My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

by Amos Tutuola

  Of course, I did not return to the 18th town again, but started from there to find the way to my home town as usual, because that place was too far from the 18th town.

  Television-handed Ghostess

  When it was about 2 o’clock p.m. I saw a ghostess who was crying bitterly and coming to me direct in a hut where I laid down enjoying myself. When she entered I noticed that she held a short mat which was woven with dried weeds. She was not more than three feet high. Immediately she entered she went direct to the fire, she spread the mat closely to the fire and then sat down on it without saluting or talking to me. So at this stage I noticed carefully that she was almost covered with sores, even there was no single hair on her head, except sores with uncountable maggots which were dashing here and there on her body. Both her arms were not more than one and an half foot, it had uncountable short fingers. She was crying bitterly and repeatedly as if somebody was stabbing her with knives. Of course, I did not talk to her, but I was looking at her with much astonishment until I saw the water of her eyes that it was near to quench the fire, then I got up with anger and told her to walk out of my hut, because if the water quenches the fire I should not be able to get another again, as there were not matches in the Bush of Ghosts. But instead of walking out as I said she started to cry louder than ever. When I could not bear her cry I asked her—“By the way what are you crying for?” She replied—“I am crying because of you.” Then I asked again—“Because of me?” She said—“Yes” and I said—“What for?” Then she started to relate her story thus—

  “I was born over two hundred years ago with sores on my head and all over my body. Since the day that I was born I have no other work more than to find out the doctor who could heal it for me and several of them had tried all their best but failed. Instead of healing or curing it would be spreading wider and then giving me more pains. I have been to many sorcerers to know whether the sore would be healed, but every one of them was telling me that there is an earthly person who had been lost in this Bush of Ghosts, so that if I can be wandering about I might see you one day, and the sorcerers said that if you will be licking the sore every day with your tongue for ten years it would be healed. So that I am very lucky and very glad that I meet you here today and I shall also be exceedingly glad if you will be licking the sore with your tongue every day until the ten years that it will be healed as the sorcerers had told me. And I am also crying bitterly in respect of you because I believe that no doubt you have been struggling for many years in this Bush of Ghosts for the right way to your home town, but you are seeing the way every day and you do not know it, because every earthly person gets eyes but cannot see. Even it is on the right way to your home town that you found this hut and sleep or sit in it every day and night. Although I believe that you will not refuse to lick the sore until it is healed.”

  Having related her story and said that if I am licking the sore it would be healed as the sorcerers said, so I replied—“I want you to go back to your sorcerers and tell them I refuse to lick the sore.” After I told her like this she said again—“It is not a matter of going back to the sorcerers, but if you can do it look at my palm or hand.” But when she told me to look at her palm and opened it nearly to touch my face, it was exactly as a television, I saw my town, mother, brother and all my playmates, then she was asking me frequently—“Do you agree to be licking the sore with your tongue, tell me, now, yes or no?”

  Hard to say “No” and Hard to say “Yes”

  Because when I thought over how the sore was dirty and smelling badly, especially those maggots which were dashing here and there all over the sore, so it was hard for me to say “yes”. But as I was seeing my town with all my people, it was also hard for me to say “No”. But as I was hearing on this television when my mother was discussing about me with one of her friends with a sorrowful voice at that time that—“She was told by a fortune teller that I am still alive in a bush.” So as I was enjoying these discussions the television-handed ghostess took away the hand from my face and I saw nothing again except the hand.

  After that she asked again whether I would do her request, of course, I was unable to answer at that moment, but only thinking about my people whom I saw on the television and also thinking how to reach the town as quickly as possible. But as it was just a dream for me, I told her again to let me look at them once more before I would answer her request. Immediately she showed it to me my people appeared again at the same time and as I was looking at them and also hearing what they were talking about me which I ought to answer if I was with them, luckily, a woman brought her baby who had a sore on its foot to my mother at that time to tell her the kind of leaf which could heal the sore. But as my mother knows many kinds of leaves which can heal any sore, so she told this woman to follow her. Having reached a small bush which is near the town, then she cut many leaves on a kind of plant and gave them to this woman, after that she told her that she must warm the leaves in hot water before using it for the sore. But as I was looking at them on the television I knew the kind of leaf and also heard the direction how to use it. After a while this “Television-handed ghostess” took her hand away from my face and I saw nothing again. Then she asked again whether I would do her request, so I said—“Yes, but not with my tongue would I heal the sore.” After I said “yes” I got out of the hut and I went round near the hut. God is so good, this kind of leaf or plant were full up there. Then I cut some and came back to the hut, after that I was using it for the sore according to the direction that my mother told the woman who brought her baby to her. It was so I was using these leaves for the sore every day and to my surprise, this sore had been healed within a week. But when this “Television-handed ghostess” saw that she had no more sores again she was exceedingly glad.

