8

English
Quarter 1 – Module 5:
Literature

Government Property
NOT FOR SALE
English-Grade 8
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 1 –Module 5: Literature
First Edition, 2020

Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in any work
of the Government of the Philippines. However, prior approval of the government agency or
office wherein the work is created shall be necessary for exploitation of such work for profit.
Such agency or office may, among other things, impose as a condition the payment of
royalty.
Borrowed materials (i.e., songs, stories, poems, pictures, photos, brand names,
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Every effort has been exerted to locate and seek permission to use these materials from
their respective copyright owners. The publisher and authors do not represent nor claim
ownership over them.
Published by the Department of Education – Division of Gingoog City Division
Superintendent: Jesnar Dems S. Torres, PhD, CESO VI

Development Team of the Module

Author/s: Labilla T. Fabro

Reviewer: Levie D. Llemit, PhD

Illustrator : Raul A. Mabilen

Layout Artist: Maryjane C. Mccary

Management Team
Chairperson: Jesnar Dems S. Torres, PhD, CESO VI
Schools Division Superintendent

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CID Chief

Members
Levie D. Llemit, PhD – EPS-1 English

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Jay Michael A. Calipusan, PDO II

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 8
ENGLISH

Quarter 1 - Module 5
Literature
This page is intentionally blank
 Table of Contents

What This Learning Package is About…………………………………………………... i

What I Need to Know………………………………………………………………………. i

How to Learn from this Learning Package………………………………………………. i

Icons of this Learning Package…………………………………………………………… ii

What I Know………………………………………………………………………………… iii

Lesson 1: 1

Describing the Notable Literary Genres Contributed by African Writers

What’s In ………………………… ………………………………………………… 1

What I Need to Know

Activity 1: Link-Me-Now!.......................................................................... 2
Activity 2: Think-n-Read!.......................................................................... 4

What Is It
Activity 3: Read-n-Reflect….………………………………………………… 9

What I Have Learned

Activity 4: Generalization…………………………………………………….. 12
What I Can Do………………………………………………………………………. 14
Lesson 2:
Identifying the Distinguishing Features of notable African chants, poems,
folktales, and short stories
What’s In…………………………………………………………………………….. 17

What’s New………………………………………………………………………….. 18

What Is It…………………………………………………………………………….. 18

What More
Activity 1: Distinguish me!……………………………………………………. 19

What I Have Learned

Activity 3: Correct me!.............................................................................. 21

What I Can Do……………………………………………………………………… 22

Lesson 3:
Appreciating literature as a means of understanding the human being and the
forces he/she needs to contend with
What’s In…………………………………………………………………………….
Activity 1: Tell me again!!........................................................................... 24

What’s New
Activity 2: What am I………………………………………………………….. 24
What Is It….…………………….…………………………………………………... 26
 What More
Activity 3: Identify me!…………................................................................ 27

What I Have Learned……………………………………………………………… 27

What I Can Do……………………………………………………………………… 28

Summary……………………………………………………………………………….…… 28

Assessment: (Post-Test)………………………………………………………………… 29
Key to Answers……………………………………………………………………………. 31

References…………………………………………………………………………………... 32
What This Module is About

Some of us may think and believe that Africa is but a vast area of savanna and
deserts and is home to wild and ferocious omnivorous predators.
But to those who have peeked deeper into its history and civilization, they would say
that Africa is not just about a place for sandstorms and active volcanoes, but also, it is a
place for great people who fought for their freedom and liberty from the captivity of their
foreign invaders and colonizers.
Like Asia, Africa belongs to the Third World, just emerging from a long colonial past,
and is still struggling with problems of underdevelopment and racial discrimination. Its
literature and religion still are very much traditional. But its religion so permeates their lives
that everyone in the society is a bearer of religion, aside from the priest, the rainmakers,
officiating elders, and even kings. They have retained a lifestyle and a set of beliefs that the
larger society and the colonizers have failed to penetrate.
In this module, you will come across and discover a few of Africa’s well-known and
world-class poets and short-story writers who authored some of the countries’ best literary
pieces.
Read on and read more to better appreciate Africa and its people- as our neighbors,
our brothers and sisters, our family!

What I Need to Know

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

➢ Gather facts and opinions about the traditions and values of people from selected
Afro-Asian countries.
➢ Discover literature as a means of understanding the traditions and values of people
from selected Afro-Asian countries.
➢ Create an informative and creative exhibit showcasing the traditions and values of
people from selected Afro-Asian countries.

Specifically for Module 5, as you go through this lesson, you are expected to:
1. identify the distinguishing features of notable African chants, poems, folktales and stories.
( EN8LT – lab-8.1 );
2. identify the basic elements of poem and of the short story;
3. write or compose one’s own poem or short story.

How to Learn from this Module

To achieve the objectives cited above, you are to do the following:
• Take your time reading the lessons carefully.
• Follow the directions and/or instructions in the activities and exercises diligently.
• Answer all the given tests and exercises.
i
Icons of this Module

What I Need to This part contains learning objectives that

Know are set for you to learn as you go along the
module.

What I know This is an assessment as to your level of

knowledge to the subject matter at hand,
meant specifically to gauge prior related
knowledge
What’s In This part connects previous lesson with that
of the current one.

What’s New An introduction of the new lesson through

various activities, before it will be presented
to you

What is It These are discussions of the activities as a

way to deepen your discovery and under-
standing of the concept.

What’s More These are follow-up activities that are in-

tended for you to practice further in order to
master the competencies.

What I Have Activities designed to process what you

Learned have learned from the lesson

What I can do These are tasks that are designed to show-

case your skills and knowledge gained, and
applied into real-life concerns and situations.

ii
 What I Know
I. Multiple Choice
Directions: Read and answer the questions below. Encircle the letter of the correct
answer among the given choices.

1. Known to the world as “motherland”.

a. China b. Madagascar c. Africa d. Philippines
2. One of the famous African writer.
a. Wole Soyinka b. Christopher Columbus
c. Jose Rizal d. Edgar Allan Poe
3. A story that tells us about vote-buying and loyalty.
a. The Election b. The Voter c. The Man d. The Stealer
4. A form of literature that is written by the author mainly to entertain.
a. non-fiction b. essay c. fiction d. drama
5. A form of literature that has hidden meaning
a. Poetry b. drama c. non-fiction d. essay
6. In the story, the man happened to make friends with a/an ______.
a. lion b. elephant c. rhino d. buffalo
7. The animal went to his friend due to heavy ______.
a. rain b. flood c. wind d. thunderstorm
8. What did the friend ask to hide?
a. trunk b. twig c. foot d. tail
9. What was the animal trying to protect?
a. eyes b. ears c. skin d. feet
10. Who was the appointed chairman of the commission?
a. elephant b. fox c. buffalo d. alligator

II. Substitution
Directions: Substitute synonyms (words that mean the same) for those italicized in
the following sentences. Write your answers on the blank provided for before each
number.

tangle faculty protest violent complexity

significant disturbance abnormality tempestuous
peacefulness

_____________1. Will you please let me put my trunk inside your hut to keep it out of this
torrential rain?
_____________2. The man, seeing what his friend had done, started to grumble.
_____________3. All stood around listening to the heated heated.
_____________4. In this turmoil the lion came turmoil.
_____________5. The lion wanted to have peace and tranquillity in his kingdom.
_____________6. On seeing the personnel, the man protested.
_____________7. The man was told that no one from his side was educated enough to
understand the intricacy of jungle law.
_____________8. The man was told to confine himself to relevant things.
_____________9. He was also told that the misunderstanding arose due to the
backwardness of his ideas.
_____________10. When the jungle lords were embroiled together, the man set the hut on
fire, jungle lords and all.

