Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 246: Nigeria- Tortoise and the King; Tortoise and Mr Fly; Erin and Erinomi (Ogumefu)

Transcript

EP 246: Nigeria- Tortoise and the King; Tortoise and Mr Fly; Erin and Erinomi (Ogumefu) · Sandman Stories Presents

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  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 Ogomi Fu. In the first story, the tortoise
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  keeps his word, but the king doesn't it first.
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  In the second story, Tortoise wants to know how Mr. Fly keeps
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  his family so well fed, and in the final story we see how
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  Tortoise tricks the strongest in the land.
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  OK, let's begin. Tortoise and the King.
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  One year the elephant had done a great deal of damage, breaking
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  down the trees and drinking up the water in a time of scarcity
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  and eating the first tender crops from the fields.
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  The King's hunters tried in vain to destroy him, for Elephant
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  knew many charms and always escaped from their traps.
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  At last the king offered the hand of his daughter in marriage
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  to anyone who would rid the country of the pest.
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  Tortoise went to the palace and offered to catch the elephant,
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  and then made his preparations. Outside the town a large pit was
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  dug, and on top of it was laid a thin platform covered with
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  velvet clothes and leopard skins like a throne.
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  Then Tortoise set off into the forest, accompanied by slaves
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  and drummers. Elephant was very much surprised
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  to see his little friend Tortoise riding in such a state,
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  and suspected a trap. But Tortoise said that the old
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  king was dead, and the people all wished the elephant to rule
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  over them, because he was the greatest of all animals.
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  When he heard this, Elephant was flattered and agreed to
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  accompany Tortoise to the town. But when he went up on the
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  platform to be crowned king, the wood gave way beneath him, and
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  he crashed down into the pit and was speedily slain by the King's
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  hunters. All the people rejoiced and
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  praised the cunning of the Tortoise who went to the palace
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  to receive his bride. But the king refused to give his
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  daughter to such an insignificant creature, and
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  Tortoise was determined to have revenge.
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  When the new crops were just ripening, he called together all
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  the field mice and elves, and asked them to eat up and carry
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  away all the corn. They were only too pleased with
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  the idea, and the farmers in distress found their fields
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  quite bare. Now there was a prospect of
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  famine in the land, and the king offered the same reward as
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  before to anyone who would rid the country of the pests.
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  Tortoise once again appeared in the palace and offered his help.
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  The king was eager enough to accept it, but Tortoise
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  cautiously refused to do anything until the Princess had
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  become his bride. The king was thus forced to
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  consent to the marriage, and when it had taken place,
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  Tortoise, true to his word, called together all the mice and
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  elves and showed them a platform loaded with dainty morsels of
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  food. He then addressed them as
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  follows. The people are so distressed at
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  the damages you have done that they have prepared this feast
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  for you, and they promise to do the same twice every year before
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  the harvesting of the 1st and 2nd crop, if you will agree to
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  not touch the corn in the fields.
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  The little creatures all consented, and marched in a
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  great crowd to the platform, which they soon cleared.
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  The king and his people were not very pleased to hear of this
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  arrangement, but they were so afraid of tortoise that they
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  could not complain, and after that the mice and elves never
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  troubled the country again. The End
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  OK and story #2 Tortoise and Mr. Fly Once Tortoise and his family
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  fell on hard times and they had nothing to eat, but they noticed
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  their neighbor Mr. Fly seem to be very prosperous and feasted
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  every night. Tortoise was curious to know how
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  he obtained so much money, and after watching him for some
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  days, he discovered that Mister Fly flew away every morning
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  early with a large empty sack on his back, and returned in the
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  evening with the sack full, and after that his wife would
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  prepare a feast. One morning Tortoise hid in the
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  sack and waited to see what would happen.
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  Soon Mr. Fly came out of his house, lifted up the sack and
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  flew away. He descended at last in the
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  marketplace of a large town, where the drummers were beating
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  the tones of the dance, and maidens were dancing before the
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  crowd of people. Mr. Fly laid his sack on the
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  ground, and Tortoise saw him standing beside one of the
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  drummers. When the people threw money, Mr.
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  Fly picked up the coins and hid them in his sack, and by evening
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  he had collected a great quantity.
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  Then he took up the sack and flew home.
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  Tortoise quickly got out and took most of the money with him,
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  so that poor Mr. Fly was surprised to find his sack
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  almost empty. This happened several times
