Week 9 Story: The Tale of Sunga and Basa
A Fetish, an earthly embodiment of spirits, named Sunga once inhabited an area of the Congo. Unlike many other Fetishes, who would waste time bickering, Sunga spent her days teaching humans and other Fetishes valuable lessons. One such human was named Basa.
Basa was a very clever and capable fisherman, catching boatloads of fish every day. Instead of sharing these fish with his family and friends, Basa hid them in his house. He was so selfish that he would rather see his fish rot than to share them. Each time someone asked him how his daily fishing trip had gone, Basa would lie, saying he had rangled nothing.
The wise Sunga sensed Basa's dishonesty and sends a servant of hers to summon him to a feast. At this feast, she gives him one last chance to tell the truth about his misdeeds. Instead of confession, Basa repeats his lie, claiming to catch little to no fish each day.
Sunga nods and offers Basa a bounty of food and drink, who both drinks and eats in excess, oblivious to Sunga's disapproving gaze. Finally, after consuming his fill, Basa gets up to leave. When he tries to deliver a snarky parting remark (instead of thanking Sunga for her hospitality), Basa realizes he can no longer speak.
Terrified, he pleading looks at Sunga, who then says, "You have chosen to be selfish, Basa, and for this, you must pay. I have taken the power of speech away from you so that you may never lie to your friends and family again. When, or if, you learn to be a more compassionate human being, you may come to me and seek redemption. But do not come prematurely, for I shall see any good deeds you perform and will punish you harshly should you try to regain your speech without truly changing your ways."
Author's Note: I adapted my story from "The Fetish Sunga"/"How the Fetish Sunga Punished My Great-Uncle's Twin Brother, Basa." In the original, a man is greedy with the fish he catches and is punished by losing the ability to talk, as in my rendition. However, I changed the ending because, in the original, Basa has no chance of getting his speech back, so I thought it would be nice to end it with the possibility of redemption instead.
Bibliography: Folklore of the Fjort stories, collected by R. E. Dennett
Hey Katie, I want to say right away that I liked that you changed the ending for the possibility of a redemption arc for Basa. In a way, I like the idea of Basa being forced to work for his speech back since he wanted to lie and be selfish, and that's what got him into that situation in the first place. That said, I really enjoyed your story! It was put together incredibly well, and I enjoyed the character's dynamics!
ReplyDeleteHello Katie, great story! You had such a good flow to this story that allowed the listeners to understand it with ease. I have not had the opportunity to read the original story yet, but you did a great job of briefly describing it in your author's note. I love that you allowed your character to have the chance to redeem himself, I am a big fan of second chances! I loved the imagery and the way you described the scenes of the story. Great job with this one!
ReplyDeleteKatie, great story! I love how you get into the headspace of Basa so well! I really feel like I'm experiencing the story. Your vernacular is really good as well. Great descriptor words. I can also really appreciate how your optimistic nature shows through in the ending of the story.
ReplyDeleteHi Katie,
ReplyDeleteThis was such a fun and interesting story and it was so easy to read. You did a great job with the characters and it was very easy to get into how people thought and why they would make decisions that they do. I was a big fan of the ending and think that you did a great job.