III. Matching Type

Directions: Pair the word on the left with its synonym on the right.
_______ 1. deity a. music
_______ 2. chant b. ancestors
_______ 3. culture c. beliefs, customs, arts
_______ 4. oldest d. well-organized and developed society
_______ 5. civilization e. god

IV. SUPPLICATION
Directions: Supply with the correct letters to form a new word with the elements of a short
story

S_ _ T _ _ G 1. Where and when the story happens.

_ H _ R _ _T _ RS 2. The persons or animals who act in the story.

C_NFLI_T 3. A struggle or clash.

_L_T 4. The sequence in which the story is arranged.

T__ME 5. The central idea or meaning

Lesson Describing Notable Literary
Genres Contributed by African
1
Lesson
Writers

What’s In

The previous lesson explained that one way of gathering facts is to use the method
of compare and contrast. As mentioned, part of analyzing during the process of organizing
information is determining the difference and the relation through compare and contrast of a
presented fact.

The previous lesson focused on the presentation of facts and how to make
comparison, while in this lesson we are going into African Literature where we are to study
the different notable literary genres contributed by African writers.

Africa is a big continent that got its name from the Romans. Africa has a great
variety of climate, people, culture, languages and land. Their life is full of emotional stories
touched by slavery, humiliation, poverty, hard work and struggle. They are known to be
resilient as they went on in life.

What I Need to Know

Notable Literary Genres of African Writers

Exploration and colonization of Africa by the Europeans began in the 15 th century. It
reached its height in the 19th century; so that by 1900, the continent was almost completely
divided up among the European colonial powers. (Language in Literature: Afro-Asian Literature, p.
436)
The mid-20th century saw the rapid rise of African nationalism which caused
independence among many colonies. The colonial domination also caused a rapid social
changes. (Language in Literature: Afro-Asian Literature, p. 436)
In literature, there was breakthrough. The early writings were all about tribe, nature,
and the gods. When white men came in, many writers extolled the Christian way of life and
the virtues that the missionaries preached. (Language in Literature: Afro-Asian Literature, p. 436)

Some of the first African writings to gain attention in the West were the poignant slave
narratives, such as The Interesting Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Olaudah Equiano
or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789), which described vividly the horrors of slavery and the
slave trade. As Africans became literate in their own languages, they often reacted against
colonial repression in their writings.
(https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/arts/world-lit/misc/african-literature)

1
 During the 19th century, writers from western Africa used newspapers to air their
views. Several founded newspapers that served as vehicles for expressing nascent
nationalist feelings. French-speaking Africans in France, led by Léopold Senghor , were
active in the négritude movement from the 1930s, along with Léon Damas and Aimé Césaire
, French speakers from French Guiana and Martinique. Their poetry not only denounced
colonialism, it proudly asserted the validity of the cultures that the colonials had tried to
crush. (https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/arts/world-lit/misc/african-literature)
After World War II, as Africans began demanding their independence, more African
writers were published. Such writers as, in western Africa, Wole Soyinka , Chinua Achebe ,
Ousmane Sembene , Kofi Awooner, Agostinho Neto , Tchicaya u tam'si, Camera Laye,
Mongo Beti, Ben Okri, and Ferdinand Oyono and, in eastern Africa, Ngugi wa Thiong'o ,
Okot p'Bitek , and Jacques Rabémananjara produced poetry, short stories, novels, essays,
and plays. All were writing in European languages, and often they shared the same themes:
the clash between indigenous and colonial cultures, condemnation of European subjugation,
pride in the African past, and hope for the continent's independent future.
(https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/arts/world-lit/misc/african-literature)
Activity 1: Link-Me-Now
Directions: Look at the pictures of the famous African writers below, can you try and match
them with their names? You may draw an arrow from the name to the picture:
Chinua Achebe Wole Soyinka Luis Bernardo Christopher David Diop
Honwana Ifekandu Okigbo

What’s New

Africa is known to the world as the motherland because it is the second largest
continent in the world that is gifted with the 4 th biggest island in the world, the Madagascar
Island, the longest river in the world, the Nile river, the biggest, Lake Victoria, among other
nature superlatives. (https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/africa-facts.html)

There are 54 nations which make up Africa. Each of these separate countries have
their own history, culture, tribes, and traditions. That being said, there are some
commonalities shared by literature which comes from the continent as a whole.

2
 Defining African literature can be complicated. There are some authors who believe
African literature can only be composed in African languages. Others believe African
literature can be composed in any language so long as it is composed by authors from
Africa.

Though African literature's history is as long as it is rich, most of the popular works
have come out since 1950, especially the noteworthy Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
(https://study.com/academy/lesson/african-literature-history-
characteristics.html#:~:text=Sub%2DSaharan%20Africa%20developed%20a,nineteenth%20and%20e
arly%20twentieth%20centuries.&text=Though%20African%20literature's%20history%20is,Fall%20Ap
art%20by%20Chinua%20Achebe.)

Before going further, let us take a look at your answer, compare it to the facts below
to see if you hit it right!

Assess your answer now. How well do you think do you know about famous African
writers? What could be their work that made them world famous?

Chinua Achebe A Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and

critic. His first novel Things Fall Apart, often
considered his masterpiece, is the most
widely read book in modern African
literature.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinua_Achebe)

(https://www.google.com/search?q=
Chinua+Achebe&sa)

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka,

known as Wole Soyinka, is a Nigerian
playwright, poet and essayist. He was
awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature,
the first African to be honoured in that
category. Soyinka was born into a Yoruba
family in Abeokuta.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wole_Soyinka)

(https://www.google.com/search?q=Wol
e+Soyinka&sa)

David Diop Diop was a French West African poet

known for his contribution to the Négritude
literary movement. His work reflects his
anti-colonial stance.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Diop)

https://www.google.com/search?q

=david+diop&tbm=isch&source

3
 Luís Bernardo He was born in 1942 in Lourenço Marques
Honwana
(https://www.revuenoire.com/en/luis-
bernardo-honwana-mozambique/)
(actually Maputo), Mozambique. He studied
law in Portugal. Back in 1964 he became a
militant to liberate Mozambique from
Portuguese colonial rule. He was
incarcerated for three years.
(https://www.revuenoire.com/en/luis-
bernardo-honwana-mozambique/)

Christopher Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo was a

Ifekandu Nigerian poet, teacher, and librarian, who
Okigbo died fighting for the independence of Biafra.
He is today widely acknowledged as an
outstanding postcolonial English-language
African poet and one of the major modernist
writers of the 20th century.
(https://www.google.com/search?sa=X&q=
Christopher+Okigbo&stick=)
https://www.google.com/search?q=
Christopher+Okigbo&sa=X&stick=

Let us now take a look at these famous literary forms written by African writers.

