by Amos Tutuola
The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories
AMOS TUTUOLA
Table of Contents
Title Page
The Village Witch Doctor
A Short Biography of Tortoise
A Short Biography of Yanribo, Tortoise’s Wife
Ajao and the Active Bone
Don’t Pay Bad for Bad
Akanke and the Jealous Pawnbroker
Remember the Day After Tomorrow
Ade, the Traitor
Rere, the Disobedient Son
The Duckling Brothers and their Disobedient Sister
The Rich Husbandman and his Odd-looking Pawn
The Greedy Tortoise and the Orisa-Oko
About the Author
By the Same Author
Copyright
The Village Witch Doctor
Some centuries ago there lived in a village two middle-aged men named Aro and his friend Osanyin. Aro was from a rich family while Osanyin was the witch doctor of the village. Osanyin was well known throughout the village and also all other surrounding villages because of his profession.
Aro inherited a large sum of money, farms, and other valuable property when his father died.
One night, Aro invited Osanyin to come to visit him. Aro begged his friend to help him carry his inherited money to a faraway bush. The village witch doctor asked in surprise, ‘What are you going to do with the money in the bush?’
‘I wish to bury it there,’ Aro explained, pointing to two large water pots in which he had placed the money. ‘I am afraid that if I leave it in the house, thieves may break in and steal it away.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Osanyin replied cheerfully, ‘I see your point. Let us carry the money to the bush and bury it there before daybreak!’ Then both friends stood up and each of them put one of the water pots on to his head, and each carried a long machete. Then they started on their journey in the darkness to the bush.
Then, as soon as they got to the bush, they dug two deep pits at the foot of an Iroko tree. They buried the water pots in the pits, and after that they returned to the village before daybreak. Now Aro had rest of mind because his inherited wealth was safe.
But while Aro was happy that his money was safe from thieves, Osanyin the witch doctor was thinking that he could steal it from the bush. One midnight, therefore, the witch doctor went to the bush. He dug out the two water pots of money. He carried both to his house before daybreak, and he buried them in front of his gods which were in the shrine.
One day, when Aro needed money badly, not knowing that his friend had stolen the money, he went to the bush intending to take some of it. To his disappointment, when he dug the pits, he found nothing in them. He held his head in both hands and burst into tears, and then he went directly to the witch doctor’s house. He said, as he continued to weep loudly and bitterly, ‘My money, which we buried in the bush a few months ago, has been stolen away!’
The witch doctor pretended to be surprised and innocent by saying, ‘Has your money been stolen, or is it you cannot remember what you wanted to tell me?’
‘I say my money!’ Aro confirmed, ‘which we buried at the foot of the Iroko tree!’
‘Well, if that is so, go back to your house and have a rest. When it is night, I shall find out from my gods who has stolen the money. Then I shall come and tell you the name of whoever has stolen it. At that time we shall decide how to arrest him and take him to the elders of the village.’ The witch doctor caressed Aro as he deceived him.
When it was midnight, Osanyin the witch doctor, without asking anything from his gods, went to Aro’s house. He had hardly sat down when Aro asked impatiently, ‘Osanyin, what is the name of the person whom your gods told you has stolen my money?’
‘I am very surprised,’ the witch doctor said deceitfully. ‘My gods disclosed to me distinctly that it was your dead father who has stolen your money from the pits, and not a living person at all!’
‘What?’ said Aro, greatly shocked. ‘My dead father has stolen his money which I inherited after his death?’
‘Certainly. He has stolen it, although you inherited it after his death.’ Osanyin was without mercy.
Aro, not knowing it was the witch doctor himself who had stolen the money, at last believed the faulty explanation. But before he gave up the matter, he and his friend the witch doctor went back to the bush. Aro stood on the very spot from which the money had been stolen, and he cursed with great anger the person who had stolen it. ‘My money will be recovered in the near or far future from whomsoever has stolen it, by my son, or my son’s son, or one of my generations!’
