Tate mbukutu (a singing animal) by Thelesa Daga
The story was like this
A father in a certain family, was a hunter. He was usually going to the bush to hunt. One day when he went to hunt animals, he was lucky to have killed one. He brought it home. When he reached home, he left the dead animal in the kitchen. His children were just looking on, they did not bother to peel off the skin of the animal. So the animal started to sing….
Song
| You children | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu (X2) |
| your father | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
| all that time he killed me | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
| when is he going to peel off my skin? | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
| mbukutu mbukutu mbukutu mbu | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
When the children heard the animal singing, they were shocked and ran to tell their father about what the dead animal was singing The father decided to peel off the animal’s skin immediately. After the skin was peeled off, he cut it up into pieces. But their mother was also just looking on, she did not cook it. Because of this, the cut pieces started to sing again saying….
Song
| You children | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu (X2) |
| all that time you peeled off my skin | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
| when are you going to eat me? | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
| mbukutu mbukutu mbukutu mbu | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
The children decided to cook the meat themselves and eat it. The met was now inside their bellies but it was still singing.
Song
| You children | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu (X2) |
| all that time you ate me | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
| when are you going to shit me? | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
| mbukutu mbukutu mbukutu mbu | tate mbukutu tate mbukutu |
The meat stopped crying in their bellies went they all went to the toilet to pass it out. And here the story ends.
