Week 7 Story: The Man and the Otter

 Ça c’est bon (Ça-say-bon) - that’s good

Boude (Boo-day) - to pout or be angry

Filé(fee-lay) - ground sassafras leaves

Joie de vivre (Jhwa da veev) - joy of living

Laissez les bon temps rouler (Lay-zay bon tom roo-lay) - let the good times roll

Mise en place - a culinary process in which ingredients are prepared and organized

Pauve ti bete (Pove tee bet) - poor little thing

Rougarouin - to get into trouble

The Man and the Otter

Image Source: bbc

A young man was getting his mis in place ready for the big potluck in his parish. He planned to make a sauce piquante, beignets, and his grandpa’s spicy gumbo. He realized that he didn’t have any sassafras leaves for his filé. So he set out to forage the remaining ingredients. He was enjoying the sunshine and the sounds of nature and went farther than usual.

As he turned to head back home, he heard a voice singing. He listened; as the songstress belted:

It is man who forces himself on things,

Not things which force themselves on him.

The singing was accompanied by the joyful sounds of a fiddle, which made the man feel warm inside.

When the singing stopped, the young man had to see who could make such wonderful sounds. To his surprise, he saw a river otter with a tiny fiddle on her belly. He had never seen anything this amazing.

He decided to get closer to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. “Who dat?” shouted the otter as the young man emerged from behind a Spanish moss tree.  The man begged her to let him carry her back to his house. He told her he wanted to enjoy her music and appreciate her contagious joie de vivre. She agreed to go with him, with the understanding that she sang to him only.

The young man did not remain content with this arrangement. Soon, he  wished to show the river otter off. He thought that he could profit from her talents. He first told the secret to his barber who asked him, “Why are you out here rougarouin? Don’t you know it isn’t right to make things up?’

The young man went on to tell more people, until it finally reached the constable. The constable commanded him  to tell his story in front of all the people in the parish. When he described the fiddle playing, singing otter. The people shouted in disbelief.

At last, the young man said, “If I am lying, you may cut out my tongue and exile me. Tomorrow, I will bring the otter here for you all to hear her songs. If she doesn’t sing, you can punish me.”

“Ça c’est bon,” said the people, “If the otter can actually sing, we will shower you with riches.”

The next day, the young man carried the otter and her tiny fiddle to the gathering place. When he arrived, the stage was set with a small podium for her to perform. The Zydeco band stopped playing and everyone got quiet. The young man placed the otter on the podium and said to her, “laissez les bon temps rouler.” but she just sat there, not making a noise. The people patiently waited, willing to give them a chance.

Hours went by, the otter sat still. The man tried to coax her into performing, still nothing. The people scorned the young man for lying.

As the sun began to set, the young man grew nervous. He knew he would be punished and have to leave the place he loved. As night fell, his tongue was cut off and he left with only the clothes on his back. After the young man's exile, the otter spoke, “Pauve ti bete” The people looked at each other in shock: “The young man spoke the truth! What have we done?”

The otter went on to explain. “The young man brought this on himself. I was happy living near the river, singing. He went to you all and told my secret. None of this would have happened if he kept quiet.”

Author's note: This is a retelling of The Hunter and the Tortoise. The original story is about a hunter who comes across a singing tortoise. He persuaded her to go home with him so he could hear her singing daily. After a while, he wished to show off her talents. The townspeople did not believe him and he offered his life if he wasn't telling the truth. The hunter brought the tortoise to sing, but she did not. He was beheaded. After he was killed, she finally spoke. The story taught a lesson about the man not listening to the words of her song. 

I changed the setting to Louisiana and chose an otter as the animal but kept to the flow of the original story.

Bibliography: William, H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, The Hunter and the Tortoise