Then his friend the witch doctor reluctantly said, ‘Let your curse come to pass on whoever has stolen your money.’
Both returned to the village. The witch doctor worriedly returned to his house as if it had been revealed to Aro that Osanyin was the person who stole the money.
Now Aro started to live in poverty. As he and his only son grew older, their poverty grew worse. At last, Aro died of poverty and he left poverty for his son Jaye.
After some years’ struggle, Jaye married a very wretched lady, of whom no one could tell how or from where she had come to the village. And two years later, she bore a beautiful baby boy, who was named Ajaiyi. The father, mother and Ajaiyi were still growing poorer and poorer, and at last Ajaiyi’s mother died suddenly of poverty.
After several years’ hard work, Ajaiyi’s father Jaye became so poor and weary that he could not go and work on the farm any more. So Ajaiyi, his only son, took over from him. He toiled on his father’s farm just to feed the two of them.
Thus, Ajaiyi worked hard until he became thirty years of age, and he saw that all of his age-group had married. Therefore, one night it came to his mind to marry a lady just as his companions had done. He put it thus before his weary father: ‘My father, all my companions got married long ago. How can I get enough money to be able to marry as others have done?’
Ajaiyi’s father explained to him sadly, ‘According to our tradition, it is a father’s duty to make a marriage for his son. But as you know I am in great poverty. My poverty is so great that I have not had even a half-kobo for the past four years. So, my dear Ajaiyi, it is a great pity that I have no money with which to pay the dowry for you. I am sorry, indeed.’
Ajaiyi looked at the ceiling and thought about their poverty for some minutes, and then he left his father and went to the front of the house. He sat on the mud pavement and there began to weep bitterly.
In his grief, it came to Ajaiyi’s mind to pawn himself for money with which to pay the dowry of a lady. The following morning, he went to a wealthy pawnbroker, who gave him sufficient money, with which he married a beautiful lady the following week. And a few days after his marriage, he started to work on the farm of the pawnbroker from seven until eleven o’clock in the morning.
Some months later, Ajaiyi’s father fell seriously ill and died within a few days. Ajaiyi had no money to spend on the funeral ceremony for his father. Of course, as it was a great shame if he failed to perform the funeral ceremony, Ajaiyi was forced to go and pawn himself to another pawnbroker, who gave him money which he spent on his father’s funeral expenses.
Now Ajaiyi had pawned himself to two pawnbrokers. He was working for the first one from seven to eleven o’clock in the morning and for the second from noon to four o’clock in the afternoon. As Ajaiyi had only a few hours left to work on his own farm for his and his wife’s living, his inherited poverty became even more severe. His wife advised him one morning, ‘My husband, you had better go to Osanyin, the village witch doctor, and beg him to help you find out from
his gods the causes of our poverty, and find out as well what can stop it.’
Without delay, Ajaiyi went to the village witch doctor. When Ajaiyi had explained his difficulties, the witch doctor consulted his gods at once. Then in a sharp voice, he deceived Ajaiyi: ‘My gods say that if you really want your poverty to stop, you must buy nine rams and nine empty sacks. You will put one of the rams into each of the sacks. Then, in the midnight, you will carry all to the grave of your father, and you will put all on top of the grave. But you must come and tell me as soon as you have put them there.’
The witch doctor explained further, ‘To be sure if your father has taken the rams, you will go back to the grave the following morning. If you meet only empty sacks on top of the grave, it means that your father has accepted the nine rams as his sacrifice. If that is so, first of all, greet yourself – “Good luck!” Then you must collect the empty sacks and put them in your room. Surely, the empty sacks will all be filled up with money by your dead father. The money will thenceforth relieve you of your inherited poverty and all your other miserable conditions. Now, Ajaiyi, before you leave for your house, greet yourself now, “Good luck!”’
‘Good luck to me!’ Ajaiyi shouted with smiles.
‘Yes, it is sure you will soon be a rich man, because my gods do not lie. And when a person has money, the people call him “Money man!”’ The witch doctor and Ajaiyi shouted together, laughing, ‘Money man!’
However, as Ajaiyi walked along the way to his house, he thought to himself perplexedly, ‘The witch doctor said I must sacrifice nine rams to my dead father before my poverty will stop. Hmm. I am sure I shall never be free from this inherited poverty because I have no money to buy even a small cock. How can I buy nine rams?’
‘What did the witch doctor tell you about our poverty, my husband?’ Ajaiyi’s wife inquired impatiently. When he told her everything that the witch doctor had told him to do, and told her further that he had no money with which to buy the rams and sacks, his wife shouted, ‘Ah! you said you have no money to buy the rams! And yet we become rich as soon as you give the rams to your dead father! Are you going to die in this poverty? Can’t you see, when you go here, you see “Money man!” You go there, you see “Money man!” And everywhere you go you see “Money man!” You must go and pawn yourself to the third pawnbroker, who will give you the money to buy the rams and the empty sacks.’
Ajaiyi protested in horror: ‘Pawn myself again for money? But I am afraid, you know. If I pawn myself again, how can I satisfy the three of them, and who will work for our living then?’
‘Never mind about our living,’ Ajaiyi’s wife advised him. ‘I believe that if you work hard, you will satisfy the three pawnbrokers!’
So the following day Ajaiyi reluctantly went to the third pawnbroker, who gave him 200 naira. Then he and his wife went to the market with the money. Unfortunately, 200 naira was insufficient to buy the nine rams and empty sacks. Having seen this, Ajaiyi was greatly perplexed. He told his wife they should return home with the money.
‘Oh, my husband,’ she advised him, ‘don’t let us return to the house with this money. We will spend it on another thing and our poverty will remain as before. Now, let us buy as many rams and sacks as the money can buy. Then, when you carry them to the grave of your father in the mid-night, you will explain before the grave that you will bring the rest as soon as your dead father helps you get the money to buy them. And I believe that your dead father will not refuse to accept the first instalment, because he knew well that he left you in great poverty.’
Ajaiyi, having thought his wife’s advice over and over, agreed reluctantly, with shrugs of his shoulders. He bought six rams and six empty sacks, and they carried them all back to their house.
It was hardly midnight when Ajaiyi put each of the rams alive inside one of the empty sacks. He carried them one by one to his father’s grave. When he had put them all on top of the grave, he explained, ‘My dead father, please accept these six rams as the first instalment, and I shall bring you the remaining three as soon as you help me get the money.’
Having said this, he went as directed to the witch doctor’s house and told Osanyin that he had carried the six rams to the grave.
‘Is that so? Ajaiyi, you have carried six rams to the grave? Oh, good for you!’ The witch doctor praised Ajaiyi with a cheerful voice and laughter. ‘You soon will become “Money man” then. Oh, very good for you. But you should not wait too long to carry the remaining three to the grave, you hear? All right, you can go back to your house. It is too dark to be out.’
Ajaiyi walked back to his house in the darkness. He hardly had left when the witch doctor, Osanyin, and his servants went to the grave and carried the six rams to his shrine. He killed all six for his food, and he gave the empty sacks to one of his servants to return to the grave before daybreak.
In the morning, Ajaiyi and his wife ran to the grave, and both were extremely happy when they met only the empty sacks on top of the grave. They believed at once that the dead father had taken the rams into his grave. With happiness, they collected the six empty sacks and returned to the house. Ajaiyi put the sacks in his room, and then he and his wife expected the dead father to fill them all with money.
When they had waited and waited many months, and Ajaiyi’s father still did not fill up the empty sacks with money, their poverty came to its lowest point. The three pawnbrokers were so annoyed that they dragged Ajaiyi here and there because he could not satisfy the three of them.
