Modaina

Mensa stories, Collected by the Swedish missionary Richard Sundstrom
I found this printed form in the Sundström book, He has left a vast number of writings in Tigre about Tigre peoples history, customs, poems and more.
It was originally much larger but the library told me they do not have the rest, but that I should ask private owners. None have it so far. But it gives a good glimpse of our history. Most of Sundstrom's writings are in Tigre, a few in Tigrina, some in Swedish and English, from various sources with different handwritings.
Names of villages and clans are unfamiliar these days. He has written many names of clans though. His collection comprises of several hundred pages, a vast source of our history. Richard Sundström 1893-1913 was a Swedish missionary who lived in Gheleb years 1893-1913. He died in Keren.
(J is used in Swedish pronounced as y)

History of the Mänsa people
1. The Story of the Takars.
There was a people called Takar, and its village, with its property and its folk, all together, was situated on Chagga, (so) they say. And when it was there, some of its men took their asses and went to Samhar to sell their boiled butter. (1)
And while they were going, the king of Kabasa, behind their back (2), plundered their village. And when they (the village folk) saw the advance guard, advancing and coming towards them, they said among themselves: "ls it ostriches? (3) Is it their young ones?» While they are saying: »No, it is ostriches», horses and foot-soldiers surrounded the village. And the whole villlge was plundered, its people perished shockingly and its property was carried off; it was altogether to ashes.
Afterwards, when the few men, who had gone to Samhar, had returned to their village with their asses, only ruins and corpses remained for them. And when they had seen their village plundered and razed, they were distressed, lamented and mourned greatly. When their fright then had passed away, they said: »How shall we do?, And they made their decision thus: Each one of us may go where his ass leads him. And each one of them urged forward his ass. And in the direction his ass went, thither he went and they were scattered hither and thither.

2. The Story of the Barja woman.
At Endertaj was a village belonging to the Barjas. And the people in this village had
either by moving away from the place or through God,(3) disappeared. In the village remained one woman, and she owned goats. And moreover there grew of itself on the plain every kind of grain, which had been left remaining in the village. And, furthermore, the villagers had formerly put in bees in every cask, and afterwards, when the village had become a ruin, the bees had gone in even into the houses and every earthen jar. The woman harvested the grain as she liked. And of the honey she also put in every one of her vessels (4), and ate and drank as she liked. And her goats also inereased greatly for her. And there she lived, alone. A people, the Takar, had lived in Sehel in a place which is called Chagga. And the Takars had taken counsel, and through this counsel they decided: that everyone, having loaded his ass, might go (with it). And as his ass led him, (so) he went. And the Takars, through this, were entirely separated from each other. One rnan's ass, however, with which they formerly used to go on business journeys to Endertaj, went on and on and came with the man to Endertaj. When it had come there, it stopped, ind the man now took off the load from it. And the woman received him and entertained him.
When he had stayed there some days, she asked him: »Where hast thou come from, and what sort of a fellow art thou?» And he told her about all his -wanderings, and said to her: »Where our asses stopped, there we had decided to dwell. And now having loaded my ass on Chagga's hill, I departed therefrom, and have followed it, and, showing me the way, it has come here with me». He dwelt there with her, and after they had agreed, they married and had a boy.
When the boy was grown up, the woman said to her husband: »With honey, load this ass, and go to Amba-Zawel, to Chief Zawel, and give him it, and unload in silence and come (back)».
And he went, and when he had come to the chieftain, he give it to him. When he had thus been carrying to him uninterruptedly for about a year, his wife said to him: »Now then, if the chieftain saith to thee: What shall I give thee? say to him: Give me thy daughter (for my son).» And Chief Zawel then said to him: »Indeed, thy hand is heavy upon us(5), because thou hast brought us this honey; say thou, what I shall give thee". And according to his wife's advice the man said to him: »Give me thy daughter (for my son)». »Thou mayest have her», Zawel said to him. And having deterrmined on a day on which they should bless', they separated.
When the man came (back) to his wife, he said to her: »Yea, the chieftain gave me his
daughter and will come here; prepare thou and await him». And she prepared much beer, meat and bread. And when she had done all, the man went to Chief Zawel and said to him: »Come ye now to us»; and the chieftain with his father's house followed him. And when they had, come to his home, be gave them all (6) the beer, meat and bread. And they stayed one week at his home.
But the house of Chief Zawel's father sought to induce him to change his mind, saying: »Why has thou given thy daughter to this solitary (7) man?» He only answered: » I do not break mycovenant !» And the man, and his wife asked the chieftain for the wedding. And he said to them: »Let them marry». Then chief Zawel with his father's house returned to his village. After the man had counted for the constellation,(8) he went on his wretched ass to them, but to his wife he said: »Prepare all». And the chieftain (9) celebrated the wedding. Thereupon he let a proclamation be made, saying: »Let this our daughter be accompanied by asses, horses and footmen».
In this manner they brught her to the man's home. And the wife of the man offered them all that she had prepared. After two days Zawel's people returned to their village. The son of the man and his wife had a son, and his uncle, Chief Zawel, gave him a tract of land, and that tract whieh he gave him, is called Takara and belongs even now to the Takars. (10)

