I chose to do my reading this week over the Nigeria unit.
Many of the stories offered explanations as to why certain things were the way
they are. I always enjoy stories like
this because it shows the curiosity that the people of these older times had in
wanting to learn about the world around them. In this unit the Nigerian people
explained why the elephant has such small eyes, why the sun and moon take residence
in the sky, and why cats eat mice; amongst other things. My favorite was
probably The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull. This is probably the
most bizarre story I have read so far in this class. The story starts off with
a very beautiful woman who felt she was too good for all of the suitors that
approached her despite her parents’ wishes. She felt she deserved the most handsome man in
all the land and nothing less because of how beautiful she was. A Skull from a
far off spiritland fell in love with the woman from afar and concocted a plan
to win her over. He borrowed the best looking body parts from the different
people in his land and went on a journey to meet the woman. With all the best
looking body parts he was easily the most attractive man in all of the land and
ended up marrying the woman. He took her back to the spiritland then had to
give the body parts back to the others. The woman realized what a terrible
mistake she had made but was stuck with him. She was tasked with taking care of
the skulls frail old mother. The old woman grew very fond of her and told her
that all of the people of the spiritland were cannibals and sent her back home
to protect. The woman went on to find a new husband and live a long and happy
life. Sound strange? It certainly did to me but it gave me a pretty good
storytelling idea for later on in the week!
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