After, Slanderer, who was now the Qtun Oba, told the people about himself in brief, he said: ‘But it is proper to tell you a bit of my countless evil characters!’ The Qtun Oba continued, he said: ‘Once upon a time, I was the most cruel and merciless raider, murderer, traitor, tale-bearer, slothful, treacherous person, etc., etc. who was ever bom in my town called Laketu!’
But when the crowd of women and the Oba-makers heard a bit of their new Qtun Oba’s evil characters, they were overwhelmed with fear. ‘I used to convert the destiny of people from favourable to unfavourable!’ But when the gathering of women heard this from their Qtun Oba again, they were not aware when they shouted greedily in one voice: ‘Haa! Why? You are indeed strange! But you alone had been behaving all these your dreadful characters? Haa! This is too “hard” and overmuch “hard” as well!’
The Otun Oba advanced in his biography, he said: ‘You should not be surprised at all about my cruel characters! These are my predestinations! Thank you all!’ It was thus the Qtun Oba (Slanderer) addressed the crowd of women without shame.
But then the gathering of women, the Oba, and the Oba-makers, the drummers and minstrels led the Qtun Oba back to his Aafin as they were still wondering about his evil characters.
It was not so long before the Deputy started to eat good food and drink different kinds of drinks as he wished. He became very fat and his belly swelled out like that of a pregnant woman who would deliver a baby either today or tomorrow.
When the Oba and his Deputy or Qtun were enjoying much in this Town of Women, in a short time, both of them had forgotten entirely that they were once just like ‘the sheep which does not change its last year’s wool’.
The joy was so great for the Oba that he forgot that it was poverty and wretchedness which he chose from Creator when he was coming to earth. Even he did not remember Brawler, his brawling wife, any longer. He forgot the year Slanderer (now his Deputy) deceived him and then both of them cut down his unripe maize. And he forgot as well that he was once a wood-carver.
Slanderer also enjoyed himself so much that he forgot the days when sometimes he got food to eat and sometimes hungered about. He forgot as well the day of his wedding when Pauper (now the Oba) entered his tawdry image of the evil spirit and then he punished him nearly to death, taking revenge on him for his maize. And after, he caused him to lose his bride, Qmolere.
It was like that Pauper and Slanderer continued to enjoy themselves in the Town of Women without remembering their past sufferings.
But one evening, after the Oba and his Deputy ate and drank and they danced merrily with their Olori or queens, then as the Oba sat in his royal state in his dignity, and his Deputy sat very close to him and lounged, he told the Oba in haughtiness, he said: ‘Hun-un, Kabiyesi (Your Worship). But you are the Oba who is the ruler of this town and likewise myself who is your Deputy, or not so?’
‘It is just so!’ the Oba replied in arrogance.
‘But has the senior Oba-maker (the feeble old woman) not given you the gold key of the House of Gold and Silver which is in the Grove of Enthronement?’ the Qtun Oba asked.
‘O yes, it is so, she gave the key to me. Even this is the key!’ the Oba replied cheerfully, stretching the key up and showing it to his Qtun. ‘But the senior Oba-maker had warned me seriously that I should not open the door of the house!’ the Oba feared.
‘O yes, I know. The senior Oba-maker warned me just the same!’ The Qtun continued, he said: ‘But why is there a secret in this our Town of Women which the Oba and his Deputy should not know about? When both of us have the authority on this town and also on everything therein?’ the Qtun interrogated the Oba.
‘Well, this matter of the secret is obscure to my eyes!’ the Oba replied in confusion.
‘Well, this is entirely disgraceful to the Oba and his Qtun when there is a sort of secret in this Town of Women on which the senior Oba-maker insists that we should not know! Kabiyesi, don’t you see it so?’ the Qtun Oba lamented in earnest. ‘Oba, the ruler of earth and the second to gods!’ the Qtun Oba gnashed the teeth and then he continued to provocate the Oba, he said: ‘Whereas the gold key of the House of Gold and Silver is in your possession! But my suggestion is that early in the morning we should go into the Grove of Enthronement with the key. With the key, we would open the door of the house to see the sort of secret which is in it!’ But at this stage, the Oba nodded and this meant he agreed to the advice of his Qtun.
