A widower fell in love with his own daughter and wanted to marry her, but he feared public opinion.
He thought long and hard, and then sewed trousers for his camel. He rode the camel around town, and everyone shouted, "Look! A camel wearing trousers!" Everyone shouted again the next day, but then fewer people, and fewer. After a month, nobody noticed at all.
Then he asked his daughter to live as his wife. At first, people had plenty to say about it. "Scandal!" they shouted. But he ignored them, and, after a month had passed, nobody noticed at all.
Inspired by: "Buzu and His Daughter" in Hausa Tales and Traditions, volume 1, by Neil Skinner, 1969.
Notes: You can read the original story online. There is a similar story in the Renaissance Latin fabulist Abstemius about painting a widow who wants to remarry but fears the gossip, so a friend tells her to paint a donkey green, and she learns the same lesson.
No comments:
Post a Comment