Consciousness, Literature and the Arts
Archive
Volume 12 Number 2, August 2011
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Economic Consciousness in Nigerian Tales
By
Niger Delta University
Money is a modern device used for buying and selling. Before its invention there were trade-by- barter and other means of exchange chosen by peoples in various places in the world for economic transactions. The implication is that people of all times have always been conscious of interacting for purposes of selling and buying goods, expressing their talents and business ideas. Some of their tales are likely to show their intentions and practices as the select Nigerian tales show in this paper.
Music is a non-material thing that could only be sold if it is recorded in various forms. It is a source of pleasure in all societies including the one that is narrated in Esther Bali’s ‘The Greedy Hyena and the Hare’ (Bali 2008,1-8). Hyena makes a drum with the skin of a frog, drums it and produces melody that Hare enjoys. He tells a lie to Hyena that he has made the drum with his mother’s skin. Hare tricks his mother to climb a roof and withdraws the ladder from her support. She falls, dies and a drum is made with her skin. The melody that the drum produces becomes much more melodious than Hyena’s drum. The intrigue is the element of deceit that is found in the tale that makes it akin to trickster tales.
Its economic value comes to the fore with the production of melody on an occasion created by the king, who offers him a bride and a cow although he has been expecting money. Marrying a bride is expensive in most Nigerian communities; a cow costs about one hundred thousand naira in contemporary Nigeria. The value of music performance in the context is perhaps worth four hundred thousand naira in contemporary Nigeria by conversion.
Mojen’s daughters in Bali’s ‘Mojen’s Pretty Daughters’ is a tale that narrates the economic value of the unmarried daughters. Women are not sold but some persons have jokingly spoken of buying women, implying that money or materials are given to parents by accepted bridegrooms all over the world. The amount of money varies from community to community as well as material items. Jigida is the father of the girls. He gives a simple condition of marriage to suitors: knowing their names.
He prepares to give them out in marriage by cooking meat for everyone on the occasion. The cost is not quantified but it could be a cow. A large sum of money is used by Hare, a suitor, to know their names. Money is involved at various stages. The economic dimension is not highlighted but woven into the fabric of the tale.
Hare employs Tortoise to keep surveillance on them, paying him ‘a large amount of money ( Bali 2008,18). He eavesdrops, knows their names and returns to tell Hare, who meets the father to fulfil the promise and marry off the daughters. The irony of the situation arises when the twin girls refuse to be married to Hare. A leper spits on the chair of one of the girls who becomes pregnant; she declares her love for him as well as her sister. The liberal choice of the girls is modern unlike some pre-literate societies, which made choice of marriage partners dependent on parents. Most tales are about the consequences girls suffer for disobeying parents and marrying men of their choice.
Bali’s tale ‘The Foolish Man and His Greedy Wife ’ demonstrates the insatiable nature of man and his lackadaisical attitude to work. The magic realism of a fish speaking to a man, asking for life in exchange for any other demand made by the fisherman whose net has caught it, progresses to the gift of a house. The wife is happy with the sudden economic change from living under a tree to a house. She tells him to demand for a bigger house. The demand is granted. She tells the husband to request for elevation in political status in the village. The request is granted. The woman sends him to the fish to prevent the rays of the sun from disturbing her, resulting in the withdrawal of all the material gifts given to the man and his wife.
The man and the wife are indolent. They are interested in grabbing material things without investing. There are several persons like the couple in contemporary Nigeria who do not think of private small scale businesses to do. They refuse to borrow from banks, nor from other financial houses to invest. Some are not frugal with money that they spend their capital and profit. However, some persons have prospered from small scale businesses and have established corporate companies.
‘The Singing Bone’ (Adedeji 1991,1-8) is about two brothers who are asked by their father to go into the forest and look for a special flower. He gives that as a condition for determining the son to succeed him as king. This is equivalent to modern voting for political candidates in a democratic system like Nigeria. The feudal government we confront in the context is hereditary in nature.
