How Tribal Marks Came To Be Used African Folktale
How tribal marks came to be used is a priceless African folktale.
African folktale
How tribal marks came to be used is a story forming part of an oral storytelling tradition shaped by the tongues of African elders passed down from one generation to the next.
 |
| How Tribal Marks Came To Be Used African Folktale |
How Tribal Marks Came To Be Used
A
King named Sango sent two slaves to a distant country on an important mission.
In
due course they returned, and he found that one slave had achieved successfully
what he had been sent to do, while the other had accomplished nothing. The King
therefore rewarded the first with high honors, and commanded the second to
receive a hundred and twenty-two razor cuts all over his body.
This
was a severe punishment, but when the scars healed, they gave to the slave a
very remarkable appearance, which greatly took the fancy of the King’s wives.
Sango
therefore decided that cuts should in future be given, not as punishment, but
as a sign of royalty, and he placed himself at once in the hands of the
markers. However, he could only bear two cuts, and so from that day two cuts on
the arm have been the sign of royalty, and various other cuts came to be the
marks of different tribes.
