Tales from the Enchanted Forest
Greetings travelers! Welcome back to Tales from the Enchanted Forest! Every once in a while, we want to go back to folktales and what makes for better folktales than animal tales? This collection of tales is from “Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria” by Elphinstone Dayrell.
The Election of the King Bird
There was once a King of Calabar named Essiya. Like many kings and those of royal blood, King Essiya was very wealthy and powerful. Despite that, he didn’t own any slaves. At least not any human slaves. Instead, he would call upon animals to aid his people with their work. But he wanted to make sure that the work was being communicated quickly and efficiently to all the animals. So, one day, he decided to appoint the chief head for all the different kinds of animals. These creatures will be referred to as kings.
First, he considered the forest animals and declared that the Elephant would be their king. After all, who was mightier than the matriarch of the Elephants? Then he appointed the Hippopotamus to be the king of the water animals. Lastly, he thought about the king of the birds. He thought deeply about this and mulled over many ways to decide who was best suited for the role.
Images by Wiehan de Jager for the African Storybook Organization
There were many birds to consider: the swift Hawk, the graceful heron, the spur-winged geese, the great hornbill, the colorful toucan and that’s not to mention any of the game birds. The king must have been seriously into birds because he then contemplated more birds as candidates like cranes, black and white fishing eagles, pelicans, doves and many lesser-known forest birds. All these birds had sent their claims and argued endlessly until King Essiya was left feeling confused. After some creative thinking, he decided to have a trial by combat.
Fight or Flight
The very next morning, thousands of birds gathered to fight. Remember the reward is to be King of the birds, which is a glorified management position.
There was much screeching as the battle commenced. The Hawks started strong- quickly driving out the small forest birds and then relentlessly pursuing the loud geese. Many of the big forest birds got irritated by the noise and quietly left with their dignity intact. The game birds quickly surrendered and hid, shaking in the bushes. Then there were the scavenger birds who were ferocious looking, but they were quite lazy and just ate while the trial continued.
Some birds continued to fight high in the sky, pecking and clawing at one another as blood and feathers flew in every direction.
The Fishing Eagle
Finally, the fishing eagle spoke, “When you are done with this foolishness, do let me know. And if any of you still feel that you should be head chief, come and I’ll show you how wrong you are.”
He spoke while brandishing his razor-sharp claws. The rest of the birds took in his imposing stature and knowing of his power and ferocity, the birds stopped their fighting and acknowledged the fishing eagle to be their master.
The king then named the eagle Ituen, and declared that he would be king of the birds. From that day onward, young men would take three black and white feathers from the kingbird and tie them to their hair when they went off to fight.
One feather would be tied to each side and the last one was down the middle. It’s believed the feathers would grant the wearer courage and skill.
Photograph by Munir Virani
Why the Elephant has Small Eyes
Remember how the last story focused on a king from Calabar? Well, this story also references a king from Calabar, however, this story occurs when a man named Ambo is king. He was known for throwing incredible feasts every night.
During this time, the Elephant was not only an enormous animal, but it also had big eyes in proportion to its massive body. And at these feasts, the Elephant would eat more than anyone else. Sometimes the Hippopotamus would get ambitious and try to out-eat the Elephant, but that always ended poorly for him.
The small, cunning Tortoise saw how much the Elephant was eating. He thought it was rude that he ate more than his fair share and decided that someone should teach him a lesson. The next day, the Tortoise prepared the Elephant’s favorite foods: dry palm kernels and shrimp.
Given that Elephants are herbivores, it makes the fact that his favorite food is shrimp a bit fishy.
The Tortoise’s Plan
He put the food in a sack and went to the Elephant’s house. The Elephant invited him in and told the Tortoise to make himself comfortable. So he sat down, closed one eye, pulled out a kernel of the food and began to eat slowly. The Elephant looked longingly at the Tortoise and asked what he was eating.
The Tortoise turned to the Elephant with one eye tightly shut. He replied that he was eating something very sweet, but incredibly painful. It was his own eye. The Elephant wasn’t disturbed by this, instead, he was intrigued. Being gluttonous, the Elephant told the Tortoise that if eyes tasted that great, then he would like to try his own as well.
The Tortoise grinned to himself. This is what he had planned for. He pulled out a knife and asked the Elephant to pick him up so he could reach. So, the Elephant wrapped his trunk around the tortoise and raised him up eagerly. The moment the Tortoise got close enough, he jabbed the sharp knife into the Elephant’s eye and scooped out his right eye. The Elephant cried out in pain but the Tortoise quickly fed him the kernels and shrimp. The Elephant enjoyed the food so much that he quickly forgot his pain.
Soon after, the Elephant exclaimed that the food was so yummy and sweet that he must have more. The Tortoise told him that he would give him more but the other eye must be removed first. The food must have been really good because the Elephant agreed and the tortoise gouged out the Elephant’s left eye. Then, the Tortoise slid down the trunk and found a place to hide. The Elephant trumpeted in pain and stomped around, searching for the Tortoise. But of course, the Elephant was now blind and so he did not find the hidden Tortoise.
Betrayed and Blinded
The next morning the Elephant went outside and called for someone to tell him the time. He could not see a thing. Some creatures scurried away, but others stopped to talk to the Elephant. They told him that the Tortoise was boasting about knocking the Elephant down a peg or two. That was when the Elephant realized he had been tricked. He begged and pleaded with everyone to let him borrow their eyes. He just wanted to see for a bit.
Image by Anne Nwokoye’s for Chinua Achebe’s The Drum.
Unsurprisingly, no one wanted to lend their eyes because they were all being used. It’s at this point that a worm passed by the Elephant. The Elephant addressed the Worm and asked if he could borrow the Worm’s eyes for a few days. The Worm was flattered that the king of the forest beasts would address him.
The Worm agreed to lend the Elephant his eyes until the next market day. As soon as the Elephant placed the tiny beads into his face, his eye sockets closed around them. The Elephant didn’t like the eyes as much as his old ones, however, he could not pry them out with his trunk. The next market day came and went, but the Elephant could not get the eyes out, so he decided to ignore the Worm.
Helpless, the Worm tried repeatedly to submit requests for his eyes to be returned, but the Elephant pretended not to hear him. Sometimes, the Elephant loudly called out that he hoped no worms were around because his eyes were so small, that he could not promise not to accidentally squish them.
So, the Worm retreated underground and that is the story of why worms are blind and elephants have small eyes.
Other Animal Tales
Animal tales are often overlooked when considering folk traditions, but some of the oldest stories involve animals. Whether they are moral tales, tricksters or creation stories, animals play a pivotal part in many culture’s development.
To hear more stories, check out the following episodes from the Enchanted Forest:
Tales from the Enchanted Forest 