Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 193: Nigeria- Oluronbi; Oranyan; The Elephant's Trunk (Ogumifu)

Transcript

EP 193: Nigeria- Oluronbi; Oranyan; The Elephant's Trunk (Ogumifu) · Sandman Stories Presents

• 0:31
  Welcome back listeners to Sandman Stories Presents, a
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  folklore podcast where I read you to sleep or until the next
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  story. I'm your host, Dustin.
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  Today we are back in the book of Nigerian folklore written down
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  by MI Okumifu. In the first story, the women of
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  the city promise a magic man many things in order to have
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  children. One woman over promises and has
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  to think quick to get out of it. In the second story, the king
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  has to go away. But when he is thought to be
• 1:00
  dead, his son must choose what to do.
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  And in the third story we'll learn about the elephant's long
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  nose. OK, let's begin.
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  Olurombi. In a certain village, no
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  children have been born for many years, and the people were
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  greatly distressed. At last all of the women in the
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  village went together into the forest to the magic tree, the
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  Oroko, and implored the spirit of the tree to help them.
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  The Irocal man asked what the gifts they would bring if he
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  consented to help them, and the women eagerly promised him corn,
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  yams, fruit, goats and sheep. But Olorombi, the young wife of
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  the wood Carver, promised to bring her first child in due
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  course. Children came to the village,
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  and the most beautiful of all the children was the one born to
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  Olorombi. She and her husband greatly
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  loved their child that they could not consent to give it up
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  to the Oroco man. The other women took their
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  promised gifts of corn, yams, fruit, goats, and sheep, but
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  Olorumbi took nothing to propitiate the tree.
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  Alas, as one day Olorumbi passed through the forest, the Oroco
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  man seized her and changed her into her small brown bird, which
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  sat on the branches of the tree and plaintively sang.
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  One promised a sheep, one promised a goat, one promised a
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  fruit, but Olarumbi promised her child.
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  When the wood Carver heard the bird's song, he realized what
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  had happened, and he tried to find some means of regaining his
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  wife. After thinking many days, he
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  began to carve a large wooden doll, like a real child in size
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  and appearance, and with a small gold chain around its neck
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  covering it with a beautiful native cloth, he laid it at the
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  foot of the tree. The Aroco man thought that this
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  was all the Rumbi's child, so he transformed the little bird once
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  more into a woman and snatch up the child into the branches.
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  All the Rumbi joyfully returned home and was careful never to
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  strain to the forest again. The end
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  OK and story #2. The staff of Oranian.
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  Oranian, a brave and warlike king, founded the city of Oyo as
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  it was necessary for him to lead an expedition to a distant part
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  of his Kingdom. He left his son in charge of the
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  capital during his absence. But the king was away for such a
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  long period that it was thought that he and his soldiers must
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  have perished. And at last the people made his
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  son king, and for some time he ruled them wisely and happily.
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  However, Oronian was not dead, and after many delays and
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  hardships, he again drew near to Oyo with his few surviving
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  followers. As he approached the city, he
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  was startled to hear the notes of the Kakaki trumpet, which
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  sounded for the king alone. Feeling sure that nobody could
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  be aware of his return, he asked a man working in the fields for
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  whom the trumpet was being sounded.
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  For the king, replied the man, Yes, but which king?
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  Asked the travel Warn stranger, Do you not know that the son of
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  Oranian is king and rules over us wisely and well?
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  His father was killed in battle many months ago.
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  Desiring his son's happiness more than his own, the old king
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  retraced his steps and settled down with his few friends in a
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  humble retirement in a remote part of the country.
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  Only at Iranian's death was his presence made known to his son.
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  The young Prince, now king, grieving at his noble father's
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  sacrifice, erected an obelisk over the spot where he died.
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  And the monument, which is known as the Staff of Iranian, is
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  still to be seen. The end
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  OK and story #3. The elephant's trunk.
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  Now it is a matter of common knowledge that the elephant has
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  a long trunk, which he uses both as a nose and sort of as a hand.
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  A very useful trunk indeed. But he was once without it, and
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  had a very ordinary, short snout.
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  Like other animals, the elephant was always inquisitive and went
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  sniffing about in the forest, prying into the secrets of the
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  other animals. One day he came across a dark
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  hole in the ground, and into this hole he poked his nose to
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  see what was there. At once he regretted his
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  curiosity for a large snake who lived in the hole, seized him by
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  the nose and tried to swallow him.
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  At this elephant made a great uproar and his wife came rushing
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  to his assistance. She seized his tail and pulled
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  and pulled and elephant also himself pulled and pulled.
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  But the snake would not let go and as a result elephant's nose
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  was drawn out into the long trunk which he still has.
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  At first he was ashamed to appear in the forest on account
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  of his trunk, but now the other animals envy him.
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  One day the monkey, which imitates everybody, looked down
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  the same hole, thinking it would be good to have a long trunk so
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  as to be able to swing from the trees by his nose.
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  But the big snake who lived in the hole swallowed him, and
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  since then nobody else has tried to imitate elephant.
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  The end I really like these stories.
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  I'm seeing the Oroko Man come more and more in these stories,
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  and it's it's cool to learn about that character.
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  It's from the Oroko tree, which should not be made into
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  furniture. And in the second one, I thought
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  it was sad but kind of noble that the dad was like, ah, you
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  know what, My son's the king now.
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  I'm not going to bother him. I'm just going to go retire here
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  in the corner. And the third one, you know,
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  I've, I've heard the Rudyard Kipling, how the elephants knows
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  not like that the elephant's child.
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  It was cool to see a different culture have that one and also
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  to see monkey try to be like elephant and then just get
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  swallowed, all right. And the podcast shout out is to
• 7:59
  the Australian history's podcast.
• 8:02
  This podcast covers so much history that I would not have
• 8:05
  otherwise heard of. Jenny covers everything and
• 8:08
  everyone from Janda Mara the Benuba Warrior to the Rum
• 8:12
  rebellion to the Platypus controversy and she does it all
• 8:15
  with a super calm and relaxing voice.
• 8:19
  And so if you like her podcast as much as I do, go and give her
• 8:22
  a listener rating and a review and the listener shout out is to
• 8:26
  Tasmania. Being 3% of my listeners from
• 8:29
  Australia, I was unaware that Tasmania covers not only just
• 8:33
  the Big Island but also 1000 other islands nearby.
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  There are efforts to bring the local indigenous languages back
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  into use, but the center is only allowing outsiders to look at
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  place names at the moment until the people take back the
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  language. In one such language, Neoni, the
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  name of the island is Lutrovita. It was also called Van Diemens
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  Island after the first governor of Tasmania, before it was named
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  Tasmania after Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.
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  The island is also the setting for the hilarious and very
• 9:03
  Australian crime drama called Deadlock DEADLOCH that I'm
• 9:08
  currently watching with my parents.
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  As I don't have access to the Indigenous language, I will
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  simply say thank you and goodnight.