Ajapa the Tortoise

by Margaret Baumann

  The stranger bowed low, and smiled, looking fiercer and uglier than ever, as he replied:

  “Sire, I claim the hand of your youngest daughter, the beautiful Princess Lewa, in marriage.”

  The young princess, who was present at the contest with her sisters, gave a shriek of horror, and even the King could not help shuddering, so repulsive was the appearance of the wrestler.

  “Indeed,” said the King, “you claim a very great reward! I have been searching four years to find a chief worthy to be the husband of Princess Lewa! However . . . I gave you my promise, and cannot turn your request aside. To-morrow evening I will give you my answer.”

  The wrestler bowed low and withdrew, the crowd melted away, and the King and his Court went into the palace. Here the beautiful princess flung herself at her father’s feet, and declared with tears that she would rather die than marry a common wrestler from a remote village, and one who was, moreover, absolutely hideous to look upon.

  “My daughter,” replied the King sadly, “a royal promise cannot be broken. However, I will try to postpone the marriage by making a condition impossible for this wrestler to fulfil.”

  The King retired to his private apartment, and thought and thought, but for a long time he could not think how to delay the marriage. At last an idea came to him, and he issued a royal proclamation to Lagbara and also to the whole of the kingdom, that Lagbara should only marry the princess when he had overthrown the first six wrestlers who might offer to stand against him; and that if, by chance, Lagbara himself was overthrown in any of the contests, his victor should wed the princess.

  When this proclamation had been beaten out by all the drummers, and passed from mouth to mouth throughout the town, the King rubbed his hands and felt happy again.

  “For of course,” he said to himself, “after seeing my giant Ogunro thrown by this ugly wrestler, no other man will dare to challenge him, and he will spend his life waiting in vain for the six opponents. Thus he can never marry my daughter.”

  But the King was mistaken.

  The beauty of the Princess Lewa was such that it was not long before a bold young man challenged Lagbara in the hope of winning the princess as his wife. Alas for his hopes! He met the same fate as the others, and was carried groaning from the circle.

  “Five more to defeat!” said Lagbara triumphantly, casting a look of admiration on the beautiful princess, who was so closely concerned with the result of the contest that she could not keep away, but had watched the match with her sisters.

  When Lagbara fixed his eyes upon her, she met his look proudly, and at once fainted, to the consternation of those about her. She opened her eyes at last to find herself lying on a divan in her chamber, and immediately burst into tears.

  All she could say was, that the glance of Lagbara had pierced her like a sharp spear, and caused her to faint with pain and terror.

  “Sister,” said one of the older princesses, “this must be the secret of Lagbara’s victories—as soon as he fixes his eyes on his opponents, they are struck by the same emotion which you have described, and in that instant he overcomes them.”

  This indeed was the case, for a magician had poured into Lagbara’s eyes a powerful charm which transfixed his enemies and so made it impossible for him to be defeated.

  Princess Lewa now wept more bitterly than ever, for it seemed clear that if six youths were bold enough to challenge the strange wrestler, she could not escape from becoming his bride.

  A second contest was soon ended, and the next week a third and fourth.

  “Two more to defeat!” cried Lagbara joyfully, at the end of the fourth contest, looking again at his unwilling bride. But this time Lewa kept her eyes lowered, for she was afraid to meet his terrible glance, and only hoped that no one else would now be foolish enough to challenge her suitor.

  The next day, however, there arrived at the palace a handsome young Chief named Oloto—a renowned wrestler in spite of his noble birth—to challenge Lagbara.

  This young man sat in the shadow and covered his face with a gold-embroidered cloth, answering few questions; but from the door of her apartment Princess Lewa saw him enter, and fell at once deeply in love with him.

  When she learned that the noble youth had travelled a long distance with the intention of challenging Lagbara to wrestle with him, she was filled with sadness, knowing how quickly he would be overthrown and perhaps killed.

  Out of her love for Oloto she secretly sent messengers to him, entreating him to withdraw from the contest, and to leave the town at once; but the young Chief sent no reply, and when the fifth combat was proclaimed and the hour drew near, she grew almost frantic with grief, and wished to end her life before Oloto should have lost his own on her account.

