The Meaning of a Whale Tooth

When a suitor presents a whale tooth to ask for a woman's hand in marriage, is he purchasing the future fertility of her womb? Or is this a pure formality, the equivalent of the dollar that has to change hands in order to seal a contract? According to ros babe, it's none of these. It's really an acknowledgment that one is asking for something so uniquely valuable that payment of any sort would be impossible. The only appropriate payment for the gift of a woman is the gift of another woman. There are places where suitors say this quite explicitly. Consider the tiv of central nigeria, whom we have already met briefly in the last chapter. Most of our