‘I am one of Creator’s Iko!’
‘Hoo-o! Is that so! But what kind of message is it which Creator has sent to my wife and me?’ Pauper asked in zeal and in his usual voice of poverty and wretchedness.
‘Please, call your wife to come to us because the message concerns her as well!’ the Messenger told Pauper and after, he hesitated, and then he looked on.
‘Brawler! Brawler! Brawler! Please come and listen to the message which Creator has sent to us!’
‘Yes, I am this! But what kind of message is it which Creator has sent to us?’ Brawler pushed her chest forward and asked in a hurry. But then she continued her brawls at once.
‘By the way, what makes you brawl harshly like this and your mouth is not tired, you a beautiful woman like this?’ in astonishment, the Iko asked from Brawler. After, he folded both his arms across his chest, he hesitated and then he was looking on surprisedly.
‘You see, the Messenger of Creator, there is no pleasure at all in the life of my husband. Instead, he dwells in both poverty and wretchedness. And the worse of it he is sluggish more than the bird which is called “so” and which is so sluggish that it cries once in a year!’ Brawler explained to the Messenger with hot brawls.
‘Does that mean you are brawling both day and night because your husband is in poverty and wretchedness, and that he is sluggish more than “so” the bird that cries once a year?’ the Messenger teased Brawler with marvel.
‘That is not so at all! Pauper is my husband. I know him very well as everyone knows money! His poverty and wretchedness are so strong that they infect whatever he plants on his farm! And moreover,’ Brawler continued, ‘all the people of the town hate him more than dung in respect of the dirty rags which he is wearing about ever)’ day!’ But Brawler had hardly explained to the Messenger with fretfulness when she continued her brawls on another matter which entirely digressed from the complaints which she had made to Creator’s Iko.
But then Creator’s Iko breathed out heavily: ‘Hun-un! That means you and your husband have identical characters which are indeed different from that of mankind.’ The messenger or Iko continued to appease Brawler’s anger: ‘Because as you have accused your husband of his poverty and wretchedness, it was so he too accused you of your harmful and non-stop brawls! Therefore, I take both of you just like the bottle and demijohn which are accusing each other!’
The Iko went further in his appeasement, he told Brawler that: ‘The bottle abuses the demijohn that it is made from the glass. And so the demijohn abuses the bottle as well that it is made from the glass. But what is the difference between glass and glass?’ Thus the Iko appeased Brawler in proverb.
‘Just so! I agree with you that the bottle and demijohn relate to each other!’ Brawler replied with brawls.
‘Hooo! It will be better for you. Brawler!’ Creator’s Iko went on in his appeasement, he said: ‘As your husband is habitually a poor, wretched and ragged man, and that he is foolish much more than the bird called “so” which cries but only once in a year, and that it is certain that you are a pretty brawling woman who brawls harmfully on the whole things which are on earth, it is certain then that you and your husband have come to earth through the same “odu” (the indication of divination by the Ifa oracle)!’ It was so the Iko of Creator appeased Brawler in a trickish way.
‘All right. Brawler, what kind of help do you wish Creator to do for your husband?’ the Iko asked from Brawler with a cool voice.
‘Haaa! This is the happiest day for me since I came to earth! The kind of help that I wish Creator to do for my husband is to slay him for me! That is the only help I want from Him!’ Brawler jumped up with happiness and shouted, as she was looking at her husband and the Iko with half an eye.
‘Is that your wish?’ the Iko asked in a shocked voice.
‘Surely, that is what I want!’ Brawler confirmed her wish as her husband was looking on speechlessly.
That means you don’t wish Creator to help you get money and child and further to relieve you of your harmful brawls but to slay your husband for you?’ the Iko asked Brawler whether she would repent from killing her husband.
‘Haaa! Not at all! I have nothing to do with money or child or with being delivered from my brawls!’ Brawler insisted mercilessly.
‘Well! Okay!’ the Iko said. ‘Please listen to me now. Pauper. But what kind of help do you wish Creator to do for your wife?’ the Iko turned his face to Pauper and asked him.
‘Well, even though I am the one whose poverty and wretchedness are overmuch on earth in this century, and that my wife’s brawls are the most peevish and that harmful uncountably to the people, and that my treasures on this earth are not more than the orange trees which surround my house and also the dirty rags which are on my body,’ Pauper continued his request, he told the Iko, ‘but the most important thing that I wish Creator to give me is the power which is above all powers. That is one. The second one is to give to my voice a command which is so powerful that if a person touches my orange trees and if I command it, that person should stick onto the trees and immediately he should stick onto them!’ Pauper went further in his request, he said: ‘Please, Creator’s Messenger, those are the kinds of powers that I wish Creator to give me!’ Thus Pauper requested all that he wanted very carefully.
But of course, ‘if a young man is just trying to behave like an old man, his age will not give him the way’. In fact. Pauper was so poor and wretched that his poverty and wretchedness were much beyond that of human knowledge. But he did not want the death of anybody like his wife.
‘All right, it is not bad. But I will tell Creator, when I return to Him, the kind of help that which you, the husband, want from Him, and that which your wife wants Him to do for her! Goodbye!’ the Creator’s Iko promised Pauper and his wife. But then he left their house and soon after, he was vanished from their view.
But when the Iko returned to Creator, he told Him the kind of helps which Pauper and his wife. Brawler, wanted from Him. But without hesitation. Creator commanded that: ‘Let the wish of Brawler be for her according to her wish. And let Pauper have the power of powers according to his wish. But it is not yet time to give to his voice the power of command!’ Creator said.
Truly, immediately Creator approved one of Pauper’s requests and He shelved the other one aside, power of command, for the other time. A power which was above all powers came to his body. He was stronger than a giant now. And for his wife. Brawler, Creator agreed to send Death to slay her husband. Pauper, for her.
Although Creator approved Brawler’s wish. He could never be so cruel to those creatures whom He had created with His own hand. And He knew well that ‘an elder who is over-doing things loses respect’. So He waited to see whether Death would be able to slay Pauper for his wife.
9
DEATH ARRIVES
TO SLAY PAUPER
FOR HIS WIFE
One morning, when Pauper, the Father of Wretchedness, was wording his wife, Brawler, bitterly and sorrowfully, and his wife was wording him in return with different kinds of bitter brawls, and as both were chasing each other about inside and outside of the house; just then. Death, the slayer of mankind, arrived at their house unexpectedly. Without wasting one second, he shouted horribly to both of them, he said: ‘Heee! Let you stop there! But you. Pauper, at your wife’s wish, I come to slay you for her, just as Creator has instructed me to do!’
‘I thank you indeed. Death, Father of Terror. With great respect, I agree with you to slay me for my wife’s wish!’ Pauper continued, he told Death, ‘Even I have prepared to die this morning! Because I am willing greatly to go and meet all my ancestors in Creator’s residence, where people go but do not return!’ Pauper told Death without fear, even though the guise of Death, the killer of wealthy and poor people, was extremely terrifying.
Pauper went on, he told Death, the most cruel on earth, ‘But 1 beg you indeed to do an obligation for me before you take my life!’ Pauper implored Death w
ith respect and without fear.
‘But what kind of obligation do you wish me to do for you?’ Death shouted terribly to Pauper. But as Death continued his horrible shout to Pauper, now. Brawler was extremely happy. But this time, she began to tiptoe round her husband and Death. She was despising her husband, saying that: ‘Hun-hun-un! Death has caught you with his hands this day! Today is the last day for you to remain on earth!’
Brawler continued her derision, she said: ‘A poor and wretched man you are!’
‘Thank you much. Death,’ Pauper continued his request: ‘Do you see those orange trees, around my house?’ he pointed his hand to the trees and showed them to Death.
‘Yes, I see them!’ Death looked and fastened his terrible eyes on the trees. ‘But I have nothing to do with your orange trees. But just prepare yourself to surrender your life for your wife’s wish!’ Death shouted horribly. But Pauper was not afraid at all. Because Pauper was sure that ‘without killing an animal, we cannot use its leather for making the drum’.
‘I am grateful. Death. Those orange trees are the only property I have on earth. But of course, the second one which I have is the dirty rags with which I cover my body.’ Pauper went on, he said: ‘For this reason, I beg you to give me just a few minutes to pluck two oranges from the top of my trees; to suck them first before you slay me for my wife!’ with lowliness. Pauper appealed to Death, the gigantic killer of people of earth.
But as Pauper w^as appealing to Death, his wife. Brawler, with great joy, began to cackle like a hen, and so she began to laugh with her gullet - ‘kaa-kaa!’ For she believed that, unfailingly. Death would slay her husband for her that morning. But Death refused Pauper’s request. Death was able to turn down Pauper’s request, simply because Creator had not yet given power of command to his voice. He (Creator) shelved it for some time to come.
Instead of granting Pauper’s request. Death grappled his head with both his hands. But just as he tried to strangle him to death. Pauper too hastily grappled Death’s thick neck. He started to use the strange power which Creator had given to his body and with it he tried to twist Death’s neck.
Now, having felt much pain, willing or not. Death released Pauper’s head when he wanted to break his neck. But then this time Death began to wrestle fiercely with Pauper. He attempted to lift him off the ground and then knock him to death. But ‘it is the ceiling that bears the load; the shelf is only boasting’. Pauper did not let Death lift him off the ground. Therefore, all Death’s efforts failed, he was just boasting.
Pauper attempted also to lift Death off the ground and knock hin onto the ground. But for him, it was just ‘a single hand which cannot lift up a full-loaded calabash onto the head’. He was unable to lift Death up. Therefore all his efforts failed as well.
As Death and Pauper continued their fierce fight and were trampling all the pots, ladles, basins and calabashes which were in Pauper’s house into pieces with their feet. Brawler simply behaved now like ‘the proud pond which stands aloof from the stream as though it is not related to the stream’. It was just so with Brawler that morning. Instead of parting the two fighters, she stood aloof and then she left them for their fate, as if she was not the one who had caused this scuffle.
But when it seemed to Brawler that Death wanted to overpower Pauper, she was so happy this time that she began to shout: ‘Death, put more efforts and slay Pauper for me! Slay him in time!’
Thus Brawler continued to encourage Death with great joy but ‘in a wink of monkey’. Pauper and Death had fought from the house to the outside. But they continued their wrestling from there along to the town as they were entirely wet by their perspiration. Their feet were shooting dust high up till when they wrestled into the centre of the town.
The dust had so much covered both of them that the people could hardly see them in it. Having seen them fighting terribly, the people were so much afraid and confused that they began to shout greedily: ‘Haaa! See Pauper, he is wrestling with a powerful Esu or Devil!’ And so many others were shouting earnestly and with fear that: ‘Pauper is fighting with an underworld being!’
But the people were still in great panic when another more terrible thing happened in the town unexpectedly at this very time.
This incident was that this very morning. Slanderer, the close friend of Pauper, brought countless of his fellow raiders to the town. All of them began to cause great confusion to every part of the town. They were breaking into the houses of the people. They were carrying their money and valuable property away. But soon Pauper, Death, Slanderer and his fellow raiders became the terrors of the town.
The people were so confused and panic-stricken that it was not so long before mothers did not know where their children were. The husbands did not know where their wives were and so for their wives. It was like this Pauper, Death, Slanderer and his fellow raiders put the people and the town in great chaos that morning.
After all, when Death fought terribly with Pauper but was unable to slay him, they fought back to the front of Pauper’s house. Now, Death was entirely tired and he was greatly thirsty, but Pauper was not tired, because the strange power which was above all powers which Creator had granted him suppressed Death’s power, though he was the terror of terrors.
Death sat down in front of Pauper’s house and he began to breathe in and out heavily for tiredness, at this time. Pauper stood up. He walked to one of his orange trees. But as he stretched out his right arm and he plucked two oranges from the branch of that tree, and then he started to suck one of the two. Death too stood up tiredly. He went to that orange tree.
