Introduction to Literature
Senior 4 · Literature in English
Introduction to Literature
Lesson 3 of 5
25 min
Before radio and telephones, many Rwandan evenings ended the same way: the work done, the meal eaten, children gathered near an elder who began, "Kera habayeho…" ("Long ago there was…"). Nobody owned the story about to be told, nobody had written it down, and no two tellings were ever quite the same. Here is one such tale, retold in English. Read it aloud if you can: it was made for the voice.
Ruhaya and the Hyena
A Rwandan folktale, retold by GanzaaKera habayeho… Long ago a terrible drought came. The sun burned, the grass and the trees dried up, and the animals had nothing to eat. Ruhaya the goat called the other goats together. "Let us go to that forest where the rain still falls, and graze there until the drought ends." "Agreed," they said. "We leave tomorrow." "Then start early," said Ruhaya.
At dawn the whole flock set off. By midday they were deep in the forest, and the rain began to pour. Looking for shelter, they found a cave in the rocks and crowded in, Ruhaya at the front. They did not know it was Hyena's den. "Welcome, welcome!" said Hyena. "Look at the vegetables that have walked in by themselves!"
The goats trembled. Hyena turned to Ruhaya. "Tell me, do you eat honey?" "I eat something far sweeter," said Ruhaya. "Then give me some!" "Wait, and I will send for it." Ruhaya called the youngest goats. "Children, go and bring me the herb called Mperezayo." They went, and they did not come back.
A long time passed. "The little ones are slow," said Ruhaya. "Let me send others." A second group went to fetch the herb Mperezayo, and they did not come back either. "Send more!" said Hyena. So Ruhaya sent every goat that was left, and not one came back.
"I will go and see whether the rain has caught them," said Ruhaya. "Go," said Hyena, "but if you return without them, I will eat you." Ruhaya walked out calling to nobody, went a little further, called again, and then ran.
When Hyena understood, it burst out of the cave and gave chase, crashing through bushes and over stones, but Ruhaya reached home first. "Run, then," howled Hyena, "but one day I will eat you, by day or by night!" "Sharpen your teeth," answered Ruhaya, "if you think you will eat Ruhaya."
Hyena could not forget. Early one morning it crept up to the people's homestead and found Ruhaya tied to the posts of the granary. "Now I have you. What trick will save you this time?" "None," said Ruhaya. "Eat me. But first let each of us recite his praise poem, as fighters always do before a battle." "Very well. Recite yours, and then I will kill you." "And when I finish, will you not recite yours?" "Of course I will."
So Ruhaya recited: "Meeeee! Meeeee!" And Hyena began: "Huuuu! Huuuu!" The farmers heard the noise, came running with their clubs, and that was the end of Hyena.
Si jye wahera, hahera umugani. (Let the story come to an end, not I.)
Definition
| Characteristic | What it means | Evidence in "Ruhaya and the Hyena" |
|---|---|---|
| Oral transmission | Passed on by memory, from mouth to ear | Told for generations before anyone wrote it down; the version above is one retelling of many |
| Performance | Exists fully only when performed; the voice is part of the text | "Meeeee!" and "Huuuu!" are written for a teller to act out; on paper they lose half their force |
| Audience participation | Listeners respond, laugh, sing a refrain, answer questions | Listeners know Hyena's trick will fail and wait, laughing, for the moment it does |
| Communal ownership | No single known author; the story belongs to the community | No one "wrote" this tale; any good teller may tell it |
| Variability | Each performance changes: details, length, words | In some versions the groups of goats have particular names; tellers stretch the chase or shorten it |
| Formulas | Fixed openings, closings and phrases | "Kera habayeho…" and "Si jye wahera, hahera umugani" |
| Repetition | Events and phrases repeat, often in threes | Three groups sent for the herb, three times "they did not come back"; easy to remember, and it builds suspense |
| Stock characters | Familiar types rather than complex individuals | The clever small animal (Ruhaya) against the greedy, stupid strong one (Hyena) |
| Rooted in its culture | Uses the community's world: land, customs, values | Drought and grazing, the granary, farmers with clubs, and fighters reciting praise poems (kwivuga) before a battle |
| Didactic purpose | Teaches while it entertains | Wit beats strength; greed blinds; keep calm in danger |
Kinyarwanda has a name for each form, which shows how carefully the tradition distinguished them.
| Kinyarwanda | English | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| imigani miremire | folktales (long tales) | Stories like Ruhaya's, told mostly in the evening, with an opening and closing formula |
| imigani migufi (imigani y'imigenurano) | proverbs | Short, fixed sayings that carry wisdom: Akabando k'iminsi gacibwa kare |
| insigamigani | stories behind sayings | Expressions that come from a particular story, which the speaker is expected to know |
| ibisakuzo | riddles | A game of question and answer opened with "Sakwe sakwe!" and answered "Soma!" |
| ibyivugo | heroic recitations | Self-praise poems recited by warriors, boasting of their courage: the "praise poem" Ruhaya proposes |
| amazina y'inka | pastoral poetry | Poems praising cattle |
| ibisigo | dynastic poetry | Poems of the royal court that kept the memory of the kings |
| ibitekerezo | historical narratives | Accounts of the past, such as the deeds of famous rulers |
| ibihozo, indirimbo | lullabies, songs | Songs to soothe a baby; songs for work, weddings, mourning and celebration |
Oral literature is living and flexible: a teller can fit the tale to the audience in front of her, and a person who cannot read can still enjoy and pass on the finest art of the community. Its weakness is that it lives in memory. When tellers die without passing their stories on, the stories can vanish. The Malian writer Amadou Hampâté Bâ is often quoted for saying that in Africa, when an old person dies, a library burns. That is why scholars record and transcribe oral texts, and why, as lesson 5 shows, the arrival of writing changed literature so much.
Oral literature has not ended. Songs, sermons, radio drama, spoken-word poetry and stories told on social media are all performed for an audience, change with each telling and depend on the voice.
Worked example
A model analytical paragraph
Question: How does the teller use repetition in "Ruhaya and the Hyena", and why?
The tale builds its central trick on a pattern of three. Ruhaya sends the youngest goats for the herb Mperezayo, then a second group, then all who are left, and each time "they did not come back". The repetition helps the teller remember the order of events, but it also makes the audience complicit: by the second group, listeners have seen through the trick, and they enjoy Hyena's blindness all the more. Even the name of the herb plays a part, since to a Kinyarwanda ear it hints at "stay away there for good", so the goats are being told to escape in front of their enemy. The same pattern returns at the end, when Ruhaya traps Hyena a second time with a "praise poem" that is really a call for help. Repetition here is not padding: it carries the theme that a quick mind beats a strong jaw.
Why it works: it names the device, gives exact evidence, explains two effects (memory and audience involvement) and links the device to the theme.
Tip
Feature, evidence, effect. When an exam asks for characteristics of oral literature, never list them bare. For each one, name the feature, point to a particular tale, proverb or song, and say what the feature does: "Repetition (feature): the three groups of goats in 'Ruhaya and the Hyena' (evidence) help the teller remember and build suspense (effect)."
Warning
"Griots – The West African Storytellers" (about 8 minutes), filmed in Senegal, Mali, the Gambia and Guinea by the channel G Reel, with the kora player Toumani Diabaté. The griots are hereditary storytellers, singers and keepers of history. Watch how voice, instrument and audience work together, and list three characteristics from the table above that you can see.
Practice
Key points
Sources and credits
Quick check
In the tale, Ruhaya sends three groups of goats for the herb, and each time they do not come back. Which characteristic of oral literature is this, and what does it do?
