The servant did all these things for Okeke.
Then Okeke’s wife put on her wedding clothes and shoes. As she walked near Okeke the shoes began to sing: “Ugbala and Okeke. Ugbala and Okeke.”
Okeke began to weep.
“Where did you get those shoes?” he cried.
“They are mine,” replied Ugbala. “I am the wife you pushed away at the river side. Now you see I am alive.”
Okeke became very frightened, and truly he had been regretting for a long time what he had done.
“Don’t be afraid,” said Ugbala. “I’m rich. I still want you to stay here as my husband.”
Okeke stayed. From that day he and Ugbala were happy together, and he became a successful trader once again.
The Medicine for Getting a Son
A man named Obi and his wife Ngozi regretted that they had no child, for they had been married for many years. Finally, Obi went to a wizard to ask for his advice.
“Go,” said the wizard, “and bring me the milk of a buffalo, the tears of an elephant, the tooth of a lion, the tail of a monkey and the brains of a lion.”
Obi left his wife at home and started out in search of all these things the wizard had named. On his way he met a rabbit. He told the rabbit that he needed the milk of a buffalo.
“I will help you,” said the rabbit, and went without delay to a buffalo he knew.
“Honoured buffalo,” said the rabbit, “see if you can run like me through the thick bushes which you see there.”
The rabbit ran up and down making a lot of dust, and jumped right over the thick bushes, but the buffalo did not realise this. He crashed into the thick bushes where his horns became stuck. Whatever he did he could not free himself. The rabbit waved to Obi, who came and milked the trapped buffalo.
Obi continued his journey. He had not been going long when he found an elephant weeping for the death of his son. Obi again asked the rabbit to help him. The rabbit readily agreed and ran up to the elephant saying, “Honoured elephant, the tears of a prince should not fall on the ground.”
So saying, the rabbit held a bowl to the elephant’s eyes and collected the tears. He carried the bowl to Obi.
Obi told the rabbit that he still needed the tooth of a lion and the tail of a monkey. The rabbit ran back to the elephant saying, “The lions and the monkeys are laughing because you are weeping.”
His words made the elephant very angry. He marched quickly up to a lion who lived nearby and attacked him, but he only succeeded in breaking one of the lion’s teeth before the lion ran away. Then the elephant saw some monkeys and before they could run away too he had pulled off one of their tails with his powerful trunk. The rabbit, however, begged the elephant to give him the broken tooth and the tail. The elephant agreed and the rabbit returned to Obi.
“Here is a lion’s tooth,” said the rabbit, “and here is a monkey’s tail. Now I must go about my own business.”
Obi thanked the rabbit for his great help, and he and the rabbit parted. While Obi was wondering how he might obtain the brains of a lion, a donkey passed by. Obi decided to follow the donkey to ask his advice but before he could catch up with him a lion suddenly appeared. It was the same lion who had already lost part of his tooth. The lion was still angry and when he saw the donkey he fell on him. The lion was almost ready to kill the donkey when the frightened animal suddenly kicked with all his might and cracked open the lion’s head. His brains were revealed and Obi quickly ran up and took them. “The rest of the lion is yours,” he told the donkey.
Obi returned to the wizard.
“Here is the milk of a buffalo,” he said to the wizard. “Here are the tears of an elephant. Here is the tooth of a lion and the tail of a monkey. Here finally are the brains of a lion.”
“You have done very well,” said the wizard. “Now your wife will have a child, and it will be a son.”
The wizard mixed together what Obi had brought him, and together these ingredients formed a medicine which Obi gave to his wife Ngozi. Before the end of the year the childless wife had given birth to a son.
When the son grew to manhood he caught the rabbit and bought the donkey.
“You helped my father,” said the son, “and now I shall help you.”
Obi’s son fed and protected the rabbit and the donkey for the rest of their lives.
The Present is the Most Important Time
There was once a Chief whose mind was troubled. He was troubled because he wanted to know the answers to three questions. The first question was this: when is the most important time? The second was: who is the most important man? The third was: what is a man’s most important action?
The Chief thought that if he knew the answers to these three questions, he would succeed in anything he chose to do. Moreover, he knew that if he had the answers to these three questions, he would also be respected by his people for his great wisdom.
The Chief called many people to him, many learned men, but not one of them could answer any of the three questions to his satisfaction. Then at last the Chief heard of a certain hermit who lived in the forest. This hermit was very famous for his wisdom.
The Chief therefore called for his horse, and he rode alone into the forest in search of the hermit. When he reached the hermit’s home he saw a very old man digging holes and hoeing the ground. The hermit was so feeble that he could only just manage to dig and hoe and he looked very tired. The Chief jumped off his horse and greeted the old man.
“I have come to ask you three questions,” said the Chief, having finished his greetings, and he asked the hermit the three questions.
The hermit listened but made no answer, all the time continuing with his work.
