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ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.

IKOM FOLK STORIES FROM SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

E. DAYRELL,

OCCASIONAL PAPERS, No. 3.

LONDON: PUBLISHED BY THE Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 50, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, LONDON, W.C.

PREFACE

It will be observed on perusing some of these stories that in several of them the greater part of the tale has nothing, apparently, to do with the main object, which frequently might be dismissed in a few sentences. But that will not surprise anyone who knows the native well, as he can never come to the point at once, but must always first beat about the bush. For example, a native will come to make a complaint that certain goods belonging to him have been stolen and he wants to have the thief punished. After the usual salutations have been exchanged, he will make his complaint, which when translated by the interpreter will be something like the following: "My father and father catch one man goat and one woman goat. They done born two piccane. One piccane done die and leff one piccane. Them piccane, them leff, born two piccane. My father and father done die and him brother take all them thing; but he be big hunter man and no care them goat too much, so he done dash my father. My father catch one slave man, they call 'im Okon and he good man, so my father dash him them two goat. Okon catch wife and two piccane. One be mammie piccane they call 'im Awa, she fine too much, when she done grow I marry her proper and take her brother Abassi for make my head boy. Last moon I send him Calabar for my canoe with twenty bag kernel and one puncheon palm oil. I tell 'im for factory and bring tobacco and cloth and gin. He done catch them thing and one night he stop for one country, he no know how them call him. Them people come and thief them gin for night time but he no look them man cause he live for sleep, so I make them boy pay for them gin and now I want catch them thief man."

It is noteworthy that when you get over the watershed between the Cross River and the Katsena , and into the Munchi country, ju-ju does not seem to exist in the same way as it does further south. In the year 1909, while I was Political Officer on the Anglo-German Boundary Commission, I marched up through the Munchi country into Northern Nigeria, and back again, being absent from my district altogether about six months. During the whole of that time there was not a single death in any of the Munchi or Domi towns where I stayed. It was so noticeable that even the soldiers and carriers remarked upon the absence of deaths, and could not understand the reason. It may have been that the country was more healthy, and we may have been very fortunate, but the fact remains that where there was no ju-ju there were no deaths, and when we returned to the country of ju-ju deaths were of frequent occurrence.

It is perhaps noteworthy that these people, who are pure cannibals, all file their teeth to a sharp point.

With reference to the eating of rats, it may be remarked that all the natives in the Ikom district eat the bush rat, which is quite different from the house or domestic species, but the Bassankwala people are the only natives the author has met who eat the "common or garden" house rat. The large fruit-eating bats, about which so many native stories are told, are looked upon as a great delicacy, and at Insofan on the Cross River, there is quite a trade done in them, one bat selling for one rod or sixpence in English money. In the evening, just before it gets dark, you can frequently see thousands of these bats flying off, high up in the air, to their favourite feeding places. The way they are obtained for food is simple and may be worth mentioning. On the bank opposite to Insofan there are some very tall trees covered with creepers, in which many thousands of these bats sleep during the day. A few hunters go out with their long Dane guns and station themselves one under each tree. Then when one man has found a thick cluster of bats, he fires into them, and with luck brings down a few.

Immediately the bats hear the gun fired, they desert the trees they are sheltering in, and commence circling around in the air, flying about in a most aimless and erratic sort of way, until, after about ten minutes, they settle on a different tree. Then another hunter fires, and so the game goes on. In connection with these creatures, it is curious to notice the agitation amongst the birds, should one happen to be disturbed in the day time. The same applies to the large eagle owls, who are invariably chased by the smaller birds, whenever they appear while the sun is up, but it is seldom the owl comes out in the day time, and then he takes shelter in some thick covert as soon as possible.

E. D.

IKOM FOLK STORIES FROM SOUTHERN NIGERIA.

