Ajaiyi and His Inherited Poverty

by Amos Tutuola

  Then as she sat down on one high chair she told the three of us to sit on one long sofa which was in front of her. Then she asked gently from us: “From where were you three of you returning?” Ojo hastily explained: “When the three of us were returning from the town of the Creator we branched to the town of the god of Iron. After we had celebrated his yearly festival with him, we asked him to give us money but he gave us the three terrible lumps of iron instead. He told us to carry them to our village to be worshipping them. He told us as well that as he was not the possessor of money but the Devil therefore we should go to him for the money when we returned to our village. But having carried the three lumps of the iron to a short distance and were too heavy for us to carry further then we threw them away. But since the day we had thrown them away, they started to chase us about to catch until we had escaped to this your country and then to your house for your rescue!”

  “Yes, in fact, both the god of Iron and the Creator are not the possessors of the money! You had made great mistake to go to them! Only the Devil is the possessor of the money!” this old woman explained to us briefly. But she hardly explained to us like that when she began to tell us her own story which went thus: “To be frank, I am the Chairwoman of all the witches of this country. I am the most wicked witch. In this country, only witches and wizards are living here. I have four other members who are, Ayinke, the secretary of the witches, Odere, the president of the witches, Awele, the vice-president of the witches, and Abeke, the messenger of the witches! So I am powerful and wicked more than all those I have mentioned to you now. They are coming to my house every midnight to hold meeting with me. Although the three of you are finding money about but you have become the captives. You have already brought yourselves in my trap. You are confined into this house as from this moment till when it is my turn to prepare food for my members! You know, I am a basket weaver and also the field rat killer. My only son, Ishola, takes all of them to the market for sale and I buy all my needs from the money that I realize by selling them (baskets and field rats). I believe, you will remember that I told you to push one of the three terrible lumps of the iron to the foot of a big tree which is in my garden; you have pushed the second one to the entrance which is through to the garden and you have pushed the third to the entrance of the front of the house!

  “So if you try to escape through the garden, the terrible lump of iron which is put there will chase and catch you. If you try to escape through the entrance of the front of the house, the lump of the iron which is put there will chase and catch you as well and if you try to do the same thing through the entrance to the garden the one which is put there will catch you as well. Now there is no chance for you to escape from my house. All the three lumps of the iron are keeping watch of you! You know, they are not ordinary lumps of the iron but they are living evil creatures! So before I will sacrifice each of you to my witch members, you will be helping me to clear my garden, to make the baskets to kill the field rats and to do the house works! I had even killed the only daughter that I had had in my life for my witch members a few months ago. And it will be one year’s time before it will be my turn again to kill somebody to my members. But Ishola, my only son, has not known yet that I am a witch. My three friends, (she called us friends) that is how things will go. And I hope you do agree!”

  As soon as this old woman, the chairwoman of the witches whose name was Adeola, had told us her story and said plainly that she would kill us one by one for her witch members, she stretched right hand up near her head, she took her old hand woven fan from the rack. This fan was woven from the palmyra palm. Then she began to fan herself continuously as she was expecting what we were going to tell her about all she had told us.

  Having heard from her that she was going to kill us for her witch members and she told us again that once we had entered her house we could not escape otherwise the three heavy lumps of the iron would chase and catch us for her. The three of us first took a full heavy breath suddenly. I looked at Ojo’s eyes and Ojo looked at Alabi’s eyes but Alabi looked at the ground. The three of us were so perplexed this time that we did not know what to do. But after a few minutes I became normal before Ojo and Alabi. Then I asked from this old woman: “Why cannot you stop to kill people?” But she said without hesitation: “Why should I stop it! As you aware that it is ‘difficult to cure the inherited disease’. Therefore I am unable to stop killing people or to leave my witchcraft which I had inherited from my mother since my youth!” Then she snubbed at us as if we were goats.

  As she was still fanning herself, Ishola, her only son, entered. But as he wanted to sit on the same sofa on which the three of us sat, his witch mother told him to take us to the garden and to show us where we could kill the field rats. Without argument, we followed him to the garden. In this garden he gave one stick to each of us then he showed us where the rats lived in a part of this garden. Then he and the three of us began to hunt for the rats. When the whole of us struggled for about two hours, we found one and then we started to chase it about in the garden to kill. As this rat was dashing here and there we were mistakenly beating ourselves with the sticks instead of the rat. However, having tried all our efforts, we killed it. When we took it to the witch mother, without thanking us, she snatched it from us, she hung it on the rack together with one basket which she had just completed. As soon as she had hung both basket and the rat on the rack, she told Ishola to take them to the market in the following morning for sale. After that she told the three of us to follow Ishola to the kitchen to help him cook some yams which the whole of us would eat that night.

  Having cooked the yams, we took it together with the pot to her. After she picked the best ones into her wooden bowl, she poured plenty of palm-oil on them. As she began to eat it she told us to take the rest to the other room and eat it. So Ishola took this pot and the three of us followed him to that room. Then we ate it. When it was about nine o’clock in the night, this wicked witch mother slept in a separate room and Ishola with the three of us slept in the room in which we ate the yams. As soon as we lay down Ojo, Alabi and Ishola fell asleep but I lay down awoke. I was thinking in mind how the three of us could escape before daybreak.

