Week 10, Story: The Young Girl who Married a Skull

The Young Girl who Married a Skull


Azubuike was a native of the Yanshiwhe village in Makoko. He had a beautiful daughter named Naija. All of the men in the neighboring villages wanted her hand in marriage because of her great beauty. However, Naija was extremely vain and wanted to marry the best-looking man with riches. Her parents tried to find a proper husband for Naija but she always refused. She disobeyed her parents and insisted on a handsome husband. 

The Skull who lived in the spirit realm, heard of the beautiful Naija and wanted to possess her. He knew she would not accept him looking the way he did. So, the Skull went to his friends and borrowed different parts of their body, the best parts. From the ghost, he got a strong pair of legs, a leviathan lent him a torso, the changeling lent him a handsome head, and the last gave him muscular arms. Finally, he was a fine looking specimen. 

He left the spirit realm and headed to Yanshiwhe where he saw Naija and immediately admired her beauty.

Naija saw the finely put together specimen. He was the most handsome man she has ever seen. She fell in love with him and invited him to her home.

The Skull was elated and went home with her. As soon as they arrived at Naija's home, the Skull immediately asked her parents for their consent to marry their daughter. They refused at first but eventually agreed.

After a week of living with Naija's parents, the Skull said he wished to take her back to his country far away. The girl eagerly agreed, but her parents tried to convince her to stay. Rejecting their pleas, she made up her mind and left with her new husband.

After they left, Azubuike met with his Ju Ju man, who by reading stones discovered that Naija's husband belonged to the spirit world. The Ju Ju man stated that she would surely be killed. Therefore, they mourned the loss of their daughter.

After walking for what seemed like a hundred miles, the Skull and Naija crossed the border between the spirit realm and the human world. As soon as they arrived, the Skull’s friends demanded their body parts back. After he returned the body parts to the rightful owners, the Skull was back to his ugly state.

Naija became very afraid and wanted to return home, but the Skull would not allow her to leave. When they arrived at the Skull's house, they were greeted by his grandmother. She was very old and fragile. Naija did her best to help. She brought firewood and water for the old woman and even cooked her food. The grandmother was extremely grateful and began to love Naija.

One day, the grandmother told Naija that she was worried for her because the beings in the spirit realm were monsters and wanted to eat the human girl that crossed over. The grandmother hid Naija and kept her safe. She promised she would get her back home safe as long as she promised to obey her parents and look for the beauty within people. Naija happily agreed to the arrangement. 

The Skull's grandmother made a Ju Ju and called the winds to whisk Naija home. A gentle breeze came in, she told the wind spirit to carry Naija home and hugged her goodbye. Within minutes, the wind spirit dropped Naija off outside of her home. 

When the parents saw their daughter, they sprang outside and greeted her with hugs and tears. They thought she was gone forever and all hope became lost. Azubuike called on Naija's friends to come celebrate with food, music and dancing. The celebration lasted for ten days. 

When the celebration was over, Azubuike reported what happened to the village chief. 

The village chief passed a law that parents not allow their daughters to marry strangers from outside the country. 

Soon after, Azubuike introduced Naija to a friend of his. Naija remembered the promise she made to the Skulls grandmother and agreed to marry. She fell in love, her husband made her laugh and she was happy. They had many children and remained a happy family in Yanshiwhe.


Image Source : newekodunju.blogspot

Author's note: This story is a retelling of The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull. The story is from the Nigeria unit. The original story is about a girl who only wanted to marry the best-looking man. She refused to marry any of the men that her parent's chose for her. A skull from the spirit land found out about her and decided to possess her. She married him and he took her to the spirit land and his true form was revealed to her. 
I did not make very many changes to the story. I changed the location, character's names and made the skulls friends supernatural beings. I slightly changed the ending of the story to make the young girl happy. 


Bibliography: Story by Elphinstone Dayrell from Folk Storied from Southern Nigeria. Link to story The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull




Comments

  1. Hi, Daphne. This story reminded me of the parable of the prodigal son in The Bible. The gist is this: a father's son demands his inheritance before his father dies. He goes and blows it all in another country and comes back to his father. The father accepts him back with open arms and has a huge celebration for his return.

    The only issue I have with your story is that the first sentence is in present tense while the rest of the story is in past tense. I like the skull character. Whenever I think of a spirit borrowing body parts, it's difficult for me to imagine it being very handsome.

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