The Coming of Night: A Yoruba Tale from West Africa

by James Riordan, Jenny Stow (Illustrator)

Long, long ago, when the earth was new, the great river goddess Yemoya sent her daughter Aje to marry a handsome earth chief in the Land of Shining Day. At first Aje was happy, but soon she started to pine for the cool shadows of her mother's realm. So her husband sent Crocodile and Hippopotamus down to ask Yemoya for a sackful of Night. On their way back, the animals heard strange noises coming from the sack -- and curiosity got the best of them...James Riordan's retelling of a Yoruba tale gives an enchanting explanation of the coming of Night to our world.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Library Binding

First published April 28, 1999

About the author

Riōdan, Jeimuzu 1936-2012
Riordan, Dž.
Riordan, Džejms.
Riordan, James
Riordan, James William 1936-2012
Riordan, Jim, 1936-2012

James Riordan (10 October 1936 – 10 February 2012) was an English novelist, broadcaster, sports historian, association football player and Russian scholar.

Well known for his work Sport in Soviet Society, the first academic look at sport in the Soviet Union, and for his children's novels.

Reviews

[Farhana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book begins by looking at the planet earth in its beginning when everything was new and day was never ending. This book then moves onto looking at two characters that live in the depth of the sea, goddess Yemoya and her daughter. They talk about her marriage and how she should move into living on the land of shining Day with her husband. Aje the daughter of the goddess is really happy with the new environment that she has moved into but questions her husband by saying “that this sun is hurting my eyes! Where is the cool veil of night?” This question really astounds her husband because he is not aware of what night is because he has never witnessed this. Aye talks about night being very soothing and cooling, something which her mother can offer and something which she misses from back home. Oduduwa, commands his animals to go back to Aje’s mother’s palace and request for night to be sent over for her daughter so that her simplest command can be fulfilled. The animals dive deep down into the ocean where they meet the queen and tell her the request that is sent to them by her daughter. Delighted to hear, the Queen gives the animals a sack which contains all the elements the create night. However, there is one thing that the Queen tells the animals to pay heed to and that is not to open the sack before it reaches her daughter because only she will be able to control night and if they do open the sack before she receives it then bad things may fall upon them. Being very careful not to open or loose the bag the animals take it back up to land. Nevertheless, they begin to hear noises, noises that they have never encountered before and this makes them wonder if they are doing the right thing by taking something mysterious back over to the land of no night. The Crocodile on the other hand is not worried about the consequences and persuades the Hippo to open the sack before it reaching to Aje. Whoosh! To their surprise something very unusual happens when they open the sack, all the insects of night crawl out, out rush the birds of the dark night, out rush the animals of night. This really terrifies Hippo and the Crocodile as they had never seen such a sight before and they simply could not believe what they were witnessing. In the meantime, Aje is waiting on the river bank for the sack of night to arrive, soon she witnesses peace and quiet as all the creatures of the night quietened down and soon she falls into a deep slumber. Aje soon wakes and is honoured to name these mysterious creatures that have crawled out of the bag, who no one is aware of, allowing night to take place in the land of sun. This was an interesting read which looks into different culture and myths which may be good for literacy lessons where children could use this basic concept and create writing which ties in with the fantasy genre depicted in the book. They could write about different settings and creatures which are mysterious, which would reiterate the theme that James Riordan and Jenny Stow have introduced. This book is aimed at lower KS2 children as there are a few elements in the story which younger children may find difficult to interpret. In addition, I think this concept could be paired up with art lesson where children could create illustrations about abstract themes making the concept interactive and as wild and creative as they like.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moira really liked this story, partly because the river goddess is named Yemoya, and that's close to her name. The pictures are lush and beautiful, and I thought it was a great take on how night became a thing.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations.