so they started the journey to the cave with all the materials. The zebras, saw the migration, and, being a bit greedy, they said to eachother: wow! look at this! everyone is gone, the plains are all ours! lets eat! and they ate and ate… as the different animals started to come back looking really sazzy and smart they said to each other: wow! look! The lion! cool! I want a mane like that! and the Peacock! What feathers! I want those too! But they continued to eat as much as they could…
Finally they realized that everyone had returned so they went to the cave… but, alas! the only thing left was a small piece of black cloth… that would had been just enough if the zebra had not kindof put on somewhat after his bingeing earlier on the plain with all the others gone. …so… after much huffing and puffing and pulling and squeezing it finally had his new suit on. But! as it started to move a big Crack! Riiip!!! was heard, and the suit snapped in all its seams!
And so it was that the zebra came to get its stripes.
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