The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories (8 page)

As soon as Sunkun had emerged on the cleared land, he cleared his throat. Then at the top of his voice, he started to call the name of each of his followers. And each came from the bush, a big hoe and a cutlass in hand, and stood firmly in front of Sunkun. It was thus that Sunkun called his followers until all the cleared land was crowded with immortal spirits. And all were ready to work immediately.

But Sunkun did not allow them to work immediately. Instead, he told them that the spirit of the ant-hill was still behind. He hesitated for some minutes, and yet the spirit did not come out from his ant-hill home. Sunkun became so annoyed that he shouted the name with all his power. His shout was so loud that both the hills and ground shook heavily.

And as Tolu peeped out from the ant-hill, which was the home of the spirit, the ant-hill spirit answered loudly, ‘I am still in my house!’

‘Why are you still in your house when the others have come out to me?’ Sunkun the Taskmaster shouted angrily.

The ant-hill spirit replied bitterly, ‘O pity, it is not my fault at all. Someone has blocked my doorway!’

‘But who is that someone blocking your doorway?’
Sunkun
shouted angrily.

‘He is the son of the man,’ the ant-hill spirit explained with fear.

‘The son of the man in your house?’ Sunkun grumbled. ‘All right. I am coming there to see who he is!’ Then Sunkun walked with anger to the ant-hill, and he saw Tolu, who was blocking the doorway.

Sunkun was so annoyed that he cursed Tolu without mercy: ‘Tolu, may you turn into the fungus of the ant-hill now, you treacherous boy and tale-bearer of the rich
husbandman
!’

And Tolu, all of a sudden, turned into the fungus of the ant-hill.

Then at the same time, Sunkun put the five
naira
for which he pawned himself to Tolu’s father on top of the ant-hill. He put a small stone on it so that the breeze might not blow it off until the husbandman came there and took it.

Thus Sunkun, the Taskmaster or odd-looking man, refunded the five
naira
for which he pawned himself.

And at the same time, Sunkun ordered his followers to return to their respective places of abode, and he too returned to the calm bush where he lived near the
junction
. And it was from that night that he stopped working on the farms of the rich husbandman who was Tolu’s father.

When Tolu’s father failed to find Tolu at home, he and his other sons and his pawns went to the farm. It was the following morning. Almost as soon as they started to search for him, they came to the ant-hill. When the
husbandman
saw the five
naira
on top of the ant-hill, he understood at once that something had happened to his son Tolu.

He took the five
naira
from the top of the ant-hill. Then he peeped into the ant-hill and saw the huge fungus. At once he knew that it was his son who had changed into it.

‘Yes, you have been served better by Sunkun!’ Tolu’s
father, the rich husbandman, spoke loudly with tears
rolling
down his cheeks, ‘I warned you seriously enough yesternight not to attempt to see how Sunkun worked even more than four thousand persons could do, but you disobeyed me. I have studied Sunkun thoroughly and I have found out that he is an immortal spirit, and there is no human being who can outwit him!’

And then he and his other sons and his pawns returned to the village slowly in their sadness.

Once there lived in a village Tortoise, the Shell-man, and his wife Yanribo, the Beetle-woman. Tortoise, the Shell-man, was selfish, cruel, cunning and greedy. His wife, the
Beetle-woman
, had been barren all the five years since Tortoise had married her. Because Yanribo did not bear a child as soon as Tortoise wanted her to, he went to several medicine men who gave him different kinds of medicines for his wife, the Beetle-woman. Although Yanribo used all, she was not pregnant.

Yet Tortoise, the Shell-man, did not tire of going from one medicine man to another until when, one day, one of his friends advised him to consult the priest of Orisa-Oko (the priest of the God of the Forest). The priest of Orisa-Oko lived lonely in the heart of a forest. The greedy Tortoise followed the advice of his friend at once and he went to the priest of Orisa-Oko. When he got to the house of the priest, he knocked at the door heavily.

‘Who is knocking at my door like that?’ the priest of the God of the Forest shouted angrily.

‘I am Tortoise, the Shell-man, please.’

‘Come in to me if you are Tortoise,’ replied the priest warmly.

Then Tortoise went in to him at once. ‘Good morning, priest of Orisa-Oko,’ Tortoise greeted him, and prostrated himself for fear of being beaten by the priest with his heavy club of bone for no cause, because the priest sometimes forced a person to behave like a lunatic.

‘Good morning, Tortoise, the Shell-man,’ replied the priest. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’

‘Since I married Yanribo five years ago, she has had no pregnancy. So,’ Tortoise begged earnestly, ‘I beg you to help me prepare a medicine which will make her pregnant when she eats it.’

‘To make your wife pregnant is simple,’ the priest explained to Tortoise. ‘But you will bring one three-year-old cock which, when it crows on earth, the people of heaven will hear its crow clearly.’

