171. The Man and His Monkey-Wife

A farmer once married a monkey. 

"Come!" he told his monkey-wife. "We must work in the fields."

But his monkey-wife groaned. "I can't," she said. "I have a toothache."

Then, after he left, she cooked herself a fine stew and ate it all. As she cooked, she sang, "Holiday for me, for me, but not for my foolish husband!"

This happened the next day, and the next.

Finally the man's neighbor said, "Every day I hear your wife singing. Holiday for me, but not for my foolish husband is her song."

The husband drove his monkey-wife away.

He never remarried.

[a Hausa story from northern Nigeria]

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Inspired by: " The Man who Married a Monkey" in Hausa Superstitions and Customs  by A. J. N. Tremearne, 1913.
Notes: You can read the original story online.

(monkey in Nigeria)