The younger brother finds the flower before the eldest. He discloses it to him not knowing the state of his heart. He kills him, goes home with the flower and gives it to his father, who asks after his brother. He lies that he went his way. The father sends for a hunter and commissions him to search for him in the forest. He discovers a singing bone that reveals the death of the king’s son.
The tale combines narrative and song to unravel the greedy nature of man. The fundamental question is why should a person kill his own sibling in the context? The first reason is power which gives an individual the right to determine the affairs of others in the village. The second is money and another materialism. The last two reasons are the hidden motives behind assassinations, kidnappings and rigging of elections in the contemporary world.
Adedeji’s ‘The Wicked Slave’ is about the lady Ada who goes to the village of the groom. She has been instructed not to bathe on the road to the village of the groom. The wicked slave persuades her to bathe but she refuses, she is pushed into the river, where she changes into a fish. The slave goes to the groom’s place and introduces herself as the bride. She is received with overwhelming joy. She becomes married to the groom.
The slave goes to the river once in a while to offer food to Ada the cheated bride who has become fish. She sings the song:
Oh! Ada my sister
Come and eat
You are not a fish,
You are the true bride,
But your slave pushed you
Into the river,
And she is now the bride ( Adedeji 1991, 15-21)
Someone eavesdrops and reports to the husband who calls a priest to change the fish into Ada. It is done to the joy of her husband. Ada takes her rightful place as wife and kills the slave. The death of the slave is not important in this discourse. What is relevant is status.
The status of the slave changes with marriage. Her elevation gives her additional clothes and sufficient food at her disposal. The material and social possessions make her richer than she was. She becomes a woman of influence whom is served by others. The economic and social benefits have made her gullible and fraudulent, not knowing that a surveillance team will unravel the mystery of the fish and slave episode. The trickster element in the tale is not new; the drama between two competitive brides for a suitor and the manipulative devices used to outwit one another are as old as man. Other modern forms and open threats are dramatised on television for Nigerians to know that the drama is not over. It has never been only because of love, nor handsomeness but underlying motives of independence and materialism.
Egudu’s tale ‘why the Tortoise Has a Checkered Shell: 1’ is about the decisions of animals to build a palace for their king. They contribute money towards it and the money is given to Pat the treasurer. He digs a hole and hides the money. Tortoise steals it. The animals are determined to build it and make contributions towards it again. The money is given to a new treasurer Mr Wren who hides it on a tree. Tortoise traces it by keeping surveillance on him. He climbs the tree and falls to the consternation of the animals, and breaks his shell.
Peoples who are united in the world always contribute towards one project or the other. Tortoise is the cog in the progress of the community in the context. It is a trickster tale and the retributive justice of falling and breaking his shell. Egudu’s tale ‘Why Fowls Scratch the Earth’ seeks to establish why fowls scratch the earth like aetiological tales establish certain customs. It dovetails with economic consciousness. The animals plan to build a parliament. They contribute money and give it to Fowl to save. He does by keeping it in a bag, which Tortoise sprinkles ash on the money without the knowledge of the treasurer. Fowl saves it under a mango tree. Tortoise traces the place through the ash that drops along the way until the last place of storage. He steals the money and frustrates communal effort in building the parliament.
Decision making, realisation and management of money are essential for the development of a community. The contempraneity of the tale points to two major problems which are the last two things mentioned since it is easier to make a useful decision but its realisation is determined by management and frugal spending of money. ‘The Creditor’ offers explanation for why Pig is in the forest today searching for a white stone (Saro-Wiwa 1991, 36-40). It begins with the sickness of kuru’s wife. He goes in search for money to perform a sacrifice to a god for the restoration of her health. The creditor hesitates asking what he has done with the money from the sale of his land. He lies that he has used it for the medication of his children who fell sick. Pig gives him the loan asking him to return on a date agreed upon. He does not rather he deceives him giving excuses on every occasion of his demanding for the loan. On the last occasion, he demands for the grinding stone given to his wife. It is a framed charge which compels the gullible Pig to go into the bush to look for it
Although the tale is a trickster tale which exposes the duplicity, inconsiderate and wicked nature of Kuru, the strong economic thread that runs through the tale offers it for explication under consciousness. The tale succeeds in demarcating the animal world from the human world where transactions are done with money. Pig buys the sacrificial items: cocks, one white he-goat, alligator peppers, a bunch of mature and unripe plantains with money. It is a verisimilitude of the human society which is not limited to the Ogoni; the currency is not specified giving it universal application. African traditional religious practitioners hold the belief that some sicknesses require making sacrifices to gods; priests carry out such sacrifices while medicine men give herbs to patients which they are paid for.
