 The introduction of folk stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Folk stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Deirel. Introduction Many years ago, a book on the folktales of the Eskimo was published and the editor of the Academy, Dr. Appleton, told one of his minions to send it to me for revision. By mischance, it was sent to an eminent expert in political economy who never suspecting any error took the book for the text of an interesting essay on the economics of the blameless hyperborians. Mistake Deirel's folk stories from Southern Nigeria appeal to the anthropologists within me no less than to the lover of what children and older people call fairy tales. The stories are full of mentions of strange institutions as well as of rare adventures. I may be permitted to offer some running notes and comments on this mass of African curiosities from the crowded lumber room of the native mine. One, the tortoise with a pretty daughter. The story like the tales of the dark native tribes of Australia rises from that state of fancy by which man draws, at least for purposes of fiction, no line between himself and the lower animals. Why should not the fair heroine, a dead, daughter of the tortoise, be the daughter of human parents? The tale would be nonetheless interesting and a good deal more credible to the mature intelligence. But the ancient fashion of animal parentage is presented. It may have originated like the stories of the Australians at a time when men were totemists. When every person had a bestial or vegetable family name and went to account for these hereditary names, stories of descent from a supernatural, bestial, permeable race were invented. In the fables of the world, the speaking animals, human in all but out of all aspects, are the characters. Their fashion is universal among savages. It descends to the Buddhas Jataka or parables to Aesop and Lafontaine. There could be no such fashion if fables had originated among civilized human beings. The polity of the people who tell this story seems to be despotic. The king makes a law that any girl prettier than the prince's 50 wives shall be put to death with her parents. Who is to be the Paris and give the fatal apple to the most fair? Obviously, the prince is the Paris. He falls in love with Miss Totus, guided to her as he is by the bird who is entranced with her beauty. In this tribe, as in Homer's time, the lover offers a bright price to the father of the girl. In Homer, catalog the current medium, in Nigeria, pieces of cloth and brass rods are or wear the currency. Observe the queen's interest in an affair of true love. Though she knows that her son's life is endangered by his honorable passion, she adds to the bright price out of her pre-weepers. It is a long courting. Four years pass while pretty Edet is over young to marry yet. The king is very angry when the news of this breach of the Royal Marriage Act first comes to his ears. He summons the whole of his subjects. His throne, his stone is set out in the marketplace and Edet is brought before him. He sees and is conquered. It is no wonder, said the king, this tortoise gate might be a queen. Though a despot, his majesty before cancelling his law has to consult the eight Igbo's, or heads of secret societies, whose magical powers give the sacred sanction to legislation. The Igbo is a mumbo-jumbo man. He answers to the bogey who presides over the rights of initiation in the Australian tribes. When the Igbo is about, women must hide and keep out of the way. The king proclaims the cancelling of the law. The Igbo's might resist for they have olden knives and poisons of the secret societies behind them. But the king, a master of the human heart, acts like Sir Robert Valpole. He buys the Igbo votes, with palm wine and money, and gives a feast to the women at the marriage dances. But why does the king give half his kingdom to the tortoise? When an adventurer in fairytales wins the hand of the king's heirs, he usually gets half the kingdom. The tortoise is said to have been the wisest of all men and animals. Why? He merely did not kill his daughter. But there is no temptation to kill daughters in a country where they are valuable assets and command high bride prices. In the Australian tribes, the bride price is simply another girl. A man swaps his sister to another man for the other man's sister, or for any girl of whose hand the other man has the disposal. 2. The second story is a very ingenious commercial parable. Never lend money, you only make a dangerous enemy. The story also explains why Bushcats yield paltry. 3. The woman with two skins is a peculiar version of the story of the courtier, Sir Gawain, with his bride, hideous by day, and a pearl of loveliness by night. The juju man answers to the witch in our fairytales, and to the mother-in-law of the prince, who by a magical potion makes him forget his own true love. She, however, is always victorious, and the prince prepares another marriage, their hearts so full of love and glee, and hosts the false bride like Lord Bateman in the ballad when Sophia came home. In this case of Lord Bateman, this colyast, Packery probably, suggests that his lordship secured the consent of the church as the king in the tortoise story won that of the egg-bills. Our tale then wanders into the fairytale story of the king, who is deceived into drowning his children in European folklore, because he is informed that they are puppies. The water juju, however, saves these black princes, and brings forward the rightful heir very dramatically at a wrestling match where the lad overthrows more than he thought, like Orlando in As You Like It, and conquers the heart of the jealous queen as well as his athletic opponents. In the conclusion, the jealous woman is handed over to the ecclesiastical arm of the egg-bills. She is flocked, and as in the case of Joan Dark, is burned alive, and her ashes were thrown into the river. Human nature is much the same everywhere. Four, the king's magic drum. The drum is the mystical drone of ancient Welsh romance, which always provides plenty of good food and drink. But the drum has its drawbacks. The food goes bad if its owner steps over a stick in the road or a fallen tree, a taboo like the Jesus of ancient Irish legends. The tortoise in this tale has the geysers' power. He can make the king give him anything he chooses to ask. This very quick constraint occurs constantly in the Caholean cycle of Irish romance. And in the Black Thief, you can buy it for a penny in Dublin or read it in Thackeray's Little Tour in Ireland. The king is constrained to part with the drum, but does not tell the tortoise about the taboo and the drawback. The tortoise, though disappointed, at least pays his score off in public, and then the tale wanders into the hope of my thumb formula, and a trail of ashes. Finally, the story. Like most stories, explains the origin of an animal peculiarity. White tortoises live under prickly-tie-tie bombs. That explanation was clearly in the author's mind from the first, but to reach his point, he adopted the formula of the mystic object, drum or cauldron which provides endless supplies and has a contracting charm attached to it, a taboo. 5. Etwen and the King's Wife Some of these tales have this peculiarity that the characters possess names as Etwen, Ofyong, and Atom. They are thus what people call sagas, not mere marching. All the pseudo-historic legends of the Greek states of Thebes, Athens, Mycenae, Pylos, and so on are folk tales converted into saga and adopted and accepted as historical. Some of these Nigerian fairytales are in the same cast. The story of Athomas of Iocos and the sacrifice of Anya's descendants who went into the town hall exactly corresponds to the fate of the family of Etwen. The whole Athomas story in Greece is a tissue of popular tales found in every part of the world. This Etwen story, as usual, explains the habits of animals, vultures, and dogs and illustrates the awful cruelty of Igbola. 6. The Prettiest Ranger is a native variant of Judas and Holofernes. 7. A Just-So story, a myth to explain the ways of animals. The cauldron of Medea, which destroyed the wrong old person and did not rejuvenate him, is introduced. All the stories have been told all the world over. 8. The disobedient daughter who married a skull. This is most original, though all our ballads and tales about the pretty girl who is carried to the land of the dead by her lover's ghost, Virgus Lenore, has the same fundamental idea. Then comes in the common moral, the reward of courtesy as in Poros Laferre. But the machinery of the Nigerian romance leads off to the return of porouser pain from the dead in a truly fanciful way. 9. The King who married the cock's daughter is a subsman who married the woman that had been a cat. As Edea Anen pecks at the corn, the other lady caught and ate a mouse. 10. The woman, the ape and the child. This tale illustrates Egbor Jurisdicature very powerfully and is told to account for Nigerian marriage law. 11. The Fish and the Leopard's Wife, another Just-So story. 12. The Bat, another explanation of the nocturnal habits of the Bat. The tortoise appears as the wisest of things like the air in North America, brare rabbits, the bushman, mantis insect and so on. 13, 14 and 15, all of these are explanatory justice stories. 16. Why the sun and moon live in the sky? Sun and moon, in savage myth, lived on earth at first, but the Nigerian explanation of their retreat to the sky is as far as I know without parallel elsewhere. 17 and 18, Just-So stories. 19. Quite an original myth of thunder and lightning, much below the divine dignity of such myths elsewhere. Thunder is not the voice of Zeus or of Biam, the father, Australian, but of an old sheep. The gods have not made the Nigerians poetical. 20, another Just-So story. 21. The Cock who caused the fight. This story illustrates private war and justice among the natives and shows the Egbor's refusing to admit the principle of a fine in atonement for an offense. 22. The affair of the Hippopotamus and of the tortoise. A very curious variant of the Wuppati story, or Tantitat story, depending on the power confirmed by learning the secret name of an opponent. These secret names are conferred at Australian ceremonies. Any amount of the learning about secret names is easily acceptable. 23. Why dead people are buried? Here we meet the creator so common in the religious beliefs of Africans as of most barbarous and savage peoples. The creator was a big chief. The Ohlai, Biami, is rendered big man by Mrs. Langlow Parker. The myth is one of worldwide diffusion, explaining the origin of death, usually by the fable of a message forgotten and misrendered from the creator. 