My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

by Amos Tutuola

  “But after the woman has spent all she has and become poor, then one night he would pretend as if he has died, so the woman who bore him as a superior baby, her family and other sympathisers would be saying thus: ‘Ah! that fine baby dies’, but they do not know that he is not a superior baby. They would bury him as a dead baby, but the earthly persons do not know that he does not die but simply stops breath. But after he is buried, then he would come out of the grave at midnight, then he would go direct to the secret place where all the moneys and the sacrifices as sheep, goats, pigeons and fowls, all would be alive and are stored by his invisible power, and he would carry them to this town. So you earthly person, if you reach your earthly town and if you hear that a woman is delivering babies who die always or continuously, then believe, we are those babies and all the earthly people are calling such a baby ‘born and die’. But if you do not believe this story if a ‘born and die’ baby dies from a woman, after he is buried, watch the grave in which he is buried and after the second day try and go to that grave and dig it out; you would be very surprised that he would not be found there any more, but he has come back to this town. We have no other work to perform more than this in this town, so the whole of us in this town are called ‘Burglar-ghosts’.” But after he told me the story of their town and also about the “born and die babies” I was very impressed and surprised. He told me too that the whole of them are feeding on anything that earthly people have and said further that this is the meaning of “I am and I am not” when I first asked him whether he is an earthly person, because they were living as earthly persons and also as ghosts.

  After he related the secret of the “born and die babies”, then he asked me whether I should be living with him in that town and I said “yes”, so he gave me a separate room in his house. But as I was living with this “burglar-ghost” and he was taking great care of me as if he was my father and mother, so one day, he told me that I should take care of everything in the house and said that he would go to a certain town which belongs to earthly people tonight, he said that he would return in ten months’ time. Because he had told me before that he would try the wonderful invisible power once in my presence before I would leave him to believe all his saying. Of course as he told me like that I did not believe him at all and I did not know what he was going to do in that earthly town and also I did not know the name of the right earthly town he was going to. So when it was about one o’clock in the midnight he became invisible to me, because I did not see him walk out from the house on foot, so it remained me alone at home. But after he became invisible or gone away, I was playing about in this town as I could not stay at home always, but as it is not hard or very easy for a young boy to get a friend of his rank, by that I became a tight friend with a young ghost whose father was a rich ghost and also a native of that town when I was playing around the town. This young ghost taught me how to speak some simple ghosts’ language. Of course I was unable to speak it fluently at that time. Both of us were playing about in the town in such a way that I did not remember to start to find the way to my home town again. But one night at about one o’clock in the midnight when I slept I heard somebody knocking the door of that house, when I opened this door which was a heavy flat stone it was this burglar-ghost who had gone ten months ago. Then he entered with bales of sewn clothes, sheep, goats, pigeons, fowls, all were still alive and moneys with all other used expensive articles. But when he loosened these bales of clothes there I saw plainly many clothes which belonged to my friends and my mother in my town that were among these clothes and was also surprised to see many clothes which my mother just bought for me and my brother before the war scattered all of us. After the second day that he came we killed all the fowls, pigeons, goats and sheep for the rest burglar-ghosts of this town for his good luck as he returned safely with many expensive articles. And when I saw all that he brought and also my own and my brother’s properties, then I believed his story which he told me before he went away. Of course I could not ask him how he managed to get the clothes which belonged to me and my brother as I was too young to ask him such questions, so I left them for him and he sold all to another kind of ghosts who had no invisible power to do such work, but I ate those animals with them.

  As I had already become tight friends with that young ghost before he returned from the earthly town, so one day this my young ghost friend told me to accompany him to his mother’s town which was about twenty miles away from that burglar-ghosts’ town, his mother was born and bred in this town which is the 8th town of ghosts. Having reached there his mother gave us food and drinks, and when we ate and drank to our satisfaction, then we were playing all about in the town with the other young ghosts of our ranks that we met there, but as we were playing about there I saw a very beautiful young ghostess, then I told my friend that I want to marry her, so my friend told her and also recommended me highly to her, so by that she agreed at the same time, but as her father was famous and prominent in that town, so he arranged the wedding day for the ghosts’ next wedding day which was about nine days to come at that time as all the ghosts have a special day for marriage.

  My First Wedding Day in the Bush of Ghosts

  Before the wedding day was reached my friend had chosen one of the most fearful ghosts for me as my “best man” who was always speaking evil words, even he was punished in the fire of hell more than fifty years for these evil talks and cruelties, but was still growing rapidly in bad habits, then he was expelled from hell to the “Bush of Ghosts” to remain there until the judgement day as he was unable to change his evil habits at all. When the wedding day arrived all the ghosts and ghostesses of this town, together with the father of the lady whom I wanted to marry, my friend and his mother, my best man and myself went to the church at about ten o’clock, but it was the ghosts’ clock said so. When we reached their church I saw that the Reverend who preached or performed the wedding ceremony was the “Devil”. But as he was preaching he reached the point that I should tell them my name which is an earthly person’s name and when they heard the name the whole of them in that church exclaimed at the same time—“Ah! you will be baptized in this church again before you will marry this lady.”

