Simbi and the Satyr of the Dark Jungle

by Amos Tutuola

  After a while she travelled to that hall which was a bait for her. Then she stopped and was listening to those birds which were singing a kind of a melodious song that which she had never heard since when she was born, though she was a good singer as well.

  Having enjoyed the song for a while she entered the hall. Of course, if it was not for that song, she would fear greatly to enter it, especially as it was formed with migratory birds, etc.

  Having entered, she saw a band of orchestra in the corner of this hall. They were busy with their instruments at that moment.

  Those who were playing the instruments to the song of the birds, were just in form of shadows of angels, and they were seemed as if they were touched with hand perhaps the hand would not hold or feel anything. All were dressed in the multi-coloured clothes which had several ornaments that the hand could not make.

  To Simbi’s greatest fear and astonishment was that sometimes, only the faces of these orchestras would be visible to her and the rest parts of their bodies would lose to her view, and a few minutes after their bodies would be visible and their faces would be lost to her view, and sometimes only their hands would be visible, they (hands) would be playing on the instruments and several melodious songs would be singing with the only visible mouths.

  After a few minutes, they were visible to her completely. And as she was a singer, so at the same moment a kind of a song came to her mind, and immediately she opened her mouth and started to sing it to their instruments. To her greatest surprise, it was this very song the whole of them started to sing and she was singing it with them and they were playing also their instruments to it, which conformed with the song at the same time.

  Immediately they joined her to sing the song, she lost all her senses, because the tone with which they were singing it was so melodious that she started to dance from the long distance that she stood until she reached the place that all of them sat down on the specially arranged seats, and she sat down before them. But she was still dancing in a slow motion to her left and right, and to her back and front, according to how the instruments were playing. It was so she was looking at everyone of them with surprise, because she had never acrossed such a wonderful orchestra as that one.

  Having looked at them for some minutes, then they changed their tones to another lovely tones unexpectedly. But as she was more interested in this than the first one, she stood up suddenly with great joy and then started to dance to every part of the hall as if she was a mad lady.

  When she danced back to them, she bowed down before them showing them the great admiration she had in the way of their singing and playing of the instruments. But it was a great pity that Simbi never aware that the Satyr hid near there and he was looking at her as she was doing all these things, and she did not know that the hall was a trap which the Satyr set for her.

  But as she bowed down before them, it came to her mind at that moment that these creatures who were playing the instruments and singing her song with her, were not human beings in anyway, because the way of their singing and playing the instruments were beyond the human power. Then she feared to remain in that hall with them. But at the same moment that they noticed she was leaving the hall, plenty of the ultra-beautiful ladies rushed out of the room that the birds formed within that moment in a corner of the hall, they surrounded her and were dancing with her at the same moment.

  They were dressed in snow white attires which were full of the superfine decorations. The hairs on their heads were glossy and were adorned with the decorations of gold flower, etc. which were glistening in the darkness. Everyone of them wore silver bead on neck, but Simbi was unable to describe the kind of the metal which they wore on their wrists, for all their snow white attires were sewn in long sleeves. All of them were neat and smart.

  A few minutes later, those who were singing and playing the instruments all the while, changed that song to another one and the instruments were then giving out a very steadily soundings.

  When Simbi was hearing this music she lost all her senses and forgot that she had met several difficulties and that she was going to meet more. And then she started to dance with those ultra-beautiful ladies, although none of them talked to her and she did not talk to them as well.

  Having danced with them for a while, she raised her head up. But when she noticed that all the birds which were formed the hall were singing as well, she was greatly feared at that time, and she believed that all of those creatures with whom she was dancing and singing were not human. Then she ran to her left just to break the circle and go out of the hall. But the beautiful ladies danced to that direction and they disturbed her to go out. And she danced to the right and they did the same thing, they were keeping her back to the circle so that she might not be able to go out of the hall.

  When Simbi understood that they did not want her to go away, she wanted to break the circle by force, and the ladies were not strong enough to keep her in by that moment. But as they were still rushing here and there in the hall in trying to prevent her from not going out, six big fearful ostriches rushed out of the same room from which those ladies had come out. White shoes were on their hoofs and their faces were covered with white masks.

  Immediately they came to them, the ladies parted for them to pass in to the circle and they (ostriches) surrounded Simbi so that she might not get chance to run away.

  Having done that, the ladies disappeared at once. Then those ostriches started to chase her and were pretending to swallow her, and she was turning round the circle just to safe herself from them.

  At last, when their attitudes were too fearful to her, she feared greatly. She fell down unexpectedly and it was like that she fell asleep unnoticed. But it was a great pity to Simbi after all, that those creatures were just illuding her so that she might not be felt to leave the hall until the Satyr would come there and then take her away.

  And she enjoyed the sleep for two hours. But when she was just dreaming and was seeing in her dream that Kadara, Sala, Bako and the nameless refugees who had been taken away by the phoenix, were in severe punishments, which made her body to be shocking at that moment for the fear that probably in the near future she too would be punished like that by the Satyr—

  There entered the hall, the Satyr, and he came to her, although she never wake at the time he entered and she did not know the time that those ostriches disappeared.