The religious consciousness holds that there are some evil men and women, witches and wizards who cast spells and throw deadly charms at people they hate. The spells and charms make them sick but priests and medicine men could reverse the curses and heal them. Sacrifices are made to gods to reverse adverse conditions after propitiation. The tale ends establishing why the pig snores, looking on the ground and searching for a white stone. This dimension saves it from the expected court session, penalty and refund of the money paid as expected. The social consciousness dimension is left out for objective establishment of the truism but not the absolute realism of the explanation. However, the social character is established: sweet-tongue deceiver whose words are coated with sugar, who convinces every person to obtain money from him but deceives him and never pays back. He is always a friend in need but an enemy in plenty. He associates with others when he needs things; he smiles and curries the favour of people. He camouflages as a trustworthy friend but the veil of deception falls when he is given the things he needs. He always ends up as an enemy and not a friend; someone that everyone who has known him avoids.
Saro-wiwa’s ‘The Singing Anthill’ is about the competition between Lion and Tortoise. They are asked to build two houses of proportional length, height and breadth. The winner is free to demand any prize from the loser. Lion builds faster than Tortoise. This is expected as the strongest animal in the forest. Tortoise quickly thinks of a technique to slow down the pace of the team of Lion. A team of expert singers and drummers is called to sing and distract his team. The team sings:
Come let us dance
Lion’s entourage
Come let us make merry
And why not indeed?
Kuru is yet to erect a stick ( Saro-Wiwa 1991 , 64).
The members foolishly leave working to dance. Those who are not hardworking in the culture are mocked as well as those who pursue other irrelevant values instead of their objectives in life. There is an Ogoni proverb that describes the situation, leaving the pursuit of professionalism (dancing) to pursue wealth.
Brick building, mud building and wood building vary in cost. There is no building that does not cost money including the mud buildings in the context. Labourers are paid to build; when volunteers agree to work free of charge, the owners of such work still feed and provide refreshment for them. Money is never mentioned in the tale but the connotations are the materials and labour involved.
The trickster tale is a demonstration of how intrigues could impede talents, slow down speed of development and ruin economic enterprises. The last is perhaps much more painful since some projects may end up unaccomplished: money, time and labour are lost. Lion is depicted as one whose physical strength gives him everything he needs, he is not so witty and wise like Tortoise who could outwit persons to obtain what he needs. The lesson is not the anti-social behaviour in the context, nor the misplaced melodious music of the occasion but slow development of the giant and almost invincible lord of the forest who could be juxtaposed with an economically financial great man or a giant country that fails woefully to accomplish a noble idea.
Saro-Wiwa’s tale ‘A Final Homecoming’ is about the demeanour of Kuru. He steals palm-wine, roasted yam and garden eggs, exposing him to be caught and detained. He robs gum on the seats of officials and spectators preparing for a performance. He arrives early and plays the drums so expertly that the music becomes so melodious; people become so engrossed and forget the crimes of Kuru; they regret planning to kill him. He sings the song:
Hawk, come enjoy my music
Hawk, careful hawk
Black king, lover of kuru’s music
Come and take me away
To the kind of melodious song ( Saro-Wiwa 1991, 73)
Hawk flies and carries him from the scene of his crimes. Both of them land on a palm tree. They pluck the fruit but Kuru cheats him in the process; he becomes furious and threatens to throw him down from the tree to the ground. He pleads for forgiveness and he is forgiven.
kuru deprives the owner economically. Music is not a material wealth but people enjoy it and buy it if packaged in material forms on CDRs and tapes. People do not pay for it in the context. The music is that of relaxation, open for everyone to see the singer, drummer and performer. It is a traditional society that has not packaged its music in modern forms. However, crops are either bought or exchanged with other commodities.