24. The fat woman who melted away. The revival of this beautiful creature from all that was left of her. The toe is an incident very common in folk tastes, i.e. the Scottish Rashing Coatie. The word dowry is used throughout to wear bright price would better express the institution. The Homeric advisement. 25. The leopard, the squirrel and the tortoise. 26. Why the moon waxes and wanes? A lunar myth, not a particle, though a kindly explanation of the habits of the moon. 27. The story of the leopard, the tortoise and the bush rats. 28. The king and the juju tree. This is a fine example of juju beliefs and of any extraordinary sacrifice to a juju power located in a tree. Goats, chickens and white men are common offerings, but seven baskets of flies might propitiate builds of bubble. 29. The spirit man, who can succeed when sacrifice fails, chooses the king's daughter as his reward as unusual in marching. 30. Compare Melampus and Hero in Greece. The skull in the spirit land here plays a friendly part in advising the princess like Proser Pie not to eat among the dead. This caution is found everywhere in the Greek version of Orpheus and Orides, in the Calavella and in the Scots wandering Willys Tale, in Red Gauntlet. Like Orpheus, the girl is not to look back while leaving a spirit land, her successful escape by obeying the injunctions of the skull is unusual. 29. How the tortoise overcame the elephant and the hippopotamus. It just saw a story with the tortoise as cunning as bear rabbit. 30. Of the pretty girl and the seven jealous women. Here the good little bird plays the part of the popinjay who up and spake with good effect in the first paddots. The useful juju man divides by casting lots a common method among the zulus. The revenge of the pretty girl swatter is certainly adequate. 31. How the cannibals drove the people from Insofen mountain to the cross river. This prophecies is to be historical and concerns human sacrifices to cool the new yams and cannibalism. 32. Is unimportant. In 33 we find the ordeal poison which destroys 50 witches. 34. The slave girl who tried to kill her mistress is a form of our common tale of the waiting maid who usurfs the place of her mistress to bride. 35. The resurrection of the bride from the water at the cry of her little sister occurs in a remote quarter among the Samoyed's in Kastren's Samoyedish Marchion. 36. But there the opening is in the style of Estrinos and Polja. 37. Frixos and Hell in Van Han's Grish Marchion. The false bride's story is in an ancient French chanson the guest part of the legend of the mother of Charlemagne. The story also occurs in Calaway's collection of Zulu fairy tales in the Nigerian version of the Manners. Customs and cruelties are all thoroughly West African. 35. The king and the Niziat bird accounts as usual for the habits of the bird and also illustrates the virus per custom of killing twins. 36. Reflects the well-known practices of poison and the ordeal by poison. 37. Is another just so story. 38. The drummer and the alligators. In this cream tale of one of the abominable secret societies the human alligators appear to be regarded as being capable of taking bestial form like werewolves or the leopards of another African secret society. 39 and 40 are both picturesque just so stories so common in the folklore of all countries. The most striking point in the tales is the combination of good humor and good feeling with horrible cruelties and the reign of terror of the Egbo and lesser societies. European influences can scarcely be much harm apart from whiskey in Nigeria. As to religion, we do not learn that the creator receives any sacrifice in savage and barbaric countries. He usually gets none. Only jujus, whether ghosts or fiends in general, are propitiated. The other is too high and too far. I briefly indicated the stories which have variants in ancient myth and European margin or fairy tales. Andrew Lank, end of the introduction. Chapter 1 of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Phyllis Vincelli. Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Derrell. Chapter 1 The Tortoise with a Pretty Daughter There was once a king who was very powerful. He had great influence over the wild beasts and animals. Now the tortoise was looked upon as the wisest of all beasts and men. This king had a son named Ekpenyon, to whom he gave fifty young girls as wives. But the prince did not like any of them. The king was very angry at this and made a law that if any man had a daughter who was finer than the prince's wives and who found favour in his son's eyes, the girl herself and her father and mother should be killed. Now about this time the tortoise and his wife had a daughter who was very beautiful. The mother thought it was not safe to keep such a fine child as the prince might fall in love with her. So she told her husband that her daughter ought to be killed and thrown away into the bush. The tortoise, however, was unwilling and hid her until she was three years old. One day when both the tortoise and his wife were away on their farm, the king's son happened to be hunting near their house and saw a bird perched on the top of the fence round the house. The bird was watching the little girl and was so entranced with her beauty that he did not notice the prince coming. The prince shot the bird with his bow and arrow and it dropped inside the fence so the prince sent his servant to gather it. While the servant was looking for the bird he came across the little girl and was so struck with her form that he immediately returned to his master and told him what he had seen. The prince then broke down the fence and found the child and fell in love with her at once. He stayed and talked with her for a long time until at last she agreed to become his wife. He then went home but concealed from his father the fact that he had fallen in love with the beautiful daughter of the tortoise. But the next morning he sent for the treasurer and got sixty pieces of cloth and three hundred rods and sent them to the tortoise. Footnote. A piece of cloth is generally about eight yards long by one yard broad and is valued at five shillings. A rod is made of brass and is worth three de lasse. It is in the shape of a narrow croquet hoop about sixteen inches long and six inches across. A rod is native currency on the Cross River. Footnote. Then in the early afternoon he went down to the tortoise's house and told him that he wished to marry his daughter. The tortoise saw at once that what he had dreaded had come to pass and that his life was in danger. So he told the prince that if the king knew he would kill not only himself the tortoise but also his wife and daughter. The prince replied that he would be killed himself before he allowed the tortoise and his wife and daughter to be killed. Eventually, after much argument, the tortoise consented and agreed to hand his daughter to the prince as his wife when she arrived at the proper age. Then the prince went home and told his mother what he had done. She was in great distress at the thought that she would lose her son, of whom she was very proud, as she knew that when the king heard of his son's disobedience he would kill him. However, the queen, although she knew how angry her husband would be, wanted her son to marry the girl he had fallen in love with. So she went to the tortoise and gave him some money, clothes, yams, and palm oil as further dowry on her son's behalf in order that the tortoise should not give his daughter to another man. For the next five years the prince was constantly with the tortoise's daughter, whose name was Adette, and when she was about to be put in the fatting-house the prince told his father that he was going to take Adette as his wife. Footnote. The fatting-house is a room where a girl is kept for some weeks previous to her marriage. She is given plenty of food and made as fat as possible, as fatness is looked upon as a great beauty by the epic people. And footnote. On hearing this the king was very angry and sent word all round his kingdom that all people should come on a certain day to the marketplace to hear the palover. When the appointed day arrived the marketplace was quite full of people and the stones belonging to the king and queen were placed in the middle of the marketplace. When the king and queen arrived all the people stood up and greeted them and they then sat down on their stones. The king then told his attendants to bring the girl Adette before him. When she arrived the king was quite astonished at her beauty. He then told the people that he had sent for them to tell them that he was angry with his son for disobeying him and taking Adette as his wife without his knowledge, but that now he had seen her himself he had to acknowledge that she was very beautiful and that his son had made a good choice. He would therefore forgive his son. When the people saw the girl they agreed that she was very fine and quite worthy of being the prince's wife and begged the king to cancel the law he had made altogether and the king agreed. And as the law had been made under the Egbo law he sent for eight Egbo's and told them that the order was cancelled throughout his kingdom and that for the future no one would be killed who had a daughter more beautiful than the prince's wives and gave the Egbo's palm wine and money to remove the law and sent them away. The Egbo society has many branches extending from Calabar up the cross river as far as the German Cameroons. Formerly the society used to levy blackmail to a certain extent and collect debts for people. The head juju or fetish man of each society is disguised and frequently wears a hideous mask. There is a bell tied round his waist hanging behind and concealed by feathers. This bell makes a noise as he runs. When the Egbo is out no women are allowed outside their houses and even at the present time the women pretend to be very frightened. The Egbo very often carries a whip in his hand and hits out blindly at anyone he comes across. He runs round the town followed by young men of his society beating drums and firing off guns. There is generally much drinking going on when the Egbo is playing. There is an Egbo house in most towns the end part of which is screened off for the Egbo to change in. Inside the house are hung human skulls and the skulls of buffalo or bush cow as they