Essay Week 7: Tricksters and Fools

For this weeks reading unit, I chose to read about the Stories from the Congo. Having only had time to read half of the unit this week, I do not know if I got the complete feel for how the people from the Congo tell stories or their way of thinking, but what I did read I did not particularly like. Yes, the stories were very similar in terms of having tricksters and fools as other countries stories that I have read thus far in the semester, but the ones from the Congo were particularly gruesome. They had a very wild and literally animalistic  way of describing their forms of trickery and what consequences follow those forms incur. For example, in the story of The Antelope and the Leopard, the fool was the prideful leopard and the trickster was the metamorphic antelope. The antelope knew that they only way to beat the leopard was in a game of intellect, not strength. The antelope ending up slowly killing the leopard by the leopards own hands until he was just a legless, eyeless, toothless, and worthless body consumed by blind love. It was a very grotesque and not particularly enjoyable story. Then there was also The Turtle and the Man that was not exactly my favorite story either. In the story, the ox, who was good hearted and willing to help the turtle until he was blindsided and murdered by the greedy turtle. Even when the turtle met his consequence for his trickery, it was still through the means of murder.

(Leopard Attack. Web Source: Wikimedia Commons)

I guess that I am a sucker for things like happy endings and fairness that this unit really rubbed me the wrong way. Hopefully my next pick will either be something that is happier or has a more playful version of trickery and foolishness.

Storytelling for Week 7: The Selfish Turtle

There once was a turtle named Larry and a man named Matthew who worked hard together to build a town for them to share. During the time that they made their home, the labor made them close friends. However, this was not to last for very long.

"Larry, did you think to plant any food?" Matthew questioned.

"Not yet, but I'm starving too," Larry answered.

This went on for a few days until the pair were quite short of temper and extremely ravenous.

"Why don't we build a few traps and see if we can catch anything to eat. I will set one on this side of the town and you set one on that side," Larry told Matthew.

The next morning, Matthew's trap was empty, but Larry's trap had caught an antelope!

"I cannot lift this antelope out of the trap all alone and if I allow Matthew to help me do it then I will have to share my catch with him" Larry thought to himself. "I know! I will throw a party and have everyone except Matthew come to dance around the antelope and let them think that they will be receiving a piece. Then I can lure one of the big dumb animals out of the group to carry the antelope to my house by telling it that is where I will cook the meat for everyone!" Larry thought with a sly smile.

An hour later, almost fifty animals were dancing around the pit with glee. They were finally to get a little food in their bellies! Larry scanned the crowd carefully for an animal to carry the antelope and finally spotted a large ox that would be perfect for the job.

(Robert, the Ox. Web Source: Wikipedia)

"Rob!" Larry called to the great ox. "Would you come over here for a second, please?"

"Sure, Larry. What do you need?" Rob answered.

"I need for you to help me carry the antelope to my house so that I may cook the meat for everyone. I will give you a larger portion for your help!" Larry asked.

"Of course," Rob answered gleefully.

Once the meat was safely tucked away in Larry's home, Larry turned to Rob and said, "Will you please go an fetch some leaves to wrap everyone's meat in?"

"Of course," Rob answered.

When Rob returned, Larry's doors were all locked and he was not responding to any of Rob's calls.

Now Rob, being an ox, is very quick to anger and was not pleased with being tricked. So he charged back down the hill to the celebrating animals and told them of Larry's treachery. Together, the enraged group stormed Larry's home, crushing it to pieces. Larry fled the scene in fear without a bite to eat and all of the animals got their fair share of food.

Author's Note: For this story, I transformed the tale of the Turtle and the Man from the Congo Unit into something with a bit less gruesome and happier of an ending. In almost all of the Congo tales that I read, any character that did something wrong was murdered in the story. So for my story, I gave the turtle, man, and ox names so that a better connection could be built with them. I also used the ox to call all of the animals to the turtles house to take back the meat instead of having the turtle trick the ox and kill him as it was in the original story. I also had the turtle flee the scene alive instead of meeting his doom by the teeth of the leopard he had also tricked. Overall, I wanted to make the story a little more digestible by letting the "good guy" win and the "bad guy" fail. I guess you can call me a sucker for happy endings!

Reading Diary Week 7: Congo

The Antelope and the Leopard: In a very twisted and grotesque way, the antelope used the leopards emotions to intellectually out due him. The antelope knew that she was inferior to the leopard in a test against strength, but that she would win a the test against wits.

The Turtle and the Man: When kindness is met with greed, the one who uses trickery to fulfill his greed will fail. This story is an excellent representation of karma.

The Gazelle and the Leopard: This story is starting to give me the impression that the Congo isn't exactly the safest place. It seems like many of their stories involve murder as the main form of revenge.

The Fight between Two Fetishes: It was interesting to discover how the people of the Congo explain how something came to be. A wish from one man made a physical being disappear forever from one place purely because it caused him a moment of irritation.