SPIRASI SUMMER 2006
Art Project - Story Telling

There was famine in the animal kingdom ,so giraffe and his other friends were out in search of food. They were going around and they found themselves in another land in a cave, and in the cave was inscribed ‘Land of no Lying’ - you shouldn’t tell lies. When he got in he met some guards and the guards brought him to the king of the land. He asked them what they wanted and they said they had famine in their own country where they were coming from. So the king gave them food and told them they should never return. And there was another problem he didn’t lie cause if you lie nature will punish you. They went back to the cave to get back to where they came from but when they went by the cave they met the guards. The guards asked the giraffe a question "What about the king of the lying how is he surviving.” and the giraffe said “The king is very well in fact I am married to one of his daughters and I live in the palace and I have guards of my own too.“ As he was telling lies his neck was growing and growing and growing and he didn’t notice. So as they were returning back he saw his reflection in the water he said “O my God there’s an animal who looks exactly like me but it has a long neck.” And his friends told him “its you because you have been lying.”

2 Friends in School

A true story told by Bumi from Nigeria

There were these two friends they were in the same school. They went for break, the teacher was inside she saw them outside, their break was over. She called them and told them to go back the break was over. The friend said “It was playing we was”, the English was wrong . Ika was laughing at his friend because what he said was wrong so the teacher said “Ika correct him” Ika said “It was playing we is” he got it also wrong but he was laughing at his friend

3 How Tortoise Cracked his Shell

This version comes from Igbo Region in Eastern Nigeria .

Told by Iffy

Once again there is famine in the land of the animals. Everybody was severely hurt with it, they were gaunt looking, they were going about everybody was listless. The rivers were dried up. People were even planning on how to eat each other, if you were not careful. You are always walking around looking behind you, you never know who will pounce on you to eat you.

So there is this snail who is looking fine and fat and well looked after. And others are wondering what is going on where does snail get food to eat when all others are dying. So Tortoise as usual went to him to find out. And snail said that there was this route which he noted humans passed through. And when they are going to market usually they are carrying lots of things to sell. He uses the trail of snail whatever it is the gue that comes out of him to mark the trail and when they come somebody will slip and fall breaking some of the goods and what they leave he gets so that’s what he does.

So Tortoise goes with him, snail does his magic then somebody slips and falls. Being human they will be able to gather their things up but they (Snail etc) will be able to take some of the things which fall from their basket. So this continued to go on but tortoise was getting greedy he didn’t see why he should be sharing what he was getting with snail. So he went on his own one day put his own spit across the road and hid behind a bush. 1st person came nothing happened second came nothing happened third one came he ran out. Of course the rumours were going, that things happen on that road that nobody was able to understand. So when they saw Tortoise they said “OK it is you” so they took him and tied him and put him in their own basket. He was calling the snail, that if he doesn’t come they will take him away to another country. He doesn’t know who they are or where they are going. So eventually after some time you know it took some time for the snail because he was angry when they got to know what really happened, and why he was being carried into captivity . He now begged them as their brother and even though Tortoise was greedy he is one of us. So snail ran ahead and used his spit so when they got there they fell and that is why the tortoise has broken marks.

4 How Robin and Donkey got their Markings

Told by Aideen of Ireland

The story goes that when Jesus was being crucified on the cross the robin came and sat by him and plucked the thorns from his head as he did his breast was covered in blood but the mark stayed as a sign of what the robin had done so he is known as robin red breast.

The donkey carried Mary to Bethlehem when she was pregnant and carried Jesus to Jerusalem before the crucifixion so to mark donkey’s part in the story he carries the mark of a cross on his back.

5 Twin brothers

This story is told by Paul from Nigeria

There were 2 brothers and they were twins, Michael and Mark, and Michael happened to have a wife and Mark happened to have a boat. And Michael’s wife happened to die the same day that Mark’s boat sank. They used to confuse a lot of people in the village and one day there was this old woman who came along walking she happened to meet Mark the one who had lost his boat She was talking to Mark, I’m sorry about what has happened

Mark thinking she was talking about his boat started telling this old woman

“Yes she was old I didn’t like her that much because she was full of holes every time I went in her she had a big hole in her she used to let in water and it was old anyway it was wrinkled.” and all that kind of stuff . He went on and continued to speak the story “There were these 3 boys and when they went in her , she took in too much water, she had a big hole...”

and eventually after hearing this story the old woman collapsed and died.

