134
COMPLETENESS IN CHARACTERIZING THE DOG: A STUDY OF IGBO FOLKTALES
ALOY NNAMDI OBIKA Department of English, Madonna University Nigeria,
Okija Campus 08033820690
aloyobika@yahoo.com
&
OBIORA EKE, Ph.D. Department of English, Madonna University Nigeria,
Okija Campus 08033552388
obioraeke@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
It is generally assumed that all folktale characters are type characters because they are not fully portrayed, and normally, each is identified with just a single idea or quality. But this assumption is wrong because ideas about a particular character may be shared in many tales since the children for whom these tales were composed have a limit to the extent to which they can absorb ideas. This and more reasons are why the information about Dog is scattered in many tales. When these tales are studied, a lot of ideas can be gathered about the animal. These ideas trace the animal’s early stage of living in the wild to its domestication through its eating habits, behaviour, physique, etc. These facts can also be seen in Igbo proverbs. In this way, this essay is of the view that characterization done on this mammal is so complete that the animal as it appears in Igbo folktales cannot be a type character.
INTRODUCTION
In folktales, any animal character mentioned represents all the animals of its kind. An illustration can be given with the goat which represents all goats in existence. What is done with each character is that every evaluation and metaphysical conception of the society regarding the animal is encapsulated in that particular character. In other words, that animal becomes a representative of all its kind, carrying inside it, everything known about its kind. However, the animal with a slight difference is Tortoise whose father, wife and children are mentioned in tales.
135 goat bereft of envy? In all, these animals in contact with Tortoise must appear gullible in order to highlight the trickster’s wisdom. A stand such as this explains Nkem Okoh’s statement that: “There are norms of behaviour expected of the sheep, the elephant and so on in stories; the stereotypes are, therefore formed through observation of the habits of various animals, their appearances and the kind of response they usually make in particular situations” (32).
In all the tales, these animal characters are portrayed to highlight the societal assessment of them, for in actual fact, these tales are based on facts of life. However, no scientific and indepth study of them have been made and so, what is highlighted is just the little that is known. Hence, Tortoise is just wise and tricky; Goat is nothing but a bundle of envy, etc. In other words, animal characters in folktales are type characters since each “…is built around a single idea or quality and …without much individualizing detail” (Abrams and Harpham 32). Similarly, Jan Harold Brunvand also observes that: “Usually these animals correspond to certain stock character types such as the clever fox or rabbit, the stupid bear, the faithful dog, and the industrious ant. Frequently, these tales describe conflict between different animals and between animals and men” (38).
Because of the above view, critics tend to hoist the observation of being type characters on all the animals of the folktale. This is what this paper stands to refute for among all the animals, the dog stands out as one whose physical, metaphysical and behavioural inclinations are highlighted both in the people’s world view and in their tales. The result is that like other animal characters, there is not just one regard or assessment agreeably given on the animal. Call any Igbo child and ask about Tortoise, the child will tell you off-handedly that Tortoise is a trickster but nothing of such can be said about Dog. In our investigation, at the Nsukka area of the Igbo nation, Dog is said to be greedy. At Nnobi in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, he is cantankerous. In Igbo Mysticism: Power of Igbo Traditional Religion and Society, he is said to be a symbol of aggression (Adibe 210). This view is similar to his being cantankerous. However, who knows from which place, Adibe got his information. If the researchers have continued, they would have gotten more and different answers.
These various views are then inserted into the tales. Therefore, in these tales, one sees Dog’s physical descriptions, mental acuity, sporting prowess, trickery, sitting posture, etc. These considerations therefore remove Dog from the status of being a type character, for how do we characterize round characters in creative works? Is it not through looking at them from various perspectives through what they say and what they do, through what other characters say about them and through what the narrators say about them?
In order to accomplish this work, the essay will make use of how this animal is seen in modern life through mere observation and scientific investigations. Again, the essay will make use of the perceptions which the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria have about the animal. Some of these facts are what can be seen in folktales since “… the tale or story is an admixture of fact and fiction” (Okoh 119). All these bits of information and knowledge are couched and incorporated in the tales.
