A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A woman who is already Dodo's wife enters a town and places a small lidded basket beside a dye-pit. She promises marriage to the man who can knock it over. Many fail before a small boy throws gravel and opens it, winning the contest. After three weeks she asks to visit her own people, and the pair travel into the forest. The boy and his father already know she is associated with Dodo, while the father possesses shape-changing powers. The narrator does not explain fully why the marriage is accepted despite that knowledge.

In the middle of the forest the apparent bride becomes a Dodo and rushes at the boy to eat him. He changes into a lion; when she threatens another spring, he becomes a snake, and she abandons the attack. He then takes bird form and flies home. His parents repeat their warning about the marriage and about disclosing family secrets. Tremearne explicitly says material seems missing and proposes an unspoken interruption explaining the snake escape, but that reconstruction is not presented as dialogue actually narrated. The basket action is also editorially repaired in note 48, making the printed episode a mediated witness rather than an untouched transcript.

Beautiful human disguiseOgress transformationMarriage lureForest attackFailure against snake-form escape
01

Origins & earliest records

The contents attribute this story to M., Mohamma. Tremearne records it in the 1913 second edition and adds explanatory notes and comparisons; the broader collection dates do not date this individual performance.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete primary main episode and relevant separately labeled comparison read. Tale 48 pp. 292-294; noteXLVIII.3 explains added basket wording.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Hausa Superstitions and Customs

    Mohamma, narrator; A. J. N. Tremearne, collector and translator · 1913

    Tale 48 pp. 292-294; noteXLVIII.3 explains added basket wording.

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. Collected primary narrative in translationTremearne 1913 - complete selected taleResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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