Why the tortoise has a bald head
Table of Contents
“Story! Story!! The moon is out. It is time for storytelling. Where are my children? It is time for storytelling, come out!” Our grandpa called out to us. We all rushed out from our mother’s huts to sit with our grandpa. He sat under the mango tree in the compound.
Our grandpa’s name is Mr Salihu. He is seventy-two (72) years old. He is still strong but he cannot go to the farm again. We like our grandpa because he tells us good stories. The stories teach us to be good. They also teach us good moral behaviour. “Today, I want to tell you the story of the tortoise.” Grandpa started.
Once upon a time, there lived Mr. Tortoise. He was a clever man. He did not like to work but instead stole from other people’s farm. He also stole from his neighbour’s pot. He had never been caught stealing before because he was clever. He went around walking like a rich man in the village. A lot of people thought Mr. Tortoise was rich. This was because his body was always fresh. Nobody had ever caught him stealing.
Tortoise liked to eat bean cake; ‘akara’ but he never bought one. He would go to the woman that fried bean cake ‘akara’ in the neighbourhood to steal some ‘akara’ from her. Every morning, other people always queued to buy from her. But one day when Mr. Tortoise got there, he met a lot of people waiting to buy bean cake. He waited patiently until everybody left. Suddenly, somebody called the woman to come and attend to her baby crying inside the house. She quickly left the bean cake and rushed inside the house.
Mr. Tortoise, now left alone, stole some hot bean cakes to eat. He also packed some inside his cap and quickly wore it on his head. He ran away when he saw the woman coming. Soon after, the tortoise became restless and began to twist his neck because the hot bean cakes were hurting his head. On his way home, he wanted to remove the cap from his head but he couldn’t do this becausepeople were greeting and talking with him. He then decided to branch at a neighbour’s house. As he was twisting his head in pain, the cap with the bean cakes fell to the floor. People who saw this laughed at him. Mr. Tortoise felt bad and was sad because his head had become bald
The dramatic elements in a story
The elements in a story are the people in the story. There are three elements in a story.
They are:
1 The narrator: This is the person who tells the story.
2 The characters: These are the people in the story.
3 The audience: These are the people who listen to the story.
In the story above, the elements are:
1 Mr. Salihu: He is the grandpa. He is the person that tells the story. He is called the narrator.
2 The children: The children are called the audience. They are the ones that listen to the story.
3 The tortoise, the bean cake seller: These are the main people in the story. The people in the story are the tortoise, the bean cake seller, and the villagers. They are also called the characters.
Presentation
Step I: Teacher revises the previous topic
Step II: Teacher introduces the new topic “Dramatization of storytelling”
Step III: Teacher tells the story of how “Mr. Tortoise has a bald head”
Step IV: Teacher lists and explains the elements in a story
Step V: Pupils tell a story they know
Evaluation:
(a) What did Mr. Tortoise steal?
(b) Mr. Tortoise is a clever man. [Yes] [No]
(c) Who is the storyteller?
(d) What is the name of grandpa?
(e) Mention three characters in the story.
(f) Stories teach us good behaviour. [Yes] [No]
Assignment
- Write a story you know.
- Write the elements in the story.
See also
Melodic Pattern of Traditional Song
What are Dramatization