Totality in Portraying Dog
136 This stand corresponds with the same observation in folk narratives of many nations – though the tales do not bear dates. Many of such tales relate what caused the wild animal to leave the forest with all its dangers and uncertainties. It then moved in to live with man. One of such tales has it that Tortoise suggested that he would compete with him in a race. The expectation is that a race where Tortoise is pitched against Dog has just one result – Dog winning Tortoise. But this did not happen for Tortoise knew the love Dog has for bones. He went and hid a bone along the route that Dog would pass. True to type, when Dog saw it, he stopped and in the process, Tortoise passed him and won the race. All the animals started booing him. “In shame, he [Dog] ran away to a village where children were playing. Later, he stayed with them. From that day to this day, the dog has been the friend of man” (Akinsemoyin 40).
The way Tortoise tricked Dog here can reduce the latter to the level of other animals who Tortoise cheats. But to show that Dog is not that foolish but a balanced personality, he paid Tortoise back in his own coin when one day Tortoise wanted to cheat Goat of the games he won in a wrestling combat. When Dog arrived on the scene, he settled the case without the two contestants knowing his plans. It was only when he offered to help Tortoise swim across a river that his plan showed itself. He ferried across the river, the six games which Tortoise using his tricks got from Goat. Tortoise waited for Dog to help him swim across the river but the animal had gone to Goat’s house to share the games. When it became clear to Tortoise that he has been tricked was when later he met Dog who now “…turned to the tortoise laughing and said, Mr. Tortoise, the trickster has been tricked. Things are now even; nobody is cheated” (Onwu 34). So, in this case, Dog’s swimming prowers and intelligence are the two aspects of the animal highlighted.
Again on Dog being the first domesticated animal, the Igbo people have many tales reminding their children of the fact. One of such tales goes with the title “Ihe Mere Nkita Jiri Buru Anu Uno – What Made the Dog to be a Domestic Animal” (Iroaganachi 58). The story narrates how initially Dog was stronger than Tiger because of his powerful teeth and claws. But one day, Tiger requested for these to be lent him for him to wear them to his in-law’s house. Dog obliged him only for Tiger to use them to drive him out of the animal kingdom. It is in a sad note that Dog’s kindness ended in his banishment for it is recorded that:
Nkita gbaara oso gbaba n’oke ohia; site n’ebe ahu gbara oso gaa n’ulo ndi madu … n’ebe ahu, Nkita na madu biri.
Dog ran into a mighty forest, from there, he ran into a house belonging to humans … from that place, Dog has been living with human (60).
These two tales highlight the interest that the precultural observers have on this animal. In spite of these tales coming from two different cultural backgrounds, they agree that of all animals, the dog is the first to be domesticated. This is in consonance with modern scientific discovery about the animal. These years of association with the animal have resulted into more knowledge about it. As was noted earlier, this knowledge has been couched in different tales thereby helping to remove the animal from being seen as a type character.
Therefore, in these tales, Dog makes use of his brain which has been developing from the days when he was cheated of his strong and sharp teeth and claws. These numerous tales exhibits his activities to the minutest details – his eating habit, his sitting posture, strength, running ability, servile nature, metaphysical prowess, etc. These are what man has observed in this animal who for ages has been his friend.
137 Most natural scientists believe today that the birds and beasts are not automatons, performing by instincts without thought or feeling but creatures of intelligence and sensitivity that communicate in many ingenious ways. Will Cramer [a blacksmith living in the valley of the Yellow Breeches Creek, Pennsylvania] was right: the animals do talk, not only to each other but to us if we listen (4).
Here, it can be seen that contrary to most people’s view, these animals are not just mere robots created in tales to imitate man. They are just characters talking and moving about in a social milieu, doing those things that can result from such interactions. Therefore, like other animals, Dog is a clearly delineated character with intellect. What is more, his long contact with man has sharpened the innate ability imbued into him by Nature. If this is true and it is also true that what the animal is, is what raconteurs portray, then he cannot be classified as a type character.