  Then the Satyr slapped her so suddenly that she woke and stood up unexpectedly. She looked for those orchestra and those ostriches but all of them had gone away and she was very sad at the same time when she did not hear anybody singing in the hall as before she had fallen asleep. Of course, all the birds which were the wall, etc. were still singing. But she was greatly terrified when she turned her head back and saw the Satyr behind her. He scrowled and started to tell her with horrible voice—“This is the Satyr before you now! My trap has caught you and you are going now to where you shall be punished to death! Have you any power now? can you safe yourself from me now? Not at all! You have turned into my food! Hah a a! You hopeless lady who have nearly ruined the whole of my people! By the way, where are the rest of you? Of course, as I catch you thus I shall catch the rest of you! Don’t you know that this hall is a bait for you?” Thus the Satyr roared horribly on Simbi. But she was unable to reply him. She simply stood before him as if she was dead, because she had left all her three gods which were her power, inside the hole in which she was living before she discovered the hall.

  The Satyr hardly roared on her when he put her on head. After that he cried so loudly and terribly that the whole of this Dark Jungle shook to left and right for some minutes, and that was the sign he made to his people that Simbi, their enemy, was already caught. But immediately he shouted like that, all the birds which were the wall, roof, etc., for the hall flew away and there was nothing remained at the site of the hall.

  Then he was carrying Simbi along in this Dark Jungle. After a while he came to a big rock and he climbed it to the top.r />
  Hardly climbed the rock to the top when his people hurtled there when they heard his cry. Then he and with some of them lay Simbi flatly on that rock by force. After that both her arms were parted to left and right being she faced the sky, and then both feet were straightened. Having done all this, the Satyr provoked a kind of a charm onto her body. And both feet to half part of her body changed into the part of that rock at the same moment, and both her arms were changed from her shoulders downward into the part of the rock as well. After that, the Satyr started to beat her with his cudgel of bone. Simbi was crying with her topmost voice but none of them listened to her. She struggled hardly to stand up and run away but all her efforts were failed, because her feet and arms had already changed into the rock.

  When the Satyr stopped to beat her, all the rest of his people were beating her greedily with anything they could find thereabout. Having done that for a few minutes, they scorned her and then the whole of them went back to their dwelling places with the satisfaction of minds that they had caught one who had been punished them.

  Very early in the morning, the Satyr went there with his usual cudgel of bone. He beat Simbi for one hour before he went away.

  Immediately he went away, another evil spirit came with hot water, he threw it on Simbi, after that he flogged her for a few minutes and then he left there. “Can I free from these punishment?” Simbi asked from her heart seriously. “Certainly, you will free from it,” her heart replied quietly. “How long that will be?” she asked sorrowfully.

  “In the near future.”

  “I don’t believe so,” she asked.

  “You must believe,” her heart assured her.

  “All right, if it will be so, by whom?”

  “By one whom you have saved his life,” her heart replied sharply.

  Thus she was discussing with her heart, when about one thousand of these evil creatures together with the Satyr, the noxious creature, came. Then they started to beat her and they beat her till the evening before they left there. Simbi wept bitterly till she had no power to shake her body or to make any sign of pain whenever they were beating her. She suffered greatly for food, water, cold and for the heat of the sun but these evil creatures had no mercy on her.

  One night, the rain came, it was so heavy that within two hours from when it started the water absolutely covered her body. Luckily when the water was about to swallow the whole of her body together with that rock, it became a powerful stream of water. And at the same time it was pushing the rock along to another part of this Dark Jungle.

  When it pushed it to a short distance from the Satyr’s dwelling place, then it was stopped by a big tree. The surroundings of the Satyr’s dwelling place or house was too terrible to see or to remain there for some minutes. When Simbi saw it, she was nearly to faint for fear, especially when she remembered all kinds of the punishments which were going to give her in the morning.

  As she was thinking all of that in mind, there appeared the very gnome who had saved her when she was tied to the tree to be killed in the town of the multi-coloured people, the town in which Bako became a cock when she stole the old woman’s hen. The gnome stood before her and said “I have been hearing you crying sorrowfully from a long distance. What are you crying so loudly and sorrowfully for?”

  “Look at both my feet to the thighs and then look at both my hands to the shoulders how all have changed into the rock,” Simbi said whisperly.

  “Hah! who has done this?” the gnome was greatly excited when he saw that both her feet and arms were petrified.

  “Eh, talk softly so that the Satyr may not wake, look at his house near here. Let me explain to you, I had once fought and conquered the Satyr before I had been thrown into the hole of a tree by an eagle. And again when I came back to this Dark Jungle, the Satyr with the rest evil creatures and the phoenix started to fight me and the other refugees just to revenge of what I had done to the Satyr from me and from the rest refugees.

  “But with the help of my three gods, I killed the phoenix and several of the rest evil creatures were wounded. Although the phoenix had carried away Sala, Kadara, Bako and the rest refugees before it was killed.

