I mentioned this story during Friday night’s bar conversation, and I was pleased to find it online just now. It’s a good read, even if you’re not an anthropology or literature geek.
I began in the proper style, “Not yesterday, not yesterday, but long ago, a thing occurred. One night three men were keeping watch outside the homestead of the great chief, when suddenly they saw the former chief approach them.”
“Why was he no longer their chief?”
“He was dead,” I explained. “That is why they were troubled and afraid when the saw him.”
“Impossible,” began one of the elders, handing his pipe on to his neighbor, who interrupted, “Of course it wasn’t the dead chief. It was an omen sent by a witch. Go on.”
Shakespeare in the Bush (Laura Bohannon)
From Return to Laughter: An Anthropological Novel (under the pen name “Elenore Smith Bowen”)
I had the privilege of studying cultural anthropology under Ms. Bohannon just before she retired.
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