Immediately they concluded their plan, the Oba poured the hot drink into his wine glass and so did his Qtun. Everyone threw his own into his mouth and having gargled it in his throat joyfully, he swallowed it.
But then the Oba replied fluently to his Qtun’s advice. ‘That is exactly what we should do early in the morning. But you should make haste to come and wake me, so that we may go there and return to our Aafin before the people wake from their sleep!’ the Oba said cheerfully.
‘Haa, Kabiyesi, don’t you know who you have as your Qtun? But I the cunning man! I would get in touch with you before daybreak!’ It was so the deputy and the Oba planned to go and open the door of the House of Gold and Silver.
‘All right, goodnight, the ruler of earth and the second to gods!’ the Otun stood up, staggering back to his Aafin.
‘Okay, be going gently. Goodnight!’ After the Otun had staggered away, the Oba too stood up and he staggered into his room. He fell on his bed heavily and was fast asleep at once, for ‘a drunkard forgets poverty’. The Oba and his Qtun were intoxicated strongly by the hot drinks which they were drinking continuously and which caused them to plan against the senior Oba-maker’s warning.
But it was hardly early morning, when the Otun came and woke the Oba. After the Oba had dressed in the best of the royal robes, he took his royal white tassel. After each of them took a full glass of hot drink, the Oba took the gold key, then they left the Aafin or palace for the Grove of Enthronement.
When they came to the house, they stood in front of the door. But then guilty conscience began to trouble the Oba. His hands began to shake so much that he was unable to put the key into the lock to open the door.
‘But why are you trembling? Are you not the Oba? Please, give me the key!’ the Qtun shouted to Oba and then he snatched the key from him.
‘But my conscience is just telling me that it will be unfortunate for us if we open this door!’ the Oba, in trembling voice and body, whispered to his Qtun. But he had not yet finished his word when his Deputy heedlessly put the key into the lock of the door. He turned the key to the left and after, he kicked the door forward, and it fell inside suddenly.
The roof of gold and walls of silver of this house brightened its interior, which was very lovely and attracted people. But when the Oba and his Deputy walked in in arrogance and the Oba saw on the racks his dirty rags, hair of his head and chin which was scraped from his head and chin the day that he was enthroned, and his bow and the quiver, all of a sudden, the hair returned to his head and to his chin while his beautiful royal robes and tassel disappeared from his body at once. But his usual dirty rags returned to his body instead while his bow and the quiver returned on to his left shoulder. More, he became as haggard as when he was not an Oba. Now, the Oba looked like a madman as before.
As soon as all these things had returned to the Oba’s body, it was so for his Deputy. Immediately he saw on the racks the dirty hair of his head, chin and his dirty rags, the whole of them returned to his body as soon as his royal robes disappeared from his body. And he was now lean nearly to the bones.
As these dreadful changes came upon the Oba and his Qturi/ suddenly and when they wanted to shout in greed, a strange thick darkness came over them unexpectedly. They could not see even themselves at all. But all at a sudden, they found themselves in the same wilderness, at the foot of the very mahogany tree from which the feeble old woman (senior Oba-maker) took Pauper to the Town of Women several years ago.
This means Pauper, the Father of Wretchedness, and Slanderer,
had now returned to their former multifarious ordeals. But of course, ‘the tortoise’s shell is a house of poverty; even if the tortoise is taken to a wealthy town, it will still return to its house of poverty’. That was just so for Pauper and Slanderer. Although the Ifa had foretold that in a faraway town Pauper would become an Oba but in the long run, his Deputy or Qtun would dethrone him by his cunnings. This means the Ifa’s prediction came to pass on him in the end. And so ‘destiny has no remedy’.
But when both Pauper and Slanderer became conscious, at the foot of this mahogany tree, Pauper, having looked and looked at himself and seen clearly that he had returned to his former poverty and wretchedness, in great earnest, he shouted: ‘Ho-o-o-ro-o-o! Ha-a-a! I come back to my usual poverty and wretchedness! Ha-a-a! Is it true that what is called destiny exists? Is it the destiny of poverty and wretchedness that I had chosen from Creator?’ Pauper was confused greatly.
