One day Kuol stood at a distance from the village, and when he was asked “Why are you standing over there?” he said, “My parents are all dead and I have been moving from village to village, but no one could accommodate me.”

So he was welcomed and accommodated, and given a plot at the centre of the village. The villagers gave him some boys to look after his calves, and girls to milk his cattle.

Kuol would come and knock the shoulder of one of the girls whilst they were milking. As the girl tried to turn to look and see what the matter was, Kuol would hold the neck of the girl tightly, causing pain, and with the intention of killing her. He would hold on until unfortunately the girl died. Then Kuol took the dead girl to his house where he made a hole and started eating the dead body. This became a continuous routine for him, eating almost all the girls who were given to him, and the whole community were saddened and wondered why their girls had been disappearing. So they organised a group to search for the cannibal, yet he was among the people who were searching for the cannibal!

On one particular day they found out that he was the one who had been eating girls. Some young boys went to his home and they were playing and one of them had a small spear which he speared down next to Kuol’s cooking place. When the boys were trying to leave the one who speared the spear tried to remove it from the ground. But as he removed it came with a piece of flesh and it was smelly. And so a rumour went around the village saying ‘Kuol had been eating our girls’.

The community leaders said, “When Kuol comes, give him his milk and oil as usual.” So, when he came he was given his oil, milk, and water for bathing as usual. He took his bath, and smeared himself with the oil.

Meanwhile the whole community was gathering outside the house of Kuol to come and kill him, but while he was inside the house he peeped outside and saw the community gathered around his house and knew they were ready to kill him. He came out and told them, “Let me go and tie my cattle…” But before he finished he escaped! They all tried to run after him, but they could not find him anywhere. The villagers came back and sat down and they distributed the cows among themselves: families whose girls were eaten were given fifty cows for compensation; the other villagers were given ten cows.

Reflections:

1) What do you think of the ending of this story?

2) Can compensation help a conflict from escalating?


Storyteller: Nyadoal

Storytelling Session Details

Storyteller: Nyadoal
Language: Nuer
Commmunity: Nuer (originally from Rubkona, living in UNMISS PoC at the time of this project)
Story Researcher: Nyechuol Ruai
Place: Juba PoC
Date: 2015