Reading Notes: Nigeria, Part A
In Part A of the Nigerian folklore unit, there was a mix between marriage stories and etiological stories. Although I found both types of stories to be interesting, and very unlike most European stories that I’m more familiar with, I thought the stories explaining why worms live underground and why they are blind were the most intriguing to me for a retelling. These two explanations are from two different stories, but it would be fun to combine them into one new story.
In the first story, the ruler Eyo is hosting a feast at his palace, and during the increasingly wild celebrations, the head driver ant makes a speech boasting about how the driver ants are the strongest species of animal, also offending the worms in the process. The worms, infuriated by the insults, make a challenge to the driver ants to fight them in three days. When the time arrives, the driver ants travel to the battlefield in droves. Although the worms are larger in size than the ants, the ants ultimately overwhelm the worms due to their sheer number. As a result, the worms were driven into the ground, where they remain to this day.
In the second story, the tortoise tricks the elephant into eating his eyes by pretending to eat his own eyes, saying that they delicious. The elephant believes the tortoise and consumes his own eyes one at a time. Blind, the elephant tries to attack the tortoise, but the trickster escapes. The next day, the elephant asks the worm if he could borrow the worm’s eyes for the day. Because the worm is flattered that the elephant would notice him, he agrees. However, when the time comes to return the eyes, the elephant is unable to. As a result, the elephant now has tiny eyes and the worm in turn is blind.
It would be interesting to retell these two tales in conjunction with each other, so that the first story leads straight into the second story. Perhaps the new combined tale could depict a rough day that the worm was having.
In the first story, the ruler Eyo is hosting a feast at his palace, and during the increasingly wild celebrations, the head driver ant makes a speech boasting about how the driver ants are the strongest species of animal, also offending the worms in the process. The worms, infuriated by the insults, make a challenge to the driver ants to fight them in three days. When the time arrives, the driver ants travel to the battlefield in droves. Although the worms are larger in size than the ants, the ants ultimately overwhelm the worms due to their sheer number. As a result, the worms were driven into the ground, where they remain to this day.
In the second story, the tortoise tricks the elephant into eating his eyes by pretending to eat his own eyes, saying that they delicious. The elephant believes the tortoise and consumes his own eyes one at a time. Blind, the elephant tries to attack the tortoise, but the trickster escapes. The next day, the elephant asks the worm if he could borrow the worm’s eyes for the day. Because the worm is flattered that the elephant would notice him, he agrees. However, when the time comes to return the eyes, the elephant is unable to. As a result, the elephant now has tiny eyes and the worm in turn is blind.
It would be interesting to retell these two tales in conjunction with each other, so that the first story leads straight into the second story. Perhaps the new combined tale could depict a rough day that the worm was having.
Bibliography: "Why Worms Live Underneath the Ground" and "The Elephant and the Tortoise," Nigeria stories, Elphinstone Dayrell.
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