And when Slanderer too looked and looked all over his body and he saw plainly that he had returned to his former wickedness and hunger and sufferings, with the topmost of his voice he shouted terribly: ‘Paga! Ha-a-a! With my cunning hand, I have caused what has brought me back to my former misery and mischief! Ye-e-e! Ha-a-a! Woe unto me!’
It was like that Pauper and Slanderer continued to lament in great earnest which could not be described when the senior Oba-maker (the feeble old woman) appeared suddenly at the foot of the second mahogany tree which was not far from the one at the foot of which they found themselves.
25
THE SENIOR OBA-MAKER
REJECTS PAUPER’S AND
SLANDERER’S ORAL PETITION
‘Haa! The senior Oba-maker, please help us! Even if we have heedlessly fallen into your trap of warning! But we apologize for our disobedience! We beg you in the name of the priest! Please reinstate us to our former Obaship!’ Pauper and Slanderer lamented in tears to the senior Oba-maker immediately she appeared suddenly at the foot of the second mahogany tree.
‘Haa! Never! Your request and apology are not accepted! Inasmuch as you have abused my warning!’ the senior Oba-maker continued her protest, she said: ‘Because you have opened and entered the House of Gold and Silver which is indeed a snare for every Oba of the Town of Women!’
But instead of accepting their apology, the senior Oba-maker started to taunt them in a mixture of whimsies and proverbs and they too were replying to her in whimsies and proverbs thus:
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: Haa, there you are in the end? (she snarled)
SLANDERER: Hun-un-un! O pity!
PAUPER: Alas! Even more than pity!
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: Fretting precedes weeping,
SLANDERER: regret follows a misfortune,
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: all sages of the country assemble,
PAUPER: but find no prevention for misfortune.
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: Haa! Little by little and in the end over-enjoyment has caused you to fall into the trap of the law; after my serious warning -
PAUPER AND SLANDERER: Haa, the senior Oba-maker, unless you release us from the trap of law; we swear, we cannot be good citizens again!
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: Hoo, it is much alas!
SLANDERER: Hoo, overmuch alas!
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: But there are two kinds of destinies,
SLANDERER: one is female - tender-hearted, favourable,
PAUPER: but the other one is male - harsh, unfavourable.
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: But the destiny of somebody is female,
PAUPER: and that one will find things easy and easy,
SLANDERER: and that one will be bearing children upon children,
PAUPER: and that one will be having more and more fine dresses,
SLANDERER: and that one will be getting money more and more,
PAUPER: and that one will not be wearing dirty rags all days,
SLANDERER: and that one will not roam about in nude,
PAUPER: but his manner of living will continue to prosper,
SLANDERER: and his manner of living will be sweet and sweet like the honey.
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: But that one whose destiny is male - harsh?
SLANDERER: that one will never get money in hand,
PAUPER: and that one will never get fine clothes to wear but except dirty rags,
SLANDERER: and like that of the madman.
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: The mouth that will not stop talking - ?
PAUPER: and the lips that will not stop moving - ?
SLANDERER: and it brings trouble to the cheek.
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: Even if he had been the Oba of the Town of Women?
PAUPER: but in the end, his destiny will dethrone him,
SLANDERER: but then he will continue to live in his poverty and wretchedness.
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: The cock which has a comb on its head - ?
PAUPER: that one has no tailfeathers,
SLANDERER: and one which has tailfeathers,
PAUPER: but has no dew-claw.
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: The one which has a dew-claw - ?
SLANDERER: but cannot crow.
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: But the poverty and wretchedness are the house of tortoise - I think - ?
SLANDERER: and if tortoise is taken to the wealthy town,
PAUPER: but in the end, it will return to its house of poverty and wretchedness.
SENIOR OBA-MAKER: Too! Well then, ‘He who admits his fault in time does not keep too long in kneeling down to beg’. So our indefinite reunion is in the dream, and perhaps our indefinite meeting is on the road. Goodbye!
It was like that the senior Oba-maker (the feeble old woman) rejected Pauper’s and Slanderer’s oral petition in whimsies and proverbs. After, she vanished suddenly.
