Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West AfricaAfrican Traditional ReligionsLegend / Oral TraditionEnglishShareFolk Stories from Southern Nigeria 32Project Gutenberg #34655 - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableProject Gutenberg #34655LanguageEnglishEspañol‹Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 0Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 1Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 2Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 3Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 4Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 5Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 6Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 7Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 8Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 9Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 10Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 11Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 12Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 13Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 14Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 15Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 16Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 17Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 18Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 19Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 20Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 21Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 22Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 23Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 24Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 25Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 26Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 27Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 28Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 29Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 30Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 31Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 32Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 33Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 34Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 35Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 36Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 37Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 38Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 39Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria 40›The Lucky FishermanFolk Stories from Southern Nigeria 32ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1In the olden days there were no hooks or casting nets, so that when the natives wanted to catch fish they made baskets and set traps at the river side. One man named Akon Obo, who was very poor, began to make baskets and traps out of bamboo palm, and then when the river went down he used to take his traps to a pool and set them baited with palm-nuts. In the night the big fish used to smell the palm-nuts and go into the trap, when at once the door would fall down, and in the morning Akon Obo would go and take the fish out. He was very successful in his fishing, and used to sell the fish in the market for plenty of money. When he could afford to pay the dowry he married a woman named Eyong, a native of Okuni, and had three children by her, but he still continued his fishing. The eldest son was called Odey, the second Yambi, and the third Atuk. These three boys, when they grew up, helped their father with his fishing, and he gradually became wealthy and bought plenty of slaves. At last he joined the Egbo society, and became one of the chiefs of the town. Even after he became a chief, he and his sons still continued to fish. 2One day, when he was crossing the river in a small dug-out canoe, a tornado came on very suddenly, and the canoe capsized, drowning the chief. When his sons heard of the death of their father, they wanted to go and drown themselves also, but they were persuaded not to by the people. After searching for two days, they found the dead body some distance down the river, and brought it back to the town. They then called their company together to play, dance, and sing for twelve days, in accordance with their native custom, and much palm wine was drunk. When the play was finished, they took their father's body to a hollowed-out cavern, and placed two live slaves with it, one holding a native lamp of palm-oil, and the other holding a matchet. They were both tied up, so that they could not escape, and were left there to keep watch over the dead chief, until they died of starvation. 3When the cave was covered in, the sons called the chiefs together, and they played Egbo for seven days, which used up a lot of their late father's money. When the play was over, the chiefs were surprised at the amount of money which the sons had been able to spend on the funeral of their father, as they knew how poor he had been as a young man. They therefore called him the lucky fisherman. ‹Previous chapterFolk Stories from Southern Nigeria 31Next chapterFolk Stories from Southern Nigeria 33›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg