Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer

by Tutuola, Amos

  Before long, those grains shot out and then Pauper started to tend them as they were growing further.

  But after a few months. Pauper’s crops were ripe enough and by that, he began to live on them satisfactorily.

  Although his crops could have yielded far better than that. His poverty and wretchedness were so powerful in a strange way that they infected them badly. Every one of the crops was so infected that each of his yams was no bigger than an egg while there were no more than ten grains of com on each cob. Even his pepper plants did not yield a single pepper at all.

  In fact, however an ex-prince is poor and wretched, ‘the remnants of the former royal blood will still remain in him’. For this reason, there were certain people who used to help Pauper, the Father of Wretchedness, sometimes withth little money. But alas, the unfortunate destiny of Pauper used to repress all the supports which he used to receive from these people.

  Worse still, as he was growing older thus his poverty and wretchedness were growing even worse than ever. Hereby, he could not get a lady who agreed to marry him. For old and young people of the town had already known him very well as they knew money, that it was in poverty and wretchedness he was dwelling every day.

  It was like that Pauper continued to dwell in his miserable destiny which he chose from Creator when he was coming to earth.

  3

  THE DAUGHTER

  OF THE QTUN OBA

  IS A BRAWLER

  In this same Laketu town, the Qtun who was next in rank to Oba, was a very courteous chief. His cheerfulness was such that both adults and young people and as well children of the town loved him as a miser loves money. For this, uncountable people of the town used to come to his house to greet him. And he used to welcome them with smiles. And when they were leaving, he used to give each of his admirers several kinds of important presents.

  This Otun Oba, whose surname was Alagbanko, got many children, sons and daughters. But to put derision aside, his children were so beautiful that their beauty also glorified Laketu town in that century. They too were very courteous just like their father.

  Yet ‘the teeth of the dog which are curved, spoil it’. He too had a problem with one of his daughters as the Oba had with his own.

  Among the Qtun Oba’s daughters, there was one who, though she was as beautiful as a peacock, she was as great a brawler who was ever bom in Laketu town. Her brawls were so many and so strong that they did not even let her eat so much.

  Once she had started her brawls, there was nobody who could stop her. If she started to brawl from morning, she would not stop till she fell asleep just for a few minutes when it was night.

  Even, as ‘it is with full force the kernel is taken out of its shell’, it was exactly so for this brawling lady. Even as she was a habitual brawler, she used to brawl continuously also in her sleep.

  As brawling was her second language, whenever she saw a hen, she would brawl on it for many minutes. If a bird flew past her, she would brawl hotly on it for many minutes. There was nothing on earth on which she would not brawl.

  But as it is ‘the great grief which droops the head of an elder’, is that it was a great sadness for the Otun Oba, who was the father of this brawling lady. Her father used to warn her always to stop her brawls. But she would not because brawling had become her permanent habit.

  As a matter of fact, it was a very deep great grief for the Qtun, to see one of his daughters who chose but brawls from Creator. But of course, the Babalawo, the Ifa priest, who read the ‘esent’aye’ or the life of this brawling lady years ago, said that it was the hotful brawls which the Qtun Oba’s daughter had chosen from Creator. And that in the long run, her father would drive her away from his house when he and his neighbours were fed up with his daughter’s hurtful brawls.

  However, it was like that that the Qtun Oba’s daughter continued to grow up with her brawls.

  As time went on, this lady’s brawls were much more harmful in climax so that her parents and their neighbours were unable to hear any other words with their ears both day and night except the brawls of this lady.

  But furthermore, ‘one thing spoils “ajao”, its arms are bigger than its thighs’. The harmful brawls which this lady was brawling at this time rendered her useless entirely, because there was not a young man who ever attempted to marry her. Her hurtful brawls scared away every one who intended to marry her.

  In the end, when her father, the Qtun Oba, and his neighbours were entirely fed up with her brawls, one morning, and in great anger, her father closed up both his eyes and then he drove her away from his house.

  It was like that this brawling lady was driven away by her father just as the Oba had driven his prince. Pauper, the Father of Wretchedness, away from his Aafin, or palace, some years ago. But then this brawling lady became a vagrant and she started to wander and brawl continuously about in the town like a mad lady.

  But before long and as she was roaming about in the town, the people of the town, old and young men and women and children as well, knew very well now that one of her brawls was ‘a heavy load which falls on one who carries it’.

  Having known her like that, they gave her a nickname immediately which was fit for her behaviour. The nickname which people gave her was BRAWLER, because her hot brawls were a strange fashion which the people had never heard in their lives.

  4

  PAUPER MARRIES BRAWLER

  It was not so long before Brawler was wandering about in the town, brawling hotly and perspiring profusely. And she did not get a young man who ever attempted to marry her.

  One day, she and Pauper, the Father of Wretchedness, met each other in the vicinity of the town. Immediately both of them met. Pauper stopped her and without hesitation, he told her that he wished her to be his wife. But without thinking twice. Brawler replied that it was quite a long time since she had been looking for a man who could marry her.

  Brawler said that she agreed to marry Pauper. But she had hardly agreed when she resumed her usual harmful brawls. Now, this means one who is looking for a wife finds one who is looking for an husband. So the wish of Pauper and that of Brawler were agreeable in the end.

  But then Pauper told Brawler to follow him to his house and without refusing. Brawler started to follow him. But Pauper was soon surprised greatly to see that Brawler did not stop brawling for a moment as she was following him along.

  After a while. Pauper was fed up with Brawler’s continuous brawls. But then he stopped unexpectedly and Brawler stood in front of him without stopping her brawls. ‘By the way, why are you brawling hotly like this?’ in annoyance. Pauper asked from Brawler.

  ‘Haaa, don’t you know my name?’ Brawler shouted.

  ‘But what is your name?’ Pauper fastened his eyes on Brawler and asked.

  ‘Oh! pity, but Brawler is my name! With this name, the old and young men and women and even the children of the town are calling me!’ Without shame. Brawler told Pauper her name.

  ‘Brawler or what?’ Pauper wondered and was startled in fear.

  ‘Surely, Brawler is my name!’ Brawler shrugged and replied fast and then she continued her brawls.

  ‘Does that mean you cannot stop your brawls just for a few minutes and let your mind be at rest or how?’ Pauper asked earnestly.

  ‘Ha-a-a! That is impossible for me to do! So far “we cannot take the shape of the nose away from the nose”, the brawls cannot be taken from me, hence brawls are my everyday work!’ But Brawler had hardly explained herself to Pauper when she continued her brawls.

  ‘Does that mean that “nothing can be done to prevent a pig from swimming in a swamp”?’ Pauper asked greedily.

  ‘Certainly! Did you not know that before today? By the way, what is your own name? Because it is proper for a wife to know the name of her husband!’ Brawler remembered now to ask for the name of her husband, although she had not yet followed Pauper to his house.

  ‘Pauper, the Father of Wretchedness, is my full name! Both young
and old people of the town have given me this nickname!’ Pauper told his brawling wife.

  ‘Haaa!’ Brawler was startled. ‘But what have you called your name now and let me hear it again. Pauper or Riches?’ Brawler was greatly surprised and sighed as she looked at Pauper sternly in her uncontrolled hot brawls.

  ‘My name is not riches or wealth but I say it is Pauper. But sometimes many people call me the Father of Wretchedness, when they see that my poverty and wretchedness are so much and powerful that they are beyond the knowledge of human beings! In fact, I am a strong man who fights with the matchet!’ Pauper told Brawler his biography briefly.

  ‘Haaa! But you should admit that it is a very bad destiny which causes poverty and wretchedness for a person! Okay! But being as “the parrot is the bird of the sea; the woodcock the bird of lagoon. And when we eat we must not forget our solemn promises”. I have already agreed to marry you/ Brawler continued, ‘my right is to fulfil my promise. I must not divorce you simply because you are in poverty and wretchedness. Or if I do so, it means I eat my promise together with my food!

  ‘But/ Brawler went further, ‘you Pauper, should know that as I endure your own poverty and wretchedness, it is so you too must endure my own abnormal character which is my brawls. Because there is “nothing can be done to the Ifa oracle to prevent it from behaving like the palm kernels”. I cannot do without brawling hotly like the dead!’ Brawler concluded her covenant. ‘All right, as wife and husband, let us continue our journey to your house!’

  Then Brawler followed her husband. Pauper, to his house. Truly, all of his neighbours knew well that Pauper was poor and wretched and that he was very strong and active. But it was too strange to them when they started to hear hurtful brawls suddenly in his house, whereas they had never heard such brawls in his house before this time.

  For this reason, without hesitation and in horror. Pauper’s neighbours rushed out and gathered in front of his house. Then all of them were looking at Brawler in amazement as she was brawling up and down in the house. But when Pauper went to the outside and he explained to them that Brawler was his wife and that she was not mad, but brawls were her main work, then his neighbours returned to their houses in wonder and shock.

  Thus Pauper and his wife. Brawler, started to live together in poverty, wretchedness, brawls and fight. But as soon as it was daybreak. Brawler would start to sweep the house and both front and back of the house as she continued to brawl hotly. Meanwhile Pauper too would take his cutlass and hoe. He would go to his farm which was not so far from the house.

  After he had worked on his farm and was tired, he would dig out some yams from the heaps and he would take some cobs of maize as well. Then he would carry them to the house. It was those yams and com which he and his brawling wife would eat as their daily meal. It was so he was doing every day. Even though the yams and com were not satisfying their hunger, the hot brawls of Brawler did not let her feel much hunger.

  Pauper’s yams and corn were so much infected by his powerful poverty and wretchedness that each of the yams was not bigger than an egg and so the grains of his corn were not more than ten or twenty grains on each cob.

  But as time went on it was so Brawler’s brawls were becoming more terrible and harmful. Although Pauper and Brawler were dwelling in poverty, wretchedness, brawls and fights. Pauper’s niece from his mother’s side, whose name was Alaafia or Peace, and Brawler’s niece from her mother’s side, whose name was Ayo or Joy, came to live with them. Peace was about fifteen years old and so was Joy. Both Peace and Joy were very lowly, loyal, cautious and sinless young girls. They were going about every day, looking for only things which were peaceful and joyful.

  But in the long run, and as time went on, the brawls which Brawler was brawling harmed Peace and Joy much. And when they could no longer endure the harmful effects which the brawls gave them, then they fled to one house which was near a big river. Both of them began to live in that house with great peace and joy.

  Then hardly was it cock-crow in the morning when Brawler would start her usual hurtful brawls. But instead of forcing herself to stop her brawls, she took brawls as her everyday work now.

  The days that her brawls so much intoxicated her, she would start to chase her husband about inside the house and from the backyard to the front of the house. And so also she would be chasing him about with hot brawls round their neighbourhood. It was so she would continue to do till nightfall when she would fall asleep unnoticed.

  For this her fearful behaviour, she had no time to do a sort of work which could fetch her money. But of course ‘what we like most forms the greater part of our possession’. Brawler was using her brawls just as her pride in the presence of people. She did not take brawls to be a bad thing at all.

  Even their neighbours knew very well that there was no doubt, only Pauper and Brawler could live with each other.

  But the worst thing was that the whole women of their neighbourhood hated Brawler entirely in respect of her non-stop brawls. Even their neighbours used to express it in their proverb that, ‘demijohn is abusing bottle, whereas both of them are made from the same material, instead of co-operating as friends, they hate each other!’ Their neighbours went further, ‘Pauper is the first man in Laketu town whose poverty and wretchedness are above the knowledge of human beings. And so his wife. Brawler, is the first woman we have ever seen in this Laketu town whose brawls are above the knowledge of human beings! Ha-a! Alas, Brawler, whose beauty glorifies the town, is entirely devastated by her harmful brawls!’ That was how their neighbours assessed Pauper and Brawler to be. Later, the behaviours of Pauper and Brawler will be continued.

  5

  THE OSI OBA

  DRIVES HIS SON

  AWAY FROM HIS HOUSE

  The Osi Oba is the title of the man who was third in rank to the Oba. His name was Kimi Adugbo. This Osi Oba was a strong and true-hearted man. He hated an unrighteous person indeed.

  When a thief was caught in his neighbourhood, he never set him free. But he would tell the strong young men to go and kill him, and after to nail his head onto a big tree which was near the road which went to the market, so that the people might learn a lesson from it when they saw it. For this action, there was not a thief who was brave enough to come to his neighbourhood.

  As Kimi Adugbo, the Osi Oba and who was the father of Alagemo, was very faithful, whenever people brought a case to him for settlement, he never gave the right to one who was wrong and so he never gave the wrong to one who was right. But he would judge the case without any slight partiality. So for this, the people of the town respected him indeed.

  Truly, the Osi Oba got many children, sons and daughters, as well as the Oba and the Otun Oba got several children. But there was one among his children whom he loved more than the rest. This one was born on the third day of the month of Agemp or July.

  But as the custom of Laketu town was, Kimi Adugbo, Osi Oba, consulted the Babalawo, the Ifa priest, to help him find out from the Ifa the kind of destiny which his baby boy had chosen from Creator before coming to earth.

  The Babalawo asked from the Ifa through Qpele or the Ifa’s messenger and he explained to Kimi Adugbo that: ‘This your child will be a poor man whose kind we have not seen in this Laketu town before.’ The Babalawo continued his prophecy, he said: This your child will be a very powerful and merciless raider, an outlaw, an outrage, a traitor, a slanderer, a transgressor, a tricker, a crinninal, a cunning person, a tale-bearer, a cheater, a burglar, a truant, a wild fellow, a great confusionist, etc., whose kind is very rare to see on earth!’ the Babalawo said.

  That is that,’ the Babalawo advanced in his prophecy as he was pointing his finger to the child, he said: ‘Certainly, in respect of his evil character and wickednesses, in the end you will drive him away from your house as soon as he has attained the age of manhood. And moreover, after a while, when the Oba and his chiefs have changed him to an immortal in the name of Creator, then they will expel him away from this Lak
etu town,’ the Babalawo said. ‘That is that,’ the Babalawo went on in his prophecy, he said: ‘This your child will be a wanderer. But in his wandering, he will wander to a faraway foreign town. The inhabitants of that town will install him their Otun Oba!’ The Babalawo went further, he said: ‘But it is a pity indeed that after your boy has enjoyed much on his throne, by his cunnings, he will cause what will definitely dethrone him. But then, he will return to his former hostile behaviours.’

  The Babalawo continued the ‘esent’aye’ or how the future of Kimi Adugbo’s child will be. He said: ‘And your child will continue to live in his hostile behaviour until he gets lost entirely in his wandering and nobody will see or meet him forever. In fact, nobody will see or meet him but he will be pestering the people on earth invisibly every day.’

  The Babalawo concluded his prophecy, he said: ‘But inasmuch as unforeseen evil is one of his bad behaviours, surely, he will use his same unforeseen evil characters to dethrone the Oba whom he met on the throne in that faraway town!’ It was like that the Babalawo, the Ifa priest, explained to Kimi Adugbo, the Osi Oba, how the ‘esent’aye’ or what the future of his child would be.

  But then it was ‘the great grief which droops the heads of elders’ for Kimi Adugbo when he heard the bad ‘esent’aye’ of his child that morning. He was so sad that his mouth rejected food and drink, and great depression overwhelmed him immediately.

  Even the grief was overmuch for him so that he was unable to thank the Babalawo when he was leaving for his house that morning.

  After a few days, however, Kimi Adugbo accepted his fate and then he continued to be as cheerful to the people as he was before the ‘esent’aye’ of his child was read to him.

  When Kimi Adugbo’s child became eight days old, he reluctantly gave him a name which was ALAGEMQ. The meaning of this name ‘Alagemo’ is chameleon worshipper. But Kimi Adugbo named this his child in proverb, ‘The Agemp dancer said that he had done all he could to train his child how to dance. But if he does not know how to dance, that will be his fault.’