  As I was thinking in mind like that the witch mother began to snore so I was sure that she too was fast asleep. Then I woke Ojo and Alabi, I told them with a lower voice to let us escape. But Ojo reminded me that the witch mother had told us that if we tried to escape the terrible heavy lumps of the iron would chase and catch us for her. When he reminded me like that I told him that we should not keep ourselves there for the witch mother to kill us for her witch members but as we were men we must try our best first to escape. Then without hesitation, the three of us took our matchets, we went to the door of the front of the house. I opened the door very gently so that the witch mother might not wake. Then the three of us jumped to the outside and left the door open.

  But to our greatest fear was that we hardly went to a short distance from the house when these three terrible heavy lumps of the iron began to roll on the ground with their horrible noises which woke the witch mother at the same time. As soon as she woke up she ran to the door, she was hastily commanding the three lumps of the iron to catch us and then bring us back to her house. Willing or not, when these lumps of the iron obstructed our way and that they were preparing to crush us to death. As soon as we entered and the lumps of the iron returned to their respective places, she slammed the door. After that with anger, she stood before us and then she repeated what she had told us: “I have told you that you have already been caught by my trap! There is no way for you to escape but soon you shall be killed one by one for my witch members! But you should put in minds always that these three terrible heavy lumps of the iron (she pointed hand to them) are keeping watch of you always! All right, go back to the room and sleep! Good-night!” Then she entered her room and slept. So with great fear we too entered the room and we lay down but Ishola did not wake at all till we had escaped and recapture
d.

  THE WITCH MOTHER TURNED INTO THE PUPIL OF THE EYES

  Hardly in the morning when Adeola, the most wicked and the chairwoman of the witches of this country, woke up and called the three of us to her usual sitting room. She told us to go to the garden to cut plenty of the palm-fronds and bring them to her. She told us that she wanted to start to make some new baskets from them. Before we left for the garden, she then stood up before the dead rat and the basket which were hung on the same rack in this sitting room. Then she called out loudly: “Ishola, will you come out and take this dead rat and the basket to the market for sale now! It is time! And this morning is fine enough! Please make haste to go!”

  As soon as she called out like that Ishola answered loudly from the other room: “I am coming, my mother! But I am looking for my hat first!” Then his witch mother shouted: “All right, make haste!” After a while Ishola came out with the hat on head. He walked to the sitting room, he took both the dead rat and the basket from the rack and he asked from his mother as he held them: “How much shall I sell the rat?” His mother paused for a while and then replied: “Yes, sell it for sixpence!” Ishola asked again: “But what of the basket?” “Yes, you can sell that for one shilling but not less than that!” the witch mother said with a sharp voice. Ishola: “All right! Goodbye!” So without hesitation, Ishola went out with the dead rat and basket and he slammed the door loudly as he left for the market.

  When Ishola had left for the market which was at a distance of two miles from the country. Ojo, Alabi and myself went to the garden to cut the palm-fronds. When we cut some and brought them to the witch mother, she told us to start to split them into pieces. Having done that she herself dressed them finely. After that she told us to go and cook some yams. When we were cooking the yams in the kitchen she started to weave the basket from these dressed palm-fronds. As soon as the yams were ready and we took it to her with the pot and as she was taking her own into her usual wooden bowl. Ishola returned from the market with the food-stuff and many other things which he bought from the money that he had sold the dead rat and the basket. Then we ate the rest yams together with him.

  It was like that we were doing everyday but the three of us were not happy at all since when we had heard from this wicked witch mother that she was going to kill us one by one for her witch members. One midnight, as I was trying all my best to see that the three of us escaped from this mother. When I noticed that she had slept, I dug a round hole on the part of the wall of the room in which we slept. When I did so, I woke Ojo and Alabi and the three of us passed through this round hole to the outside. But as we were running away in the darkness. Again, the three terrible heavy lumps of the iron rolled out from their respective places and without hesitation they began to chase us with their usual fearful noises. Within a few minutes they overtook us and then they obstructed our way. But we ran back to the house when they were just preparing to crush us to death. As soon as we had entered the house each of them went back to its place at the same time. And when the witch mother had made a mockery of us for some minutes she went back to her room and slept. So with tears, the three of us went back to the room and slept. It was like that we failed in our second attempt to escape from this witch mother. So since when we had failed to escape for the second time, we gave up ourselves to whatever might be our fate in this country of witches and wizards.

  One morning, Ishola took one dead rat and one basket to the same market for sale. When he got to the market he exposed the rat and the basket on the table. He sat before the table and he began to shout: “Here is the dead rat for sale! It is big and fat! Come and buy it for a cheap, cheap, price! And here is a fine basket for sale! A very fine and strong basket! Come and buy it for a cheap, cheap, price! It is woven from the best palm-fronds!” But as he was still hawking loudly like that and he was expecting people to come and buy them. A few minutes later, three strange men arrived in the market. They were spirits who lived in a far jungle but Ishola thought that they were ordinary men. They were born by the same father and mother.

