Death and the King's Horseman

Content Warning: This section of the study guide references ritual suicide and death by suicide.

The play opens with Elesin Oba, the king’s horseman, dancing and singing through the market. He meets the Praise-Singer, and the two begin to talk about the upcoming ritual. Elesin tells the Praise-Singer that he is eager to spend time among the beautiful women in the market, but assures him that he is still ready to die when the time comes. The Praise-Singer wonders if there will be a storyteller in the afterlife who is as skilled as he and offers to accompany Elesin, but Elesin insists that it is not necessary: The Praise-Singer must stay where he is to tell the world of the living about Elesin’s deeds. The Praise-Singer warns that the world must never be knocked off course, which has never happened, even with the arrival of “white slavers.” Elesin agrees, arguing that he would not allow that catastrophe to happen. To prove his point, Elesin tells a chanting story about the “Not-I bird.”

In the story, the bird flew around the world, trying to take people away to the afterlife. However, everyone, man and animal alike, said “not I” when the bird came by, refusing death.