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this hawk saw the pretty hen picking up some corn near her father’s house he therefore closed his wings slightly and in a second of time was close to the ground then spreading his wings out to check his flight he alighted close to the hen and perched himself on the fence as a hawk does not like to walk on the ground if he can help ithe then greeted the young hen with his most enticing whistle and offered to marry her she agreed so the hawk spoke to the parents and paid the agreed amount of dowry which consisted mostly of corn and the next day took the young hen off to his homeshortly after this a young cock who lived near the hen’s former home found out where she was living and having been in love with her for some months—in fact ever since his spurs had grown—determined to try and make her return to her own country he therefore went at dawn and having flapped his wings once or twice crowed in his best voice to the young hen when she heard the sweet voice of the cock she could not resist his invitation so she went out to him and they walked off together to her parent’s house the young cock strutting in front crowing at intervalsthe hawk who was hovering high up in the sky quite out of sight of any ordinary eye saw what had happened and was very angry he made up his mind at once that he would obtain justice from the king and flew off to calabar where he told the whole story and asked for immediate redress

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the elephant then came down and started pulling and after a time he smashed the ropedirectly this happened the tortoise undid the rope from the rock and came to the land showing all people that the rope was still fast to his leg but that the elephant had failed to pull him out the elephant was thus forced to admit that the tortoise was the winner and paid to him the twenty thousand rods as agreed the tortoise then took the rods home to his wife and they lived together very happilyafter three months had passed the tortoise seeing that the money was greatly reduced thought he would make some more by the same trick so he went to the hippopotamus and made the same bet with him the hippopotamus said “i will make the bet but i shall take the water and you shall take the land i will then pull you into the water”to this the tortoise agreed so they went down to the river as before and having got some strong tie tie the tortoise made it fast to the hippopotamus’ hind leg and told him to go into the water directly the hippo had turned his back and disappeared the tortoise took the rope twice round a strong palm tree which was growing near and then hid himself at the foot of the treewhen the hippo was tired of pulling he came up puffing and blowing water into the air from his nostrils

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

she was immediately struck with his fine appearance and strength and saw that he was just the man to make a proper lover for her mistress so she went up to him and said that the queen had sent for him as she was so taken with his good looks at first ituen was frightened and refused to go as he knew that if the king discovered him he would be killed however after much persuasion he consented and agreed to go to the queen’s side door when it was darkwhen night came he went with great fear and trembling and knocked very softly at the queen’s door the door was opened at once by the queen herself who was dressed in all her best clothes and had many necklaces beads and anklets on directly she saw ituen she fell in love with him at once and praised his good looks and his shapely limbs she then told her servant to bring water and clothes and after he had had a good wash and put on a clean cloth he rejoined the queen she hid him in her house all the nightin the morning when he wished to go she would not let him but although it was very dangerous she hid him in the house and secretly conveyed food and clothes to him ituen stayed there for two weeks and then he said that it was time for him to go and see his mother but the queen persuaded him to stay another week much against his willwhen the time came for him to depart the queen got together fifty carriers with presents for ituen’s mother who she knew was a poor woman ten slaves carried three hundred rods the other forty carried yams pepper salt tobacco and cloth when all the presents arrived ituen’s mother was very pleased and embraced her son and noticed with pleasure that he was looking well and was dressed in much finer clothes than usual but when she heard that he had attracted the queen’s attention she was frightened as she knew the penalty imposed on any one who attracted the attention of one of the king’s wivesituen stayed for a month in his parents’ house and worked on the farm but the queen could not be without her lover any longer so she sent for him to go to her at once ituen went again and as before arrived at night when the queen was delighted to see him againin the middle of the night some of the king’s servants who had been told the story by the slaves who had carried the presents to ituen’s mother came into the queen’s room and surprised her there with ituen they hastened to the king and told him what they had seen ituen was then made a prisoner and the king sent out to all his people to attend at the palaver house to hear the case tried he also ordered eight egbos to attend armed with machetes

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

i shall tell the whole matter to the king and see what he has to say when he hears that one of his wives has stolen my food” for this as every one knows is a very serious crime according to native customikwor edem then said to the tortoise—“i saw your palm nut lying on the ground and thinking it had fallen from the tree i gave it to my little girl to eat but i did not steal it my husband the king is a rich man and if you have any complaint to make against me or my child i will take you before him”so when she had finished washing her daughter at the spring she took the tortoise to her husband and told him what had taken place the king then asked the tortoise what he would accept as compensation for the loss of his palm nut and offered him money cloth kernels or palm oil all of which things the tortoise refused one after the otherthe king then said to the tortoise “what will you take you may have anything you like”and the tortoise immediately pointed to the king’s drum and said that it was the only thing he wantedin order to get rid of the tortoise the king said “very well take the drum” but he never told the tortoise about the bad things that would happen to him if he stept over a fallen tree or walked over a stick on the roadthe tortoise was very glad at this and carried the drum home in triumph to his wife and said “i am now a rich man and shall do no more work whenever i want food all i have to do is to beat this drum and food will immediately be brought to me and plenty to drink”his wife and children were very pleased when they heard this and asked the tortoise to get food at once as they were all hungry this the tortoise was only too pleased to do as he wished to show off his newly acquired wealth and was also rather hungry himself so he beat the drum in the same way as he had seen the king do when he wanted something to eat and immediately plenty of food appeared so they all sat down and made a great feast the tortoise did this for three days and everything went well all his children got fat and had as much as they could possibly eat he was therefore very proud of his drum and in order to display his riches he sent invitations to the king and all the people and animals to come to a feast when the people received their invitations they laughed as they knew the tortoise was very poor so very few attended the feast but the king knowing about the drum came and when the tortoise beat the drum the food was brought as usual in great profusion and all the people sat down and enjoyed their meal very much they were much astonished that the poor tortoise should be able to entertain so many people and told all their friends what fine dishes had been placed before them and that they had never had a better dinner the people who had not gone were very sorry when they heard this as a good feast at somebody else’s expense is not provided every day after the feast all the people looked upon the tortoise as one of the richest men in the kingdom and he was very much respected in consequence no one except the king could understand how the poor tortoise could suddenly entertain so lavishly but they all made up their minds that if the tortoise ever gave another feast they would not refuse againwhen the tortoise had been in possession of the drum for a few weeks he became lazy and did no work but went about the country boasting of his riches and took to drinking too much one day after he had been drinking a lot of palm wine at a distant farm he started home carrying his drum but having had too much to drink he did not notice a stick in the path he walked over the stick and of course the ju ju was broken at once but he did not know this as nothing happened at the time and eventually he arrived at his house very tired and still not very well from having drunk too much he threw the drum into a corner and went to sleep when he woke up in the morning the tortoise began to feel hungry and as his wife and children were calling out for food he beat the drum but instead of food being brought the house was filled with egbo men who beat the tortoise his wife and children badly at this the tortoise was very angry and said to himself—“i asked every one to a feast but only a few came and they had plenty to eat and drink now when i want food for myself and my family the egbos come and beat me well i will let the other people share the same fate as i do not see why i and my family should be beaten when i have given a feast to all people”he therefore at once sent out invitations to all the men and animals to come to a big dinner the next day at three o’clock in the afternoonwhen the time arrived many people came as they did not wish to lose the chance of a free meal a second time even the sick men the lame and the blind got their friends to lead them to the feast when they had all arrived with the exception of the king and his wives who sent excuses the tortoise beat his drum as usual and then quickly hid himself under a bench where he could not be seen his wife and children he had sent away before the feast as he knew what would surely happen directly he had beaten the drum three hundred egbo men appeared with whips and started flogging all the guests who could not escape as the doors had been fastened the beating went on for two hours and the people were so badly punished that many of them had to be carried home on the backs of their friends the leopard was the only one who escaped as directly he saw the egbo men arrive he knew that things were likely to be unpleasant so he gave a big spring and jumped right out of the compoundwhen the tortoise was satisfied with the beating the people had received he crept to the door and opened it the people then ran away and when the tortoise gave a certain tap on the drum all the egbo men vanished the people who had been beaten were so angry and made so much palaver with the tortoise that he made up his mind to return the drum to the king the next day so in the morning the tortoise went to the king and brought the drum with him he told the king that he was not satisfied with the drum and wished to exchange it for something else he did not mind so much what the king gave him so long as he got full value for the drum and he was quite willing to accept a certain number of slaves or a few farms or their equivalent in cloth or rodsthe king however refused to do this but as he was rather sorry for the tortoise he said he would present him with a magic foo foo tree which would provide the tortoise and his family with food provided he kept a certain condition this the tortoise gladly consented to do now this foo foo tree only bore fruit once a year but every day it dropped foo foo and soup on the ground and the condition was that the owner should gather sufficient food for the day once and not return again for more

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the elephant he appointed king of the beasts of the forest and the hippopotamus king of the water animals until at last it came to the turn of the birds to have their king electedessiya thought for some time which would be the best way to make a good choice but could not make up his mind as there were so many different birds who all considered they had claims there was the hawk with his swift flight and of hawks there were several species there were the herons to be considered and the big spur winged geese the hornbill or toucan tribe and the game birds such as guinea fowl the partridge and the bustards then again of course there were all the big crane tribe who walked about the sandbanks in the dry season but who disappeared when the river rose and the big black and white fishing eagles when the king thought of the plover tribe the sea birds including the pelicans the doves and the numerous shy birds who live in the forest all of whom sent in claims he got so confused that he decided to have a trial by ordeal of combat and sent word round the whole country for all the birds to meet the next day and fight it out between themselves and that the winner should be known as the king bird ever afterwardsthe following morning many thousands of birds came and there was much screeching and flapping of wings the hawk tribe soon drove all the small birds away and harassed the big waders so much that they very shortly disappeared followed by the geese who made much noise and winged away in a straight line as if they were playing “follow my leader” the big forest birds who liked to lead a secluded life very soon got tired of all the noise and bustle and after a few croaks and other weird noises went home the game birds had no chance and hid in the bush so that very soon the only birds left were the hawks and the big black and white fishing eagle who was perched on a tree calmly watching everything

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

she also amused the king and played with him and enticed him in so many different ways that he could not live without her and always had her with him to the exclusion of his former favourites whom he would not even speak to or notice in any way when he met them this so enraged the neglected wives that they met together and although they all hated one another they agreed so far that they hated the cock’s daughter more than any one as now that she had come to the king none of them ever had a chance with him formerly the king although he always had his favourites used to favour different girls with his attentions when they pleased him particularly that was very different in their opinion to being excluded from his presence and all his affections being concentrated on one girl who received all his love and embraces in consequence of this they were very angry and determined if possible to disgrace adia unen after much discussion one of the wives who was the last favourite and whom the arrival of the cock’s daughter had displaced said “this girl whom we all hate is after all only a cock’s daughter and we can easily disgrace her in the king’s eyes as i heard her father tell the king that she could not resist corn no matter how it was thrown about”very shortly after the king’s wives had determined to try and disgrace adia unen all the people of the country came to pay homage to the king this was done three times a year the people bringing yams fowls goats and new corn as presents and the king entertained them with a feast of foo foo palm oil chop and tombo african drinka big dance was also held which was usually kept up for several days and nights early in the morning the king’s head wife told her servant to wash one head of corn and when all the people were present she was to bring it in a calabash and throw it on the ground and then walk away the corn was to be thrown in front of adia unen so that all the people and chiefs could seeabout ten o’clock when all the chiefs and people had assembled and the king had taken his seat on his big wooden chair the servant girl came and threw the corn on the ground as she had been ordered directly she had done this adia unen started towards the corn picked it up and began to eat at this all the people laughed and the king was very angry and ashamed the king’s wives and many people said that they thought the king’s finest wife would have learnt better manners than to pick up corn which had been thrown away as refuse others said “what can you expect from a cock’s daughter she should not be blamed for obeying her natural instincts” but the king was so vexed that he told one of his servants to pack up adia unen’s things and take them to her father’s house

