My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

by Amos Tutuola

  Of course as I did not stop once so I ran far away from that gate before the dawn so that I might not be recaptured by the ghosts of the 20th town. When it was dawn I stopped and rested for some hours. After that I started to wander about searching for the way to my home town as usual. But as I was wandering about in this bush I saw a dead animal’s skin which had been killed for long time by an unknown creature, so I took its skin and still went on, because it was very stiff to wear at that time. A few hours later I travelled to a pond, the water of this pond was as clean as if it was filtering every hour, it was under a bush which was not thick but big trees covered it like a roof and prevented the sun shining on it, so by that its water was always as cool as ice. I met many pieces of the ghost’s soap at the bank nearly falling inside the water, so this showed me that the users of this pond were not so far from that place.

  Immediately I discovered it, first I listened attentively for some minutes perhaps I would hear the noises of the creatures or ghosts who might be coming to draw water at that time or perhaps a town of ghosts would be near there, but when there was no noise or voice of any creature heard, even a bird did not cry near that place at all, then I put the skin down at the bank and entered this pond. I drank the water to my satisfaction as I never tasted either fresh or dirty water since I was in the pitcher, except the blood of the animals poured on me as sacrifice with the spit of their mouths which was dropping on to my head when opening them and looking at me with much surprise as I was singing the earthly songs which were newly born into the town of the aquatic ghosts and also in the 20th town which is the capital.

  After that I washed away the rotten blood off my body, then I washed the skin of the animal as a cloth, after that I looked round this pond and saw a place where the sun reached the ground, so I went there and spread this skin there to dry, having done that I went to a thick bush which was as a roof, I hid under it and hastily looked at my back, my front, my left and right and also up and down with a doubtful mind perhaps a ghost or a harmful creature might be coming at that time to catch me.

  But as the bush which surrounded this pond was very quiet without any noise of a creature whatever it might be so I began to feel much cold without being cold, and when my heart was not at rest for the quietness of that place then I went to the place that I spread the skin in the sun and began to warm myself in this sun perhaps my body would be at rest, but when there was no change at all until the skin was dried then I took it and left that area as quickly as possible. So I wore it as a cloth, of course, it could only reach from my knees to the waist, so I was going on with it like that. It was on this day I believed that if there is no noise of a creature in a bush or if a bush is too quiet there would be fear without seeing a fearful creature.

  After I had travelled to a short distance from the pond I stopped under a tree as it was then in the evening, then I started to think what I could eat because there was nothing more edible than the small fruits which had fallen down from this tree where I sat at its foot, although I did not know the name of the fruits or its tree as they belonged only to ghosts of that area. When I tasted them, they were very sour, though I ate them like that as there was no other food or any edible thing there for me again. Having finished these fruits at about eight o’clock I was looking for a safe place to sleep. After a few minutes I saw a large tree which was near that place and there was a huge hole in its body which could contain a person. Not knowing that this hole was the home of an armless ghost who had been expelled from his town which belonged only to all the armless ghosts. When I entered this hole I travelled to a part of it which contained me, but it still went further, so I laid down and fell asleep at the same time, because I had no chance to sleep or rest once for all the time that I spent inside that pitcher. But when it was about twelve o’clock in the midnight this armless ghost who was the owner of the hole wanted to go out, of course, I did not know that somebody was living there before I entered.

  As he could only go out at night to fetch his food, so when he reached the place that I slept he stumbled on me and fell down unexpectedly, because he did not know that somebody was there already and also the hole was very dark, so some part of his body was wounded as he was armless to defend himself. I woke up unexpectedly as he fell down on me suddenly, after a few minutes he tried his best and got up with pain, then he asked with rage—“Who is that?” Of course, as my friend the young ghost in the town of the ghost burglars had taught me some of the ghosts’ language, so I replied—“I am an earthly person.”

  But when he heard the words of “earthly person” from me, he exclaimed—“Oh you are the one who is always coming here and stealing all my property whenever I go out, I will catch you this night, just hold on for a minute.” Having said so he cried out louder to the other ghosts who are his partners to come and help him to grip me as he is armless. But before his partners could reach there I jumped down from the hole to the outside, and without any ado I started to run away that night for my life. Immediately I jumped down and ran away I met over one thousand ghosts who were rushing to his hole to help him, but at the same time that they met me all of them did not go to him direct to hear what he called for, instead of that all were chasing me as I was running away as fast as I could. When they chased me to a short distance to catch me and failed then they got back from me to the armless ghost to hear what he called them for. But I was still running away, I did not stop, as I thought within myself that perhaps if I stop to rest for a few minutes they might come again to catch me, so by that I was still running away faster until I stepped into a part of the ground of this bush. But to my surprise at the same moment that I put my left foot on it to be still running away it was saying thus with a loud voice—“Don’t smash me! oh don’t smash me, don’t walk on me, go back to those who are chasing you to kill you, it is paining me too much as you are smashing me.”