E. DAYRELL.

Awu was a native woman of Inkum, a town on the right bank of the Cross River, consisting of five compounds separate one from another by about half a mile of bush. Awu was a fine girl, but preferred to enjoy herself as she liked rather than to get married, which would mean too hard work. She used to walk from one town to another, and attend all the dances and plays, as she was a good singer and dancer. She always wore a cloth of the latest pattern, and a silk handkerchief round her head, with plenty of hairs from the elephant's tail round her neck, and strings of beads round her waist. She also wore a piece of black braid tied round each ankle, and some rings on her fingers. These are the signs of a girl who is popular with young men. Awu had men friends in every town she visited, but she never stayed long with any of them, being what is called a "walking woman."

At last she conceived, and when she was about eight months gone with child she happened one day to go into the forest to gather firewood to cook her morning food. While she was thus engaged a branch fell from a tree and hit her on the belly, this immediately brought on her confinement, and she gave birth to twins in the forest. The first born was a girl, to whom she gave the name of Aro, and the second was a boy, whom she named Agbor. When Awu found that she had given birth to twins she was very much ashamed of herself, and was afraid to take both the babies back to the town as they would be killed by the people, and she would be turned out of the town and left to starve in the bush. She therefore decided to take the first-born child Aro back with her, but Agbor she left on the ground underneath a tree.

Very soon after Awu had departed, the driver ants discovered Agbor and quickly covered him, commencing to eat him. The bites of the driver ants made the child cry. All this time a hawk had been circling around, high up in the air, searching for food, and when he saw Awu had deserted her baby he swooped down and carried the infant off with him to the top of a high tree. The hawk, seeing what a fine child Agbor was, thought he would try to save his life, and immediately set about removing the ants from Agbor's body. He lit a fire and boiled some water, with which he washed the child, and the ants very quickly disappeared.

The hawk looked after Agbor until he grew up. One day Awu sent her daughter Aro to get her some fire, and Aro, after wandering about, eventually found herself at the hawk's house, where she saw Agbor sitting down.

Aro was so taken with Agbor's good looks that she continued to stare at him without speaking, until at last Agbor said, "Why do you look at me like that?" but Aro did not reply, and picked up some fire, continuing to stare at Agbor. Then he repeated his question, and added, "Do I resemble either your father or your mother? If so, let the fire you are holding go out," and the fire went out at once. Aro then took up some more fire, and Agbor put the same question to her again, and the fire Aro was holding went out a second time. This was done three times, each time with the same result. Then Aro ran home to her mother and reported what she had seen, and said what a fine boy Agbor was.

When Awu, the mother, heard about the fire, she knew at once that Agbor must be her son whom she had deserted and left to die in the forest. She therefore made up her mind that she would go and see him. The following morning, therefore, she rose at first cock crow and went to the hawk's house, where she found Agbor and took a great fancy to him. Awu wanted to get Agbor away from the hawk and keep him for herself, but did not quite see how it could be done.

At last she thought of the porcupine, who was well known throughout the country as a clever and resourceful person, and went to him and told her story.

Now, the porcupine was a lot caster, and when he had cast lots he decided that the best thing that Awu could do was to go to a house and lie down, pretending to be dead. The porcupine told her that, if she did this, directly the hawk heard that she was dead he would send Agbor to his dead mother's side to mourn for her. Then Awu would be able to seize him. The mother having paid the porcupine for his advice went away, and did what she had been told to do. When the hawk heard that Awu was dead he told Agbor that the next day he should go and cry at his mother's side, so, when the morning came, the hawk dressed Agbor up and he started off to cry.

When he arrived at the house Agbor wanted to sit at the head of his mother, but the people who had assembled would not allow this, and told him to sit at Awu's feet, which Agbor did. Directly he sat down, his mother jumped up and seized him, and said she would not let him go again.

Very soon afterwards, the hawk arrived on the scene to take Agbor away, but his mother would not part with him. Then the hawk became angry, and addressed the people, as follows:--

"Here is a 'walking woman' who, several years ago, gave birth to twins in the forest, and, being naturally ashamed of herself, deserted her baby boy, and left him on the ground to be eaten by the driver ants. I saved the boy's life and have brought him up and fed him. I now demand that he shall be returned to me at once."

When the people heard, this, they said to the hawk: "If you will let Awu have her son back we will give you a slave in his place," but the hawk refused this offer indignantly.

