Thus, Ocol cannot run away from Lawino or divorce her as his traditional wife. He can cohabit with Clementine or marry her as his second wife. Lawino would welcome her as a co-wife because, in Acoli society:
When I have another woman
With whom I share my husband,
I am glad
A woman who is jealous
Of another, with whom she shares a man.
Is jealous because she is slow,
Lazy and slow,
Because she is cold, weak, clumsy!
The competition for a man’s love
Is fought at the cooking place
When he returns from the field
Or from the hunt,
You win with a hot bath
And sour porridge.
…
The wife who jokes freely,
Who eats in the open
Not in the bed room,
One who is not dull
Like stale beer
Such is the woman who becomes
The headdress keeper. (SoL, 43-44)
Lawino’s words of wisdom express cardinal rules that govern the homes of polygamous families. She would therefore rather have Ocol marry Clementine (Tina) as a second wife and not cohabit with her as his concubine. Lawino is not afraid of competing with her as she is confident she will be the winner in the traditional social context. She is ‘The headdress keeper’, the senior wife in whose house/hut, the husband keeps his dancing gear including the ‘headdress.’ Her sustained satirical criticism of Tina in Section Two is not because she is jealous, although she cannot deny being ‘a little jealous’ but because Tina is a concubine who has diverted Ocol from his husbandly duties: a husband to her and father of their children.