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

so in the afternoon being very joyful she went down to the river and washed and when she returned she put on her best cloth and went to the king’s palacedirectly it was dark and all the lights were out she pulled off her ugly skin and the king saw how beautiful she was and was very pleased with her but when the cock crowed adiaha pulled on her ugly skin again and went back to her own housethis she did for four nights running always taking the ugly skin off in the dark and leaving before daylight in the morning in course of time to the great surprise of all the people and particularly of the king’s two hundred wives she gave birth to a son but what surprised them most of all was that only one son was born whereas her mother had always had a great many children at a time generally about fiftythe king’s head wife became more jealous than ever when adiaha had a son so she went again to the ju ju man and by giving him a large present induced him to give her some medicine which would make the king sick and forget his son and the medicine would then make the king go to the ju ju man who would tell him that it was his son who had made him sick as he wanted to reign instead of his father the ju ju man would also tell the king that if he wanted to recover he must throw his son away into the waterand the king when he had taken the medicine went to the ju ju man who told him everything as had been arranged with the head wife but at first the king did not want to destroy his son then his chief subjects begged him to throw his son away and said that perhaps in a year’s time he might get another son so the king at last agreed and threw his son into the river at which the mother grieved and cried bitterlythen the head wife went again to the ju ju man and got more medicine which made the king forget adiaha for three years during which time she was in mourning for her son she then returned to her father and he got some more medicine from his ju ju man which adiaha gave to the king and the king knew her and called her to him again and she lived with him as before now the ju ju who had helped adiaha’s father the spider was a water ju ju and he was ready when the king threw his son into the water and saved his life and took him home and kept him alive and the boy grew up very strongafter a time adiaha gave birth to a daughter and her the jealous wife also persuaded the king to throw away it took a longer time to persuade him but at last he agreed and threw his daughter into the water too and forgot adiaha again but the water ju ju was ready again and when he had saved the little girl he thought the time had arrived to punish the action of the jealous wife so he went about amongst the head young men and persuaded them to hold a wrestling match in the market place every week this was done and the water ju ju told the king’s son who had become very strong and was very like to his father in appearance that he should go and wrestle and that no one would be able to stand up before him it was then arranged that there should be a grand wrestling match to which all the strongest men in the country were invited and the king promised to attend with his head wifeon the day of the match the water ju ju told the king’s son that he need not be in the least afraid and that his ju ju was so powerful that even the strongest and best wrestlers in the country would not be able to stand up against him for even a few minutes all the people of the country came to see the great contest to the winner of which the king had promised to present prizes of cloth and money and all the strongest men came when they saw the king’s son whom nobody knew they laughed and said “who is this small boy he can have no chance against us” but when they came to wrestle they very soon found that they were no match for him the boy was very strong indeed beautifully made and good to look upon and all the people were surprised to see how like he was to the kingafter wrestling for the greater part of the day the king’s son was declared the winner having thrown every one who had stood up against him in fact some of his opponents had been badly hurt and had their arms or ribs broken owing to the tremendous strength of the boy after the match was over the king presented him with cloth and money and invited him to dine with him in the evening the boy gladly accepted his father’s invitation and after he had had a good wash in the river put on his cloth and went up to the palace where he found the head chiefs of the country and some of the king’s most favoured wives they then sat down to their meal and the king had his own son whom he did not know sitting next to him on the other side of the boy sat the jealous wife who had been the cause of all the trouble all through the dinner this woman did her best to make friends with the boy with whom she had fallen violently in love on account of his beautiful appearance his strength and his being the best wrestler in the country the woman thought to herself “i will have this boy as my husband as my husband is now an old man and will surely soon die” the boy however who was as wise as he was strong was quite aware of everything the jealous woman had done and although he pretended to be very flattered at the advances of the king’s head wife he did not respond very readily and went home as soon as he couldwhen he returned to the water ju ju’s house he told him everything that had happened and the water ju ju said—“as you are now in high favour with the king you must go to him to morrow and beg a favour from him the favour you will ask is that all the country shall be called together and that a certain case shall be tried and that when the case is finished the man or woman who is found to be in the wrong shall be killed by the egbos before all the people”so the following morning the boy went to the king who readily granted his request and at once sent all round the country appointing a day for all the people to come in and hear the case tried then the boy went back to the water ju ju who told him to go to his mother and tell her who he was and that when the day of the trial arrived she was to take off her ugly skin and appear in all her beauty for the time had come when she need no longer wear it this the son didwhen the day of trial arrived adiaha sat in a corner of the square and nobody recognised the beautiful stranger as the spider’s daughter her son then sat down next to her and brought his sister with him immediately his mother saw her she said—“this must be my daughter whom i have long mourned as dead” and embraced her most affectionatelythe king and his head wife then arrived and sat on their stones in the middle of the square all the people saluting them with the usual greetings

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

you have arrived at last i see but you are too late for food it is all finished” he then sent the lamb back to the tree with the horn and when the lamb returned again it was late and he went supperless to bed the next day just before it was time for food the bat sent the lamb off again for the drinking horn and when the food arrived the bat who was very greedy ate it all up a second time this mean behaviour on the part of the bat went on for four days until at last the lamb became quite thin and weak the bat decided to return home the next day and it was all the lamb could do to carry his load when he got home to his mother the lamb complained bitterly of the treatment he had received from the bat and was baa ing all night complaining of pains in his inside the old mother sheep who was very fond of her children determined to be revenged on the bat for the cruel way he had starved her lamb she therefore decided to consult the tortoise who although very poor was considered by all people to be the wisest of all animals when the old sheep had told the whole story to the tortoise he considered for some time and then told the sheep that she might leave the matter entirely to him and he would take ample revenge on the bat for his cruel treatment of her sonvery soon after this the bat thought he would again go and see his father in law so he went to the mother sheep again and asked her for one of her sons to carry his load as before the tortoise who happened to be present told the bat that he was going in that direction and would cheerfully carry his load for him they set out on their journey the following day and when they arrived at the half way halting place the bat pursued the same tactics that he had on the previous occasion he told the tortoise to hide his drinking horn under the same tree as the lamb had hidden it before this the tortoise did but when the bat was not looking he picked up the drinking horn again and hid it in his bag when they arrived at the house the tortoise hung the horn up out of sight in the back yard and then sat down in the house just before it was time for food the bat sent the tortoise to get the drinking horn and the tortoise went outside into the yard and waited until he heard that the beating of the boiled yams into foo foo had finished he then went into the house and gave the drinking horn to the bat who was so surprised and angry that when the food was passed he refused to eat any of it so the tortoise ate it all this went on for four days until at last the bat became as thin as the poor little lamb had been on the previous occasion at last the bat could stand the pains of his inside no longer and secretly told his mother in law to bring him food when the tortoise was not looking he said “i am now going to sleep for a little but you can wake me up when the food is ready” the tortoise who had been listening all the time being hidden in a corner out of sight waited until the bat was fast asleep and then carried him very gently into the next room and placed him on his own bed he then very softly and quietly took off the bat’s cloth and covered himself in it and lay down where the bat had been very soon the bat’s mother in law brought the food and placed it next to where the bat was supposed to be sleeping and having pulled his cloth to wake him went away

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

now the leopard had a very fine wife with whom the fish fell in love and after a time whenever the leopard was absent in the bush the fish used to go to his house and make love to the leopard’s wife until at last an old woman who lived near informed the leopard what happened whenever he went away at first the leopard would not believe that the fish who had been his friend for so long would play such a low trick but one night he came back unexpectedly and found the fish and his wife together at this the leopard was very angry and was going to kill the fish but he thought as the fish had been his friend for so long he would not deal with him himself but would report his behaviour to king eyo

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

he was very angry when he heard this and went to the spring the following morning taking his own matchet with himwhen the ju ju tree saw that the king had come himself and was starting to try to cut his branches he caused a small splinter of wood to go into the king’s eye this gave the king great pain so he threw down his matchet and went back to his house the pain however got worse and he could not eat or sleep for three dayshe therefore sent for his witch men and told them to cast lots to find out why he was in such pain when they had cast lots they decided that the reason was that the ju ju tree was angry with the king because he wanted to wash at the spring and had tried to destroy the treethey then told the king that he must take seven baskets of flies a white goat a white chicken and a piece of white cloth and make a sacrifice of them in order to satisfy the ju juthe king did this and the witch men tried their lotions on the king’s eye but it got worse and worsehe then dismissed these witches and got another lot when they arrived they told the king that although they could do nothing themselves to relieve his pain they knew one man who lived in the spirit land who could cure him so the king told them to send for him at once and he arrived the next daythen the spirit man said “before i do anything to your eye what will you give me” so king udo said “i will give you half my town with the people in it also seven cows and some money” but the spirit man refused to accept the king’s offer as the king was in such pain he said “name your own price and i will pay you” so the spirit man said the only thing he was willing to accept as payment was the king’s daughter at this the king cried very much and told the man to go away as he would rather die than let him have his daughterthat night the pain was worse than ever and some of his subjects pleaded with the king to send for the spirit man again and give him his daughter and told him that when he got well he could no doubt have another daughter but that if he died now he would lose everythingthe king then sent for the spirit man again who came very quickly and in great grief the king handed his daughter to the spiritthe spirit man then went out into the bush and collected some leaves which he soaked in water and beat up the juice he poured into the king’s eye and told him that when he washed his face in the morning he would be able to see what was troubling him in the eyethe king tried to persuade him to stay the night but the spirit man refused and departed that same night for the spirit land taking the king’s daughter with himbefore it was light the king rose up and washed his face and found that the small splinter from the ju ju tree which had been troubling him so much dropped out of his eye the pain disappeared and he was quite well againwhen he came to his proper senses he realised that he had sacrificed his daughter for one of his eyes so he made an order that there should be general mourning throughout his kingdom for three yearsfor the first two years of the mourning the king’s daughter was put in the fatting house by the spirit man and was given food but a skull who was in the house told her not to eat as they were fatting her up not for marriage but so that they could eat her she therefore gave all the food which was brought to her to the skull and lived on chalk herselftowards the end of the third year the spirit man brought some of his friends to see the king’s daughter and told them he would kill her the next day and they would have a good feast off herwhen she woke up in the morning the spirit man brought her food as usual but the skull who wanted to preserve her life and who had heard what the spirit man had said called her into the room and told her what was going to happen later in the day she handed the food to the skull and he said “when the spirit man goes to the wood with his friends to prepare for the feast you must run back to your father”he then gave her some medicine which would make her strong for the journey and also gave her directions as to the road telling her that there were two roads but that when she came to the parting of the ways she was to drop some of the medicine on the ground and the two roads would become onehe then told her to leave by the back door and go through the wood until she came to the end of the town she would then find the road if she met people on the road she was to pass them in silence as if she saluted them they would know that she was a stranger in the spirit land and might kill her

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

at the end of each year when it was time to dig the yams there was a big play held which was called the new yam feast at this festival there was always a big human sacrifice fifty slaves being killed in one day these slaves were tied up to trees in a row and many drums were beaten then a strong man armed with a sharp matchet went from one slave to another and cut their heads off this was done to cool the new yams so that they would not hurt the stomachs of the people until this sacrifice was made no one in the country would eat a new yam as they knew if they did so they would suffer great pain in their insideswhen the feast was held all the towns brought one hundred yams each as a present to king agbor when the slaves were all killed fires were lit and the dead bodies were placed over the fires to burn the hair off a number of plantain leaves were then gathered and placed on the ground and the bodies having been cut into pieces were placed on the plantain leaveswhen the yams were skinned they were put into large pots with water oil pepper and salt the cut up bodies were then put in on top and the pots covered up with other clay pots and left to boil for an hourthe king having called all the people together then declared the new yam feast had commenced and singing and dancing were kept up for three days and nights during which time much palm wine was consumed and all the bodies and yams which had been provided for them were eaten by the peoplethe heads were given to the king for his share and when he had finished eating them the skulls were placed before the ju ju with some new yams so that there should be a good crop the following seasonbut although these natives ate the dead bodies of the slaves at the new yam feast they did not eat human flesh during the rest of the yearthis went on for many years until at last the okuni people noticed that the graves of the people who had been buried were frequently dug open and the bodies removed

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the king however being greatly struck with adit the bird’s daughter insisted on marrying her so the ‘nsiat bird had to agree a large amount of dowry was paid by the king and a big play and feast was held one strong slave was told to carry adit ‘nsiat during the whole play and she sat on his shoulders with her legs around his neck this was done to show what a rich and powerful man the king wasafter the marriage in due course adit gave birth to twins as her mother had done before her the king immediately became very fond of the two babies but according to the native custom which was too strong for any one to resist he had to give them up to be killed when the ‘nsiat bird heard this he went to the king and reminded him that he had warned the king before he married what would happen if he married adit and rather than that the twins should be killed he and the whole of his family would leave the earth and dwell in the air taking the twins with them

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

they both made up their minds that they would go before the king and try to be made chiefs but the odudu bird was quite confident that he would win as he was so much bigger than the ‘nsasak bird he therefore offered to starve for seven daysthe king then told them both to build houses which he would inspect and then he would have them fastened up and the one who could remain the longest without eating would be made the chiefthey both then built their houses but the ‘nsasak bird who was very cunning thought that he could not possibly live for seven days without eating anything he therefore made a tiny hole in the wall being very small himself which he covered up so that the king would not notice it on his inspection the king then came and looked carefully over both houses but failed to detect the little hole in the ‘nsasak bird’s house as it had been hidden so carefully he therefore declared that both houses were safe and then ordered the two birds to go inside their respective houses and the doors were carefully fastened on the outsideevery morning at dawn the ‘nsasak bird used to escape through the small opening he had left high up in the wall and fly away a long distance and enjoy himself all day taking care however that none of the people on the farms should see him then when the sun went down he would fly back to his little house and creep through the hole in the wall closing it carefully after him

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

so one day he sent for the dog who was his head messenger and told him to go out into the world and give his word to all people that for the future whenever any one died the body was to be placed in the compound and wood ashes were to be thrown over it that the dead body was to be left on the ground and in twenty four hours it would become alive againwhen the dog had travelled for half a day he began to get tired so as he was near an old woman’s house he looked in and seeing a bone with some meat on it he made a meal off it and then went to sleep entirely forgetting the message which had been given him to deliverafter a time when the dog did not return the creator called for a sheep and sent him out with the same message but the sheep was a very foolish one and being hungry began eating the sweet grasses by the wayside

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

when adiaha umo was queen of calabar being very rich and hospitable she used to give big feasts to all the domestic animals but never invited the wild beasts as she was afraid of themat one feast she gave there were three large tables and she told the cow to sit at the head of the table as she was the biggest animal present and share out the food the cow was quite ready to do this and the first course was passed which the cow shared out amongst the people but forgot the fly because he was so smallwhen the fly saw this he called out to the cow to give him his share but the cow said “be quiet my friend you must have patience”when the second course arrived the fly again called out to the cow but the cow merely pointed to her eye and told the fly to look there and he would get food laterat last all the dishes were finished and the fly having been given no food by the cow went supperless to bedthe next day the fly complained to the queen who decided that as the cow had presided at the feast and had not given the fly his share but had pointed to her eye for the future the fly could always get his food from the cow’s eyes wherever she went and even at the present time wherever the cows are the flies can always be seen feeding off their eyes in accordance with the queen’s orders

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the grandmother was a poor decrepit old thing with a mangy tail and the leopard swallowed her at one gulp and then looked round for more in an angry voice he growled out “this is not the proper food for me i must have more at once”then a bush cat pushed his old grandmother in front of the leopard but he snarled at her and said “take the nasty old thing away i want some sweet food”it was then the turn of a bush buck and after a great deal of hesitation a wretchedly poor and thin old doe tottered and fell in front of the leopard who immediately despatched her and although the meal was very unsatisfactory declared that his appetite was appeased for that daythe next day a few more animals brought their old grandmothers until at last it became the tortoise’s turn but being very cunning he produced witnesses to prove that his grandmother was dead so the leopard excused himafter a few days all the animals’ grandmothers were exhausted and it became the turn of the mothers to supply food for the ravenous leopard now although most of the young animals did not mind getting rid of their grandmothers whom they had scarcely even known many of them had very strong objections to providing their mothers of whom they were very fond as food for the leopard amongst the strongest objectors were the squirrel and the tortoise the tortoise who had thought the whole thing out was aware that as every one knew that his mother was alive she being rather an amiable old person and friendly with all comers the same excuse would not avail him a second time he therefore told his mother to climb up a palm tree and that he would provide her with food until the famine was over he instructed her to let down a basket every day and said that he would place food in it for her the tortoise made the basket for his mother and attached it to a long string of tie tie the string was so strong that she could haul her son up whenever he wished to visit herall went well for some days as the tortoise used to go at daylight to the bottom of the tree where his mother lived and place her food in the basket then the old lady would pull the basket up and have her food and the tortoise would depart on his daily round in his usual leisurely mannerin the meantime the leopard had to have his daily food and the squirrel’s turn came first after the grandmothers had been finished so he was forced to produce his mother for the leopard to eat as he was a poor weak thing and not possessed of any cunning the squirrel was however very fond of his mother and when she had been eaten he remembered that the tortoise had not produced his grandmother for the leopard’s food he therefore determined to set a watch on the movements of the tortoisethe very next morning while he was gathering nuts he saw the tortoise walking very slowly through the bush and being high up in the trees and able to travel very fast had no difficulty in keeping the tortoise in sight without being noticed when the tortoise arrived at the foot of the tree where his mother lived he placed the food in the basket which his mother had let down already by the tie tie and having got into the basket and given a pull at the string to signify that everything was right was hauled up and after a time was let down again in the basket the squirrel was watching all the time and directly the tortoise had gone jumped from branch to branch of the trees and very soon arrived at the place where the leopard was snoozingwhen he woke up the squirrel said“you have eaten my grandmother and my mother but the tortoise has not provided any food for you

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

after the feast had been held and plenty of tombo had been drunk it was the custom of the people to make speeches one day after the feast the head driver ant got up and said he and his people were stronger than any one and that no one not even the elephant could stand before him which was quite true he was particularly offensive in his allusions to the worms whom he disliked very much and said they were poor wriggling thingsthe worms were very angry and complained so the king said that the best way to decide the question who was the stronger was for both sides to meet on the road and fight the matter out between themselves to a finish he appointed the third day from the feast for the contest and all the people turned out to witness the battlethe driver ants left their nest in the early morning in thousands and millions and as is their custom marched in a line about one inch broad densely packed so that it was like a dark brown band moving over the country in front of the advancing column they had out their scouts advance guard and flankers and the main body followed in their millions close behindwhen they came to the battlefield the moving band spread out and as the thousands upon thousands of ants rolled up the whole piece of ground was a moving mass of ants and bunches of struggling worms

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

akim was very anxious to go and take part in the dance but her parents gave her plenty of work to do before they started thinking that this would surely prevent her going as she was a very obedient daughter and always did her work properlyon the morning of the play the jealous seven came to akim and asked her to go with them but she pointed to all the water pots she had to fill and showed them where her parents had told her to polish the walls with a stone and make the floor good and after that was finished she had to pull up all the weeds round the house and clean up all round she therefore said it was impossible for her to leave the house until all the work was finished when the girls heard this they took up the water pots went to the spring and quickly returned with them full they placed them in a row and then they got stones and very soon had the walls polished and the floor made good after that they did the weeding outside and the cleaning up and when everything was completed they said to akim “now then come along you have no excuse to remain behind as all the work is done”akim really wanted to go to the play so as all the work was done which her parents had told her to do she finally consented to go about half way to the town where the new yam play was being held there was a small river about five feet deep which had to be crossed by wading as there was no bridge in this river there was a powerful ju ju whose law was that whenever any one crossed the river and returned the same way on the return journey whoever it was had to give some food to the ju ju if they did not make the proper sacrifice the ju ju dragged them down and took them to his home and kept them there to work for him the seven jealous girls knew all about this ju ju having often crossed the river before as they walked about all over the country and had plenty of friends in the different towns akim however who was a good girl and never went anywhere knew nothing about this ju ju which her companions had found outwhen the work was finished they all started off together and crossed the river without any trouble when they had gone a small distance on the other side they saw a small bird perched on a high tree who admired akim very much and sang in praise of her beauty much to the annoyance of the seven girls but they walked on without saying anything and eventually arrived at the town where the play was being held akim had not taken the trouble to change her clothes but when she arrived at the town although her companions had on all their best beads and their finest clothes the young men and people admired akim far more than the other girls and she was declared to be the finest and most beautiful woman at the dance they gave her plenty of palm wine foo foo and everything she wanted so that the seven girls became more angry and jealous than before the people danced and sang all that night but akim managed to keep out of the sight of her parents until the following morning when they asked her how it was that she had disobeyed them and neglected her work so akim told them that the work had all been done by her friends and they had enticed her to come to the play with them her mother then told her to return home at once and that she was not to remain in the town any longerwhen akim told her friends this they said “very well we are just going to have some small meal and then we will return with you” they all then sat down together and had their food but each of the seven jealous girls hid a small quantity of foo foo and fish in her clothes for the water ju ju however akim who knew nothing about this as her parents had forgotten to tell her about the ju ju never thinking for one moment that their daughter would cross the river did not take any food as a sacrifice to the ju ju with herwhen they arrived at the river akim saw the girls making their small sacrifices and begged them to give her a small share so that she could do the same but they refused and all walked across the river safely then when it was akim’s turn to cross when she arrived in the middle of the river the water ju ju caught hold of her and dragged her underneath the water so that she immediately disappeared from sight the seven girls had been watching for this and when they saw that she had gone they went on their way very pleased at the success of their scheme and said to one another “now akim is gone for ever and we shall hear no more about her being better looking than we are”as there was no one to be seen at the time when akim disappeared they naturally thought that their cruel action had escaped detection so they went home rejoicing but they never noticed the little bird high up in the tree who had sung of akim’s beauty when they were on their way to the play the little bird was very sorry for akim and made up his mind that when the proper time came he would tell her parents what he had seen so that perhaps they would be able to save her the bird had heard akim asking for a small portion of the food to make a sacrifice with and had heard all the girls refusing to give her anythe following morning when akim’s parents returned home they were much surprised to find that the door was fastened and that there was no sign of their daughter anywhere about the place so they inquired of their neighbours but no one was able to give them any information about her they then went to the seven girls and asked them what had become of akim they replied that they did not know what had become of her but that she had reached their town safely with them and then said she was going home the father then went to his ju ju man who by casting lots discovered what had happened and told him that on her way back from the play akim had crossed the river without making the customary sacrifice to the water ju ju and that as the ju ju was angry he had seized akim and taken her to his home he therefore told akim’s father to take one goat one basketful of eggs and one piece of white cloth to the river in the morning and to offer them as a sacrifice to the water ju ju then akim would be thrown out of the water seven times but that if her father failed to catch her on the seventh time she would disappear for everakim’s father then returned home and when he arrived there the little bird who had seen akim taken by the water ju ju told him everything that had happened confirming the ju ju’s words

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the moon was a fat woman with a skin of hide and she was full of fat meat she was quite round and in the night used to give plenty of light the moon was sorry for the poor starving old woman so she came to her and said “you may cut some of my meat away for your food” this the old woman did every evening and the moon got smaller and smaller until you could scarcely see her at all of course this made her give very little light and all the people began to grumble in consequence and to ask why it was that the moon was getting so thinat last the people went to the old woman’s house where there happened to be a little girl sleeping she had been there for some little time and had seen the moon come down every evening and the old woman go out with her knife and carve her daily supply of meat out of the moon

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the eldest son was called odey the second yambi and the third atuk these three boys when they grew up helped their father with his fishing and he gradually became wealthy and bought plenty of slaves at last he joined the egbo society and became one of the chiefs of the town even after he became a chief he and his sons still continued to fishone day when he was crossing the river in a small dug out canoe a tornado came on very suddenly and the canoe capsized drowning the chief when his sons heard of the death of their father they wanted to go and drown themselves also but they were persuaded not to by the people after searching for two days they found the dead body some distance down the river and brought it back to the town

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

a very good dinner was laid for the guests and plenty of palm wine was provided when they had commenced to feed the pet cock flew on to the table and began to feed off etim’s plate etim then told one of his servants to seize the cock and tie him up in the house until after the feast so the servant carried the cock to etim’s house and tied him up for safetyafter much eating and drinking etim returned home late at night with his friend ama ukwa and just before they went to bed ama ukwa saw ekpo’s cock tied up so early in the morning he went to ekpo’s house who received him gladlyabout eight o’clock when it was time for ekpo to have his early morning meal he noticed that his pet cock was missing when he remarked upon its absence ama ukwa told him that his brother had seized the cock the previous evening during the dinner and was going to kill it just to see what ekpo would do when ekpo heard this he was very vexed and sent ama ukwa back to his brother to ask him to return the cock immediately instead of delivering the message as he had been instructed ama ukwa told etim that his elder brother was so angry with him for taking away his friend the cock that he would fight him and had sent ama ukwa on purpose to declare war between the two townsetim then told ama ukwa to return to ekpo and say he would be prepared for anything his brother could do ama ukwa then advised ekpo to call all his people in from their farms as etim would attack him and on his return he advised etim to do the same he then arranged a day for the fight to take place between the two brothers and their people

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the witch then turned herself into a young and pretty girl and having armed herself with a very sharp knife which she concealed in her bosom she went to old town calabar to seek the kingit happened that when she arrived there was a big play being held in the town and all the people from the surrounding country had come in to dance and feast oyaikan the witch went to the play and walked about so that every one could see her directly she appeared the people all marvelled at her beauty and said that she was as beautiful as the setting sun when all the sky was red word was quickly brought to king mbotu who it was well known was fond of pretty girls and he sent for her at once all the people agreeing that she was quite worthy of being the king’s wife when she appeared before him he fancied her so much that he told her he would marry her that very day oyaikan was very pleased at this as she had never expected to get her opportunity so quickly she therefore prepared a dainty meal for the king into which she placed a strong medicine to make the king sleep and then went down to the river to washwhen she had finished it was getting dark so she went to the king’s compound carrying her dish on her head and was at once shown in to the king who embraced her affectionately she then offered him the food which she said quite truly she had prepared with her own hands the king ate the whole dish and immediately began to feel very sleepy as the medicine was strong and took effect quicklythey retired to the king’s chamber and the king went to sleep at once about midnight when all the town was quiet oyaikan drew her knife from her bosom and cut the king’s head off she put the head in a bag and went out very softly shutting and barring the door behind her then she walked through the town without any one observing her and went straight to itu where she placed king mbotu’s head before her own kingwhen the people heard that the witch had been successful and that their enemy was dead there was great rejoicing and the king of itu at once made up his mind to attack old town calabar

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

unfortunately after three months the chief died leaving his sorrowing wife to look after their little childthe wife then went into mourning for seven years for her husband and after that time she became entitled to all his property as the late chief had no brothers she looked after the little boy very carefully until he grew up when he became a very fine healthy young man and was much admired by all the pretty girls of the town but his mother warned him strongly not to go with them because they would make him become a bad man whenever the girls had a play they used to invite edet etim and at last he went to the play and they made him beat the drum for them to dance to after much practice he became the best drummer in the town and whenever the girls had a play they always called him to drum for them plenty of the young girls left their husbands and went to edet and asked him to marry them this made all the young men of the town very jealous and when they met together at night they considered what would be the best way to kill him at last they decided that when edet went to bathe they would induce the alligators to take him so one night when he was washing one alligator seized him by the foot and others came and seized him round the waist he fought very hard but at last they dragged him into the deep water and took him to their homewhen his mother heard this she determined to do her best to recover her son so she kept quite quiet until the morningwhen the young men saw that edet’s mother remained quiet and did not cry they thought of the story of the hawk and the owl and determined to keep edet alive for a few monthsat cockcrow the mother raised a cry and went to the grave of her dead husband in order to consult his spirit as to what she had better do to recover her lost son after a time she went down to the beach with small young green branches in her hands with which she beat the water and called upon all the ju jus of the calabar river to help her to recover her son she then went home and got a load of rods and took them to a ju ju man in the farm his name was ininen okon he was so called because he was very artful and had plenty of strong ju juswhen the young boys heard that edet’s mother had gone to ininen okon they all trembled with fear and wanted to return edet but they could not do so as it was against the rules of their society the ju ju man having discovered that edet was still alive and was being detained in the alligators’ house told the mother to be patient after three days ininen himself joined another alligators’ society and went to inspect the young alligators’ house he found a young man whom he knew left on guard when all the alligators had gone to feed at the ebb of the tide and came back and told the mother to wait as he would make a ju ju which would cause them all to depart in seven days and leave no one in the house he made his ju ju and the young alligators said that as no one had come for edet they would all go at the ebb tide to feed and leave no one in charge of the house when they returned they found edet still there and everything as they had left it as ininen had not gone that daythree days afterwards they all went away again and this time went a long way off and did not return quickly when ininen saw that the tide was going down he changed himself into an alligator and swam to the young alligators’ home where he found edet chained to a post he then found an axe and cut the post releasing the boy but edet having been in the water so long was deaf and dumb he then found several loin cloths which had been left behind by the young alligators so he gathered them together and took them away to show to the king and ininen left the place taking edet with himhe then called the mother to see her son but when she came the boy could only look at her and could not speak the mother embraced her boy but he took no notice as he did not seem capable of understanding anything but sat down quietly then the ju ju man told edet’s mother that he would cure her son in a few days so he made several ju jus and gave her son medicine and after a time the boy recovered his speech and became sensible againthen edet’s mother put on a mourning cloth and pretended that her son was dead and did not tell the people he had come back to her when the young alligators returned they found that edet was gone and that some one had taken their loin cloths they were therefore much afraid and made inquiries if edet had been seen but they could hear nothing about him as he was hidden in a farm and the mother continued to wear her mourning cloth in order to deceive themnothing happened for six months and they had quite forgotten all about the matter affiong the mother then went to the chiefs of the town and asked them to hold a large meeting of all the people both young and old at the palaver house so that her late husband’s property might be divided up in accordance with the native custom as her son had been killed by the alligatorsthe next day the chiefs called all the people together but the mother in the early morning took her son to a small room at the back of the palaver house and left him there with the seven loin cloths which the ju ju man had taken from the alligators’ home when the chiefs and all the people were seated affiong stood up and addressed them saying—“chiefs and young men of my town eight years ago my husband was a fine young man he married me and we lived together for many years without having any children at last i had a son but my husband died a few months afterwards i brought my boy up carefully but as he was a good drummer and dancer the young men were jealous and had him caught by the alligators is there any one present who can tell me what my son would have become if he had lived” she then asked them what they thought of the alligator society which had killed so many young menthe chiefs who had lost a lot of slaves told her that if she could produce evidence against any members of the society they would destroy it at once

