Reading Notes: Stories from Congo (Part A)

2. How Nsassi (Gazelle) Got Married

• Synopsis:
• Nenpetro had two wives
• They each had a daughter
• They grew up to be very beautiful
• He decided to not accept a gift in exchange for his daughter's hands in marriage
• A potential suitor instead had to guess the daughters' names
• The Antelope came and offered a gift of cloth in exchange for the princesses
• He's denied and challenged to guess their names
• He leaves, trying to think of a way to learn their names
• Nsassi, a prince, comes to ask for their hands
• He too is challenged to guess their names
• Nsassi was so upset at not being able to marry the princesses that he didn't notice that he had left his dog behind
• The dog heard the princesses names and ran home to tell his master
• He got hungry, stops to eat, and forgot the names
• He went back to the town and slept
• The dog heard the princesses' names again in the morning when they gave him food
• He got thirsty on the way home, stops to drink, and forgets the names
• He returned to town again and slept
• The dog heard the princesses' names for the third time the next morning when they brought him food and water
• This time, he made it all the way home to his master and told him the names
• Nsassi and his dog returned to the town to claim his brides
• They became thirsty and stopped to drink... and forgot the names
• The dog went the rest of the way to the town on his own, and heard the names again
• Nsassi went to the town and claimed Nenpetro's daughters
• This angered to the Antelope who tried to fight him, and lost
• He got eaten
• Possibilities:
• Rewritten as a first person
• The Antelope or the Princesses' perspectives could be more original
• What if the Antelope married one daughter and Nsassi married the other?

An Impala Drinks Water
Source: WikiMedia Commons

8. How Kengi Lost her Child

• Synopsis:
• Nenpetro had two wives, Kengi and Gunga
• They each worked on separate farms to supply food for the family
• Gunga took some beans from Kengi's field
• (Cue "Witch's Entrance" from Into the Woods because I'm a theatre nerd)
• Kengi freaked out and made her promise that going forward anything born on the farms would belong to to the farm's owner, and they would not try to take anything from the other's farm
• Kengi went over to Gunga's farm and asked for some tobacco to smoke to help with her pain
• While she was there she gave birth to a child
• Since the kid was born on her farm, Gunga kept it (according to the agreement)
• Kengi (essentially) took Gunga to court over it
• Gunga got to keep the child
• Possibilities
• This is the second story featuring Nenpetro and his two wives
• What if both daughters from story two are biologically Kengi's?
• Gunga is infertile or has a daughter that is not as beautiful as Kengi's daughters
• Rewrite the story two from the "ugly" daughter's point of view

Story Source: Stories from Congo