This sharpening of the innate ability can be seen in an international event that happened recently. During Britain’s Got Talent (of the animal series 6) competition, a “teenager trained her pet (dog) to jump, dance on his hind legs, meander through her legs, and even got him to run across the judges’ table.” Many Internet sources like this one in the Telegraph conclude this message with the information that the pair won $500,000. Also, the duo would perform at “the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen”. This actually happened and was beamed to all the countries of the world and was seen by all who turned to the channels.
But it is with a sneering frown that some listen to tales of animals dancing. In one of such folkloric dances, Dog lent his cloth to Tortoise who in the euphoria of the dance, forgot himself and tore the borrowed cloth (Oruche 30). In this way and in many tales, bits of facts about the animal are released to the public. When these pieces of information are fixed together, one can get a composite view of this long standing friend of man. It is quite erroneous on our part for us to assume that the encyclopedic knowledge on the animal can be released in one tale. For one to know much about this animal, one has to bring together many of these tales. Only then can the person see that indeed, Dog unlike other animal characters is not a type character but one whose every aspect of his existence has been looked into but in bits.
Also in this modern age, scientists have started making use of the innate ability of this animal. One of such abilities is its ability to “see” or perceive things which are hidden to man or even to scientific monitoring instruments. For years, Igbo folktale raconteus have not only been talking about this but been acting it out--in conformity with folktale sessions being made up of both narration and dramatization. But it was only: “In 1952 [that] representative of the US Army asked Dr. Rhime if he thought dogs could be trained to locate mines buried in battle fields… If dogs did possess such a clairvoyant capability, many lives could be saved. Test [because of this] were conducted in California along a beach, north of San Francisco” (Hill 43). But for eons of years, Igbo folktales have been emphasizing this ability of the animal. In one of such tales, Tortoise kills the children of his friend, Pig. At night, he stealthily goes to the cemetery to exhume the corpses and convert them to food. No animal knows why Pig should be losing his children one after the other. If not because of the clairvoyance of Dog, none will ever know it (Onwu 45). Apart from countless tales showing this ability: “The Igbo believe that animals can see spirits. When for example a dog barks without any visible cause or when fowls begin to quack uneasily without birds or any other visible object inducing them to do so, then the Igbo suspect that spirits may be around or that something mysterious is about to happen” (Nwala 50).
138 its swiftness and perceptivity to finding, seeing through darkness any moving object and spirit as it possesses four eyes; recurring of dogs in dreams is an allusion to Agwu possession for special work” (Adibe 261).
Therefore, as a confirmation that Dog really has this ability as can be seen in many tales, Caras, Roger A. in the Encarta writes that:
… a few years ago, authorities suspected that a policewoman had been murdered …and buried in a park. A bloodhound was brought in that had been trained to locate bodies hidden in illegal graves. He immediately fixed on a spot in the park, and the police dug in…although the bones seemed somewhat large for the missing woman, were dutifully packed off to the coroner. Then, the dog found another burying place and another and a good many more as well.
The story concludes that all those bones were not those of humans but of old horses because the place was formerly used in buying old brewery horses. But the point has been proved that Dog has the ability to see and know that which is not within sight of humans. That is why Paul Orude tells us in an Internet article that “the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika said that the government of Nigeria would construct a 48-carriage to be used in accommodating the specially trained dogs each of which he [Ihejirika] said would have its own room and parlour as well as air conditioner”. These animals are to be used in detecting Boko Haram bombs. This specially endowed mammal as the tales relate has the ability to see beyond the physical.
To be sincere, Dog’s natural endowments have made him more real than many human beings. This is in view of his ability to see beyond his surrounding, his ability to fight and defend others, his strength that shows in his sprinting ability, etc. These numerous abilities are hinted at in numerous tales. In conformity with the technique of folktale narration, facts are not overtly stated but hinted at since the expectation is that the children for whom the tales are narrated know a little already, being members of the community. At the same time, additional information is also conveyed through dramatization. In this way, these children are being made to know the flora and fauna of the society.
