Skip to main content

"Of the Fat Woman Who Melted Away" Reading Notes


Bibliography: This story is part of the Nigeria unit. Story source: Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell (1910).

There once was a very fat woman. She was very beautiful as well and all of the men wanted her. Men from all around would come and ask the fat woman's mother for her daughter's hand in marriage, but every time, she refused.

You see, the mother always refused because she was afraid for her daughter. You see this women's This very fat daughter was special, she had a very unfortunate condition. The very fat woman was made of olive oil and any time she was in the sun she would start to melt.

The mother was afraid that if she were to give her daughter away, she would work in the field and start to melt. One day a man came to the mother and asked for her fat daughter's hand in marriage, and he promised to always keep her in the shade. The mother agreed and the man took his new fat wife home.

While at the new house the fat wife was living well in the shade when the man's other wife started to get jealous. She started to abuse the new fat wife and she tried to force her out in the field to go work.

The fat wife brought her sister along with her and when the fat wife would get abused her sister would beg her not to listen and to stay inside. The abuse became too much to bear and the wife finally broke and went out in the field to work. Just as she was told she went out in the field and melted completely. The only part of her that didn't melt was her big toe because it was covered by the leaf.

The man returned home looking for his fat wife and her younger sister told him about the abuse given by his other wife. The sister said I have saved her big toe and I have planted it in soil and watered it. She should grow back within three months, she would only stay if the other wife was banished. Thus the other wife was sent away and in three months time the fat woman sprouted from the soil and they all lived happily ever after.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Coyote and the Snake Reading Notes

The Coyote and the Snake One day the coyote was walking along the trail when he heard a voice say Stop! The coyote looked around and he couldn't see anything. He disregarded the warning and kept moving. Once again he heard someone yell stop. He looked around again and he saw nothing until he heard a voice say "Walk over me, or move out of the way." The coyote looked down and found a snake in the path right below him. The snake said that he has been traveling this trail for years and he would simply not move. The coyote said the same thing and that he would simply not move. The coyote said he would have to keep going if the snake moved or not. The snake made the threat that if the coyote stepped over him the snake would have no choice but to kill him. The coyote didn't believe him and called his bluff. He walked over him and the snake bit the coyote. The coyote didn't feel anything and then mocked the snake. The coyote kept walking on and when he got to the...

Story Week 13 "Alice's Fall"

Alice looking down the hole Alice followed the rabbit until she came to a hole. She saw the rabbit jump down the hole and contemplated going after him or not. She looked back at her sister reading on the hillside and thought to herself, "There is no way I am going back to be that bored." So she got down on her hands and knees and peered into the rabbit hole to see what she could find.  The hole was very dark so she squinted to see if she could see a clearer picture. She still couldn't see anything so she leaned in to see if that would clear up her vision. Once she started to lean the ground started to crumble out from under her. She started to push back to leave the hole but the ground just started to crumble more. Her hands slipped out from under her and she fell into the hole.  Alice let out a piercing scream, then another, then another. She was frantically yelling due to the fear that she would splat on the ground. She just kept screaming and falling unt...

Time Strategies

Procrastination Graph Link Time management is something I struggle with in almost every aspect of my life. Whether it comes to assignments, gifts, dates, scheduling, and almost everything else, procrastination always has a hold on me. For example, I am writing this blog post almost one hour before it is due. Procrastination is in my nature, and it always has been. Thankfully I have people around me who keep me in check. In Caroline Webb's article  How To Beat Procrastination , I saw that she spoke of the tactic of pre-committing, publicly. This tactic has helped me out greatly. Thankfully I have friends who want the best for me and know how capable I am of doing good work so if I tell them the priorities I have and the things I need to complete they often remind me to complete my work and stay on schedule.  One of my main objectives in life is to surround myself with good people and I think that that has helped me a lot with the decisions I make because of th...