MYTHOLOGY AND AFRICANISM.

A STUDY OF AMOS TUTUOLAS THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD(1961) AND WOLE SOYINKAS THE FOREST OF A THOUSAND DAEMONS(1982)

BY

AJIBOLA, TOYIN DAUDA

07/15CD034

A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (B.A. HONS.)

JUNE, 2011

CERTIFICATION This is to certify that this research project has been read and approved as meeting the requirements of the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.

.. Dr. Kayode Afolayan Project Supervisor

. Date

Dr. S.T. Babatunde Head of Department

. Date

. External Examiner

Date

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DEDICATION To my Uncle S.S. Ajibola, who believed in me. To my parents, Mr. & Mrs. Ajibola.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT To God almighty who owns my soul, spirit and body,who also make me to witness a day like this wonderful one. To my supervisor, Dr. Kayode Afolayan. Dr. A. S. Idiagbon, thank you for getting me informed. Chief S. S. Ajibola; words can not express the depth of my gratitude that I owe you many thanks for your support, interest and kindness Mum, thanks so much for being there. Dad; thanks for your great advice ,your words can not be erase in my heart. My departmental colleagues; Thank you all for carrying me along. Dr. Mrs. B. F. Ibrahim, thank you so much.

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ABSTRACT The aesthetic and cultural heritage of Africa are in facets and mythology is unarguably part of these facets. This research intends to analyze the underpinnings of mythology evident in the Yoruba cosmology, as its relevance within African cultural production. Data will be colleted from Wole Soyinkas The Forest of a Thousand Daemons (1982). And Amos Tutuolas The Palm-wine Drinkard (1961). Which is in consonance with the main research objective, that is, to examine mythology and its reconstruction in the selected works. The application of the theory in interpreting data subsumes that mythology reveals the primal foundation of African culture and consequently of history. This research finds out that mythology is of relevance to the contemporary society. The suppressed African heritage must be resuscitated, as it has been influenced by the Western World, and there is no better effort than Soyinkas and Tutuolas transposition of African culture.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Title page Certification Dedication Acknowledgment Abstract Table of contents ii iii iv v vi i

CHAPTER ONE 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Background to the study Purpose of study Justification of study Methodology Scope of study Structure of thesis 1 5 6 7 8 9

CHAPTER TWO 2.0 Literature Review 11

CHAPTER THREE 3.0 The Palm Wine Drinkard: looking at the subtopic of the chapters. 22

CHAPTER FOUR 4.0 The Forest of a Thousand Daemons: looking at the subtopic of the 30

chapters. CHAPTER FIVE 5.0. Conclusion Bibliography

37 39

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CHAPTER ONE 1.0. GENERAL BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Myth is a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or natural explanation, especially and that is concerned with details or demigods and explains some practice, vie, and phenomenon of nature. Similarly, Mythology can also be a story about superhuman beings of an earlier age taken by preliterate society to be a true account, usually of how natural phenomena, social customs and others came into existence. A traditional story accepted as history; serves to explain the world view of a people, can also be an ancient, fictional story, especially on a sealing with gods, heroes and others. The term Mythology can also be either the study of Myths, or to a body of Myths. For example, Comparative Mythology is the study of connections between Myths from different cultures whereas Greek Mythology is the body of Myths from ancient Greece. The term Myths is often used colloquially to refer to a false story but academic use of the term generally to Mean Passing Judgment on truth or falsity. In addition, Folklore is unwritten Literature of a people as expressed in Folk takes, proverb, riddles Songs and others. Similarly, its also the body of stories and legends attached to a particular place, group, activity and others so, the Link between folklore
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and Myth is the fact that they are both unwritten literature of people as expressed in proverbs, riddles, songs and others. In the study of Folklore, a myth is a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind came to be in their present from. Many Scholars In other filed use the term Myth In somewhat different ways. In a very broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional. Soyinka, (1976) Proposed that Myth was created out of ritual. The later tem must understood in a wide sense, because in primitive societies everything is sacred, nothing profane. Every action eating, drinking, tilling, fighting has its proper procedure, which being prescribed, is holy. Soyinka 1976. Myth can also be a scientific way of explaining an origin of creation or the universe. Its the way in which every creation story is logically investigated and scientifically proved. Myth is historical which must be proved. In another vain, Africanism is African style and way of doing thing, for instance, African way of thought, language, medicine, sorcery, and witchcraft, secret society that include Ogbooni, Oro, Egungun. African way of worship, object of worship, places of worship. Similarly, Africanism is how the people go about in doing and carrying out their cultural activities.

