Shadusa ran on till he rounded a bend—then he stopped short. There beside the path sat a stranger, and there beside the stranger lay a huge pile of elephant bones.
“What’s your hurry?” growled the stranger.
moaned Shadusa.
“You better not say so—’cause I’m Master Man!”
From behind Shadusa came another ROAR, and once again he bounced into the air. The stranger caught him in one hand as Master Man ran up.
“Let me have him!” bellowed Master Man.
“Come and get him!” growled the stranger.
Master Man lunged, but the stranger tossed Shadusa into a tree. Then the two strong men wrapped themselves around each other and wrestled across the ground.
The noise of the battle nearly deafened Shadusa. The dust choked him. The trembling of the tree nearly shook him down.
As Shadusa watched, the two men struggled to their feet, still clutching each another. Then each gave a mighty leap, and together they rose into the air. Higher and higher they went, till they passed through a cloud and out of sight.
Shadusa waited and waited, but the men never came back down. At last he climbed carefully from the tree, then ran and ran and never stopped till he got home safe and sound. And he never called himself Master Man again.
As for those other two, they’re still in the clouds, where they battle on to this day. Of course, they rest whenever they’re both worn out. But sooner or later they start up again, and what a noise they make!
Some people call that noise thunder. But now you know what it really is—two fools fighting forever to see which one is Maste
“Master Man” is a tale of the Hausa, the largest ethnic group of northern Nigeria. The Hausa live mainly on the savannah (grassland with scattered trees) of Nigeria’s northwest quarter.
Though most Hausa live in rural villages—as portrayed in this story—the larger Hausa towns have possessed a sophisticated urban culture since long before European colonization. As traders, the Hausa have for centuries maintained economic and cultural contacts throughout West Africa. Their adoption of Islam led to early development of literacy and written literature.
Tall tales like this about fighting he-men are popular among the Hausa. Many such stories feature the stock character Mijin-Maza, or Namiji-Mijin-Maza. “Master Man” is my own rendering of this name, which has been translated variously as “A-Man-Among-Men,” “Manly-Man,” and “Superman.”
The main source for my retelling is No. 12, “A story about a giant, and the cause of thunder,” inHausa Folk-Lore, Customs, Proverbs, Etc., by R. Sutherland Rattray, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1913, Volume 1. I drew also on several other Hausa variants of the tale, collectively titled “The Story of Manly-Man” and found in Volume 2 of Hausa Tales and Traditions, by Frank Edgar, edited and translated by Neil Skinner, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1977 (a translation of Edgar’sLitafi Na Tatsuniyoyi Na Hausa, W. Erskine Mayne, Belfast, 1911–1913). And I received my first taste of the tale from the delightful “Superman,” told by Laura Simms, on her tape Stories: Old as the World, Fresh as the Rain, Weston Woods, 1981.
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