  The circle was drawn, and in the great courtyard a crowd gathered to behold the contest. The King sat under his white umbrella, attended by slaves with woven fans, looking gloomy and ill-humoured, and Princess Lewa herself stood in the background with her sisters, afraid to watch and yet unable to turn away her eyes.

  Oloto was led to the edge of the circle, where he threw off his gold-embroidered cloth and stepped boldly forward, calling out the words of his challenge.

  Then from the other side Lagbara sprang to face him, casting on him a death-dealing glance; but, without appearing to see it, Oloto seized him in a mighty grasp, and in a few moments Lagbara the undefeated lay helpless and groaning on the earth.

  A great cry of exultation went up from the crowd, and the King’s warriors shook their spears for joy. The King sprang to his feet and cried:

  “Well done! Well done! My daughter is saved.”

  And Princess Lewa stepped shyly forward and held out her hand to the handsome Chief. But to the astonishment of all, Oloto stood still in the middle of the circle, and then turned slowly round, saying sadly:

  “Beautiful Princess, whom I have never seen—where are you?”

  “I am here, noble Chief,” said Lewa softly. “Why do you not look at me?”

  “Alas!” replied Oloto. “Because I am blind.”

  Then the princess understood how her lover had been victorious; since he was blind, the malignant glance of Lagbara had no effect upon him, and for the first time strength had decided the combat.

  Smiling, Lewa went up to the young Chief and took his hand in betrothal.

  “I love you, not in spite of, but actually because of, your blindness!” she declared, and seeing what a noble couple stood before them, the people cheered again, the King smiled radiantly, and the marriage was speedily celebrated with great pomp and splendour.

  XXX. Why Tortoise Is Bald

  Tortoise lay peacefully sleeping in his house during the heat of the day, not in the least suspecting that the animals were at that moment holding a secret conference under a wide-spreading iroko tree in the depths of the forest.

  Leopard, who had called them all together, went through the names of the forest-dwellers, and the inhabitants of the marsh, and the denizens of the sea-shore, to make sure that nobody was missing.

  “All here but Ajapa the Tortoise!” said Leopard with satisfaction. “That is as it should be.”

  A murmur of agreement went up from the assembled animals.

  “Kindly hasten with the business,” hissed the Python; “I have arranged a hunting expedition for this afternoon, and the hour of repose will soon be past.”

  “Undue haste! Undue haste!” growled the Leopard reprovingly. “This is a serious matter. I have received complaints from a great many of you about the tricks which Tortoise has played—sometimes maliciously, though more often from his misguided sense of humour, and it is clearly time that he was taught to mind his own business.”

  Everyone agreed with this except Pigeon, who timidly put in a good word for his friend; but the others drowned his voice and seemed very anxious to pay Tortoise back for the tricks he had served them.

  “At least,” pleaded Pigeon, “treat him gently, for I cannot consent to any plan
which brings him real misfortune.”

  “Our plan will simply be to cover him with ridicule on account of his prying curiosity,” replied Leopard.

  For a long time the animals discussed how to cure Tortoise of his fault, and at last it was decided that they should all take it in turn to stand on guard outside an empty hut. Tortoise would be sure to think that there was something strange happening, or something of value hidden in the hut. When he had gone inside to look, the sentry was to give a signal, at which all the rest would suddenly appear and mock Tortoise for his curiosity until he was thoroughly ashamed.

  Even Pigeon could see no harm in this mild joke, and he consented to be the first sentry on guard outside the hut.

  When Tortoise awoke from his noontide sleep, he went out for a stroll, and discovered his friend Pigeon standing at the entrance to a near-by hut.

  “Good-afternoon!” said Tortoise politely.

  “Good-afternoon!” returned Pigeon, looking as mysterious as possible.

  Tortoise opened his mouth to ask what his friend was doing outside the hut, but on second thoughts he felt that this would be impolite, as Pigeon had not offered to tell him, and so he continued his stroll and did not even peep into the hut.

  After some time the first sentry was relieved by Wolf, who sat down looking very fierce, with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. At length Tortoise passed by, on his way homewards; but he was hungry and could smell his supper cooking, and besides, Wolf appeared so very fierce that Tortoise did not pause at all, but went straight into his house.

  Now the Wolf was relieved by Lizard, a foolish animal, who stood waving his head from side to side until Tortoise came out to see if it was a fine night, and if Pigeon or any other of his friends was about.

