Week 7 Reading Diary: African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books

Motikatika: A wife got sick and would not eat but the pure honey this took the husband 4 trips to get right. After he went and got her water. When she finally got better he took her spot and told her to bring him water. She took 4 trips as well. On her 4^th trip she encountered an Ogre and told him he could eat her son if he didn’t eat her. The son was a magician and over heard what his mother said. He planned to outwit her.

Motikatika (cont.): The Ogre came for Moti but Moti consulted his bones that told him how to get out of being eaten everytime. In the end the Ogre takes Moti’s dad by mistake and eats him. The wife is upset but Moti tells her that it was his father’s fault that she met the Ogre in the first place. So it is he who should be eaten.

Jackal and Spring: the animals had to dig a well to get water. The Jackal didn’t want to dig so the animals decided he shouldn’t have water. He tricked the rabbit and got water. The Jackal tricked the little hare. The Tortoise was able to outsmart the Jackal and keep him from the well.

Adventures of a Jackal: the Jackal tricks a panther into killing a cow to make shoes for the panther. They ate the cow together but the jackal made the panther wait a while before wearing the shoes. They left while the panther waited and the shoes ended up hurting the panther’s feet. He got help from partridges to get the shoes off and headed after the jackal.

Adventures of a Jackal (cont.): the panther invites all the jackal to a feast like the old man says. He catches the bad jackal’s tail but he cuts it off and gets away. He is then told to go to the melon field to catch the jackal without a tail but the bad jackal had made all the jackals lose their tail. So the panther gives up to go find dinner. 

Adventures of a Jackal (end):The Jackal goes to a Sheppard to buy a sheep. The Sheppard tricks the Jackal and sells him a greyhound in sheeps clothing. The Jackal goes home and the hedgehog tries to warn him that it is a greyhound but the Jackal doesn’t listen. The hedgehog leaves and the greyhound kills the jackal.

Adventures of Jackal's Eldest Son: one son is friends with a hyena and they find a cloak. They fought over who should get the cloak. They went to the lion and asked him how they should settle hit and he said whoever rings the bell at the mosque first at dawn should get it. The hyena stayed up all night and took off at the first sight of dawn. The jackal ran the opposite way to never be seen again. He come across a lion and hyena. They go to find dinner and the lion isn’t happy with the way the hyena would split up the dinner. The Jackal gives a better response but leaves the lion when he sees two hunters behind him. 

Adventures of Jackal's Eldest Son (cont.): He escapes the hunters and runs into his father’s friend the hedgehog.   They planned to get some butter from the farmer. The Jackal tricked the hedgehog into thinking the farmer was coming but he wasn’t. The jackal hid the butter and didn’t share it with the hedgehog. The hedgehog got upset with this and tricked the jackal by inviting him to a feast. The jackal showed and the hedgehog said that the guest brought dogs and mules which scared the jackal. The hedgehog said he would hide him under some sacks. While under them the hedgehog rolled a huge stone over him and killed him.

Adventures of Younger Son of Jackal: the youngest jackal got a sheep to help him with his crops. The sheep drew the water and he poured the water. When the crops yielded the jackal tried to take 7 parts to the sheep’s 1 part. The sheep went and got the greyhound who then scared the jackal into giving the rightful share of 7 to the sheep and keeping 1 for himself.

 

Hassebu:  A boy tries many trades but does not like them. One day firewood gatherers take them with him. He finds a huge honey cave underground. They decide to have him scoop the honey for him. After many months they make it to the bottom and they leave him at the bottom so they could split his share. 

Hassebu (cont.): He makes it out of the cave and follows a path to a house with a golden door. This was the king of snakes house. They woke him from the king’s bed. The king offered for him to stay a little while with him. The sultan became sick and the only way for him to live was by the death of the king of snakes. Hassebu gets beaten by the Vizir to tell where the king lived and the king made a deal with him. The king lived Hassebu became a great physician and the Vizir died.

Heart of a Monkey: A monkey was eating over the sea when a shark swam up and asked for some fruit from the tree. The monkey helped him and they did this for weeks and shared stories. The shark then tricks the monkey into going home with him. Once they were a good ways into their trip the shark tells the monkey he really brought him because the only thing that can save his sultan is the heart of a monkey. The monkey tricks the shark by telling him he leaves his heart at home. The shark takes the monkey back and the monkey starts to tell a story.

The Heart of a Monkey: The Washerman’s Donkey:  A hare tricks a fat donkey into going to he house of the lion by saying she is to marry him. The lion tries to kill the donkey but the donkey fights back and gets away.

The Heart of a Monkey: The Washerman’s Donkey (cont.): The hare tricks the donkey into coming back to the lion after he is well. He kills the donkey and has the hare cook it. He told the hare that he wanted just the heart. The hare ate the heart and convinced the lion there was no heart in the first place. The story was over and the monkey sent the shark on his way.

Makoma: He asks the greatest men of his village who will go into the pool and slay the alligators and none would. So he does and gives himself the name Makoma meaning the greater. He leaves and meets a giant making mountains.  Makoma defeats the giant and takes him as a slave. He met another giant and defeated him as well and made him his slave as well. He finds a third giant and defeats him as well and makes him a slave. 

Makoma (cont.): he meets a flame spirit and challenges him. He defeats him and places him in the bag with the others. He also absorbs the powers of those he defeats. He finds a clearing that he likes and decides to make a house there. He has the giants help him and while he is gone with two of the giants a third is attacked and tied to a tree by a man from the river. This kept happening for the next couple of days to the giant that stayed behind. So Makoma stayed behind one day. He defeated the river giant by killing him. 

Makoma (end): Makoma could not rest until he fought with Sakatirina, He had to leave his 4 giants behind. He returned their powers and left. He traveled far and found Sakatirina who is a super tall giant. Neither could defeat each other in battle. So Mulimo the Great Spirit took them to live in the clouds.