Then they offered him cows, sheep, goats, and pigs, all of which the hawk refused with scorn.

The people then suggested giving some cocks and hens to the hawk, to which he replied that, although he would not accept them for Agbor, they were getting nearer to what he possibly might accept.

At last the people offered him a large basket of eggs, whereupon the hawk immediately closed the bargain, handed over Agbor to his mother, and flew away with the basket of eggs in his claws.

The next morning early the hawk started off with his basket of eggs, and left one egg in every house all round the country, until all the eggs in the basket were exhausted. He then returned home in the evening with the empty basket.

After a few months had elapsed, the hawk said to himself: "The time has now come for me to take my revenge upon the people for taking my boy Agbor from me."

So he flew from town to town, taking chickens from every compound.

This is the reason why hawks always take chickens wherever they find them, and in those days the people never thought of making any trouble with the hawk, as he had a right to the chickens, but nowadays when a hawk swoops down and seizes a chicken, the people shout out and try to kill him, as they have forgotten the story of how the twin child Agbor was redeemed by a basket of eggs.

This story was related by a native of Inkum called Abassi.--

The hare was known to everyone as a very cunning animal. He was very fond of meat, although he was unable to kill anything himself. He therefore thought out a scheme by which he would be able to obtain meat without any trouble.

The first thing the hare did was to call all the animals together, and when they arrived, he said: "We ought to have a king over us," to which the animals agreed, and, after some discussion, the elephant was chosen. A law was also passed, at the hare's suggestion, that a piece of ground at the roadside should be set aside for the king's own private use, and that if anyone was caught defiling this piece of ground in any way he should be killed and eaten.

In the night time the hare went to the king's private piece of ground and made a mess there.

When the morning came he hid himself in the bush near the place, in order to see who might be the first animal to pass the piece of ground, so that he could give false information against him.

After he had been waiting for a short time, a bush cat passed on his way to the farm, whereupon the hare jumped up and said: "Have you visited the king's piece of ground this morning?" Upon the bush cat saying "No," the hare ordered him to go there at once. He did so, and returned saying that the place was very dirty indeed. The hare then said: "How is that possible? I visited the place myself this morning, and it was quite clean then. You must have defiled it yourself, and I shall report you."

The hare then ran into the town and told the people what he had seen. The big wooden drum was then beaten, and when all the animals had come together the bush cat was put upon his defence.

The bush cat told the people what had happened, and that he had nothing to do with the matter. But the hare stood up as the accuser, and the people decided that the bush cat was guilty, and the king ordered him to be killed, and said that the meat was to be dried by Keroho and brought to him in the morning.

Now, Keroho is a fruit-eating animal, who is very lazy, and sleeps most of the day. He always seems tired, and after he has taken a few steps he lies down, and sleeps for a time.

The hare had suggested to the king that Keroho should be told to dry and guard the meat, and said to the king that, as Keroho only eat fruit, he would not be likely to steal any of the meat.

In reality the hare suggested Keroho for a very different reason, and that reason was that Keroho was a fat animal in good condition, and far too lazy and sleepy to guard the meat properly.

When the evening came, Keroho made a fire and cut up the body of the bush cat and set it out to dry. He then went to sleep.

The hare, being very greedy and fond of meat, wanted to have it all to himself, so, when all the people had gone to bed, he slipped out of his house by the back way, and very soon had taken the dried meat out of Keroho's yard and returned to his house, where he made a good meal, and buried what he could not eat.

Early in the morning the hare went and beat the big drum to call the animals together at the king's house.

Keroho, hearing the drum, got up and went to the fire in his back yard, where he had left the meat drying, and, to his intense astonishment, found that it had vanished. He was very frightened at this, and went to the meeting trembling in every limb. He tried to explain that he had left the meat before the fire when he went to bed, but the hare got up at once and said, "Do not believe him, most likely he has sold the meat to get some money. I propose that Keroho be killed so that we shall not lose our meat."

All the people agreed to this, so Keroho was killed and cut up, the meat being given to the bush cow to keep.

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