‘Such a three-year-old cock which, when it crows on earth, the people of heaven will hear its crow clearly, is simple for me to get,’ Tortoise, the Shell-man, replied.

‘Oh, that is nice,’ the priest said. ‘You can go and bring it now. And that means your wife is sure to get a pregnancy very soon.’

Without hesitation, Tortoise, the Shell-man, stood up, and he ran back to his village. ‘Yes, Yanribo,’ Tortoise said, ‘go right now to your mother and beg her to give you one three-year-old cock which, when it crows, the people of heaven will hear its crow clearly. I am sure your mother will give it to you because she loves you, and, again, she has plenty of fowls.’

‘What are we going to do with such an uncommon cock?’ Yanribo inquired with wonder.

‘The priest of Orisa-Oko is going to cook a juju-soup for you in which such a cock is one of the soup’s ingredients. The priest promised that you will be pregnant as soon as you eat the soup,’ Tortoise explained to his wife.

Yanribo, the Beetle-woman, had hardly heard so from her husband before running to her mother who gave her one of her old cocks. As soon as she returned with the cock, Tortoise took it from her, and he went back with it to the priest of the God of the Forest, Orisa-Oko. The priest killed the cock, and with other kinds of ingredients he cooked the juju-soup in one large cruse, or earthenware pot.

Before he gave it to Tortoise, he covered the cruse with its lid and he wrapped its mouth also with some leaves so that the sweet smell of the soup might not reach into Tortoise’s nose. After that, he gave it to him, and he warned him seriously: ‘Tortoise, this juju-soup is meant for a barren woman, for a female only, and it is forbidden for a male to eat it. You must not even sniff a bit of its smell into your nose, for you will conceive just like a woman. Your wife must eat all of it at once. And I promise, it will make your wife pregnant within three months after she has eaten it. Tortoise,’ added the priest, reminding Tortoise of his greed, ‘I have known you as a very greedy Shell-man for quite a long time. Will you keep my warning?’

‘Ah, why!’ Tortoise exclaimed, ‘why should I not keep to your warning, especially as you are the priest of the God of the Forest. I am a man who can control myself, you know,’ Tortoise boasted with a sweet voice.

‘But Tortoise, you should not forget that you are a perfect liar, who both young and old people of your village know well as a liar!’ the priest said, reminding Tortoise of his behaviour.

‘Oh, no! That was in the past. I do not tell lies these days. I am no longer a liar. You know, I had three lies before. But one day, it happened that when I was swimming in a big river, fortunately, one of my lies mistakenly fell from my body into the water; then, at once, the strong current carried it away. Though I struggled hard to get it back, I failed. Then, the following day, it happened that as I was
wandering
about in the forest looking for beasts to kill, I saw an antelope. But when I was chasing it along desperately, fortunately, my second lie fell from me. I stopped and searched for it, but I could not find it, and that was how it was lost. Again, yesterday, when I went to a small bush to pass excrement, I was pressed much by my excrement. So I hastily put my lie on the top of a stump of a tree, at the foot of which I passed my excrement. But before I finished
passing the excrement, the stump of the tree had grown up with my third lie to such a height that when I stood up to take it back, my hand could not reach the top of the tree. So that is how I lost all my three lies,’ Tortoise said, deceiving the priest.

‘Is that so?’ The priest shook his head disapprovingly. ‘All right, you may carry the juju-soup to your village.’

‘But how much shall I pay you for the juju-soup?’ Tortoise asked.

‘Now, Tortoise, let me make it clear to you that you are the middleman between your wife and me. Mind you, Tortoise, the soup is not free of charge. But it is prepared for either one of two terms: first, for my loss, but for you and your wife’s gain. And second, for my gain and your wife’s gain, but for your loss. I am sure one of the three of us must be at loss at the end, Tortoise, mind you. Who will be at the loss at the end? I remind you, you are greedy!’ Thus the priest of Orisa-Oko explained the matter in an indirect way. ‘But take the soup and go. I wish you and your wife, the Beetle-woman, good luck!’

Then, without understanding what the priest had said, Tortoise, the Shell-man, prostrated himself and thanked him, and he put the cruse of the delicious juju-soup on his head and went out with gladness.

Now Tortoise, the Shell-man, was on his way to his village. But as he was carrying the juju-soup along the way, he was thinking how he could eat some of the delicious juju-soup. After a while, he trekked to a big tree. This tree was on the roadside, and it shed a very cool shadow on the area. Without a second thought, Tortoise’s greediness forced him to stop under the tree.

He put the soup down; he sat on one old ant-hill which was not far from the cruse of soup. Then he fastened his eyes on to it. He began to decide within himself whether or not to eat from the soup and give whatever remained to his wife to eat.

