Reading Notes: Stories from Congo, Reading B

Notes. There were a few shape shifting stories in this folklore unit. I can probably use this idea in my story. I liked a few stories from this reading. A lot of them I felt passive towards.

 (Spider and web: Web source)

I did not realize how the story would go in How the Spider Won and Lost Nzambi’s Daughter. In the end, Nzambi gave them monetary value of what the daughter was worth. This is peculiar. In stories similar to this, I hear of the father giving it to the person who did the most important job. However, in this story, he gave his daughter to no one. It was something different, but it was nice. If I were to write a story about this, I would write it from the father’s point-of-view. It would show his internal conflict. Also, I would add more to his bond with his daughter. He would be more loving and not want her to get married. Perhaps, he told people to get the thing because he was angry at his daughter, but he did not mean it.

In The Gazelle and The Leopard, it was messed up that the leopard’s wife ate her husband unknowingly. There was much destruction and revenge. The wife cursed the leopard at the end. I could make a story about this. It would briefly tell about the leopard and gazelle’s story first. Then, I would go into depth about the leopard wife turning crazy because she ate her husband. His ghost may haunt her, but in actuality, she becomes crazy and dies. However, the gazelle continues to live a nice life. This would be a good story to write about, because it has some unfairness in it opposed to the many happy stories I write.

I cannot believe that with such logic, the crocodile could be duped by the hen. The common denominator they have are eggs. That is it. The crocodile can actually eat the hen, but when the hen yelled “brother” the crocodile stopped eating her.

Bibliography. Stories from Congo by R. E. Dennett; link to reading online.