The Disobedient Daughter’s Marriage

Effiong Edem lived in a small town. He had a very pretty daughter named Afiong. All the young men of the placed wanted to marry her on account of her beauty; but she refused all of them, although her parents told her not to be so haughty.

Afiong was very vain, and said she would only marry the best-looking man in the country. He would have to be young and strong and lovable. Most of the men whom her parents wanted her to marry were rich, but they were old and ugly. The girl, therefore, continued to disobey her parents. Her disobedience grieved them very much.

The Skull that lived in the spirit land heard of the beauty of this virgin, and decided that he would try to win her. To make a good appearance, then, he went among his friends and borrowed different parts of the body from them, all of the best. From one he got a good head, from another a body, from a third strong arms, and from a fourth a fine pair of legs. These parts made him a complete body and a fine-looking man. He next went from spirit land to the town market to see Afiong.

About this time Afiong heard that some one had seen in the market a very fine man who was better-looking than any of the men of that town. She therefore rushed to the market where she saw the Skull in his borrowed beauty. She fell in love with him at once and invited him to her home.

The Skull was delighted, and went home with her. When he arrived he was introduced by Afiong to her parents, and he immediately asked their consent to marry her. At first they refused, because they did not want her to marry a stranger; but at last they agreed.

The Skull lived with Afiong for two days in her parents’ house. He then said he wished to take his wife back to his distant country. To this the girl readily agreed, because he was such a fine-looking man; but her parents tried to persuade her not to go. However, being very headstrong, she made up her mind to go, and they departed together.

After they had been gone a few days the father consulted the oracle and found out that his daugh-ter’s husband belonged to the spirit land, and that there she would surely die. They, therefore, all mourned her as dead.

The Skull

After walking for several days, the bride and the groom crossed the border between the spirit land and the abode of human beings. Just as soon as they entered the spirit land, first of all one man came to the Skull and asked for his legs, then another for his head, and the next for his body, and so on, until in a few minutes the Skull was left by itself in all its natural ugliness.

At this the girl was very much frightened. She wanted to return home, but the Skull would not let her leave him, and ordered her to go with him.

When they arrived at the Skull’s home they found his mother, who was a very old woman, too weak to do anything but to creep about. Afiong tried her best to help her. She cooked her food, and brought her water and firewood. The old creature was very grateful for these things, and soon began to like Afiong.

One day the old woman told Afiong that she was very very sorry for her, because all the people in the spirit land were cannibals. When they heard there was a human being in their country, they would come down and kill her and eat her. The old woman, then, hid Afiong.

Since Afiong had looked after her so well, the old woman promised that she would send her back to her home as soon as possible, if in the future she would obey her parents. This Afiong gladly agreed to do.

Then the old woman sent for the spider, which was a very clever hairdresser, and had him dress Afiong’s hair in the latest style. She also gave her anklets and other things in return for her kindness. She then asked a spirit to call the winds to come and carry Afiong to her home.

The Spider

At first a strong wind came, with thunder, lightning and rain; but the old woman sent it away because it was too rough. The next wind to come was a gentle breeze. She told the breeze to take Afiong to her mother’s home, and said good-by to her. Very soon afterwards the breeze brought Afiong to the door of her parents’ home, and left her there.

When the parents saw their daughter they were very glad, as they had long since given her up as dead. The father spread soft animals’ skins on the ground from where his daughter was standing all the way to the house so that her feet should not be soiled. Afiong then walked to the house, and her father called all the young girls who belonged to Afiong’s circle to come and dance, and the feasting and dancing continued for eight days and nights.

When the rejoicing was over, the father reported to the head chief of the town what had happened to Afiong. The chief then passed a law that parents should never allow their daughters to marry strangers who came from a distant land. Then the father told his daughter to marry a friend of his, and she willingly consented. Afiong lived with him for years, and they had many children.

A Dance