The Girl in the Tree and Other Tales from Africa: African Fireside Classics, #4

By A. Sakyiama

If you were sitting in a tree and could only come down for someone you would like to marry, who would you pick?

* The best dancer?
* The very rich one?
* Or the very strong and fearsome one, who promises to cut off the head of anyone who bothers you?

Decisions, decisions! Monka was the girl in the tree. Who did she pick? Did she even pick? And, why on earth did anyone think that this was a good way to pick a husband?

Read Monka's story and other tales of courtship and love. I have to warn you though, if you're looking for "lovey-dovey, happily-ever-after" stories, some of these stories are not that.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aso House Press
• Release date: Dec 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781497741072

A. Sakyiama

A. Sakyiama was born in Ghana, West Africa. She grew up hearing many of the stories that she now retells for all of us to enjoy. She writes of the antics of wily folktale characters like Ananse, his son, Ntikuma and his clever wife, Aso. She tells stories of naughty and nice ghosts; scared but brave boys and girls; monsters that eat disobedient children; as well as fantastical tales about why things are the way they are.   A. Sakyiama currently lives in the USA with her family. She is also an avid gardener or more accurately, a fierce warrior who defends her territory against marauding gangs of deer, woodchucks, rabbits and crows. Visit her at www.asakyiama.com.

Book preview

THE GIRL IN THE TREE

& OTHER TALES FROM AFRICA

Sankofa bird adinkra symbol

AFRICAN FIRESIDE CLASSICS

told anew

by

A. SAKYIAMA

THE GIRL IN THE TREE AND OTHER TALES FROM AFRICA

African Fireside Classics, #4

Copyright © 2013 A. Sakyiama

All rights reserved.

Other Books in the Series

Today's Water & Other Ananse Stories

The Yam Child & Other Tales

The Missing Mouth & Other Ananse Stories

Visit www.asakyiama.com for the latest on the the African Fireside Classics series. All sorts of goodies await you there. You can join the readers group, find out how you can stream the audio of some stories for free, or try out an audio-ebook (read-along) version.

Contents

Cover

Epigraph

1.

The Girl In The Tree

2.

Squeeze Her!

3.

True Love

4.

The Favorite Wife

5.

Dede And Kwapong

6.

Kweku Susufuo

7.

The Best Son-In-Law

Author's Note & More

Bonus Story

More to Read …

The one who does not love me,

He will become a frog,

And he will jump, jump, jump away.

He will become a monkey with one leg,

And he will hop, hop, hop away.

— Traditional Yoruba girl's song of rebuke

The Girl In The Tree

A man who is a good rider must not expect that God will give him a horse.

— Hausa Proverb

THERE WAS ONCE a powerful omanhene (or-mine-he-ne) who had many sons and just one daughter. Her name was Monka. She was the most beautiful child that the kingdom had ever seen, or so everyone said. Her father and brothers were all great warriors and fierce protectors.

As the last born child and only girl, Monka was pampered by everyone in her household. In spite of this, she grew up to be quite level-headed. She was not one to lounge about, even though she had to fight her parents, numerous relatives and all their servants, for a chance to do anything for herself.

When it was time for Monka to get married, no man dared to come and ask for her hand. They were too scared of her father and brothers!

The Omanhene decided to do something about this problem. Unfortunately for him, after years of matching wits with everyone in her household, Monka had grown into a very strong-willed young woman. He could not simply pick a worthy husband and expect her to accept him. She could not be talked into doing anything that she did not want to do.

After consulting his advisors, the Omanhene came up with a plan that would bring the most worthy men to Monka’s attention. He sent out town criers, playing loud gong-gongs, to announce to the people:

In a week, I will send my daughter, Monka, up into the giant tree that marks the center of my kingdom. The man who can persuade her to come down from the tree, shall marry her.

To prevent every idle fellow from showing up to bother his daughter, he also had it announced that:

Any man who tries and fails, would become a slave.

All day long, for many days, he had the huge royal talking drums played to ensure that the message spread far and wide; from village to village, town to town, city to city, to every corner of his kingdom and beyond.

The announcement was greeted with much joy by young men throughout the kingdom. In spite of the severe penalty for failing, many of them were eager to try their luck. Monka herself, was quite amused by the whole thing, but, she decided to play along and see