“You are tired,” said the Chief. “Let me help you. I will dig while you rest.”
The Chief dug for some time, then he repeated his questions, but instead of giving answers the hermit got up from where he was resting and said he would continue with his digging. However, the Chief would not allow that, and went on digging for the hermit.
Then suddenly the Chief saw a bearded man coming toward him, with blood flowing from wounds on his face. The Chief stopped the man with kind words, and washed his face with water from a nearby stream. Then he wrapped a cloth around the wounds. When the bearded man asked for water to drink the Chief brought it to him, after which he took the man into a hut where he could rest. The Chief also lay down to rest, for by that time night had come.
The next morning the Chief went once more to the hermit. The hermit was planting seeds in the holes that had been dug the day before.
“Oh, wise hermit,” said the Chief. “I beg you to answer my three questions.”
“Your questions have already been answered,” replied the hermit.
“I have heard no answers,” said the Chief.
“You had pity for me because of my weakness and my age,” the hermit explained. “You stayed with me to help. If you had not done so and had gone on your way that bearded man would have killed you.”
The Chief listened without saying a word while the hermit continued speaking.
“The most important time was when you were digging for me. It was I who was the most important man at the time and helping me was your most important action. When the wounded man came near us he was then the most important man and what you were doing for him was your most important action.”
The Chief began to understand what the hermit’s words should mean to him.
“Remember,” said the hermit, “there is only one time that is important, and that time is the present. Remember, the most important man is the man whom you are with at any moment, for you never know whether he may be the last person on earth with whom you meet. Remember, the most important action for you to do is to treat well and with justice the man you are with, because it is for that purpose alone that you were sent into this life.”
Then the hermit began to sow his seeds again, and the Chief mounted his horse and rode back to his palace. Neve
r did he forget what he had learnt from the hermit, and the fame of the Chief’s goodness and wisdom spread throughout the land.
Wiser than a King
There was once a boy whose name in his own language was ‘Wiser-than-a-king’.
In that part of the country there lived a powerful king. One day a monkey reported to him that there was a boy in a nearby village whose name was ‘Wiser-than-a-king’.
The king was angry.
“I shall test this strangely named boy,” the king decided. “Who can be wiser than a king?”
He sent the monkey and two servants to bring the boy to him. They fetched the boy and brought him before their master.
“Are you wiser than a king?” the king asked the boy.
“Sire,” replied the boy, “that is not for me to say, but nevertheless, that is my name.”
Then the king spoke: “I order you to cut my hair.”
“Before I cut your majesty’s hair, millet must be cut and prepared so that I can eat afterwards.”
The king instructed his servants to cut and prepare millet. Then the boy cut the king’s hair.
“Put my hair back where it was before,” said the king to the boy.
“Before I put back your hair, you must put my millet back growing in the ground,” replied the boy.
“How can I put the millet back?” answered the king.
“How can I put your hair back?” said the boy.
Then the king called his servants to bring corn from the granary in the palace compound. They brought the corn in baskets to where the king and the boy were facing each other.
“Take this corn,” said the king to the boy. “Prepare a sweet drink from it so that I can drink it today.”
The boy showed the king some seeds from the calabash plant.
“Sire,” he said. “Let your servants take these seeds and plant them so that I can have calabashes in which to put the sweet corn drink today.”
“How can I plant calabash seeds for the plants to grow and the calabashes to be cut, so that you can put liquid into them and all this to be done today?” the king asked.
“How can I make corn into a sweet drink for you today?” replied the boy.
The king considered these questions and answers. Finally he said to the boy, “You, who are named ‘Wiser-than-a-king’, bring me my horse.”
The boy fetched the horse and brought it to the king.
“Now feed the horse every minute with grass,” the king ordered. “If you fail, your disobedience will cause me to punish you severely.”
The boy was not worried. He obtained delicious porridge made from maize and he called all the rats of the town to him. In exchange for the delicious porridge of maize, the rats agreed to bring grass every minute.
“Your horse is being fed,” the boy told the king.
As they watched, they saw grass coming to the horse. The king could not see the rats underneath the grass as they carried it, but grass was coming to the horse every minute.
“I thought I was wiser than you,” the surprised king admitted to the boy. “But you, you are wiser than I am, ‘Wiser-than-a-king’.”
The boy was then allowed to return safely to his village. He went to his house and joined his parents, where they lived happily and peacefully ever afterwards.
The Lion, the Monkey and the Clever Bird
A young lion fell into a deep hole and could not get out. He had nothing to eat on the first day, nor on the second day, nor on the third day.
“I shall die,” said the lion to himself. “I shall die of hunger.”
But on the fourth day he saw a monkey high above the hole. The monkey was jumping from tree to tree.
“Monkey, monkey,” cried the young lion. “Please help me.”
The monkey stopped jumping and looked down at the lion in the hole.
“Certainly I shall help you,” he replied. “What do you wish me to do?”