  Having eaten and drunk to my satisfaction I told her to tell me the right way to my home town as she had promised me before I healed her sore. She agreed, but warned me seriously that I must not attempt to enter into the Bush of Ghosts forever, because 90% of ghosts hate any of the earthly persons to enter this bush, as I myself am aware of it since I have been struggling to find the right way back to my town, but none of the merciless ghosts would show me the way. After the above warning she said further—“Do not tell anybody that I am the ‘Television-handed ghostess’ who shows you the right way whenever you reach your town.” Then she opened her palm as usual, she told me to look at it, but to my surprise, I simply found myself under the fruit tree which is near my home town (the Future-Sign). It was under this fruit tree my brother left me on the road when he was running away from the enemies’ guns which were driving me farther and farther until I entered into the Bush of Ghosts, and it was the fruit of this tree I ate first immediately I entered the Bush of Ghosts. This is how I got out of the Bush of Ghosts, which I entered when I was seven years old.

  The Future-Sign Tree

  As I simply found myself under this fruit tree I stopped there for more than half an hour, because everything had been changed as before I left them. Of course, I believed that the fruit tree is near my town, otherwise I should not know at all that I am near my town. But as I stood under this fruit tree, thinking with doubtful mind that—“This fruit tree is marked as a ‘Future-Sign’ before I entered the bush” there I saw that two strong men held both my arms at my back unexpectedly and without hesitation they tied me with rope, then one of them put me on his head and both kept going inside the bush at the same time. They were slave-traders because the slave trade was then still existing.

  After some days they reached their town which is foreign to mine. So having taken me to their town I was again sold to a man who took me to his town. But as there was no other transport to carry loads more than by head as now-a-days, so I was carrying heavy loads which three men could not carry at a time to long distances which I would travel for ten days with many other slaves. But as my body was full of sores, so it was debarring my boss getting loads from those who were giving him the job. For this reaso
n he started to wash the sore of my body with a sponge and sand perhaps it would be healed and also flogging me severely if I cry or shake while he was washing the sore. Having done this every day for one month and when it was not healed, then he sold me again to another man who took me to the slave market, because I was not useful for any purpose in respect of the sore. Having reached the market he chained me to a tree together with the other slaves that we met there, all of us were in a straight line. But within four hours all the rest slaves had been sold and nobody buys me because of the sores. When he waited with me till about two o’clock and when he believed that no one could buy me that market day, then he was loosing the chain from me, and when he was about to return to his town a rich man came to the market, he looked round but saw no more slaves except me, because he kept late, then he came to my boss. He priced me very poor and my boss agreed, he told him to pay any amount that he likes to buy me, but when he stood before me and looked at me for many hours he said—“I cannot buy sores for my town.” Then he went back to his town. But as nobody buys me and I remained unsold, so my boss was flogging me repeatedly along the way back to his town.

  When he was taking me to this market for several market days without seeing anybody to buy me, then he said—“If I take you to the market once more and if nobody buys you on that market day as well so if I am returning from the market to the town I will kill you on the way and throw away your body into the bush, because you are entirely useless for any purpose, even I have told several of my friends to take you free of charge but none of them accepts the offer, because I can no longer remain with you and your sore which is smelling badly to everybody, even the smell is also disturbing my friends and all my customers to come to my house again before I bought you.” But when the following market day was reached, the day he would kill me if there is nobody to buy me, luckily, this rich man came late to the market on that day as well, then he came to me because all the rest slaves had been sold, except me. When he came he asked from my boss how much he would sell me, but my boss told him to pay any amount that he likes. After he heard so, he stood looking at me for about an hour, then he looked round the market, but saw no more slaves, except me, then he said—“I will buy you, because I ought to sacrifice to my god with a slave for some months to come, so that I may kill you for the god.” Having said so, he paid three shillings and sixpence to my boss and he received it from him with many thanks and also thanked God greatly that I leave him.

  This is a great pity that I was lost in the Bush of Ghosts for twenty-four years with punishments and when I came out of it I am caught and sold again as a slave, and now a rich man buys me and he is going to kill me for his god. This is what I said before I was following him and his follower who followed him to the market was pushing me along the road to the town. Not knowing that this rich man is my brother who left me on the road and ran away before I entered the Bush of Ghosts. Having reached the town which is my town, they put me among his slaves in the yard, but the sore of my body still remained with me. So I was living and working with the rest slaves, but as this slave yard was far from his house he was only coming there occasionally to inspect us. But as he hated me more than the rest slaves because of the sore, so he would tell some of the rest slaves to flog me in his presence for many hours as I was not useful and also at that time it was their rule that every useless slave should be severely beaten every day, because every slave buyer recognised slaves as non-living creatures. Of course, I believed that I am in my town and my mother with my brother or my family are there also, but I did not know them again and they did not know me as well.

