South-east Nigeria – around 1910 (2)
The disobedient girl
Nigeria.
“Ogea,” Efuru calls, “look for Eneke, and ask him to come and tell a
story.” It is already night, but there is a beautiful bright moon in
the sky. All the children are playing outside. Soon a skinny man with
grey curls arrives. The children greet Eneke excitedly.
“Settle down, then I will tell you the story of the disobedient girl,
who had to marry a spirit”, he says. “Once upon a time I was in the
land of Idu-na-oba. There I saw a wealthy woman with a beautiful
daughter. Oh my, how beautiful she was. One day her mother had to go
to the market. She had urged her daughter to stay inside, and had
assigned all sorts of chores to her, in order to avoid her going out.”
“When the mother had just left, her friends came walking by. 'Come
play outside,' they called, 'we will help you with your chores.' In no
time all the chores were done, and the girls walked into the forest to
the udara tree with its delicious fruits. While everyone was looking
for fruits, a splendid ripe udara fell on the ground just in front of
the girl. 'Thank you!' she called to the tree. 'Ho ho ho,’ called the
spirit, who was sitting in the tree, 'now you are my wife.' The girls
were frightened, and rushed back to the hut and locked the door, to
prevent the spirit from entering. When the mother came home, she saw
the spirit standing outside, and she at once understood that her
daughter had disobeyed her. Oh, oh, what should she do?”
Nigeria.
“But the girl was clever. She begged the spirit to let her say goodbye
to her elder sisters. The spirit agreed. One of her sisters had a
great plan. When the spirit was lying in bed with his new wife, and
was deep asleep, she very quietly took everything out of the hut, and
woke her sister. She bound banana leaves by the feet of the spirit, to
let him think that his new wife was still sleeping with him. Together
they slipped out of the hut. The sister climbed onto the roof of the
hut with a can of kerosene, and poured it out on the roof. A few
moments later the hut was engulfed in flames, and the spirit was
dead.”
“He got what he deserved,” shout some children, “he should have left
that girl alone.” “Please, Eneke,” says another, “tell us another
story.” But Eneke stands up. “No, no, children, that's long enough for
one day, I will have some drinks with the men of my age group.”
_______________________
Source
The book Efuru (1966) written by the Nigerian author Flora
Nwapa is about the sadness of a woman who cannot bear children. But at
the same time it gives an impression of the peasant life.
Go to:
= part 1: 'Do you think that money grows on trees in my garden?' - South-east Nigeria – around 1910 (1), story 50.
= the next page: As free as a bird - an estate in Hungary – 1910 (1), story 52.
= the Table of contents, story 51.
