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

Overview

The tale opens in an unnamed country inhabited by heads without bodies. They travel by jumping along the ground and ordinarily go little distance. One head sets out secretly to see more of the world. An old woman lends him her enslaved person’s body; a sleeping young man supplies arms, and a fisherman at the river lends legs. With these additions he looks like a complete man.

At a town’s evening dance, he gives his coins to a maiden who admires his appearance and agrees to marry him. On their journey home he returns each borrowed part in reverse order: legs to the fisherman, arms to the sleeping man and body to the old woman. The bride now sees that her husband is only a head and runs away. Without the borrowed limbs he cannot overtake her. Unlike the Calabar skull-bridegroom episode, this witness ends with her immediate escape rather than confinement among skulls.

Jumping locomotionBorrows body and limbsHandsome assembled appearanceReturns borrowed parts
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Origins & earliest records

M. I. Ogumefu’s Yoruba Legends attributes its narratives to Yoruba country in southern Nigeria. The preface says songs are abbreviated; it gives no named storyteller or dated field interview for this episode. Its Christian editorial judgments are distinct from the selected narrative.

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Records & interpretation

Complete selected chapter read in the digitized edition: XXI, The Head, pp. 38–40

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Yoruba Legends

    M. I. Ogumefu · 1929

    XXI, The Head, pp. 38–40; preface for collection attribution and abbreviated songs.

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 narrative; digitized historical editionOgumefu — XXI, The Head, pp. 38–40Research 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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