Activity 2: Think-n-Read!

The Voter

By: Chinua Achebe

Rufus Okeke--Roof for short--was a very popular man in his village. Although the villagers
did not explain it in so many words Roof's popularity was a measure of their gratitude to an
energetic young man who, unlike most of his fellows nowadays had not abandoned the
village in order to seek work, any work, in the towns. And Roof was not a village lout either.
Everyone knew how he had spent two years as a bicycle repairer's apprentice in Port
Harcourt, and had given up of his own free will a bright future to return to his people and
guide them in these difficult times. Not that Umuofia needed a lot of guidance. The village
already belonged _en masse_ to the People's Alliance Party, and its most illustrious son,
Chief the Honourable Marcus Ibe, was Minister of Culture in the outgoing government (which
was pretty certain to be the in-coming one as well). Nobody doubted that the Honourable
Minister would be elected in his constituency. Opposition to him was like the proverbial fly
trying to move a dunghill. It would have been ridiculous enough without coming, as it did
now, from a complete nonentity.

As was to be expected Roof was in the service of the Honourable Minister for the coming
elections. He had become a real expert in election campaigning at all levels-- village, local
government or national. He could tell the mood and temper of the electorate at any given
time. For instance he had warned the Minister months ago about the radical change that had
come into the thinking of Umuofia since the last national election.

The villagers had had five years in which to see how quickly and plentifully politics brought
wealth, chieftaincy titles, doctorate degrees and other honours some of which, like the last,

4
had still to be explained satisfactorily to them; for in their naivety they still expected a doctor
to be able to heal the sick. Anyhow, these honours and benefits had come so readily to the
man to whom they had given their votes free of charge five years ago that they were now
ready to try it a different way.

Their point was that only the other day Marcus Ibe was a not too successful mission school
teacher. Then politics had come to their village and he had wisely joined up, some said just
in time to avoid imminent dismissal arising from a female teacher's pregnancy. Today he
was Chief the Honourable; he had two long cars and had just built himself the biggest house
anyone had seen in these parts. But let it be said that none of these successes had gone to
Marcus's head as well they might. He remained devoted to his people. Whenever he could
he left the good things of the capital and returned to his village which had neither running
water nor electricity, although he had lately installed a private plant to supply electricity to his
new house. He knew the source of his good fortune, unlike the little bird that ate and drank
and went out to challenge his personal spirit. Marcus had christened his new house 'Umuofia
Mansions' in honour of his village, and he had slaughtered five bulls and countless goats to
entertain the people on the day it was opened by the Archbishop.

Everyone was full of praise for him. One old man said: 'Our son is a good man; he is not like
the mortar which as soon as food comes its way turns its back on the ground.' But when the
feasting was over, the villagers told themselves that they had underrated the power of the
ballot paper before and should not do so again. Chief the Honourable Marcus Ibe was not
unprepared. He had drawn five months' salary in advance, changed a few hundred pounds
into shining shillings and armed his campaign boys with eloquent little jute bags. In the day
he made his speeches; at night his stalwarts conducted their whispering campaign. Roof
was the most trusted of these campaigners.

'We have a Minister from our village, one of our own sons,' he said to a group of elders in
the house of Ogbuefi Ezenwa, a man of high traditional title. 'What greater honour can a
village have? Do you ever stop to ask yourselves why we should be singled out for this
honour? I will tell you; it is because we are favoured by the leaders of PAP. Whether or not
we cast our paper for Marcus, PAP will continue to rule. Think of the pipe-borne water they
have promised us...'

Besides Roof and his assistant there were five elders in the room. An old hurricane lamp
with a cracked, sooty, glass chimney gave out yellowish light in their midst. The elders sat
on very low stools. On the floor, directly in front of each of them, lay two shilling pieces.
Outside beyond the fastened door, the moon kept a straight face.

'We believe every word you say to be true,' said Ezenwa. 'We shall, every one of us, drop
his paper for Marcus. Who would leave an ozo feast and go to a poor ritual meal? Tell
Marcus he has our papers, and our wives' papers too. But what we do say is that two
shillings is shameful.' He brought the lamp close and tilted it at the money before him as if to
make sure he had not mistaken its value. 'Yes, two shillings is too shameful. If Marcus were
a poor man--which our ancestors forbid--I should be the first to give him my paper free, as I
did before. But today Marcus is a great man and does his things like a great man. We did
not ask him for money yesterday; we shall not ask him tomorrow. But today is our day; we
have climbed the iroko tree today and would be foolish not to take down all the firewood we
need.'

Roof had to agree. He had lately been taking down a lot of firewood himself. Only yesterday
he had asked Marcus for one of his many rich robes--and had got it. Last Sunday Marcus's
wife (the teacher that nearly got him in trouble) had objected (like the woman she was) when
Roof pulled out his fifth bottle of beer from the refrigerator; she was roundly and publicly
rebuked by her husband. To cap it all Roof had won a land case recently because, among
other things, he had been chauffeur-driven to the disputed site. So he understood the elders
about the firewood.
5
'All right,' he said in English and then reverted to Ibo. 'Let us not quarrel about small things.'
He stood up, adjusted his robes and plunged his hand once more into the bag. Then he bent
down like a priest distributing the host and gave one shilling more to every man; only he did
not put it into their palms but on the floor in front of them. The men, who had so far not
deigned to touch the things, looked at the floor and shook their heads. Roof got up again
and gave each man another shilling.

'I am through,' he said with a defiance that was no less effective for being transparently
faked. The elders too knew how far to go without losing decorum. So when Roof added: 'Go
cast your paper for the enemy if you like!' they quickly calmed him down with a suitable
speech from each of them. By the time the last man had spoken it was possible, without
great loss of dignity, to pick up the things from the floor...

The enemy Roof had referred to was the Progressive Organization Party (POP) which had
been formed by the tribes down the coast to save themselves, as the founders of the party
proclaimed, from 'total political, cultural, social and religious annihilation'. Although it was
clear the party had no chance here it had plunged, with typical foolishness, into a straight
fight with PAP, providing cars and loud-speakers to a few local rascals and thugs to go
around and make a lot of noise. No one knew for certain how much money POP had let
loose in Umuofia but it was said to be very considerable. Their local campaigners would end
up very rich, no doubt.

