Read Ebook: Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria by Dayrell Elphinstone

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Ebook has 713 lines and 65046 words, and 15 pages

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

The hare, in order to make himself acquainted with the bush cow's house, waited until sundown, and then went to the bush cow's house with a large calabash of strong tombo. The hare was careful to drink only a little himself, and very soon the bush cow had finished the whole calabash.

That night the bush cow slept very soundly, and at midnight, when nothing could be heard but the occasional hoot of an owl or the croaking of the frogs in the marsh, the hare went very quietly and stole the meat from the bush cow's fire and took it home with him, as before.

The following morning he beat the drum as usual, and the people met together. The bush cow, failing to produce the meat, was killed by the king's order and his meat given to another animal to dry.

As usual, the hare stole the meat at night and the animal was killed the next day. This went on until there were only seven animals left.

The meat of the last animal that was killed was handed over to the tortoise. The tortoise at once placed his wife on guard over the meat, and went off into the bush to cut rubber.

Now, the tortoise was looked upon as one of the wisest of all animals. For some time it had seemed to him very curious that every night the meat should disappear and another animal should be killed. He therefore determined that, when it became his turn to dry and guard the meat, he would take every precaution possible, and would try to catch whoever it was who always removed the meat at night, as he had no intention that his body should supply food for the remaining six animals.

Before going into the bush, he gave his wife strict injunctions not to let the meat out of her sight.

When he returned in the evening, he cut up the meat, saying as he did so: "Ah, there goes another poor animal. I wonder whose turn it will be to-morrow, but it shall not be mine if I can help it."

So he made a big fire and put the meat on, and then covered it all over with the rubber he had brought back with him from the bush.

The tortoise then told his wife that he was tired, and went to bed pretending to be asleep, but he had one eye open all the time, and that eye he kept fixed upon the meat, as he was not going to take any risks, knowing full well that, if the meat disappeared, as it had a habit of doing, he himself would be the next victim.

When all was quiet, and the hare thought everybody had gone to sleep, he went round to the back of the tortoise's house and put his right hand out to take the meat, but when his hand closed on the rubber, he found that he could not remove it because the rubber was so sticky. He tried his hardest to get his hand away, but without success. He then called out softly, because he was afraid of waking the tortoise, "Let me go! Let me go!" but the rubber never answered, and held on tighter than ever. This made the hare angry, so he whispered to the rubber, "Look here, if you don't let my right hand go at once I will hit you very hard with my left hand, and then you will be sorry." He got no reply, but thought he heard a laugh somewhere. The hare then hit the rubber with his disengaged hand as hard as he was able, and that hand also stuck fast.

Then the hare heard the tortoise murmur, "Yes, to-morrow I will discover that rat who is always stealing the king's meat."

At length the hare became absolutely terrified, and kicked the rubber hard with one of his feet, which became as fast as his hands were, and very shortly the other foot also became caught up, so that he was held quite securely.

When the morning came, the tortoise called his wife to help him, and together they put the meat and rubber into a basket with the hare on top, and carried them all to the king's house.

When the drum was beaten, the people assembled as usual, and discussed amongst themselves to whom the meat of the tortoise should be given when he was killed. In the middle of the discussion, the tortoise appeared carrying the meat with the hare on top.

The tortoise then charged the hare with attempting to steal the king's meat, and told the people of the trap he had set. The hare was found guilty, and was ordered to pay a large number of brass rods, and he was told that if they were not forthcoming, he would be killed, and that his mother and sister would be killed with him, as he had been the cause of the death of so many animals.

The hare begged for a little time to enable him to get the rods, which was allowed to him.

He then ran home and got his mother and sister to come with him at once to the foot of a big cotton tree, and, having got a rope round the lowest branch, he very soon got to the top of the tree, where he built a small hut for himself and his people.

The hare then went down to the lowest branch where the rope was, and hauled his mother and sister up. He put them in the hut at the top of the tree, and sat down himself next to the rope with a sharp knife in his hand.

As the hare did not appear at the appointed time to pay the rods, the people went to his house, and found that they had all disappeared. It did not take long, however, to discover that he had taken refuge in the cotton tree, so they all went there and found the rope hanging down.

Then they all began to climb the rope together, leaving the tortoise on the ground, and just as he was about to commence to climb, the others having already reached halfway, the hare cut the rope with one cut of his sharp knife, and all the animals fell down upon the tortoise, smashing his smooth shell into small pieces, and hurting themselves very much. No one was killed, however, and they limped home one after the other.

On the way they passed the tortoise's house, so they told Mrs. Tortoise that they had fallen on her husband from a great height, and that his shell was broken into pieces.

On hearing this the mammie tortoise got her basket and went off to the cotton tree. Having picked up all the pieces of her husband's shell, and having placed them in the basket, she lifted the tortoise and carried them all home.