“Put your tail down into the hole,” said the lion. “Then I can hold your tail and climb out of the hole. Please save me.”
The monkey agreed to this plan and jumped to a branch of a tree which was directly above the hole; he put his tail down into the hole and told the lion to take hold of it. The lion caught the tail and climbed up from the hole whereupon he seized the monkey’s body with his two front paws.
“Now I am going to eat you,” said the lion.
“Why are you going to eat me?” cried the monkey.
“Because this is the fourth day on which I have not eaten any food,” replied the lion.
“But you should not eat me,” the monkey protested, “considering that it was I who saved you. You ought to thank me.”
At that moment a big black bird flew down to join the lion and the monkey.
“What are you talking about so angrily?” the big black bird asked.
The monkey told the bird the whole story: how he had lowered his tail into the deep hole to save the lion, and how, instead of giving thanks, the lion had said he was going to eat him.
Then the bird said to the lion, “It is wrong for you to eat the monkey. He saved your life.”
“But I am very hungry,” said the lion. “If I do not eat the monkey, I shall die of starvation. This is the fourth day on which I have not eaten.”
The clever bird decided to try to save the monkey’s life and she thought of a plan. “Let me ask you three questions before you eat the monkey and please give me three answers.”
“Very well,” agreed the lion. “You may ask me three questions and I will answer you.”
“My first question is this,” said the bird. “Is it true that this monkey saved your life?”
“Yes, that is true,” answered the lion.
“My next question,” the bird continued, “is this. Is it true that this is the fourth day on which you have had nothing to eat?”
“Yes, that is true,” answered the lion.
“My third question,” the bird said, “is this. Did you thank the monkey for saving your life?”
“No,” replied the lion, “I didn’t.”
The bird said, “It was wrong of you not to thank the monkey. Before you start to eat him, you should thank him for his kindness.”
“Very well,” the lion said, “but how shall I thank the monkey?”
The wise bird had her answer ready.
“You must thank him by holding your head down on the ground.”
Then the lion took his paws from the monkey and held his head down to the ground while he was giving thanks.
“Monkey, escape. You are saved,” cried the big black bird as she flew away.
“I’m saved,” cried the monkey, jumping up quickly and climbing the nearest tall tree.
The ungrateful lion saw the monkey escape. However, the monkey himself had learnt a lesson: he would never help lions again.
The Rivalry for the Lizard King’s Daughters
Many years ago the King of Lizards had two beautiful daughters. Nobody except the king knew their names. The king declared that anyone who could tell him their names would be given a daughter to marry, and also a bag of money.
Naturally every man wanted to marry a daughter of the king and to have a bag of money, but no one could tell the daughters’ names.
However, the monkey was particularly clever. For three days he carefully concealed himself and watched what the king’s daughters were doing. On the fourth day he bought two mango fruits. They were of first-class quality and appearance. He took them and climbed one of the trees under which the girls were playing.
Eventually one of the sisters went away. Then the monkey threw down a mango. The girl under the tree called to her sister to come back and share the fruit. She called her by her name, so the clever monkey knew one of the names.
Then the monkey waited patiently until the other sister went away. Again he threw down a mango and the girl remaining under the tree also called to her sister to come back and share the fruit. She called her by name, so
the monkey heard that also.
At this time there was a very important rule about speaking to the King of Lizards. Nobody was allowed to speak to him directly. If anyone wanted to speak to the king, he would speak to a palace official known as the Old Lizard who would then repeat the words to the king.
The day after the monkey had found out the names of the king’s daughters, he went to the palace. All the lizards were there. The monkey told the Old Lizard that he wished to marry a daughter of the king. The Old Lizard repeated this to the king.
“What are the names of my daughters?” asked the king.
The monkey told their names to the Old Lizard and the Old Lizard repeated them to the king.
“It is to you that I will give both my daughters and the two bags of money,” the king announced to the Old Lizard. “They are yours, Old Lizard, because you have spoken their names to me.”
The monkey was very angry. He waited until night time. In the darkness he stole a large cock which belonged to the king. He killed the cock and ate it; then he went to the house of the Old Lizard. He threw the bones and the feathers of the cock into the Old Lizard’s house.
“But I am not yet finished,” said the monkey to himself.
Next he heated some palm-tree juice and took it to the Old Lizard.
“Drink this sweet-tasting juice,” persuaded the monkey. The Old Lizard foolishly drank it and burnt his throat.
The monkey then took some more heated palm-tree juice to the Old Lizard’s servant.
“Drink this sweet-tasting juice,” said the monkey, and the unsuspecting servant drank it and burnt his throat also.
The next morning it was reported to the king that one of his best cocks was missing. Everyone was called to the palace.
“Where is my cock?” the king demanded.
“The Old Lizard stole it,” cried the monkey. “The bones and feathers are in his house.”
West African Folk Tales Page 9
