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32 pages 1 hour read

Wole Soyinka

A Dance of the Forests (A Three Crowns Book)

Wole SoyinkaFiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1966

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Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2 Summary

As Murete gets ready to attend the village festival, he is accosted by an irate Eshuoro. The angry god vows to punish the humans himself for desecrating the forest as he believes that Aroni, who plans to judge the humans’ guilt, will let the humans go alive. Murete insults Eshuoro, who then tries to kill him. Murete flees, leaving Eshuoro alone with his rage.

In another part of the forest, the Orisha assemble. The Forest Head turns back time to eight centuries ago, and the setting changes to the Court of Mata Kharibu. The previous incarnations of the human characters from Part 1 are all played by the same actors in Part 2. Mata Kharibu and his queen, Madame Tortoise (the previous incarnation of Rola), preside over the court. Mata Kharibu is furious; Madame Tortoise is in a good mood. Madame Tortoise forces the Court Poet (Demoke’s previous incarnation) and his apprentice to fetch her missing canary from the roof; the Court Poet is apprehensive, having heard of a man who recently fell off the roof and died.