Extra Reading Diary [African Stories]

Motikatika:

• A husbands wife grew ill and would not eat anything. She finally settles on some wild honey and the husband goes forth to find some. 
• He comes back with the honey but she rejected it for it had dead bees in it. The second bowl of honey had dead ants in it and she refused it again. On his fourth journey, she ate the honey but then wanted water. 
• When she got the water she told her husband that she was feeling better. So the husband said it was his turn to be taken care of and demanded water. She got him water but he refused it. On her fourth journey she came across a golden lake, and a head surfaced. 
• It was an ogre mad that she was taking his water. In order to be let go, she told him that he could have her baby, Motikatika. But her child heard her and planned to outwit her, for he was unknowingly a magician. 

An Ogre

• So the next morning she shaves his head and puts white beads around his neck, and tells him to not go outside or a monster will eat you. 
• He took some magic bones and turned them into his mother, father, himself, and the ogre in order to tell him what to do. They tell him to shave all the babies heads and place white beads on them. When the ogre called, all the babies said they were Motikatika. He did not eat the babies for he dared not to eat the children of people who did not do him wrong. 
• Upset, the ogre tells her to come up with a new plan. So she sends the baby to grab some beans in the field but the bones tell him to change himself into a bird. 
• Upset, the ogre tells him to come up with a new plan. She tells the ogre that the baby shall be covered in a white coverlet and to come get him that night. However, Motikatika overheard the conversation and consulted the bones once more. They told him to trade his coverlet with his father's red one. So the ogre ends up eating his father and when his mother bitterly asks Motikatika about it, he tells her that he should have been eaten instead because he was the one who told her to fetch a pail of water. 

Adventures of a Jackal:

• A jackal and a hedgehog were good friends. They find a barn full of corn and were determined to eat it. When they were finished. they returned to the road.
• They come across the panther, who was curious about the jackal's shoes, which he made themselves. They killed a cow in order to make him some shoes but when he wore them they were so stiff he actually cried. 

Source

• He came across some partridges who helped him soften the stiff shoes with water. When he slipped them off he decided to pay the jackal his debt.
• However, the jackal was cunning and was hard to find. The panther comes across an old man and gave him some advice: kill a cow, invite all the jackals, and the one who looks at the panther is the traitor. 
• During the feast, the panther got hold of the jackal but he cut off his tail to get away. He asks the man for more advice: go to the melon garden and find the tailless jackal. But the cunning jackal came up with a plan to rid of the other jackal's tails and the panther did not know which one was his enemy. 
• The jackal finds his hedgehog friend and comes with him to buy a sheep to eat. However the Shepard out smarted them and wrapped a greyhound with wool. When the jackal came to get the "sheep". the greyhound ate him.

Adventures of Jackal's Eldest Son:

• The jackal has two sons. The elder of the sons and a hyena found a green cape. After quarreling about who gets it, they decide that the hyena will wear it during the day and the jackal at night. After some time, the jackal grew upset that his friends cannot see him wearing the cape.
• They took the quarrel up with the lion for judgement: the garment will belong to whoever will rings the bell at the nearest mosque first. 
• But before they were able to do that, the three had to have dinner. They came across a lamb, sheep, and ram. When asked how to divide it, the hyena said the lamb for itself, the sheep for the jackal, and the ram for the lion. The lion got mad.

'So I am to have that lean creature, which is nothing but horns, am I?' cried the lion in a rage. 'I will teach you to divide things in that manner!' And he gave the hyena two great blows which stretched him dead in a moment. Source

• When asked how the jackal would divide the meal, he says that the lion should dine off all three, saying his wisdom came from the fate of the hyena. Two men with spears came towards the lion and the jackal ran for his life. 
• He ends up meeting his father's friend, the hedgehog. Upset that the jackal was hiding jars of butter from the hedgehog, the witty hedgehog came up with a plan that eventually killed his friend's son.