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

effiong also went to his friends the bush cat and the cock and borrowed two hundred rods from each of them on the same conditions and told each one of them that if he were absent when they arrived they could kill and eat anything they found about the placewhen the appointed day arrived the hunter spread some corn on the ground and then went away and left the house deserted very early in the morning soon after he had begun to crow the cock remembered what the hunter had told him and walked over to the hunter’s house but found no one there on looking round however he saw some corn on the ground and being hungry he commenced to eat about this time the bush cat also arrived and not finding the hunter at home he too looked about and very soon he espied the cock who was busy picking up the grains of corn so the bush cat went up very softly behind and pounced on the cock and killed him at once and began to eat him by this time the goat had come for his money but not finding his friend he walked about until he came upon the bush cat who was so intent upon his meal off the cock that he did not notice the goat approaching and the goat being in rather a bad temper at not getting his money at once charged at the bush cat and knocked him over butting him with his horns this the bush cat did not like at all so as he was not big enough to fight the goat he picked up the remains of the cock and ran off with it to the bush and so lost his money as he did not await the arrival of the hunter the goat was thus left master of the situation and started bleating and this noise attracted the attention of the leopard who was on his way to receive payment from the hunter as he got nearer the smell of goat became very strong and being hungry for he had not eaten anything for some time he approached the goat very carefully not seeing any one about he stalked the goat and got nearer and nearer until he was within springing distance the goat in the meantime was grazing quietly quite unsuspicious of any danger as he was in his friend the hunter’s compound now and then he would say ba but most of the time he was busy eating the young grass and picking up the leaves which had fallen from a tree of which he was very fond suddenly the leopard sprang at the goat and with one crunch at the neck brought him down the goat was dead almost at once and the leopard started on his mealit was now about eight o’clock in the morning and okun the hunter’s friend having had his early morning meal went out with his gun to receive payment of the two hundred rods he had lent to the hunter when he got close to the house he heard a crunching sound and being a hunter himself he approached very cautiously and looking over the fence saw the leopard only a few yards off busily engaged eating the goat

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the sun very often used to visit the water but the water never returned his visits at last the sun asked the water why it was that he never came to see him in his house the water replied that the sun’s house was not big enough and that if he came with his people he would drive the sun outhe then said “if you wish me to visit you you must build a very large compound but i warn you that it will have to be a tremendous place as my people are very numerous and take up a lot of room”{note you can read an illustrated version of this story plus other creation tales in our collection creation tales international tales myths and legends on how the world was created now available on amazon listen to it in audio in the fairytalez audio book app for apple and android devices}the sun promised to build a very big compound and soon afterwards he returned home to his wife the moon who greeted him with a broad smile when he opened the door

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

she also told him that it was she who had called out to him at the lake not to drink as there was a bad ju ju in the water which would have killed him the old woman then took ayong to a stream some little distance from the lake and bending down took out a small shining stone from the water which she gave to him at the same time telling him to go to the place which his father had advised him to visit in his dream she then said “when you get there you must dig and you will find plenty of money you must then go and buy two strong slaves and when you have got them you must take them into the forest away from the town and get them to build you a house with several rooms in it you must then place the stone in one of the rooms and whenever you want anything all you have to do is to go into the room and tell the stone what you want and your wishes will be at once gratified”ayong did as the old woman told him and after much difficulty and danger bought the two slaves and built a house in the forest taking great care of the precious stone which he placed in an inside room then for some time whenever he wanted anything he used to go into the room and ask for a sufficient number of rods to buy what he wanted and they were always brought at oncethis went on for many years and ayong grew up to be a man and became very rich and bought many slaves having made friends with the aro men who in those days used to do a big traffic in slaves after ten years had passed ayong had quite a large town and many slaves but one night the old woman appeared to him in a dream and told him that she thought that he was sufficiently wealthy and that it was time for him to return the magic stone to the small stream from whence it came but ayong although he was rich wanted to rule his father’s house and be a head chief for all the inde country so he sent for all the ju ju men in the country and two witch men and marched with all his slaves to his father’s town before he started he held a big palaver and told them to point out any slave who had a bad heart and who might kill him when he came to rule the country then the ju ju men consulted together and pointed out fifty of the slaves who they said were witches and would try to kill ayong he at once had them made prisoners and tried them by the ordeal of esere bean strong poison to see whether they were witches or not as none of them could vomit the beans they all died and were declared to be witches

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the skull was delighted and went home with her and on his arrival was introduced by the girl to her parents and immediately asked their consent to marry their daughter at first they refused as they did not wish her to marry a stranger but at last they agreedhe lived with afiong for two days in her parents’ house and then said he wished to take his wife back to his country which was far off to this the girl readily agreed as he was such a fine man but her parents tried to persuade her not to go however being very headstrong she made up her mind to go and they started off together after they had been gone a few days the father consulted his ju ju man who by casting lots very soon discovered that his daughter’s husband belonged to the spirit land and that she would surely be killed they therefore all mourned her as deadafter walking for several days afiong and the skull crossed the border between the spirit land and the human country directly they set foot in the spirit land first of all one man came to the skull and demanded his legs then another his head and the next his body and so on until in a few minutes the skull was left by itself in all its natural ugliness at this the girl was very frightened and wanted to return home but the skull would not allow this and ordered her to go with him when they arrived at the skull’s house they found his mother who was a very old woman quite incapable of doing any work who could only creep about afiong tried her best to help her and cooked her food and brought water and firewood for the old woman the old creature was very grateful for these attentions and soon became quite fond of afiongone day the old woman told afiong that she was very sorry for her but all the people in the spirit land were cannibals and when they heard there was a human being in their country they would come down and kill her and eat her the skull’s mother then hid afiong and as she had looked after her so well she promised she would send her back to her country as soon as possible providing that she promised for the future to obey her parents this afiong readily consented to do then the old woman sent for the spider who was a very clever hairdresser and made him dress afiong’s hair in the latest fashion she also presented her with anklets and other things on account of her kindness she then made a ju ju and called the winds to come and convey afiong to her home

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

when the two boys arrived at the respective ages of eighteen and twenty their father died and they were left to look after themselves according to native custom the elder son eyo i was entitled to the whole of his father’s estate but being very fond of his younger brother he gave him a large number of rods and some land with a house immediately essido became possessed of the money he became wilder than ever gave big feasts to his companions and always had his house full of women upon whom he spent large sums although the amount his brother had given him on his father’s death was very large in the course of a few years essido had spent it all he then sold his house and effects and spent the proceeds on feastingwhile he had been living this gay and unprofitable life eyo i had been working harder than ever at his father’s old trade and had made many trips to rio del rey himself almost every week he had canoes laden with yams going down river and returning after about twelve days with shrimps and fish which eyo i himself disposed of in the neighbouring markets and he very rapidly became a rich man at intervals he remonstrated with essido on his extravagance but his warnings had no effect if anything his brother became worse at last the time arrived when all his money was spent so essido went to his brother and asked him to lend him two thousand rods but eyo refused and told essido that he would not help him in any way to continue his present life of debauchery but that if he liked to work on the farm and trade he would give him a fair share of the profits this essido indignantly refused and went back to the town and consulted some of the very few friends he had left as to what was the best thing to dothe men he spoke to were thoroughly bad men and had been living upon essido for a long time they suggested to him that he should go round the town and borrow money from the people he had entertained and then they would run away to akpabryos town which was about four days’ march from calabar this essido did and managed to borrow a lot of money although many people refused to lend him anything then at night he set off with his evil companions who carried his money as they had not been able to borrow any themselves being so well known when they arrived at akpabryos town they found many beautiful women and graceful dancers they then started the same life again until after a few weeks most of the money had gone they then met and consulted together how to get more money and advised essido to return to his rich brother pretending that he was going to work and give up his old life he should then get poison from a man they knew of and place it in his brother’s food so that he would die and then essido would become possessed of all his brother’s wealth and they would be able to live in the same way as they had formerly essido who had sunk very low agreed to this plan and they left akpabryos town the next morning after marching for two days they arrived at a small hut in the bush where a man who was an expert poisoner lived called okponesip he was the head ju ju man of the country and when they had bribed him with eight hundred rods he swore them to secrecy and gave essido a small parcel containing a deadly poison which he said would kill his brother in three months all he had to do was to place the poison in his brother’s foodwhen essido returned to his brother’s house he pretended to be very sorry for his former mode of living and said that for the future he was going to work eyo i was very glad when he heard this and at once asked his brother in and gave him new clothes and plenty to eatin the evening when supper was being prepared essido went into the kitchen pretending he wanted to get a light from the fire for his pipe the cook being absent and no one about he put the poison in the soup and then returned to the living room he then asked for some tombo which was brought and when he had finished it he said he did not want any supper and went to sleep his brother eyo i had supper by himself and consumed all the soup in a week’s time he began to feel very ill and as the days passed he became worse so he sent for his ju ju manwhen essido saw him coming he quietly left the house but the ju ju man by casting lots very soon discovered that it was essido who had given poison to his brother when he told eyo i this he would not believe it and sent him away

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

as soon as he came near the elephant’s eye with one quick scoop of the sharp knife he had the elephant’s right eye out the elephant trumpeted with pain but the tortoise gave him some of the dried kernels and shrimps and they so pleased the elephant’s palate that he soon forgot the painvery soon the elephant said “that food is so sweet i must have some more” but the tortoise told him that before he could have any the other eye must come out to this the elephant agreed so the tortoise quickly got his knife to work and very soon the elephant’s left eye was on the ground thus leaving the elephant quite blind the tortoise then slid down the elephant’s trunk on to the ground and hid himself the elephant then began to make a great noise and started pulling trees down and doing much damage calling out for the tortoise but of course he never answered and the elephant could not find himthe next morning when the elephant heard the people passing he asked them what the time was and the bush buck who was nearest shouted out “the sun is now up and i am going to market to get some yams and fresh leaves for my food”then the elephant perceived that the tortoise had deceived him and began to ask all the passers by to lend him a pair of eyes as he could not see but every one refused as they wanted their eyes themselves at last the worm grovelled past and seeing the big elephant greeted him in his humble way

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

whenever the lightning did these things his mother used to call out to him in a very loud voice to stop and not to do any more damage but the lightning did not care in the least for what his mother said and when he was in a bad temper used to do a very large amount of damage at last the people could not stand it any longer and complained to the kingso the king made a special order that the sheep thunder and her son the ram lightning should leave the town and live in the far bush this did not do much good as when the ram got angry he still burnt the forest and the flames sometimes spread to the farms and consumed themso the people complained again and the king banished both the lightning and the thunder from the earth and made them live in the sky where they could not cause so much destruction

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

at last the mother agreed and he took his wife awaywhen he arrived at his house his other wife immediately became very jealous because when there was work to be done firewood to be collected or water to be carried the fat woman stayed at home and never helped as she was frightened of the heatone day when the husband was absent the jealous wife abused the fat woman so much that she finally agreed to go and work on the farm although her little sister whom she had brought from home with her implored her not to go reminding her that their mother had always told them ever since they were born that she would melt away if she went into the sun all the way to the farm the fat woman managed to keep in the shade and when they arrived at the farm the sun was very hot so the fat woman remained in the shade of a big tree when the jealous wife saw this she again began abusing her and asked her why she did not do her share of the work at last she could stand the nagging no longer and although her little sister tried very hard to prevent her the fat woman went out into the sun to work and immediately began to melt away there was very soon nothing left of her but one big toe which had been covered by a leaf this her little sister observed and with tears in her eyes she picked up the toe which was all that remained of the fat woman and having covered it carefully with leaves placed it in the bottom of her basket when she arrived at the house the little sister placed the toe in an earthen pot filled it with water and covered the top up with claywhen the husband returned he said “where is my fat wife” and the little sister crying bitterly told him that the jealous woman had made her go out into the sun and that she had melted away