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Relating Africanism to mythology will be very important in this work, since myth and culture are closely related and one cannot do without the other. If myth is a story and Africanism deals majorly with the peoples culture and way of life, relating and revealing the history of African people, culture, traditions and moral values through some African mythical figure e.g. Ogun. Myth, in this work will critically looked into the history and culture of the African people, most especially the West people or region. We have African mythical figures. In the likes of Ogun the god of Iron, we have Sango god of thunder and Lightening, Orunmila, Obatala. These entire mythical figures are the Yoruba cosmology of West African and Nigerian. Kennedy, (1987) posits that, myths tell us of the exploits of the gods their battles, the ways in which they live, love and perhaps suffer all on a scale of magnificence larger than our life. Ibrahim, (2008) propose that myth affects the cosmic and material belief of man in his terrestrial and celestial existence. A belief which to Soyinka, (1962), is the functional essence of man. The intention of every one is to fulfill his / her heart desires and he or she does this through laid down stories about some super ordinate powers. These suggest the concept of functional myth and its relatedness to mythical beliefs.
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Mazisi, (1980), affairs that change is possible only through myth. Myth can crate an acute vision defining in a familiar cosmic terms the future possibilities of a society. The main characters in myths are usually gods or supernatural heroes. As sacred stories, myth are often endorsed by rulers and priest and closely linked to religion. In the society in which it is told, a myth is usually regarded as a true account of the remote past. In fact, many societies have two categories of traditional narrative, true stories or myths, and false stories or fables. Myths generally take place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form, and explain how the world gained its current form and how customs, institutions, and taboos were established. In many cultures, it is hard to draw a sharp line between myths and legends. Instead of dividing their traditional stories into myths, legends and folktales, one that roughly corresponds to folktales, and one that combines myths and legends. Even myths and folktales are not completely distinct. In other word, myth, legend, saga, fable some kind of Jokes, traditional stories, in turn, are only one category writing folklore, which also includes items such as gestures, costumes, and music. 1.1 PURPOSE OF STUDY

Since, myth is a traditional or legendary story, this shows the usefulness of myth in every society in the world. This work will interrogate
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the usefulness of myth in our contemporary society. This work will also examine the far basis for Africanism using myth as a bastion, (upholding or defending). 1.2 JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY

This research work will be a contribution towards, recognizing the artistic prorcy of the playwriting and their uncommon ability to initiate and propagate cultural heritage in their Drama / texts. This work will work on the contrary notions surrounding myths and Africannism and the selected texts of the novelist, Wole Soyinka and Amos Tutuola respectively. This work will also be looking at mythology and Africanism in explaining the important and also in function which will be to rehabilitate African cultural heritage and to show to the Europeans that African people have cultural and historical background. The two texts for analysis will help in analyzing myth and Africanism better since all the happenings in the test is fictional and also reveal Africanism that is, African culture and way of life. The message of the texts was passed across through narrative technique which describe mythology that involve passing information from mouth to mouth, from one generation to another in oral form. Lastly, the researcher chose the authors because they both embraced African culture and in heritage. Soyinka work on myth and

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African world is an example the two authors selected is well grounded in mythology and understands Africanism very well.

1.3

METHODOLOGY

The functional myth theory will be employed as analytical tool. Since myth has functions and its this functions, this research work will be looking at. This concept simply talks about how myths were used to teach morality and social behavior. It states that myths told about what types of things should and shouldnt be done and the consequences for those wrong doing. The functional myth theory also states that myths were created for social control and served the function of insuring stability in a society.