Up to last night everything had been 'moving according to plan', as Roof would have put it.
Then he had received a strange visit from the leader of the POP campaign team. Although
he and Roof were well known to each other, and might even be called friends, his visit was
cold and business-like. No words were wasted. He placed five pounds on the floor before
Roof and said, 'We want your vote.' Roof got up from his chair, went to the outside door,
closed it carefully and returned to his chair. The brief exercise gave him enough time to
weigh the proposition. As he spoke his eyes never left the red notes on the floor. He seemed
to be mesmerized by the picture of the cocoa farmer harvesting his crops.

'You know I work for Marcus,' he said feebly. 'It will be very bad...'
'Marcus will not be there when you put in your paper. We have plenty of work to do tonight;
are you taking this or not?'
'It will not be heard outside this room?' asked Roof.
'We are after votes not gossip.'
'All right,' said Roof in English.
The man nudged his companion and he brought forward an object covered with a red cloth
and proceeded to remove the cover. It was a fearsome little affair contained in a clay pot
with feathers stuck into it.
'The _iyi_ comes from Mbanta. You know what that means. Swear that you will vote for
Maduka. If you fail to do so, this _iyi_ take note.'
Roof's heart nearly flew out when he saw the _iyi_; indeed he knew the fame of Mbanta in
these things. But he was a man of quick decision. What could a single vote cast in secret for
Maduka take away from Marcus's certain victory? Nothing.
'I will cast my paper for Maduka; if not this _iyi_ take note.'
'Das all,' said the man as he rose with his companion who had covered up the object again
and was taking it back to their car.
'You know he has no chance against Marcus,' said Roof at the door.
'It is enough that he gets a few votes now; next time he will get more. People will hear that
he gives out pounds, not shillings, and they will listen.'

Election morning. The great day every five years when the people exercise power. Weather-
beaten posters on walls of houses, tree trunks and telegraph poles. The few that were still
whole called out their message to those who could read. Vote for the People's Alliance
Party! Vote for the Progressive Organization Party! Vote for PAP! Vote for POP! The posters
that were torn called out as much of the message as they could.

6
 As usual Chief the Honourable Marcus Ibe was doing things in grand style. He had hired a
highlife band from Umuru and stationed it at such a distance from the voting booths as just
managed to be lawful. Many villagers danced to the music, their ballot papers held aloft,
before proceeding to the booths. Chief the Honourable Marcus Ibe sat in the 'owner's corner'
of his enormous green car and smiled and nodded. One enlightened villager came up to the
car, shook hands with the great man and said in advance, ‘Congrats!' This immediately set
the pattern. Hundreds of admirers shook Marcus's hand and said 'Congrats!'

Roof and the other organizers were prancing up and down, giving last minute advice to the
voters and pouring with sweat.
'Do not forget,' he said again to a group of illiterate women who seemed ready to burst with
enthusiasm and good humour, 'our sign is the motor-car...'
'Like the one Marcus is sitting inside.'
'Thank you, mother,' said Roof. 'It is the same car. The box with the car shown on its body is
the box for you. Don't look at the other with the man's head: it is for those whose heads are
not correct.'
This was greeted with loud laughter. Roof cast a quick and busy-like glance towards the
Minister and received a smile of appreciation.
'Vote for the car,' he shouted, all the veins in his neck standing out. 'Vote for the
car and you will ride in it!'
'Or if we don't, our children will,' piped the same sharp, old girl.
The band struck up a new number: 'Why walk when you can ride...'

In spite of his apparent calm and confidence Chief the Honourable Marcus was a relentless
stickler for detail. He knew he would win what the newspapers called 'a landslide victory' but
he did not wish, even so, to throw away a single vote. So as soon as the first rush of voters
was over he promptly asked his campaign boys to go one at a time and put in their ballot
papers.

'Roof, you had better go first,' he said.

Roof's spirits fell; but he let no one see it. All morning he had masked his deep worry with a
surface exertion which was unusual even for him. Now he dashed off in his springy fashion
towards the booths. A policeman at the entrance searched him for illegal ballot papers and
passed him. Then the electoral officer explained to him about the two boxes. By this time the
spring had gone clean out of his walk. He sidled in and was confronted by the car and the
head. He brought out his ballot paper from his pocket and looked at it. How could he betray
Marcus even in secret? He resolved to go back to the other man and return his five
pounds... Five pounds! He knew at once it was impossible. He had sworn on that _iyi_. The
notes were red; the cocoa farmer busy at work.

At this point he heard the muffled voice of the policeman asking the electoral officer what
the man was doing inside. 'Abi na pickin im de born?'

Quick as lightning a thought leapt into Roof's mind. He folded the paper, tore it in two along
the crease and put one half in each box. He took the precaution of putting the first half into
Maduka's box and confirming the action verbally: 'I vote for Maduka.'

They marked his thumb with indelible purple ink to prevent his return, and he went out of the
booth as jauntily as he had gone in.

(https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnx0aGVjbG
Fzc3Jvb21vZmpqfGd4OjExNTExMGQ0OGQ2NzU3ZTU)

7
Check your Comprehension

What do you think is the story about? In order for us to understand the story better,
let us try to answer the questions below while we go back and re-read the story:

Remember/Recall:

1. What is the national event that happened in the story?

a. Beauty pageant b. popularity contest c. election

2. Who are the two candidates?

a. Rufus Okeke and Roof
b. Maduka and Marcus Ibe
c. Marcus Ibe and the priest

3. What did the villagers see in the politics within the five years of service?
a. Politics healed the sick and help the needy
b. Politics brought wealth, chieftaincy titles, doctorate degrees, and other honor
c. Politics make a man more honest, dependable, and calm

4. What did the politicians offer to the voters during campaign?

a. money b. honesty c.honor

Comprehend/Understand:

1. What did Marcus use to lure the villagers into continuing to vote for him?
___________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

2. How do you compare the enticement of the opposing party?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

3. How did the other party’s enticement affect Roof?

___________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

4. What is the theme of the story?

________________________________________________________________

Interpret:

1. If you were in Roof’s place, and was offered the same from the opposing party, what
would you do? Why?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

8
 2. What do the elders say Marcus has done that is “shameful” and why is it shameful?
Would you also feel ashamed if you were the elders?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

What Is It

The four main literary genres are poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction. Each is
different in style, structure, subject matter, and the use of figurative language, depending on
the influence of the writer and the country.

The short story that you have just read belongs to fiction, as it is a story created by
the writer based on his ideas mainly to entertain his readers. The story may be influenced
by facts, but the whole content itself is fictitious in a sense that the characters, the setting, or
may be the events are not existing.

Non-fiction, however, is the type of literature that is based on researched facts such
as essay and text books.

Activity 3: Read-n-Reflect

Another literary example that we are going to analyze is poetry. Below is a famous
African poem written by Wole Soyinka:

"Telephone Conversation"

Wole Soyinka

(b.1934)

The price seemed reasonable, location

Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived

Off premises. Nothing remained

But self-confession. "Madam," I warned,

"I hate a wasted journey--I am African."

Silence. Silenced transmission of

Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,

Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled

Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was foully.

