Nalonma Saba

This story comes from Travélé's 1923 book "Proverbes et contes bambara".

It is listed in the Contes ("Tales") section of his book.

But, the story is part of a possibly distinct subgenre of Manding oral literature which is sometimes called a "dilemma story" in Western scholarship. Other possible English language labels could be "narrative riddle" or "narrative enigma" (the term conte-enigme sometimes shows up in French language sources).

Names for such tales are not fixed in Manding. One may use ntàalen/ntalen in Bambara, but that term can cover a range of genres including general short stories, fairy tales, riddles, proverbs, etc. The most precise one seems to be ntalen-kɔrɔbɔ, which is used in the ethnic Jula tradition stemming from Kong, and roughly translates to "testing tale".

Basically, it's a form of story-telling with an entertaining or silly story that is meant to encourage light-hearted and fun discussion at the end.

Such tales often end with a question that set ups the discussion.

Nin cɛ kelen fa y'à gɛn ko à tɛ ko dɔn. Dɔ fa y'à gɛn ko nalonma don. Dɔ fana fa y'à gɛn ko à lankolontalen¹.

U cɛ saba taara ɲɔgɔn kunbɛn ka jigin dugu kelen na ani jatigila kelen.

Olu y'u gɛnkun fɔ u jatigikɛ ye. O ko: "A! Á ye sigi, n n'aw ɲɛci sɔrɔ".

Dugu jɛlen, jatigikɛ ye kelen bila ka taa fu bɔ. À ko kelen ka taa kɔ sori² ; ko tɔ kelen ka taa nsiraden bugubugu.

Wulada selen, fubɔla bolo kolon nana ko ale ma fu sɔrɔ ka à ka fudoni siri. Jɛgɛminɛla bolo kolon nana, ko ale ma ji sɔrɔ k'i min; ko minnɔgɔ y'à kɛɲɛ ka jɛgɛsegi ta. Tɔ kelen ko ko ale yɛlɛnna nsiraba la k'i bolo da nsiraden kan ka o yira à ka bere la, ka jigin, ka bere bugubugu; ko bere banna ka nsiraden kari; ko o y'à to à bolo kolon nana.

Ko nin cɛ saba, jumɛn nalonnen ka tɛmɛ tɔw kan?