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Quiz about Kenya Her Tales and Her People
Quiz about Kenya Her Tales and Her People

Kenya: Her Tales and Her People Quiz


I hope you enjoy this quiz - taken largely from Paul Radin's "African Folktales". Reading the book helps, but you may be able to get these regardless.

A multiple-choice quiz by stuthehistoryguy. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
289,275
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1587
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
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Question 1 of 10
1. The Kamba story, "The Brothers, Sun and Moon, and the Pretty Girl", speaks of how the Sun came to shine so bright. Why, according to the tale, is Sun so much brighter than Moon? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. The Kamba tale "The Origin of Death" presents a remarkable view of the afterlife from this Kenyan tradition. In this story, God dispatches a chameleon to tell humans that they will rise again after death. Alas, the reptile is foiled by a lying weaver-bird. How? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "The Caterpillar and the Wild Animals" is a Maasai tale of a humble insect who intimidates a host of larger animals - an elephant, a rhinoceros, a leopard, and a jackal - into letting him keep the hare's house for his own by virtue of his seeming power. What animal finally calls the caterpillar's bluff? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. The Pokot myth of "Why Some Animals Became Domesticated" has the sky god Tororut calling all the animals together, only to have those not fit to live with man run away in fear. What scared away those species which are now wild animals? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The Kikuyu tale of "The Lost Sister" presents two orphaned siblings, Wachera and Wam'wea, who are maintaining their dead mother's herds and household. One day Wachera is kidnapped. What sign does she leave to her brother telling where to find her? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Family values of a sort figure in "The Woman and the Children of the Sycamore Tree". This Maasai folktale has a single, childless woman gathering several pots of fruit from an enchanted tree, only to have it turn into a productive group of children who herd her animals and keep her home when she returns to her kraal. What causes these children to eventually abandon their adoptive mother? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. The Kamba tale "The Handsome Ogre-Girl of the Pool" features a familiar motif from world folklore: all the brave men of the village run from the girl's frightful mother, but a lad who just tagged along for the trip shows courage and wins the attractive wife. Unfortunately, the young man's cohort doesn't take this very graciously. What happens in the second movement of this tale? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. The Kikuyu story "M'wambia and the N'jenge" presents a unique twist on the familiar "donor" tale of world folklore. In this tale, M'wambia refuses to kill a mysterious animal called the N'jenge. Out of retribution, M'wambia's father runs him up a tree, then sets out a circle of spikes around the trunk to kill his son if he dares descend. M'wambia is eventually rescued by the magical N'jenge, who gives him a number of things. Which of these is NOT one of them? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. The title of "The Girl who Was Sacrificed by Her Kin and Whom Her Lover Brought Back from Below" essentially tells the whole story. This Kikuyu tale features a maiden who dies in her brother's stead. Her lover travels to the underworld and is allowed to bring the maiden back up if he does not look back to see her before reaching the surface. Unfortunately, he is not able to do this, and she is lost forever.


Question 10 of 10
10. What may be termed "ironic prosperity" is a theme of "The Giant of the Great Water". In this Kikuyu tale, the monstrous Mukun'ga M'bura devours a whole family for grazing in his pastures. He leaves a small boy alive, however, and he trains his whole life to confront the giant. Does he kill Mukun'ga M'bura? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The Kamba story, "The Brothers, Sun and Moon, and the Pretty Girl", speaks of how the Sun came to shine so bright. Why, according to the tale, is Sun so much brighter than Moon?

Answer: Sun braved terrifying sights to woo a pretty bride, while Moon ran away.

In this narrative, Moon is the older brother, and he loves the pretty girl very much. However, the pretty girl lives deep in a frightening jungle, and Moon runs away in fear from illusions rising from an enchanted pond. Sun stands his ground, and the pretty girl claims him for her husband with her father's blessing.

When Sun returns home with his new bride, Moon tries to kill him out of jealousy. Their mother stops him, however, and curses him to be forever smaller, dimmer, and afraid to come out in daytime.
2. The Kamba tale "The Origin of Death" presents a remarkable view of the afterlife from this Kenyan tradition. In this story, God dispatches a chameleon to tell humans that they will rise again after death. Alas, the reptile is foiled by a lying weaver-bird. How?

Answer: The chameleon is so tired from the journey that he can't get the words out; the faster weaver-bird swoops in and tells humans there is no afterlife.

In this tale, the weaving-bird performs the familiar "trickster" function of folklore, fooling God into letting him spoil the afterlife for humans. Other tricksters include Coyote from several American Indian traditions and Loki from Norse mythology.
3. "The Caterpillar and the Wild Animals" is a Maasai tale of a humble insect who intimidates a host of larger animals - an elephant, a rhinoceros, a leopard, and a jackal - into letting him keep the hare's house for his own by virtue of his seeming power. What animal finally calls the caterpillar's bluff?

Answer: Frog

The caterpillar frightens away all the larger animals by saying in a booming voice: "I am the warrior son of the long one whose anklets have become unfastened in the Kurtiale country. I crush the rhinoceros to the earth and make cow dung of the elephant. I am invincible!" After all the other animals have refused to fight such an imposing foe, the frog replies: "I, who am strong and a leaper, have come. My buttocks are like the post and God has made me vile!" This vivid portrait of how to stand up to tough talk ends predictably, with the other animals dragging a surrendering caterpillar from hare's house and having a good laugh at their own foolishness.
4. The Pokot myth of "Why Some Animals Became Domesticated" has the sky god Tororut calling all the animals together, only to have those not fit to live with man run away in fear. What scared away those species which are now wild animals?