9
 "HOW DARK?" . . . I had not misheard . . . "ARE YOU LIGHT

OR VERY DARK?" Button B, Button A.* Stench

Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.

Red booth. Red pillar box. Red double-tiered

Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed

By ill-mannered silence, surrender

Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification.

Considerate she was, varying the emphasis--

"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?" Revelation came.

"You mean--like plain or milk chocolate?"

Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light

Impersonality. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted,

I chose. "West African sepia"--and as afterthought,

"Down in my passport." Silence for spectroscopic

Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent

Hard on the mouthpiece. "WHAT'S THAT?" conceding

"DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS." "Like brunette."

"THAT'S DARK, ISN'T IT?" "Not altogether.

Facially, I am brunette, but, madam, you should see

The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet

Are a peroxide blond. Friction, caused--

Foolishly, madam--by sitting down, has turned

My bottom raven black--One moment, madam!"--sensing

Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap

About my ears--"Madam," I pleaded, "wouldn't you rather

See for yourself?"

* Buttons to be pressed by caller who has inserted a coin into an old type of British public
pay phone.

(https://www.k-state.edu/english/westmank/spring_00/SOYINKA.html)

10
 Poetry is a literary work in which certain intensity is given to the expression of
feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm, it is a genre that has a hidden
meaning most of the time, a genre that is full of figurative meaning and puzzles.

Upon reading the poem, what thought comes to your mind of a telephone?

Vocabulary

The words below are all found in the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they

appear. Give the meaning of each word according to the clues given in the contexts:

• Indifferent

• Premises

• Self-confession

• Transmission

• Pressurized

• Pipped

• Foully

• Pillar Box

• Squelching

• Dumbfounded

• Impersonality

• Sepia

• Mouthpiece

(https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/wole-soyinka/telephone-conversation)

11
Here are some questions that will help you ponder on the message of the poem:

1. What is the theme of the poem? Explain your answer.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

2. Do you agree that the tone of the poem is IRONIC? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________

3. How are the cigarette-holder and the woman’s voice compared?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

What I Have Learned

Activity 4: Generalization
Let us take a look into another poetry written by another African writer. As we
read, let us try to analyze the poem and find out its hidden meaning:

PATH OF THUNDER
by CHRISTOPHER OKIGBO

Why did you leave me?

In this dessert
With labyrinths of footpaths,
Without a guardian?
Dee Christopher,
Town crier,
Why did you leave me
On the paths of thunder?
I left you
In this dessert
In this labyrinths of footpaths,
On the paths of thunder,
For your baptism.
I left you to the guidance of Idoto,
My muse,
I left you to fight another war.
Do you have to fight that war?

12
 Do you have to strap
Assault riffles
And pebbles of bullets?
There are men and women
Trained to fight that war,
You are a town crier.
Begone apprentice,
I left my gong and stick
At the sacred grotto
Of Mother Idoto
For you and your ilk
For generations of town criers.

Note that:
Arguably, this is the greatest poet Africa has ever seen. He is not so much adored because
of his ethnicity and his support for the Biafran secession from Nigeria. Christopher Ifekandu
Okigbo (16 August 1932–1967) was a Nigerian poet, teacher, and librarian, who died
fighting for the independence of Biafra. He is today widely acknowledged as an outstanding
postcolonial English-language African poet and one of the major modernist writers of the
20th century. Tribalism in Nigeria makes him eroded from its history. We all know he is
better than the rest.
(https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/poems/path-thunder-christopher-okigbo-poets-west-africa)

Upon reading the poem, what do you think of the whole context that the writer
wanted to convey to us?

Give your understanding of the whole context of the poem here:

1. What is the message of the poem?

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

2. How does the character in the poem or the writer feel? Support your answer with a
line of the poem that expresses the feeling that you feel.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

3. What makes African literature stand out?

______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

13
 What I Can do

Check your Learning

Read another short story and use the questions as your guide in
understanding:

The Hands of the Black (Short Story)

By Luís Bernardo Honwana
Questions:
1. What do you think that the author wants to convey in the story?
2. In your own reason, what reason convince you the most why the hands of the
Africans are black?

The Hands of the Blacks

An excerpt from “We Killed Mangy-Dog”

I can’t remember now how we got onto the subject, but one day Teacher said that the
palms of the black’s hands were much lighter than the rest of their bodies because
only few centuries ago they walked around on all fours, like wild animals, so their
palms weren’t exposed to the sun, which made the rest of their bodies darker and
darker. I thought of this when Father Cristiano told us after catechism that we were
absolutely hopeless, and that even the blacks were better than us, and he went back to this
things about their hands being lighter, and said it was like that because they always went
about their hands folded together, praying in secret. I thought this was so funny, this
thing of the black hands being so lighter, that you should see me now-I don’t let go of
anyone, whoever they are, until they tell me why they think that the palms of the black’s
hands are lighter. Dona Dores, for instance told me that God made their hands lighter like
that so they wouldn’t dirty the food that they made for their masters, or anything else that
they were ordered to do that had to be kept quite clean. Senhor Antunes, the Coca Cola
man, who only comes to the village now and again when all the cokes in the cantina
have been sold, said to me that everything I had been told was a lot of baloney. Of course, I
don’t know if it was really, but he assured me it was. After I said yes, all right, it was baloney,
then he told me what he knew about this thing of the black’s hands. It was like this:-Long
ago, many years ago, God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, St. Peter, many other
saints, all the angels were in heaven then, and some of the people who had died and gone
to Heaven- they all had a meeting and decided to make blacks. Do you know how? They
got hold of some clay and pressed it into some second- hand moulds. And to bake
them of the creatures, they took them to heavenly kilns. Because they were in a hurry
and there was no room next to the fire, they hung them in the chimneys. Smoke, smoke,
smoke- and there you have them, black as coals. And now do you want to know why
their hands stayed white? Because their hands are tied. When he had told me this Senhor
Antunes and the other men who were around us were very pleased and then all burst out
laughing. That very same day, Senhor Frias called me after Senhor Antunes had gone
away, and told me everything I had heard from them there had been just pack of lies. Really
and truly, what he knew about the black’s hands was right, that God finished making men

14
and told them to bathe in a lake in heaven. After bathing the people were nice and white.
The blacks, well, they were made very early in the morning, and at this hour the water in the
lake was very cold, so they only wet the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet
before dressing and coming into the world. But I read in a book that happened to mention it,
that the black hands are lighter like this because they spent their lives bent over, gathering
the white cottons of Virginia and I don’t know where else. Of course, Dona Estifania
didn’t agree when I told her this. According to her, it’s only because their hands became
bleached with all that washing. Well, I don’t know what to think about all these, but
the truth is that no matter how calloused and cracked they maybe, a black’s hand are
always lighter than all the rest of him. And that’s that! My mother is the only one who must
be right about this question of a black’s hands being lighter than the rest of his body. On the
day that we were talking about it, I was telling her what I know about the question,
and she just couldn’t stop laughing. What I thought was strange was that she didn’t tell
me at once what she thought about all this, and she only answered me when she was sure
that I wouldn’t get tired of bothering her about it. And even then she was crying and
clutching herself around the stomach who had laugh so much that it was quite
unbearable. What she said was more or less this: “ God made Blacks because they had to
be. They had to be, my son. He thought they really had to be…Afterwards, He regretted
having made them because other men laughed at them and took them off to their homes
and put them to serve as slaves or not much better. But because He couldn’t make them all
be white, for those who were used to seeing blacks would complain, He made it so that the
palms would exactly like the palms of other men. And do you know why that was? Of
course, you don’t know, and it’s not surprising, because many, many people don’t know.
Well, listen: It was to show that what men do is only the work of men…That what men do is
done by hands that are the same hands of people who, if they had any sense, would know
that before anything else they are men. He must be thinking of this when He made the
hands of the blacks be the same as.

