My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

by Amos Tutuola

  But as any ghost could run faster than any earthly person, so that I became tired before him, and when he was about to catch me or when his hand was touching my head slightly to catch it, then I used the juju which I took from the hidden place that he kept it in before we left his house. And at the same moment that I used it, it changed me to a cow with horns on its head instead of a horse, but I forgot before I used it that I would not be able to change back to the earthly person again, because I did not know another juju which he was using before changing me back to an earthly person. Of course as I had changed to a cow I became more powerful and started to run faster than him, but still, he was chasing me fiercely until he became tired. And when he was about to go back from me I met a lion again who was hunting up and down in the bush at that time for his prey as he was very hungry, and without hesitation the lion was also chasing me to kill for his prey, but when he chased me to a distance of about two miles I fell into the cow-men’s hands who caught me at once as one of their cows which had been lost from them for a long time, then the lion got back from me at once for the fearful noise of these cow-men. After that they put me among their cows which were eating grass at that time. They thought I was one of their lost cows and put me among the cows as I was unable to change myself to a person again.

  My Life with Cows

  As I was among these cows I was illtreated as a wild or stubborn cow by these cow-men and always given double punishments which should only be given to the cows. At night they would put the whole of us in the yard and locked the door so that we might not escape. But as these cows were not persons and also more powerful, several times they would be scratching me with their horns and hoofs and jumping on me in the same place that I was cast down, and thinking that no doubt one day I should be killed or sold to a butcher who would kill me as an ordinary cow. The aim of these cows was to kick or scratch me with their horns until I would stand up and be doing as they themselves were doing. They were not sleeping, resting or tired of making fearful noises once till the day would break, especially if the rain comes at night and starts to beat us they would enjoy it to their satisfaction and then begin to kick themselves and dash at everything without mercy, because the yard was uncovered.

  Every early morning the cow-men would come and take the whole of us to a wide pasture, and at the same time these cows would scatter on this pasture which was in the centre of the sun and start to eat the grasses voraciously, but I alone would cast myself down on the same place as I could not eat the grasses because I am not a real cow. Of course as a stream crossed the road on which we were travelling to this pasture so I was drinking the water from it when going early in the morning and also when returning in the evening and I was feeding only on this water as food. As I was unable to explain to these cow-men that I am not really a cow, so I was showing them in my attitude several times that I am a person, because whenever they were roasting yams in the fire and when eating it I would approach them and start to eat the crumbs of the yams which were falling down by mistake from their hands and whenever they were discussing some important matter with arguments within themselves I would be giving signs with my head which was showing them the right and wrong points on which they were arguing.

  But one day, when they noticed that I was always standing or cast down in the same place and not eating the grasses or roaming about as other cows were doing, then they started to flog me with heavy clubs and also illtreat me as they were treating wild or stubborn cows, so I was feeling much pain and still I was unable to eat the grasses or to be doing as other cows were doing. Their aim was that if they flog me I would eat the grasses and do as other cows, but after they had tried all their efforts and failed then they thought that I was sick.

  After the third day that they thought so, they took me to a market for sale, but unfortunately nobody bought me until the evening that the market closed, then they took me back home. Again, two days later they took me to this market for the second time for sale, but the butchers bought all the rest cows in the market and left me alone; every one of them was telling these cow-men that if they take me back home they must kill me at once otherwise I would die unexpectedly. These butchers thought that I would die very soon as I could not do as other cows and also was very lean for want of food and again from illtreatment. So when these cow-men were returning to their town in the evening with me as no one bought me on that market day again, they were abusing and clubbing me repeatedly along the homeway. They were also thinking within themselves that if they take me to the market for the third time and if butchers refuse to buy me, then they would kill me unfailingly on that day for their food as I was not useful for them. But when the third market day arrived I was taken to the market for the third time, luckily I was bought by an old woman when it was about two o’clock p.m. The reason why she bought me was that her daughter’s eyes were totally blinded for a long time and when she went to a fortune-teller, she was told that she must go to the market and buy a cow and kill it for a certain god which was in her town, then undoubtedly her daughter’s eyes would see clearly as before. So when this old woman heard this from the fortune-teller then she came to the market and bought me very cheap as I was very lean, then she took me to her town where she would kill me for the god of her town as told.

  When she reached her house, she tied me to a pillar which was on the front of her house, but this pillar was exposed to the sun or anything which might come down from the sky. Having tied me to this pillar she entered into the house and after half an hour she brought plenty of cooked yams back to me and I ate to my satisfaction as it was cooked. But when it was night she did not attempt to put me inside the house or a protected place for any dangerous creature which might attack me in the midnight. It was not yet eight o’clock in the night before everybody slept in this town, and again when it was ten o’clock a heavy rain came and beat me till the morning, and also the mosquitoes which were as big as flies did not let me rest once till the morning, but I had no hands to be driving them away from my body, although it is only in this “Bush of Ghosts” such big mosquitoes could be found, and as I was in the rain throughout the night I was feeling the cold so that I was shaking together with my voice, but had no fire to warm my body.

  A Cola Saved Me

  When it was twelve o’clock p.m. prompt the whole people of this town gathered at the front of the house of this old woman who bought me. After that four of them loosened me from the pillar and took me to their god which was outside the town. Having reached there I saw clearly that over fifty of these people held daggers or sharp knives, spears, cutlasses and axes which were as sharp as swords. The first ceremony which they performed for this god was that the whole of them laid me down flat and close before the god. At this stage I wanted to speak to them that I am not a real cow but a person. But all of this was in vain, because if my heart speaks as a person my mouth would speak out the words in the cow’s voice which was fearful to them and also was not clear to them. As they laid me down before this god, all of them danced round me three times and this was the first ceremony to be performed. After that they were praying which was the second ceremony to be performed. But as the word “COLA” should be mentioned in a part of the prayer, and again the “COLA” should be produced at this point by the old woman as it must be included in this sacrifice before they could kill me before this god, so at this stage they asked the old woman to produce the “COLA”. Then she searched her handbag which she brought there, but when she searched the bag there was no “COLA”, she had forgotten it at home, then she told them that she would run home and bring it.

  But after she left a joke-man was joking funnily about me as I had become a laughing-stock for them, that he would eat cow meat today until he would nearly die, because he had eaten cow’s meat for long time. And when a risible man who was among the four men who held me tightly before this god heard what the joke-man was saying then he started to laugh, so when the rest started to laugh together, the four men who held me befo
re the god did not know the time that their hands slackened on me, then I sprang up unexpectedly with all my power to a distance of about ninety yards away. So this made them frightened as there were horns on my head, and before they could start to chase me I ran into a thick bush which was about a mile from them or that god. But after they tried all their efforts to catch me and failed, then the whole of them ran back to the town to take guns, bows and arrows. And before they could come back to chase me again, as I was running helter-skelter in that bush for my life I mistakenly fell into a very deep pond which was full of water as it was in the rainy season and also covered by the weeds which disallowed me from seeing that there was a pond. But to my surprise, immediately I saw my shadow in this water that I was a cow in form I changed to a person as before I used the smelling-ghost’s juju which changed me so. Of course if I had known that if I see myself in water that I am a cow I would change to a person I should have done so immediately the cow-men caught me and before they sold me to the old woman whose daughter’s eyes were blinded.

  But as I had been changed to a person before these people came with guns, I asked them personally what they were looking for, but they replied that they were looking for a cow which was just escaped from them, then I said—“Oh! I saw it now when running far into the bush, better follow this way, you will see it very soon if you follow my advice.” And the whole of them followed the direction that I showed them because they thought I was one of them. Then I left that area immediately they left me and I started to find the way to my home town.

  But when it was about three months that I left them or changed from a cow to a person, one night, as I was wandering about in the bush I saw a dead wood which was about six feet long and three feet in diameter and there was a large hole inside it which was not through to the second end, which means it has only one entrance. So I entered the hole through this entrance, then I slept there as I did not sleep since I was among the cows before they sold me and again it was in the rainy season which was beating me about both day and night. But I did not wake until a “homeless-ghost” who was only wandering about since he was born by an unknown mother came and entered into the hole of this dead wood as he was also looking for such a dry place to sleep. But when he entered and met me there, he did nothing but got out cautiously and corked tightly the only entrance of this hole. After that he put it on his head while I was inside the hole, then he carried this wood about together with me, and he had carried it very far away before I woke inside this wood as ghosts were very smart to trek either short or long distances.

  But when I woke and noticed that I was carried away by an unknown ghost or creature to an unknown destination, so I began to suggest in my mind that perhaps the creature who is carrying me away now is going to throw the wood into a big fire or is going to throw it into a deep river. After I thought so, then I began to cry with a lower voice, not knowing that there was already a big snake inside this hole before I entered it. But at the same moment that the snake heard my voice when crying which was fearful to him, so he was coiled round me instead of running out of the hole as the entrance had been corked before by this “homeless-ghost” who was carrying it about. But as this snake was also fearful to me too, then I was crying louder than before, and when the “homeless-ghost” was hearing my voice inside this wood, it was a lofty music for him, then he started to dance the ghosts’ dance and staggering here and there in the bush as if he was intoxicated by a kind of their drink which was the strongest of all their drinks and which was drunk only by “His Majesty” the king of the “Bush of Ghosts”, the royal and prominent ghosts. The homeless-ghost who was carrying the wood away thought that it was this wood which he was carrying away that was playing the lofty music. But as he was carrying the wood away, dancing and staggering on, he met over a million “homeless-ghosts” of his kind who were listening to my cry as a radio. Whenever these ghosts met him and listened to my cry which was a lofty music for a few minutes, if they could not bear the music and stand still then the whole of them would start to dance at the same time as a madman. All these “homeless-ghosts” so appreciated my cry that all would dance to a distance of about a mile away from the carrier of the wood and then dance back to him again. And as all the ghosts that they met were joining them to dance, so all of them danced for three days and nights without eating, resting or being tired once until the news had spread to many towns of ghosts.