The Story of the Bet-Arbaj
The Bet-Arbaj are the brothers(11) of the Mänsas; they are all descendants of Arabi(12). The village of the Bet-Arbaj was at Debbur, and the villige of the Mänsas at Hajgat.
The Bet-Arbaj were high-born and brave and said to the Mänsas: »We are the high-born ones and men of the land, therefore give us tribute: give us at every "Cross-feast" (3) barren cow, and furthermore at every Easter a skin full of boiled butter. And if ye do not give us all this, we shall plunder you and destroy you». The Mänsas said: »We are not going, to give you this tribute». But a man who was called Wekenaj was on that occasion with them. And he intervened between them all in order to reconcile them, .and said to them: »Do not destroy one another on account of this thing». And to the Mänsas he said: »Give what they told you to». And the Mänsas said: »Let them renounce the one thing; either the cow or else the skin of butter». And Wekenaj came to the Bet-Arbaj, mediating, and said: »Remit the one thing to them». But they refused.
And Wekenaj was at heart with the Mänsas and counselled with them and said to them: »lf I make you victorious over the Bet-Arbaj, what will ye give to me?» And the Mänsas said: »We will establish an ordinance in thy honour». And he returned to the Bet-Arbaj and said: ,Yea, they accept. Whither should they go (to escape) from you? But appoint a meeting at the river Shital and let no one take weapons; come with your sticks only, and take with you every one of your noblemen and your chief, and come,,. »Good», said the Bet-Arbaj.
Thereupon came Wekenaj to the Mänsas and said to them: »We have arranged a meeting, and, having hastened before them down to Shital, bury ye your weapons in the sand there. Afterwards, when they have come to you, let each one of you seat himself upon the burying place of his weapons. And after the Bet- Arbaj have come to you, say to them: 'Remit one of them to us; both, of course, it is impossible for us to give'. And I shall say to you: Before ye said, 'Good', did ye not? And answer ye: 'Yes'. And then when I have said: 'Yea, the agreement has become idle talk for me, I will mount my mule and go my way from you: and when ye have become very hot, dig up your weapons and kill them therewith». And the Mänsas said: »Good». On the day for the meeting the Mänsas went down from Hajgat to Shital (and buried their weapons there), and then every one of them seated himself upon the burying place of his
weapons. Afterwards came the Bet-Arbaj in their wooden shoes (14) without weapons, and with only a small stick in their hands, together with their chief. And when they had seated themselves,´ Wekenaj said to the Mänsas: »Ye have accepted, have ye not?» And the Mänsas said: To thee we said that we accept, but let them remit to us one part of the tribute». And the Bet-Arbaj said to them: »Give us both parts of the tribute». And Wekenaj said to them: »Well, since ye (on the one hand) have changed your lips(15), nothwithstanding that ye said before: 'We accept'; and ye (on the other hand) refuse to remit, then our agreement is not fulfilled.» And he flung himself upon his mule and rode away. And the Bet-Arbaj said to the Mänsas: »Because ye refuse to accept, we depart». When they had spoken thus, while their chief mounted (his) mule, the Mänsas, having dug up their weapons, fell upon them and defeated them and put an end to theim, striking them down, even to their village.
But a small part of them, who fled, having gone over Afluk, came to Ansaba. And there they live, to this very day, as dependants. And the mother of those who live in the territory of' the Mänsas, was a woman of the Ad-Bula (1). And the Ad-Bula saved them, and after they had lived together with them, their family having been weakened, they became the dependants of the latter, and are subject to them even to this very day. And in this way the Bet-Arbaj have, by evil guidance, been ruined, and the Mänsas inherited all that they had owned. And as for Wekenaj, the Mänsas established this ordinance: Of every slaughtered cow(2) he may take the heart, and when they plunder and go to rob, he shall be the scout, and of the cows which they get, they shall give him one. And this custom remains for him (3) even to this very day

