Isantim beside the river after dark; species, colouring and river setting imagined.
Original narrative illustration; species, colour and detailed setting interpreted, not authenticated natural history or ethnography.
Overview
Isantim is the hippopotamus king in Dayrell’s twenty-second Southern Nigeria story. The narrator ranks him below only the elephant among the greatest kings on land and gives him seven wives. He sometimes invites people to large feasts, but nobody except those wives knows his name. At one banquet he announces that guests who cannot name him must leave without eating. After they fail, the tortoise asks what will happen if he solves the puzzle at the next feast. Isantim answers that he will be so ashamed that he and his whole family will leave the land and live in the water. The bargain concerns his own promised response; the story does not describe a name-spell that physically compels him.
The tortoise learns that Isantim and his wives visit the river morning and evening to wash and drink. He digs a hole in their path and half buries himself with much of his shell exposed. Two wives fall behind the others; when one strikes her foot against the shell, she calls out to her husband by name. At the next feast the tortoise first obtains a promise that he will not be killed, then announces Isantim’s name. The guests cheer and eat. After the meal the hippopotamus honours his earlier pledge and enters the river with his seven wives. The concluding account says that they subsequently feed on land at night, making this a narrative explanation of habitat rather than a modern ecological survey.
Origins & earliest records
XXII, The Affair of the Hippopotamus and the Tortoise; or, Why the Hippopotamus lives in the Water, in Dayrell’s 1910 collection. Individual teller, village and specific source community are not supplied in the tale.
Records & interpretation
Complete tale XXII, pp79–80, including both feasts, the overheard name and river ending; complete Lang introduction and separate tale XXIX checked.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa
XXII, The Affair of the Hippopotamus and the Tortoise; or, Why the Hippopotamus lives in the Water, pp79–80; complete tale and original collection introduction retained.
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.
- Historical English collected-folklore textDayrell1910: complete XXII and original collection contextResearch access: 2026-10-18
Image credits
AI-generatedIsantim beside the river after dark; species, colouring and river setting imagined.
Original narrative illustration; species, colour and detailed setting interpreted, not authenticated natural history or ethnography.