are called. Also heads of the various antelopes, crocodiles, apes and other animals which have been killed by the members. The skulls of cows and goats killed by the society are also hung up. A fire is always kept in the Egbo house and in the morning and late afternoon the members of the society frequently meet there to drink gin and palm wine. And footnote. Then he declared that the tortoise's daughter, Adette, should marry his son and he made them marry the same day. A great feast was then given which lasted for fifty days and the king killed five cows and gave all the people plenty of fufu and palm oil chop and placed a large number of pots of palm wine in the streets for the people to drink as they liked. Footnote. Fufu is yams boiled and mashed up. And footnote. The woman brought a big play to the king's compound and there was singing and dancing kept up day and night during the whole time. The prince and his companions also played in the market square. When the feast was over the king gave half of his kingdom to the tortoise to rule over and three hundred slaves to work on his farm. The prince also gave his father-in-law two hundred women and one hundred girls to work for him so the tortoise became one of the richest men in the kingdom. The prince and his wife lived together for a good many years until the king died when the prince ruled in his place. And all this shows that the tortoise is the wisest of all men and animals. Moral. Always have pretty daughters as no matter how poor they may be there is always the chance that the king's son may fall in love with them and they may thus become members of the royal house and obtain much wealth. End of chapter one. Chapter two of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Phyllis Vinceli. Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Derrell. Chapter two. How a hunter obtained money from his friends the Leopard, Goat, Bushcat and Cock and how he got out of repaying them. Many years ago there was a Calabar hunter called Effiong who lived in the bush, killed plenty of animals and made much money. Everyone in the country knew him and one of his best friends was a man called Okun who lived near him. But Effiong was very extravagant and spent money in eating and drinking with everyone until at last he became quite poor so he had to go out hunting again. But now his good luck seemed to have deserted him for although he worked hard and hunted day and night he could not succeed in killing anything. One day as he was very hungry he went to his friend Okun and borrowed two hundred rods from him and told him to come to his house on a certain day to get his money and he told him to bring his gun loaded with him. Now some time before this Effiong had made friends with a Leopard and a Bushcat whom he had met in the forest while stunned one of his hunting expeditions and he had also made friends with a goat and a cock at a farm where he had stayed for the night. But though Effiong had borrowed the money from Okun he could not think how he was to repay it on the day he had promised. At last however he thought of a plan and on the next day he went to his friend the Leopard and asked him to lend him two hundred rods promising to return the amount to him on the same day as he had promised to pay Okun. And he also told the Leopard that if he were absent when he came for his money he could kill anything he saw in the house and eat it. The Leopard was then to wait until the Hunter arrived when he would pay him the money and to this the Leopard agreed. The Hunter then went to his friend the goat and borrowed two hundred rods from him in the same way. Effiong also went to his friends the Bushcat and the cock and borrowed two hundred rods from each of them on the same conditions and told each of them that if he were absent when they arrived they could kill and eat anything they found about the place. When the appointed day arrived the Hunter spread some corn on the ground and then went away and left the house deserted. Very early in the morning soon after he had begun to crow the cock remembered what the Hunter had told him and walked over to the Hunter's house but found no one there. On looking round however he saw some corn on the ground and being hungry he commenced to eat. About this time the Bushcat also arrived and not finding the Hunter at home he too looked about and very soon he aspired the cock who was busy picking up the grains of corn. So the Bushcat went up very softly behind and pounced on the cock and killed him at once and began to eat him. By this time the goat had come for his money but not finding his friend he walked about until he came upon the Bushcat who was so intent upon his meal off the cock that he did not notice the goat approaching. And the goat being in rather a bad temper at not getting his money at once charged at the Bushcat and knocked him over butting him with his horns. This the Bushcat did not like at all so as he was not big enough to fight the goat he picked up the remains of the cock and ran off with it to the bush. And so lost his money as he did not await the arrival of the Hunter. The goat was thus left master of the situation and started bleeding and this noise attracted the attention of the Leopard who was on his way to receive payment from the Hunter. As he got nearer the smell of the goat became very strong and being hungry for he had not eaten anything for some time he approached the goat very carefully. Not seeing anyone about he stalked the goat and got nearer and nearer until he was within springing distance. The goat in the meantime was grazing quietly quite unsuspicious of any danger as he was in his friend the Hunter's compound. Now and then he would say bye. But most of the time he was busy eating the young grass and picking up the leaves which had fallen from a tree of which he was very fond. Suddenly the Leopard sprang at the goat and with one crunch at the neck brought him down. The goat was dead almost at once and the Leopard started on his meal. It was now about eight o'clock in the morning and Okun the Hunter's friend having had his early morning meal went out with his gun to receive payment of the two hundred rods he had lent to the Hunter. When he got close to the house he heard a crunching sound and being a Hunter himself he approached very cautiously and looking over the fence saw the Leopard only a few yards off busily engaged eating the goat. He took careful aim at the Leopard and fired whereupon the Leopard rolled over dead. The death of the Leopard meant that four of the Hunter's creditors were now disposed of as the Bushcat had killed the cock, the goat had driven the Bushcat away who thus forfeited his claim, and in his turn the goat had been killed by the Leopard who had just been slain by Okun. This meant a saving of eight hundred rods to Effion. But he was not content with this and directly he heard the report of the gun he ran out from where he had been hiding all the time and found the Leopard lying dead with Okun standing over it. Then in very strong language Effion began to upgrade his friend and asked why he had killed his old friend the Leopard that nothing would satisfy him but that he should report the whole matter to the king who would no doubt deal with him as he thought fit. When Effion said this Okun was frightened and begged him not to say anything more about the matter as the king would be angry but the Hunter was obdurate and refused to listen to him and at last Okun said, If you will allow the whole thing to drop and will say no more about it I will make you a present of the two hundred rods you borrowed from me. This was just what Effion wanted but still he did not give in at once. Eventually however he agreed and told Okun he might go and that he would bury the body of his friend the Leopard. Directly Okun had gone instead of burying the body Effion dragged it inside the house and skinned it very carefully. The skin he put out to dry in the sun and covered it with wood ash and the body he ate. When the skin was well cured the Hunter took it to a distant market where he sold it for much money. And now whenever a bushcat sees a cock he always kills it and does so by right as he takes the cock in part payment of the two hundred rods which the Hunter never paid him. Moral. Never lend money to people because if they cannot pay they will try to kill you or get rid of you in some way either by poison or by setting bad jujus for you. End of Chapter 2. Chapter 3 of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Phyllis Vincelli. Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa. By Elphinstone Dayrell. Chapter 3. The Woman with Two Skins. Ayamba Ay of Calabar was a very powerful king. He fought and conquered all the surrounding countries killing all the old men and women but the able-bodied men and girls he caught and brought back as slaves and they worked on the farms until they died. This king had two hundred wives but none of them had borne a son to him. His subjects, seeing that he was becoming an old man, begged him to marry one of the spider's daughters as they always had plenty of children. But when the king saw the spider's daughter he did not like her as she was ugly and the people said it was because her mother had had so many children at the same time. However, in order to please his people he married the ugly girl and placed her among his other wives but they all complained because she was so ugly and said she could not live with them. The king therefore built her a separate house for herself where she was given food and drink the same as the other wives. Everyone jeered at her on account of her ugliness but she was not really ugly but beautiful. As she was born with two skins and at her birth her mother was made to promise that she should never remove the ugly skin until a certain time arrived save only during the night and that she must put it on again before dawn. Now the king's wife knew this and was very fearful lest the king should find it out and fall in love with the spider's daughter. So she went to a juju man and offered him two hundred rods to make a potion that would make the king forget altogether that the spider's daughter was his wife. This the juju man finally consented to do after much haggling over the price for three hundred and fifty rods and he made up some medicine which the head wife mixed with the king's food. For some months this had the effect of making the king forget the spider's daughter and he used to pass quite close to her without recognizing her in any way. When four months had elapsed and the king had not once sent for a diaha, for that was the name of the spider's daughter, she began to get tired and went back to her parents. Her father, the spider, then took her to another juju man who by making spells and casting lots very soon discovered that it was the king's head wife who had made the juju and had enchanted the king so that he would not look at a diaha. He therefore told the spider that a diaha should give the king some medicine which he would prepare, which would make the king remember her. He prepared the medicine for which the spider had to pay a large sum of money and that very day a diaha made a small dish of food into which she had placed the medicine and presented it to the king. Directly he had eaten the dish his eyes were opened and he recognized his wife and told her to come to him that very evening. So in the afternoon, being very joyful, she went down to the river and washed and when she returned she put on her best cloth and went to the king's palace. Directly it was dark and all the lights were out, she pulled off her ugly skin and the king saw how beautiful she was and was very pleased with her but when the cock crowed a diaha pulled on her ugly skin again and went back to her own house. This she did for four nights running, always taking the ugly skin off in the dark and leaving before daylight in the morning. In course of time to the great surprise of all the people and particularly of the king's two hundred wives she gave birth to a son but what surprised them most of all was that only one son was born whereas her mother had always had a great many children at a time generally about fifty. The king's head wife became more jealous than ever when a diaha had a son. So she went again to the juju ma'am and by giving him a large present induced him to give her some medicine which would make the king sick and forget his son. And the medicine would then make the king go to the juju ma'am who would tell him that it was his son who had made him sick as he wanted to reign instead of his father. The juju man would also tell the king that if he wanted to recover he must throw his son away into the water. And the king, when he had taken the medicine, went to the juju ma'am who told him everything as had been arranged with the head wife. But at first the king did not want to destroy his son. Then his chief subjects begged him to throw his son away and said that perhaps in a year's time he might get another son. So the king at last agreed and threw his son into the river at which the mother grieved and cried bitterly. Then the head wife went again to the juju man and got more medicine which made the king forget a diaha for three years during which time she was in mourning for her son. She then returned to her father and he got some more medicine from his juju man which a diaha gave to the king. And the king knew her and called her to him again and she lived with him as before. Now the juju who had helped a diaha's father, the spider, was a water juju. And he was ready when the king threw his son into the water and saved his life and took him home and kept him alive. And the boy grew up very strong. After a time a diaha gave birth to a daughter and her the jealous wife also persuaded the king to throw away. It took a longer time to persuade him but at last he agreed and threw his daughter into the water too and forgot a diaha again. But the water juju was ready again and when he had saved the little girl he thought the time had arrived to punish the action of the jealous wife. So he went about amongst the head young men and persuaded them to hold a wrestling match in the marketplace every week. This was done and the water juju told the king's son who had become very strong and was very like to his father in appearance that he should go and wrestle and that no one would be able to stand up before him. It was then arranged that there should be a grand wrestling match to which all the strongest men in the country were invited and the king promised to attend with his head wife. On the day of the match the water juju told the king's son that he need not be in the least afraid and that his juju was so powerful that even the strongest and best wrestlers in the country would not be able to stand up against him for even a few minutes. All the people of the country came to see the great contest to the winner of which the king had promised to present prizes of cloth and money and all the strongest men came. When they saw the king's son whom nobody knew they laughed and said who is this small boy he could have no chance against us. But when they came to wrestle they very soon found that there were no match for him. The boy was very strong indeed beautifully made and good to look upon and all the people were surprised to see how like he was to the king. After wrestling for the greater part of the day the king's son was declared the winner having thrown everyone who had stood up against him. In fact some of his opponents had been badly hurt and had their arms or ribs broken owing to the tremendous strength of the boy. After the match was over the king presented him with cloth and money and invited him to dine with him in the evening. The boy gladly accepted his father's invitation and after he had had a good wash in the river put on his cloth and went up to the palace where he found the head chiefs of the country and some of the king's most favored wives. They then sat down to their meal and the king had his own son whom he did not know sitting next to him. On the other side of the boy sat the jealous wife who had been the cause of all the trouble. All through the dinner this woman did her best to make friends with the boy with whom she had fallen violently in love on account of his beautiful appearance, his strength, and his being the best wrestler in the country. The woman thought to herself, I will have this boy as my husband, as my husband is now an old man and will surely die. The boy, however, who was as wise as he was strong, was quite aware of everything the jealous woman had done. And although he pretended to be very flattered at the advances of the king's head wife, he did not respond very readily and went home as soon as he could. When he returned to the water juju's house he told him everything that had happened and the water juju said, As you are now in high favor with the king you must go to him tomorrow and beg a favor from him. The favor you will ask is that all the country shall be called together and that a certain case shall be tried and that when the case is finished the man or woman who was found to be in the wrong shall be killed by the egg-bows before all the people. So the following morning the boy went to the king who readily granted his request and at once sent all around the country appointing a day for all the people to come in and hear the case tried. Then the boy went back to hit the water juju who told him to go to his mother and tell her who he was and that when the day of the trial arrived she was to take off her ugly skin and appear in all her beauty for the time had come when she need no longer wear it. This the son did. When the day of trial arrived Adiyaha sat in a corner of the square and nobody recognized the beautiful stranger as the spider's daughter. Her son then sat down next to her and brought his sister with him. Immediately his mother saw her she said, This must be my daughter whom I have long mourned as dead and embraced her most affectionately. The king and his head wife then arrived and sat on their stones in the middle of the square all the people saluting them with the usual greetings. The king then addressed the people and said that he had called them together to hear a strong paliver at the request of the young man who had been the victor of the wrestling and who had promised that if the case went against him he would offer up his life to the Egbo. The king also said that if, on the other hand, the case was decided in the boy's favor then the other party would be killed even though it were himself or one of his wives. Whoever it was would have to take his or her place on the killing-stone and have their heads cut off by the Egbo's. To this all the people agreed and said they would like to hear what the young man had to say. The young man then walked round the square and bowed to the king and the people and asked the question, Am I not worthy to be the son of any chief in the country? And all the people answered yes. The boy then brought his sister out into the middle leading her by the hand. She was a beautiful girl and well-made. When everyone had looked at her he said, Is not my sister worthy to be any chief's daughter? And the people replied that she was worthy of being anyone's daughter even the king's. Then he called his mother Adiyah and she came out looking very beautiful with her best cloth and beads on and all the people cheered as they had never seen a finer woman. The boy then asked them, Is this woman worthy of being the king's wife? And a shout went up from every one present that she would be a proper wife for the king and looked as if she would be the mother of plenty of fine healthy sons. Then the boy pointed out the jealous woman who was sitting next to the king and told the people his story. How that his mother who had two skins was the spider's daughter. How she had married the king and how the headwife was jealous and had made a bad juju for the king which made him forget his wife. How she had persuaded the king to throw himself and his sister into the river which as they all knew had been done but the water juju had saved both of them and had brought them up. Then the boy said, I leave the king and all of you people to judge my case. If I have done wrong let me be killed on the stone by the egg-bows. If, on the other hand, the woman has done evil then let the egg-bows deal with her as you may decide. When the king knew that the wrestler was his son he was very glad and told the egg-bows to take the jealous woman away and punish her in accordance with their laws. The egg-bows decided that the woman was a witch so they took her into the forest and tied her up to a stake and gave her two hundred lashes with a whip made from hippopotamus hide and then burnt her alive so that she should not make any more trouble and her ashes were thrown into the river. The king then embraced his wife and daughter and told all the people that she, Adiyaha, was his proper wife and would be the queen for the future. When the