The Considerate Hunter

Is he coming to eat you, or give you a gift?

Greetings, reader! In honor of Black History month, I'm pulling this month's stories from Africa. This week, we're looking at The Considerate Hunter from Ghana. Check it out in the link and read below to analyze it with me.

Who made a pit big enough for all of those animals to fit inside? Sorry, I'm missing the point. How did all of them agree not to harm each other before one of them got harmed? Seriously, I would assume that lion would be hungry or the human would be scared and attack one of them. It's kind of amazing. I guess the most amazing part is that the human abided by this idea, since he had the least honor out of all of them.

Seriously, I know I overanalyze stories all the time on this blog, but it's such a big deal that the only one who didn't honor their debt to the hunter, and actively worked to hurt him, was the human. All of the wild animals repaid their debt and more. The amount of meat the lion brought him sounds staggering. How did that rat even find a bag of gold? I'm also impressed the snake had medicine on him somehow and that it was the antidote to his bite. Seriously, very impressive all around. Except for the human who decided to lie about the hunter's success. Jerk move.

I'm tempted to say that the ungrateful human proves that humans don't have as much honor as wild animals, except the hunter saved them so he clearly has honor. Similarly, the chief seems like a jerk, but he was tricked. Once he said he would spare the hunter's life for saving his daughter, the chief stuck to that.

So, the moral of this story is that people can be jerks, but if you save an animal, they will repay their debt to you. Alternatively, try to come up with a plausible lie about your sudden wealth if it comes from supernatural means.

Have a different moral? Wondering what literary significance each animal's gift has? Have a story you want me to cover? Comment below!