Bitiou and Anapou were brothers. They lived together on their farm and worked the fields side by side. Anapou’s wife also lived with them in the house. She wanted to get rid of Bitiou, so one day she said to her husband: ‘While you were away, your brother came close to me.’
Anapou became so furious that he said: “He shall die for this!”
He took a knife, hid behind the stable door and waited for his brother.
As Bitiou drove the animals back from the field into the stable, the lead cow suddenly stopped and said: “Bitiou, do not go into the stable. Your brother is inside and wants to kill you.”
Then Bitiou saw the long shadow behind the door and ran away as fast as he could.
Anapou saw him running away, ran after him and shouted: “You wanted to take my wife away from me – you deserve to die!”
Bitiou managed to escape across a river. Then he stopped and replied: “I would never do that, for you are my brother. We can no longer live in peace under the same roof. I am leaving, but if you see that the water in the well turns murky, then you will know that misfortune has befallen me.
And so Bitiou set out into the world. But his heart was so heavy with grief that he could bear it no longer. He placed it in an acacia tree. From then on, he felt neither joy nor sorrow.
Soon afterwards, he met a woman washing her hair in the river. She was beautiful, and the scent of flowers wafted from her everywhere. Bitiou moved in with her, not knowing that she was in truth a jinn.
One day she asked him: ‘Bitiou, why do I hear no heartbeat in your chest?’
So he told her of his sorrow and of his heart in the acacia tree.
The beauty laughed at him and refused to believe it.
The next day, the Pharaoh passed by Bitiou’s house. He saw the beautiful woman and wanted to take her to his palace.
‘I will come with you,’ she said, ‘if you cut down this acacia tree for me.’

The Pharaoh sent woodcutters to the acacia tree. As the tree fell, Bitiou’s body also died. The beautiful woman, however, moved into the Pharaoh’s palace.

At home, Bitiou’s brother saw that the water in the well had turned murky. He took his pilgrim’s staff and set out in search of Bitiou.

After seven years, he came upon a young acacia shoot with Bitiou’s heart beating within it. Anapou recognised it immediately. He breathed upon it, and from the heart emerged a white bull. This set off for the Pharaoh’s palace.

The Beauty recognised Bitiou’s soul in the bull and ordered that the bull be slaughtered.
The servants carried out the order, but two persea trees grew from the bull’s blood. When the wind blew, they whispered: ‘An injustice has been done; my heart has been broken.’
The Beauty could not endure these words and ordered the two trees to be felled. As they fell, a splinter struck her lip. A short time later, she realised she was pregnant. The child was born. He grew as fast as a tree and was as strong as a bull, for within him lay Bitiou’s soul and heart.
Time passed, and when the Pharaoh died, Bitiou ascended the throne. On the very same day, however, the beautiful woman died and crumbled to dust.
Bitiou brought his brother to live with him, and together they spent their years in happiness and peace.

Fassung D. Jaenike, nach: H. Gougaud, Contes d Afriques, 2009 und anderen Quellen, © Mutabor Verlag. Übersetzung ins Englische: Lysander Jaenike