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When Mandoko went home, she forgot the ladle on the
riverbank. Thus when
her stepmother wanted to dole out the evening porridge from
the pan for her own children, the ladle was not there.
She called Mandoko, who was always blamed for everything,
and asked her where the ladle was.
Timidly, Mandoko confessed that she had used the ladle
to dig for frogs and had forgotten it. “You dirty stork! You use my good ladle to scrape up filthy frogs for your own pleasure!
You go and find it this minute.
Bring it back now!” Mandoko was frightened to go out
in the dark, as indeed she should be, for that is what girls
are taught. But her
stepmother insisted, saying, “If you lose my property, don’t
expect any food from me!” Of course, her real intention was to give all
the food to her own children.
Mandoko went back to the riverside and searched for the ladle
in the dark. She found
it soon enough but on her way home was intercepted by a huge
lion. “Mandoko, what are you doing here so late?”
Like many frightened, lonely girls, Mandoko had made
up a little song that she sang to the lion:
I am Mandoko Motherless
I have to find old frogs
for food
I have to find a wooden spoon.
The lion said, “If you are an orphan girl, you can
do anything. Go on,
pick me up and carry me.
If you don’t want to carry me, I will eat you.”
Frightened to death, Mandoko took the enormous lion
in her arms and carried him all the way to the village.
There, in front of her stepmother’s hut, she sang her
little song:
I am Mandoko Motherless
I have to find old frogs
for food
I had to find a wooden spoon
I have to carry claws and teeth.
Her stepmother peeped through a crack in the wall of
her hut and caught a glimpse of the lion’s glaring eyes in
her stepdaughter’s arms.
She nearly fainted with fright and shouted, “If that
is a lion you have there, go and be eaten by him, so we can
have peace!”
Mandoko then went on to the door of her father’s house
and sang her little song:
I am Mandoko Motherless
I have to find old frogs
for food
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