Abiyoyo is the main antagonist of a story-song by Pete Seeger, adapted from a South African folktale.
Biography[]
Stories say that Abiyoyo is a menacing giant as tall as a house who preys on humans. Nobody believes the tales of this monster, but they tell it anyway.
Abiyoyo[]
The book Abiyoyo stars a widower father. And he has a child (a son). (Since the boy's mother does not exist in the book, his father was likely a widower. The boy's father's wife is not seen or mentioned. But it is a possibly that she was deceased.) The boy was the father's only child.
In the beginning of the story, the boy played a musical instrument (called a ukulele). And the villagers did not like his songs. (That is, as the narration of the page reads, "The grown-ups would say, 'GET THAT THING OUT OF HERE!'". That is what happens on the first page.) Whenever the boy played songs on his ukulele and/or sang them, the villagers listened to his songs. And they'd tell him to take the ukulele and play it someplace else. Because --despite the fact they loved music and loved to play instruments (like the boy)-- they (when they heard the boy playing his ukulele) did not like his songs. The townsfolks liked their songs (on their instruments) better.
The boy got in trouble with the other villagers in the town for continuously playing his ukulele. What is more, the boy's father got into trouble. (On the second page, the narration --for the said page-- reads, "Not only that. But the boy's father also got into trouble".) He was a magician and with his wand, he would go "ZOOP!" and make objects disappear.
But the father played too many tricks on people. So one day, a woman was about to "drink a nice cold glass of something". But the father stepped up to the woman. He made it go "ZOOP!" with his wand. And the glass disappeared. (As the glass disappears, the father spilled water all over the woman.)
Regarding with the glass of water, a woman was about to take a sip of her drink. (She was in a dining room in the house having dinner with her family.) The father came to the woman who was having a dinner with her family. The woman was about to take a sip of her drink and the father (who saw her with the glass of water) pulled out his magic wand. And he tapped on the glass of water. Then the glass of water disappeared, causing the father to spill water all over the woman. (The narration of the page reads, "He had come up to a woman. And she was about to drink a nice cold glass of something. 'ZOOP!'. The glass disappears".)
The father carried his pranks too far. The glass of water was one of the pranks. His second prank was with a man who was cutting wood with the saw. And he (the father) made the saw disappear. His third and final prank was with another man who was trying to sit down on a chair. And he (the father) made the chair disappear too.
The villagers all said to the father and the son, "YOU GET OUT OF HERE TOO!". And they fire the boy and his father from the town. They continue on, "YOU TAKE YOUR MAGIC TRICKS --YOU AND YOUR SON-- JUST GIT!". (That is as the narration of the page reads, "People said to the father and his son, 'YOU GET OUT OF HERE! TAKE YOUR MAGIC TRICKS AND YOU AND YOUR SON! JUST GIT!'".)
Now the boy and his father are living at a new house. The old people used to tell bedtime stories about a giant. The giant (named Abiyoyo) was as tall as a tree and a house and could eat people up. Before the father and his son (who were banished from the village for causing trouble and now are seen living in a new house) go to bed, they tell bedtime stories. And as the house is dark, they tell a bedtime story about the giant Abiyoyo before going to bed. (While it is not stated how big the monster Abiyoyo was, Abiyoyo was around 30 feet big. He was 30 feet big, maybe 40 or 50.)
One day, as the sun rises over a small village (where the boy and his father used to live), Abiyoyo makes his appearance. People run for their lives, taking their children with them as they warn the townsfolk to run for their lives since Abiyoyo is coming after them. The giant gets into the town's animals (their livestock). He goes to the sheep pasture and eats one of the sheep. And he goes to the cow pasture and eats one of the cows. One of the men saw that Abiyoyo was after the villagers's animals/livestock. And he said to the other villagers that since Abiyoyo is coming, everyone must get their animals/livestock together and "run" before eats both them (the villagers) and their livestock. (The narration of the page reads, "Men yelled, 'GRAB YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS AND RUN! RUN!'".) Then the villagers got all of their livestock together (including their cattle and sheep) and ran away with them. (That is, as one of men shouted, "GRAB YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS AND RUN! RUN!".)
The main characters (the boy and his father) who have been exiled from their village for causing trouble, wake up to the sound of Abiyoyo's footsteps. The boy notices the giant and his father, who is a magician, decides to trick Abiyoyo into kneeling down and make him disappear. He says, "If only I could get him to kneel down, I could make him disappear!".
The boy takes his father by the hand and they run into the fields. And they run straight into Abiyoyo's path. People yell warnings to the boy and his father not to go near the giant. Abiyoyo prepares to devour our heroes until the boy whips out his ukulele and begins to sing.
Well you know, the giant had never heard a song about himself before. (That is, as the narration of the page reads, "Well, you know, the giant had never heard a song about himself before".) And as a foolish grin spreads across his face, the giant Abiyoyo begins to dance. (That is, as the narration of the page next reads, "And a foolish grin spread over his face".)