8 How Tortoise Cracked his Shell

This version comes from Liberia .

Told by Tina

There is a famine in animal kingdom. All the animals decided to bring their mothers and kill them. Instead of dying of hunger they had better kill their mothers and eat. They all killed their mothers except one animal. He took his mother and hid her, when he was hungry he would go to his mother and she would feed him. So the other animals after eating their mothers they couldn’t see anything else to eat they were loosing weight every day.

The animals was asking him what was making him look healthy and fresh. One day Tortoise went to him and said he was his friend and he should tell him the secret. He thought that tortoise was a good friend so he told him that he did not kill his mother that he hid his mother up there on the mountain. Tortoise followed him to his mother. When there the mother gave them all food they all ate and were all happy. When they came down tortoise went and met all the other animals and told them that the animal hid his mother. They all hadn’t eaten so they said they would go and kill the mother.

That animals mother would throw down a rope which they would climb. So now they are already on the rope climbing when a bird flew to that animal and said that tortoise and other animals want to go and kill your mother. He quickly ran to that place and shouted telling the mother that she should quickly cut the rope to that place. So the mother cut the rope and the whole animal group fell down and tortoise was the last one. The other animals land on top of tortoise he was the first animal to land on the floor and his shell scattered so they had to gather his shell and put it together.

9 The Woman and the Elephant

This is a story the group created together told here by Larry and Tina

There was this woman Elaina and she had 2 daughter and 1 son . When her husband died they sent her away as an outcast and she was not welcome in the community and took her kids away from her. This woman was left with nothing living in the bush . She found an elephant with no mother, and she took the elephant and started feeding the elephant and brought it to live in the house. The elephant ended upon growing very big. Sometime the villagers used to have a festival by the time they decided what they were going to do they decided it was going to be an elephant festival. They were looking for a big big elephant to use for the festival. There was a shortage of elephant in the town so they went hunting for elephant . The youth have to go into the jungle an search for an elephant and they find this woman with the elephant and they ask this woman if they can take the elephant what amount of money and the woman says there is no amount of money can take the elephant she has nothing this is all she has. So the people who went hunting for the elephant went back to the village and told them what the woman said. At last they decided to give the kids back to the woman, they brought the woman back to the village and the woman was finally living happily with her children.

10 Woman whose children wouldn’t bury her

We were talking about ghosts and Justice told this story from Nigeria

There was a woman in Nigeria who had 2 children and those children have money. They don’t want to look after the woman and the wealthy woman is old very old.

And the woman is dead the man has a lot of money but doesn’t want to do the ceremony

The (ghost of) woman is coming when the woman comes she slapped him buah, he would fall down he would go 3 weeks 3 weeks and buah slapping the both of them beating them when she is dead

“Oh I see my mother I see my mother I see my mother AHHH.” Buah only he sees mother until they take the woman and bury the woman in the grave but she’ s still doing it and they get another native doctor more stronger. and he does everything before it stop.

11 Choosing a Husband

This is a story created by the group told here by Irene and Larry

In 1996 there was one guy named Paul and another guy named Bisi. They had feelings for one girl.. Paul was going out with a girl called Irene and the 2 guys involved, one guy who really liked the girl used to drink and he used to always think about the girl. The other guy he was sort of rich his father was rich, elaborate with money and things like that .But the girl liked the guy who was drinking too much, and the guy who had money his father was advising him “Get married get married, let me see my grand kids before I die” The girl she also liked the guy who was drinking and she told him “You know if you don’t stop there’s no future” And then the girl get married to Paul. By the she get married to Paul and everybody was happy. That day they were in the horse and carriage they were just driving past and enjoying and they see Bisi who was left heart broken he just went into this drinking mode he just lived his life on alcohol and depression drinking on the street and the girl end up crying. And by the time they get married the father gave them a lot of money and gave them one big house they make a great couple and have 2 kids one boy and one girl.

