Akwoch in Westermann’s Shilluk Tale

Overview

Akwoch is the royal son taken into a lion’s household in Westermann’s Shilluk tale. Hearing of the boy’s beauty, the lion traps flies and mosquitoes in gourds and offers them for sale. When Akwoch’s father opens the gourds and releases the insects, the lion demands compensation and rejects every substitute until the king yields Akwoch. The childless lion adopts him, feeds him cooked game and introduces him to the surrounding lion community.

Although welcomed and well fed, Akwoch prepares the household’s destruction. He obtains an axe, carves a drum and gathers the lions for dancing. A concealed burning pit becomes his trap. From a tree he beats the drum while the dancers fall into the pit; he then forces the remaining disabled lions into it. One lion ultimately escapes. Akwoch takes cattle and enslaved people from the household. The account’s distinctions between horned and hornless cattle and between tailed and tailless people remain unexplained even in the editor’s notes.

He returns to his native village with wealth, but his father does not recognise him. During a famine he supplies grain to his brothers and summons their grieving father. After questioning him about his lost son, Akwoch reveals his identity, and the father embraces him in tears. They continue living in separate settlements and visiting one another. The tale moves from coerced adoption to destructive cunning and reunion, without explaining why Akwoch turns against the household that raised him.

Origins & earliest records

Diedrich Westermann, The Shilluk People: Their Language and Folklore, Part II, section XII, pp. 202–205

Records & interpretation

Complete selected English narrative, retained parallel Shilluk text, all section XII editorial notes, full title/preface and relevant collection-method/context passage inspected.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   The Shilluk People: Their Language and Folklore

   Diedrich Westermann · 1912

   Philadelphia: Board of Foreign Missions of the United Presbyterian Church of North America; original title/copyright pixels inspected. Selected section XII narrative pp. 202–205.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Original historical bilingual primary collection with contemporary English translationWestermann 1912 — original tale and section XII notesResearch access: 2026-10-21

Image credits

AI-generated interpretation of Westermann’s tale; appearance is imagined.