  When he saw still another sentry at the entrance of the hut, he began to think there was something in the air. He approached Lizard and said:

  “What keeps you standing outside this hut?”

  “I am on guard,” said Lizard.

  “Oh, so there is a prisoner in the hut?”

  “No, indeed,” replied the foolish sentry. “There is no one in the hut.”

  “Well then, there is perhaps treasure hidden here?”

  “No,” said Lizard, “the hut is quite empty.”

  Tortoise began to laugh.

  “That is strange, to be sure! I have seen Pigeon and Wolf and now Lizard standing on guard—outside a hut which is quite empty! What is the meaning of this riddle?”

  “Ah!” said Lizard wisely, “we are hoping to trap someone in the hut.”

  “Dear me!” returned Tortoise. “At least you will not trap me!”

  And he went straight home to bed.

  The animals met together during the night and were forced to admit that their plot had fallen through, but the Leopard had already thought of a better one.

  “Opposite Tortoise’s dwelling,” he explained, “there is an empty hut with a large window. I will creep into the hut as softly as possible, and the rest of you must come one at a time to the window, reciting a line which we must compose beforehand; each time the line is recited, I will throw down some object of no value, concealed in a large leaf. Tortoise will be sure to hear what is going on, and in the hope of receiving a present from the person in the house, he will stand under the window and recite like the rest. But instead of a present, I will give him a bowl of cold water, which will cure him of his inquisitiveness for ever.”

  Everyone laughed heartily at this plan, but Squirrel, who had an old grudge against Tortoise, eagerly demanded to be the one inside the house.

  “Well,” said Leopard generously, “if you are so anxious to pour cold water over Tortoise’s head, I don’t mind letting you take my place. Do the rest agree?”

  The animals all agreed, and began composing a line to recite outside the window.

  Tortoise was snoring blissfully in his house, when a voice outside suddenly began to sing:

  “If you have the treasure near,

  Throw it down, the friend is here!”

  Tortoise lost no time in going to his door, and was just able to see an exciting-looking parcel drop from the window opposite. The Wolf, who was standing below, picked it up and ran off into the forest.

  “The animals have all gone mad!” said Tortoise. “It is a great nuisance, and to-morrow I will stick up a notice: ‘Silence please!’ on that house—perhaps they will learn not to disturb me when I am asleep!”

  He was just going to sleep again, when another voice sang:

  “You who guard the treasure here,

  Throw it down, the friend is near!”

  “Almost the same words as before!” thought Tortoise, peeping out to see another parcel drop into the paws of Leopard, who ran off quickly into the forest.

  Tortoise watched for a while, and soon saw the Gorilla come up to the window, recite the same message, and receive a parcel in the same manner. Now Tortoise became very anxious to know who was in the house and what the mysterious parcels contained.

  When Elephant had also gone by, Tortoise slipped out of his house and stood under the window opposite, singing in his squeaky voice:

  “If you have the treasure near,

  Throw it down, the friend is here!”

  But alas! The spiteful Squirrel had prepared not cold but boiling water, and this he emptied on to the head of the unfortunate Tortoise.

  Hearing cries of pain, the animals all came running out of the forest, to find their victim in a truly pitiable condition, while Squirrel made haste to disappear and was soon at the top of the tallest tree he could find.

  “Alas!” said the Leopard in distress. “This is the result of your curiosity!”

  “My curiosity was a natural one,” replied poor Tortoise bitterly, “but my misfortune is the result of malice, and you have indeed played me a very cruel trick!”

  The animals protested that Squirrel had altered their plan to suit his own malicious purpose.

  “Indeed, Tortoise,” declared the Crocodile, who had a tender heart and who shed large, fat tears on the ground as she spoke, “we meant to cure you of your curiosity, but how could we suspect that such a misfortune would befall you?”

  Tortoise groaned in reply:

  “Your regret may be sincere, but the deed is done, and I shall always be reminded of it when I think of my poor head.”

  And this was true, for ever afterwards Tortoise was bald, and remains so to this day, while Squirrel, his old enemy, keeps well out of reach and scolds him for his inquisitiveness from the branches of the trees.

  1 Thieves, because they are dressed ready for running.