12 What’s on your forehead.

This is a true story told by Paul of a happening involving a witch-doctor in Uganda

These people like witches, you must have heard, where by they can transfer your private parts to your forehead.

There was this woman and man in my village and he went and slept with a man’s wife. It is like an abomination but people take it easy. The man says

“If you don’t leave my wife alone I’m going to kill you “ this guy thought he was joking. He said “leave my wife alone,”

This girl really liked the guy they used to meet on secret paths. Rumours in the village people used to say “oh this woman is going out with such and such.”

Next thing the man says “You’re going to find your private parts on your head,” This man thought he was joking when he woke up the next day he found his private parts on his forehead, they weren’t here they were on his forehead this man went back and apologised he went to the whatever witch doctor then his private parts went back its a true story it happened.

13 The Tortoises Back

This version is told by Larry of the Igbo Tribe in Nigeria

This story was told to me when I was very very small. There was a party up there (Heaven) and everybody who was going to be there had to have wings to fly. Tortoise hasn’t got wings so he begs the rest of the birds who have wings to lend him some of their wings so he can fly with them they help him and get him up for the party. When they get there they have to choose names to be called by we have to change our names so everybody chose a name. So they start picking names “My name is chief,” “my name is this,” “my name is that,”....... and he say (Tortoise) “my name is All of us” and nobody know why he say “My name is All of Us” So they start bringing the food and when they bring the food they say “This food is for all of you” and he keep packing the food to himself, and the other s say “What is happening “ he say “this food is for All of Us” They didn’t get any of the food he was packing it for his family and they say “OK since you are the wise man give us back our wings “ and because he is very small they take it by force from him and he say “Please now I have no wings will you take a message to my wife?” they say “OK what is it?” “Tell my wife to put foam on the ground foam and soft things cloths everything so that when I land I don’t mash the ground I want to land on the foam” They say O K and tell the wife Your husband said that you should arrange broken bottles and brick and everything that the is going to land heavy man. and the wife did it and he got ready to land and landed on the bricks and bottles. That is why the say on the back of Tortoise those marks on his back that is why he get broken back.

14 King with 5 wives

A traditional tale from Liberia told byTina

This story is about a king that has 5 wives. This king has only female children he has no boy among these 5 wives he hates the 1st wife so much that he took the other 4 to a medicine man a herbalist where they will get something to take so that they will be able to give him male children but they left the hated wife behind. so he gave them some palm kernel to eat after eating those palm kernel they threw away the shell and this hated wife took the shell and ate it anyhow. Those 4 women all gave birth and they all gave birth to a female child and the kings instructions were that anyone who gave birth to a female child that the child should be thrown away so they all gave birth to a female child and they threw them away. So this hated wife gave birth and gave birth to a male child out of envy the other 4 connived and threw the baby away the woman was weak she didn’t know the sex of the baby she gave birth to . There was an elderly woman by the stream she saw what happened she went and took the baby . She took care of the baby and as the child was growing she kept telling the boy where he came from how they threw him into the stream . One day the king sent his messengers on an errand and they were passing the boy was singing and the boy mentioned that he was from the kings house . The news went to the king and the king was asking who gave birth to the boy and everybody was saying that the boy belongs to her . So to decide who the boys mother was the king decided that everyone of them should cook and the one the boy eats from that person is the boys mother . He gave money to the other wives to cook but did not give money to this hated wife. The others skinned goats and chickens you know but this woman went and cooked lizard because she has no money to buy meat or kill any goats . But when they present their food this boy saw all those rich foods but he never looked at them he went straight to his mother’s food and ate from his mother that was how they knew that the boy was the woman’s son . Then the king apologised to this hated wife of his and took her into his palace and sent the others away

15 Woman and goat

A traditional tale from Angola told by Sebastiao

In a village one lady was looking for a goat, and she was walking the village asking people “Did you see my goat?” No one cold find it. She met another guy but that guy was deaf, but she didn’t know that. She asked that guy, “Did you see my goat?” The guy thought maybe the lady asked him “Do you know where the river is?” and the guy pointed to the other side. He didn’t say anything he just pointed to the other side. The woman thought the guy pointed her to where he saw her goat. The lady said “OK Thank You” and was walking and she found her goat near the river. She went to report to the deaf man. She said “Thank you I found my goat, thank you for helping me to find my goat and I give you this for a present.”