palovar was over Adiyaha was dressed in fine clothes and beads and carried back in state to the palace by the king's servants. That night the king gave a big feast to all his subjects and told them how glad he was to get back his beautiful wife whom he had never known properly before, also his son who was stronger than all men and his fine daughter. The feast continued for a hundred and sixty-six days and the king made a law that if any woman was found out getting medicine against her husband she should be killed at once. Then the king built three new compounds and placed many slaves in them, both men and women. One compound he gave to his wife, another to his son and the third he gave to his daughter. They all lived together quite happily for some years until the king died when his son came to the throne and ruled in his stead. End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Phyllis Vincelli Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Dayrell Chapter 4 The King's Magic Drum Ephraim Duke was an ancient king of Calabar. He was a peaceful man and did not like war. He had a wonderful drum, the property of which, when it was beaten, was always to provide plenty of good food and drink. So whenever any country declared war against him he used to call all his enemies together and beat his drum. Then, to the surprise of everyone, instead of fighting, the people found tables spread with all sorts of dishes, fish, fufu, palm oil chop, soup, cooked yams, and okros, and plenty of palm wine for everybody. In this way he kept all the country quiet and sent his enemies away with full stomachs and in a happy and contented frame of mind. There was only one drawback to possessing the drum, and that was, if the owner of the drum walked over any stick on the road or stepped over a fallen tree, all the food would immediately go bad and three hundred egg-bow men would appear with sticks and whips and beat the owner of the drum and all the invited guests very severely. Ephraim Duke was a rich man. He had many farms and hundreds of slaves, a large store of kernels on the beach, and many punch-ins of palm oil. He also had fifty wives and many children. The wives were all fine, women, and healthy. They were also good mothers, and all of them had plenty of children which was good for the king's house. Every few months the king used to issue invitations to all his subjects to come to a big feast. Even the wild animals were invited, the elephants, hippopotamide, leopards, bush-cows, and antelopes used to come. For in those days there was no trouble as they were friendly with man, and when they were at the feast they did not kill one another. All the people and the animals as well were envious of the king's drum and wanted to possess it, but the king would not part with it. One morning Iquor Edem, one of the king's wives, took her little daughter down to the spring to wash her as she was covered with yaws which are bad sores all over the body. The tortoise happened to be up a palm tree just over the spring cutting nuts for his midday meal, and while he was cutting one of the nuts fell to the ground just in front of the child. The little girl, seeing the good food, cried for it, and the mother, not knowing any better, picked up the palm nut and gave it to her daughter. Directly the tortoise saw this he climbed down the tree and asked the woman where his palm nut was. She replied that she had given it to her child to eat. Then the tortoise, who very much wanted the king's drum, thought he would make plenty paliver over this and force the king to give him the drum. So he said to the mother of the child, I am a poor man, and I climbed the tree to get food for myself and my family. Then you took my palm nut and gave it to your child. I shall tell the whole matter to the king and see what he has to say when he hears that one of his wives has stolen my food. For this, as everyone knows, is a very serious crime according to native custom. Iquor Adim then said to the tortoise, I saw your palm nut lying on the ground, and thinking it had fallen from the tree, I gave it to my little girl to eat, but I did not steal it. My husband the king is a rich man, and if you have any complaint to make against me or my child, I will take you before him. So when she had finished washing her daughter at the spring, she took the tortoise to her husband and told him what had taken place. The king then asked the tortoise what he would accept as compensation for the loss of his palm nut, and offered him money, cloth, kernels or palm oil, all of which things the tortoise refused one after the other. The king then said to the tortoise, what will you take? You may have anything you like. And the tortoise immediately pointed to the king's drum and said that it was the only thing he wanted. In order to get rid of the tortoise, the king said very well, take the drum. But he never told the tortoise about the bad things that would happen to him if he stepped over a fallen tree or walked over a stick on the road. The tortoise was very glad at this and carried the drum home in triumph to his wife and said, I am now a rich man and shall do no more work. Whenever I want food all I have to do is to beat this drum and food will immediately be brought to me and plenty to drink. His wife and children were very pleased when they heard this and asked the tortoise to get food at once as they were all hungry. This the tortoise was only too pleased to do, as he wished to show off his newly acquired wealth and was also rather hungry himself. So he beat the drum in the same way as he had seen the king do when he wanted something to eat. And immediately plenty of food appeared, so they all sat down and made a great feast. The tortoise did this for three days and everything went well. All his children got fat and had as much as they could possibly eat. He was therefore very proud of his drum and in order to display his riches he sent invitations to the king and all the people and animals to come to a feast. When the people received their invitations they laughed, as they knew the tortoise was very poor, so very few attended the feast. But the king, knowing about the drum, came and when the tortoise beat the drum the food was brought as usual in great profusion and all the people sat down and enjoyed their meal very much. They were much astonished that the poor tortoise should be able to entertain so many people and told all their friends what fine dishes had been placed before them and that they had never had a better dinner. The people who had not gone were very sorry when they heard this as a good feast at somebody else's expense is not provided every day. After the feast all the people looked upon the tortoise as one of the richest men in the kingdom and he was very much respected in consequence. No one except the king could understand how the poor tortoise could suddenly entertain so lavishly, but they all made up their minds that if the tortoise ever gave another feast they would not refuse again. When the tortoise had been in possession of the drum for a few weeks he became lazy and did no work, but went about the country boasting of his riches and took to drinking too much. One day after he had been drinking a lot of palm wine at a distant farm he started home carrying his drum, but having had too much to drink he did not notice a stick in the path. He walked over the stick and of course the juju was broken at once. But he did not know this as nothing happened at the time and eventually he arrived at his house very tired and still not very well from having drunk too much. He threw the drum into a corner and went to sleep. When he woke up in the morning the tortoise began to feel hungry and as his wife and children were calling out for food he beat the drum. But instead of food being brought the house was filled with Egbo men who beat the tortoise, his wife and children, badly. At this the tortoise was very angry and said to himself, I asked everyone to a feast, but only a few came and they had plenty to eat and drink. Now when I want food for myself and my family the Egbo's come and beat me. Well, I will let the other people share the same fate as I do not see why I and my family should be beaten when I have given a feast to all people. He therefore at once sent out invitations to all the men and animals to come to a big dinner the next day at three o'clock in the afternoon. When the time arrived many people came as they did not wish to lose the chance of a free meal a second time. Even the sick men, the lame and the blind, got their friends to lead them to the feast. When they had all arrived with the exception of the king and his wives who sent excuses the tortoise beat his drum as usual and then quickly hid himself under a bench where he could not be seen. His wife and children he had sent away before the feast as he knew what would surely happen. Directly he had beaten the drum three hundred Egbo men appeared with whips and started flogging all the guests who could not escape as the doors had been fastened. The beating went on for two hours and the people were so badly punished that many of them had to be carried home on the backs of their friends. The leopard was the only one who escaped as directly he saw the Egbo men arrive he knew that things were likely to be unpleasant so he gave a big spring and jumped right out of the compound. When the tortoise was satisfied with the beating the people had received he crept to the door and opened it. The people then ran away and when the tortoise gave a certain tap on the drum all the Egbo men vanished. The people who had been beaten were so angry and made so much paliver with the tortoise that he made up his mind to return the drum to the king the next day. So in the morning the tortoise went to the king and brought the drum with him. He told the king that he was not satisfied with the drum and wished to exchange it for something else. He did not mind so much what the king gave him so long as he got full value for the drum and he was quite willing to accept a certain number of slaves or a few farms or their equivalent in cloth or rods. The king however refused to do this but as he was rather sorry for the tortoise he said he would present him with a magic fufu tree which would provide the tortoise and his family with food provided he kept a certain condition. This the tortoise gladly consented to do. Now this fufu tree only bore fruit once a year but every day it dropped fufu and soup on the ground. And the condition was that the owner should