  When I heard so from them I agreed, not knowing that Rev. Devil was going to baptize me with fire and hot water as they were baptizing for themselves there. When I was baptized on that day, I was crying loudly so that a person who is at a distance of two miles would not listen before hearing my voice, and within a few minutes every part of my body was scratched by this hot water and fire, but before Rev. Devil could finish the baptism I regretted it. Then I told him to let me go away from their church and I do not want to marry again, because I could not bear to be baptized with fire and hot water any longer, but when all of them heard so, they shouted, “Since you have entered this church you are to be baptized with fire and hot water before you will go out of the church, willing or not you ought to wait and complete the baptism.” But when I heard so from them again, I exclaimed with a terrible voice that—“I will die in their church.” So all of them exclaimed again that—“you may die if you like, nobody knows you here.”

  But as ghosts do not know the place or time which is possible to ask questions, so at this stage one of them got up from the seat and asked me—“By the way, how did you manage to enter into the ‘Bush of Ghosts’, the bush which is on the second side of the world between the heaven and earth and which is strictly banned to every earthly person to be entered, and again you have the privilege to marry in this bush as well?” So as these ghosts have no arrangements for anything at the right time and right place, then I answered that I was too young to know which is “bad” and “good” before I mistakenly entered this bush and since that time or year I am trying my best to find out the right way back to my home town until I reached the town of “burglary-ghosts” from where I came with my friend to this town. After I explained as above, then the questioner stood up again and asked me whether I could show them my fr
iend whom I followed to that town. Of course as my friend was faithful, before I could say anything, he and his mother whom we came to visit got up at the same time and said that I am living with a burglar-ghost in the town of the burglar-ghosts. But when my friend and his mother confirmed all that I said and as all the rest of the ghosts are respecting all the burglar-ghosts most because they were supplying them the earthly properties, so they overlooked my offence, then Rev. Devil continued the baptism with hot water and fire.

  After the baptism, then the same Rev. Devil preached again for a few minutes, while “Traitor” read the lesson. All the members of this church were “evil-doers”. They sang the song of evils with evils’ melodious tune, then “Judas” closed the service.

  Even “Evil of evils” who was the ruler of all the evils and who was always seeking evils about, evil-joking, evil-walking, evil-playing, evil-laughing, evil-talking, evil-dressing, evil-moving, worshipping evils in the church of evils and living in the evil-house with his evil family, everything he does is evil, attended the service too, but he was late before he arrived and when he shook hands with me on that day, I was shocked as if I touch a “live electric wire”, but my friend was signalling to me with his eyes not to shake hands with him to avoid the shock but I did not understand.

  Having finished the marriage service, all of us went to my in-laws’ house where everybody was served with a variety of food and all kinds of ghosts’ drinks. After that all the ghost and ghostess dancers started to dance. Also all the terrible-creatures sent their representatives as “Skulls”, “Long-white creatures”, “Invincible and invisible Pawn” or “Give and take” who fought and won the Red people in the Red-town for the “Palm-Wine Drinker”, “Mountain-creatures”, “Spirit of prey” whose eye’s flood of light suffocated Palm-Wine Drinker’s wife and also the “hungry-creature” who swallowed Palm-Wine Drinker together with his wife when returning from Deads’-town came and saluted my wife’s father and they were served immediately they arrived. But at last “Skull” who came from “Skull family’s town” reported “Spirit of prey” to my wife’s father who was chief secretary to all the terrible and curious creatures in all dangerous bushes, that the spirit of prey stole his meat which the skull put at the edge of the plate in which both were eating as both were served together with one plate, because plates were not sufficient to serve each of them with a plate. But before my wife’s father who was their chief secretary could have a chance to come and settle the matter for them, both of them started to fight fiercely so that all the ghosts and all the other representatives came nearer and surrounded them, clapping hands on them in such a way that if one of these fighters surrenders or gives up it would be very shameful to him.

  Some of these scene-lookers were clapping, and an old Ape who was a slave and inherited by my wife’s father from his first generation since uncountable years was beating a big tree under which both these terrible creatures were fighting as a drum which had a very large sound. But as this old slave ape was beating the tree as a drum in such a way that all the scene-lookers who stood round them could not bear the lofty sound of the tree which was beaten as a drum and wait or stand still in one place, so all the ghosts, evils, terrible creatures, my friend, my wife and her father and myself started to dance at the same time. But as I was intoxicated by the strong drinks which I drank on that day, so I mistakenly smashed a small ghost to death who came from the “9th town of ghosts” to enjoy the merriment of the marriage with us as I was staggering about.

