Hyena and Rabbit: A Kaguru Representation of Matrilineal Relations

Opening Paragraph This paper has two purposes: (1) to present a text in Chikaguru, a Bantu language spoken by the Kaguru of East Africa: this language has not been properly described by linguists and no extensive text in it has yet appeared; (2) to present a tale (the text) which serves as an interesting illustration of certain problems in Kaguru society. In the first part of this paper, I present this tale in a free English translation with a few notes in explanation of certain details in the story. In the second part I discuss the significance of this tale as a means by which one may gain insight into certain important problems in one African matrilineal society. Two appendixes at the end of this paper present the original Kaguru text and an attempt at a literal translation, together with a list and a very brief discussion of the published material dealing with the Kaguru language.