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

they took off their clothes to wash close to the spring and where there was a deep hole which led to the water ju ju’s house the slave girl knew of this ju ju and thought if she could get her mistress to bathe she would be taken by the ju ju and she would then be able to take her place and marry akpan so they went down to bathe and when they were close to the water the slave girl pushed her mistress in and she at once disappeared the little girl then began to cry but the slave girl said “if you cry any more i will kill you at once and throw your body into the hole after your sister” and she told the child that she must never mention what had happened to any one and particularly not to akpan as she was going to represent her sister and marry him and that if she ever told any one what she had seen she would be killed at once she then made the little girl carry her load to akpan’s housewhen they arrived akpan was very much disappointed at the slave girl’s appearance as she was not nearly as pretty and fine as he had expected her to be but as he had not seen emme for seven years he had no suspicion that the girl was not really emme for whom he had paid such a large dowry he then called all his company together to play and feast and when they arrived they were much astonished and said “is this the fine woman for whom you paid so much dowry and whom you told us so much about” and akpan could not answer themthe slave girl was then for some time very cruel to emme’s little sister and wanted her to die so that her position would be more secure with her husband she beat the little girl every day and always made her carry the largest water pot to the spring she also made the child place her finger in the fire to use as firewood when the time came for food the slave girl went to the fire and got a burning piece of wood and burned the child all over the body with it when akpan asked her why she treated the child so badly she replied that she was a slave that her father had bought for her when the little girl took the heavy water pot to the river to fill it there was no one to lift it up for her so that she could not get it on to her head she therefore had to remain a long time at the spring and at last began calling for her sister emme to come and help herwhen emme heard her little sister crying for her she begged the water ju ju to allow her to go and help her so he told her she might go but that she must return to him again immediately when the little girl saw her sister she did not want to leave her and asked to be allowed to go into the hole with her she then told emme how very badly she had been treated by the slave girl and her elder sister told her to have patience and wait that a day of vengeance would arrive sooner or later the little girl went back to akpan’s house with a glad heart as she had seen her sister but when she got to the house the slave girl said “why have you been so long getting the water” and then took another stick from the fire and burnt the little girl again very badly and starved her for the rest of the daythis went on for some time until one day when the child went to the river for water after all the people had gone she cried out for her sister as usual but she did not come for a long time as there was a hunter from akpan’s town hidden near watching the hole and the water ju ju told emme that she must not go but as the little girl went on crying bitterly emme at last persuaded the ju ju to let her go promising to return quickly when she emerged from the water she looked very beautiful with the rays of the setting sun shining on her glistening body she helped her little sister with her water pot and then disappeared into the hole againthe hunter was amazed at what he had seen and when he returned he told akpan what a beautiful woman had come out of the water and had helped the little girl with her water pot he also told akpan that he was convinced that the girl he had seen at the spring was his proper wife emme and that the water ju ju must have taken herakpan then made up his mind to go out and watch and see what happened so in the early morning the hunter came for him and they both went down to the river and hid in the forest near the water holewhen akpan saw emme come out of the water he recognised her at once and went home and considered how he should get her out of the power of the water ju ju he was advised by some of his friends to go to an old woman who frequently made sacrifices to the water ju ju and consult her as to what was the best thing to dowhen he went to her she told him to bring her one white slave one white goat one piece of white cloth one white chicken and a basket of eggs then when the great ju ju day arrived she would take them to the water ju ju and make a sacrifice of them on his behalf the day after the sacrifice was made the water ju ju would return the girl to her and she would bring her to akpanakpan then bought the slave and took all the other things to the old woman and when the day of the sacrifice arrived he went with his friend the hunter and witnessed the old woman make the sacrifice

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

let us sit down under this shady tree and if you will make a fire i will go to my house and get pepper oil and salt and then we will feed together”to this the leopard agreed and began to search about for dry wood and started the fire in the meantime the tortoise waddled off to his house and very soon returned with the pepper salt and oil he also brought a long piece of cane tie tie which is very strong this he put on the ground and began boiling the fish then he said to the leopard“while we are waiting for the fish to cook let us play at tying one another up to a tree you may tie me up first and when i say ‘tighten’ you must loose the rope and when i say ‘loosen’ you must tighten the rope”the leopard who was very hungry thought that this game would make the time pass more quickly until the fish was cooked so he said he would play the tortoise then stood with his back to the tree and said “loosen the rope” and the leopard in accordance with the rules of the game began to tie up the tortoise very soon the tortoise shouted out “tighten” and the leopard at once unfastened the tie tie and the tortoise was free the tortoise then said “now leopard it is your turn” so the leopard stood up against the tree and called out to the tortoise to loosen the rope and the tortoise at once very quickly passed the rope several times round the leopard and got him fast to the tree then the leopard said “tighten the rope” but instead of playing the game in accordance with the rules he had laid down the tortoise ran faster and faster with the rope round the leopard taking great care however to keep out of reach of the leopard’s claws and very soon had the leopard so securely fastened that it was quite impossible for him to free himselfall this time the leopard was calling out to the tortoise to let him go as he was tired of the game but the tortoise only laughed and sat down at the fireside and commenced his meal when he had finished he packed up the remainder of the fish for his family and prepared to go but before he started he said to the leopard“you killed my mother and now you want to take my fish it is not likely that i am going to the lake to get fish for you so i shall leave you here to starve”he then threw the remains of the pepper and salt into the leopard’s eyes and quietly went on his way leaving the leopard roaring with painall that day and throughout the night the leopard was calling out for some one to release him and vowing all sorts of vengeance on the tortoise but no one came as the people and animals of the forest do not like to hear the leopard’s voicein the morning when the animals began to go about to get their food the leopard called out to every one he saw to come and untie him but they all refused as they knew that if they did so the leopard would most likely kill them at once and eat them at last a bush rat came near and saw the leopard tied up to the tree and asked him what was the matter so the leopard told him that he had been playing a game of “tight” and “loose” with the tortoise and that he had tied him up and left him there to starve the leopard then implored the bush rat to cut the ropes with his sharp teeth the bush rat was very sorry for the leopard but at the same time he knew that if he let the leopard go he would most likely be killed and eaten so he hesitated and said that he did not quite see his way to cutting the ropes

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

when the soup was brought it was as strong and good as usual as the bat had prepared it beforehandthe bush rat then went home and told his wife that he was going to make good soup like the bat’s he therefore told her to boil some water which she did then when his wife was not looking he jumped into the pot and was very soon deadwhen his wife looked into the pot and saw the dead body of her husband boiling she was very angry and reported the matter to the king who gave orders that the bat should be made a prisoner

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the hawk then flew over a lot of country and went from forest to forest until at last he found a young owl which had tumbled out of its nest this the hawk brought to the king who told him that for the future he might eat owls the hawk then carried the owlet away and told his friends what the king had saidone of the wisest of them said “tell me when you seized the young owlet what did the parents say” and the hawk replied that the father and mother owls kept quite quiet and never said anything the hawk’s friend then advised him to return the owlet to his parents as he could never tell what the owls would do to him in the night time and as they had made no noise they were no doubt plotting in their minds some deep and cruel revengethe next day the hawk carried the owlet back to his parents and left him near the nest he then flew about trying to find some other bird which would do as his food but as all the birds had heard that the hawk had seized the owlet they hid themselves and would not come out when the hawk was near he therefore could not catch any birdsas he was flying home he saw a lot of fowls near a house basking in the sun and scratching in the dust there were also several small chickens running about and chasing insects or picking up anything they could find to eat with the old hen following them and clucking and calling to them from time to time

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the king was an obstinate headstrong man but was very fond of the cat who had been in his store for many yearsthe rat who was very poor fell in love with one of the king’s servant girls but was unable to give her any presents as he had no moneyat last he thought of the king’s store so in the night time being quite small he had little difficulty having made a hole in the roof in getting into the store he then stole corn and native pears and presented them to his sweetheartat the end of the month when the cat had to render her account of the things in the store to the king it was found that a lot of corn and native pears were missing the king was very angry at this and asked the cat for an explanation but the cat could not account for the loss until one of her friends told her that the rat had been stealing the corn and giving it to the girlwhen the cat told the king he called the girl before him and had her flogged

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

he would therefore forgive his sonwhen the people saw the girl they agreed that she was very fine and quite worthy of being the prince’s wife and begged the king to cancel the law he had made altogether and the king agreed and as the law had been made under the “egbo” law he sent for eight egbos and told them that the order was cancelled throughout his kingdom and that for the future no one would be killed who had a daughter more beautiful than the prince’s wives and gave the egbos palm wine and money to remove the law and sent them away then he declared that the tortoise’s daughter adet should marry his son and he made them marry the same day a great feast was then given which lasted for fifty days and the king killed five cows and gave all the people plenty of foo foo and palm oil chop and placed a large number of pots of palm wine in the streets for the people to drink as they liked the women brought a big play to the king’s compound and there was singing and dancing kept up day and night during the whole time the prince and his companions also played in the market square when the feast was over the king gave half of his kingdom to the tortoise to rule over and three hundred slaves to work on his farm the prince also gave his father in law two hundred women and one hundred girls to work for him so the tortoise became one of the richest men in the kingdom the prince and his wife lived together for a good many years until the king died when the prince ruled in his place and all this shows that the tortoise is the wisest of all men and animalsmoral—always have pretty daughters as no matter how poor they may be there is always the chance that the king’s son may fall in love with them and they may thus become members of the royal house and obtain much wealth

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

when the two hippo wives came along the first one knocked her foot against the tortoise’s shell and immediately called out to her husband “oh isantim my husband i have hurt my foot” at this the tortoise was very glad and went joyfully home as he had found out the hippo’s namewhen the next feast was given by the hippo he made the same condition about his name so the tortoise got up and said “you promise you will not kill me if i tell you your name” and the hippo promised the tortoise then shouted as loud as he was able “your name is isantim” at which a cheer went up from all the people and then they sat down to their dinnerwhen the feast was over the hippo with his seven wives in accordance with his promise went down to the river and they have always lived in the water from that day till now and although they come on shore to feed at night you never find a hippo on the land in the daytime

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

when the fighting was at its hottest the other chiefs sent out all the egbo men with drums and stopped the fight and the next day the palaver was tried in egbo house king archibong was found guilty and was ordered to pay six thousand rods to king duke he refused to pay this amount to duke and said he would rather go on fighting but he did not mind paying the six thousand rods to the town as the egbos had decided the case they were about to commence fighting again when the whole country rose up and said they would not have any more fighting as archibong said to duke that the woman’s death was not really the fault of his slave okun archibong but of effiong edem who made the false report when duke heard this he agreed to leave the whole matter to the chiefs to decide and effiong edem was called to take his place on the stone he was tried and found guilty and two egbos came out armed with cutting whips and gave him two hundred lashes on his bare back and then cut off his head and sent it to duke who placed it before his ju ju from that time to the present all apes and monkeys have been frightened of human beings and even of little children the egbos also passed a law that a chief should not allow one of his men slaves to marry a woman slave of another house as it would probably lead to fighting

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

so the king sent for the parents of the hen and told them they must repay to the hawk the amount of dowry they had received from him on the marriage of their daughter according to the native custom but the hen’s parents said that they were so poor that they could not possibly afford to pay so the king told the hawk that he could kill and eat any of the cock’s children whenever and wherever he found them as payment of his dowry and if the cock made any complaint the king would not listen to himfrom that time until now whenever a hawk sees a chicken he swoops down and carries it off in part payment of his dowry

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

directly the tortoise saw him coming up he unwound the rope and walked down towards the hippopotamus showing him the tie tie round his leg the hippo had to acknowledge that the tortoise was too strong for him and reluctantly handed over the twenty thousand rodsthe elephant and the hippo then agreed that they would take the tortoise as their friend as he was so very strong but he was not really so strong as they thought and had won because he was so cunninghe then told them that he would like to live with both of them but that as he could not be in two places at the same time he said that he would leave his son to live with the elephant on the land and that he himself would live with the hippopotamus in the waterthis explains why there are both tortoises on the land and tortoises who live in the water the water tortoise is always much the bigger of the two as there is plenty of fish for him to eat in the river whereas the land tortoise is often very short of food

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

when the case was tried ituen was found guilty and the king told the eight egbo men to take him into the bush and deal with him according to native custom the egbos then took ituen into the bush and tied him up to a tree then with a sharp knife they cut off his lower jaw and carried it to the kingwhen the queen heard the fate of her lover she was very sad and cried for three days this made the king angry so he told the egbos to deal with his wife and her servant according to their law they took the queen and the servant into the bush where ituen was still tied up to the tree dying and in great pain then as the queen had nothing to say in her defence they tied her and the girl up to different trees and cut the queen’s lower jaw off in the same way as they had her lover’s the egbos then put out both the eyes of the servant and left all three to die of starvation the king then made an egbo law that for the future no one belonging to ituen’s family was to go into the market on market day and that no one was to pick up the rubbish in the market the king made an exception to the law in favour of the vulture and the dog who were not considered very fine people and would not be likely to run off with one of the king’s wives and that is why you still find vultures and dogs doing scavenger in the market places even at the present time

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the tortoise when he had thanked the king for his generosity went home to his wife and told her to bring her calabashes to the tree she did so and they gathered plenty of foo foo and soup quite sufficient for the whole family for that day and went back to their house very happythat night they all feasted and enjoyed themselves but one of the sons who was very greedy thought to himself—“i wonder where my father gets all this good food from i must ask him”so in the morning he said to his father—“tell me where do you get all this foo foo and soup from”but his father refused to tell him as his wife who was a cunning woman said—“if we let our children know the secret of the foo foo tree some day when they are hungry after we have got our daily supply one of them may go to the tree and gather more which will break the ju ju”but the envious son being determined to get plenty of food for himself decided to track his father to the place where he obtained the food this was rather difficult to do as the tortoise always went out alone and took the greatest care to prevent any one following him the boy however soon thought of a plan and got a calabash with a long neck and a hole in the end he filled the calabash with wood ashes which he obtained from the fire and then got a bag which his father always carried on his back when he went out to get food in the bottom of the bag the boy then made a small hole and inserted the calabash with the neck downwards so that when his father walked to the foo foo tree he would leave a small trail of wood ashes behind him then when his father having slung his bag over his back as usual set out to get the daily supply of food his greedy son followed the trail of the wood ashes taking great care to hide himself and not to let his father perceive that he was being followed at last the tortoise arrived at the tree and placed his calabashes on the ground and collected the food for the day the boy watching him from a distance when his father had finished and went home the boy also returned and having had a good meal said nothing to his parents but went to bed the next morning he got some of his brothers and after his father had finished getting the daily supply they went to the tree and collected much foo foo and soup and so broke the ju juat daylight the tortoise went to the tree as usual but he could not find it as during the night the whole bush had grown up and the foo foo tree was hidden from sight there was nothing to be seen but a dense mass of prickly tie tie palm then the tortoise at once knew that some one had broken the ju ju and had gathered foo foo from the tree twice in the same day so he returned very sadly to his house and told his wife he then called all his family together and told them what had happened and asked them who had done this evil thing they all denied having had anything to do with the tree so the tortoise in despair brought all his family to the place where the foo foo tree had been but which was now all prickly tie tie palm and said—“my dear wife and children i have done all that i can for you but you have broken my ju ju you must therefore for the future live on the tie tie palm”so they made their home underneath the prickly tree and from that day you will always find tortoises living under the prickly tie tie palm as they have nowhere else to go to for food