Further on the natural endowments of Dog, we are told that a man was trapped without any hope of ever being released and at the same time, he was being circled around by a wolf. This man, though a hunter, left his dog at home but after almost twenty-four hours, the dog appeared and brought to him the trap wrench with which he set himself free. He mounted his horse and with the dog barking, he rode home, there to learn that the night before, the brave dog acted strangely whimpering and watching the timber trail and at last, when night came on, in spite of attempts to detain it, it had set out in the gloom and guided by a knowledge that is beyond us had reached the spot “… in time to avenge me as well as set me free” (Seton 163).
Note that as it is here, so it is in Igbo folktales. These similarities help to solidify the assertion that what the tales relate is what is happening in the actual world. It is in view of this that we refer to a story in E. Nolue Emenanjo’s edited book Omalinze: A Book of Igbo Folktales. In the tale titled “Dinta na nkita ano ya – Hunter and his Four Dogs,” a hunter strays in the forest without his four dogs. There, he meets two lions who want to kill him. Then, he climbs a tree, and the lions after some time, climb after him. He starts crying and calling his four dogs whom he left at home. Then it is recorded that:
Nkita ano ahu na-anya oku n’uso oku, enwela mkpata n’ahu ha na dinta ha no n’ahuhu. Ha amaputa n’ezi, kwuru jim na-efe odu ha na-elegharikwa anya imata ebe nsogbu ahu si abia. O bughi na ha nuru oku dinta na-akpo ha kama ozuzu o nyere ha mere ka o titu ha n’ahu na o nwere ihe dakwasiri ya. Ozigbo ha etikapu oso wuru jim na-agbaje n’uzo ohia (40).
139 that problem. It was not that they heard the hunter calling but the training that he gave them alerted them that he was in trouble. Immediately, they started running, jumping jim jim towards the forest (140).
It was in this way that they rescued their master.
When one looks at these two stories – the real experience from Seton’s book and this folktale – one can see a lot of similarities that highlight the character of the animal. In both, its fearlessness is highlighted: Dog is never afraid of trotting in the forest even at night. Also, it is never afraid of embarking in a fight. What can we say of his being a reliable friend and servant who can, at a distance know what is happening to his master? However, the folktale is more informative in portraying the nature of the animal. Dog, we see, stays at the fireplace. Also, when running, it seems to be jumping which the raconteur dramatizes with an onomatopae – jim jim. But the restlessness that the animal exhibits when a dear one is in trouble is attested to by the two stories.
Because of the animals uncanny power of knowing that which is far removed in time and place from it, the researchers went to town to get first hand information – not relying only on published materials. The first port of call was in the house of late Chief Anaezeafor Okongwu, popularly known as Ochendo--an indigene of Amansiodo in Oghe, Enugu State. When he was alive, he was a well known native doctor and diviner. We met his son, Charles Okongwu who, though a born again Christian, knows one or two things about Dog. He agrees that Dog has such power attributed to him in Igbo folktales. He further has it that if one wants to get that power, all one needs to do is to get the mucus from the eyes of the animal and put it into one’s eyes. Automatically, the person will acquire the ability of seeing beyond the physical.
Further in the course of the study, the researchers were led to Awudu, Nnobi in Idemili South L.G.A. of Anambra State. There, Oluwa Wato Nwamamuo, a young native doctor confirmed Okongwu’s information but added that even if the mucus is put into water and the person washes his face with the water, the person will start seeing spirits and visions. He then cautioned that such visions would always be negative and the person would ever remain aggressive and pugnacious. If care is not taken, what the person would start seeing may turn his brain for him to become mildly insane. Going further, he said that in the course of his training, his teachers suggested that means of acquiring the power of vision to him but he rejected it since his natural ability in that area was untampered with.