Saro-Wiwa’s tale ‘The Poor wise Man’ is about two characters: Mene and Kpara. The rich man owns ten cattle and has married ten wives while the poor man possesses one cow and has married one wife. The rich man is jealous and envious of the poor man without reasons.
The poor man’s wife is good, hard working and frugal in spending. The rich man’s wives are spendthrifts who are jealous of one another. The rich man shoots the poor man’s wife without cause; he is caught by the poor man who does not take him to court. He is given two bags of cowries for the corpse of his wife. He says to the king:
‘My friend, you have done me a world of good’, he said.
See what I got for my wife’s corpse: two bags of cowries!
You thought you were doing me evil, but just think of it: if
I had two wives, I’d be twice as rich today’, kpara bragged
And bragged ( Saro-Wiwa 1991,91)
. This information infuriates the king who shoots his only cow. The poor wise man conveys the dead cow in a truck from one village to another. Fortune smiles on him in a village where the king had died two days to his arrival. They stop and plead with him to sell them the dead cow which he does at the price of four cowries. He goes to Mene and declares that he has made him fortunate. He has sold the cow at four cowries. Mene kills his wives, takes their corpses around but no one buys them from him. His end becomes more miserable than his beginning. Money is the dividing line in the tale. It is a crucial factor that determines the formation of classes: educated elite, the economic elite, the political elite and the poor masses. Money determines taste, possession of power and even happiness. It fails to give Mene lasting happiness in the context. His happiness is ruined by jealousy which metamorphoses into wickedness. It shows that all rich people are not happy. Happiness does not rest on wealth alone, there are other factors as contentment, love and accommodation.
People are always economically conscious. This influences their attitude to individuals who are respected because of their wealth; some are above the law as we find in the context. Mene is always wrong in pursuing issues and taking actions that contradict rules of conduct and the law of murder. He is not questioned, detained, interrogated, fined or sentenced. He does not know that his misdemeanour attracts karma which makes him suffer at the end of the tale: The tale ends thus:
‘Why do you despise a man who’s poorer than yourself?
You have only destroyed yourself with your malice’, Kpara
Told him, refusing him the food he needed ( Saro-Wiwq 1991,92).
The tale shows a capital world of two persons divided by a steep valley; one is extremely rich the other is poor. The rich man falls from the pyramid of wealth into the valley of poverty. This is what happens in a capitalist world when investors or possessors of wealth mismanage their resources. The fall of the rich man reduces him to the doldrums of poverty; he begs food to eat from the poor man who has become rich through his wisdom, patience and luck.
This simple tale that is set in a land that is most likely to be Ogoni because of the writer’s nativity and the cultural ethos of the race make this unlike the ones set in the animal world. The realism transcends about two centuries back when cowries were used as means of transaction The trend is not difficult to come by in the modern world: fortune rises and sets depending on management of resources, maintenance and investment in viable business areas.
The tale ‘The Power of Truth’ recounts the famine condition of animals in Obira. It is caused by one elephant that destroys the crops of the people. Kuru and a cripple Kane try to kill the beast to prevent the perpetuation of famine. Kuru hides by the path of the beast and sprays pepper into the eyes of the elephant who treads on him, breaking his shell; he runs away in fright. The cripple Kane aims arrows into the eyes of the elephant and succeeds in shooting it accurately. He kills the animal.