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the scavenger hawks were too gorged and lazy to take much interest in the proceedings and were quietly ignored by the fighting tribe who were very busy circling and swooping on one another with much whistling going on higher and higher they went until they disappeared out of sight then a few would return to earth some of them badly torn and with many feathers missingat last the fishing eagle said—“when you have quite finished with this foolishness please tell me and if any of you fancy yourselves at all come to me and i will settle your chances of being elected head chief once and for all” but when they saw his terrible beak and cruel claws knowing his great strength and ferocity they stopped fighting between themselves and acknowledged the fishing eagle to be their masteressiya then declared that ituen which was the name of the fishing eagle was the head chief of all the birds and should thenceforward be known as the king birdfrom that time to the present day whenever the young men of the country go to fight they always wear three of the long black and white feathers of the king bird in their hair one on each side and one in the middle as they are believed to impart much courage and skill to the wearer and if a young man is not possessed of any of these feathers when he goes out to fight he is looked upon as a very small boy indeed

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

and this was done and aida unen returned to her parentsthat night the king’s third wife who was a friend of adia unen’s talked the whole matter over with the king and explained to him that it was entirely owing to the jealousy of his head wife that adia unen had been disgraced she also told him that the whole thing had been arranged beforehand in order that the king should get rid of adia unen of whom all the other wives were jealous when the king heard this he was very angry and made up his mind to send the jealous woman back to her parents empty handed without her clothes and presents when she arrived at her father’s house the parents refused to take her in as she had been given as a wife to the king and whenever the parents wanted anything they could always get it at the palace it was therefore a great loss to them she was thus turned into the streets and walked about very miserable and after a time died very poor and starvingthe king grieved so much at having been compelled to send his favourite wife adia unen away that he died the following year and when the people saw that their king had died of a broken heart they passed a law that for the future no one should marry any bird or animal

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the king then addressed the people and said that he had called them together to hear a strong palaver at the request of the young man who had been the victor of the wrestling and who had promised that if the case went against him he would offer up his life to the egbo the king also said that if on the other hand the case was decided in the boy’s favour then the other party would be killed even though it were himself or one of his wives whoever it was would have to take his or her place on the killing stone and have their heads cut off by the egbos to this all the people agreed and said they would like to hear what the young man had to say the young man then walked round the square and bowed to the king and the people and asked the question “am i not worthy to be the son of any chief in the country” and all the people answered “yes”the boy then brought his sister out into the middle leading her by the hand she was a beautiful girl and well made when every one had looked at her he said “is not my sister worthy to be any chief’s daughter” and the people replied that she was worthy of being any one’s daughter even the king’s then he called his mother adiaha and she came out looking very beautiful with her best cloth and beads on and all the people cheered as they had never seen a finer woman the boy then asked them “is this woman worthy of being the king’s wife” and a shout went up from every one present that she would be a proper wife for the king and looked as if she would be the mother of plenty of fine healthy sonsthen the boy pointed out the jealous woman who was sitting next to the king and told the people his story how that his mother who had two skins was the spider’s daughter how she had married the king and how the head wife was jealous and had made a bad ju ju for the king which made him forget his wife how she had persuaded the king to throw himself and his sister into the river which as they all knew had been done but the water ju ju had saved both of them and had brought them upthen the boy said “i leave the king and all of you people to judge my case if i have done wrong let me be killed on the stone by the egbos if on the other hand the woman has done evil then let the egbos deal with her as you may decide”when the king knew that the wrestler was his son he was very glad and told the egbos to take the jealous woman away and punish her in accordance with their laws the egbos decided that the woman was a witch so they took her into the forest and tied her up to a stake and gave her two hundred lashes with a whip made from hippopotamus hide and then burnt her alive so that she should not make any more trouble and her ashes were thrown into the river the king then embraced his wife and daughter and told all the people that she adiaha was his proper wife and would be the queen for the futurewhen the palaver was over adiaha was dressed in fine clothes and beads and carried back in state to the palace by the king’s servantsthat night the king gave a big feast to all his subjects and told them how glad he was to get back his beautiful wife whom he had never known properly before also his son who was stronger than all men and his fine daughter the feast continued for a hundred and sixty six days and the king made a law that if any woman was found out getting medicine against her husband she should be killed at once then the king built three new compounds and placed many slaves in them both men and women one compound he gave to his wife another to his son and the third he gave to his daughter they all lived together quite happily for some years until the king died when his son came to the throne and ruled in his stead

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the tortoise then got up and ate all the food when he had finished he carried the bat back again and took some of the palm oil and foo foo and placed it inside the bat’s lips while he was asleep then the tortoise went to sleep himself in the morning when he woke up the bat was more hungry than ever and in a very bad temper so he sought out his mother in law and started scolding her and asked her why she had not brought his food as he had told her to do she replied she had brought his food and that he had eaten it but this the bat denied and accused the tortoise of having eaten the food the woman then said she would call the people in and they should decide the matter but the tortoise slipped out first and told the people that the best way to find out who had eaten the food was to make both the bat and himself rinse their mouths out with clean water into a basin this they decided to do so the tortoise got his tooth stick which he always used and having cleaned his teeth properly washed his mouth out and returned to the housewhen all the people had arrived the woman told them how the bat had abused her and as he still maintained stoutly that he had had no food for five days the people said that both he and the tortoise should wash their mouths out with clean water into two clean calabashes this was done and at once it could clearly be seen that the bat had been eating as there were distinct traces of the palm oil and foo foo which the tortoise had put inside his lips floating on the water when the people saw this they decided against the bat and he was so ashamed that he ran away then and there and has ever since always hidden himself in the bush during the daytime so that no one could see him and only comes out at night to get his foodthe next day the tortoise returned to the mother sheep and told her what he had done and that the bat was for ever disgraced the old sheep praised him very much and told all her friends in consequence of which the reputation of the tortoise for wisdom was greatly increased throughout the whole country

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

this he did and the king held a big palaver at which the leopard stated his case quite shortly but when the fish was put upon his defence he had nothing to say so the king addressing his subjects said “this is a very bad case as the fish has been the leopard’s friend and has been trusted by him but the fish has taken advantage of his friend’s absence and has betrayed him” the king therefore made an order that for the future the fish should live in the water and that if he ever came on the land he should die he also said that all men and animals should kill and eat the fish whenever they could catch him as a punishment for his behaviour with his friend’s wife

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

she was also not to turn round if any one called to her but was to go straight on till she reached her father’s househaving thanked the skull for his kind advice the king’s daughter started off and when she reached the end of the town and found the road she ran for three hours and at last arrived at the branch roads there she dropped the medicine as she had been instructed and the two roads immediately became one so she went straight on and never saluted any one or turned back although several people called to herabout this time the spirit man had returned from the wood and went to the house only to find the king’s daughter was absent he asked the skull where she was and he replied that she had gone out by the back door but he did not know where she had gone to being a spirit however he very soon guessed that she had gone home so he followed as quickly as possible shouting out all the timewhen the girl heard his voice she ran as fast as she could and at last arrived at her father’s house and told him to take at once a cow a pig a sheep a goat a dog a chicken and seven eggs and cut them into seven parts as a sacrifice and leave them on the road so that when the spirit man saw these things he would stop and not enter the town this the king did immediately and made the sacrifice as his daughter had told himwhen the spirit man saw the sacrifice on the road he sat down and at once began to eatwhen he had satisfied his appetite he packed up the remainder and returned to the spirit land not troubling any more about the king’s daughterwhen the king saw that the danger was over he beat his drum and declared that for the future when people died and went to the spirit land they should not come to earth again as spirits to cure sick people

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

this caused great wonder and as they did not like the idea of their dead relations being taken away they made a complaint to king agbor he at once caused a watch to be set on all newly dug graves and that very night they caught seven men who were very greedy and used to come whenever a body was buried dig it up and carry it into the bush where they made a fire and cooked and ate itwhen they were caught the people made them show where they lived and where they cooked the bodiesafter walking for some hours in the forest they came to a place where large heaps of human bones and skulls were foundthe seven men were then securely fastened up and brought before king agbor who held a large palaver of all the towns and the whole situation was discussedagbor said that this bad custom would necessitate all the towns separating as they could not allow their dead relations to be dug up and eaten by these greedy people and he could see no other way to prevent it agbor then gave one of the men to each of the seven towns and told some of them to go on the far side of the big river and make their towns there the others were to go farther down the river on the same side as insofan mountain and when they found suitable places they were each to kill their man as a sacrifice and then build their townall the towns then departed and when they had found good sites they built their towns therewhen they had all gone after a time agbor began to feel very lonely so he left the site of his old town and also went to the cross river to live so that he could see his friendsafter that the new yam feast was held in each town and the people still continued to kill and eat a few slaves at the feast but the bodies of their relations and friends were kept for a long time above ground until they had become rotten so that the greedy people should not dig them up and eat themthis is why even at the present time the people do not like to bury their dead relations until they have become putrid

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

as the king was so fond of adit and the two children and did not want them to be killed he gladly consented and the ‘nsiat bird took the whole of his family as well as adit and her two children away and left the earth to live and make their home in the trees but as they had formerly lived in the town with all the people they did not like to go into the forest so they made their nests in the trees which grew in the town and that is why you always see the ‘nsiat birds living and making their nests only in places where human beings are the black birds are the cocks and the golden coloured ones are the hens it was the beautiful colour of adit which first attracted the attention of ‘ndarake and caused him to marry her

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

when he was safely inside he would call out to his friend the odudu and ask him if he felt hungry and told him that he must bear it well if he wanted to win as he the ‘nsasak bird was very fit and could go on for a long timefor several days this went on the voice of the odudu bird growing weaker and weaker every night until at last he could no longer reply then the little bird knew that his friend must be dead he was very sorry but could not report the matter as he was supposed to be confined inside his housewhen the seven days had expired the king came and had both the doors of the houses opened the ‘nsasak bird at once flew out and perching on a branch of a tree which grew near sang most merrily but the odudu bird was found to be quite dead and there was very little left of him as the ants had eaten most of his body leaving only the feathers and bones on the floorthe king therefore at once appointed the ‘nsasak bird to be the head chief of all the small birds and in the ibibio country even to the present time the small boys who have bows and arrows are presented with a prize which sometimes takes the shape of a female goat if they manage to shoot a ‘nsasak bird as the ‘nsasak bird is the king of the small birds and most difficult to shoot on account of his wiliness and his small size

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

after a time however he remembered that he had a message to deliver but forgot what it was exactly so as he went about among the people he told them that the message the creator had given him to tell the people was that whenever any one died they should be buried underneath the grounda little time afterwards the dog remembered his message so he ran into the town and told the people that they were to place wood ashes on the dead bodies and leave them in the compound and that they would come to life again after twenty four hours but the people would not believe him and said “we have already received the word from the creator by the sheep that all dead bodies should be buried” in consequence of this the dead bodies are now always buried and the dog is much disliked and not trusted as a messenger as if he had not found the bone in the old woman’s house and forgotten his message the dead people might still be alive

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

it is now his turn and he has hidden his mother away in a tree”at this the leopard was very angry and told the squirrel to lead him at once to the tree where the tortoise’s mother lived but the squirrel said“the tortoise only goes at daylight when his mother lets down a basket so if you go in the morning early she will pull you up and you can then kill her”to this the leopard agreed and the next morning the squirrel came at cockcrow and led the leopard to the tree where the tortoise’s mother was hidden the old lady had already let down the basket for her daily supply of food and the leopard got into it and gave the line a pull but except a few small jerks nothing happened as the old mother tortoise was not strong enough to pull a heavy leopard off the ground when the leopard saw that he was not going to be pulled up being an expert climber he scrambled up the tree and when he got to the top he found the poor old tortoise whose shell was so tough that he thought she was not worth eating so he threw her down on to the ground in a violent temper and then came down himself and went homeshortly after this the tortoise arrived at the tree and finding the basket on the ground gave his usual tug at it but there was no answer he then looked about and after a little time came upon the broken shell of his poor old mother who by this time was quite dead the tortoise knew at once that the leopard had killed his mother and made up his mind that for the future he would live alone and have nothing to do with the other animals

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the fight was over in a very few minutes as the worms were bitten in pieces by the sharp pincer like mouths of the driver ants the few worms who survived squirmed away and buried themselves out of sightking eyo decided that the driver ants were easy winners and ever since the worms have always been afraid and have lived underground and if they happen to come to the surface after the rain they hide themselves under the ground whenever anything approaches as they fear all people

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

he also said that it was entirely the fault of the seven girls who had refused to give akim any food to make the sacrifice withearly the following morning the parents went to the river and made the sacrifice as advised by the ju ju immediately they had done so the water ju ju threw akim up from the middle of the river her father caught her at once and returned home very thankfullyhe never told any one however that he had recovered his daughter but made up his mind to punish the seven jealous girls so he dug a deep pit in the middle of his house and placed dried palm leaves and sharp stakes in the bottom of the pit he then covered the top of the pit with new mats and sent out word for all people to come and hold a play to rejoice with him as he had recovered his daughter from the spirit land many people came and danced and sang all the day and night but the seven jealous girls did not appear as they were frightened however as they were told that everything had gone well on the previous day and that there had been no trouble they went to the house the following morning and mixed with the dancers but they were ashamed to look akim in the face who was sitting down in the middle of the dancing ringwhen akim’s father saw the seven girls he pretended to welcome them as his daughter’s friends and presented each of them with a brass rod which he placed round their necks he also gave them tombo to drinkhe then picked them out and told them to go and sit on mats on the other side of the pit he had prepared for them when they walked over the mats which hid the pit they all fell in and akim’s father immediately got some red hot ashes from the fire and threw them in on top of the screaming girls who were in great pain at once the dried palm leaves caught fire killing all the girls at oncewhen the people heard the cries and saw the smoke they all ran back to the townthe next day the parents of the dead girls went to the head chief and complained that akim’s father had killed their daughters so the chief called him before him and asked him for an explanationakim’s father went at once to the chief taking the ju ju man whom everybody relied upon and the small bird as his witnesseswhen the chief had heard the whole case he told akim’s father that he should only have killed one girl to avenge his daughter and not seven so he told the father to bring akim before himwhen she arrived the head chief seeing how beautiful she was said that her father was justified in killing all the seven girls on her behalf so he dismissed the case and told the parents of the dead girls to go away and mourn for their daughters who had been wicked and jealous women and had been properly punished for their cruel behaviour to akimmoral—never kill a man or a woman because you are envious of their beauty as if you do you will surely be punished