  But in those days a slave is too common to approach his master or any of his master’s family to talk or to discuss anything with him or her, so that I had no right to describe myself to my master who is my brother, that I am a native of that town and again it was hard to describe myself to the rest slaves because they were foreigners, I did not understand their language. But one day, when my mind was at rest my brother who is our master came to inspect us in the yard, as he was talking to us I listened to his voice well, and it was the same as before we left each other, again I looked at his forehead carefully which had a small scar before I left him and this scar was there as well, so through these two signs I believed that he is my brother, but still I was unable to talk to him at all, otherwise he would order the rest slaves to kill me on the same spot without hesitation.

  One day, when I thought over that I am in my home town, but I could not see my family even I am a slave too in my town, so after a while I remembered the song which my brother and I were singing when we were eating the two slices of cooked yam which our mother left for us before she went to the market on the very day that we left each other, then I was singing this song and mentioning his name in this song several times. But as his name was mentioned, so whenever his wives were hearing the name they would be flogging me, and I did not understand what they were flogging me for. And as I was singing this sorrowful song every day, so one day, they reported me to him that—“Your slave who has sores on the body is mentioning your name whenever he is singing a kind of sorrowful song, hence all the slaves are strictly banned to mention their master’s name.” Having heard so he told them to go and bring me before him.

  When I reached there and stood before him all my body was shaking and my voice was also trembling, because if a slave is selected from many slaves like this no doubt he is going to be killed for a god. Then he told me to repeat the song that I am singing in the yard so that he may hear it. His aim was to kill me on the same spot if I mention his name. But I started to sing this song and before I reached the part that his name should be mentioned he had remembered how we left ourselves on the road under the fruit tree. So at the same moment he shouted with gladness and jumped towards me. After that he told all his wives that I am his brother who had been lost twenty-four years ago. Then the second thing he did he told his orderlies to wash me, after that he brought many costly clothes for me as a king, but the sore of my body still remained there. After this his wives gave me food with drinks, then he sent for our mother and all his friends as well.

  Gladness Becomes Weeping

  After a few minutes our mother came, but she did not know me again and I myself did not her as well, and it was this day I believed that “feeling” sometimes proves the same blood if they have left each other for long time that they are the same family, because my brother did not show me to our mother when she came, because he was waiting for his friends to come before he would tell her. So as she sat down behind me she was feeling perhaps I am her son. After a while my brother’s friends came, they sat in the form of a circle and I was in the centre. Then my brother told the whole of us to kneel down to pray. After the prayer he told our mother that I am her son who had been lost since I was seven years old. But when our mother with my brother’s wives with his friends heard so, all shouted with gladness and held me, but when they looked at my body and saw the sore they burst into a cry which lasted for about an hour before it stopped. And it was this day I believed that if “gladness is too much it sometimes becomes weeping”. Having stopped crying our mother started to treat the sore and within a week willy-nilly it has been healed.

  After the second day that my brother and mother knew me and I myself knew both of them as well, then he told me how he was captured. Our mother also told me how she was captured when coming home to rescue us immediately she heard from the market that war broke into the town. She said that she was captured and taken to a town of which she did not understand their language until she left there when resold to a lame woman. She said that the work that she was doing for the lame woman was only to be carrying her wherever she was going to, but she spent only four years with her before she sold her again on the way carrying her to somewhere, because she was feeling hunger and had no money to buy the food. So the lame woman gave mother to the food-seller and took food instead of paying her money. After she was exchanged to this food-seller, the food-
seller was not feeding mother at all, so if she worked for her from early in the morning till eight o’clock in the night, then she would start to work from that night till dawn for her living, so by that she had no time at all to rest or sleep both day and night and she was doing so every day for years until she had a chance to escape at night, and again she was captured on the way by another man who was the most famous slave-buyer in his town. All his slaves were performing the same kind of work which only men could be performing, but however she was working as hard as a slave man. When her master noticed how she was working as a man, then he set her free after the 8th year that he captured her.

  But when she came back to the town she met none of us in the town and was in a sorrowful life until my brother came after he spent many years in various towns. When he came both of us were expecting you every day to come home but it is in vain and they did not know that it was in the Bush of Ghosts you were. Our mother told me as above. But one day when I remembered our dead cousin who I met in the 10th town of ghosts I told them about him that he had resettled down in a town in the Bush of Ghosts. I told them that I was educated from him because he had established schools and churches there. Of course when they heard so they were very surprised. They asked me whether I feared him as he had died in our town here in my presence before I left the town, so I replied that if anybody enters into the Bush of Ghosts he or her would not fear for anything within a week he or she had entered into it, because he or she will see “Fear” personally who bought the “Palm-Wine Drinker’s” “fear” before he entered inside the “White-tree” to the “Faithful-mother”. I told them further that it is in the Bush of Ghosts the “fears”, “sorrows”, “difficulties” all kinds of the “punishments” etc. start and there they end.