by Amos Tutuola
‘What have both of you come to do in my land, or don’t you know that this is my land?’ the old woman shouted horribly at them.
Ajala, the senior brother, hastily apologized with a dead voice: ‘We are sorry that we have come to your land. But we shall be happy if you will spare us a few minutes to explain to you what we were looking for before we came to your land.’
‘Yes, I am pleased to listen to your explanation, boys,’ the strange old woman confirmed loudly.
‘Thank you, mother. You see, our father and mother are so poor that they buy almost everything on credit. They owe so much money that they cannot go out in the day, but only at night. But to help them pay their debts, both of us have resolved to go abroad to look for a job there. When we work hard and save a large sum of money, then we shall go back to our father and mother, and then we shall help them pay all their debts,’ Ajala explained to the strange old woman.
‘Is that so?’ she bent forward and asked with wonder.
‘It is so, mother,’ Adele, the younger brother, confirmed loudly.
‘Well, if both of you can keep to my law, you will leave this my land with much money and happiness,’ the old woman assured Ajala and Adele.
‘We shall keep your law, mother,’ Ajala and Adele promised.
‘All right. If you are sure to do so, stand up and follow me now.’ So without hesitation they stood up and they followed her. After a while, they trekked to a big farm which was full of kola-nut trees. She took them round the farm and showed them the kola-nuts.
‘I put both of you in charge of these my kola-nut trees as from today. Whatever kola-nuts the trees bear are for you. If you wish, you may carry the nuts to the market which is near this my jungle. Any amount you sell them for is yours. But be sure that you keep all the money so that you may have a large sum of money to give to your father and mother when you return to them perhaps in six months’ time.’ Thus the old woman explained to them as if she really wanted to help them.
After that, she took the young boys, Ajala and Adele, to a small hut which was in the centre of this farm. She told them to live in it. She also showed them one strange spot. On this strange spot, there was a big deep and wide pit, and it was covered with a broken pot. Inside this covered pit, there were two duck’s eggs, but Ajala and Adele did not know what was inside the pit.
Having shown them the covered pit, she warned them seriously, ‘Whatever happens to you, you must not attempt to remove the cover of this pit in order to see what may be inside it. If you dare remove the cover and see what may be inside the pit, it means you break my law. And breaking my law means you disobey me, and this can transform you into a horrible thing.’ Having thus warned Adele and Ajala, she disappeared unexpectedly.
So Ajala and Adele lived in that hut. They plucked the kola-nuts and carried them to the nearest market, selling them, and keeping the money in a small hole which they dug in a corner of the hut. And they were so very careful to keep to the old woman’s law that they did not go near the pit or remove its cover.
When Ajala and Adele had spent three years on the farm and they had saved enough money, they decided with each other that soon they would leave there and return to their father and mother.
Unfortunately, just a few days before the period when they decided to leave, their youngest sister, who was born after they had just left their village, and who had heard that she had two brothers but who both had gone abroad, started to look for them. Thus she was going from one village to another looking for them until she came to this jungle. She was lucky to meet Ajala and Adele, her brothers, in their hut one morning not long before they planned to leave.
Bukola, for that was her name, greeted them with due respect. Although they responded nicely, they could not recognize her as their sister. But when she explained herself to them, that she was born a few months after they had left the village, they received her with gladness. Then she told them the condition of their father and mother, that it was far worse than before, when Ajala and Adele had not left them. And they told her how the old woman received them with kindness and how they had saved a large sum of money. Then they showed her the covered pit and warned her not to attempt to remove its cover in order to see what was inside it. And she told them that she would not.
But one morning, after Ajala and Adele had taken their kola-nuts to the market, Bukola, their disobedient sister, went to the pit. She remarked to herself, ‘What kind of thing will be in this pit which a person must not see? Today, I will remove the cover to see what is in it.’
To Bukola’s surprise, when she removed the cover of the pit, she saw that there were two duck’s eggs. She took both out at once. But immediately the eggs struck each other. They hatched and two ducklings came out. Then with fear she took them and walked back to the spot where she had been sitting in the hut. She sat down while the two ducklings were in front of her, and then she waited for the return of her two brothers to show them the ducklings.
She waited and waited till nightfall, but they did not return to the hut from the market. She took both ducklings; she walked to one corner of the hut; she sat down and started to weep bitterly. All this time she did not know it was her two brothers who had turned into those ducklings.
As she continued to weep, while the two ducklings were in front of her, the old woman who had permitted her brothers to be in charge of her farm and sell her kola-nuts for their own benefit, appeared before Bukola. It was so dark that she could see the old woman only faintly in the darkness.
‘What are you weeping for?’ the old woman asked.
‘I am weeping for my two brothers who have not returned from the market since morning!’ said Bukola with tears.
‘Yes,’ the old woman explained to Bukola, ‘your brothers cannot return to you any more because they have turned into these two ducklings which are in front of you now. Your brothers have turned into ducklings because you opened the pit and took out the two duck’s eggs, which later hatched into ducklings. But of course, I had warned your brothers not even to attempt to open the pit.’