It is an ancient tale that depicts a human condition that is often recurrent depending on nature and management of resources. Nature is not responsible in the context; the land is fertile and, crops – the economic wealth of the people are in abundance. The problem is the elephant. The modern world is striving to arrest economic ‘down-turn’. The elephant is the symbol of that fearful economic down-turn that needs prudent management of resources to prevent famine and bilateral debt. The phenomenon has called for several meetings and managerial plans to keep nations relevant in the contemporary world. The irony of the situation arises when Kuru declares himself the killer of the elephant. It is natural to seek for a solution to the problem in the context. His declaration places this tale among trickster tales since he is not the winner but the loser of the competition. There are humans like him who seek for glorification, where they have not made impact on lives; they claim they have done things they have not done to gain acceptance. It is not doubtful that a person’s esteem rises socially, politically and religiously when he makes the lives of others fulfilling. Kuru fails in the context when the truth is discovered. He is initially given the honour in the song:
Kuru killed the elephant
High and mighty elephant
Fell to a mighty kuru ( Saro-Wiwa 1991,111)
The situation changes with challenge of the cripple who tells the celebrants the truth, who are rejoicing for the victory over the death of the marauder, and the end of famine. Kuru re-establishes the lie by stating it again. An oracle is consulted and Kuru is vindicated. There is a social swing towards the winner, Kane the cripple who receives the honour at last in the expressive song:
The cripple felled the elephant
High and mighty elephant
High and mighty elephant
Fell to a mightier power
The power of the cripple’s word(Saro-Wiwa 1991, 112)
The people take back the misplaced respect given to him and jeer at him. He is the solver of the mystery like some economists of the modern age do to salvage sick economies. ‘Okuguru’ is at once the title and central character of the tale. He is a man of middle age from Gbira: the fictional name for Ogoni. He has several wives, children and a barn of yams. His antagonist is Kuru who is jealous of his prosperity but conceals it. The irony of the situation is that Okuguru regards him as his best friend. A barn of yams, possession of domestic animals, a good brick building and a large sum are the criteria for determining a wealthy man in Ogoni. A man is regarded as responsible if he is married and he is capable of feeding them, educating his children and clothing them. Anyone who does all the things mentioned is regarded as a man. Manhood means one’s ability to carry out successfully some responsibilities.
A rich man may perform the ‘yaa’ ceremony which is optional. The author says:
I’m about to perform the ‘yaa’ ceremony – the rites of manhood.
I will slaughter a cow as demanded by custom and hold a great feast.
The feast will be so great, the entire land will speak about it for a long
Time ( Saro-Wiwa 1991,116)
The social benefits of admittance into a class and respectability are relevant in a traditional society, where there are social and political classes. A large amount of money is spent feeding the people sumptuously. One who fails to feed them (a whole community and other guests) to taste is regarded as a failure. Okuguru prepares for the ceremony days before the schedule. He buys a cow for the occasion. A cow is an economic animal. The business owner always benefits economically. The consumer gets satisfaction but spends money to get the satisfaction. Kuru crawls into the animal unseen. His aim is to frustrate the celebrant which he achieves. The animal sings a song of revelation thus:
Saro Okuguru
Ye-ye Okuguru
Kuru eats me up
Ye-ye Okuguru
Can’t graze no more
Ye-ye Okuguru
Go tell Okuguru
Ye-ye Okuguru
Kuru eats me up
Ye-ye Okuguru
Can’t graze no more
Okuguru Okuguru
Ye-ye Okuguru (Saro-Wiwa 1991,118),
Kuru tells his son before crawling into the intestines of the cow that it shall die; he should demand for the intestines. The animal dies before the day of the ceremony. The purpose of spending so much money to buy the cow is defeated. He runs the errand demanding for the intestines of the cow. Okuguru gives him the intestines without knowing that he is a fiend whom he has always called a friend. The son tears the intestines open; Kuru comes out alive. He dresses up quickly and goes to Okuguru’s house to console him, weeping so loudly like a sincere mourner. Okuguru accepts his condolence message without knowing that he has come to shed crocodile tears. This perspective dovetails with the trickster tale. The condiments for the cooking are not mentioned in the tale. It is plausible to believe that money has been used to buy them. The realism derives from ceremonies that people use money to buy food or buy condiments and foodstuffs and cook for guests. The economic consciousness is read in-between the lines of the tale. It is not mentioned whether the meat of the cow is given to people or eaten by members of Okuguru’s house alone but for Kuru. The mention of Kuru makes it plausible for others. The consumption of the cow fails to fulfil the social obligation since it is eaten out of context:
Without a cow the ceremony would not hold.