gather sufficient food for the day once and not return again for more. The tortoise when he had thanked the king for his generosity went home to his wife and told her to bring her calabashes to the tree. She did so and they gathered plenty of fufu and soup quite sufficient for the whole family for that day and went back to their house very happy. That night they all feasted and enjoyed themselves but one of the sons who was very greedy thought to himself I wonder where my father gets all this good food from I must ask him. So in the morning he said to his father tell me where do you get all this fufu and soup from. But his father refused to tell him as his wife who was a cunning woman said if we let our children know the secret of the fufu tree some day when they are hungry after we have got our daily supply one of them may go to the tree and gather more which will break the juju. But the envious son being determined to get plenty of food for himself decided to track his father to the place where he obtained the food. This was rather difficult to do as the tortoise always went out alone and took the greatest care to prevent anyone following him. The boy however soon thought of a plan and got a calabash with a long neck and a hole in the end. He filled the calabash with wood ashes which he obtained from the fire and then got a bag which his father always carried on his back when he went out to get food. In the bottom of the bag the boy then made a small hole and inserted the calabash with the neck downwards so that when his father walked to the fufu tree he would leave a small trail of wood ashes behind him. Then when his father, having slung his bag over his back as usual, set out to get the daily supply of food his greedy son followed the trail of the wood ashes taking great care to hide himself and not to let his father perceive that he was being followed. At last the tortoise arrived at the tree and placed his calabashes on the ground and collected the food for the day, the boy watching him from a distance. When his father had finished and went home the boy also returned and having had a good meal said nothing to his parents but went to bed. The next morning he got some of his brothers and after his father had finished getting the daily supply they went to the tree and collected much fufu and soup and so broke the juju. At daylight the tortoise went to the tree as usual but he could not find it as during the night the whole bush had grown up and the fufu tree was hidden from sight. There was nothing to be seen but a dense mass of prickly tie-tie-pom. Then the tortoise at once knew that someone had broken the juju and had gathered fufu from the tree twice in the same day so he returned very sadly to his house and told his wife. He then called all his family together and told them what had happened and asked them who had done this evil thing. They all denied having had anything to do with the tree so the tortoise in despair brought all his family to the place where the fufu tree had been but which was now all prickly tie-tie-pom and said, My dear wife and children I have done all that I can for you but you have broken my juju you must therefore for the future live on the tie-tie-pom. So they made their home underneath the prickly tree and from that day you will always find tortoises living under the prickly tie-tie-pom as they have nowhere else to go for food. End of Chapter 4 Chapter 5 of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Phyllis Vincelli Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Dayrell Chapter 5 Aituin and the King's Wife Aituin was a young man of Calabar. He was the only child of his parents and they were extremely fond of him as he was of fine proportions and very good to look upon. They were poor people and when Aituin grew up and became a man he had very little money indeed. In fact, he had so little food that every day it was his custom to go to the market carrying an empty bag into which he used to put anything eatable he could find after the market was over. At this time Offi Yong was king. He was an old man but he had plenty of wives. One of these women, named Atem, was quite young and very good looking. She did not like her old husband but wished for a young and handsome husband. She therefore told her servant to go round the town and the market to try and find such a man and bring him at night by the side door to her house and she herself would let him in and would take care that her husband did not discover him. That day the servant went all round the town but failed to find any young man good looking enough. She was just returning to report her ill success when, on passing through the marketplace, she saw Aituin picking up the remains of corn and other things which had been left on the ground. She was immediately struck with his fine appearance and strength and saw that he was just the man to make a proper lover for her mistress. So she went up to him and said that the queen had sent for him as she was so taken with his good looks. At first Aituin was frightened and refused to go, as he knew that if the king discovered him he would be killed. However, after much persuasion he consented and agreed to go to the queen's side door when it was dark. When night came he went with great fear and trembling and knocked very softly at the queen's door. The door was opened at once by the queen herself, who was dressed in all her best clothes and had many necklaces, beads, and anklets on. Directly she saw Aituin she fell in love with him at once and praised his good looks and his shapely limbs. She then told her servant to bring water and clothes, and after he had a good wash and put on a clean cloth he rejoined the queen. She hid him in her house all the night. In the morning when he wished to go she would not let him, but, although it was very dangerous, she hid him in the house and secretly conveyed food and clothes to him. Aituin stayed there for two weeks and then he said that it was time for him to go and see his mother, but the queen persuaded him to stay another week, much against his will. When the time came for him to depart the queen got together fifty carriers with presents for Aituin's mother, who she knew was a poor woman. Ten slaves carried three hundred rods, the other forty carried jams, pepper, salt, tobacco, and cloth. When all the presents arrived Aituin's mother was very pleased and embraced her son, and noticed with pleasure that he was looking well, and was dressed in much finer clothes than usual. But when she heard that he had attracted the queen's attention she was frightened, as she knew the penalty imposed on anyone who attracted the attention of one of the king's wives. Aituin stayed for a month in his parents' house and worked on the farm, but the queen could not be without her lover any longer, so she sent for him to go to her at once. Aituin went again, and, as before, arrived at night when the queen was delighted to see him again. In the middle of the night some of the king's servants, who had been told the story by the slaves who had carried the presents to Aituin's mother, came into the queen's room and surprised her there with Aituin. They hastened to the king and told him what they had seen. Aituin was then made a prisoner, and the king sent out to all his people to attend at the paliver house to hear the case tried. He also ordered eight egg-bows to attend, armed with machetes. When the case was tried Aituin was found guilty, and the king told the eight egg-bow men to take him into the bush and deal with him according to native custom. The egg-bows then took Aituin into the bush and tied him up to a tree. Then with a sharp knife they cut off his lower jaw and carried it to the king. When the queen heard the fate of her lover she was very sad, and cried for three days. This made the king angry, so he told the egg-bows to deal with his wife and her servant according to their law. They took the queen and the servant into the bush, where Aituin was still tied up to the tree dying and in great pain. Then, as the queen had nothing to say in her defense, they tied her and the girl up to different trees and cut the queen's lower jaw off in the same way as they had her lovers. The egg-bows then put out both the eyes of the servant and left all three to die of starvation. The king then made an egg-bow law that for the future no one belonging to Aituin's family was to go into the market on market day and that no one was to pick up the rubbish in the market. The king made an exception to the law in favor of the vulture and the dog, who were not considered very fine people and would not be likely to run off with one of the king's wives. And that is why you still find vultures and dogs doing scavenger in the marketplaces even at the present time. End of Chapter 5 Chapter 6 of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Phyllis Vincelli Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Dayrile Chapter 6 of The Pretty Stranger Who Killed the King Imbotu was a very famous king of Old Town Calabar. He was frequently at war and was always successful as he was a most skillful leader. All the prisoners he took were made slaves. He therefore became very rich, but on the other hand he had many enemies. The people of Itu in particular were very angry with him and wanted to kill him, but they were not strong enough to beat Imbotu in a pitched battle, so they had to resort to craft. The Itu people had an old woman who was a witch and could turn herself into whatever she pleased, and when she offered to kill Imbotu the people were very glad and promised her plenty of money and cloth if she succeeded in ridding them of their worst enemy. The witch then turned herself into a young and pretty girl and having armed herself with a very sharp knife which she concealed in her bosom she went to Old Town Calabar to seek the king. It happened that when she arrived there was a big play being held in the town and all the people from the surrounding country had come in to dance and feast. Oyaikan, the witch, went to the play and walked about so that everyone could see her. Directly she appeared the people all marveled at her beauty and said that she was as beautiful as the setting sun when all the sky was red. Word was quickly brought to King Imbotu who, it was well known, was fond of pretty girls and he sent for her at once all the people agreeing that she was quite worthy of being the king's wife. When she appeared before him he fancied her so much that he told her he would marry her