Reading Notes Week 9: Nigeria Unit Part A


I quite liked the Nigeria stories – they were simple and had themes/explanations that matched what I think of when I think of fables. They explained why animals are the way that they are, they had some life lessons, and finally, they were actually humorous (even though there were some pretty intense deaths).

One of my favorite stories that was told was, “The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull”. It again deals with the re-occurring theme of being careful who you marry. This daughter, who was described as one of the fairest maidens throughout the land, had only the highest of standards in the man who she would choose to marry. She didn’t want to marry her father’s friends (which makes sense to me) or any other man who came up to her, asking for her hand in marriage. Eventually, a skull from the spirit lands (which I love the name of) gathered body parts from people he knew (another scary image) in order to appear as the best-looking man this woman had seen. She then married him and accidentally went with him to the spirit lands, where cannibal spirits roamed, and no light really shone. It’s things like that that I love to read within a story – worldbuilding. The idea of having a completely different area where people of this country are too afraid to go is cool to think about.

Other favorites of mine were in the simplicity that the animal stories were told. The conflict was almost immediately established, with a flair at the end to explain why things are the way that they are, such as why fish live in the sea, or why worms live underground, or even why hawks kill chickens whenever they see them. Overall, this beginning set of stories for this unit has me very excited to read the next section.


"Into the Eye of the Elephant"
Photo by Alex Proimos, taken 17 April, 2010

"Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria" by Elphinstone Dayrell

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