Extra Credit Reading: Week 2 Nigeria

Since I've already read the Week 2 Anthology and all the units in the UnTextbook, I'm taking a different approach this semester, reviewing all the Africa Reading units, plus writing some new units. For the Week 2 reading, I'm going to review the Nigerian Folk Stories unit... but I'll be writing my Week 2 story based on something from the Anthology so that I can include my story along with all the other Week 2 stories. :-)

Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell is the source for the stories, and since there were not notes at the stories before, I am adding notes to them now. Adding notes to every story takes longer, so for this hour of work I did just the first half. My favorite stories are the ones about the Skull from the spirit land (eeeek!), and also the "fatal imitation" story about the bat and the bush rat. These bush rats are big rodents: rodents of unusual size, ha ha.

(cane rat)

Of the Pretty Stranger Who Killed the King. You can read about the history of Calabar, the "tourism capital of Nigeria," at Wikipedia. You can also read about the Itu region of Nigeria. This story features the theme of witchcraft, specifically a witch woman named Oyaikan, who is used as a weapon in a political war. You can compare Oyaikan's actions in this story with the story of Judith in Biblical apocrypha: Judith and Holofernes.

Why the Bat Flies by Night. The "bush rat" here is not your usual household rat; these rodents can grow up to two feet long and weigh up to twenty pounds! You can read more about the cane rat (called a bush rat in the story), and also the greater cane rat, at Wikipedia. This type of folktale is called "foolish imitation," and in this case the bat tricks the rat into a fatal act of imitation, although in this story the bat is then punished for his cruel trick.

The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull. The town of Cobham is part of the modern-day Nigerian metropolis of Calabar. You can read more about the West African magic called Ju Ju at Wikipedia; Ju Ju magic is an important theme in this story. You will also see that this story echoes the theme of an earlier story in this unit: it's dangerous to marry strangers.

The King Who Married the Cock's Daughter. This story is not about the danger of marrying strangers; it is about the danger of marrying an animal because, yes, the king in this story is going to get married to a chicken. You could compare this story to the Aesop's fable about the man who wanted to marry a cat: Venus and the Cat.

The Woman, the Ape, and the Child. This is another story about the dangers of marriage: in this case, the danger of marrying with a member of another kingdom. The story starts out with a farmer and, Okun, who belongs to King Archibong, and his wife, Nkoyo, who belongs to King Duke. When conflict arises between the husband and wife, that conflict turn turns into a war between their two kings. The story also explains why apes and monkeys are frightened of people; it did not used to be so.