(https://www.academia.edu/26497335/The_Hands_of_the_Blacks_by_Luis_Bernardo_Honwana)

15
DO-IT-YOURSELF:

This time, using 2 pages of long bond paper, folded in the middle, you are going to
make a 4 pages comic strip out of the story that you have just read, The Hands of the
Black. Just pick out the important event of the stories, picture it out, put it into a drawing,
create a conversation, and you are done!

See example of the comic strip below:

https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/74872412528145632/

16
 Identifying the
Lesson Distinguishing Features of
Notable African Chants,
2 Poems, Folktales and
Short stories

What’s In

Basic Elements of a Poem

Poetry is defined as ‘literature in a metrical form’ or ‘a composition forming metric
lines’.

➢ Stanza – a series of lines grouped together

couplet ( 2 lines )
tercet ( 3 lines )
quatrain ( 4 lines )
cinquain ( 5 lines )
sestet ( 6 lines )
septet ( 7 lines )
octave ( 8 lines )

➢ Rhyme – repetition of similar sounds

I saw a fairy in the wood,
He was dressed all in green.
He drew his sword while I just stood,
And realized I’d been seen.

➢ Rhyme Scheme – a continuation of rhyme

➢ Meter - basic structural make – up of a poem
➢ Rhythm – music made by the stressed and unstressed syllables
➢ Theme – message of the poem
➢ Symbolism – symbols that convey ideas
➢ Imagery – device used for readers to create an image that encompasses the five
senses.

17
 What’s New
African literature consists of a body of work in different languages and various
genres, ranging from oral literature to literature written in colonial languages (French,
Portuguese, and English)

African literature showcases the wonderful life and happening of the different
African countries which contribute in making their literature well-known to the world.

African literature has a lot of artists and writers that contributes in making the
literature of Africa well-known and receive award in some of the prestigious award-
winning body.

Islam is the chief religion of Africa. It was introduced into Northern Africa
shortly after the death of Mohammad. It is still the leading faith of that region.
Christians form the next group. Animism, or worship of the forces of nature, is third in
number. Judaism is the fourth religious group and the least in number.

Animism is the belief that all natural objects are inhabited by souls or spirits
that give them life, purpose, and personality. Animism has several forms. One is the
belief that all natural objects have conscious life. Second is the belief in ghosts and
spirits of the dead. Animism by itself is not commonly used to describe a religion.
Animalistic beliefs usually exist side by side with other religious beliefs.

African poets are at home with everything they see and feel. The real world
enchants them .They feel quite at home with deaths because, for them, no one has
died. Their ancestors live close at hand and are still loved. The dead, man and
nature, are one. The black poet reaches out to touch and experience things outside
himself. By so doing, he is swept up in the world of nature and of society. He
discovers oneness with the universe.

What Is It
In Africa, the poet is a hero – sometimes more feared than kings.

The gods are summoned and dismissed with song.

“The mystic drum beat in my inside,

The fishes danced in the rivers.
The men and women danced on land
To the rhythm of my drum.”
_ Gabriel Okara

18
 A study of African poetry should begin with their songs, for African poetry until

modern times had always been chanted or sung. It is a pity that one must study African

poetry on the printed page for in this way on cannot fully appreciate it.

The Pygmies are masters of song and dance. Music was a binding force in their

lives. In fact, to the Africans, the dance is their greatest art for it permeated all aspects of

their lives.

Anyone may begin a song and the others respond like a chorus. They continue with

comments and add their own sound effects like popping, clicking, and clapping noises. But

the most important thing is the rhythm.

What’s More

The student reads on the given set of literary piece.

Activity 1: Distinguish me!
Directions: Using the table, he will then distinguish the different features of notable
poem, folktale and short story.

Literary Piece No.1: Poem

I Died Alive
by; Harriet Anena

I died
But my heart still breathed
I was speechless
But a voice resounded within
I was sightless
But my inner eye watched the outside
I was immobile

But agile dreams took me miles away

I died but I died alive.

19
Literary Piece No.2 : Short Story

The Apprentice
by : Odun Balogun

Ogunmola’s family used to be rulers. His grandfather and great- grandfather had
been illustrious rulers of the land, until the coming of the colonialists who changed
everything and decided that his father could not rule as they wish. This decision by the
colonialists meant that Ogunmola’s father did not become an Oba and the family fell from
grace. Repelled by the white man’s wickedness to his family, they who had whose lives had
been lived for the people, Ogunmola shunned the white man’s education, considering it to
be a way of acceding to them.

As an apprentice, he was caught between two master craftsmen, Omotola and

Omataiye. Sacked by Omotaiye for not working as he had been thought but rather working
on designs of Omotola, the latter received him only to charge him for similar accusations.
Thus, they each accused him of not letting go off the other’s skills when all he wanted was to
be unique.

Ogunmola is like Africa whose shores were flooded by the invaders who would not
let it decide its own future; who would not let it be free to exhibit its unique traits or to decide
its development path. But who would be influenced by people of doubtful capabilities and
with second class degrees from all over the world, compounding an already complex
problem in the process.

Activity 2: Complete me!

Directions: Complete the table below by identifying the distinguishing features of notable
African poem and short story.

Notable Genres Poem Short Story

( I Died Alive ) ( The Apprentice )
Time Periods
Religion
Specific Author
Genre
Tone
Theme
Characteristics

20
 What I Have Learned

Activity 3: Correct me!

Write the correct term for each of the following definitions.

______________ 1. A story originating in popular culture, typically passed on by word of

mouth.

______________ 2. Are short, witty or ironic statements, metaphorical in its formulation

which aims to communicate a response to a particular situation, to offer
advice, or to persuade.

______________ 3. A story of fully developed theme but significantly shorter and less
elaborate than a novel.

______________ 4. A piece of writing that usually has figurative language and that is
written separate lines that often have repeated rhythm and sometimes
rhyme.

______________ 5. Are epithets called out in reference to an object in celebration of its

outstanding qualities and achievements.

21
 What I Can Do

.
Create a poem or short story employing the features of the chosen literary piece.

