Reading Notes: South African Folktales, Part B


Jackal and Monkey

Though this was a short story, I found it very interesting. I was very caught off guard by the abruptness and violence of the ending. This could be turned into a different story by changing the characters, but keeping the general story the same. I would also be interested in rewriting the ending, since the monkey getting shot occurs without much explanation. It could be a lot more positive. Instead, the monkey could explain the true situation to the boar. The two could conspire to actually catch the jackal by devising another trap.

The Story of Hare

This story was very bizarre. To be honest, I still am not sure if there was much of a point. It seems that the cleverness of the hare was a central theme. Essentially, a group of animals sets a piece of fat in the middle of a corral, and they take turns guarding it. As each one guards the fat, a strange animal comes up, sneakily eats it, and the animal on guard ends up being put to death. Finally, the hare outsmarts the strange animal and kills it. However, he is chased off by the other animals. In turn, he begins to deceive other beings in order to achieve his own selfish means. Perhaps a good theme to take away from this story and implement in my own would be the idea of becoming what was the original enemy. In this story, the enemy is the original strange animal that steals the fat. The hare defeats him, but ends up deceiving others. Likewise, another story using these themes can take a character that takes a stand against something evil, but they end up becoming that very evil. The best example that I can think of is in Star Wars. Anakin fights against evil, but he becomes evil himself!

Bibliography:
"South African Folk-tales: Jackal and Monkey" by James Honey; online link
"South African Folk-tales: The Story of Hare" by James Honey; online link

Image Information: A small monkey sitting down.
Link: Pixabay

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