by Amos Tutuola
‘I believe Sunkun is one of the immortal spirits of the jungle,’ another of the pawns remarked, and he was right.
When the men came to the farm again, they saw again that Sunkun had cleared the forest up to ten kilometres square. They were so afraid that they could not wait and work on the farm that morning. They all ran back to the village. They told the husbandman that Sunkun had cleared all the forests before day-break. To see if the information which his children and pawns gave to him was true or not, without hesitation, the husbandman ran to his farm.
‘What?’ the husbandman was shocked with surprise when he saw that Sunkun had cleared the whole forest of that area. ‘It is quite a long time that I have been pawning, but Sunkun is the first of his kind!’ he remarked loudly with surprise, and then he ran back to the village with throbbing heart.
He hardly sat down when he called all his sons and pawns. As all of them knelt down before him, he told them, ‘When you go to the farm tomorrow morning, tell Sunkun that his work for that day is to make heaps on the cleared ground.’
And according to the instruction given to them, when they were going to the farm in the following morning, they stopped at the usual junction. They told Sunkun that his work for that day was to make heaps. Then they went straight to the farm.
When they got to the farm and saw that Sunkun had left nothing on it for them to do, they returned to the village. They told their rich husbandman that Sunkun had left nothing for them to do.
Then, from that day, the husbandman started to think about how he could see Sunkun personally when he was working. For he wondered how Sunkun alone could do the work which not even four thousand men could do even in six months’ time.
Again, when the sons and pawns went to the farm the following day, they saw that Sunkun had made heaps on the whole land which he had cleared a few nights ago. When they brought this information to the husbandman, it made his desire stronger to find how he could see Sunkun personally when he was working.
One day, a thought came to his mind to tell Sunkun that his work for the night was to come to the village to cut hair for his sons, his pawns and himself. The husbandman thought that he would be able to see Sunkun work when he came to cut his hair for him.
The husbandman did not know that just as he was thinking in mind how to see Sunkun when working, so too it was for his eldest son, Tolu. He too wanted to see how Sunkun was doing the work in one night which four thousand men could not do in six months’ time.
When the sons and pawns of the husbandman were going to the farm in the following morning, they stopped at the usual junction which was near Sunkun’s place of abode in the calm bush. They delivered the message of the husbandman to him that his work for the night was to cut hair for the sons and pawns, and for the husbandman himself.
Sunkun the Taskmaster never worked in the daytime, but only at night. Therefore, he and his followers came to the village only after Sunkun had mesmerized (or put to sleep) all the people and their domestic animals as well. He and his followers cut all the hair off the heads of all the people, including women, and off domestic animals of the village as well, within a few minutes. And then they returned to the places of their abode before daybreak.
So it was that Sunkun and his followers cut the hair for all the people and domestic animals of the village instead of only cutting the hair of his master the husbandman, his sons, and his pawns. And none of the people or their domestic animals woke when Sunkun and his followers did the hair-cutting.
When the people woke in the morning and saw that the hair on their heads had been cut, they were so worried that they began to shout angrily about in the village. But the husbandman kept quiet. He did not tell the people that it was his pawn, Sunkun, who had cut their hair. He was afraid of being mobbed by the people.
Now, when the husbandman had failed to see how Sunkun could work as he did, he stopped worrying about Sunkun’s wonderful work.
Thus, Sunkun continued to work miraculously on the farm until the yams and maize were ripe. One morning, because the husbandman was much impressed with the work which Sunkun was doing on his farm, he told his eldest son, Tolu, to tell Sunkun that when he had finished his work that night, he should take a yam and a cob of maize from the farm to eat them in his house.
Tolu delivered his father’s message at the usual junction, but Tolu and the pawns were extremely shocked when they got to the farm the following morning and found that Sunkun had taken all the yams and maize of the farm away instead of one yam and one cob of maize. He took also away all the yams and maize which were on those farms which were near the husbandman’s farm.
Having seen that Sunkun had left nothing on the farm, they could not stay and work that morning. Instead, they ran back to the village. And when they told the husbandman that Sunkun had taken all the yams and maize away, he was so annoyed that he told Tolu to go and warn him not to work on his farm as from that day.
Now, as Tolu had also determined to see how Sunkun was working like four thousand persons, he advised his father the husbandman to allow Sunkun to make heaps for other kinds of crops before they stopped his work on the farm. Unfortunately, his father agreed.
But Tolu, the other sons, the pawns and the husbandman himself were not aware that Sunkun, the Taskmaster or odd-looking man, was the leader of the immortal spirits of the forest. All his followers were joining him to work on the farms. And that was why the work which they supposed he did alone was much more than that of four thousand persons. And that was the reason that when each of his followers and himself took one yam and one cob of maize, all the yams and cobs of maize were finished on the farm.
So the rich husbandman, his sons and his pawns did not yet understand that the more many people worked, the more they ate plenty of food.
Tolu still insisted on seeing how Sunkun was doing the work of four thousand men or even more. When he and the others got to the usual junction the following morning, they stopped there, and he told Sunkun that his work for that night was to make heaps on the cleared land. After, they went to the farm and, having worked hard, they returned to the village in the evening.
As soon as Tolu and his father’s other sons and his pawns had returned from the farm, he told his father that he would go back to the farm in the night.
‘What are you going to do on the farm in the night?’ his father asked with wonder.
‘I am going there just to watch how Sunkun does the work of so many men,’ Tolu explained, briefly.
His father warned him: ‘Don’t try to watch Sunkun at work. You know, he is not an ordinary man.’
Then Tolu left his father for another part of the house, as he pretended to be an obedient son. But when it was about eight o’clock at night, Tolu, without telling anybody in the house, went back to the farm in the dark. He entered inside a big, tall ant-hill, which was at the third corner of the farm.
He hid inside the ant-hill and then waited for Sunkun to come and do his wonderful work that night. Thus Tolu disobeyed his father in order to see how Sunkun, his father’s pawn, worked.
When Tolu had waited quietly in the ant-hill for about two hours, Sunkun emerged suddenly on the cleared land. Now Tolu, having readjusted himself, peeped out from the ant-hill with the hope to satisfy his ambition that night.
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.
The Greedy Tortoise and the Orisa-Oko
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?’ Th
e 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.