When he found life too harsh, Ajaiyi blamed his wife sorrowfully. ‘I told you in the market that day that we should return to the house with 200 naira when it was not sufficient to buy all nine rams at once. But you insisted we should buy as many as the money would buy!’
‘Ah, my husband, don’t let us give up hope yet,’ she advised him. ‘We must try hard to endure our difficulties. My advice is that you should go back to the witch doctor to help you find out from his gods why our poverty is worse than before we sacrificed the six rams to your dead father.’
Reluctantly, Ajaiyi went back to the witch doctor. He asked him the reason for the persistence of his poverty.
‘Ah, Ajaiyi,’ the witch doctor said, ‘your poverty cannot stop until you have taken the remaining three rams to your dead father!’
Frightened, Ajaiyi went back to his house. He told his wife what the witch doctor told him to do in order to end his poverty. In her confusion, she asked him, ‘But what are we going to do next to get money with which to buy the remaining rams and empty sacks?’
Ajaiyi answered her in great anger. ‘Well, you know we have not even one kobo in hand. So we can’t get money to buy three rams and three sacks. But now, all I am planning to do this midnight is go to visit my father in his grave.’
‘What are you going to tell him if you can visit him?’ Ajaiyi’s wife asked, afraid.
‘I shall ask him why he is demanding nine rams from me in order to set me free from the poverty which he left to me!’
‘But if he confirms it, what are you going to do for him?’
‘If he confirms it then I shall behead him, and then I shall come out of his grave.’
His wife objected to this dangerous proposal. ‘Please, never attempt to visit a dead person in his grave!’
Nevertheless, in the mid-night, Ajaiyi, having sharpened his long machete, took three empty sacks and went to the grave of his father. He filled up two of the sacks with sand in such a way that each seemed to contain a ram, and he laid both on top of the grave. Then he lay the third sack and his machete on top of the grave as well. Then he went to the witch doctor. He told him that he had put the remaining rams on top of the grave.
‘What a nice man you are, Ajaiyi,’ the witch doctor told him cheerfully. ‘I know, you are a young man who is fast in taking action on everything! Ah, good of you to have put the three rams on the grave as soon as possible. Now, put it in your mind that you will soon become “Money man”. But you must not forget
to go and collect the empty sacks from the grave in the morning. That is all. Go back to your house now; the night is too dark!’
As soon as Ajaiyi left the witch doctor, he went back to the grave. He put the third sack near the two he had already filled up with sand. Holding his machete, he got inside it.
Now, inside the sack, he waited, expecting his father to drag the three sacks into the grave.
After about an hour, the witch doctor and his servants came in the darkness to the grave. His servants then carried the sacks to his house, and he followed them with a lamp in his hand. His servants had hardly put the three sacks down in front of his gods in the shrine before he took out his dagger and started to open the first sack, hoping to bring a ram out of it and then kill it.
He and his servants were greatly shocked when they saw the sand in the first sack, and then in the second sack as well. And he had hardly opened the third sack when Ajaiyi jumped out suddenly with his long machete. He raised the machete above his head.
‘What? Ajaiyi! You were in the sack,’ the witch doctor screamed as he and his servants defended their heads and faces with their hands.
Ajaiyi, scowling, stood firmly before the witch doctor, with the machete upraised, and said quietly, ‘Hun-un! my rams, because of which I have pawned myself to the third pawnbroker, and you – my dead father –’
‘Oh, Ajaiyi,’ the witch doctor said, ‘let me confess to you now. It was not your dead father who took all your rams, but I was the one who took them from the grave.’
‘But I believe you are my dead father,’ Ajaiyi shouted, threatening with his machete. ‘Therefore you are to set me free of my poverty this midnight!’
The frightened witch doctor cleared his throat, and then insisted, ‘Not at all! I am not your dead father. Therefore I have not the power to set you free from poverty!’
Ajaiyi, as if he had not heard, snatched the witch doctor’s right hand suddenly and asked loudly, ‘Tell me the truth! Will you set me free from my poverty this midnight or not?’
