Week 7 Reading Diary: Stories from Congo

Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).

How The Wives Restored Their Husband To Life

• A man had three wives
• He was killed by an ox while hunting
• One wife dreamt he died
• Another led them to his body
• The third wife brought him back to life
• They decided to let him decide who's hut he would enter first
• They each cooked him a pot of food
• He chose the third wife because she brought him back to life
• Most thought he was right, others thought he should've mixed all the food into one pot and eaten it mixed together

How Gazelle Got Married

• A man had two daughters and decided that whoever could guess their names could marry them
• The antelope asked for their hand in marriage and the father said no unless he could guess their names
• The gazelle came with his dog and asked to marry the daughters and was told the same as the antelope
• The gazelle went home but his dog stayed behind
• After many failed attempts the dog finally made it home to tell his owner their names
• They went so the gazelle could claim the daughters
• The antelope declared war but the gazelle killed and ate him

The Vanishing Wife

• There were two brothers, one was married and had servants, the other was alone and despised
• The despised brother decided to flee into the jungle
• Once there he had a dream about a woman
• He awoke and remembered the dream and did as he was told to do in the dream
• The woman, servants, a house, everything he had ever dreamed of appeared
• The only request the woman had was for him to cut the heads off of the fish before he brought them to her to cook
• One day he didn't and the woman, servants and everything disappeared
• His brother just so happened to visit him after this and despised him even more and left him alone

Another Vanishing Wife

• A miserable looking child ran away from his family, who treated him horribly, and wandered to a river
• He got in a canoe there and paddled until he came across a tree that covered the river
• He pulled the leaves off and they turned into people
• One became his wife
• He was made handsome and given nice clothes and a nice home
• His family invited him home, his wife warned him not to tell of his happiness
• He told his family how he received his happiness and everything he had vanished
• The people said it served him right for not being loyal to his loving wife, but giving into his family which never treated him well

The Jealous Wife

• There was a man with two wives, each wife had a child
• The father left to go into the bush and the wives had to take care of the children
• The younger wife went fishing and left the children with the elder wife
• The younger wife's child was much more bright than the elder wife's child and that made her jealous
• She decided to kill the younger wife's child, but when she did she realized that it was her child she had killed
• She took the body and fled into the woods
• The father returned and wouldn't believe what he was told
• They searched for the elder wife until they found her singing to the dead child
• They killed her and burned her body

Ngomba's Balloon

• A girl was sick
• She went fishing and met a murderer
• She promised him that if he cured her she would feed him her fish
• He cured her and then married her
• She planned to escape
• He planned to kill her, but never did
• She finally escaped and went to her mother
• He followed and went to claim her
• Her family tricked him into a hole and killed him

The Wicked Husband

• The wife asked for more palm nuts
• The husband forced her to come with him if she wanted them
• She refused
• He drug her into the woods and cut off her arms and legs
• A hunter heard her crying and told his wife what he had seen
• Word got around to the prince and he ordered his people to get the woman
• She died just as she arrived back in town
• They burned her husband

How Kengi Lost Her Child

• Two wives grew their own crops
• They came to an agreement that whatever was born on each of the wife's land was exclusively theirs
• One wife bore a child on the other's land
• The other wife claimed the child and would not give it up
• They went to "court" and it was ruled that this was right

The Twin Brothers

• A brother travelled to a town to marry a girl
• There were mirrors that were covered and she showed him all but one
• He insisted and it was of a town that no man returns
• He left to visit the town and was killed
• His brother went looking for his twin and was mistaken for his brother
• He also went to the town but killed the woman that killed his brother and brought his brother and many people back to life
• They argued about who the followers belonged to
• The brother brought back to life killed his brother but not his horse
• His horse brought him back to life and then he went and killed his brother

The Younger Brother Who Knew More Than The Elder

• The younger brother left his town because he didn't get along wit his brother
• He and his wife came across a man and his wife living in the woods and asked to live with them
• The two had their wives dig a trap for animals and decided the younger brother would take the males and the man would take the females
• They caught many males but no females
• The wife of the younger brother went looking for wood but never returned
• The man and the younger brother went to look for her and found her in the trap
• By their agreement she belonged to the man
• The older brother went hunting and ran across them
• The man asked the older brother and he agreed
• The man jumped into the pit to kill the younger brothers' wife
• The older brother claimed the man now belonged to the younger brother so he could bargain for his wife
• The man gave up the woman and the brothers and the wife returned to their town

(The Congo River)