For some months now I've had sitting in a folder the Roads End Naturalists' best wildlife photos from their visit to South Africa in 2024.
Everyone who goes there always photographs lions and zebras, so what caught my eye was the photo of a guineafowl in its native glory, strutting among the lions and zebras.
(Photo from the Mother Earth News)
This bird is often kept with free-range chickens in the United States as a sort of watchdog, or watchbird. It is less lovable than the chickens, or even the ducks and geese. Guineas never become pets, even if they're reared indoors and snuggled and fed from your hands. They never seem to like chickens, ducks, geese, or turkeys much either. They stalk around pecking at ducks and chickens, dodging geese and turkeys. They make loud noises when they are contented, talking to one another, and even louder noises when they are startled; they really grate on the ear.
But in Africa, long ago, people noticed that these birds could be useful when they are semi-domesticated, or domesticated to the extent that their very limited ability to learn anything new will allow.
The story of how guineafowl could be useful developed into a folktale I've heard and read a few times. More authentic printed versions used to be available in the folktale collection sections of public libraries, before the War on Nonfiction Books started. The tale of Brother Guinea is obviously exaggerated for comic effect, but also obviously based on fact...
Once upon a time there was a good, hardworking woman who couldn't have children. Because she had no children to help her in the garden she couldn't raise as many garden crops as others in the village, and was consequently poorer than they were. Even her husband left her for another woman, who was lazy and mean-mouthed and not even pretty, but she certainly did have children. Horrible spoiled children who ran over the childless woman's property and damaged the crops in her little garden. And when the childless woman told them to stop, the mother of these brats came out and called her names. So the childless woman, through no fault of her own, felt very unhappy and, not having heard of Christ, she went out into the forest and begged the forest spirits for help.
The names of these women have been lost to history. Let's call them Righteous Rosie and Nasty Nellie. Being Africans, they lived in little round houses they had built for themselves out of wood, mud, and straw. Everyone in the village, even the children who were big enough, had his or her own house. Being married to the same man, however, Rosie and Nellie built their houses close to his, so they saw more of each other than either of them really wanted to see.
As Righteous Rosie finished venting her feelings to the trees and sat down on a rock to rest, up came a guinea fowl and spoke to her.
"Nasty Nellie's children call me an ugly bird and chase me away," he said. "I will help you if you will help me. I want you to fix me a pen in your little house." (Everyone in the village, even children once they were big enough, lived in little round houses they had built for themselves out of wood, mud, and straw. No two people really lived together except for little babies who stayed with their mothers.) "I want you to put a perch at one side of the pen, and a dish of grain and a dish of water at the other side, so that I can be safe with you. I will go out to work all day just as all the humans in the village do. You should call me your brother--Brother Guinea. Even though I can't build a house, you will find me as good as a real brother."
If this bird could speak, Rosie thought, who knew what else it might do? So she went home and did what the bird asked. Brother Guinea went into his pen, ate his meal, drank his water, and slept on his perch all night.
In the morning he followed Rosie out into the garden and picked out weeds and insects, tilled and fertilized the ground, and had soon cultivated a few rows of soil where Rosie planted some more vegetables. She was delighted to have the help and thanked Brother Guinea as she set out his evening meal. They got on very well. Rosie raised more food to preserve and sell.
The clothes she wore to market were worn and faded, quite embarrassing, so she bought a new dress. It came from the same place as one of Nellie's dresses, but it was obviously a different dress--for one thing it was a few sizes smaller than anything Nellie could fit into. For another thing Nellie's dress was getting old and faded, too.
One day Nellie scolded one of her children. He was behaving just as disrespectfully toward her as he did toward Rosie, and Nellie was not going to have that! The child went back to his house, thinking that it wasn't fair, that his brother was doing something that was just as bad, and their mother just liked his brother better than she did him. "I'll do something about that. I'll bring her something she likes," he thought. "But what does she like? Well, she liked that dress made of the same kind of material old raggedy Rosie brought home from market. Maybe she'd like to have Rosie's new dress. Rags are good enough for Rosie." Nellie had never taught him not to steal. He sneaked around Rosie's house and watched as she lay down to sleep. He started to sneak into the house.
"Yak yak yak! What's that naughty child doing now!" screamed Brother Guinea.
The child ran back to his own house, and did not try to steal anything from Rosie's house again. Though he was still a spoiled brat who stole food out of any garden he might happen to pass by, or more likely run through.
Rosie and Brother Guinea kept working. When the farm work slowed down Brother Guinea went back to the forest and found a wife. Rosie built a house for the family the guineafowl soon began to raise. By now most people respected the birds, and most animals respected the people, enough that the guineafowl were safe and could rear their families, which is not so easy for wild guineafowl to do.
"Who ever heard of building a house for some ugly, nasty birds," said Nellie. Actually she would have liked to have had a Brother or Sister Guinea, but none of the birds would talk to her as they all did to Rosie.
Next season Rosie and the guineafowl family put out a big garden, planted lots of vegetables, and had a fine crop growing. Nellie's children came out to raid the garden. The guineafowl pecked and bit their legs and chased them back home. It was hard to tell whether the scratches on their legs came from guineafowl bites or from running through fields, but their legs certainly were scratched up, much more than usual. "Tend your own gardens," the guineafowl hissed as they came back to work with Rosie in their garden.
Now those horrible brats had a grievance. They caught a few guineafowl by their stringy necks and killed them before the other guineafowl drove them away.
"We'll eat these birds and then we'll come back and get you," one of Nellie's sons threatened.
In reply Brother Guinea pecked his eye so hard that he could hardly see out of it for the rest of his days. Still, the children went home, built a fire, and roasted the guineafowl they had killed. They ate the poor birds' flesh, though they didn't think it tasted very good.
That night the murdered guineafowl came back to life. They pecked and scratched their way out of those children's bodies. Some say the children died; some say Nellie was able to sew them back together, but they were very sorry for what they had done and never bothered Rosie or the guineafowl again.
Rosie and the guineafowl had more money than they needed. Rosie gave some of their money to poor people in the town. With some of it she bought some meat and had a big barbecue party. Her husband was sorry he had left this wonderful woman. Rosie told him to try to be a good father to his children and teach them the morals and manners Nellie was failing to teach them. Maybe he did. Maybe they even had the great good fortune to meet a missionary, though at the period of history when this story takes place it would have been a Muslim missionary. Maybe they even learned how to read.
Rosie and the guineafowl lived happily ever after, and so may all people who are kind to guineafowl.
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