This tale ends our first cycle of stories told by Aminata Camara, around the fire, in the Bedik village of Bandafassi, eastern Senegal.

Still in Menik language, this time Aminata tells the community children the story of the little girl who wanted to drink beer. She seems clever, this little girl does, though she ends up being pushed around successive surprising adventures, on some sort of initiatory journey featuring an elephant, fish, a sparrowhawk, termites…

What kind of moral is there to ponder from a tale like this? Maybe it’s just a way to teach children a few basic principles. One should take care of what they have, for instance, or else it could very well disappear…

See Bedik tale 1: “the orphan avenged by the forest”

See Bedik tale 2: “the adventures of Tama the hyena”

See Bedik tale 3: “the monkey who turned into a young woman”

Linguist: Adjaratou Oumar Sall
Image & sound: Muriel Lutz assisted by Cheikh Tidiane Sall
Translation: Marcel Camara
Editing: Caroline Laurent

Video created within the ANR Sénélangues project

Reminder: Menik is a Niger-Congo language (North Atlantic branch, West Atlantic group, Tenda subgroup). It separates into three dialects: Banapas, Biwol and Bëñolo. The filming took place in Bandafassi, area of Kedougou, in Banapas dialect. An endangered language, Bapen, older that Menik, was discovered in 1961 by linguist Marie-Paul Ferry. This language could very well be the “mother” of the Menik and Oniyan (Bassari) languages. Our filming took place in Bandafassi, area of Kedougou, in Banapas dialect.

In 2002, the Christian NTM (New Tribes Mission) missionaries, who were the second to work on the language, estimated 3,380 Bedik were living in Senegal at the time.

With a few thousand speakers at the most, Menik can clearly be considered endangered on a relatively short term. However, it has been observed that the language is still being handed down to the young generations despite the fact that a majority of people in these villages speaks fluent Fula, Mandinka (Malinké) and French, used daily.

Speakers of Menik, although perfectly accustomed to the environing culture and bearing a great sense of adaptability to the languages they’re in contact with, are linked with a strong feeling of identity that protects their language.

For more information on Menik

See an introduction to Menik