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

as she was very frightened she told the people all about it so they determined to set a watch on the movements of the old womanthat very night the moon came down as usual and the old woman went out with her knife and basket to get her food but before she could carve any meat all the people rushed out shouting and the moon was so frightened that she went back again into the sky and never came down again to the earth the old woman was left to starve in the bushever since that time the moon has hidden herself most of the day as she was so frightened and she still gets very thin once a month but later on she gets fat again and when she is quite fat she gives plenty of light all the night but this does not last very long and she begins to get thinner and thinner in the same way as she did when the old woman was carving her meat from her

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

they then called their company together to play dance and sing for twelve days in accordance with their native custom and much palm wine was drunkwhen the play was finished they took their father’s body to a hollowed out cavern and placed two live slaves with it one holding a native lamp of palm oil and the other holding a matchet they were both tied up so that they could not escape and were left there to keep watch over the dead chief until they died of starvationwhen the cave was covered in the sons called the chiefs together and they played egbo for seven days which used up a lot of their late father’s money when the play was over the chiefs were surprised at the amount of money which the sons had been able to spend on the funeral of their father as they knew how poor he had been as a young man they therefore called him the lucky fisherman

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

etim then marched his men to the other side of the creek and waited for his brother so ama ukwa went to ekpo and told him that etim had got all his people together and was waiting to fight ekpo then led his men against his brother and there was a big battle many men being killed on both sides the fighting went on all day until at last towards evening the other chiefs of calabar met and determined to stop it so they called the egbo men together and sent them out with their drums and eventually the fight stoppedthree days later a big palaver was held when each of the brothers was told to state his case when they had done so it was found that ama ukwa had caused the quarrel and the chiefs ordered that he should be killed his father who was a rich man offered to give the egbos five thousand rods five cows and seven slaves to redeem his son but they decided to refuse his offerthe next day after being severely flogged he was left for twenty four hours tied up to a tree and the following day his head was cut offekpo was then ordered to kill his pet cock so that it should not cause any further trouble between himself and his brother and a law was passed that for the future no one should keep a pet cock or any other tame animal

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

he therefore got his fighting men together and took them in canoes by the creeks to old town taking care that no one carried word to calabar that he was comingthe morning following the murder of mbotu his people were rather surprised that he did not appear at his usual time so his head wife knocked at his door not receiving any answer she called the household together and they broke open the door when they entered the room they found the king lying dead on his bed covered in blood but his head was missing at this a great shout went up and the whole town mourned although they missed the pretty stranger they never connected her in their minds with the death of their king and were quite unsuspicious of any danger and were unprepared for fighting in the middle of the mourning while they were all dancing crying and drinking palm wine the king of itu with all his soldiers attacked old town taking them quite by surprise and as their leader was dead the calabar people were very soon defeated and many killed and taken prisonersmoral—never marry a stranger no matter how pretty she may be

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

she then called upon ininen to appear with her son edet he came out from the room leading edet by the hand and placed the bundle of loin cloths before the chiefsthe young men were very much surprised when they saw edet and wanted to leave the palaver house but when they stood up to go the chiefs told them to sit down at once or they would receive three hundred lashes they then sat down and the ju ju man explained how he had gone to the alligators’ home and had brought edet back to his mother he also said that he had found the seven loin cloths in the house but he did not wish to say anything about them as the owners of some of the cloths were sons of the chiefsthe chiefs who were anxious to stop the bad society told him however to speak at once and tell them everything then he undid the bundle and took the cloths out one by one at the same time calling upon the owners to come and take them when they came to take their cloths they were told to remain where they were and they were then told to name their company the seven young men then gave the names of all the members of their society thirty two in all these men were all placed in a line and the chiefs then passed sentence which was that they should all be killed the next morning on the beach so they were then all tied together to posts and seven men were placed as a guard over them they made fires and beat drums all the nightearly in the morning at about 4 am the big wooden drum was placed on the roof of the palaver house and beaten to celebrate the death of the evildoers which was the custom in those daysthe boys were then unfastened from the posts and had their hands tied behind their backs and were marched down to the beach when they arrived there the head chief stood up and addressed the people “this is a small town of which i am chief and i am determined to stop this bad custom as so many men have been killed” he then told a man who had a sharp matchet to cut off one man’s head he then told another man who had a sharp knife to skin another young man alive a third man who had a heavy stick was ordered to beat another to death and so the chief went on and killed all the thirty two young men in the most horrible ways he could think of some of them were tied to posts in the river and left there until the tide came up and drowned them others were flogged to deathafter they had all been killed for many years no one was killed by alligators but some little time afterwards on the road between the beach and the town the land fell in making a very large and deep hole which was said to be the home of the alligators and the people have ever since tried to fill it up but have never yet been able to do so

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

he took careful aim at the leopard and fired whereupon the leopard rolled over dead the death of the leopard meant that four of the hunter’s creditors were now disposed of as the bush cat had killed the cock the goat had driven the bush cat away who thus forfeited his claim and in his turn the goat had been killed by the leopard who had just been slain by okun this meant a saving of eight hundred rods to effiong but he was not content with this and directly he heard the report of the gun he ran out from where he had been hiding all the time and found the leopard lying dead with okun standing over it then in very strong language effiong began to upbraid his friend and asked him why he had killed his old friend the leopard that nothing would satisfy him but that he should report the whole matter to the king who would no doubt deal with him as he thought fit when effiong said this okun was frightened and begged him not to say anything more about the matter as the king would be angry but the hunter was obdurate and refused to listen to him and at last okun said “if you will allow the whole thing to drop and will say no more about it i will make you a present of the two hundred rods you borrowed from me” this was just what effiong wanted but still he did not give in at once eventually however he agreed and told okun he might go and that he would bury the body of his friend the leoparddirectly okun had gone instead of burying the body effiong dragged it inside the house and skinned it very carefully the skin he put out to dry in the sun and covered it with wood ash and the body he ate when the skin was well cured the hunter took it to a distant market where he sold it for much money and now whenever a bush cat sees a cock he always kills it and does so by right as he takes the cock in part payment of the two hundred rods which the hunter never paid himmoral—never lend money to people because if they cannot pay they will try to kill you or get rid of you in some way either by poison or by setting bad ju ju’s for you

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the sun told the moon what he had promised the water and the next day commenced building a huge compound in which to entertain his friendwhen it was completed he asked the water to come and visit him the next daywhen the water arrived he called out to the sun and asked him whether it would be safe for him to enter and the sun answered “yes come in my friend”the water then began to flow in accompanied by the fish and all the water animalsvery soon the water was knee deep so he asked the sun if it was still safe and the sun again said “yes” so more water came inwhen the water was level with the top of a man’s head the water said to the sun “do you want more of my people to come” and the sun and moon both answered “yes” not knowing any better so the water flowed on until the sun and moon had to perch themselves on the top of the roofagain the water addressed the sun but receiving the same answer and more of his people rushing in the water very soon overflowed the top of the roof and the sun and moon were forced to go up into the sky where they have remained ever since

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

he then had them buried at once when the remainder of his slaves saw what had happened they all came to him and begged his pardon and promised to serve him faithfully although the fifty men were buried they could not rest and troubled ayong very much and after a time he became very sick himself so he sent again for the ju ju men who told him that it was the witch men who although they were dead and buried had power to come out at night and used to suck ayong’s blood which was the cause of his sickness they then said “we are only three ju ju men you must get seven more of us making the magic number of ten” when they came they dug up the bodies of the fifty witches and found they were quite fresh then ayong had big fires made and burned them one after the other and gave the ju ju men a big present he soon after became quite well again and took possession of his father’s property and ruled over all the countryever since then whenever any one is accused of being a witch they are tried by the ordeal of the poisonous esere bean and if they can vomit they do not die and are declared innocent but if they cannot do so they die in great pain

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

at first a violent tornado came with thunder lightning and rain but the skull’s mother sent him away as unsuitable the next wind to come was a gentle breeze so she told the breeze to carry afiong to her mother’s house and said good bye to her very soon afterwards the breeze deposited afiong outside her home and left her therewhen the parents saw their daughter they were very glad as they had for some months given her up as lost the father spread soft animals’ skins on the ground from where his daughter was standing all the way to the house so that her feet should not be soiled afiong then walked to the house and her father called all the young girls who belonged to afiong’s company to come and dance and the feasting and dancing was kept up for eight days and nights when the rejoicing was over the father reported what had happened to the head chief of the town the chief then passed a law that parents should never allow their daughters to marry strangers who came from a far country then the father told his daughter to marry a friend of his and she willingly consented and lived with him for many years and had many children

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

however when essido returned his elder brother told him what the ju ju man had said but that he did not believe him for one moment and had sent him away essido was much relieved when he heard this but as he was anxious that no suspicion of the crime should be attached to him he went to the household ju juand having first sworn that he had never administered poison to his brother he drank out of the potthree months after he had taken the poison eyo i died much to the grief of every one who knew him as he was much respected not only on account of his great wealth but because he was also an upright and honest man who never did harm to any oneessido kept his brother’s funeral according to the usual custom and there was much playing and dancing which was kept up for a long time then essido paid off his old creditors in order to make himself popular and kept open house entertaining most lavishly and spending his money in many foolish ways all the bad women about collected at his house and his old evil companions went on as they had done beforethings got so bad that none of the respectable people would have anything to do with him and at last the chiefs of the country seeing the way essido was squandering his late brother’s estate assembled together and eventually came to the conclusion that he was a witch man and had poisoned his brother in order to acquire his position the chiefs who were all friends of the late eyo and who were very sorry at the death as they knew that if he had lived he would have become a great and powerful chief made up their minds to give essido the ekpawor ju ju which is a very strong medicine and gets into men’s heads so that when they have drunk it they are compelled to speak the truth and if they have done wrong they die very shortly essido was then told to dress himself and attend the meeting at the palaver house and when he arrived the chiefs charged him with having killed his brother by witchcraft essido denied having done so but the chiefs told him that if he were innocent he must prove it by drinking the bowl of ekpawor medicine which was placed before him as he could not refuse to drink he drank the bowl off in great fear and trembling and very soon the ju ju having got hold of him he confessed that he had poisoned his brother but that his friends had advised him to do so about two hours after drinking the ekpawor essido died in great painthe friends were then brought to the meeting and tied up to posts and questioned as to the part they had taken in the death of eyo as they were too frightened to answer the chiefs told them that they knew from essido that they had induced him to poison his brother they were then taken to the place where eyo was buried the grave having been dug open and their heads were cut off and fell into the grave and their bodies were thrown in after them as a sacrifice for the wrong they had done the grave was then filled up againever since that time whenever any one is suspected of being a witch he is tried by the ekpawor ju ju

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

he was much surprised when the king of the forest returned his salutation and very much flattered alsothe elephant said “look here worm i have mislaid my eyes will you lend me yours for a few days i will return them next market day”the worm was so flattered at being noticed by the elephant that he gladly consented and took his eyes out—which as every one knows were very small—and gave them to the elephant when the elephant had put the worm’s eyes into his own large eye sockets the flesh immediately closed round them so tightly that when the market day arrived it was impossible for the elephant to get them out again to return to the worm and although the worm repeatedly made applications to the elephant to return his eyes the elephant always pretended not to hear and sometimes used to say in a very loud voice “if there are any worms about they had better get out of my way as they are so small i cannot see them and if i tread on them they will be squashed into a nasty mess”ever since then the worms have been blind and for the same reason elephants have such small eyes quite out of proportion to the size of their huge bodies

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

ever since when the lightning is angry he commits damage as before but you can hear his mother the thunder rebuking him and telling him to stop sometimes however when the mother has gone away some distance from her naughty son you can still see that he is angry and is doing damage but his mother’s voice cannot be heard

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

she then showed him the pot with the remains of her sister and told him that her sister would come to life again in three months’ time quite complete but he must send away the jealous wife so that there should be no more trouble if he refused to do this the little girl said she would take the pot back to their mother and when her sister became complete again they would remain at homethe husband then took the jealous wife back to her parents who sold her as a slave and paid the dowry back to the husband so that he could get another wife when he received the money the husband took it home and kept it until the three months had elapsed when the little sister opened the pot and the fat woman emerged quite as fat and beautiful as she had been before the husband was so delighted that he gave a feast to all his friends and neighbours and told them the whole story of the bad behaviour of his jealous wifeever since that time whenever a wife behaves very badly the husband returns her to the parents who sell the woman as a slave and out of the proceeds of the sale reimburse the husband the amount of dowry which he paid when he married the girl