But this time. Pauper kept silent but he was keeping watch on him with half an eye. But as Death stretched his hand up to the branch of the orange tree, and just to pluck one orange to suck it as Pauper did, just at this very time Creator sent the power of command to his voice. Then he commanded unexpectedly, he shouted: ‘Death, let your arms and body stick on to my orange tree!’
To Death’s fear and surprise. Pauper had hardly commanded like that when Death’s body and hands stuck on to the orange tree. It was just like that the power of command which Creator had given to Pauper’s voice worked miraculously now.
Just as ‘the proud pond stands aloof from the stream as though it is not related to the water’, it was like that for Brawler now, who had originated this great disaster. She stood aloof now and then she was looking at Death instead of going and helping him.
Although, Brawler was a foul-mouthed woman and who had been shouting to Death joyfully before to slay Pauper, her husband, for her, she was now so depressed that she was not aware when she opened her mouth in shock and the spit was dropping onto the ground. And so she began to doubt now whether Death would be able to slay her husband for her. But what happened to Death now was different from what she and Death himself expected.
Now, Death, the terror of human beings, had no more power in him immediately his hands and body had stuck on to the orange tree. He feared so much now that he started to beg Pauper in an earnest voice to command his orange tree to release him.
‘What? To release you without a covenant? No!’ Pauper was sulky and frowned at Death, the slayer of mankind.
‘But what kind of covenant do you want from me?’ Death asked in trembling mind.
‘Unless you swear that as from today and for ever, you Death will not slay Pauper and Brawler. But then my orange tree will release you!’ Pauper shouted to Death.
Now, it is just that, ‘one should not ask the causes of his father’s death but when he has seized the hilt of his sword’. But Pauper’s hand had seized the hilt of sword now and then he was bold enough to ask ‘the causes of his father’s death’ from Death.
Now, whether Death liked it or not he swore to Pauper that: ‘Well, okay! As you. Pauper, have told me to do, I, Death who am ruining the houses of the wealthy people and also poor people by killing them, swear to you that as from today and on, I, Death will never kill Pauper and Brawler!’ Death continued his
covenant in fretful ness, ‘Or if I attempt to do so, let the day change to night and let the darkness of the night swallow me up!’
But then as soon as Death had sworn to Pauper, he commanded his orange tree to release Death. But he feared Pauper so much now that he did not even wait and thank him before he fled and soon he was vanished.
But when Brawler was sure that Death had failed to slay her husband for her, she collapsed and then she fainted. Although Pauper knew well that all she wanted was his death, he started to treat her at once hll she was conscious.
Brawler was hardly conscious when she stood up and then she began to brawl persistently. But soon after, when Pauper was fed up with listening to her hot brawls, he started to speak to her rudely. And a few minutes later, their noises had filled up the house. But as they continued to abuse each other. Brawler’s brawls began to intoxicate her so much that she started to bite her husband like a dog.
But when Pauper saw that his body began to bleed repeatedly, in panic, he fled to the outside and then he began to run as fast as he could to another part of the outskirts of the town, where there was a large river. But Brawler started to chase him along immediately to bite him again.
But before long. Brawler pursued her husband fiercely to the front of the house in which Peace and Joy lived by the side of the town. But we should remember that Peace or Alaafia was a relative of Pauper’s mother, while Joy or Ayo was a relative of Brawler’s mother. They had both lived with them for some years, but later, they had quitted their house in great sadness, because these two lasses could not live together with quarrelsome persons.
Just as Brawler chased her husband to the front of the house in which Peace and Joy lived with rest of mind, she saw them standing at their doorway. Then with harsh brawls, she shouted to them: ‘Please, Joy, help me bite my husband! Please, I beg you!’
‘Haa! never shall I bite a person! I am Joy and I do only things which are joyful!’ thus Joy declined to help Brawler bite her husband.
Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer Page 4
