How NOT to choose a husband: Fairy tales about willful maidens who pursue handsome strangers without parental approval

A recurring theme in supernatural folktales from various ethnic groups in West Africa is an arrogant maiden marrying a good-looking young man who turns out to be a disguised serpent, devil or big cat:

From the Mende ethnic group of Sierra Leone:

There was a young woman Magotu who said that she would only marry the most handsome man in the world. Her parents were worried that she was refusing all her suitors.

A devil, having heard of the matter, disguised himself by borrowing the best features from the handsomest young men. Magotu accepted his proposal and left the village with him. Before long, the devil gave up his borrowed features and showed his true form. A small dog that had followed them along the way encouraged the woman to run away before the devil ate her. The devil pursued them, but the dog and the maiden met a human ally who told them how to shake off their pursuer. They returned to Magotu's village where the elders concluded that "It was not good for a woman to be so particular in the choice of a mate". ¹

From the Fon ethnic group of Benin:

The spoiled only child of the wealthy Mr Alabi grew up to be a beautiful woman who turned down all her suitors, considering them beneath her. Her parents disapproved of her attitude but she did not listen to their concerns. The maiden's reputation reached the lands of supernatural creatures. A python, having decided to eat the young woman, turned himself into a handsome, well-dressed youth, and went to her village.

The girl insisted on marrying the python suitor without the customary marriage negotiations and background checks between the bride's family and the groom's family. After the couple traveled back to the python's magical forest, the python showed his true form. He first ate his bride's servant , and, in the days that followed, the farm animals that she had brought with her. Mr Alabi, having no news of his daughter, went to a diviner to learn what happened to her. He then hired five master craftsmen with the unique skills to carry out a rescue operation...²

There is a similar tale about a python groom from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, retold in "The Headstrong Bride" in West African Folktales, translated and collected by Jack Berry. But in the Yoruba tale, the python showed no intention of eating the maiden; it only wanted to teach her a lesson. As in the tale of the devil groom from Sierra Leone, the Yoruba snake groom had borrowed human features from someone else. The moral of that story was "daughters should not marry without first consulting their elders."

From the Ga ethnic group of Ghana:

There was once a young woman Dede who turned down suitor after suitor. One day, a well-dressed young man appeared. Dede fell in love with him at first sight. After a show of disrespect to her parents, she married the stranger and left the village, refusing her disfigured brother's offer to accompany her to her new home.

Dede was not heard from for a very long time, until her brother Mensa, a powerful medicine man, found her while hunting in the forest. It turned out that Dede's husband was a shape-shifting leopard. The leopard was planning to eat Dede that very week. With the help of Mensa's magic, the siblings escaped and rallied their community to kill the leopard. The moral of the story is: marriage should be conducted without disrespecting one's parents, and a bride should always be accompanied by one of her relatives when she moves to her husband's house.³

This motif also made its way across the Atlantic. A diaspora version of the story, "Lena and Big One Tiger", is retold in "Her Stories: African American Folk Tales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales" by Virginia Hamilton. As in the tale from the Ga people, an old acquaintance of the woman (in this case, an old man who was a family friend) found her in the forest while he was out hunting. Unlike the Ghanaian tale, the big cat in the African American story did not want to eat the protagonist; he only wanted to teach her a lesson. The 2 stories also share the motif of the male human ally having magical knowledge that saved the heroine from the wild cat.

From Tamil Nadu, India:

In The Brâhmiṇ Girl that Married a Tiger, the heroine is described as "spoiled", as in the Mende tale from Sierra Leone. But unlike the Mende protagonist who is an only child, the Brahmin is the youngest child, the sole daughter born after three brothers. One key difference between South Asian story and the West African tales is the motivation of the protagonist. The West African maidens were picky about their grooms before finally deciding on the magical spouse. The Brahmin girl was described as too eager and unselective. She wanted to marry just about every handsome Brahmin boy whom she met.

As in the Mende story, the Indian story involved the key intervention of an animal ally. It is also similar to the Ghanaian story in that the brother(s) came to the protagonists' rescue.

I wonder if there are folktales in which picky men who choose wives for their beauty are punished. ;-)

Notes

1. "Magotu and the Devil", West African Folktales, translated and collected by Jack Berry. Google Books. Web. 14 October 2017
2. "The Serpent Groom", The Orphan Girl and Other Stories: West African Folk Tales, retold by Buchi Offodile
3. "Dede and the Leopard", West African Folktales, translated and collected by Jack Berry. Google Books. Web. 14 October 2017