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the slave was bound up and led to the hole then the old woman called to the water ju ju and cut the slave’s throat with a sharp knife and pushed him into the hole she then did the same to the goat and chicken and also threw the eggs and cloth in on top of themafter this had been done they all returned to their homes the next morning at dawn the old woman went to the hole and found emme standing at the side of the spring so she told her that she was her friend and was going to take her to her husband she then took emme back to her own home and hid her in her room and sent word to akpan to come to her house and to take great care that the slave woman knew nothing about the matterso akpan left the house secretly by the back door and arrived at the old woman’s house without meeting anybodywhen emme saw akpan she asked for her little sister so he sent his friend the hunter for her to the spring and he met her carrying her water pot to get the morning supply of water for the house and brought her to the old woman’s house with himwhen emme had embraced her sister she told her to return to the house and do something to annoy the slave woman and then she was to run as fast as she could back to the old woman’s house where no doubt the slave girl would follow her and would meet them all inside the house and see emme who she believed she had killedthe little girl did as she was told and directly she got into the house she called out to the slave woman “do you know that you are a wicked woman and have treated me very badly i know you are only my sister’s slave and you will be properly punished” she then ran as hard as she could to the old woman’s house directly the slave woman heard what the little girl said she was quite mad with rage and seized a burning stick from the fire and ran after the child but the little one got to the house first and ran inside the slave woman following close upon her heels with the burning stick in her handthen emme came out and confronted the slave woman and she at once recognised her mistress whom she thought she had killed so she stood quite stillthen they all went back to akpan’s house and when they arrived there akpan asked the slave woman what she meant by pretending that she was emme and why she had tried to kill her but seeing she was found out the slave woman had nothing to saymany people were then called to a play to celebrate the recovery of akpan’s wife and when they had all come he told them what the slave woman had doneafter this emme treated the slave girl in the same way as she had treated her little sister she made her put her fingers in the fire and burnt her with sticks she also made her beat foo foo with her head in a hollowed out tree and after a time she was tied up to a tree and starved to deathever since that time when a man marries a girl he is always present when she comes out of the fatting house and takes her home himself so that such evil things as happened to emme and her sister may not occur again

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

but this bush rat being rather kind hearted and having had some experience of traps himself could sympathise with the leopard in his uncomfortable position he therefore thought for a time and then hit upon a plan he first started to dig a hole under the tree quite regardless of the leopard’s cries when he had finished the hole he came out and cut one of the ropes and immediately ran into his hole and waited there to see what would happen but although the leopard struggled frantically he could not get loose as the tortoise had tied him up so fast after a time when he saw that there was no danger the bush rat crept out again and very carefully bit through another rope and then retired to his hole as before again nothing happened and he began to feel more confidence so he bit several strands through one after the other until at last the leopard was free the leopard who was ravenous with hunger instead of being grateful to the bush rat directly he was free made a dash at the bush rat with his big paw but just missed him as the bush rat had dived for his hole but he was not quite quick enough to escape altogether and the leopard’s sharp claws scored his back and left marks which he carried to his graveever since then the bush rats have had white spots on their skins which represent the marks of the leopard’s claws

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

every one turned out to catch the bat but as he expected trouble he flew away into the bush and hid himself all day long the people tried to catch him so he had to change his habits and only came out to feed when it was dark and that is why you never see a bat in the daytime

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

when the hawk saw the chickens he made up his mind that he would take one so he swooped down and caught the smallest in his strong claws immediately he had seized the chicken the cocks began to make a great noise and the hen ran after him and tried to make him drop her child calling loudly with her feathers fluffed out and making dashes at him but he carried it off and all the fowls and chickens at once ran screaming into the houses some taking shelter under bushes and others trying to hide themselves in the long grass he then carried the chicken to the king telling him that he had returned the owlet to his parents as he did not want him for food so the king told the hawk that for the future he could always feed on chickensthe hawk then took the chicken home and his friend who dropped in to see him asked him what the parents of the chicken had done when they saw their child taken away so the hawk said—“they all made a lot of noise and the old hen chased me but although there was a great disturbance amongst the fowls nothing happened”his friend then said as the fowls had made much palaver he was quite safe to kill and eat the chickens as the people who made plenty of noise in the daytime would go to sleep at night and not disturb him or do him any injury the only people to be afraid of were those who when they were injured kept quite silent you might be certain then that they were plotting mischief and would do harm in the night time

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

the rat he handed over to the cat to deal with and dismissed them both from his service the cat was so angry at this that she killed and ate the rat and ever since that time whenever a cat sees a rat she kills and eats it

nigerian folktale

folk tale; cultural education; narrative components; storytelling

a postapocalyptic world where humans struggle to survive against hordes of ravenous zombies john a sorcerer with mystical abilities embarks on a perilous quest to find a cure for the undead as he combines ancient spells and arcane rituals with scientific knowledge and alchemical concoctions he uncovers a revelation that the zombie virus not a mere biological mutation but a result of dark magic unleashed by a malevolent sorcerer long ago

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within the neonlit expanse of a futuristic cyberpunk metropolis anna an exceptional hacker with unparalleled skills stumbles upon a nefarious conspiracy orchestrated by a powerful ai corporation as she delves into the virtual realms of information warfare and deeprooted corruption she uncovers a shocking revelation that the ai corporation harvesting and manipulating human emotions as a source of energy blurring the lines between technology and humanity itself

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an alternate reality where steampunk technology powers an industrial revolution mark a brilliant archaeologist unearths an enigmatic artifact that propels him into a harmonious fusion of past and future as he navigates through a realm where cogwheels and clockwork contraptions coexist with advanced machinery a startling revelation awaits him the artifact acts as a conduit for temporal anomalies causing disruptions that threaten to collapse the entire fabric of existence

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amidst an interdimensional rift that has torn through the fabric of reality john a brilliant scientist wielding prodigious intellect races against time to close the portal and prevent the convergence of nightmarish creatures from different dimensions as he battles these abominations that have spilled into our world he unravels a startling revelation the rift was intentionally opened by an ancient order seeking to merge all realms into a single chaotic domain

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journeying through a treacherous interdimensional portal john a renowned physicist with a thirst for knowledge finds himself trapped a dark and menacing parallel world armed with his scientific expertise and unyielding determination he embarks on a perilous mission to find a way back home all while coming facetoface with ominous beings determined to cross over and wreak havoc his reality as he uncovers a shocking revelation about the nature of interdimensional travel the fate of both worlds hangs the balance

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the heart of a sprawling city plagued by corruption and deceit john a seasoned detective hardened by experience becomes entangled a web of mystery and betrayal surrounding the disappearance of a prominent socialite navigating through a labyrinth of false leads and red herrings he delves into the dark underbelly of the citys underworld search of the truth and when he unravels a revelation that the socialites disappearance linked to a highstakes political conspiracy john must confront the shadowy perpetrator and bring them to justice before they disappear into the night forever

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when a series of bizarre murders plague the city john a brilliant yet unconventional sleuth must venture into the darkest alleys and the most esteemed halls of the elite to unravel a sinister conspiracy with farreaching implications as the body count rises and the mystery deepens john must race against time to unmask the elusive killer before they strike again with each clue he uncovers he inches closer to a shocking revelation that shakes the foundation of his beliefs ultimately leading him to the heart of a twisted and diabolical plot

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unearthing a cryptic artifact dating back to the ancient mayan civilization john a renowned archaeologist stumbles upon a longheld secret that could rewrite the history books as he delves deeper into the relics and deciphers ancient texts he uncovers a revelation that reveals a lost chapter of human history shrouded myth and mystery with this newfound knowledge john embarks on a quest to uncover the truth hidden within the ancient ruins all while evading those who seek to keep the secrets buried forever

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the midst of the french revolution john a courageous revolutionary with an unwavering desire for liberty becomes entangled a web of intrigue and subterfuge navigating the treacherous streets of paris he fights for justice and equality risking his own life to protect the innocent as the revolution reaches zenith a startling revelation emerges the key to dismantling the oppressive regime lies within the ranks of the revolutionaries themselves with this knowledge john must navigate the complexities of trust and betrayal to tip the scales favor of freedom and reshape the destiny of a nation

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a realm gripped by darkness and overshadowed by an impending prophecy john a valiant knight wielding a mighty blade embarks on a perilous quest to retrieve an ancient artifact that holds the key to thwarting the encroaching doom venturing through treacherous lands fraught with mythical beasts and hostile forces he embraces the mantle of heroism and battles against the odds to safeguard the fate of the realm as he faces daunting challenges and uncovers an unexpected revelation about his own lineage john must summon the strength to confront the malevolent forces that threaten to plunge the world into eternal darkness

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when a malevolent curse befalls the kingdom john a reluctant sorcerer with untapped powers embarks on a mystical odyssey to gather the scattered remnants of ancient magic with arcane knowledge and enigmatic artifacts as his companions he seeks to dispel the malevolence and restore peace to a world besieged by darkness along the way he unravels a chilling revelation the curse inextricably linked to a forgotten chapter of history and only by delving into the deepest recesses of magic can he hope to break the spell and save his realm from destruction

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john a skeptical paranormal investigator known for his empirical approach delves into the secrets hidden within an abandoned asylum that has long been rumored to be haunted as he explores the dimly lit corridors and encounters apparitions from the past he grapples with supernatural forces that defy rational explanation his relentless pursuit of the truth he uncovers a revelation that challenges his scientific beliefs compelling him to question the very nature of reality and face the terrifying consequences of uncovering the asylums dark secrets

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a renowned occult scholar with a thirst for forbidden knowledge drawn into an eldritch mystery that defies rational explanation as he delves deeper into the chilling secrets that lie hidden within the villages borders he confronts a revelation that reveals an unspeakable horror lurking beneath the surface with each step he takes john comes facetoface with ancient terrors that prey on the unsuspecting and threaten to consume his very soul

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shrouded by a dystopian megacity governed by powerful corporations johnm a rogue hacker with unmatched skills uncovers a clandestine plot to manipulate the populace through cybernetic implants as he delves into the digital underworld he becomes embroiled a highstakes battle for freedom and the essence of human identity along the way he discovers a revelation that shakes the foundations of his understanding the corporations control just a small part of a much larger scheme one that could reshape the destiny of all humanity

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john a jaded excop hardened by the neonlit streets of a cybernetic metropolis finds himself embroiled a world of corporate espionage virtual reality simulations and rogue ai as he delves into the seedy underbelly of the city he unravels a conspiracy that could alter the course of human history along this perilous journey he uncovers a startling revelation that exposes the dark undercurrents of power and corruption forcing him to confront his own past as he fights for justice a world where reality and simulation blur

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within a serendipitous anomaly that defies the constraints of time john finds himself hurtling through epochs and eras each time striving to correct temporal disruptions caused by his unintended presence struggling to restore the timeline and preserve the delicate balance of the universe he faces unforeseen consequences and uncovers a revelation of cosmic proportions his very existence intricately linked to the fabric of time itself and his actions have farreaching consequences that extend beyond the boundaries of any single era

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a malfunctioning time machine sends john hurtling through epochs where he encounters historical figures and wrestles with the implications of altering events amidst the paradoxes and moral dilemmas he seeks to repair the ruptured fabric of time and return to his own era along this perilous journey he stumbles upon a startling revelation that shakes the very foundation of his understanding of time travel culminating an ultimate choice that could forever change the course of history

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john a mildmannered librarian leading an unremarkable life discovers extraordinary abilities that transcend human comprehension embracing his newfound identity as a masked vigilante he grapples with the burden of responsibility while protecting his city from emerging supervillains and cosmic threats his relentless pursuit of justice he uncovers a revelation that challenges his perception of the world and illuminates a destiny he could never have imagined

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after stumbling upon an ancient artifact imbued with extraterrestrial power john transformed into a cosmic champion with the ability to manipulate reality itself as he harnesses his godlike abilities he becomes embroiled an intergalactic conflict that transcends the boundaries of space and time along this cosmic odyssey he unravels a startling revelation the artifact a key that unlocks the secrets of the multiverse and his role as guardian carries a weight that could alter the destiny of countless worlds

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within an alternate victorian era of airships and steampunk wonders john an audacious airship captain embarks on thrilling adventures across the skies encountering sky pirates ancient relics and hidden civilizations he becomes entangled a quest to uncover the secrets of a forgotten era along this perilous journey he uncovers a startling revelation the steampowered technologies that shape his world are remnants of a lost civilization a legacy that holds the key to unlocking unimaginable wonders and untold dangers

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mark a devoted archaeologist on a quest for the truth unearths an array of fantastical contraptions powered by steam and clockwork amidst the backdrop of an industrial revolution teeming with eccentric inventors and rogue automatons he battles against a cabal of scientists and inventors a race to safeguard his creations and reshape the course of technological progress along this perilous journey mark unravels a revelation that raises profound questions about the origins of mankind and the nature of progress itself

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a galaxy teeming with celestial wonders and cosmic hazards john an intrepid spacefarer charts a course through the galactic frontier pursuit of ancient artifacts that hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of the cosmos amidst interstellar conflicts and celestial phenomena he embarks on an odyssey that tests the limits of human exploration as he uncovers the truth about the origins of the universe john confronts a startling revelation that forever alters his understanding of the cosmos and his place within

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as the heir to an interplanetary dynasty john finds himself embroiled a cosmic conflict that spans the galaxy amidst political intrigue and power struggles that transcend solar systems he navigates the stars forging alliances and confronting formidable adversaries a grand spacefaring drama that shapes the fate of entire star systems the midst of this epic struggle he uncovers a revelation that challenges his loyalties and reveals the devastating consequences of unchecked power the cosmos

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a small town diner john a retired hitman seeking a peaceful existence finds himself entangled a comedic caper involving eccentric mobsters a case of mistaken identity and a stolen briefcase filled with unconventional treasures as the absurdity unfolds john navigates through a labyrinth of colorful characters each vying for their slice of the hilariously convoluted pie along this comedic escapade he uncovers a revelation that turns his world upside down forcing him to confront his past and fight to protect those he holds dear

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amidst the backdrop of a wacky heist gone wrong john a neurotic getaway driver negotiates a series of bizarre mishaps while attempting to evade a madcap ensemble of law enforcement quirky underworld figures and clueless cohorts as the chaos escalates and the stakes rise john finds himself embroiled a comedic escapade that continually defies all expectations along this riotous romp he uncovers a revelation that throws the entire operation into chaos leaving him to navigate hilariously convoluted predicaments and ensure his ultimate survival

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john a downonhisluck gambler stumbles into a series of ludicrous misadventures involving an offbeat cast of eccentric con artists bumbling thieves and idiosyncratic adversaries as the comical complications mount he endeavors to navigate through a web of absurdity to reclaim his luck and dignity along this uproarious journey john uncovers a revelation that upends his understanding of the game forcing him to confront the absurdity of his own actions and rediscover what truly matters the grand scheme of his life

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