OF A MAN WHO TOOK AN OATH ABOUT FOUR THINGS TO CARRY THEM OUT.
A man swore he would carry out these four things: not to refuse [a request] ; not to lie ; not to be jealous ; not to flee [from danger]. And after he had taken the oath about them, his father-in-law, the father of his wife, tempted him in all of them. In order to make him break his vow not to refuse, he sent every stranger to him whosoever it was, so that his property should be exhausted. But he entertained every stranger that came to him, and finally when his property was exhausted, he killed his saddle-camel for them.
After that he became stripped of everything, and he had reached rock-bottom. But he had carried out his vow and given away all his property. Now his father-in-law having been foiled in this, tried him in his vow about lying: he sheared a young camel on one side and said [to his servants]: "Pass by him turning the shorn side towards him !" And after them, he sent messengers to him, and they asked him: "Have they passed by here with a shorn young camel?" But he answered them: "That side which was turned towards me was shorn; but the other side of it God knows, I have not seen it." And another time he had butter smeared on the outside of a wooden bowl and sent [people] to pass by him with it, while it was closed [with a cover]. Thereupon he sent a messenger to him asking him: "Has a man passed by here carrying his polenta with its butter?" He answered: "The outside of the bowl was smeared with butter, but what was in it, God knows/' His father-in-law thought: "Now I shall try him about jealousy," and said to him: "Come, let us play wad-arba”16" ') And after they had sat down opposite each other to play wad-arba together, he went and took a woman and said to her: "Sit down near us and kiss me all the time so that this man may grow jealous." And the woman kissed him all the time, but the man did not grow jealous; and after they had finished the game they parted from each other.
Now his father-in-law thought he would try him with regard to fleeing [from danger]. Their villages were distant from each other about as far as a horse runs. He sent a messenger to him saying: "I have fallen sick, and my remedy is with the boil coffee in thy house, pour it at night into a cup, and come to me [with it] !" And on the road he made some men to lie in ambush for him and said to them : "Treat him so that he may become like one who flees!" The other after having prepared the coffee poured from it into a cup, and when, armed and holding the cup of coffee in his hand, he was on his way to the house of his wife's father, he met the ambushed people on the road. And when they sprang upon him in order to make him flee, he put the cup firmly on the ground, drew his sword against them and put them to flight.
Then he took his cup and brought it to his wife's father. And his father-in-law saw that he had carried out all his vows, and knew that he had sworn nothing in rashness. Then he wished to make him a gift and said : "Wish, what shall I do for thee?" The man said to him: "I wish [that thou mayest] take thy daughter from me, sending a beast of burden and people [to take her]!" And in this way he divorced his wife in -his rage because her father had tried him in all these things and had intended to make him a liar.


Footnote

(1) In order to preserve the butter for a longer time it is boiled together with various spices. This is called hesas, and is preserved in bags made of leather. Unboiled butter, zébdat, is used only for hairdressing. It would be loathful to them to eat this.
(2)i. e. during their absence.
(3) This may possibly refer to a herd of that kind of cows which are called »ostriclies.»
But the probability is that the reference concerns a flock of actual ostriches, from which
the conclusion may then be drawn that, at the time of the incident related, the ostrich
existed in the coastal regions by the Red Sea, whereas,now, it is completely extirpated in
that place and is found only in the lowland of Barka, that is, in the interior desert lands
between Akordet and Kassala and northwards.
(3) Through the punishment of God.
(4) Various kinds of »Ieather bags» are to be understood. Whether the Barja people were at the same stage of cultural development then as now, is uncertain
(5) i- e. »Thou hast obtained a certain claim on us».
(6) Whatever is offered a guest at his reception, is regarded as a gift to him, of which he may, in his turn, invite others to partake.
(7) i. e. this man destitute of relatives.
(8)i. e. wlien the stellar combinations evince favourable tokens.
(9) Ham, father-in-law, is said both between the fathers of the betrothed and between the engaged parties and their fathers.
(10) These descendants of the ancient Takar people inhabit Mehlab and have amalgamated with the Bet-Shahkan.
(11) i. e. the near kindred. They call one another - brother» even to the 5th and 6th generation.
(12) See introduktion p. 10.
(13) The cross-feast, on the 24th of September.
(14) Wooden shoes of different kinds are chiefly used during the rainy season in the highland,
July-September, and otherwise only in moist weather as at Christmas.
(15) i. e. have not kept your word.
(16) the manqale of the Arabs.