Week 7 Essay: Thunder

Lightening by C.Clark via Wikipedia Commons

This week I read the Nigerian Folk Stories unit. It honestly was not my favorite unit I have read so far. It didn't keep my attention as well as some of the other units did. I thought it was really interesting that a lot of the stories involved someone getting punished. Whenever there was a problem, no matter how small, they always went to the king to have him fix their problems. I think a lot of the stories would have ended up better if they would have solved their problems themselves. However, this idea might be a lot from their culture and different customs they have. I am not familiar with the Nigerian culture, so I cannot disagree with these stories' problem solving methods. One of my favorite stories in this unit was The Story of Lightening and the Thunder. I thought it was really interesting that they had Thunder and Lightening as a mother and son relationship. Every time Lightening would do something wrong, the Thunder (mom) would get onto him. I have heard many different reasons as to why there is thunder. One is that God is bowling in heaven and when he gets a strike there is thunder. Another is that God is moving around the furniture. The mother and son idea is so unique that I am sure I will think of that the next time there is a thunderstorm. I really liked all of the stories in this unit about the animals, however, I liked the variations that they had that were completely different. For instance, the story of Lightening and Thunder and the Sun and Moon. They were both completely different than any of the other stories and I really appreciated the change. Overall, I thought this unit was okay. It was different than most others I have read, but it definitely is not my favorite unit I have read so far.

Week 7 Storytelling: A Mert Love Affair

Once upon a time, in the land of Mert, there was a man named Carl. Actually he wasn't a man, Carl was a strange creature with fins on his sides and a tail. Did I mention that he was also green? Anyway, he had a best friend named Russell. Russell was a foot taller than Carl with tan fur and polka dots all over him.

Russell had a beautiful wife named Ellie. Ellie had flawless skin with purple eyes and golden hair complementing her blue skin tone. One day, Russell and Ellie got into a huge fight. Carl went over to comfort Russell, but instead found Ellie. She was so distraught. Being a gentleman, and a good friend, Carl went to comfort Ellie since Russell was no where to be found. One thing led to another and before they knew it they made love to one another.

The next day Carl felt absolutely awful. How could he do this to his best friend? He mustered up the courage to tell Russell that very afternoon, but as he was leaving, Ellie teleported into his room. Jumping with surprise he asked Ellie what was wrong. She replied, "I know last night was a bad idea. I just cannot handle all of the fighting between me and Russell." Ellie then began to sob. Carl looked at Ellie and could not help but feel a little tug on his heart. Whether he liked it or not, he was starting to have feelings for his best friend's wife. Instead of going to tell Russell what was going on, he shut the door and went to console Ellie.

Three months later, Carl and Ellie are still at it. Loving each other in secret. Finding a spare moment in their hectic lives so they could to be together, even for a second. Carl was definitely in love with Ellie, but she was still married to his best friend. Finally, it came to a point where Carl couldn't take it anymore. He and Ellie agreed that they needed to tell Russell. So they went to Russell and told him about their affair. At first Russell thought it was a joke, but after a while he realized that they were telling them the truth. Enraged and betrayed by the two people he loved most, Russell stormed out to seek out the Mert wizard, Jonah.

Wizard and Owl by Andy via Flickr

In Mert the one with the power is ruler. Jonah was the most power wizard in the land so he ruled. Russell stormed into his palace and explained how his best friend and his wife betrayed him. So Jonah sent for Carl and Ellie. Once they got there Jonah determined a proper sentence for their actions. "For your inability to be faithful to your best friend, Carl, you are banished from Mert. If you or any of your descendants are found in Mert, the punishment is death. For your inability to be faithful to your husband, Ellie, I am sentencing you and your husband to therapy. You must stay with your husband because that is what you vowed when you married him. That is my final ruling." Immediately Carl and Ellie started yelling at the harshness of wizard's decision, but the guards were already coming to take Carl away. They give each other one final kiss and that was the end of it. Carl and Ellie never saw each other again. Carl lived in the outskirts of Mert living off of the land for the rest of his days. Ellie went to therapy with Russell twice a week for the rest of her life. I am happy to say that Russell and Ellie did fix most of their problems with therapy, but it was never quite the same after the affair.

Author's note: This story is based off of Why the Fish Lives in the Water from the Nigeria unit. It is very closely related to the original plot line. However, I just used aliens instead of a leopard and a fish. One of the big things I changed was at the end. In the original story, the king (my wizard) only punished the fish (my Carl). I thought that the woman should be punished as well because she also took a part in the act. I still didn't punish her as much and gave her a happier ending than Carl so that you still get the sense of how unfair it all is.

Bibliography: Why the Fish Lives in the Water from Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell (1910).

Reading Diary: Nigerian Folktales

Nigerian Folk Stories

Of the Pretty Stranger Who Killed the King

This sounds exactly like one of the laos folklore stories that I read last week! There is a king that everyone hates so they get a witch to kill him. She turns into a beautiful woman so the king will want to marry her and then she kills him in his sleep. No one suspects the beautiful woman. One thing that is different in this story is that the city gets invaded afterwards and because their leader is dead they lose. 

Why the Fish Lives in the Water

Poor leopard! Betrayed by his best friend! I think that it is interesting that when there is a problem in these stories, they report it to the king. I guess that is part of the culture here. I would like to know how the fish got to move around on the land. Did it used to have legs?  

Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky

I liked this story because it was different from the others so far. No one did anything bad and was punished for what they did. The sun and moon are in the sky because there is no room for them in the place they built the water. They were just trying to be good friends!

The Thunder and the Lightening

I never thought of thunder and lightening being a mom and her son. I think it is pretty creative that when lightening burns something the mom (thunder) get on to him very loudly. Now that I have heard that story I can relate it to reality. I might think of this instead of God bowling in heaven as the cause of the thunder and lightening. 

Why Dead People are Buried

Do people in Nigeria not like dogs? Apparently because of this story dogs are disliked and not trusted as messengers. It is a shame that the dog got so carried away with the bone that it forgot to tell the people the true message of the creator. I also wonder if this creator is the God of the christians or if it is a different deity altogether.

How the Tortoise overcame the Elephant and Hippo

I am starting to see, in Nigerian folktales, the tortoise seems to be the most cunning creature. Their fox character if you will. I am kind of disappointed that no one discovered how the Tortoise outsmarted the Hippo and the Elephant. I guess if you are cunning enough, you can fool just about anyone and everyone.