Then Bukola knelt down and begged the old woman to change her brothers from ducklings back to persons. But the old woman advised her, ‘No! Unless you can pretend to be a dumb girl from this moment for the period of seven years! Which means you must not talk or make a single noise whatsoever happens to you throughout that period. Then at the end of the seventh year your two brothers will change from ducklings into their usual form as persons.’
Having advised Bukola like that, the old woman began to search every corner of the hut for the money which Ajala and Adele had realized from the kola-nuts. After a while, she found one of the four holes in which the two boys kept their money. Without mercy, she took all the money that she met in the hole. Then she walked zigzag back to Bukola who had by then pretended to be dumb. The old woman threatened the girl so perhaps she would talk or make a noise, but when she did not even make a noise, but was like a real dumb person, the old woman disappeared with the money.
The old woman was not an ordinary woman but a strong witch of this jungle. She would always take the money of those who lived in her farm or jungle after she had turned them into ducklings. At first she would pretend to be kind to those who had trespassed on her farm or jungle, and she would permit them to pluck her kola-nuts and sell them and keep the money they would realize for their own use. But as soon as she had turned them into ducklings, she would search for their money and then take all away for her own use.
This old woman or witch had designed this means in order to get money for her living because she had become so old and wearied that she had no longer had power to pluck her kola-nuts and maintain the farm by herself.
Then, now that Bukola was pretending to be a dumb girl, a prince who was hunting for animals in that farm or jungle saw her in the hut. ‘What are you doing here?’ the prince asked with wonder, ‘You, a very beautiful girl. What is your name? Where have you come from to this hut?’
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p; But Bukola would not reply at all. She was just breathing in and out and looking on like a real dumb girl, with her eyes which showed she was in great sorrow.
‘Are you a dumb girl? If you are so or not, I am taking you to my town to be my wife.’ Having asked a number of questions from Bukola to which she did not reply, the prince thought that she was dumb. Then he simply took her, and her two ducklings, on the back of his horse and then rode to his town.
But when his royal family spoke to Bukola and she did not reply, they believed that she was really dumb. And as it was against the tradition of this town for their prince to marry a dumb lady as his wife, all the royal family advised their prince strongly not to marry Bukola. The reason that the royal family of the town objected to their prince marrying a dumb girl or lady was that they did not wish the son of a dumb woman to rule their town whenever he became king.
At last, when their prince rejected his family’s advice and married Bukola, the royal family gathered together and they decided secretly that whenever Bukola bore either a male or female baby, they would kill it on the day of its naming ceremony. The prince was not aware of this evil plan, but Bukola, who was with them, heard their plan, but still pretended to be dumb.
A few months later, Bukola was delivered of a male child, and, in accord with the royal family’s evil plan, they killed the child on the very day that the name was given to it. And this evil deed was done in the presence of Bukola, for they had confirmed to themselves that she was dumb. However, she was so shocked that she was about to speak out that she was not dumb when she saw that her child was being strangled to death. But she controlled her mouth, for otherwise her two brothers who had been turned into ducklings would not ever change to persons again.
And so it was that the royal family killed all her newly born children.
But of course, as God was so good, when Bukola was being delivered of her fourth child, the end of the seventh year was near. Indeed, it was to be on that very day that her child would be named and then killed, that the end of the seventh year, when she would be free to talk, would be reached. So it was that after the name was given to her child, and the royal family prepared to strangle the child to death, at that moment she hastily spoke to the royal family: ‘Please don’t strangle my child to death. I am not dumb!’
The royal family did not believe their ears at first when they heard her voice. But as she continued to speak to them for some minutes, they believed she was not dumb at all.
Then, all of a sudden, the two ducklings changed into her two brothers. And she was so happy to see her two brothers in the form of persons that she started to dance about in the presence of the royal family.
When she had danced to her satisfaction, the royal family asked why she pretended to be dumb. And when she told them the reason, then the king and the other members of the family were sorry for her and her two brothers.
Then, having sympathized with her for her children which had been killed, and also for her brothers who were turned into ducklings by the witch mother for seven years, the king gave them a large sum of money and a lot of valuable things as well which they took to their village. They paid all their father’s and mother’s debts. Then, after some weeks, Bukola, their disobedient sister, went back to the prince who was her husband.
The Rich Husbandman and his Odd-looking Pawn
Hundreds of years ago, there lived in a famous village, a middle-aged man. He was a very rich husbandman – a landowner and farmer – who had a lot of farms, many children, many pawned men, and estates of several kinds. His eldest son, whose name was Tolu, used to lead the pawned men to his farms every day.
One night, in the dry season of the year, as the husbandman sat on his easy chair and his friends sat with him on the mats, one odd-looking man with horrible stature walked through the dark into his house.
‘Good evening,’ the odd-looking man said, prostrating himself in front of the husbandman and his friends, and saluting them.