The deaf man thought she was saying “You have to buy my goat because the leg of that goat was broken” He said “I didn’t do anything with your goat, what are you talking about?”

But the woman was telling him “I’m giving you this like a present can you take it?”

“No I don’t need it I didn’t break the leg of your goat.”

They couldn’t find a solution and the guy became angry and he slapped the woman. People were around them walking, and they saw what happened and the came and asked. “What is the problem? What has happened? What’s the matter? can you tell us?

And the woman was explaining to those people. “Oh I was looking for my goat bla bla bla.” after that they say “Ok we have to bring this guy to the judge because it’s not good what he did. So they brought that guy to the judge.

When they went to the judge the judge said “Oh it’s good it’s nice welcome to the two of you.” Nobody realised the judge was blind. The judge said “OK” everybody was explaining what was happening the woman said, the deaf man said, the crowd said and the judge said “OK it is very disappointing for our community you have to listen to your husband” he was telling the woman to listen to her husband, to take care of their baby to be very polite to her husband. and everyone was disappointed to hear that. They were expecting to get tradition about that matter.

And that is the story.

16 Cinderella

A Liberian version of the tale told by Tina

There is this girl her mother is dead she is staying with her step mother . So this woman her step mother was so wicked that she never allows her go to any where she is always in doors doing the whole house work, but her own kids goes out to play mix with others. So one day , this girl is at home, they’ve all gone to a ladies day . The prince was looking for a wife. So this woman allowed her 4 girls to go for the dance but refusing that girl to go along with them. So when they all left this girl was staying, she was always staying close to ash , she was there crying. So her dead mother came out the spirit of her dead mother that was how she gave her the shoe she gave her some clothes to wear she gave her so many things so she should dress herself up for the dance and go . The girl went there even her sisters didn’t know she was the person who came to the dance. The minute the prince saw her come in he went and hugged the girl and said “I’ve seen the wife to marry” so she danced with the prince she was telling the prince that she wanted to go back to the house . The prince was asking her why she said she don’t want her step mother to go home before her. So she told the prince a little of the experience so the prince would have to let her go home. When she was running home one of her shoes fell out and the prince went and picked the shoe. She didn’t tell the prince where she came from, she didn’t tell him all the details about her, so with that shoe . She went home and pretend, she went and bath herself with the ashes as if she didn’t go anywhere. When her step mother came back they were all happy . One day the prince was going house to house looking for that girl. He came to her house the mother came out and he was asking he was looking for a girl. The mother said “A girl?”

he said “yes” the mother went and bring all her girls she was hoping that the prince would pick one girl our of those 4 girls The prince says “It is none of them 4 girls” they asked them to wear the shoe and the shoe didn’t fit. The prince was asking if there was no other girl in that family she said “No there is no other girl” the girl shouted “I am at the back of the house.” The prince insisted that the woman go and get the girl the woman was saying that the girl was lazy . The prince insisted that she go and get the girl she went to get the girl The girl was so dirty but the prince didn’t mind he went and hugged the girl and the girl wore the shoe it was her size that was how the prince took the girl and got married to the girl.

17 Prince’s Wife

told by Larry from Nigeria

It is about wickedness. There is one woman who has one daughter and then she died. One of the family took the daughter with her, and this man has 2 daughters also. So the girl is a slave in the family; do all the washing, wash their clothes make their food, go to the stream fetch the water.

The king in the village has a son a prince living outside the community. He pressurised the boy to come and get married. The boy said “When the time is right I will come and get married.” The father said “No, You are an embarrassment to the family you have to get married.” So the boy finally came home to get married.

As he was coming back home, he saw the girl coming back from the stream carrying a bowl on her head. “Who is this girl? Is she a member of this community?” “Prince, how can you expect to have anything to do with this kind of village girl? Do you see she is very dirty, she don’t wash her clothes, she might be smelling.” He said “I don’t mind. Who are you to tell me about this girl. If I am looking for a beautiful girl I can marry a girl from the city I am coming from.”