1.4

SCOPE OF STUDY

This research work will cover all areas that explain the relationship between the study of mythology and Africanism and will focus on Yoruba setting, with a particular attention on the Yoruba cosmology from the selected texts. Also, this research work will be the fact gathered from Dictionaries, Internet, personal observation, textbooks, and notebooks. The study will end after showing the great importance and function of mythology and also showing Africanism as a rich cultural heritage and historical background

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contrary to what the Europeans thought it was (Cultureless, colorless, and others).

1.5

STRUCTURE OF THESIS This research work has five chapters.

Chapter one is the general background to the topic; Mythology and Africanism. Chapter two is the literature review which will define myth and Africanism and also talk on what other scholars had say concerning them. In chapter three, the focus will be on the subtopic of the chapters of the palm wine drunkard. Chapter four will also focus on the subtopic of the chapters of forest of a thousand daemons. Finally chapter five focuses on the conclusion and bibliography.

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WORKS CITED Soyinka W. (1979). Myth, Literature and The African World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ibrahim B.F. (2008). Themes, Patterns and Oral aesthetic form in Nigerian Literature. Ilorin: Hay tee Press. Chinweizu et al. (1980). Towards the Decolonization of African Literature, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publication Co. ltd.

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CHAPTER TWO 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW Defining a myth is not an easy pre-occupation because of the many complexities surrounding it. The term Mythology is loosely used to refer to a body of myths. A myth is usually in a narrative poem or written play. It is different from narrative tales only because it is believed to be substantially true. Myths Originated out of the need to explain certain phenomena, customs, or beliefs. This explains the relationship between mythology and Africanism which shows that myths has its own function and importance in any society. Cam bell, (1988:22) believed that there were two different orders of mythology: that there are myths that are metaphorical of spiritual potentiality in the human being, and that there are myths, That have to do with specific societies. Ward, (1911:8) asserts that religion is the effective desire to be in the night relation to the power manifesting itself in the universe. This proposes that it is the explanations and character of gods shows by

mythology that aids man to keep his relations with them on the right basis. It consequently means that the mythic faculty is present in the thinking process and answers a basic human need. Kennedy, (1987:624) posits that myths tell us of the exploits of the gods their battles, the ways in which they live, love and perhaps suffer all
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on a scale of magnificence larger than our life. Considering Kennedys suggestion, it is clear that for the gods to have the highlighted attributes, they must have defined cultural background. This shows another relationship between mythology, Africanism and history. Since Africanism is African ways and style of doing things, it is also the race, the people ways of life is their culture. Culture encompasses tradition, norms, mannerisms, customs and others. Africanism means the African people world view, peoples collective Endeavour to live and come to term with their environment. Frere speculative debates have ensured on the synonymy of myth, Africanism and history. The notions of what Africanism, history and of what event is possibly range or vary from place to place, and region to region. It is difficult to lay down rules discrimination between Africanism and the mythical, except through a wide range of experience coming from various region and strata of development. In an attempt to solve the ongoing, scholars have stated their opinions by trying to draw a line between, Soyinka differentiate between European two different world view. Soyinka, (1979:48) posits that; George strainer observes, in his diagnosis of the decline in tragic grand our of the European dramatics vision, a relatedness between this decline and that of the organic world view and of its attendant context of mythological, symbolic and ritual
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reference. The implication of this, a strange one to the African world view is that, to expand stories own metaphor the world in which lightning was a cornice in the cosmic architecture of man collapsed at that moment when Benjamin Franklin tapped its power with a kite. The assimilative wisdom of African metaphysics recognizes no difference in essence between the mere means of happing the power of lightning whether it is by ritual sacrifice, through the purgative will of the community unleashing in Justice on the criminal, or through the agency of Franklins revolutionary gadget. Its evident in the above Soyinka that, the African world view is different from the Europeans. This explains the concept of Africanism. Chinweizu et al, (1980) assets that; African oral literature is important to the Enterprise of Decolonizing African literature For the important reason that is an incontestable Reservoir of the values, sensibilities, Aesthetics And achievements of traditional African thought and Imagination, outside the plastic arts: It serves as the ultimate foundation guidepost and point of departure for liberating African literature. It is the only root from which modern African Literature must draw substance p.10

