Weaving Wasp of Shaihu’s Origin Tale

Overview

A boy fleeing an old woman encounters a wasp weaving cloth. The insect asks his destination, hears that the woman is chasing him and tells him to remain there until she comes. When the pursuer springs toward the boy, the wasp swallows her. This rescuer is an articulate craft-worker, with swallowing capacity far beyond an ordinary insect’s feeding behavior.

The wasp gives the boy a single thread and asks him to tie it around its middle. The boy binds it so tightly that the back nearly divides in two. The narrative explains the wasp’s large belly as containing the old woman and its threadlike waist as the result of that binding. It ends without releasing her or giving the wasp a later human form. The source’s animal-origin explanation is retained as a narrative, separate from insect anatomy research.

Origins & earliest records

Malam Shaihu supplies the written Hausa material translated and transliterated by R. Sutherland Rattray. The compiler’s Author’s Note describes a mixed written and Arabic-manuscript mediation process; this tale is not labeled a verbatim oral field transcription by a separately named narrator.

Records & interpretation

Shaihu/Rattray, Hausa Folk-Lore, Customs, Proverbs, etc., Volume I (1913), tale 3, complete pp. 68–72; compiler methodology p. xii.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Hausa Folk-Lore, Customs, Proverbs, etc., Volume I

   Malam Shaihu, manuscript contributor; R. Sutherland Rattray, transliterator and translator · 1913

   Shaihu/Rattray, Hausa Folk-Lore, Customs, Proverbs, etc., Volume I (1913), tale 3, complete pp. 68–72; compiler methodology p. xii.

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. Bilingual manuscript tale; digitized primary OCRShaihu/Rattray 1913 — Weaving Wasp of Shaihu’s Origin TaleResearch access: 2026-10-05
2. Compiler methodologyAuthor’s NoteResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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