In these interviews, one can see the high regard the ability of Dog enjoys among Igbo occultists. In other words, this animal is well delineated in the Igbo-man’s life. This explains the ritual of slaughtering a dog at the burial of a full fledged man. Talking about this is John Bosco Madu from Umuamadi village, Nguru, Aboh Mbaise L.G.A. of Imo state. This ritual which is known as “Iwa nkita anya – Extracting the eye of the dog” seems to fortify the dead man in his journey to the great beyond. Explaining this further, D. I. Nwoga asserts that: “…when an initiate dies, onye turu any … the dog is killed for the cleansing of the eyes, igbu nkita anya Is it coincidentally that the pupils of the eyes are called nkita anya (dog of the eyes) in Igbo?”
Therefore, as the dog guides the living in their spiritual works, so it does for the dead in their final journey. This seems to be suggested by this Internet article. But then, when such beliefs are mentioned, the activities of Dog in folktales tend to make them more real. In this way, associations are made in the minds of the hearers. In this way, the animal escapes from the general notion that all folktale animal characters are type characters.
140 children. That can explain Hill’s assertion that “Stories of pets and other animals with psychic powers have inspired legends and campfire tales. But many of these stories are true” (34).
The stand of this essay is that as it is in the tales, so it is in actual life. If modern man wants all the activities of the animal to be in one tale, then let him know that extended prose narration is a recent formulation. He should also know that folktale architecture does not allow lengthy narration or the children who are the chief recipients of these tales may lose interest and fall asleep. Also, since the tales are not sequentially arranged, any one desirous to know the wealth of knowledge encapsulated in them will collect many of them. The person will start linking the activities of the animal starting from its days in the forest to what it is doing now--serving man in man’s house.
In one of such services, Arthur Martin tells in an Internet article about a “two-year old Connie [a dog that] takes a watering can around the garden, loads the washing machine and carries Mrs. Carter’s [its owners] shopping bag”. The woman, Mrs. Hazel Carter from Uckfield, East Sussex is suffering from arthritis but she, a dog trainer, has trained Connie to help in the house. Then, the article goes on to state that “… the dog’s tidying skills rival that of a professional cleaner. When Mrs. Carter leaves anything lying around the house, Connie knows exactly where it came from and returns it to its rightful home”.
The activities of this dog are similar to those of the folkloric Dog. In the tales, Dog behaves like humans. When earlier analysts studied the way he was portrayed, they just concluded off-handedly that such humanized behaviour was not possible in real life and that the creators of the stories gave human attributes to animals because they were afraid of mentioning names of people. But today, it is now crystal clear that the raconteurs of old created what they saw. Therefore, if Dog is capable of doing as the tales and scientific investigators credit him, do we still call him a type character? If we do, then no literary production can ever come up with a round character.
Further in these tales, we see the animals in their town sometimes called Obodo Umuanumanu. It was from such a town that Dog carried a message to God, telling Him to give immortality to man (Ogbalu 6). In this way, different tales bring out different aspects of the animal’s life in the attempt to highlight that he is far from being a type character. However, Dog’s greed in that mission debarred him from arriving early. Before his arrival, the slow-footed Tortoise had delivered a minority report that people would be mortal. When Dog relayed his message, “God in annoyance threw a fire brand at him. With his mouth, he picked it up and returned to man disgraced. This was how man came to be dying and the origin of fire” (Ogbalu 7). Also, constant breathing or puffing on the fire brand has left Dog today with quickened breathing thereby showing more aspects of the animal’s life.
It is not only in this tale that social activities among animals are portrayed. In fact, all tales show that. Some show Dog in conflict with other animals. In one of such tales, Dog according to his normal and present day behaviour, stole a lump of meat belonging to Tortoise for whom he was making a new knife because of his work as a blacksmith. In anger, Tortoise “…withdrew the red-hot iron from the fire and thrust it at Dog’s nose. Dog quickly dipped his nose into the pot of water he used to cool down his steel. Since that day, his nose has never been dry” (Bordinat and Thomas 74).