When she got inside she put all the little pieces of the shell together and placed them on her husband's back, where they grew quite strongly, but the marks showed where the pieces were joined together, and that is why you always find that the shell of a tortoise is covered in patches, and not smooth as it was formerly.--

The Inkum people came from a country about five or six days' march north-west of the site of their present town, where hares abound. There are no hares in the country now occupied by them on the Cross River. This is one of their old stories, which they brought with them when they were driven south by the Awala tribe, and is still handed on from one generation to another.

Told by Abassi, an Inkum boy.--

Chief Inkang of Inkum was married to a woman named Igiri. She was a fine well-made woman, and the chief was so fond of her that he would not have any other wives.

Igiri was quite faithful to her husband, and never went with other men. They lived together for several years without having any children, much to their mutual grief.

Inkang then told his wife to consult the ju-ju man, to see what should be done, in order that she might bear a son who would inherit his father's property and look after his mother in her old age. The ju-ju man was consulted by Igiri, and the usual sacrifices of fowls and eggs were made, but without any result.

When the time for collecting mushrooms arrived, which is the beginning of the rainy season, about the month of May, Igiri went out with her basket to collect mushrooms for their food, and her husband went with her.

When they arrived at the forest they separated, Igiri going in one direction and Inkang going off in another, but not so far away that they could not hear one another shout.

Igiri went on gathering the mushrooms and putting them in her basket, until at last she came across a very large mushroom which was fat and white. Then Igiri said, "How I do wish that this mushroom would turn into a boy baby, which we want so badly."

The mushroom, who was kind-hearted, then took pity on Igiri, and turned itself into a boy baby, much to the joy of the woman, who at once picked the baby up and placed him in her basket with the mushrooms.

Without troubling to look for any more mushrooms, she put the basket on her head and called out to her husband, saying she was going home at once, and that he was to follow.

When she reached the house, she was so pleased at having got the baby, that she asked Inkang to help her down with the basket. At this he was rather surprised, as, although it is the custom for anyone near to help the women to put down their heavy loads when they come in from the farm, this would not be done with a light load like mushrooms.

Inkang therefore said to his wife, "What have you put in the basket to make it so heavy that you want me to help you down with it? Is it not mushrooms you have there?"

His wife replied, "Only help me with the basket, and you shall then see what I have got."

Inkang's curiosity was immediately aroused, so he went to his wife and helped her to place the basket carefully on the ground. Then they opened the basket together, and, to the chief's intense surprise and joy, he saw a fat little baby boy lying smiling in the bottom of the basket, half covered with mushrooms. He then embraced his wife, who told him all that had happened in the forest.

Inkang then said, "We must hide the boy in the house until he grows up, so that the people will not know what we have got."

Igiri took great care of the child for the next six years, and he grew up a strong boy.

When the planting season came round, which is towards the end of the dry season, the chief and his wife used to go off every morning early to their farm, returning in the evening. The boy was always left at home, but the woman prepared food for him and placed it high up over the fireplace, and showed the boy how to get at it by standing on a native-made box.

The first day they went to the farm the little boy got his food down and eat it, but did not notice that a small boy from the neighbouring town was watching him. The next day the small boy from the town, who was hungry , waited until the mushroom boy had gone out, and then went softly in and stole all the food, filling the calabash with water, which he replaced where he had found the food. This happened for three days in succession, until the mushroom boy became so hungry that he determined to go back to the forest where he came from, and turn himself back into a mushroom again. He was angry with Inkang and Igiri because he thought they were fooling him, and, of course, he knew nothing about the thief boy who had stolen his food each day.

On his way to the forest he met his foster parents returning from the farm, and told them what his intention was. They did their best to persuade him to return home with them, but he was obstinate, and ran away to the place in the forest where he came from, and, having arrived there, turned himself into a mushroom and disappeared for ever.

Since that time the mushroom has refused to take pity on women who have no children, and he has never changed himself into a baby again.

Told by Abassi of Inkum.--

Elili and Aikor were both Inkum women, the wives of Chief Nyip. They each had a female child by him.

Elili was the head wife and looked after the house, and for several years everything went well, until at last Elili became sick, and, after a short illness, died, and was buried.

Her daughter Oga was quite young when her mother died; her breasts were only just beginning to get round, and she had not been circumcised.

On Elili's death Aikor took charge of the house, and cooked all the food. When it was time to hand the food round, Aikor always gave her daughter Nagor the best food, and only gave a very small portion to Oga, as she was a very jealous woman, and disliked Elili and her daughter.

This went on for some time, until one day Oga took the food which was not sufficient for her to her mother's grave, and sat there crying and calling for her mother until the evening came, when she went home. The next day she went again and wept on the grave, until at last the grave opened, and she could see the top of her mother's head. Oga continued to cry until sunset, and then she had to go home.

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