But all of a sudden, the sweet smell of the soup rushed into his nose. He enjoyed it so much that he was not even aware as he shouted with greed, ‘Ah, what a delicious soup this is! Is my wife going to eat it all alone? No! I shall not allow that! But the priest of Orisa-Oko has warned me seriously not to sniff even a bit of its smell!’ Tortoise was speaking to himself as if he was a dotard, each time looking at the soup and then at the sky as if he was arguing with someone.

‘Oh, I know,’ he squirmed. ‘But I must eat from this juju-soup and I won’t bother about whatever happens to me after all!’ he said, strengthening his greed.

The Tortoise, not complying with the warning of the priest of the God of the Forest, removed the leaves with which the priest had wrapped the mouth of the cruse. Again, he removed the lid as well, and then he started to eat the juju-soup with greediness.

Within a few minutes, Tortoise had eaten the delicious soup nearly to the bottom of the cruse, only then
remembering
to leave the remaining bit of it for his barren wife, Yanribo, the Beetle-woman, to eat.

‘Yes, I am satisfied now, and I shall carry the remainder to my wife,’ said Tortoise to his great relief.

Without hesitation, Tortoise carried the almost empty cruse to his wife, and she ate the remaining juju-soup at once.

In fact, as the priest had told Tortoise, his wife, the Beetle-woman, was pregnant within three months after she had eaten the soup. But to the surprise and fear of everyone in the village, Tortoise was pregnant like his wife. Though his wife was happy that she was pregnant at last, Tortoise was sad and embarrassed instead.

Meanwhile, as it was bad luck for the people of the village if a man was pregnant, all the old people of the village gathered together at midnight. They decided secretly the day on which they would sacrifice Tortoise, his wife, and
their property to the Goddess of the River. Although the meeting was held secretly, almost everyone heard what the day was that Tortoise, his wife, and their property would be sacrificed to the Goddess of the River.

Of course, Tortoise’s pregnancy had scared people this time, yet one of his friends came to him secretly and said, ‘Tortoise, how many ears have you?’

‘I have two ears,’ Tortoise replied.

‘What are you doing with them?’ his friend asked.

‘I hear words and many other things with them,’ Tortoise replied.

‘OK. Listen to me now. I advise you now to find one way or the other to leave the village within a few days,’
Tortoise’s
friend advised him strongly.

‘Why should I leave the village?’ Tortoise asked with fear.

‘The old people of the village have held a secret meeting, and they have decided to sacrifice you, your wife, and your property to the Goddess of the River in a few weeks’ time, because you have conceived when you are a man,’ his friend warned him.

Tortoise was sure that he had conceived, and that there was no alternative for the old people but to sacrifice him, his wife, and their property to the Goddess. So at midnight, and with his swelled-out belly, he escaped from the village and went back to the priest. He prostrated as flatly as he could and begged the priest earnestly, ‘I come to confess to you that I ate from the juju-soup which you gave me some time ago to give to my barren wife. But I have got pregnant like my wife, though you warned me seriously not to eat from the soup. Now, I come and beg you to give me the medicine of abortion. Please, I beg you in the name of your God of the Forest.’

‘Yes, Tortoise, this is the time that you will pay for the juju-soup which I cooked for your wife. I am at gain now, and your wife is at gain as well because she is already pregnant. But you, as the middle-man, are at loss now,
because you did not follow my warning. Your greed forced you to eat from the juju-soup which was strictly forbidden for a man to eat. I told you this indirectly that day!’

Having thus reminded Tortoise, the Shell-man, the priest then shouted wildly at him, ‘All right, stand up and let me look at your belly well!’

‘Please, see how my pregnancy has swelled out,’ Tortoise said as he stood up and posed himself to the priest, lamenting.

‘Oh, yes. I see your belly now, and it is certain that you have conceived like your wife,’ the priest, having examined Tortoise’s belly, remarked. Then, frighteningly, he said, ‘But as you are a man, how are you going to deliver your pregnancy? This is a big problem for you.’

Tortoise, in fear, did not answer.

‘However, as you did not keep to my warning, you will suffer for three days,’ the priest explained, ‘because before your pregnancy can be made to disappear I shall beat your belly mercilessly for three days with my juju-club of bone.’ Then he insisted, ‘And for reward of my work for making your pregnancy disappear, and my reward for the
juju-soup
which I cooked for your wife, you will serve me for three years, free of charge. Do you agree to that, Tortoise?’

‘Please, I agree to your wish,’ Tortoise, willing or not, agreed.

Then the priest beat Tortoise’s belly for three days with his juju club of bone. And Tortoise’s pregnancy
disappeared
miraculously. Though he suffered a lot, he was happy at the end.

Afterwards, he went back to his village and showed himself to his people. They changed their minds about sacrificing him, his wife, and their property to the Goddess of the River when they saw that his pregnancy had disappeared.

But three months after his wife, Yanribo, the
Beetle-woman
, was delivered of a male child, Tortoise, the
Shell-man
, went back to the priest of Orisa-Oko and served him for three years without receiving any compensation.