The boy was coming back home, the family had prepared a wife for him someone that they wanted him to marry, a family friend, and that girl is already in the house to welcome him. When the Prince came she went and greeted him. The first thing the father said was “This is your future wife.” He didn’t even ask him how was your trip how is life. The Prince said “My future wife?” the mother said “No, no, lets eat food first then we can talk.”

After the food the father called him “You know why you are here it is time for you to get married.” The son says “I don’t want to marry this girl I want to make some choice and marry someone I want.” The father says “Alright, since you don’t want her, I am going to announce by town crier for all the girls in the community to come to a party so you can choose who you want.” He said “OK” if this is the way his father wants it.

He said that he wanted to go to the forest to get the sounds of nature as he had been missing the sounds for a long time. The father said “No No do you know who you are you can’t go there on your own. I will tell some boys to go with you, you need security.” He said “No No I want to go on my own.”

So he went to the bush and was thinking about his future with a wife, his father choosing a wife for him. So in the process the servant girl whose mother died was in the bush getting firewood. She was singing some song about the dead mother. The prince heard the voice so he now followed the voice. When he got to where the girl was. When the girl saw him she was in shock she wanted to run. “No No don’t run I like your song sing one more for me.” The girl said “No I am going to go if you liked my song that means you will risk coming here to hear me singing, this is the only place you can see me.” “Whose daughter are you I want to come and see your family so you can sing for me.” “Do you want my step-father to kill me? Don’t even contact the family unless you want me dead.” The prince thought this weird but he didn’t say I am a prince he just kept it to himself.

The girl now ran, her sisters said “Where have you been, you are late, you have been to see your boyfriend my father is going to kill you today.” When they hear their father come the first thing they say is “Did you know this stupid girl did not wash our clothes, didn’t make our food, she went to see her boyfriend.” and the father was “What!? in my house? are you joking?” and the man beat the girl and give her punishment.

There are two market days for the party everybody is getting ready to go. The two daughters are going so the girl come and ask the man, she calls him father. “Father can I come to the party after I am finished what I am doing?” and the father says “If I see you there I am going to cut off your head and use you for sacrifice.” So the girl went back to her duty and started working. Everybody dressed up and went to the party and this girl began crying to herself so one of her friends came in and said “What are you doing here everybody is at the party.” “My step-father said he is going to kill me if he sees me at the party”

“He is not going to see you just come.”

They now went down to the party and she is sitting at the very behind nobody can see her. She is just there to enjoy herself to listen to the music. She is not there for the prince to choose her. Everybody is dancing. The step-father and step-sisters can dance cause the man has been bribing the men who work for the king and said “Make sure he chooses my daughter.” and when they dance the prince isn’t even looking at them. Everybody was dancing and the girl was just sitting and the prince saw the girl.

And then when he stood up everybody was wondering who is he going to choose and the prince went straight to the girl. When the girl noticed that the guy is coming to her she then ran away. When she ran the step-father saw her and said “This girl is not keeping her word” She went home with her friend and when she was at home in bed. Then the man come and he beat her up and tied her to a bush where animals live, so the lions and everything can eat her up, and she was crying crying crying.

The prince said to the king “That is the girl I am definitely going to marry otherwise no marriage for me. ” and the father says “Are you out of your mind that girl is an outcast, that girl is this you can’t marry her.” But the king accepted and said they now have to go and bring the girl. By the time they get to the family of the girl the girl was nowhere to be found. The man said “The girl has run away she always does that but I have two beautiful girls here if you want to change your mind.” But the prince says “No if you don’t bring that girl you might be in danger.”

Everybody was searching for the girl they didn’t find the girl. A hunter found the girl where she was tied. He was going to shoot her because he thought she was an animal but she said “Don’t shoot don’t shoot” He said “What are you doing here?” “My step father brought me here for the lions to eat me.” “How can people be so wicked?” And the man brought her straight to the palace.