Although this is an aetiological tale that explains the wetness of Dog’s nose, one can understand from it a further description of the animal’s physique. Here, one can understand that his nose is always wet and cold. This is how it is in real life. In real life, the animal is always aggressive; this is also part of the animal and human social settings as depicted in the tales. These different descriptions in tales help to highlight that Dog can never be seen as a type character.
141 When it meets another dog, its ear position indicates how interested it is in the newcomer. If its ears are erect, it is concentrating on the other. If its ears are pointing forward, it is on the alert. If the dog holds its tail high or wags it, the animal is happy and confident. If it drops its tail and remains still, the dog is apprehensive. If it pulls its tail between its legs, the dog is afraid. If on meeting a person or another dog, it pulls back its lips and growls, it is making a threat. If it bares its teeth, without growling, the dog is ready to attack and bite.
What modern scientists get from the animal’s ear movements, the traditional Igbo naturalists got from its tail, and in a proverb, they have it that “Ana esi n’odu amalu ihe di nkita mma – one can get from the tail of the dog what is good for it”. The stand of this essay is that these are inbuilt into different tales –however, not in this detail, keeping in mind that the tales are meant for children some of whom have this animal as pets. The expectation is that the mere mention of the animal coupled with the dramatization that accompanies folktale narration will rouse in them all they know about it. Therefore, the demonstration of the raconteur of how two dogs meet or how a dog prepares to attack another one will rouse in these children all the descriptions above in a moment. Then, the question now is, “How do we call such an animal the activities of which and the body structure of which have been demonstrated by a raconteur and conveyed by the same raconteur, a type characters?”
Concerning the social relationship the animal has with other animals of both its kind and others, all we know is that we sometimes see dogs clustering at a place, sometimes barking and disturbing our peace. That is the much we can go without giving it a further meaning. But no matter our interpretation, it is a social gathering whether these dogs do so in harmony or in disharmony. But what we do not know is that sometimes, these animals go to a place in order to know or be informed by others, about current happenings in their society. This is the view of Ernest Thompson Seton who took pains to study the activities of the best friend of man and came up with the discovery: “Each dog or wolf makes a point of calling at these stations that are near his line of travel to learn who has recently been there, just as a man calls at his club on returning to town and looks up the register” (145). Is this not the sort of stuff folktales are made of – animals meeting, discussing on issues concerning them, etc. In other words, these tales help us to understand these dogs to an extent not possible without the help of modern scientific investigation. Since the dogs above discuss and share information, one may ask if such is possible if these are just type characters.
Finally, some tales relate the activities of the animal in his house. That sounds funny since none has ever seen him in such a house. The general conclusion usually made on this is that such stories are narrated in order to study what happens in human houses. Such a house is reported in “The Tortoise and the Dog” (Ogbalu 55). In that story, Tortoise in the face of an excruciating famine went to Dog’s house where the latter gave him a lump of meat. The truth is that despite our sneering attitude because of the giddy pedestal we are occupying, first as humans and second because of modern civilization, such a house does exist but not in the sense we are regarding it.
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CONCLUSION
Studying this animal well can show that many are his activities. At home, it is useful – so useful to the extent of being a capable servant and a reliable friend--an acolyte so to say. It interacts not only with other dogs but with other animals. These can be seen in many Igbo folktales--tales being one of the ways of teaching children about the animals of their environment. Also, the tales in the course of doing this, highlight the physique of the animal, its mannerism and the metaphysical regard that he enjoys among the people.
In fact, when many of these tales are studied, almost everything about this animal can be learnt. In this way, Dog may be the only animal about whom the tales portray fully. Therefore, contrary to the general belief that folktale animal characters are used to highlight one or two ideas, stories about Dog are different. In short, whatever that is worth being known about the animal is in Igbo folktales. Many are the aspects of the animal but they are portrayed in different tales.
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