by Amos Tutuola
‘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.
About the Author
Amos Tutuola was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 1920. The son of a cocoa farmer, he attended several schools before training as a blacksmith. He later worked as a civil servant. His first novel, The Palm-Wine Drinkard, was published in 1952 and brought him international recognition. From 1956 until retirement, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Company while continuing to write. His last book, The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories, was published in 1990. He died in Ibadan in 1997.
By the Same Author
THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD
MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS
SIMBI AND THE SATYR OF THE DARK JUNGLE
THE BRAVE AFRICAN HUNTRESS
FEATHER WOMAN OF THE JUNGLE
AJAIYI AND HIS INHERITED POVERTY
THE WITCH-HERBALIST OF THE REMOTE TOWN
PAUPER, BRAWLER AND SLANDERER
Copyright
This ebook edition first published in 2014
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
All rights reserved
© The Estate of Amos Tutuola, 1990
Cover design by Faber
The right of Amos Tutuola to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–31133–0
