Storytelling Week 7: Why the Roller is so Colorful

In the olden days, the roller bird was a very plain bird with brown feathers which matched the color of the trees and the sand. The roller bird was a lover of fun, and she especially enjoyed playing tricks on the other animals. Because of her dull appearance, the roller bird was able to go about undetected in order to scare or trick others.

One day, as the roller bird was looking for insects for lunch, she spotted the elephant walking past, looking for his own lunch. The elephant was delicately picking marula fruits off of the marula tree. The roller bird decided to have some fun with the elephant. Discreetly she flew closer to the elephant and plucked off one of the marula fruits. With the fruit in her talon, the roller bird hung the fruit as if it were still hanging off of the tree. When the elephant came to pick this fruit with his trunk, the roller bird quickly pulled the fruit up before he could reach it. 

The elephant lowered his trunk and tilted his head up at the tree, however which his small eyes and the bird's camouflage appearance, he could not see that it was the roller bird at work.

The roller bird lowered the fruit again, and the elephant tried to pluck the fruit from the tree. Once again, the roller bird pulled the fruit up in the last second. Now the elephant was frustrated. He was determined to get this fruit. Standing on his back two legs, the elephant reached as high as he could to pick the fruit, but still the bird moved it out of his reach. This time, the elephant lost his balance and quickly came crashing to the ground.

Quite in pain from the fall, the elephant then heard a familiar rak rak rak coming from the trees. It was the roller bird! Furious, the elephant shouted at her, "This is the last time you play a trick on me!" He stormed away while the roller bird continued to laugh.

The elephant went directly to the king and made his complaint. The king decided the roller bird must be stopped for good and the way to do that was to make the roller bird more noticeable.

The elephant gathered some of his friends for this task. They borrowed some paint from the humans and came to the roller bird's tree. Even though they knew she was up there, no one was able to spot the roller bird. So the meerkat dug up some insects and placed them in a large pile so as to lure the roller bird down. The other animals hid as best they could so she could not spot them.

It worked, and soon enough the roller bird swooped down to her dinner. She was so focused on the delicious insects that she did not notice the other animals around her. As soon as she landed, the animals jumped from their hiding places and began to throw paint at the roller bird. The meerkat threw green paint, while the monkey threw blue chunks of paint. The hare threw yellow colors at the bird, and the elephant threw lilac.

By the time the roller bird was able to react, she was covered in bright, colorful paint. No longer was she able to hide in the trees, as when she flew away, all of the animals were able to see her even through the dense branches. This is why the lilac breasted roller bird is so colorful now, and why she is so ashamed to trees for very long. 

Author's Note: As I was reading folk stories from Nigeria, many of the stories that stuck out to me where sort of creation stories which explain why some animals look or act the way that they do. The stories usually are very outlandish and unrealistic, but they are still fun to read. As I was looking at animals from Africa, one that stuck out to me was the Lilac Breasted Roller Bird, which has such beautiful multicolored feathers. I decided I wanted to write how this bird got its beautiful feathers. It is unrealistic and outlandish, yes, but hopefully it entertains. 

Bibliography: This was inspired by various animal folk tales from Nigeria, collected by Elphinstone Dayrell, from Nigerian Folk Stories. From the unit Nigeria

Image 1 information: "Maroela" taken by Davinci77, 2005. Web source: Wikimedia Commons

Image 2 information: "Lilac Breasted Roller" taken by Gareth Rasberry, 2013. Web source: Wikimedia Commons

Reading Notes: Nigerian Folk Stories, Part B

While still reading Nigerian folk tales, I had a lot of reactions, the first being: Wow, the story of The Lightning and the Thunder is so creative and unique. I really enjoyed this story. It is probably the best story of this unit I have read so far, because it creativity explains thunder and lightning in a way that is so unique, but still makes sense and is almost believable. I am convinced I need to write some kind of creation story. 