26
PAUPER AND SLANDERER
BEGIN TO FIGHT
But as soon as the feeble old woman, the senior Oba-maker, had vanished suddenly. Pauper and Slanderer began to brawl hotly on each other in great anger. But as ‘the excess of joy makes the frog break its thigh’, that it was such excessive joy which had caused Pauper and Slanderer to return to their former miserable condition. Although their reign as an Oba and Otun Oba was just a transient one. This had been foretold in their ‘esent’aye’ by the Babalawo.
‘Slanderer, it was you who have caused what has brought me back to my poverty and wretchedness. Because it was not my intention at all to go and open the forbidden House of Gold and Silver. Otherwise I would still be the Oba of the Town of Women!’ Pauper blamed Slanderer in great sulks.
‘Hun-un-un, “difficult to cure like an hereditary disease”. Hoo, Pauper, that means you believe that the destiny which you had chosen from Creator will not come to pass upon you or what? That means when you were installed the Oba of the Town of Women, your poverty and wretchedness had left you? No! But you are still in them!’ Slanderer replied to Pauper in anger.
‘I say it again, “if there is nothing wrong the thighs of the cricket would not have been broken”. If you this wicked Slanderer had not put me in this undeserved punishment, I would not have returned to my destiny of poverty and wretchedness!’ Pauper frowned at Slanderer in great anger, as both of them sat beside each other, at the foot of the mahogany tree in that dreadful thick wilderness.
‘Please, Pauper, just stop that. What has gone, has gone for ever. The Obaship (kingship) is already lost to you. That is just “when the needle falls down from a leper’s hand, he cannot pick it up again”. And that is just so for you. But all I am after now is about my hunger. I am badly hungry now for food!’ Slanderer simply disdained and disregarded Pauper’s deep grief.
‘Haa, Slanderer, that means you remember hunger or food when you have caused my dethronement with your wicked cunnings?’ Pauper shouted suddenly in great earnest to Slanderer as he was sulky.
‘Hee, hay-ay, look. Pauper, “a protruding tooth is the problem of the mouth”! But I am just looking for what I will eat now!’
Slanderer shouted to Pauper like that in an insignificant voice. And he told him
again that, ‘I am hungry cannot be expressed just by whistling’. Pauper, I say it aloud to you -1 am hungry badly for food!’
Pauper was so much annoyed this time that he pulled one arrow out of the quiver. Then he hastily set it on his bow and withthout mercy, he shot it at Slanderer’s left side suddenly. But just as ‘the stone which is thrown at the bird in anger misses it’, so the arrow simply missed Slanderer’s side.
But now Slanderer knew well that the Obaship which had fallen from Pauper was such a grief to him that he was ready to hurt him, then he too, stood up, he hastily picked up from the ground one heavy stone. In anger, he threw it at Pauper’s forehead. But it was just the same, ‘the white termites simply try but cannot chew the stone’. Yet, the stone simply missed Pauper’s forehead as well.
‘Hoo, but Slanderer, is that so you want to retaliate? You wicked rogue! You evil man who have put me in trouble! That your hunger will continue for forever! But as you are aware that I am a strong man who fights with cutlass! I shall torture you beyond your endurance!’ Pauper frowned at Slanderer.
But as he rushed furiously against Slanderer just to grasp him and slap at his ear. Slanderer feared so much that he did not wait. But he started to run fiercely along in this wilderness as he was abusing Pauper continuously that: ‘Your poverty and wretchedness will continue to punish you forever! ‘
But in haste, Pauper hung his bow and quiver on his left shoulder. Then he started to pursue Slanderer. And it was so he continued to pursue him in great anger till when he pursued him into a certain town called Agbe-o-gbin’yp.
27
PAUPER, BRAWLER
AND SLANDERER IN
AGBE-O-GBIN’YQ TOWN
In the long run. Pauper overtook Slanderer as he was chasing him about in Agbe-o-gbin’yp town (farmers do not plant salt). But as both of them were engrafted to each other strongly, the people of this big town saw them and they rushed to them. Then they rescued Slanderer from Pauper when he wanted to tear him into pieces, even if he. Slanderer, and Brawler had been changed to immortals in their Laketu town before they were expelled from there long ago.
Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer Page 14