The king was going to die soon and there was no way the village would choose a king who was not married. So the family said “Get married so if your father dies you can take over” So they found a girl for him to marry. He just wants to please his father and then take the girl. So they are doing the traditional marriage. The hunter now brings the girl from where she was in the bush. The king took the girl and said to the son, I found a wife for you. The prince said “Where have you been?” The man told about the step-father. The step-father was there as well, so the king said “Did you do this?” and the man denied. So they took the step-father out of the village and the prince married the girl.

18 Why Kite can never stay on land

Told by Adijat of Nigeria

In the animal kingdom the king has just died and they need someone else to take his place. Elephant and lion are fighting for the position. It was turning into a fight so they said “OK we'll come back in a fortnight and choose someone.

The kite went to the elephant and said “Do you really want to be the king “ They made a plan that in the fortnight they would dig a hole where the lion was going to be. The lion passes and falls into it and they close it up. Someone heard them talking about it and went and told the lion. So they came together and decided on what to do. After the fortnight everybody came together. They chose the lion to be king because elephant had planned with kite. Because Lion was king he banished Kite and told him that the never wants to see him anywhere on land so that is why the kite never stays on land he is on the air or water.

19 How There Came to be Death

A Traditional tale from Liberia told by Tina

A long time ago they were debating if there would be death or not. so at the time they decide that they should send people that want death to exist should choose who should go for them and the people who doesn’t want death should choose who should go for them. They want somebody who can meet God and whoever goes to God first that is what they will take. Some people choose tortoise they said “Tortoise should go and tell God that there will be death,” Then they choose dog because dog run very fast the dog should go and tell god that there will be no death. So Tortoise being trickish went and positioned bones on the road. When dog was going he was really running then he say the bones e just started chewing on these bones and tortoise was walking. Before dog knows what is happening tortoise has reached heaven and told God there will be death, so when dog had finished on his bone he ran up to heaven and was telling God that there will be no death. God said “No you came late tortoise is already here.” so he took the firsts word that I why there is death.

20 Why the Chicken is used in Sacrifice

A traditional tale from the Igbo tribe in Nigeria told by Iffy

In Ebo land that is the Ebo’s of Eastern Nigeria , most people who go to find out things or get information or do sacrifice, what we usually use for animal sacrifice is the chicken as a fowl and this story is about why it is the foul that is used for sacrifice instead of any other animal.

The story is told that one day in the kingdom of animals a series of events had been happening and they needed to come together to solve them because they were impinging on their life. The rains weren’t falling things were drying up so they called a great meeting “Today we must find out what we are going to do to appease the gods so everybody should come along.”

As the animals were trooping to the village square where they would have this meeting, the foul lives not too far away at the edge of the village where you must pass. And each person passing said “Ah you are still at home are you not coming to the meeting?” He said that he was not going what ever they agree or decide at the meeting is ok with him. That continued for the whole day until all the animals had gathered at the meeting the meeting started. They discussed heavily analysed issues and eventually decided and agreed to appease the gods they would sacrifice one animal. The question now was who? everybody was there. They called on lion, he made sure he made enough noise they say “OK” they call “Goat” goat would say “Its not true “ “Ok”. Eventually they called chicken and because it was not there to speak for its self everybody unanimously agreed that chicken would be used as a sacrifice to appease the gods. And that is how it is today any time you are going to do sacrifice that involves killing animals the chicken was supplied, you go to the native doctor when you get there that’s the first thing you drop on the floor even before you start talking.

21 The Wise Man

A Traditional tale from Angola told by Sebastiao

A young man was looking for a young lady to get married. One time he decided to leave his village to go to another one to find a lady to get married. He told his mother because his father had died already. He said “Mum I’ve to go to find another lady in another village” but his mother wasn’t happy she sadi “Do you remember your dad said you can’t find a lady from another village to get married you have to find a lady from this village.” Cause in the culture as a young man you have to get married from your village you can’t go outside. But the young man decided “I can’t wait I have to go to another one to find a girl over there.” The next morning the young man decided to travel to another village. He packed everything and went out of the house. He couldn’t find a lady from the first village. He walked and walked and walked he didn’t have transport. He walked to the second one, he didn’t find a young lady and to the third one he found a young lady. He was happy he talked to that young lady. “You are beautiful I like you I would like to get married. Maybe iI could meet your dad your parent to talk to them about the issue.” and the lady said “Are you sure? you want to get married.” He said “Yeh I’m sure. Look I’m from this village I just came her to find a nice woman like you.” She said “OK this is my house my parents live in this place you can come anytime you like you an meet my parent my dad will be there as well.”

