Week 9 Storytelling: The Jealous Wife

Once upon a time, there was a man who had two wives. The elder wife, Sarah, and the younger wife, Samantha, each had a son. One day, the husband decided that he would go into the Bush to trade for approximately six long months. Before his journey, each wife worked diligently to make their husband food for his long journey. The husband's one request was that the family remain a family, even in his absence, but most importantly that neither or his sons were harmed. When the day came that the husband was to leave, he felt a great worry that in his absence, his family would not be safe. He let this feeling pass as his wives reassured him that everything would be fine. 

The husband killing his elder wife in the
original story:  Hathi Trust

The six months passed very slow for the little family, as they awaited their loved one to return. As each day passed, Sarah began to worry about the state of the younger wife. You see, Samantha had always been jealous of the elder wife, because she always got more attention than her. When their sons were born, they took even more attention away from Samantha and she became extremely jealous.

When it was nearing the end of the six months, the family anxiously awaited the return of their husband. Samantha, feeling extremely jealous that when her husband did return the he would not have missed her most, devised a plan to rid herself of the other family members. She decided that she would kidnap them and keep them hidden from her husband. She then would tell the husband that while he was away a group of bandits came and took them, leaving her alone.

 Samantha said to Sarah and the children, “Any day now, our husband shall return and we have no meat for him to eat, why don’t we go down to the river and catch some fish to celebrate his return?”

Sarah replied, “Marvelous! He will love the pleasant surprise.”

Away the went to the river to catch some fish or little did they know, where Samantha would hide them away. There was a small cave, that only Samantha knew about and that is where she decided to hide the family. While they were fishing, Samantha saw pointed out the cave and said, “Look, there appears to be a cave over there, why don’t we go and led the children explore?”

The children replied, “Please! Please! Let’s go explore.”

Sarah, knowing that the children were tired of fishing she replied, “ That sounds like a great idea.”

Away they went to the cave, never to be seen or heard from again. Samantha returned home with a bundle of fish and found her waiting husband.

The husband said, “My dear, you look lovely, where is everyone else?”

Samantha, forcing tears replied, “Shortly after you left, a group of bandits came and took them, leaving me injured. I have not seen or heard from them since.” Samantha had pulled off a very good lie and the husband did not suspect a thing.

The husband responded, “I must search from them.”

The next morning, the husband left to go back into the bush on a search for his family. Samantha was left alone, with no one to comfort her and feeling sorry for herself and feeling bad for what she had done. She then went back to the cave to retrieve the family, but all that was left of them was bones.

Author’s Note: In the original story, I kept the characters and the plot the same. I decided to change what happens to the family though. In the original story, the elder wife is jealous of the younger wife’s son because he is better looking and more intelligent than her own son. She then decides that one night, she will kill the younger wife’s son, while she is out fishing. The night she went to kill the boy, she went to where they usually sleep and using a sharp knife, killed him. The other child went screaming to the neighbors for refuge. The next morning, meaning to spare the younger wife from finding her son dead, the elder wife went to clean the mess. That is when she discovered that she had killed her own son. She took his lifeless body and ran into the woods. When the husband returned he had asked the younger wife what happened, but the only witness was the other son and the husband did not want to believe a child, so he gathered a friend and went back into the bush in search of his wife. When he found her along with his son’s body, he killed her out of rage. I decided to change the way things progress in the story. Instead of making the elder wife jealous, I made the younger wife jealous. Also, instead of outright killing a child, I made the younger wife decide to hide the whole family out of jealousy, so she could have all the husband’s attention. I also thought it would be good punishment to make the husband want to immediately go out of search for his long-lost family, leaving the younger wife alone again. For further punishment, I also made her be regretful of her decision and go back to the cave and the family to have been devoured by something, that way, not only did she feel bad for herself, but also what she had done to the family.

Bibliography:  

Dennet, Richard E.  Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. Congo Unit: The Jealous Wife. 1898.