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It is not unrealistic therefore to posit that are bound to be re-evaluated recast, or even rejected as the society which produces it develops new physical and social conditions through history. This re-evaluation to suit the state of the contemporary society, without the loss of the aesthetics of mythology is what Wole Soyinka and Amos Tutuola make evidence through their library mode of play /Drama texts. NOVELIST REVIEW A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama, whose productions through library vision are pictured in literary output. Ojaide, (1998:135) an advocate of literature tradition succinctly assets that; In Africa, a Dramatist is not only a Specifically gifted person, but His gauge of societys condition is more Perceptive than the man of common Disposition. He sees through what appears to the Rest of the society as opaque. Wanjala, (1983:22) equally observed that, the Dramatist is a student of his society in that he recognizes the myths, the hoper and aspirations of his people and strives to recreate them imaginatively to reflect the inner meanings of the society about which and for whom he speaks.
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The position of the Dramatist, in the society, is most tasking in that he is saddled with the responsibility of understanding the intricacies and complexities which his society is enmeshed in and must be able to mirror the society in which he finds himself. Udoeyop (1973:15) affirms that, The Dramatist is not a historian, or doctor whose only duty is to perform autopsy. The secret of his divination lies in his sensitivity to Register accurately the creaks of lifes puppetry to Create for us an accurate image of the grotesque masquerades he sees as part of the reality of our society These assertions confidently show that the African Dramatist is an artisan who showcases and projects the image of his society. Wole Soyinka and Amos Tutuola are those Dramatist. They achieve this through

mythodramatism which is the systemization and consequently the culmination of myth and play or Drama. SOYINKAS REVIEW It is one that we can commend to society. Fagunwa is one of the great pioneers of the fiction Genre In our indigenous language, a trial blazer in the modernization and preservation of a traditional culture. A forest of a thousand daemons is a world classic, a story that will be forever young because it speaks to our fundamental yearning for adventure, thrill
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and wisdom. This shows the functional essence of myth in its relation to Africanism. Osofisan added that he was excited because Charms realized the need to promote Nigerians indigenous culture by investing in the play unlike. Some companies that promote foreign derived shows. Osofisan 1979 The Translator, Wole Soyinka explains that four hundred has a similar meaning in Yoruba to what we mean by a thousand and that daemon is closer in essence to the Yoruba Imole than gods, deities, or demons. Soyinka deploys obscure English world to convey shades of meaning and sort out the many types of creature in this tale. Though, Soyinka is known with his complexities in his words usage, but sine a forest of thousand Daemon is not his original work but rather a translated work of Fagunwa. This makes the words a simple and understandable one. Even Average reader will read and understand. This did not attract much criticism compare to Wole Soyinkas Idanre. Femi Osofisan settle the Matter when he acknowledges that he has been one of Soyinkas ardent critics to whom he himself has replied with some of his most famous diatribe but it is also true that all quarrels with Soyinka are in the end, nothing less than a tribute to his genius that our disagreement with him represent with all fierceness, the kind of damage that admires pay to masters. Osofisan 1979
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Wole Soyinkas language is fresh inventive and potential laden. However, he remains a remarkable craftsman in fusing, enriching, transforming and elevating the English and Yoruba languages into a metaphoric unified medium of the celebration of human potential and the rich cultural heritage of Africa. Soyinka believes that all religions are metaphors for the strategy of Man, coping with the vast unknown. He subscribe to the Yoruba belief that the gods man, and nature are bound in the interest of the psychic well being of the universe.

