Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Reading Diary Week Six: Nigeria

Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell (1910).

Angry but Cute Cat 

Of the Pretty Stranger Who Killed the King

  • Moral of the story is do not trust strangers
  • A shape shiftier changed into a young girl to get close to the awful king then kill him in his sleep
  • This king was a awful person who rampaged other countries and took many prisoners and made them slave

Why the Bat Flies by Night

  • The bat tricks his "friend" the bush rat into killing himself
  • Once they realized the bat caused the incident they tried to kill him
  • He hid out while they looked all day and had to adjust his habits and only come out for food at night so he didn't get caught

The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull

  • The daughter was more interesting in looks when searching for a husband
  • When she finally found a man handsome enough for her he takes her to his homeland which is really the spirit world where she could be eaten by the cannibals
  • She befriends and old lady who hides her and eventually sneaks her out of the spirit world and returns her home
  • The girl then starts listening to her parents and not marrying just for looks

The King Who Married the Cock's Daughter

  • This story was really strange, I think the king married an animal, but I am a little unsure. 
  • The kings other wives were jealous of his most recent one (the possible hen) and made her look stupid so the king would get rid of her
  • When the king found out of this plan he kicked out the woman who headed the plan and she was left on the street
  • Moral of the story, do not let jealousy overcome you

The Woman, the Ape, and the Child

  • This was a bit of a confusing story
  • Basically the moral is to not trust what everyone says because alot of people ended up dying because a jealous man made up a story
  • A jealous man basically told another man his wife was being unfaithful and the man killed his wife and since they were from different towns the two towns started fighting over it and a good chunk of people died

The Fish and the Leopard's Wife

  • The fish was an adulterer and was sentenced to life underwater as punishment for his bad deeds

Why the Worms Live Underneath the Ground

  • Ants tried to fight the worms to establish dominance so the worms hid out underground and have stayed there always fearful for their lives

The Elephant and the Tortoise

  • A jealous tortoise tricked the elephant into losing his eyes
  • a generous worm loaned the elephant his eyes but the elephant could never give them back
  • this is why the elephant has small eyes and worms are blind

Why a Hawk Kills Chickens

  • The hawk married a hen and paid her parents a dowry for her
  • The hen left the hawk and her parents could not repay the dowry so the hawk takes chicks when he sees them as a repayment.

Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky

  • They invited water over to visit but the water was too big and drove them out into the sky

Why the Cat Kills Rats

  • The rat was stealing from the cat to give presents to his sweetheart
  • When the rat was found out the girl was beaten (which is dumb, I doubt she knew they were stolen) and the rat was given to the Cat
  • The cat lost his job so he ate the rat out of anger and has hated rats ever since

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