Igereka and Other African Narratives

Book excerpt: One day the king's men are out hunting and find Igreka, starving and neglected to such a degree that they are unsure whether he is human or animal. Igeraka soon falls in love with the king's daughter, Nyangunga, who according to some, marries a beast. The author's concern is how to present the story telling it from three different perspectives. First Nyangunga's father, the king, gives an account; the middle part of the story is told by Bubi, a second daughter who lets events speak for themselves, concealing herself, her age and gender, as narrator. Finally Nyangunga's mother describes her daughter's fate from a less compromising, feminist perspective.