  So at this time the homeless-ghost who was carrying the wood was invited by several prominent ghosts who had special occasions to perform. But whenever he reached the town that he was called to, first of all they would eat and drink to their most entire satisfaction, after that he would knock the wood as a sign, and when the snake heard it he would be running to and fro inside the wood in searching the way to go out and when doing that he would be also coiling me round in such a fearful way which would make me to cry more bitterly, and when hearing my cry then the whole of the ghosts of that town would be dancing till a late hour in the night as both day and night were the same for all ghosts.

  But as a person could not cry from morning till the late hour in the night without stopping or eating once so if I stopped to rest for a moment or if my voice had become stiffness, then he would put this wood near the fire and if the wood started to heat, then I would start to cry louder by force, and the snake would be also dashing to every part of the hole as if ten persons are beating different kinds of drums to my cry, so they would continue at once to dance again.

  At a Ghost Mother’s Birthday Function

  As this “homeless-ghost” was then famous and well known to every prominent ghost because of my cry which was a very lofty music for them, so one day, a famous ghost whose mother had died when all the eyes of all the creatures were still on their knees invited all the ghosts of his kind to his house as all the same kinds of ghosts are living in the same town and called the homeless-ghost to hear the music which would be the most important part for the ceremony of his mother’s birthday. But after all the invitees had gathered to his house, and ate and drank to their satisfaction, then the homeless-ghost knocked the wood as a sign, so I started to cry from that morning till the evening, but as I never eat or drink since the night he had corked me inside the hole, then my voice was entirely stiffened or dead. I was unable to cry any more, and as all these invitees had eaten and drunk to excess, and still eager to hear my cry, so after the whole of them with the “homeless-ghost” who carried me to that town had tried all their efforts to make me cry and failed, then he started to split the wood into two with an axe. Luckily when the wood was half broken the snake first found his way out as he was thinner than me and when visible to these ghosts unexpectedly all of them ran furiously to the house of the famous ghost who invited them and hid there. But as the wood had already nearly broken into two, so I tried my best and found my way out as well and without hesitation I ran into a far bush and hid there before they came back and it was already empty, so it was this time they knew that it was a person crying in it.

  This is how I escaped from the “homeless-ghost” who was carrying me about, and before the dawn I had travelled very far away from that town and then entered into another town and started a new life with new ghosts. Immediately I entered this town I went round it and saw a ghost who only resembled earthly people among all ghosts who were living there. Then I entered his house, I saluted him with respect and he answered me exactly as an earthly person. He gave me a seat at once. After that I asked him to give me food as I did not eat anything since I escaped from the “homeless-ghost” who was carrying me about, but as he was a kind ghost he gave me the food without any question.

  After I ate the food to my satisfaction and rested for some minutes, then I asked him whether he is an earthly person as I was doubting, he replied thus—“I am and I am not.” But as I did not know which is to be held as the truth in these two answers, so I told him that I do not understand what he means by “I am and I am not.” When heard so from me he start
ed his story and also the story of that town as follows:

  “You see, the whole of us in this town are burglars and we have burgled uncountable earthly women in every earthly town, country and village. You earthly person, listen to me well, I shall tell you how we are burgling earthly women today. If an earthly woman conceives we would choose one of us to go to her at night and after the woman has slept then he would use his invisible power to change himself to the good baby that the woman would be delivered of whenever it is time. But after he has driven out the good baby and entered into the woman’s womb, he would remain there and when it is time the woman would deliver him instead of the good baby which had been driven out; and the wonderful secret which all the earthly persons do not understand is that before two or three months that the woman bore him, he would develop rapidly as a year and an half old baby and would be very attractive to everyone, particularly the woman who bore him, as a good or superior baby. Having developed to that attractive state he would start to pretend to be sick continuously, but as he is very attractive to this woman, then she will be spending a lot of money on him to heal the sickness and also sacrificing to all kinds of gods. As this inferior baby has invisible power or supernatural power, so all the money spent on him and also the sacrifices would be his own and all would be stored into a secret place with the help of his invisible power.