Author: Richard Crompton

Cites

• Eudora Welty (1)
  • IN: The Honey Guide (2012) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: It was dark and vague outside. The storm had rolled away to faintness like a wagon crossing a bridge.
    FROM: "A Piece of News", (1941), Short Story, US
• NULL (1)
  • IN: Hour of the Red God (2013) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: In the beginning there was no death. This is the story of how death came into the world. There was once a man known as Leeyio, who was the first man that Naiteru-kop brought to earth. Naiteru-kop then called Leeyio and said to him, "When a man dies and you dispose of the corpse, you must remember to say, 'Man die and come back again, moon die and remain away.'" Many months passed before anyone died. When, in the end, a neighbor's child did die, Leeyio was summoned to dispose of the body. When he took the corpse outside, he made a mistake and said, "Moon die and come back again, man die and remain away." So after that, no man survived death. A few more months elapsed, and Leeyio's own child died. So the father took the corpse outside and said, "Moon die and remain away, man die and come back again." On hearing this, Naiteru-kop said to Leeyio, "You were too late now, for through your own mistake, death was born the day when your neighbor's child died." So that is how death came about, and that is why up to this day, when a man dies, he does not return, but when the moon dies, it always comes back again."`
    FROM: "The Origin of Death", Traditional Maasai story, (None), Saying, Kenya
• Frans Mol (1)
  • IN: Hell's Gate (2014) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: i-Loikop (noun, Maa): murder Murder can only occur between Maasai. Only when a Maasai kills another Maasai do we speak of murder. Should disputes between Maasai culminate in death, then this establishes a new relationship between the parties involved whereby those responsible for any deaths are referred to as il-oo-ikop: the-ones-who-hurt.
    FROM: Maasai Language and Culture, (1996), Book, NULL
• Isak (Karen Blixen) Dinesen (1)
  • IN: Hell's Gate (2014) Fiction, British
    EPIGRAPH: They cannot be made slaves, they cannot even be put into prison. They die in prison if they are brought there, within three months, so the English law of the country holds with no penalty of imprisonment for the Masai, they are punished by fines. This stark inability to keep alive under the yoke has given the Masai, alone amongst all the Native tribes, rank with the immigrant aristocracy.
    FROM: Out of Africa, (1937), Book, Denmark