Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Reading Notes - Congo: The Jealous Wife, Reading A


·      A man has two wives
·      The wives appear to be working harmoniously to take care of the household and their two children while the husband is out trading in the bush
o   Each woman had a child, and the father specifically asked the mothers to ensure that no harm came to the children
·      The wives decide to go fish so that they can feed their husband quality food upon his return
o   They couldn’t leave the children alone so they took turns fishing and supervising the children
·      The elder wife was actually jealous and angry that the younger wife’s child was more intelligent than hers
o   She decides to murder the younger wife’s child using a razor-sharp knife
·      The elder mother goes to murder the child in the night when they are sleeping, and she kills it
o   The child is referred to as it throughout the story
·      The elder mother actually ended up murdering her child while the other child ran away
·      The other child tells the mother, and eventually everyone else, that the elder mother murdered her child
·      The elder mother runs into the forest with the remains of her child
·      The husband returns and can’t believe that the elder mother would do that, so he enlists the help of his friends to search for her
·      One man finds the elder woman attempting to soothe the child and convince it to eat, even though it is dead
·      They imprison the elder woman and feed her a poison before burning her body

The Use of Casca. Drawing by Dennett


Bibliography: This story can be found here. Story source: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).

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