that very day. Oyaikan was very pleased at this as she had never expected to get her opportunity so quickly. She therefore prepared a dainty meal for the king into which she placed a strong medicine to make the king sleep and then went down to the river to wash. When she had finished it was getting dark so she went to the king's compound carrying her dish on her head and was at once shown in to the king who embraced her affectionately. She then offered him the food which she said quite truly she had prepared with her own hands. The king ate the whole dish and immediately began to feel very sleepy as the medicine was strong and took effect quickly. They retired to the king's chamber and the king went to sleep at once. About midnight when all the town was quiet Oyaikan drew her knife from her bosom and cut the king's head off. She put the head in a bag and went out very softly shutting and barring the door behind her. Then she walked through the town without anyone observing her and went straight to Aitu where she placed king in Boutu's head before her own king. When the people heard that the witch had been successful and that their enemy was dead there was great rejoicing and the king of Aitu at once made up his mind to attack Old Town Calabar. He therefore got his fighting men together and took them in canoes by the creeks to Old Town taking care that no one carried word to Calabar that he was coming. The morning following the murder of Imbotu his people were rather surprised that he did not appear at his usual time so his headwife knocked at his door. Not receiving any answer she called the household together and they broke open the door. When they entered the room they found the king lying dead on his bed covered in blood but his head was missing. At this a great shout went up and the whole town mourned. Although they missed the pretty stranger they never connected her in their minds with the death of their king and were quite unsuspicious of any danger and were unprepared for fighting. In the middle of the morning while they were all dancing crying and drinking palm wine the king of Aitu with all his soldiers attacked Old Town taking them quite by surprise and as their leader was dead the Calabar people were very soon defeated and many killed and taken prisoners. Moral never marry a stranger no matter how pretty she may be. End of Chapter 6 Chapter 7 of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria West Africa This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria West Africa by Elphinstone Deirel Chapter 7 Why The Bat Flies By Night A bush rat called Oyot was a great friend of Emiyong the bat. They always fed together but the bat was jealous of the bush rat. When the bat cooked the food it was always very good and the bush rat said how is it that when you make the soup it is so tasty. The bat replied I always boil myself in the water and my flesh is so sweet that the soup is good. He then told the bush rat that he would show him how it was done. So he got a pot of warm water which he told the bush rat was boiling water and jumped into it and very shortly afterwards came out again. When the soup was brought it was as strong and good as usual the bat had prepared it beforehand. The bush rat then went home and told his wife that he was going to make good soup like the bats. He therefore told her to boil some water which she did. Then when his wife was not looking he jumped into the pot and was very soon dead. When his wife looked into the pot and saw the dead body of her husband boiling she was very angry and reported the matter to the king who gave orders that the bat should be made a prisoner and everyone turned out to catch the bat but as he expected trouble he flew away into the bush and hid himself. All day long the people tried to catch him so he had to change his habits and only came out to feed when it was dark and that is why you never see a bat in the daytime. End of chapter 7 West Africa by Elphinstone Dayrell Chapter 8 The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull Effiong Edem was a native of Cobham Town. He had a very fine daughter whose name was Effiong. All the young men in the country wanted to marry her on account of her beauty but she refused all offers of marriage in spite of repeated entreaties from her parents as she was very vain and said she would only marry the best looking man in the country who would have to be young and strong and capable of loving her properly. Most of the men her parents wanted her to marry although they were rich were old men and ugly so the girl continued to disobey her parents at which they were very much grieved. The skull who lived in the spirit land heard of the beauty of this Calabar virgin and thought he would like to possess her so he went about amongst his friends and borrowed different parts of the body from them all of the best. From one he got a good head another lent him a body a third gave him strong arms and a fourth lent him a fine pair of legs at last he was complete and was a very perfect specimen of manhood. He then left the spirit land and went to Cobham Market where he saw Effiong and admired her very much. About this time Effiong heard that a very fine man had been seen in the market who was better looking than any of the natives. She therefore went to the market at once and directly she saw the skull in his borrowed beauty and she fell in love with him and invited him to her house. The skull was delighted and went home with her and on his arrival was introduced by the girl to her parents and immediately asked their consent to marry their daughter. At first they refused as they did not wish her to marry a stranger but at last they agreed. He lived with Effiong for two days in her parents house and then said he wished to take his wife back to his country which was far off. To this the girl readily agreed as he was such a fine man but her parents tried to persuade her not to go. However being very headstrong she made up her mind to go and they started off together. After they had been gone a few days the father consulted his juju man who by casting lots very soon discovered that his daughter's husband belonged to the spirit land and that she would surely be killed. They therefore all mourned her as dead. After walking for several days Effiong and the skull crossed the border between the spirit land and the human country. Directly they set foot in the spirit land first of all one man came to the skull and demanded his legs then another his head and the next his body and so on until in a few minutes the skull was left by itself in all its natural ugliness. At this the girl was very frightened and wanted to return home but the skull would not allow this and ordered her to go with him. When they arrived at the skull's house they found his mother who was a very old woman quite incapable of doing any work who could only creep about. Effiong tried her best to help her and cooked her food and brought water and firewood for the old woman. The old creature was very grateful for these attentions and soon became quite fond of Effiong. One day the old woman told Effiong that she was very sorry for her but all the people in the spirit land were cannibals and when they heard there was a human being in their country they would come down and kill her and eat her. The skull's mother then hid Effiong and as she had looked after her so well she promised she would send her back to her country as soon as possible providing that she promised for the future to obey her parents. This Effiong readily consented to do. Then the old woman sent for the spider who was a very clever hairdresser and made him dress Effiong's hair in the latest fashion. She also presented her with anklets and other things on account of her kindness. She then made a juju and called the winds to come and convey Effiong to her home. At first a violent tornado came with thunder, lightning and rain but the skull's mother sent him away as unsuitable. The next wind to come was a gentle breeze so she told the breeze to carry Effiong to her mother's house and said goodbye to her. Very soon afterwards the breeze deposited Effiong outside her home and left her there. When the parents saw their daughter they were very glad as they had for some months given her up as lost. The father spread soft animals' skins on the ground from where his daughter was standing all the way to the house so that her feet should not be soiled. Effiong then walked to the house and her father called all the young girls who belonged to Effiong's company to come and dance and the feasting and dancing was kept up for eight days and nights. When the rejoicing was over the father reported what had happened to the head chief of the town. The chief then passed a law that parents should never allow their daughters to marry strangers who came from a far country. Then the father told his daughter to marry a friend of his and she willingly consented and lived with him for many years and had many children. End of Chapter 8 Chapter 9 of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Phyllis Vincelli Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Dayrell Chapter 9 The King Who Married the Cox Daughter King Effiam of Duketown Calabar was very fond of pretty maidens and whenever he heard of a girl who was unusually good looking he always sent for her and if she took his fancy he made her one of his wives. This he could afford to do as he was a rich man and could pay any dowry which the parents asked most of his money was being made by buying and selling slaves. Effiam had 250 wives but he was never content and wanted to have all the finest women in the land. Some of the king's friends who were always on the lookout for pretty girls told Effiam that the Cox Daughter was a lovely virgin and far superior to any of the king's wives. Directly the king heard this he sent for the cock and said he intended to have his daughter as one of his wives. The cock, being a poor man could not resist the order of the king so he brought his daughter who was very good looking and pleased the king immensely. When the king had paid the cock a dowry of six punchins of palm oil the cock told Effiam that he married his daughter he must not forget that she had the natural instincts of a hen and that he should not blame Adia Unan his daughter if she picked up corn whenever she saw it. The king replied that he did not mind what she ate so long as he possessed her. The king then took Adia Unan as his wife and liked her so much and lived entirely with