TUTUOLAS REVIEW Tutuola acclaiming west and criticism at home. The book was based on Yoruba folktales, but was largely his own invention using pidgin English prose. While distinctly African, the novel bears some resemblance to the magic realism works of South African writers such as Juan Rulfo and Gabriel Garcia Marguez. In all of these works the tone is mythical and premodern, but told in the form of a narrative novel which is in essence a modern form. This contrast is manifestation of the transition between traditional cultures and the global trend towards modernity. The wine Drinkard tells the mythological story of a man who follows a palm wine tapster into the land of the dead or Dreads Town there he finds a world of magic, ghosts, demons, and supernatural beings. The
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book came out in 1952 and received appraisal from Dylan Thomas as well as other Western Intellectual figures of the time However, among many Africa intellectuals it caused controversy and received harsh criticism. In Nigeria, in particular, some feared the story showed their people in a negative light. Specifically, that is depicted a drunk, used pidgin English, and promoted the idea Africans were superstitious. However, Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe defended Tutuilas works stating the stories in it can also be read as moral tales commenting on Western consumerism. (From Wikipedia, the froe encyclopedia) The novel, the palm wine Drinkard draws closely on the traditional repertory of the writers culture. The novel is also unique with its chain of disjointed episodes. A close examination of the inner structure of the way, in which individual episodes are constructed, set in sequence and woven together into coherent design makes the work to be outstanding. Its style is essentially an oral style. In syntax as well as imagery and narrative content, Tutuola Sounded exactly like a Yoruba raconteur.

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WORKS CITED Cambell, J. (1988). The power of myth: New York Doubleday Ltd. Ward W. F. (1911). Religious Experience of the Roman People. London: Fowler P.8 Kennedy X. J. (1987). Literature: An Introduction to fiction, Poetry and Drama. London: Little Brown and Company. Soyinka W. (1979:48). Myth, Literature and the African World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press P.64. Chinweizu et al (1980). Towards the Decolonization of African Literature, Enugu: fourth Dimension Publication Co. Ltd. Ojaide, T. (1998). Poetic Imagination in Black Africa: Essay on African Poetry in a research in African, Literature. Abiola Irele. (ed). Indiana: University Press. P135 Wanjala C. (1983). Discovering Easy African Poets In East Africa Literature: An Anthology. Arne Zetherstern (Ed). New York: London Publishers. Udeoyop N. J. (1973). Three Nigerian Poets. Ibadan: University Press P.15 Osofisan F. (2002). Insidious Treason: Drama in a post Colonial State. Lagos: Concept Publication P. 20. http://www.wikipedia.com from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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CHAPTER THREE 3.0 The Palm-wine Drinkard: looking at the subtopic of the chapters.

