Mytho-Folklore Fall 2017: Reading Notes: Part B-Congo Unit: The Fetish Sunga

Story: this story is about a clever fisherman named Basa. Each day, Basa would go out and fish on the river, where he always caught a large amount of fish. Even though Basa always caught a great amount of fish, he always kept it secret and would never tell anyone he caught fish. He hide the fish in his house so that no one would find and prove that he caught any. Everyday when he returned from fishing, his family would ask him if he caught any fish, and each day he continued to lie. During this time, a fetish Sunga watched Basa, and everyday she saw him lie and was saddened by this dishonesty. The fetish Sunga decided one day that she would sent one of her servants to go to the place where Basa fished. The day that the Sunga sent her servant, was a really good day for Basa, he caught many fish. While hiding some of his fish in a fork of a tree, Basa heard a child calling for him to come to their mother, this just so happened to be a trap by the fetish Sunga. Basa followed the voice until he came upon a dried up river and he followed the voice to a watershed. At the watershed, he saw a beautiful town, with people that greeted him kindly, at first he was taken aback and a little alarmed so he was reluctant to celebrate with them. Sunga laid a table before him and at this point, he could not resist and he drank all the wine there was. For his dishonesty, the Sunga then deprived him of his speech.

My ideas: I would change this story so that Basa would not lose his speech. I thought this was a harsh punishment for a sin that most people comment on a daily basis. Also I think the story could use some background information. For example, we really do not know why Basa lies to everyone about the fish he caught, so maybe I could make up a story and include that in the background information. Also, I think the story would be more interesting in the fetish Sunga's perspective. This would give us information on why she watching Basa, what made her choose Basa, and what made her choose his punishment.