There once was a girl with beautiful golden hair, the fairest girl in the place of Chilunga and all the boys desired her. Matilda knew she was beautiful and wore her haughty nature like a coveted fur stole.
When she finally became of age, her father began the search for her husband. Her father had a best friend who had a son the same age as Matilda. They were decently rich and good people so he figured it would be a fair marriage and all involved would be happy.
The only person more disappointed than Matilda with the match was Nathaniel, the husband to be.
He hated her arrogance and vanity and she lamented that he was so ugly not even beasts would eat him with his beak-ish nose, oily hair and splattering of face pimples.
Their fathers would hear none of their complaints. Finally, Nathaniel decided he would agree to the marriage to appease his father and stopped complaining... out loud.
The fathers and Nathaniel agreed to take long walks in the woods of Chilunga so they all might get to know each other better. They dragged Matilda along too though she didn't talk much and pouted the entire time.
On one of their walks, the men began to discuss marriage in general and then Nathaniel's marriage to Matilda.
Matilda couldn't take it anymore. She stopped walking, stamped her food and whined, "I am not going to marry this man! He is much too ugly for me and I will not have him as my husband!"
"Matilda," her father growled at her, " you will do as I say."
"No."
"Very well." He scooped her up and hoisted her over his shoulder. The men continued their walk through the forest and ignored her screams and demands to be put down.
The group finally reached the holy ground where the fetish, Boio, reigned.
Matilda's father dropped her unceremoniously on the ground and backed away from her while yelling "this, Boio, is my daughter, Matilda, and she refuses to accept Nathaniel's hand in marriage because she believes he is too ugly for her."
Nothing happened for a moment so Matilda scrambled to her feet and began brushing twigs out of her golden hair. Just as she was about to open her mouth and complain some more, a dark, ominous voice that seemed to come from all around them hissed "are you then so beautiful that you can afford to despise this good man on account of his ugliness?"
Matilda tried to run but could not. She found herself magically frozen in place with her hands tied behind her back.
"Help!" she cried to her father, "untie me!"
"Matilda, though you are my daughter and you are beautiful, you are very vain indeed. Boio has spoken, I can do nothing for you. You shall remain here until you agree to marry Nathaniel." With that, he turned on his heel and led his friend back into town.
Nathaniel started to follow his father but felt bad about leaving Matilda behind in such a state. He decided to hang back and try to talk to her.
She really is quite beautiful, he thought to himself,
maybe if I just explain that I'll be a good husband to her and make her happy, she'll agree to marry me and we can all go home.
He walked up to her and made his case clear. He spun a yarn about their life together so beautiful that all the animals in the forest were ready to go home with him and live happily ever after.
But, alas, Matilda was unmoved. Nathaniel was so hurt by her rejection that he stormed off and never visited her again.
She stood there, resolutely, like a statue and eventually became one. To this day, Boio uses her as an example of what happens when you are too vain.
Author's Note:
Hi everyone, I hope y'all enjoyed! This story is very loosely based on The Fetish of Chilunga. In that story, a Fetish named Boio rules Chilunga and whenever people in the story would anger or offend him, they found themselves stuck with their hands tied behind their backs until someone they knew apologized or paid off their debt for them. A part of the story mentioned that girls that refused to marry boys based on their looks were taken to the holy spot and asked the same question Matilda is asked in my story and then they are tied up until they agree to marry. The main story ends by describing a man who didn't believe in the Fetish until he brought it gifts and the gifts disappeared before his eyes. Only two earthly men can see the Fetish and they are the ones that bring him food.
My story varies greatly from the original because I just took that one small section and expanded upon it. I made Matilda really whiny and annoying and Nathaniel a good but not good-looking guy and set them on their way. It doesn't mention anything in The Fetish of Chilunga about what happens to the girls that continue to refuse to marry so I made the part about her becoming a statue up! I thought it was fitting because she was such a brat!
Bibliography:
Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort: Congo:
The Fetish of Chilunga by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).
Photo:
hands tied behind back: Image Source
