Skip to main content

Reading Notes: Nigerian Folk Stories, Part A

 The Elephant and the Tortoise

The story begins with a greedy elephant that has a reputation of devouring everything at feasts-even leaving similar sized animals, such as hippos, with a very small amount of food. A tortoise decided that he would be the one to put a stop to this behavior, and came up with a plan in which to do so. One day he arrived at the elephant's house and ate a delicious snack right in front of him. Predictably, the elephant asked for some of his food, but the tortoise said that the elephant must give up an eye in order to eat it. Agreeing, the elephant allowed his eyes to be painfully slashed out. The elephant ate the snack and was not satisfied, so he asked for more. The same deal took place- more snacks for his other eye. The tortoise then left, leaving the elephant blind and feeling deceived. The elephant went around town asking for other animals to lend him their eyes, but everyone said no except for the worms. The worms were glad to have been noticed and therefore volunteered their eyes to the elephant. However when the worms requested their eyes back, the elephant pretended not to hear, leaving worms to be blind and elephants with small eyes for eternity.  

Overall, this story includes a folklore about why the elephants eyes are so small. The elephant in this story was greedy when it came to food, and a tortoise took noticed. When the elephant and the tortoise were together, the elephant wanted some of the food the tortoise was eating, However, the tortoise made the elephant trade his eyes and eventually the only animal to lend the elephant their eyes were worms. This story was fun to read and has a lesson about greed in it. If I were retelling it, I would keep the lesson about greed but change other aspects so it is recreated in a new way.

[Elephant eye. Image Information]

Bibliography

Dayrell, Elphinstone. Elephant and the Tortoise. Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria. 1910. Link








Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

All About Me Hey! My name is Katie and I am currently a senior at the University of Oklahoma. When people say time flies by in college, they aren't kidding! I feel like it was just yesterday that I moved into the dorms freshman year, and now within a couple of months I will be moving on to something new. I am currently studying biopsychology as a pre-medical student. I really enjoy sciences so I have enjoyed almost all of my classes I have takes throughout undergraduate so far. I spent the summer studying for the MCAT, and am currently in the process of applying to medical school! This semester I am excited for my classes, but anxious about how they will turn out with all of them online. However, it is important to be flexible, especially in a pandemic, so I am hoping to make the most of it! Besides academics, I love playing volleyball and doing other activities with my friends. My junior year I was the president of the OU Women's Club Volleyball team, and enjoyed traveling to ...
22 comments
Read more

Comment Wall

  [Baby Elephants. Image Information. ] Storybook URL: Click here.   Thank you for your feedback!
17 comments
Read more

Week 9 Story: Finding Freedom

Finding Freedom An orphan from birth, Kang always felt like an outcast in his African village. He had no last name, and therefore no title. No girls wanted to marry him and no men wanted to be associated with him. Although he remained polite and respectful to everyone he met, he could feel his resentment towards the village people grow the more they neglected him. As he grew older, he began to have thoughts of leaving his village. A new life surrounded by all new people became more appealing as the days passed by. However, they were the only village within miles of any other human civilization, and in order to go to a new village he would need to venture days through the wilderness. He finally worked up enough nerve and left in the morning.  Running away from the village- he never felt more free. It was as if he could run for hours without any pains or fears. Nightfall came and he found a large rock which to sleep by. He fell asleep peacefully but awoke to the sound of a lioness's ...
4 comments
Read more