The Woman Who Killed Ogres to Save Her Husband
Read the narrative below and then answer the questions that follow.
There was a great famine in the land where Obunde and his wife, Oswera, lived with their nine children. The only creatures who had some food were the ogres and before they would part with their food, they demanded a lot of things.
One day, Oswera went to one Ogre’s home and asked him for some food, for by then her children were almost dying of hunger.
‘I have no more food except sweet potatoes, the ogre told her.
‘I shall be happy to have the potatoes. We have nothing, not a grain of food at my house and the children are starving. Please let me have some and I shall repay you after the harvest.
‘No, if you want food you must exchange it with something right now. Will you give me one of your children in exchange for my potatoes? Oswera hesitated, her children were dear to her, but then they would die without food.
‘Yes, I shall let you have one of them for his meal if only you could let us have some potatoes,’ Oswera answered. Then she took a big basket full of potatoes and told the ogre the exact time he could go to her home to collect one of her children for a meal. Oswera thought hard and she decided she would not give a single one of her children to the ogre for a meal. She therefore cut young banana stalks and cooked them nicely.
When the ogre came, she gave them to him and the beast greedily went away satisfied. Soon the potatoes were finished and she had to go to the ogre again. Oswera and Obunde, her husband kept on cooking banana stalks for the ogre each time he came for one of their children, until one day, she had no more banana stalks to cook for the animal.
“You have now eaten all my children, yet we still need the potatoes. What shall we give you now?” Oswera asked in despair.
‘Then I shall come for you and your husband,’ the ogre replied angrily as he helped Oswera to load her basket of potatoes on her head.
‘Yes come tomorrow at the usual time in the afternoon and get me. I shall have cooked myself for you,” Oswera said calmly.
The following day the ogre went promptly as Oswera had told him and he found the home almost deserted. He looked everywhere but apart from Obunde, there was no trace of anybody. Then he looked at the usual place and found a huge bowl of a big meal Oswera had cooked for him. The ogre did not realize they had prepared a dog instead of Oswera. When he had eaten the ogre told Obunde he would come for him the following day. Obunde got very worried and that night he could not sleep. The following day he started crying:
“Ah Oswera my wife, how did you cook yourself and how shall I cook myself for the ogre?” He sat down in the dust of his compound and wept. Oswera became very annoyed with her husband.
You, you stupid, foolish man! Why sit and cry there all day long? How do you think I cooked myself? Take one of the dogs and quickly prepare it for the ogre!’ Very quickly Obunde got up, caught, killed and prepared a dog for the ogre. Then he joined his wife and children in a huge hollow part of a tree in his compound where they had hidden.
That day the ogre knew he was going to have his last meal of juicy human flesh. Being a generous and unselfish ogre, he brought many of his fellow ogres. They were going to have a feat. Suddenly as they were eating, they heard a man singing very happily. No, they could not believe it! It was Obunde singing! And he was boasting of how he had cheated the ogre.
The greedy ogre ate banana stalks
Not my family;
The greedy ogre ate a dog
Not Obunde Magoro!
The greedy ogre ate banana stalks
Not my family;
Now come and get Obunde,
His children and wife.
Obunde sang the words and the ogres got very angry. The first ogre rushed into the hollow of the tree, but Oswera had heated a long piece of iron until it was white. She pushed the iron into the ogre’s mouth. The beast fell down dead. The next one rushed into the hollow and Oswera killed him in the same way. In this way, she killed all the ogres and saved her husband and all their children. My story ends there.
Questions and Answers on Obunde, Oswera and the Ogres
(a) Classify the above narrative. (2marks)
Ogre narrative. Ogre is a character in the narrative
(b) Whom do you consider to be the champion in this story? Why? (2marks)
Oswera, the wife. She is able to trick the ogre to get the food from him and finally gets her husband to trick the ogre and the family survives.
(c) Where do you think the pace-setting of the story? Give a reason. (2marks)
It is in the rural area where people grow bananas and potatoes.
(d) Compare Obunde and the ogre as they are presented in this story. (2marks)
Both are foolish.
Ogre and Osumba believed he (ogre)was eating Oswera and children.Didn’t realize that it was a trick.
(e) Illustrate two features of the story that make it an oral narrative. (4marks)
• Use of song
• Repetition
• closing formula – there ends my story
• dialogue --- between ….
(f) Explain the moral lesson of this story. (2marks)
Greed can kill
The ogre, because of greed is finally killed.
(g) If you were to collect the above from the informant,
i. What methods of data collection would you use? (3marks)
·
Participation
·
Interview
· Recording (tape recording
· Memorizing
· Filming
ii. What challenges are you likely to face? (3marks)
·
Language barrier.
·
Hostility of the informant community.
·
Transport challenges.
· It might be expensive.
· The informant might ask for payments.