The Palm Wine Drinkard was written based on the style of African Orator, it is picturesque or episodic, imaginative combined rhetorical forms, and message. Amos Tutuolas work the palm wine drunkard is also a celebration of Yoruba myths, tales and beliefs. This narrative display a pattern: a young individual or small group will leave the communal site of the village or town to undertake an adventurous quest in order to resolve a particular problem that effect their status in society. Tutuila, though, subverts the given heroic stature of Fagunwas more traditional protagonists and his work displays none of the strident Christian moralist and didacticism of his precursor. This is evident in the humorous opening lines of the palm-wine Drinkard, which describes his narrators status writing his family and society together with his deucedly unheroic motivations and desire. I was a palm-wine drunkard since I was a boy of ten years of age. I had no other work than to drink palm-wine in my life. In those days we did not know other money, except COWRIES, so that everything was very cheap, and my father was the richest man in our town. My father got eight children and I was the eldest among them, all of the nest were hard workers, but I myself was an expert palm-wine drunkard. I was drinking palm-wine from morning till night and from night till morning. By that time I could not drink ordinary water at all
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except palm-wine. But when my father noticed that I could not do any work more than to drink, he engage an expert palm tapster for me, he had no other work more than to tap palm-wine every day. So my father gave me a palm-wine farm which was nine miles square and it contained 560,000 palm-trees, and this palm wine tapster was tapping one hundred and fifty kegs pf palm-wine every morning, but before 2 0clock pm, l would have drunk all of it; after that he would go and tap another 75 kegs in the evening which I would be drinking till morning. So my friends were uncountable by that time and they were drinking palm-wine with me from morning till a late hour in the night (Tutuila 1951:1). The death of the Drinkards father is swiftly followed by the accidental death of his beloved palm-wine tapster, which precipitates a crisis in the social status of the pampered and indolent young Drinkard, and leads him to go in search of his dead tapster in the land of the Dreads this passage also illustrates the anachronistic syncretism (out of date, and reducing language reflection) that is so often a feature of Tutuolas narrative landscapes. He locates the tale in an indefinite pre-colonial era when we did not know other money, except COWRIES yet the narrative goes on to mention such seemingly incongruous modern artifacts as guns, bottles of wine, and a dance hall in which the lights (.) were in Technicolors and they were changing color at five minutes (Tutuola 1952:68-69).
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Participation in ritual performances. In the context of Tutuolas narrative structure, the Journeys that all his protagonist undertake could be describe as naturalistic movement or performances which carry both connotations: as representation of the symbolic process of initiation into the social and as individuated forms of regeneration and rebirth. Some of the principal signifiers of ontological transformation in Tutuolas narratives are the numerous physical transmutations his characters accomplish, either willingly or through coercion. Anthropomorphism and shape changing are a regular feature of Yoruba folktales and Mythology and Tutuolas stories are similarly littered with magical transformations and episodes involving metamorphism. In the palm-wine Drinkard the young protagonist Akara Ogun uses, the Magical powers of his juju to change into a variety of bird, lizard, aero plane and pebble. (Tutuola 1951:117:40) in the palm-wine Drinkard there is no hint of danger in the young Drinkards description of his initial entry into the realm of the dead When I saw that there was no palm wine for me again, and no body could tap it for me, then I thought writing myself that old people were that the whole people who had died in this world, did not go to heaven directly, but they were living in one place some where in this world. So that I would find out where my palm-wine tapster who had died was. One fine morning, I took all my native juju and also my fathers juju with me and I left my fathers
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home town to find out whereabouts was my tapster who had died (Tutuola 1951:9). The Drinkard eventually escapes from the realm of the Deeds by turning himself into a pebble in other to skip across a river to evade pursuing ghosts, who he later realizes are forbidden to cross this particular boundary. Instead of signifying danger for the Drinkard, the crossing of this threshold actually signifies freedom and escape from danger. Subsequently, Tutuola undoubtedly followed a form of narrative structure first employed by D.O. Fagunwa, in his stories written in Yoruba and published in the 1930s and 1940s. What is so vital about The Palm Wine Drinkard is Tutuolas absolute dedication to the fantastic. All laws of the probables are flouted and everything is elastic. Details are hasty and sketched and sentences often end with a blunt etc. Things are most often described by the elements that mark them out, make them what they are. For brevity, places and things are named by their description. The Red People in the Red Town or, rather wonderfully, The skull as a complete Gentlemen. The latter is a bare Cranium that hires body parts and a nice suit and poses in the market place as a kind of Bryan Ferry in order to lure pretty young women. Events are compressed, time collapses, a decade passes in a sentence. It is, appropriately, a drunken logic. (Tutuola 1951:73, 18).

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In addition, the plot, such as it is, follows the eldest of eight children. His work, as he puts it, is to drink palm-wine. He is an expert and drinks 225 kegs of it a day. He cannot even drink plain water any more. The drunkard is supplied by a tapster who falls fatally from a tress and, because nobody can tap palm-wine as well as this character, the narrator sets off for Dead Town to find his posthumous incarnation. On the way, the drunkard finds up a wife, uses all kind of juju and meets incredible characters such as The invisible pawn The Hungry creature and The faithful mother in the white Tree, Inside the white Tree is a kind of hotel cum- hospital with a great ballroom-scale is immaterial in the Bush. It is like a mutilated episode of in the Night Garden or an adventure from The mighty Bush, (Tutuola 1951:69-72, 85-92). Lastly the palm-wine Drinkard aroused exceptional worldwide interest. Drawing on the West African Yoruba Oral Folktale tradition, Tutuola described the odyssey of a devoted palm-wine drinker through a nightmare of fantastic adventure. Since them, the palm-wine Drinkard has been translated into more than 15 languages and has come to be regarded as a master work of one of Africas most influential writers. Fable is usually a very brief story its concern is to explain a problem in very simple terms, or to point out a moral truth in an offensive manner. This is why it usually carries a deeper meaning, through a surface story. More often than not, the characters are mostly animals who act as
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surrogate human being. This does not however totally exclude human characters in some cases. Example abound in Amos Tutuolas The Palm wine Drinkard. For example, At the same time that this Rod fish saw stood before Their hold, it was laughing and Coming towards me Live a human-being. (Tutuola 1951:80)