22
. Write your poem or short story here:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

23
 Appreciating Literature as a
Lesson Means of Understanding the
Human Being and the Forces
3 He/She Wishes to Contend
with

What’s In

Activity 1: Tell Me Again

1. What are some of the elements of poetry that you have remembered?
2. How does rhyme differ from that of rhythm?
3. What can you say about African poetry?
4. Why are poets considered a hero in Africa?

What’s New
Activity 2: What Am I?
A parable is a short narrative making a moral or religious point by comparison with
natural or homely things. A parable is also called an allegory which literally means
comparison.
(Helen Ponce De Leon-Ladera 2000)
Silent/ Oral Reading of the Parable

Once upon a time an elephant made a friendship with a man. One day a heavy
thunderstorm broke out, the elephant went to his friend, who had a little hut at the edge of
the forest, and said to him: 'My dear good man, will you please let me put my trunk inside
your hut to keep it out of this torrential rain?' The man, seeing what situation his friend was
in, replied: 'My dear good elephant, my hut is very small, but there is room for your trunk and
myself. Please put your trunk in gently.' The elephant thanked his friend, saying: 'You have
done me a good deed and one day I shall return your kindness.' But what followed? As soon
as the elephant put his trunk inside the hut, slowly he pushed his head inside, and finally
flung the man out in the rain, and then lay down comfortably inside his friend's hut, saying:
'My dear good friend, your skin is harder than mine, and as there is not enough room for
both of us, you can afford to remain in the rain while I am protecting my delicate skin from
the hailstorm. Ant made a friendship with a man. One day a heavy thunderstorm broke out,
the elephant went to his friend, who had a little hut at the edge of the forest, and said to him:
'My dear good man, will you please let me put my trunk inside your hut to keep it out of this
torrential rain?' The man, seeing what situation his friend was in, replied: 'My dear good

24
elephant, my hut is very small, but there is room for your trunk and myself. Please put your
trunk in gently.' The elephant thanked his friend, saying: 'You have done me a good deed
and one day I shall return your kindness.' But what followed? As soon as the elephant put
his trunk inside the hut, slowly he pushed his head inside, and finally flung the man out in the
rain, and then lay down comfortably inside his friend's hut, saying: 'My dear good friend, your
skin is harder than mine, and as there is not enough room for both of us, you can afford to
remain in the rain while I am protecting my delicate skin from the hailstorm.
The man, seeing what his friend had done to him, started to grumble; the animals in
the nearby forest heard the noise and came to see what the matter was. All stood around
listening to the heated argument between the man and his friend the elephant. In this turmoil
the lion came along roaring, and said in a loud voice: 'Don't you all know that I am the King
of the Jungle! How dare any one disturb the peace of my kingdom?' On hearing this the
elephant, who was one of the high ministers in the jungle kingdom, replied in a soothing
voice, and said: 'My lord, there is no disturbance of the peace in your kingdom. I have only
been having a little discussion with my friend here as to the possession of this little hut which
your lordship sees me occupying.' The lion, who wanted to have 'peace and tranquillity' in
his kingdom, replied in a noble voice, saying: 'I command my ministers to appoint a
Commission of Enquiry to go thoroughly into this matter and report accordingly.' He then
turned to the man and said: 'You have done well by establishing friendship with my people,
especially with the elephant, who is one of my honourable ministers of state. Do not grumble
any more, your hut is not lost to you. Wait until the sitting of my Imperial Commission, and
there you will be given plenty of opportunity to state your case. I am sure that you will be
pleased with the findings of the Commission.' The man was very pleased by these sweet
words from the King of the Jungle, and innocently waited for his opportunity, in the belief that
naturally the hut would be returned to him.
The elephant, obeying the command of his master, got busy with other ministers to
appoint the Commission of Enquiry. The following elders of the jungle were appointed to sit
in the Commission: (1) Mr Rhinoceros; (2) Mr Buffalo; (3) Mr Alligator; (4) The Rt Hon. Mr
Fox to act as chairman; and (5) Mr Leopard to act as Secretary to the Commission. On
seeing the personnel, the man protested and asked if it was not necessary to include in this
Commission a member from his side. But he was told that it was impossible, since no one
from his side was well enough educated to understand the intricacy of jungle law. Further,
that there was nothing to fear, for the members of the Commission were all men of repute for
their impartiality in justice, and as they were gentlemen chosen by God to look after the
interests of races less adequately endowed with teeth and claws, he might rest assured that
they would investigate the matter with the greatest care and report impartially.
The Commission sat to take the evidence. The Rt Hon. Mr Elephant was first called.
He came along with a superior air, brushing his tusks with a sapling which Mrs Elephant had
provided, and in an authoritative voice said: 'Gentlemen of the Jungle, there is no need for
me to waste your valuable time in relating a story which I am sure you all know. I have
always regarded it as my duty to protect the interests of my friends, and this appears to have
caused the misunderstanding between myself and my friend here. He invited me to save his
hut from being blown away by a hurricane. As the hurricane had gained access owing to the
unoccupied space in the hut, I considered it necessary, in my friend's own interests, to turn
the undeveloped space to a more economic use by sitting in it myself; a duty which any of
you would undoubtedly have performed with equal readiness in similar circumstances.' After
hearing the Rt Hon. Mr Elephant's conclusive evidence, the Commission called Mr Hyena
and other elders of the jungle, who all supported what Mr Elephant had said. They then
called the man, who began to give his own account of the dispute. But the Commission cut
him short, saying: 'My good man, please confine yourself to relevant issues. We have
already heard the circumstances from various unbiased sources; all we wish you to tell us is
whether the undeveloped space in your hut was occupied by any one else before Mr

25
Elephant assumed his position?' The man began to say: 'No, but-' But at this point the
Commission declared that they had heard sufficient evidence from both sides and retired to
consider their decision. After enjoying a delicious meal at the expense of the Rt Hon. Mr
Elephant, they reached their verdict, called the man, and declared as follows: 'In our opinion
this dispute has arisen through a regrettable misunderstanding due to the backwardness of
your ideas. We consider that Mr Elephant has fulfilled his sacred duty of protecting your
interests. As it is clearly for your good that the space should be put to its most economic use,
and as you yourself have not reached the stage of expansion which would enable you to fill
it, we consider it necessary to arrange a compromise to suit both parties. Mr Elephant shall
continue his occupation of your hut, but we give you permission to look for a site where you
can build another hut more suited to your needs, and we will see that you are well protected.
The man, having no alternative, and fearing that his refusal might expose him to the
teeth and claws of members of the Commission, did as they suggested. But no sooner had
he built another hut than Mr Rhinoceros charged in with his horn lowered and ordered the
man to quit. A Royal Commission was again appointed to look into the matter, and the same
finding was given. This procedure was repeated until Mr Buffalo, Mr Leopard, Mr Hyena and
the rest were all accommodated with new huts. Then the man decided that he must adopt an
effective method of protection, since Commissions of Enquiry did not seem to be of any use
to him. He sat down and said, 'Ng'enda thi ndagaga motegi,' which literally means 'there is
nothing that treads on the earth that cannot be trapped,' or in other words, you can fool
people for a time, but not for ever.
Early one morning, when the huts already occupied by the jungle lords were all
beginning to decay and fall to pieces, he went out and built a bigger and better hut a little
distance away. No sooner had Mr Rhinoceros seen it than he came rushing in, only to find
that Mr Elephant was already inside, sound asleep. Mr Leopard next came to the window, Mr
Lion, Mr Fox and Mr Buffalo entered the doors, while Mr Hyena howled for a place in the
shade and Mr Alligator basked on the roof. Presently they all began disputing about their
rights of penetration, and from disputing they came to fighting, and while they were all
embroiled together the man set the hut on fire and burnt it to the ground, jungle lords and all.
Then he went home, saying: 'Peace is costly, but it's worth the expense,' and lived happily
ever after.
(Kenyatta n.d.)