  When I heard this so suddenly, I was so frightened so that I withdrew my foot back at once and I heard no voice again. After that I turned to another part and smashed it with the same foot as well, perhaps that part would not cry out—“don’t smash me.” But I heard the same caution suddenly with louder voice, so I withdrew my foot from it, then I stopped there and asked myself this question—“Can land talk like a human being, or can land feel pain if somebody smashes it?” After I asked myself this question with a dead voice, as there was nobody to ask and explain it to me, so I turned back at once to look for where is possible to travel or run in this bush without any noise, but I saw more than one thousand of the armless ghost’s partners that were hunting for me up and down in this bush to catch me and kill me, after they heard from the armless ghost what I had done to him. When they nearly traced me out and I believed that if they caught me no doubt they would kill me instantaneously, so without hesitation I jumped onto this “talking-land”, running away as fast as I could. Then it started to speak as before, of course, I did not listen to what it was saying, I was only running on faster to leave that “talking-area” in time to the “talkless-area” to hide myself in a safe “talkless-place”, because this “talking-land” was showing the place that I was reaching in the bush to these ghosts. But as I was still running on fiercely and with fear I did not know the time I mistakenly entered into another bush which was more dreadful than the “talking-land”.

  Immediately I entered it every part of it was blowing alarm, which was very fearful to hear and remain there, because it was blowing as if enemies are approaching a town. Then I stopped suddenly behind a tree as the noises of these alarms were so curious and too fearful for me. To my surprise immediately I stopped all the alarms stopped blowing at once, but there I saw a very young ghostess who hid herself under a small bush which covered the bottom of this tree. She ran out unexpectedly and when she ran out I saw her clearly that she was very ugly so that she could not live in any town of ghosts, except to be hiding herself about in the bush both day and night for her ugly appearance. But her ugly appearance was so curious to m
e that I was chasing her as she was running away to see her ugliness clearly to my satisfaction, because I had never seen such a very ugly creature as this since I was born and since entered the Bush of Ghosts.

  Again, at the same moment that I left the place that I stood behind this tree the alarms started to blow according to how I was chasing this ugly ghostess and I was unable to stop in one place so that the alarms might stop, my aim was only to see the ugliness of this ugly ghostess clearly, because as she was running away so that I might not see her ugliness it was so she was laughing louder at her ugliness and I was also laughing louder at the ugliness. As I was chasing her to and fro to look at her ugliness it was so this bush was blowing various fearful alarms and this was pointing out how I was running and how far reaching in the bush to the ghosts who were chasing me at the back to kill me. This young ghostess was so ugly that if she hid under a bush and if she looked at her ugly body she would burst suddenly into a great laugh which would last more than one hour and this was detecting her out of the hidden place she might hide herself. She could not live with any ghost or other kind of creature because of her ugly appearance. As I was chasing her fiercely to and fro for a long time it was so those ghosts who were chasing me to kill me were approaching nearer, because these alarms were blowing repeatedly and showing what I was doing. This ugly ghostess did not allow me to look at her ugliness as she was running and laughing with all her power and full speed until I was seeing all these ghosts slightly and they were also seeing me slightly before I hid behind a tree, but at the same moment that I stood on a place it was so all these alarms stopped blowing, which means this bush wanted me to be in one place until these ghosts would come and kill me there.

  Having rested for a few minutes then I remembered again the ugliness of this ugly ghostess, but at that time I was seeing these ghosts clearly and they were also seeing me clearly. But as I determined to see or to look at the ugliness of this ghostess to my satisfaction and said—“It is better for me to die than to leave this ugly ghostess and run away without seeing her ugliness clearly to my entire satisfaction.

  “This will be a great surprise to everybody to hear that I see something which is more interesting for me than the ‘death’ which is coming behind to kill me.”

  Immediately I remembered her ugliness again I started to chase her on, because I did not care for any consequence at that moment at all. But as these ghosts were near to catch me before I started to chase the ugly ghostess for the second time and again these alarms were then blowing with another terrible sound, so I could not chase her so far before the hands of these ghosts were touching me at the back and slightly to grip me. When I believed that this ugly ghostess would not wait or stop for me in a place to look at her ugly appearance to my satisfaction then I branched from her and started to run to another part of this bush.

  In the Spider’s Web Bush

  As these ghosts did not stop in chasing me along so after I ran further in this “alarm-bush” there I saw a bush which was almost covered with spiders’ webs in front at a distance of about eighty yards, then I pretended to stop and not to run to it, but when these ghosts nearly gripped me I ran to this “spider web bush” unnoticed, of course they were banned from entering it. And after I ran to a distance of seven feet in this “spider web bush” and when I was stopped from running along by this thick web, so I turned sharply at once back to come out of it, and instead of coming out easily I was simply wrapped as a chrysalis by the web, at the same time I was held up by it and dangled to and fro by the breeze as a dried leaf. Immediately I was held up and dangling all these ghosts went back as they were strictly banned from entering it, because it belonged only to a kind of ghosts who are “spider eating ghosts”. This “spider web bush” was totally covered with spiders’ web as a fog in a season. There was no single tree, bush, refuse, or plants which are usually found in other bushes, but only the spiders and their web represented them. The town of these “spider eating ghosts” is separated from all other kinds of ghosts. They were fond of eating spiders which were the most important food for them, so therefore no other kinds of ghosts should enter there. I was so wrapped that I was hardly able to breathe out easily, even it so straightened me that I could not bend anywhere as a dried stick and I could not cry out for help, because it corked my mouth as a bottle and I could not see anywhere whether any danger or harmful creature was coming there to kill me.