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REFERENCES Soyinka W. (1979). Myth, Literatures and the African World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 140-160. http://www.spikemagazine.come/amos-tutuola-the-palm-winedrinkardphp

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CHAPTER FOUR 4.0 THE FOREST OF A THOUSAND DAEMONS: looking at the subtopic of the chapters. The forest of a thousand Daemons was written in 1938 in response to a literacy contest sponsored by the Nigerian ministry of education. It is considered the first novel to be written in Yoruba and one of the first to be written in any of Africas indigenous language. The story which follows is a veritable agidigbo, writes the author in the opening section of forest of a thousand Daemons. He only plays a small part in the novel, as his role is essentially that of amanuensis, talking down AkaraOgun. It is the talks the old man relates that make up almost the entire book. Forest of a thousand Daemons is thus a second-hand take, and an oval account set down on paper ,,, and, as the author notes, an account that is drummed more than it is merely recounted. My friends all like the sonorous proverb do we drum the agidigbo, it is the wise who dance to it, and the learned who understand its language. Thats a lot for printed word on a page to live up to, and much of the musicality is surely also lost in translation. (Soyinka 1982:7) Akara Oguns name means compound of spalls and he has a few up his sleeve to help him in the adventures he relates. He is a hunter, but the forest --as the books title suggestcontains much in are than trust game.
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Ali, a most evil forest of a thousand daemons, it is the very abode of ghommids. P14 But, of course, in his younger days he ventured there though his first encounter with the powerful supernatural creatures of the forest leads him to fall right back on: An appropriate spell egbe, the rarified, which transports him right back to the safety of his room. Pp 14, 16 AkaraOgun does go on to have a variety of adventures among the many unusual spirits and creatures of this alter world. There is a creature with sixteen eyes being arranged around the base of his head, a women who transforms herself into everything from a tree to an antelope to a roaring fire, a four headed man (Whose name was fear, Eru) ostrich-king (He was bird from his neck downwards, the rest was human) and, perhaps

most impressively, tiny, swarming sand elves. (Soyinka 1982:84, 86). Akara-Ogun and various friends of his are tested along the way. Betrayal and Murder are common, and few of the outcomes can be described as happy. Fed up by the treachery around him Akara Ogun goes on a slaughtering rampage or two as well. There are some places where Akara-Ogun feels comfortable, but more typically, he finds himself in nightmarish locales.
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The name of the city is Is filth. It is a place of suffering And contempt, a city of greed and Contumely, a city of envy and wrangles, A city of death and diseases a variety city Of sinners Pp. 44-58. There is a great deal of rich material here, but the stories are rather hurriedly told and several times too often theres a reluctance to say much of anything. But how many should recount, how many tell, how much can I tell you about the many encounters in these places. I have mentioned I they were numerous than lips can tell the rest is silence. Theres too much silence, theres not enough to these adventures, not like this (which may be a reflection of how much is missed by the reader who is unfamiliar with Yoruba myth, fiction, and approaches to story telling). A great deal of language and of the drumbeat of the account is surely lost in translation. Soyinka does address some of this in his very brief translators introduction. His rendering does read quite well, but at times it is obvious what great compromises he had to make: consider just: Do not permit your child to
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Keep bad company, that he Start from youth to pub-crawl. (Its clear what he means, but obviously the pub has no place in his setting). The Literal meaning of the books title is The Brave Hunter in the forest of 400 Deities, but the translator non other than Wole Soyinka explains that four hundred has a similar meaning in Yoruba to what we mean by a thousand, and that daemon is a thousand, and that daemon is closer in essence to the Yoruba imale than gods, deities or demons. Soyinka deploys obscure English words to convey shades of meaning and sort out the many types of creature in this tale. After an unsetting encounter with a warrior named Agbako, whose sixteen eyes are engaged around the base of his head, the here is greeted by a beautiful woman who spells things out for him: Akara-Ogun, you are aware that Even as dewilds exist also; Even as spirits exists so also Do kobolds, as kobolds on this earth, so are Gnomes, as gnomes so also Exist the dead. Pp 22-25 These ghommids and trolls together make up the entire thousand and one daemons who exist upon earth.
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Further more, like the better known novel The palm wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola, forest of a thousand Daemons is based in Yoruba Folktales, but although it come earlier than in English), it is less grotesque and more traditional in tone reason is that it is told not in the odd but powerful broken English of Tutuola but in the sophisticated, sometime antique language of its translator. The language of forest of a thousand Daemons is sometime awkward, and Soyinka seems to have preserved its flavor. Recounting the third day of his journey, the hunter says: I ate, filled up properly so that my bony protuberated most roundly: Yet peculiar as it sometimes is, the book has life, and helps gap between oral tradition and the modern literature of Nigerian one of the most fertile on the continent. D.O. Fagunwas works were essentially chosen because they portray the value we cherish in charms. His books teaches lesson in perseverance, hard work, determination, teamwork, patriotism and others. We also believe that these values are essential for nation building. Charms also realized the need to promote Africas and Nigerias indigenous culture by investing in the play unlike some companies that promote foreign derived shows. By selecting this work charms is rendering an immeasurable service to the preservation of African Culture.