And if a cow which had been bought for the ‘yaa’ ceremony
Should die before the ceremony was held, it was regarded
As an abomination and the celebrant would have to postpone
The ceremony ( Saro-Wiwa 1991,117).
Okuguru becomes sad for the inauspicious event that has cost him so much. ‘Madola’ is about some spirits who work on his farm. She clears a plot of land where fairies live. They threaten to kill her and her children at first but their leader advices them to help the woman and her family to cut the rest of the forest, weed and cultivate the land. She believes the weeding of the land has been in error; they could not have known they have been living in the forest as their abode. They argue that they should be killed because they know. She suggests that helping them will make them leave the land for them. The fairies cut the forest, weed the grass, plant yams, vegetables and maize. They expect reciprocity for the labour done at various stages of the farm work. Madola does not compensate them; She harvests the yams, vegetables and maize without giving some to them. They hold a meeting and agree to kill them.
The tale is relevant to contemporary Nigerian society where people sell their services for money. There are labour laws in the country as well as other countries in the world. The owner of the farm fails in this traditional world to fulfil the obligation to his workers. Owners of farmlands who call people to work for them, cook and serve them. They could trade-in-labour, another contractual pattern of the traditional cosmology in Ogoni.
Workers strike for various reasons in the contemporary world. There were about twenty-five strikes in Trinidad in the late 1930s in sugar cane and plantain industries. There were several strikes in Nigeria by universities in the 1990s until government responded in 2010. The traditional world is not an exemption in the context. The trend shows human development towards better labour laws and conditions of service as shown in the contemporary world, where laws are often reviewed periodically. Nalley’s tale ‘A Final Homecoming’ is the return of Kuru after a period of exile from the city, where he has stolen and escaped fearing the consequences. He returns with the encouragement of the king who promises to forgive him. It turns out to be a celebration of his return. A great feast is held in his honour which must have cost the king so much money. I have stated that his acceptance and re- integration into the village should have been without singing and dancing. The ceremony could be interpreted as a victorious return which is not; kuru promises to change. His reformation should have been watched for a while before declaring him reformed ( Nalley 2003,13)
It is likely that the money invested shall be wasted since the tale ends with that proposition. The tales in the collection are trickster in nature. The plot starts with crime to many more crimes and the striving of Tortoise to get free of sanctions and death. Suffering makes him wiser and humble to accept his faults: on some occasions he does so grudgingly and voluntarily on few others. The money for the welcome party seems to be reasonable but for the incomplete picture of absolute change.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The ancient tales of many peoples are rich in several ways. The focus in this paper has been economic consciousness that dovetails with the contemporary world. They are timeless tales that have been composed to meet the needs of peoples aesthetizing their values that replicate their cosmology. It has been established that Nigerian tales are socially relevant : they show us how they relate to one another, ethics governing traditional marriage and religious practices. The economic dimension and the contemporary relevance are the new insights explained in the paper. I recommend them for serious academic studies in sociology, African Oral Literature and Anthropology.
Bibliography
Adedeji, Remi. 1991. Stories My Mother Told Me. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books.
Bali, Esther. 2008. Tarok Folktales. Ibadan: Spectrum Books Limited.
Nalley, Paul.Baridi. 2003. The Adventures of Kuru. Port Harcourt,Kimson Books.
Saro-Wiwa, Ken. 1991. The Singing Anthill:Ogoni Folktales. Port Harcourt: Saros International
Publisher.