Reading Notes: Stories from the Congo

The stories from the Congo were more of a collection of stories, rather than a continuous story. I really enjoyed the story of How Nsassi Got Married. During the story, a Prince, Nsassi wants to marry two girls. In order to get their hand in marriage their father says that Nsassi must guess their names. His dog stayed behind to get their names and time and time again forgot the names when he got distracted by food or water. The same happened when Nsassi heard the names, he forgot them when he stopped to drink. I really liked this story because it reminded me of a saying my mom use to say. She would tell me not to stray from the path (in regards to my writing) she said this to help me keep my story flowing.

With the story of the Vanishing wife I really liked the story it told. The story suggests that because Buite didn't listen to his wife, his wife and house disappeared. I think this is an important lesson for marriage. When spouses don't listen to each other the marriage can dissolve and vanish. With the dissolving of a marriage the house disappears as well as the wealth. I think it would be interesting to write a story where the main character had to undergo certain challenges to get married. To be fair both the wife and the husband would have to complete these challenges and in the end they will have to complete the final challenge together. I want the story to be a type of game show for the couples.

Overall the main themes throughout these stories are about the cooperation of marriage. This is an age-old concept and makes a great conflict for my story. Couples don’t always get along and some disagreement is healthy but in order to make a marriage work both of the couples must be wiling to compromise! For my story I really want to look at what happens when characters (spouses) compete together in a series of tasks. The wining couple at the end of this “Amazing Race” esq. story, will be the couple who will last until the end.

This is a picture of the Gorges De Diosso in the Congo. Web Source

Bibliography: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).