Week 9 Reading: Stories from Southern Nigeria

I only had time for the one reading this week, and I decided to check out the southern Nigeria folk tales to get a little contrast to the Anansi stories from Week 7. One if my favorites was the legend of how the moon was once unchanging, but got scared into a bizarre cycle of being eaten down to a sliver and regenerating. Great origin idea! Also reminds me of an ancient short story of cattle that were harvested this way but never killed. Morbid but resourceful!

I was quite tickled by how different cultures value different qualities for judging the beauty of a person. Being "fat" was for most of history deemed a benefit and signifier of both wealth and beauty. The fat woman who melted away was both whimsical and sad, but the dowry origin story attached was enlightening. The prevalence of famine, or at least scarce food, is pretty common across all the African stories I've encountered. So the viewing of larger individuals as more desirable (for marriage or prosperity) makes sense.

Why dead people are buried is a great origin story! The burial concept stretches back so far in our history it would be fascinating to do a different take on how and why we started burying our dead, especially in the context of disease. I also like how the dog developed a negative connotation in this one, as in most cultures dogs are viewed with favor. A redemption story could be fun, where the dog has a chance to redeem his mistake. The creator might feel compelled to reissue the offer for wood ash resurrection, should the dog succeed. I also have always enjoyed both the look and history of african wild dogs, and this was prominent in my mind while I was reading through this story.

I enjoyed the writing style a lot in this collection. I should check out what else this author has done.

African wild dogs

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

Image source: World Wildlife