The Daughter in the Spear-Line: Reading a Legend, a Myth and a Praise Poem

Some stories in Rwanda are older than any book written in the country. They travelled for centuries from one mouth to the next: at the fireside, during long evenings of storytelling, at ceremonies and in the king's court. One of them has even left a saying behind it, Ibintu byageze iwa Ndabaga, which can be translated "Things reached Ndabaga's place". In this lesson you read three texts from that inheritance, all written down in English for the first time by Ganzaa: a legend about a girl who went to war, a myth that explains why people die, and a praise poem that celebrates the girl of the legend. Each one does a different job, and by the end of the lesson you should be able to say what that job is.

1Before you read

1. Have you heard the name Ndabaga before? Where, and what did you hear?
2. Ask an older person at home what Ibintu byageze iwa Ndabaga means and when people say it. Bring the answer to class.
3. Many cultures have a story that explains why human beings must die. Why do you think people in so many places told such a story?

2Text A, a legend: The Daughter in the Spear-Line

Retold by Ganzaa from the Rwandan oral tradition. Versions of this legend differ; this one follows the versions listed in the credits.

1 In the days of the old kingdom, every man owed the king years of service in his army. A soldier could go home only when a son came to take his place in the ranks. A man without a son had no one to take his place, and so he served until he grew old, and often until he died far from his family.

2 Nyamutezi was such a man. He had one child, a daughter called Ndabaga, and as the years went by she watched her mother wait for a husband who never came home. While other girls of her age were learning the work of the household, Ndabaga had already made up her mind. If no son could free her father, a daughter would have to do it.

3 She began in secret. Every morning before the village woke, she ran the hill paths, threw the spear at a tree trunk and practised the leaps of the warriors. She had been training for several years when she finally told her mother what she meant to do. Her mother wept, but she did not stop her. Ndabaga cut her hair short, bound her chest flat under her clothes and walked to the king's camp, where she presented herself as Nyamutezi's son.

4 Her father was sent home at last. Ndabaga stayed. She trained harder than anyone in her company, beat the young men at their own exercises and was soon leading them. But her success also made her visible. The other recruits noticed that the new leader never bathed with them in the river and always dressed alone. Rumours spread, and before long they reached the king himself.

5 The king ordered a series of contests to settle the matter. Ndabaga entered every one of them and won every one. Then, standing before the king, she told him the truth: she was a woman, and she had come because her father had no son to free him.

6 Here the versions part ways. In some, the king rewarded Ndabaga with cattle for her courage. In others, he married her, she became queen, and he changed the rule that had kept sonless fathers in the army for life. In every version, however, the girl who went to war is the hero, and her story is still told today to show that courage and ability do not belong to men alone.

3Text B, a myth: Why Death Stayed

Retold by Ganzaa from a Rwandan myth also told, with changes, in Burundi.

1 In the beginning Death was a wild creature, and Imana, the creator, hunted it across the land as a hunter hunts his quarry. One day, when he had almost cornered it, Imana gave an order to every person on earth: "Stay inside your houses today. Death must find no place to hide."

2 Everyone obeyed except one old woman. Her bananas were ripening, and she slipped out to her banana grove because she was afraid that they would spoil. As she was working among the plants, Death came running towards her, panting. "Hide me," it begged, "and I will never forget your kindness." The old woman took pity on it, lifted the edge of her skirt and let it creep underneath.

3 Imana arrived a moment later. He had seen everything. "Since you have chosen to shelter Death," he said, "Death will stay with you, and with your children, and with all people after them." And so Death, which had once been a hunted animal, came to live among human beings.

4 Some tellers add an ending. When the old woman died, her daughter-in-law, who had never liked her, went to the grave three days later and saw cracks in the earth, as if the dead woman were trying to come back. She pounded the soil flat with a pestle. The cracks returned the next day, and the next, and each time she pounded them shut. After that, the earth stayed still. That, say the tellers, is why the dead no longer return.

4Text C, a praise poem: For Ndabaga

Written by Ganzaa for this lesson, in the manner of a praise poem that addresses its listeners and celebrates a hero.

Hear me, hills of the old kingdom, and keep my words:
I sing the daughter of Nyamutezi, the only child,
she who cut her hair at the edge of the night
and walked to the king's camp in her father's name.

Her spear was a reed when she first lifted it;
she lifted it until the reed became a tree.
She ran with the young men at dawn and left them behind by noon;
she wrestled the wind, and the wind sat down.

They said, "This one never bathes in the river with us."
They said, "This one sleeps with her face to the wall."
The king called the contest; the drum called the ring;
she stood in it until no one stood against her.

Then she spoke, and her voice was not a soldier's voice:
"I came so that an old man could sleep under his own roof."
Hills of the old kingdom, keep these words when I am gone:
courage has no single shape. Ask the daughter of Nyamutezi.

5Myth, legend or praise poem? What each text does

6Comprehension

Answer in full sentences. Questions 1 to 5 ask what the texts say; 6 to 8 ask what they mean; 9 asks what you think.

1. Why could Nyamutezi not leave the army? (Text A, paragraph 1)
2. Name three things Ndabaga did to prepare herself before she went to the king's camp.
3. What made the other recruits suspicious of Ndabaga?
4. Why did the old woman in Text B go out when Imana had ordered everyone to stay inside?
5. What did Imana decide as a punishment, and who was affected by it?
6. In paragraph 4 of Text A, the writer says that Ndabaga's success "also made her visible". Explain the irony in this.
7. Explain how the ending of Text B (the daughter-in-law and the pestle) adds a second explanation to the myth.
8. In Text C, what does the line "her spear was a reed … until the reed became a tree" say about Ndabaga's training?
9. Text A ends by saying the legend is told "to show that courage and ability do not belong to men alone". Do you think a legend is a good way to teach that? Give two reasons.

Show answersHide answers

1. A soldier could go home only when a son replaced him, and Nyamutezi had no son, so no one could take his place.
2. Any three of: she ran the hill paths every morning; she practised throwing the spear; she practised the warriors' leaps; she cut her hair short; she bound her chest flat; she presented herself as her father's son.
3. She never bathed with them in the river and always dressed alone.
4. Her bananas were ripening and she was afraid they would spoil.
5. He decided that Death would stay with human beings: with her, her children and all people after them.
6. Her talent, the very thing that made her a good soldier, drew attention to her and so put her secret in danger: her success worked against her disguise.
7. The first part explains why people die; the ending explains why the dead do not come back to life. The daughter-in-law's dislike of the old woman is the reason the dead stay in the ground.
8. It says she began weak and inexperienced (a reed is thin and bends) and, by steady effort, became strong and firm (a tree). The image shows growth through practice.
9. Model answer: Yes. A story is remembered far longer than a rule, so the lesson stays with listeners; and a hero gives young people a person to admire and copy, not just an idea. (Accept a reasoned "no": for example, that listeners may treat it as an exception, not a model.)

7Vocabulary in context

8Speaking and writing

1. Pairs (5 minutes). Partner A retells Text A in under two minutes without looking at it; Partner B listens for the turning point (the moment the secret is discovered) and checks that it is told clearly. Then swap and retell Text B.
2. Interview. Ask a parent, grandparent or neighbour for a legend or a myth from your area. Take notes on who the characters are, where it happens and what it explains or teaches.
3. Write (150–200 words). Retell the story you collected in English. Use at least two distancing phrases from the tip box, and end with one sentence that says whether it is a myth or a legend, and why.