African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 993
She walks umiik umiik (ideophone for the gait of
someone who is very lean)
She stops and dances
She begins to walk again
She begins to walk again
She walks umiik umiik
Ibibio Prose Narratives
Ibibio prose narratives treat a variety of topics, but they do not have distinct genre
categories similar to the European tradition of separating myth, legend, and folktale. The
content of prose narratives represents communities where noble values always prevail
over the indices of evil. Performance of the different genres of oral literature is a verbal
feast whose poetry, fantasy, music, and dramatization refresh and revitalize traditional
societies in their frequent battle against adversities.
All prose narrative performances involve the audience as an active element, along with
the narrator, as all join in the singing and hand clapping, some even beating drums. The
favorite time for storytelling is the evening, after the day’s labor, when moonlight or the
cloak of darkness enhance the aura of mystery as the stories unfold. The place is usually
the veranda or the open space in the compound where the large family and their
neighbors congregate for the session.
Among the most popular characters in these narratives are the tortoise, whose role is
that of the trickster, ghosts, and various spirits and deities. The latter reflect the
intermingling of universes, (the real with the supernatural). In addition to the tortoise,
other animal characters, such as leopards, elephants, monkeys, hares, serpents, birds, and
fishes abound in Ibibio stories.
For all prose narratives, both the narrator and the audience participate in the opening
formula.
Narrator. Ekon nke-e
Audience’. Nke-e ekon
Narrator and Audience’. Ekon aka
Ekon onyon
Ekon isimaha udim
The literal translation of this formula is: Ekon (war), nke-e (tale or proverb), Nke-e (tale
or proverb), ekon (war), Ekon (war), aka (goes), Ekon (war), onyon (returns), Ekon (war),
isimaha (never exterminates), udim (a crowd or multitude). According to this expression,
while there will always be war, with its devastation, it never results in annihilation. Thus,
the various prose narratives, while evoking the vicissitudes of life, nevertheless still