A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A creditor comes to a house where the father is absent and a newly born boy lies on a bed. The infant answers the greeting and offers to go to court to settle the debt. Carried on the creditor's shoulder, he repeatedly interprets the honorific descriptions of judicial authorities literally. Mighty mouths lead him to the openings of dye-pits, red eyes to peppers and large ears to the leaves of the gwaza plant. The creditor must abandon each expression and finally ask plainly for the elders.

At the king's court the boy undertakes to shave the ruler before judgment. He asks that grain first be stripped from five millet heads, then completes the shaving. When the king demands that his hair be restored, the infant agrees only if the removed grains are first placed back upon the millet. The ruler declares himself unable to judge such a child and sends him home. The creditor relinquishes the claim for the son's sake. Speech and competent action immediately after birth frame the trick, but neither the king's hair nor the grain is actually restored.

Immediate newborn speechLiteralized court titlesInfant shaving a kingMatched impossible demandsDebt relinquished
01

Origins & earliest records

Tale 74 is credited Sar(r)ikin Dukawa by Tremearne's narrator key. Selected witness: second edition 1913; exact telling date unspecified.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete main tale 74, printed pp. 361-363, directly read; comparative variants kept separate.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Hausa Superstitions and Customs

    Sar(r)ikin Dukawa, storyteller; A. J. N. Tremearne, collector and translator · 1913

    Second edition; tale 74, pp. 361-363.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Collected primary narrativeHausa Superstitions and Customs - tale 74Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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