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WORKS CITED Soyinka W. (1982). Foreword in The Forest of a Thousand Daemons. Thomas Nelson (Nigeria) Ltd. P.3 Soyinka W. (1982). The Forest of a Thousand Daemons Thomas Nelson (Nigeria) Ltd (7-140). Hettp://wordswithoutborders.org/ wiki/ dispatched/ article/ forest of thousand daemons/.

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CHAPTER FIVE 4.1 CONCLUSION

Mythology and Africanism are indispensable in the analysis of a literary text. They aid and demonstrate textual form as well as how conclusions are reached in literary interpretation. In this study, we have been able to carry out mythology and Africanism analysis of the texts by looking into the heroic quality of the protagonist in the texts, also hard work, doing extra ordinary to achieve some basic goals in life, charms was also emphasis in portraying Africa culture which reflects the concept of Africanism and mythological essence in the texts. Finally, Tutuola and Soyinka also used texts reminiscent of his tribe, African views and cosmology in order to depict the Africans heritage and their oral literature. He also showed that man cannot succeed without first facing some difficulties or obstacles in life and defeating some inevitable challenges in the world.

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REFERENCES Lind fore, B. (1973) Folklore in Nigeria Literature. New Yolk: African publishing company. Soyinka W. (1982). The Forest of a thousand Daemons: Thomas Nelson (Nigeria) Ltd. Amos, T. (1961) The palm-wine Drinkard. Ibadan: Spectrum Books limited.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Primary Sources Amos T. (1961) The palm-wine Drinkard Ibadan: Spectrum Book limited. Soyinka W. (1982). The forest of a thousand Daemons: Thomas Nelson (Nigeria) Ltd. Secondary Sources Cambell, J. (1988). The power of myth: New York Doubleday ltd. Chinweizu (1980). Towards the Decolonization of African literature, Enugu: Fourth Dimension publication Ltd. Internet Sources http://www.Buzzle.com/myth/function php http://www.spikemagazine.com/amos-tutuolathepalm-wine-drinkard php. http://wordswwithoutbordes.org/wiki/dispatches/article/forestofa thousand. http://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/mythology Ibrahim B.F. (2008). Themes, patterns and oral aesthetic form in Nigerian literature: Ilorin: Hay tee press.

Kennedy X J. (1987). Literature: An Introduction to fiction, poetry and Drama. London: Little Brown and Company. Lindfors, B (1973) folklore in Nigeria Literature. New York: African publishing Company.

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Ojaide T. (1998) Poetic Imagination in Black Africa: Essay on African Poetry in a research in African, literature, abiola Irele. (Ed) Indiana: University Press. Osofisan F. (2002). Insidious Treason: Drama in a post Colonial State. Lagos: Concept Publication. Soyinka W. (1979). Myth, Literature and the African world. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Udeoyop N. J. (1973). Three Nigerian Poets. Ibadan: University Press. Wanjala C. (1983). Discovering Essay African Poets in East African Literature: An Anthology. Arne Zetherstern (Ed). New York: London Publishers. Ward W.F. (1911). Religious Experience of the Roman People. London: Fowler.

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