Answer: Fire

According to the seminal folklorist James Frazer, ceremonial fire serves to "promote the growth and welfare of man and beast, either positively by stimulating them, or negatively by averting the dangers and calamities which threaten them from such causes as thunder and lightning, conflagration, blight, vermin, mildew, sterility, disease, and not least of all witchcraft." One could easily add wild animals to this list; as the Pokot tale makes clear, animals not friendly to humans flee fire. Yet another reason for its sacred nature.
5. The Kikuyu tale of "The Lost Sister" presents two orphaned siblings, Wachera and Wam'wea, who are maintaining their dead mother's herds and household. One day Wachera is kidnapped. What sign does she leave to her brother telling where to find her?

Answer: A trail of thick sap

By the time Wam'wea finds his sister, the sap has grown into a line of trees and Wachera has two adolescent children. He doesn't take revenge on Wachera's husband, though. Rather, he waits his sister and brother-in-law out, refusing to come to their home and reconcile until he is paid an appropriate sum in goat, oxen, and wives.

This is probably an allusion to the bride wealth tradition in most African cultures, where a family typically receives compensation when they lose a daughter. In traditional society, this was almost always paid in cattle. My mentor in East African history and culture, however, tells me that today bride wealth is often paid in Johnny Walker Scotch - preferably red label!
6. Family values of a sort figure in "The Woman and the Children of the Sycamore Tree". This Maasai folktale has a single, childless woman gathering several pots of fruit from an enchanted tree, only to have it turn into a productive group of children who herd her animals and keep her home when she returns to her kraal. What causes these children to eventually abandon their adoptive mother?

Answer: She scolds them and calls them "children of the tree", causing them to become fruit again.

The children leave the woman, returning to the tree from which they came. The woman returns to the sycamore tree to retrieve them, but she can see their angry eyes staring at her. This frightens her so that she never returns.
7. The Kamba tale "The Handsome Ogre-Girl of the Pool" features a familiar motif from world folklore: all the brave men of the village run from the girl's frightful mother, but a lad who just tagged along for the trip shows courage and wins the attractive wife. Unfortunately, the young man's cohort doesn't take this very graciously. What happens in the second movement of this tale?

Answer: The hero's own brother kills him, but the hero is reincarnated and takes revenge.

Out of jealousy, the hero's brother kills him, claiming the deed to be a hunting accident. Following her ogre mother's prophetic advice, the title character has the hero's body thrown into the woods to rot, then retrieves a maggot from his body and nurtures it with fat and milk.

The maggot turns into a child which quickly grows into the hero. He kills the murderous brother, and then takes his wife to settle a new land called Kavithe.
8. The Kikuyu story "M'wambia and the N'jenge" presents a unique twist on the familiar "donor" tale of world folklore. In this tale, M'wambia refuses to kill a mysterious animal called the N'jenge. Out of retribution, M'wambia's father runs him up a tree, then sets out a circle of spikes around the trunk to kill his son if he dares descend. M'wambia is eventually rescued by the magical N'jenge, who gives him a number of things. Which of these is NOT one of them?

Answer: A castle in which to live

M'wambia ends up the master of a large village. One day, his sister sees him herding and brings the family to see him. M'wambia's father drowns crossing the river to his son's settlement, though it isn't clear whether M'wambia kills him or if his death is just poetic justice. M'wambia welcomes the rest of the family, and gives them roles in his village.

When he returns from a trip, however, he finds that his family has killed the N'jenge. Despondent over losing his magical benefactor, M'wambia kills his family, then commits suicide.
9. The title of "The Girl who Was Sacrificed by Her Kin and Whom Her Lover Brought Back from Below" essentially tells the whole story. This Kikuyu tale features a maiden who dies in her brother's stead. Her lover travels to the underworld and is allowed to bring the maiden back up if he does not look back to see her before reaching the surface. Unfortunately, he is not able to do this, and she is lost forever.

Answer: False

The story described above is that of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek legend. The Kikuyu version is rather different. The maiden, Wanjiru, is sacrificed to bring rain at the direction of the shaman. She is placed in the middle of a circle, and she gradually sinks into the ground.

Her family rushes to save her, but the rest of the village buys them off with goats, and they allow Wanjiru to sink. The rains do come, but the hero of the tale chafes at the injustice of the sacrifice and goes to the spot where Wanjiru went into the earth.

He finds her in the underworld and carries her out - no death gods to convince, no three-headed Rottweilers to charm. Seeing her returned, Wanjiru's family tries to reclaim the girl, but the hero rebukes them for letting her be sacrificed. Eventually they make amends, and the two lovers are married.
10. What may be termed "ironic prosperity" is a theme of "The Giant of the Great Water". In this Kikuyu tale, the monstrous Mukun'ga M'bura devours a whole family for grazing in his pastures. He leaves a small boy alive, however, and he trains his whole life to confront the giant. Does he kill Mukun'ga M'bura?

Answer: Yes - but part of the giant survives.

Realizing that the hero has grown too strong to defeat, Mukun'ga M'bura tells the hero to dig a large hole. Then the giant places his finger in the hole, and all that was lost emerges from it. Even after this restoration, however, the hero feels Mukun'ga M'bura is too powerful and evil to live and leads a campaign to destroy him.

The party does kill the giant, but his leg survives and goes into the water. The boy goes to retrieve it, but finds that it has survived and taken Mukun'ga M'bura's belongings far away.

It has left the giant's great herds, however, which the hero and his family take for themselves.
Source: Author stuthehistoryguy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor CellarDoor before going online.
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