That night the guy talked to his friend about the issue. His friend is from that village. He said “Oh do you know I met a lady from this village is very beautiful. Do you know that lady?” The friend said “Do you know that family? Do you know the father of that girl is very complicated. You can’t go to that house t that family to get married. It will be very difficult for you to get married in that family. If you want to do it you can but I want to tell you that it is not a good idea.”

He said “I have to go forward about this matter.” and the next day he went to see the parent of that girl, he met the father because in Africa (because this story is from my country). In Africa particularly in my country the father has the power to say something if the lady would like to get married, the father has to say yes or no. I think it is the same for many countries in the world.

The guy went to the house of the parent and met the father. He said “ Do you know I come, I met your daughter I would like to get married to your daughter.” The father say “Oh are you sure?”

“Yea, I want to get married I come far from this village.” The father say “Ok no problem.” He called his daughter. “Do you know this guy?” “Yes I met him before.” “Ok its OK I think it will be OK to get married to my daughter, but, I would like to tell you something. If you want to get married to my daughter I say this to you. The day I will die they have to put you under my coffin do you understand The day I will die they have to put you under my coffin.” The guy said “Ok Ok understood the day you will die they will put me under your coffin Ok I have to tell again something in my tradition as well. My father told me before he died when I go forward I can’t go back. Do you understand when I go forward I can’t go back.”

“OK no problem.”

They celebrated, the family came they celebrated he took the girl to his village. A few months ago the father died. That girl’s sister came to tell them “O Father had died.” They went to the funeral of teh father, the family of the father said. “This guy said to us before he died that we were to put you under his coffin.” He said “OK no problem.” everyone was surprised. “Under his coffin what is this?” They took the guy they put him in they put the coffin on top of the guy. The ground was too small. They say “Ah we have to arrange it a little bit because its too small can you come out?” They took him out, they arranged the ground to be a little bit big and they said “Ok come back again we’ll put you again in the ground.” He said “Sorry I have to tell you something, I did tell father, this man, I did tell him before I married his daughter, when I go forward I don’t come back . You did put me in the ground then you put me out I can’t come back again because when I go forward I can’t go back.” and everyone was surprised. That’s the story.

SPIRASI SUMMER 2006 Art Project - Story Telling

Home

Introduction

Stories Index

1 How Giraffe Got a Long Neck

Told by Adijat of Nigeria

2 Friends in School

A true story told by Bumi from Nigeria

3 How Tortoise Cracked his Shell

This version comes from Igbo Region in Eastern Nigeria .

Told by Iffy

4 How Robin and Donkey got their Markings

Told by Aideen of Ireland

5 Twin brothers

This story is told by Paul from Nigeria

8 How Tortoise Cracked his Shell

This version comes from Liberia .

Told by Tina

9 The Woman and the Elephant

This is a story the group created together told here by Larry and Tina

10 Woman whose children wouldn’t bury her

We were talking about ghosts and Justice told this story from Nigeria

11 Choosing a Husband

This is a story created by the group told here by Irene and Larry

12 What’s on your forehead.

This is a true story told by Paul of a happening involving a witch-doctor in Uganda

13 The Tortoises Back

This version is told by Larry of the Igbo Tribe in Nigeria

14 King with 5 wives

A traditional tale from Liberia told byTina

15 Woman and goat

A traditional tale from Angola told by Sebastiao

16 Cinderella

A Liberian version of the tale told by Tina

17 Prince’s Wife

told by Larry from Nigeria

18 Why Kite can never stay on land

Told by Adijat of Nigeria

19 How There Came to be Death

A Traditional tale from Liberia told by Tina

20 Why the Chicken is used in Sacrifice

A traditional tale from the Igbo tribe in Nigeria told by Iffy

21 The Wise Man

A Traditional tale from Angola told by Sebastiao

SPIRASI SUMMER 2006
Art Project - Story Telling