The husbandman raised his head up, turned his eyes to the odd-looking man and said, ‘Yes, good evening, my man. But what kind of help do you want from me?’
‘My purpose in coming to you is to pawn myself to you for five naira. And I shall work for you till when I shall be able to refund the five naira to you.’ The odd-looking man spoke sluggishly as he squatted in front of the husbandman and his friends.
‘Are you a hard-working man, though you look odd?’ The husbandman, having cleared his throat, inquired doubtfully, with the voice of business, as he looked at the strange man from head to foot.
The odd-looking man recommended himself with a proverb: ‘I promise that you will be impressed when I start to work on your farms; I say so even though salt does not boast that it sweetens the soup.’
The husbandman doubted the odd-looking man’s integrity, so he said, ‘Well, I agree to lend you the money, but who will take your six kobo?’ – by which he meant, who would stand as surety for him?
‘I have nobody here who can take my six kobo, but as I have said, you will be impressed as soon as you see my work,’ the odd-looking man said, strengthening his promise.
‘All right, you have no surety, but you have promised to impress me by working hard. Take the five naira.’ The husbandman took out five naira from his pocket and gave it to the odd-looking man.
‘I thank you very much.’ The odd-looking man stretched out his right hand and took the money from the husbandman, kneeling down with respect. ‘And now,’ he said, ‘I believe that you are an open-handed rich farmer, just as many people have told me.’
As the odd-looking man moved his feet to walk from the sitting room to the outside, the husbandman remembered to ask him his name and his place of abode. ‘But Mr Man, wait. Please, what is your name and where do you live?’
‘My name? My name is Sunkun and my nickname is the Taskmaster and I live lonely in a calm bush which is near the path leading to your farms. Though the calm bush is hidden from the eyes of human beings, when your children and your pawns are going to farm tomorrow morning please tell them to stop at the junction which is near the Iroko tree, and then call my name loudly three times. And that is all the information I can give you.’ As soon as the husbandman had nodded, Sunkun walked to the outside and went alone in the dark.
As Sunkun, the Taskmaster or odd-looking man, went direct to the edge of the village, the husbandman still followed him with eyes. He saw that his new pawn, Sunkun, all of a sudden had one big arm, one long and thick foot, one large ear, and one large eye, instead of the two of each with which he came to the husbandman’s house.
Having seen these sudden changes on Sunkun the Taskmaster, the husbandman was so shocked with fear that without knowing he was doing so, he stood up and he sat down unexpectedly; then he screamed in great fear.
While he was in this frenzied state, all his astonished friends rushed over and asked him ‘What are you screaming for?’
‘Nothing serious: I have just remembered my hat which I have forgotten at the farm,’ he said, lying to his friends.
The following morning, when his sons and pawns got ready to go to farm, he told them that when they reached the junction which was near the Iroko tree, they should call out loudly three times the name, ‘Sunkun the Taskmaster!’
With this instruction, his sons and pawns left the village. And when they got to the junction, they called loudly three times, ‘Sunkun the Taskmaster! Sunkun the Taskmaster! Sunkun the Taskmaster!’
Sunkun answered loudly immediately with a song, singing:
Sunkun-o, Sunkun-o, Sunkun-o
Alujan-obele
Who is calling?
Sunkun-o, Alujan-obele.
They answered:
The children of the rich man
Are calling you
Alujan-obele
The children of the rich man
It is ground we are going to till
Alujan-obele.
Sunkun replied:
Go and till your o
wn
Alujan-obele
And when it is night
I shall till my own
Alujan-obele
Sunkun-o, Alujan-obele
It is forbidden for children to see me
Alujan-obele
Sunkun-o, Alujan-obele
And adults never visit me
Alujan-obele
Sunkun-o, Alujan-obele
Sunkun, whose one eye is brass
Alujan-obele
Sunkun-o, Alujan-obele
Whose one leg is copper
Alujan-obele
Sunkun-o, Alujan-obele
And whose one side is lead
Alujan-obele
Sunkun-o, Alujan-obele
Sunkun-o, Alujan-obele
Sunkun-o, Alujan-obele
When Sunkun the Taskmaster had told the children and pawns of the husbandman that he would go to the farm in the night and till his portion of the ground, they went to the farm and tilled as much as they could of the ground which they were preparing for new crops. Then they returned to the village in the evening.
When they were going to the farm again the following day, they stopped at the same junction. They called Sunkun loudly, and he answered loudly with song as before. They told him that the day’s work was to clear the forest. After that they went direct to the farm.
When they got to the farm, they were overwhelmed with surprise when they saw that the farm which belonged to the husbandman, and those which did not belong to him, had been tilled altogether by Sunkun before day-break.
‘Was it Sunkun alone who cleared all these farms at night? No! This is not one person’s work!’ the eldest son, Tolu, uttered in surprise.
‘Surely, Sunkun is not an ordinary person at all!’ one of the pawns shouted.