  “After he had struggled to kill me but failed, then he built an illusive hall, the wall, roof, etc. were migratory birds. And I entered the hall in respect of its beauty and the melodious songs which I heard from there. Having danced and sung for a few hours with the creatures that I met there, I feared greatly and I felt to leave there. But as those creatures were still deceiving me with the dance and songs, I fell asleep unnoticed. And then the Satyr came in there, he woke me up and he carried me from there and put me on this rock. He changed my feet and arms into the rock as you see them. And since from that day, the Satyr and the rest creatures are coming to me every morning and evening, they are punishing me nearly to death before they would leave me and go away,” Simbi explained painfully to the gnome.

  “Is that so?” the gnome wondered. “Yes it is so, even if you can hide near here till the morning, you will see them when they will come to punish me,” Simbi said calmly.

  “What kind of a help do you want from me?” the gnome asked. “I shall be happy if you will change me now back to my usual form and after that I want you to show me the right path to my village, so that I may go back at the same time, because I have fed up with all the punishments and poverties which I used to meet every day and night, every hour and minute since from when I had been kidnapped from my village by Dogo.”

  “It is against the rule to give you too kinds of helps at a time. But I will help you now to become to your usual form.

  “But I am quite sure that after you have become to your usual form, the Satyr will find you out and he shall fight you probably to death if you don’t struggle hard to fight him to death.”

  After the gnome explained to Simbi like that, he rubbed her body with his left palm and at the same time Simbi changed to her usual form, and all the pains of the beats went away. She was then in sound health and was so powerful that if she dashed to a tree it would fall down at once.

  Then she knelt down and thanked the gnome greatly. After that he disappeared and then Simbi left that place at the same time so that the Satyr might not meet her in that there.

  Having travelled for about one week, she discovered the hole in which she put her three gods and in which she was living before she was caught from the illusive hall and then transformed into the rock.

  She entered the hole, she took the gods, she hung the satchel in which all were kept on her left shoulder. After that she left there and started to roam about.

  After a while she travelled to a dam. She stopped there, she drank the water to her satisfaction, she bathed, after that she washed her gods as if they were human. Having done that, she sat at the bank of the dam, she waited until the sediment of the water went down, so that she could see her shadow clearly from the water. Then she lowered her head towards the water. And her shadow proved that the hairs of her head had scattered and very rough. Then she washed them again and having dried them, she parted them and wove all into six plaits. Having done that she cut about one fathom of rope which was a little thicker than the sewing thread. Then she stitched her cloth with the rope, because it had already torn in rags, after that she put it on. Then she looked at the water again. But her shadow proved that her beauty was disqualified by one thing and that was the powder of the cam-wood. Luckily when she looked thereabout there was the very tree from which she could obtain it. She went there, having looked at the bottom of the tree, she saw some of it (tree) which insects had torn into the powder. She took as much as she liked and then she came back to the dam. She mixed the powder with some water. After that she rubbed her body with it.

  Then she looked at the water again, but her shadow proved that her face still needed something that which would make it looked more beautiful. And she went to a dried wood. She took a part of it which had already decayed. She brought it back to the bank. She ground it wi
th stone and then she rubbed her face with the powder which came out of it. After that she looked at the water and her shadow proved that she was then become a complete beautiful lady. She turned her hands, feet, back, etc. to the water but her shadow proved that she was in excellency dress.

  But when she raised up her head and was thinking in mind as if she wanted to remember something which had been escaped her mind, the Satyr who had been looking about for her since when she had left the rock, appeared to her at that moment.

  “Hah! you are the noxious creature indeed and the death of this Dark Jungle, as the people are saying!” Simbi wondered and frightened greatly immediately the Satyr appeared to her.

  At the same time she ran to the spot in which her gods were drying in the sun. She put them back into the satchel and hung it on her left shoulder. Then she stood firmly on the bank of the dam.

  She exclaimed without being feared of anything that the Satyr might do to her, “Come along, I am ready now to fight you to death! you hopeless evil creature, the death of the wayfarers! the cannibal of the Dark Jungle! Come on now, I am ready to fight with you!”

  “Heh, I am sorry to tell you now that I have been thinking in mind before I met you here, that if I catch you I should keep you alive in the cage for a few days before I should kill you and eat your meat. But I am going to kill you now, because of your proud speaking!”

  As the Satyr was still roaring on Simbi, more than one thousand of the evil creatures heard and came there. They surrounded the dam. All were shouting with joy for they put hope on the Satyr that no doubt he would kill Simbi within two seconds.

  With pride, the Satyr jumped on to the bank of the dam. He slapped Simbi’s head so heavily that she shrank to the size of one foot tall at the same moment. But as he was trying to take her away, she jumped up and immediately she fell down she became to her usual height. Without hesitation, she slapped his eyes and he became blind at the same time, but as Simbi was trying to push him into the dam and then to press his head down until he would die inside the water, he rubbed his eyes with palm and at the same moment, he gained his eyesight back. But when he breathed heavily on both his palms, both became as hot as a hot red iron at once. And when he was trying to grab Simbi with the hot palms so that she might be burnt to death, having seen this Simbi dived into the water. But the Satyr jumped into the water as well, he was searching for her just to grab her with the hot palms.