Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Reading Diary B: West African Folktales



The Moon and Stars
o   Scarcity of food in the land
o   Father Anansi and his son, Kweku Tsin hunted for food
o   Son guarded the deer they hunted while he got a basket to carry home
o   After a while, father never came back
o   A call called back and he thought it was his father, it was a scary dragon
o   Dragon found the deer and was disappointed
o   Father finally returned
o   Dragon carried both of them to a castle with other creatures
o   Feared him greatly
o   Could detect a fly moving miles away
o   A big white rooster watched over them while the dragon searched for more
o   Kweku scattered rice around the ground because the rooster could be preoccupied with it
o   Had people make ropes to make a ladder
o   Threw it up to the heavens trusting the gods would catch it
o   Men ate all the cattle for energy
o   Took the bones and procured the fiddle of the dragon
o   Dragon saw something was going on, tried to climb the rope to catch them
o   Kweku threw bones in his mouth everytime he got close
o   As he got the heavens, he sat and played the fliddle and the dragon had to return to earth and dance
o   Cut the ladder below his feet and the dragon fell and he was pulled to the gods
o   Kweku became the sun and light, his father the moon, his friends the stars

How the Tortoise Got Its Shell
o   Setting: few hundred years ago
o   Chief Mauri was the God
o   Yam festival on Friday
o   Sent servants to buy livestock for food
o   Mr. Klo was the tortoise and he was sent to buy palm wine
o   Directed to palm-fields of Koklovi (the chicken)
o   Klo was fast and reached the destination fast
o   Talked to Koklovi about the wine
o   Couldn’t buy it with money, had to fight for it, palm-trees and all
o   Klo and Koklovi fought and Klo finally won
o   More wine than the pot could hold, so Klo drank the rest
o   Drank so much, he felt tired and slow, rain came and it was hard to travel
o   Got to master’s palace and the gates were shut and locked already, too late
o   Rained for 2 months and no one left because of the weather
o   In that time, Klo died because of his load and laid at the gate with the trees
o   Dug to the bottom of the pile and found Klo with a hard cover on his back from the dust
o   Wonderful medicines in the palace restored him but could never stand up right. 
o   Creeping creature with a shell

The Hunter and the Tortoise
o   A hunter heard singing in the forest one day
o   Singing a song “it is a man who forces himself on things, not things which force themselves on him.”
o   Tortoise was singing with a little harp
o   He returned to see her sing then convinced her to let him carry her on his back to his hut. 
o   Agreed but could only sing to him alone
o   Told the secret of the tortoise to many then reached the ears of the chief
o   People refused to believe him
o   He agreed to bring her and if she didn’t sing then they could kill him
o   If the tortoise did then he could punish them in any way
o   Next day, carried the tortoise for everyone to listen
o   She didn’t sing
o   Night came and still no song.
o   He was beheaded then the tortoise spoke
o   The people were troubled because he was telling the truth but they killed him
o   Tortoise said he brought it to himself because he didn’t keep the secret
o   Then she sang the song again
o   “it is man who forces himself on things, not things which force themselves on him”


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