What Is It

Review on the different parts of a plot.

Determine the plot of the story read.

Title : ____________________________________
Author : ____________________________________
Genre : ____________________________________
Place of Origin : ____________________________________
Plot : ____________________________________
Characters : ____________________________________
Setting : ____________________________________

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 What’s More

Classifying Synonymous Terms

staff fuss people helper whine

murmur tumult quiet confusion serenity
furious calmness suitable difficulty enmesh
disorder slowness applicable violent vehement
impassioned agitation retardation elaborateness mental deficiency

Activity 3: Identify me!

Directions: From the word pool above, identify those which are similar in meaning
(synonymous) to the given vocabularies. The number of blanks in each column determines
the number of the correct answers.

torrential grumble heated turmoil personnel

1.___________ 1.___________ 1.____________ 1._____________ 1.____________
2.___________ 2.___________ 2. ___________ 2._____________ 2.____________
3. 3. 3. 3.

tranquility intricacy relevant embroiled backward

1._________ 1.___________ 1.___________ 1._____________ 1._______________
2._________ 2.___________ 2.___________ 2._____________ 2._______________
3. 3. 3. 3. 3.

What I Have Learned

Comments:
- Rt. Hon.
– abbreviation for “Right Honourable” used as an official title for high governmental officials -
The man is a symbol for the African.
- The animals are symbols for the European colonizers.
- Kenya is an independent republic in East Africa. More than ninety percent of the population
is African, but from 1895 to 1963, it was ruled by Great Britain. Most of the large plantations
were owned by the British, and Africans worked as labourers on these farms. Only after
many years of struggle, including violence and bloodshed, did Kenya become an
independent nation in 1963.

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 What I Can Do

Write a concise or a brief summary of the parable. (5 to 10 sentences)

_________________________________________
Title of the Parable

___________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Summary

In this module, you were able to enhance your potentials on learning more about
literature. You learned particularly on describing the notable literary genres contributed by
African writers, identifying the distinguishing features of notable African chants, poems,
folktales and short stories and appreciating literature as a means of understanding the
human being and the forces he/she needs to contend with.
Through these lessons in literature, you widen your perspectives about African
literatures and broaden your horizon of its influences and how these significant lessons invite
everyone to respond to the call of time. May the grandeur of African literary works push you
to read more and learn more.

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 Assessment (Post-Test)

I. Multiple Choice
Directions: Read and answer the questions below. Encircle the letter of the correct
answer among the given choices.

1. Known to the world as “motherland”.

A China b. Madagascar c. Africa d. Philippines
2. One of the famous African writer.
a. Wole Soyinka c. Jose Rizal
b. Christopher Columbus d. Edgar Allan Poe
3. A story that tells us about vote-buying and loyalty.
a. The Election b. The Voter c. The Man d. The Stealer
4. A form of literature that is written by the author mainly to entertain.
a. non-fiction b. essay c. fiction d. drama
5. A form of literature that has hidden meaning
a. Poetry b. drama c. non-fiction d. essay

II. Substitution
Directions: Substitute synonyms (words that mean the same) for those italicized in
the following sentences. Write your answers on the blank provided for before each
number.

tangle faculty protest violent complexity

significant disturbance abnormality tempestuous
peacefulness

_____________1. Will you please let me put my trunk inside your hut to keep it out of this
torrential rain?
_____________2. The man, seeing what his friend had done, started to grumble.
_____________3. All stood around listening to the heated heated.
_____________4. In this turmoil the lion came turmoil.
_____________5. The lion wanted to have peace and tranquillity in his kingdom.
_____________6. On seeing the personnel, the man protested.
_____________7. The man was told that no one from his side was educated enough to
understand the intricacy of jungle law.
_____________8. The man was told to confine himself to relevant things.
_____________9. He was also told that the misunderstanding arose due to the
backwardness of his ideas.
_____________10. When the jungle lords were embroiled together, the man set the hut on
fire, jungle lords and all.

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III. Matching Type
Directions: Pair the word on the left with its synonym on the right.
_______ 1. deity a. music
_______ 2. chant b. ancestors
_______ 3. culture c. beliefs, customs, arts
_______ 4. oldest d. well-organized and developed society
_______ 5. civilization e. god

IV. SUPPLICATION
Directions: Supply with the correct letters to form a new word with the elements of a short
story

S_ _ T _ _ G 1. Where and when the story happens.

_ H _ R _ _T _ RS 2. The persons or animals who act in the story.

C_NFLI_T 3. A struggle or clash.

_L_T 4. The sequence in which the story is arranged.

T__ME 5. The central idea or meaning

30
31
References

De Leon-Ladera, Helen P. et.,al. “New Horizons in Learning English.”

Rex Bookstore, Inc. 2000.

Jomo, Kenyatta.n.d. Accessed on June 22, 2020.www.szig.hu

Lapid, Milagros G. & Serrano, Josephine B. “In English Communication Arts and
SkillsThrough Filipino Literature.” Phoenix Publishing House. 2013.

Lapid. Milagros G. and Serrano, Josephine B. “In English Communication Arts and
Skills Through Filipino Literature”. Phoenix Publishing House. 2013

“New Horizons In Learning English.” Rex Bookstore. 2000

“New Horizons In Learning English.” Rex Book Store. 2000

Reyes, Linda. D. et. al., “In English Arts II SEMP 2.”JTW Corporation. 2000

“New Horizons In Learning English.” Rex Book Store. 2000

Reyes, Linda. D. et. al., “In English Arts II SEMP 2.”JTW Corporation. 2000

“New Horizons In Learning English.” Rex Book Store. 2000

Reyes, Linda. D. et. al., “In English Arts II SEMP 2.”JTW Corporation. 2000

Reyes, Linda D. “In English Arts II SEMP2.” 29 JTW Corporation.

Reyes, Linda D. “English Arts Second Year.” JTW Corporation. 2000

Reyes, Linda. D. “English Arts Second Year. In English Arts Second Year SEMP.”
JTW Corporation. 2000.

“Rubistar.4Teachers.” rubistae.4teachers.org. 2004. Accessed on June 25, 2020.

http://rubistar.4teachers.org./index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id

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