Do you know the difference between a ‘spell’ and a ‘charm’?
In short a spell is for evil and a charm is for good. Both are incantations displaying the power of the spoken word to make transformative change. Say it loud and say it often and it will happen.
To people from the European tradition three is a magic number; speak the message three times and it will be! The Judaic tradition is fond of seven, the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians preferred, six, sixty and three hundred and sixty. A Ugandan storyteller told us that in his African homeland ten was the transformative number…
The Story
Arawe and Wanda were in a clearing collecting sticks for firewood when they heard a voice, “girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants.”
They looked around and saw it was an old monkey circling around the clearing swinging from tree to tree, “girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants.”
They knew the old monkey must be a demon and it was incanting a spell, “girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants.”
And they realised that the old monkey was about to say the spell a tenth time, “girls into elephants.”
They looked at their skin, they looked at each others noses, they looked at their feet, they scanned each other for the appearance of a tail.
Nothing, absolutely nothing had happened!
“The old monkey was playing a trick”, said Wanda.
But Arawe was angry,
“I’ll show that old monkey with his tricks and his girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants.”
She shouldn’t have said that, especially not ten times and she found herself transforming into a baby elephant.
She panicked and ran on her four fat, grey feet back to their village, with Wanda screaming hysterically as she ran behind.
When Wanda arrived home with an elephant she called Arawe, everyone wanted to hear her story and she told it…
“Arawe was angry, and she said,
“I’ll show that old monkey with his tricks and his “Girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants, girls into elephants.“”
She didn’t get any further, now there were two baby elephants.
The mother of the village called for silence,
“Bring drums, we must intone the charm.”
Everyone brought drums and formed a circle around the two elephants,
“Elephants into girls, elephants into girls, elephants into girls, elephants into girls, elephants into girls, elephants into girls, elephants into girls, elephants into girls, elephants into girls, elephants into girls.”
And after the tenth charm, there in the circle stood Arawe and Wanda happy to be girls again!