  AJALA (the first spirit): “Yes, how much do you sell this dead rat!” he held up the dead rat by the tail and then asked loudly for the price of it as the rest two were looking on anxiously.

  ISHOLA: “I am selling it for sixpence!” he replied loudly.

  FOLA (the second spirit): “Sixpence?” he repeated the price with wonder as he was gazing at Ishola.

  ISHOLA: “Yes, it is sixpence!” he confirmed hastily and loudly.

  BOLA (the third spirit): “Will you sell it for us for a half-penny?” he provoked him as he squinted at the rat.

  ISHOLA: “Please put my rat back on the table and go away! You hopeless thieves who want to buy a half-penny rat! Please go on your away!” he shouted on them with great anger.

  AJALA: “By the way, how much did you buy the rat in the bush?” he asked from Ishola as the three of them had now become annoyed and then he (Ajala) threw the dead rat back on the table roughly.

  ISHOLA: “Oh, but how much did you sell it for me in the bush?” he scowled at them and shouted disregardly on them.

  FOLA: “We are not selling dead rats, poor boy!” he replied angrily.

  ISHOLA: “If you are not selling dead rats, I too did not buy this one in the bush but my mother had killed it!” he exchanged words with them angrily.

  BOLA: “We are not so poor to sell the dead rats!” he said with a smile.

  ISHOLA: “But if the three of you are not thieves of the dead rats, you should have not priced this one beyond what it is really worth like that! I believe, you are thieves of the dead rats!” he shouted on them as he had become angrier.

  AJALA: “You poor boy like this, has called us thieves!” he scowled at Ishola and he was pointing hand to his chest and panting it as the three of them had then extremely become annoyed.

  ISHOLA: “Yes! I repeat it, the three of you are the thieves of the dead rats!” he confirmed loudly with bravery.

  FOLA: “All right, I am going to show you now that the three of us are no ordinary men!” he shouted on Ishola with a very bad temper.

  ISHOLA: “If you are not the ordinary men, what are you then? Are you gods or the rulers of the jungle? Tell me now!” he shouted on them as a large number of onlookers had then gathered round them.

  Now, without hesitation, as these three spirits had now become extremely annoyed. Bola, who was the third spirit, looked around there and saw a small bush behind. Then he pointed finger to this dead rat and then to the small bush. He began to command loudly: “Oh, let this dead rat become alive and return to this bush now where it came from!” But to Ishola’s and the onlookers’ surprise, Bola hardly commanded this dead rat when it came alive and without hesitation it began to run back into the bush. And without hesitation, Ishola began to chase it along in the bush to catch. He was scrambling it as he was shouting greatly: “Ah, my rat is running back into the bush!”

  But he failed to catch it until it was disappeared into the bush. Then he ran back, he held Bola roughly and began to shout on him greatly: “You must find my rat for me now!”

  Then the onlookers began to part them as they were exclaiming loudly with wonder: “Hah, the dead rat has become alive and run back into the bush! This is first of its kind! Ishola, better you run back to your country and tell your mother about these wonderful strange men!” So Ishola left Bola and then he ran back to his country. As soon as he had left these three spirits, Ajala, Bola and Fola, walked to another part of this market and were disappeared suddenly. As soon as they were disappeared the onlookers walked away with wonder and fear.

  As Ojo, Alabi, myself and the witch mother were still busy in weaving the basket in the sitting room. And the mother sat on the floor and was singing loudly. Ishola ran in unexpectedly. Immediately he ran in he sat on the chair behind his witch mother and began to breathe in and out audibly as if he had been chased on the way by the kidnappers.

  ISHOLA: “Oh, Almighty!” he shouted suddenly to the
hearing of everyone of us.

  His witch mother and the rest of us were startled. Then the mother stood up suddenly and walked to him. Then she hastily asked:

  “What has happened to you, Ishola? Were you chased on the way by the kidnappers?”

  ISHOLA: “Not at all! But I have seen wonder in the market today! . .” he explained to his witch mother with throbbing heart.

  MOTHER: “Wonder?” she interrupted loudly.

  ISHOLA: “Certainly, my mother! And it was the first of the wonder I have ever seen in my life!” he explained as he was perspiring continuously.

  MOTHER: “How did it look like?” she asked with wonder as she then bent a little bit forward and paid more attention and listened.

  ISHOLA: “It did not look like anything. But …” he was greatly confused and murmured.

  MOTHER: “And you have seen it?” she interrupted hastily.

  ISHOLA: “Yes …” he murmured again.

  MOTHER: “Hope there is nothing wrong with you in the market today, Ishola?” his witch mother asked with doubt as Ojo, Alabi and myself were looking at him with wonder.

  ISHOLA: “There is nothing wrong with me at all but I have seen the wonder in the market today!” he shouted with confusion.

  MOTHER: “All right, tell me the wonder which you have seen in the market today!” his witch mother dragged one chair from the left, she sat on it before Ishola and she was then listening to him attentively.