  At last I was summoned to the court of evil for wilfully killing a small ghost, but as a little mistake is a serious offence as well as big offence in the “Bush of Ghosts”, so the “Evil judge” judged the case at one o’clock of the judgement day and luckily I was freed by a kind lawyer whose mother was the native of the “Bottomless Ravine’s town”, the town which belongs to only “triplet ghosts and ghostesses”. But if it was not far this incognito lawyer who was very kind to me without knowing him elsewhere I would be imprisoned for fifty years as this is the shortest years for a slightest offence.

  After I freed the case then I returned to my in-laws’ town and lived there with my wife for a period of about three months and some days before I remembered my mother and brother again, because I did not remember them again when I married the lady. So one morning, I told the father of my wife that I want to leave his town for another one, but I did not tell him frankly that I want to continue to find the way to my home town which I left since I was seven years old. So I told him that I should leave with his daughter who was my wife, he allowed me to go or to leave, but disallowed his daughter to go with me. Of course, when I thought over within myself that however an earthly person might love ghosts, ghosts could not like him heartily in any respect, then I alone left his town in the evening after I went round the town and bade goodbye to the prominent ghosts.

  On my Way to the 9th Town of Ghosts

  As I left the town of my wife’s father late in the evening, the town which is the 8th town of ghosts in which I was baptized with fire and hot water, so I travelled from bush to bush till a late hour in the night, perhaps I would see the way of my home town, but when I believed that I could not see it or I could not reach the 9th town of ghosts on that night, then I stopped under a tree and climbed to the top. I laid down on its branch which had plenty of leaves that covered me as a cloth from the cold of that night and also from the wind which was blowing the tree to and fro, with dew which was dropping as light rain on everything on the ground. But as I was troubled too much on the way to this tree by the ghost children, because I was very curious to them, so it was not more than five minutes before I fell asleep. And when it was about an hour and half that I was enjoying this sleep to my satisfaction, then I felt suddenly that somebody was knocking the tree at the bottom as if somebody is knocking a door, so I woke alert or with fear and when I bent downward and looked at the foot of this tree, there I saw a very short ghost who was not more than three feet high but very corpulent as a pregnant woman who would deliver either today or tomorrow. He was waving his hand to me to come down to him, but as I was looking at him all the while or for some minutes then I saw clearly that he had one arm, both his legs were twisted as rope and both feet faced sharply left and right, he had an eye on his forehead which was exactly like a moon, this eye was as big as a full moon and had a cover or socket which could be easily opening and closing at any time that he likes, no single hairs on his head and it was sparkling as polished ebony furniture.

  When he noticed that I did not want to come down to him then he raised the cover of the eye off and at the same moment every part of this bush was as clear as daytime, and then I saw through this light that there were uncountable of the same kinds of these ghosts already surrounding the tree. All of them were waiting for me to come down to them, but as their attitude showed that they got ready to catch me, so by that I feared them.

  But after they waited for a few minutes and believed that I stayed on this tree for their dreadful appearance then the whole of them came nearer to the tree and started to shake it with all their power, but when they nearly rooted out this tree then I fell on to their hands unexpectedly. I noticed carefully at this stage that if they are breathing in I would hear the cry of frogs, toads, pigs’ cry, the crowing of cocks, the noises of birds and as if uncountable dogs are barking at the same time, and when they breathe out again there would be another cry of fearful creatures as well. But as the whole of them seized me by violence or rape at the same time, then I began to beg them with a lower or cool voice, because I thought that they were going to eat me alive and they did not listen to me until they took me to their town which is the 9th town of ghosts.

  Having reached their town, they put me in a very dark room which was under the ground, as such rooms are very common in the “Bush of Ghosts”. After a while they changed me to a blind man and then rubbed my body with their palms which were sharp as sand paper and were slightly scraping me as dulled sand paper
. Having left that they were cutting the flesh of my body with their sharp finger-nails which were long at about four inches, so I was crying bitterly for much pain. Again after a little while they left that and then my eyes opened as before, but I saw nobody there with me in this doorless room who was ill-treating me like that. Immediately my eyes opened there I saw about a thousand snakes which almost covered me, although they did not attempt to bite me at all. It was in this doorless room which is in underground I first saw in my life that the biggest and longest among these snakes which was acting as a director for the rest vomited a kind of coloured lights from his mouth on to the floor of this room. These lights shone to every part of the room and also to my eyes, and after all of the snakes saw me clearly through the lights then they disappeared at once with the lights and then the room became dark as before.

  After a few minutes later that these snakes disappeared, there I saw that this doorless room changed to a pitcher and unexpectedly I found myself inside this pitcher and at the same moment my neck was about three feet long and very thick, and again my head was so big so that my long neck was unable to carry it upright as it was very stiff as a dried stick. Another two eyes which were as big and round as a football formed and appeared on this head and both eyes could be easily turning anywhere that I liked to look or see and I did not know where my normal eyes which were on my head before went. But as I was in this pitcher then all of these ghosts were visible to me and at the same time all were knocking the big head with sticks, but I had no hands to defend it because only my head and neck appeared out from the pitcher.