Adia Unan as she suited him exactly and pleased him more than any of his other wives. She also amused the king and played with him and enticed him in so many different ways that he could not live without her and always had her with him to the exclusion of his former favorites whom he would not even speak to or notice in any way when he met them. This so enraged the neglected wives that they met together and although they all hated one another they agreed so far that they hated the cock's daughter more than anyone as now that she had come to the king none of them ever had a chance with him. Formerly the king although he always had his favorites used to favor with his attentions when they pleased him particularly. That was very different in their opinion to being excluded from his presence and all his affections being concentrated on one girl who received all his love and embraces. In consequence of this they were very angry and determined if possible to disgrace Adia Unan. After much discussion one of the wives who was the last favorite and whom the arrival of the cock's daughter had displaced said this girl whom we all hate is after all only a cock's daughter and we can easily disgrace her in the king's eyes as I heard her father tell the king that she could not resist corn no matter how it was thrown about. King's wives had determined to try and disgrace Adia Unan all the people of the country came to pay homage to the king. This was done three times a year the people bringing yams fowls goats and new corn as presents and the king entertained them with a feast of fufu palm oil chop and tombo. Tombo is an intoxicating drink made from the juice which is extracted from the tombo palm and which ferments very quickly it is drawn from the tree twice a day in the morning very early and again in the afternoon and footnote. A big dance was also held which was usually kept up for several days and nights early in the morning the king's head wife told her servant to wash one head of corn and when all the people were present she was to bring it in a calabash and throw it on the ground and then walk away the corn was to be thrown in front of Adia Unan so that all the people and chiefs could see about ten o'clock when all the chiefs and people had assembled the king had taken his seat on his big wooden chair the servant girl came and threw the corn on the ground as she had been ordered directly she had done this Adia Unan started towards the corn picked it up and began to eat at this all the people laughed and the king was very angry and ashamed the king's wives and many people said would have learned better manners than to pick up corn which had been thrown away as refuse others said what can you expect from a cock's daughter she should not be blamed for obeying her natural instincts but the king was so vexed that he told one of his servants to pack up Adia Unan's things and take them to her father's house and this was done and Adia Unan went to her parents that night the king's third wife who was a friend of Adia Unan's talked the whole matter over with the king and explained to him that it was entirely owing to the jealousy of his head wife that Adia Unan had been disgraced she also told him that the whole thing had been arranged beforehand of whom all the other wives were jealous when the king heard this he was very angry and made up his mind to send the jealous woman back to her parents empty handed without her clothes and presents when she arrived at her father's house the parents refused to take her in as she had been given as a wife to the king and whenever the parents wanted anything they could always get it at the palace and therefore a great loss to them she was thus turned into the streets and walked about very miserable and after a time died very poor and starving the king grieved so much at having been compelled to send his favorite wife Adia Unan away that he died the following year and when the people saw that their king had died of a broken heart they passed a law that for the future no one should marry any bird or animal End of Chapter 9 Chapter 10 of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria West Africa This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Phyllis Vinceli Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria West Africa by Elphinstone Dayrell Chapter 10 The Woman, the Ape and the Child Okun Archibong was one of King Archibong's slaves and lived on a farm near Calabar He was a hunter and used to kill bush buck in the mines of antelopes and many monkeys The skins he used to dry in the sun and when they were properly cured he used to sell them in the market The monkey skins were used for making drums and the antelope skins were used for sitting mats The flesh after it had been well smoked over a wood fire he also sold but he did not make much money He was a slave woman of Duke's house named Inkoyo He paid a small dowry to the dukes took his wife home to his farm and in the dry season time she had a son About four months after the birth of the child Inkoyo took him to the farm while her husband was absent hunting She placed the little boy under a shady tree which was clearing the ground for the yams which would be planted about two months before the rains Every day while the mother was working a big ape used to come from the forest and play with the little boy He used to hold him in his arms and carry him up a tree and when Inkoyo had finished her work he used to bring the baby back to her There was a hunter named Idem Effiong who had for a long time been in love with Inkoyo and had made advances to her but she would have nothing to do with him as she was very fond of her husband When she had her little child Effiong Idem was very jealous and meeting her one day on the farm without her baby he said where is your baby He had given it up a tree and was looking after it for her When Effiong Idem saw that the ape was a big one he made up his mind to tell Inkoyo's husband The very next day he told Okun Archibong that he had seen his wife in the forest with a big ape At first Okun would not believe this but the hunter told him to come with him and he could see it with his own eyes Okun Archibong therefore made up his mind to kill the ape The next day he went with the other hunter to the farm and saw the ape up a tree playing with his son so he took very careful aim and shot the ape but it was not quite killed it was so angry and its strength was so great that it tore the child limb from limb and threw it to the ground This so enraged Okun Archibong that seeing his wife standing near he shot her also He then ran home and told King Archibong what had taken place This king was very brave and fond of fighting so as he knew that King Duke would be certain to make war upon him he immediately called in all his fighting men When he was quite prepared he sent a messenger to tell King Duke what had happened Duke was very angry and sent the messenger back to King Archibong to say that he must send the hunter to him so that he could kill him in any way he pleased This Archibong refused to do and said he would rather fight Duke then got his men together and both sides met and fought in the market square 30 men were killed of Duke's men and 20 were killed on Archibong's side There were also many wounded On the whole King Archibong had the best of the fighting and drove King Duke back When the fighting was at its hottest the other chiefs sent out all the Egbo men with drums and stopped the fight and the next day Elvar was tried in Egbo House King Archibong was found guilty and was ordered to pay 6000 rods to King Duke He refused to pay this amount to Duke and said he would rather go on fighting but he did not mind paying the 6000 rods to the town as the Egbo's had decided the case They were about to commence fighting again when the whole country decided they would not have any more fighting As Archibong said to Duke that the woman's death was not really the fault of his slave Okun Archibong but of Effiong Edem who made the false report When Duke heard this he agreed to leave the whole matter to the chiefs to decide and Effiong Edem was called to take his place on the stone He was tried and found guilty and two Egbo's came out armed with cutting whips and gave him 200 lashes on his bare back and then cut off his head and sent it to the Duke who placed it before his juju From that time to the present all apes and monkeys have been frightened of human beings and even of little children The Egbo's also passed a law that a chief should not allow one of his men's slaves to marry a woman's slave of another house as it would probably lead to fighting End of Chapter 10 Chapter 11 of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria West Africa This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Anita Sloma-Martinez Folk Tales from Southern Nigeria West Africa by Elphinstone Deirel Chapter 11 The Fish and the Leopard's Wife or Why the Fish Lives in the Water Many years ago when King E.O. was ruler of Calabar the fish used to live on the land He was a great friend of the leopard and frequently used to go to his house in the bush where the leopard entertained him Now the leopard had a very fine wife with whom the fish fell in love and after a time whenever the leopard was absent in the bush the fish used to go to his house and make love to the leopard's wife until at last an old woman who lived near informed the leopard what happened whenever he went away At first the leopard would not believe that the fish who had been his friend for so long would play such a low trick but one night he came back unexpectedly and found the fish and his wife together At this the leopard was very angry and was going to kill the fish but he thought as the fish had been his friend for so long he would not deal with him himself but would report his behavior to King E.O. This he did and the king held a big palavar at which the leopard stated his case quite shortly but when the fish was put upon his defense he had nothing to say so the king addressing his subject said this is a very bad case as the fish was the leopard's friend and has been trusted by him but the fish has taken advantage of his friend's absence and has betrayed him The king therefore made an order that for the future the fish should live in the water and that if he ever came to the land he should die He also said that all men and animals should kill and eat the fish whenever they could catch him as a punishment for his behavior with his friend's wife End of Chapter 11