The second story for the August Chills projects is a Nigerian folk tale, The King and the Ju Ju Tree. It tells of King Udo and his daughter, the Ju Ju tree that caused pain and the spirit man that came to cure it, but for a price…

Listen to their story :

This wouldn’t necessarily be defined as a ghost story, but I mean - dead people curing the living and a talking skull? Works for me! That’s why it’s fun looking at stories from various cultures, you get all kinds of ideas. It was also a bit scary for me, because I don’t know much about Nigerian culture, but I took this as an opportunity to learn, and let’s face it, this story is awesome - I just had to include it!

This story has so many details, I had to pick and choose what to include. The Ju Ju tree, as a major causative to the events had to be represented, and I made the skull a central element too, and the daughter, running on the uniting roads. The symbols in the background are in Nsibidi, a writing system used by some of the cultures of the Cross River State in Nigeria, among them are the Efik and Igbo cultures, with which this story is associated. I included words like “journey”, “tree”, “woman”and “words”.

Incidentally, one of the first Westerners to document Nsibidi, was the same man that first recorded this story in English back in 1910, Elphinstone Dayrrell. The fact that he was a colonial official makes this a bit iffy, but I couldn’t find an updated version, or any complaints of inaccuracy, so I went with it. You can find Elphinstone’s text (alongside other awesome Nigerian tales) here. I basically stuck to his text in the video narration, only making a few wording changes to fit it for listening (vs. reading), and skipping a few details (like the exact nature of the sacrifices required…).

I’ll admit I’m more partial to the second half of the story, that focuses on the daughter. I love that a skull, of all things, helps her, and that she is brave and strong enough to save herself, even though her father and probably everyone else gave up on her.

I’d love to here what you think, how you like the story? What elements would you have chosen? Visit me on social media and let me know! (also to enter the giveaway! Details below).

Giveaway!

don’t forget to visit my social media accounts for your chance to win a limited edition copy of this work (or one of the other three August Chills works - your choice which!):