  So I remained there helplessly, except the breeze or wind which was blowing me to and fro. When it was about seven hours that I was wrapped and held up there a heavy rain came, beating me till the third day that one of the “spider eating ghosts” came to eat the spiders. This rain beat me so that the web which wrapped me tightly soaked my body as if I was bathed with water. As he came to eat the spiders on this day and as he was going round there searching for the spider and when he saw me dangling to and fro he stopped suddenly at a little distance from me and looking at me for some minutes before he came to me then he pressed every part of my body with his hands, although I did not see him with my eyes but was hearing his foot noise and also feeling on my body that he was pressing it with his hands. Having pressed it for a few minutes then he was saying thus—“Oh! I thank God almighty today, I discover my father whom I had been looking for, many years ago, and I do not know that it is here he died when he came to eat the spiders so I shall take him to the town for burial and the other ceremony. Ah! I thank God today.” He was exceedingly glad as he discovered me as the dead body of his father, then he took me on his head and kept going to the town at once with joy, he did not wait and eat the spiders on this day at all.

  When he carried me and appeared in the town all his town’s ghosts asked him that what sort of heavy load he was carrying and sweating as if he bathed in water like this, so he replied that it was the dead body of his father who died in the “spider web bush” when he went there to eat the spiders. But when his town’s ghosts and ghostesses heard so, they were shouting with joy and following him to his house. Having reached his house and when his family saw me how I swelled up as a pregnant woman who would deliver either today or tomorrow they thought that it was true I was the dead body of their father, so they performed the ceremony which is to be performed for deads at once. After that all the ghosts of this town were dancing the native dance of the “spider eating ghosts” round me, because all the rest of the ghosts of this town also thought I am his father and again this father could eat spiders more than the rest.

  Then they told a ghost who is a carpenter among them to make a solid coffin. Within an hour he brought it, but when I heard about the coffin it was at that time I believed that they wanted to bury me alive, then I was trying my best to tell them that I am not his dead father, but I was unable to talk at all as the web corked my mouth hard and I was unable to shake my body to show them that I am still alive, it was in vain. So after the carpenter brought the coffin, then they put me inside it and also put more spiders inside it before they sealed it at once, they said that I would be eating the spiders which they put inside this coffin along the heaven’s road, because they thought that if somebody died he would be eating along the heaven’s road before he would reach heaven. After that they dug a deep hole as a grave in the back yard and buried me there as a dead man.

  As I was inside this grave in the coffin I was thinking within myself that—“Can I be saved from this grave or is there anybody to save me out of this?” then I said—“I shall put hope on God that He shall save me out of the coffin and out of the grave.” But luckily at last my thoughts became the truth, so when it was one o’clock in the midnight a resurrectionist who was present when they buried me there came and dug out the coffin, then he broke it and took me out of it. He put me on his head and kept going to another far bush again. His aim was to eat the spiders which were on the web that wrapped me and also to eat me. As he stole me from the grave and went hastily along in the bush that night he was meeting several ghosts of his kind in the bush, and whe
never they met him and asked what he carried like this, he would answer that it is the dead body of his father who died yesterday. He would tell them further that he is going to bury him very far into the bush so that he might not be smelling to anybody in the town when decayed. He would not tell them the truth that he stole me from the grave and he is going to eat me. Whenever he was explaining to them like this they would be sorry for him and then he kept going on his way. It was that night I believed that thieves are giving themselves much severe punishment whenever they steal important things, because as he was talking to those whom he was meeting on the way his voice was trembling with fear and his body was also shaking and looking here and there perhaps somebody was chasing him to catch the thief of the dead body, he was unable to wait and attend to them satisfactorily before he would leave them unnoticed and keep going.

  As he was going hastily zigzag in the bush it was so he was dashing at both trees and hills and always mistakenly falling into the deep holes, and several times he would jump on thorns unnoticed, but he would not be able to wait and take care of himself, as he was thinking that they were chasing him from the town to catch as a thief. Having gone very far into the bush he reached a place which was cleared some time ago by an unknown creature, then he put me down and without hesitation he gathered some dried sticks and prepared the fire in which he would roast me and eat me as meat. But immediately he put me inside this fire the spider web which wrapped me could not catch fire as it was very wet from the rains which were beating me repeatedly in the “spider web bush” before I was taken to the town for burial. Again the fire was insufficient to burn the web away from my body before I could be roasted, because the dried sticks were very scarce near there. But at the same time that he put me on this fire about twelve ghosts of his kind appeared and came to him, then they asked him what he wanted to do in that place. He replied that it was the dead body of a “spider eating” ghost’s father, he stole from the grave to roast and eat. But as all these ghosts heard so from him they were jumping up with gladness, they told him that they would eat me with him. He was very annoyed when he heard so, as he alone wanted to eat me.