The story of The Bush Cow and the Elephant is enjoyable also, although it is also a little confusing. I like the explanation of why certain animals fight each other.
In the story of The Cock Who Caused a Fight, I like the drama caused by Ama Ukwa, but I also like that it ended well. I wonder what would have happened if the brothers had not spoken to each other and instead one of them died. That would have made for a very tragic story.
The story of The Hippopotamus and the Tortoise reminds me of the story of Rumplestiltskin. The theme of an unknown name is a really good one because it adds suspense and drama to the story.
The story of Why Dead People are Buried is actually a really sad one, even though it is reality. According to the story, if the people had listened to the dog, there would be no permanent death. As it is, though, there is, which in a way makes life more sweet.
The story Of the Fat Woman who Melted Away is really interesting, because it tells of a fat woman, who in today's society would most likely be perceived as not so beautiful, is extremely beautiful and wanted by many. I'm so very confused by why she is made out of oil, however, and how that even works. Does that change her appearance or does she look like a normal human? Many questions.
Does the story of Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes count as cannibalism? Because it seems very cannibalistic to me.
The story of Tortoise, Elephant, and Hippopotamus is a nice one. It's filled with intelligence and cunningness, but it still has a happy ending, which I enjoy.
I swear, stories like the story of The King and the 'Nsiat Bird just continue to confuse me. I cannot seem to wrap my head around what Nigerians seem to believe or at least come up with. I can never figure out if the love interest, who's father is a bird, is also a bird or is a human. Or is the king a bird? It is all very odd.
Oh, the story of The Hawk and the Owl is so sad. I was so afraid the hawk was going to eat the baby owl at first. It's still sad that the hawk ate the baby chick, even though that is how nature works. I like the idea of the story, though, that those who are quiet are plotting revenge. It is quite a comical, and at times realistic, idea. 

It is quite tragic that in the story of The 'Nsasak Bird and the Odudu Bird, the Odudu bird, the 'Nsasak bird's friend, died because of the ridiculous competition.
The story of The Election of the King Bird is interesting in that it mentions so many birds. It attempts to explain the manners of each bird and the reasoning behind them all. I have really enjoyed these kinds of stories and will be definitely writing about a type of creation story.

Nigerian Folk Stories collected by Elphinstone Dayrell. Source link: Part B

Image 1 information: "Pink Lightning" by oompa123, 2015. Web source: Wikimedia Commons

Image 2 information: "Southern White Faced Owl" by Petr Kratochvil. Web source: Public Domain Pictures

Reading Notes: Nigerian Folk Stories, Part A

For this week’s reading, I chose to read folk stories from Nigeria. I really enjoyed the story of The Pretty Stranger who Killed the King. It shows an old woman who uses her skills and brains to kill a tyrant king. There's definitely a lot I could do with this story wise. I especially like the moral, which is basically, don't judge a book by its cover, and don't marry someone just because they are pretty.
The story of Why the Bat Flies by Night is actually really horrifying. It makes me wonder if African people boil bats in their soup to make it taste better. Either way, it was a unique way of explaining a bat's habits.
The story of the Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull is such an odd one and gives me so many questions. Is the skull and actual skull, that floats and talks? Why couldn't he have just stayed in the mortal world? And where did he go after he took Afiong home? I could always try to answer these questions by making my own story, but it would still be extremely odd.
I'm so confused by the story of The King who Married the Cock's Daughter. Did he marry an actual hen, because at the end, it says there is now a law that no one can marry an animal? In the middle it was actually a sweet story, because the king found someone who he finally could love, and in the end he lost her. I like this concept and would definitely want to write about it.
I didn't particularly like the story of The Woman, the Ape, and the Child. It began really good, and then I became really confused. It was unique and interesting, but I didn't like how Okun Archibong was ridiculous enough to kill his child and his wife.
All I can say about the story of The Fish and the Leopard's Wife is ew. I don't even want to know how that would work physically. I do enjoy how the story brought it around so that it explained why fish live in water and why people eat fish.
The story of Why the Worms live Underneath the Ground is really interesting. I honestly really like the idea of animals and humans being able to talk to one another and living together and having the same king. I think this would be fun to write about.
The story of The Elephant and the Tortoise, while a little gruesome, is intriguing in that it explains why elephants have such small eyes and why worms are blind. I think it would be cool to come up with a story like this. I would just need to think of an animal with an interesting feature and come up with a story for why it has that feature. 

The story of Why a Hawk Kills Chickens is such a sad one. It's fascinating though that throughout these stories, animals cross marry and it does not seem to be a problem.
African stories are so unique in that, like the story of Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky, even the sun and moon live in harmony with the earth.
Again, animals living with humans and loving them seems to be so normal in these stories, like the story of Why the Cat Kills Rats. I wonder if the animals are human sized, or if they are their normal size and are still perceived as like humans. It's such an interesting concept and one I could definitely play with.
While very odd, these stories was still full of inspiration, especially in regards to animals and origin stories.

Nigerian Folk Stories collected by Elphinstone Dayrell. Source link: Part A

Image 1 information: "Aso Rock" by Mark Fischer, 2015. Web source: Flickr

Image 2 information: Elephant photo by Kira Hoffmann, 2016. Web source: Pixabay