Abiyoyo was dancing. That is, until he goes out of breath and tumbles to the ground. He falls down (from being out of breath in the dance) and lands flat on his face. (The narration of the page next reads, "The giant got out of breath. Abiyoyo, he staggered. And he fell flat on the ground".)
After he (Abiyoyo) falls down and lands flat on his face, the father pulls out his magic wand. (That is, as the narration of the next page reads, "Up steps the father with his magic wand. ZOOP!".) When he sees the giant is (at last) kneeling down, he touches Abiyoyo with the wand. And the evil giant disappear (never to be seen nor heard from again) and the town is saved. People cheered, "Why he is gone! Abiyoyo has disappeared!". (On the next two pages, the narration reads, "ZOOP! People looked out from their windows. 'Why he is gone! Abiyoyo has disappeared!'".)
As the boy and his father move back into their old home (which is their old town), he, his father, and the people all sing the boy's "Abiyoyo" song in the memory of the giant Abiyoyo. That is, as the boy plays the song on his ukulele. (Finally, the narration of the final page reads, "The people ran across the fields. They lifted the boy and his father up over their shoulders. They say, 'Come back into town. Bring your darn ukulele. We do not care anymore'".)
Abiyoyo Returns[]
In this book, the boy --from the previous book Abiyoyo-- he (temporarily) helped his father make the monster Abiyoyo disappear. Through the events of the original book --the book Abiyoyo-- the boy, he continued living with his widower father (for the rest of his childhood) until he was an adult. In the sequel --which is Abiyoyo Returns-- he (the boy) became an adult and now was a father too. (The sequel takes place in the boy's adulthood.) The boy --who helped his father make the monster Abiyoyo disappear-- grew older and became a father too, is now a father himself, he (the boy, now a father) had a daughter, and the boy's father (on the other hand) was now a grandfather of the girl. (The girl --in this town-- lived with her father, her mother, and her grandfather. That is, the grandfather --who was the boy's father from the previous book Abiyoyo.)
Regarding with the boy (from the original book Abiyoyo), he started to have children of his own. The girl in this book was his first child. As a result, the girl is the main character of this book (that being, Abiyoyo Returns). The boy was now a father, had a wife, and finally had children of his own (with the girl as his first child).
One day, the girl (main character of the book Abiyoyo Returns) played an instrument. It was the drums. The girl played the drums, her mother played the flute, and her father --which was the boy from the previous book-- he (like in the previous book) played the ukulele. The family of three made up a family band. The boy's father (who was now a grandfather) was still a magician. The girl's grandfather lives in the same house as her. She goes back to her house and in the house the readers see her grandfather. She comes up to her grandfather. When she sees her grandfather, she asks him to make the monster Abiyoyo re-appear. (The villagers find out that the monster Abiyoyo is not at all dangerous.) And he (the grandfather) made the giant Abiyoyo re-appear with his magic wand. Abiyoyo (who changes his "villain attitude") returns to try to help the people get back their water, as there is no rain in their country. He ends up saving the people by moving a boulder. And in the end, he becomes a member of the town.
Trivia[]
- Abiyoyo appearing via sunrise and attacking the town could've inspired Attack on Titan, where Bertolt Hoover, as the Colossal Titan, appeared and breached Wall Maria, allowing the Titans to invade and resulting Eren Yeager's mother being killed by one of them.
- Abiyoyo's story appeared in two PBS/PBS Kids TV shows (that being, Between the Lions and Reading Rainbow). The segment used in Between the Lions was in two episodes (that being, Zoop! Zoop! and also titled the same name in the episode Here Come the Aliens/Abiyoyo):
- For the Between the Lions version, and in Zoop! Zoop!, it is read by Lionel. In the other episode Abiyoyo, it is read by Theo. In both episodes, during the scene where Abiyoyo is about to eat on the sheep and cow, both characters say "He comes to the pasture. He grabs a whole sheep. Yeowp! He grabs a whole cow! Yunk!" rather than saying "He comes to the sheep pasture" and "He comes to the cow pasture".
- But in both versions (the book and the Between the Lions TV show adaptation), Abiyoyo eats one of the sheep and one of the cows the same way.
- In the Reading Rainbow version, the story (in the episode based with the story of the same name) is read by the author Pete Seeger (which LeVar Burton listens to).
- For the Between the Lions version, and in Zoop! Zoop!, it is read by Lionel. In the other episode Abiyoyo, it is read by Theo. In both episodes, during the scene where Abiyoyo is about to eat on the sheep and cow, both characters say "He comes to the pasture. He grabs a whole sheep. Yeowp! He grabs a whole cow! Yunk!" rather than saying "He comes to the sheep pasture" and "He comes to the cow pasture".
- Abiyoyo makes an appearance in the book, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky.