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  until one day as he put the money in the sack, Mr. Fly
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  caught sight of Tortoise hiding inside it.
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  He was very angry at the trick and going to the drummer, he
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  asked him if he had missed any money.
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  Yes, said the drummer, for some days I have been losing coins.
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  Look inside this sack, replied Mr. Fly, and you will see the
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  thief sitting among the money he has stolen.
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  The drummer peeped inside the sack and saw Tortoise.
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  How should the thief be punished?
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  He cried angrily. Just tie up the sack, said Mr.
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  Fly, and then beat upon it as if it were a drum.
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  So the drummer tied up the sack and beat upon it until Tortoise
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  was black and blue, and This is why his back is covered with
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  bruises. Then Mr. Fly picked up the sack
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  and flew high up in the sky and dropped it.
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  By chance the sack fell down just outside a tortoise's house,
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  and the neighbors came to tell Yanribo, his wife, that someone
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  had left a present outside the door.
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  But when she opened the sack in the presence of a crowd of
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  people, she found only Tortoise inside, more dead than alive.
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  Then Mr. Fly made a song and narrated the whole story, and
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  the drummers also played it. And Tortoise and Narimbo were so
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  ashamed that they left the place and went to live in another
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  country. The and
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  OK And the third story Erin and Erinomi, The Land and Water
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  Elephants. Tortoise was always fond of
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  making mischief between harmless people.
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  One day he walked along the riverbank and he came upon the
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  elephant and said to him, The hippo is boasting that you are
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  only a weakling and that you do not have the strength to pull a
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  log out of the river. That is false, cried the
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  elephant. And to prove his strength, he
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  allowed Tortoise to tie a strong rope to his trunk and attach the
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  other end to a log in the river. Tortoise went down to the water
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  holding the rope and said to Hippo, The elephant is boasting
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  of his strength, and he declares that you are a weakling and
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  could not pull down a tree. That is false, cried the hippo.
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  I can pull down any tree. Tortoise then said that he had
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  attached his rope to a tree, and he would fasten the other end to
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  Hippo's horn. This he did, and the two animals
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  began to pull, one on each end of the rope.
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  Elephant pulled and pulled, and the hippo pulled and pulled, and
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  neither gave way. After some time, hippo rested.
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  An elephant came down to the water to quench his thirst, and
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  then they saw the trick that had been played on them.
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  Snorting with anger, they began to look for the mischievous
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  tortoise. But by this time he was, as you
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  may be sure, very, very far away.
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  The end. I loved having these three
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  stories about the tortoise this time around.
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  The first one was pretty cool and I liked how the tortoise got
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  what was his. The second one gave me a bit of
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  a laugh because I was thinking about a loud folk tale about
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  flies that I hope to cover someday.
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  And the third one was almost exactly brother Rabbit story
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  that I've read in multiple places, including Louisiana folk
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  tales. You can see how the stories have
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  migrated over to America along with the people.
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  There are three more tales of tortoise in this book and then
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  the book will be done and I'll probably replace it with
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  Zanzibar tales. This week's podcast shout out is
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  to Inside the Great Khan's Tent hosted by Saif Beg.
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  This podcast covers folk tales from the Islamic world,
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  including some that I haven't heard of.
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  He also has a lot of knowledge about history and folk tales in
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  the Middle East and the Asian steppe areas.
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  So have a seat in his yurt, drink a cup of Chai and settle
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  in for a story. And if you like his podcast as
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  much as I do, go give him a listen, a rating and a review.
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  And the listener shout out is to the entire nation of Vanuatu.
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  This island nation was first populated about 3000 years ago.
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  Sadly because of kidnapping and population separation much of
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  the pre European history has been destroyed, intentionally or
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  otherwise. Likely the original people came
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  from Taiwan or the Philippines and are closely related to the
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  Melanesians and the people of the Solomon Islands.
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  They met the Portuguese, French and British who all tried to
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  name the islands a variety of names but none of them stuck.
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  The only name that stayed is Port Via and that became the
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  capital and the largest city. There are 113 languages on the
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  island, but the main one spoken is Bis Lama, a relative of Talk
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  Pisin and Solomon Island Pigeon. I would love to visit.
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  And so to my listener in Vanuatu, I say thank you Tomas
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  and goodnight. Thank you very much and
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  goodnight.