The great fearful noises of their fight were still roaring. When Brawler overheard the noises, then she ran with her brawls to the scene of the fight, just to see what was happening. But she was much surprised when she saw that it was her husband and Slanderer who were fighting. Then, in haste, she ran into the circle of the fighters. She held her husband. But when Pauper looked at the face of who held him, he saw that it was Brawler, his wife.
‘Haa, are you this. Brawler, since when my hired canoe broke and sank into the river near Atepe town and then you were carried away by the tides with the other passengers?’ Pauper was overwhelmed with astonishment.
‘It is just so, I Brawler am this! But I had arrived in this town many years ago! Even I thought you have been wandering and got lost!’ Brawler squabbled for many minutes.
‘Never, I have not got lost!’ Pauper replied.
‘But where were you for these long years since I saw you last?’
‘Haa, I was the Oba of the Town of Women. But Slanderer, with his wicked cunnings, caused my dethronement. But then I have returned to my usual poverty and wretchedness!’ In grief. Pauper explained bitterly to Brawler as the crowd of people fastened their eyes at them.
Taga! What the Ifa had aforesaid had come to pass upon you! But could you remember now that in the days gone by, the Ifa said in your ‘esent’aye’ that in your wandering you would become an Oba in a foreign land, even though you were an alien there?’ Brawler continued to remind her husband of the Ifa’s forecast about his destiny. She said: ‘But the Ifa said that in the long run, you would leave the throne but you would return to your destiny which is poverty and wretchedness!’
Brawler went further, she said: ‘But I want you to be very certain as from today that “there is no bypath or short cut on top of the palm tree!” But indeed, you can never flee away from your destiny which you had chosen from Creator!’
After Brawler had reminded and warned her husband like that, she took Slanderer and Pauper to the Mansion of Sojourners in which she was living in this town. But after Brawler had roamed about, looking for her husband, and when she could not find iiim she travelled to this town. Then she started to live there. But at last, luckily, her husband came there and she saw him.
When Brawler took Pauper and Slanderer to the Mansion of Sojourners, she settled the fight between them for them and thus their fight was ended.
The Mansion of Sojourners in which Brawler was living was very big and it contained more than three hundred people. It had very wide premises as well.
The Oba of Agbe-o-gbin’yo town built this mansion for those who were sojourning in his town. When Brawler came into this mansion, the number of sojourners who were living there were more than three hundred. But as soon as Brawler came in the whole of them quitted the mansion in annoyance when her hurtful brawls were disturbing them from sleep in the daytime and night.
But after these people quitted the Mansion of Sojourners, Brawler did not bother but she alone continued to live there.
Brawler and her husband. Pauper, however, were living in the same big room, while Slanderer, the cunning and wicked man, was living in another room which was at the far end of the premises of this mansion. Brawler and Pauper were so far from Slanderer’s room that they could not know or see whatever he might be doing in his room. But sometimes. Slanderer was overhearing Brawler’s hot brawls.
The following morning after Pauper and Slanderer arrived in this town, as Pauper had no money to buy the carving tools, the first thing that he did was that he borrowed some tools from his fellow wood-carvers who were in the town.
After, he went into the forest, he felled one big tree. Then he carved it into different kinds of images of masquerades and many other kinds of domestic utensils.
It was those things which he was selling for money. He and his wife were spending the money for their food.
But soon. Slanderer’s cunnings helped him so much that he got the opportunity to get in touch with the Oba and his chiefs. So, the Oba appointed him his state Iko or messenger. The Oba and his chiefs were sending him everywhere in the town to deliver messages. The Oba and his chiefs were paying him a little money and remuneration like useless clothes as rewards for his work.
But although Slanderer was so greedy, since the day he had got a job from the Oba and was then getting the remnants of food which were left in the Aafin, he ceased to come to Pauper. But Pauper did not bother whether he shunned him and his wife. Instead, he paid much heed to his carving work.
In fact, it was a bit difficult for Pauper to sell his carvings as he wished. Because each market day that his wife carried the beautiful carvings to the market, having set them on the ground for sale she then sat near them. But when those who wanted to buy them came and started to ask for the price of each, instead of telling them the prices, it was at that very moment she would start to brawl hotly like the dead.
But when the people waited for many minutes without her telling them the prices, then in anger, they would leave her and go away. For this reason she would not sell even a single one of the carvings. But then she would carry them back to the house as she carried them to the market.
But the market day that her husband carried them to the same market for himself, those who wished to buy the carvings would not attempt to stop and ask for the prices of the carvings at all. But they would go on their way as hastily as possible. Because they took him to be a dangerous madman in respect of the dirty rags which he wore. And in the end he too would carry his carvings back to the house.
That was how Pauper’s beautiful carvings were unsaleable in the market, except the few ones which he was selling in the town.
But because Slanderer was now one of the Oba’s Iko, he had so much advantage that one day, he stole the Oba’s crown, his beaded walking stick, his beaded shoes, his coral-beads, his Staff of Order and much royal property. Slanderer carried all into his room.
Slanderer did not stop at that. But in the night of the same day, he stole one of Oba’s Olori or queens. He hid her in his room as weU. But Pauper and Brawler were innocent of all this deed of Slanderer’s. Because he had boycotted them for a long time. But he used to hear Brawler’s brawls in his far room which was quite out of view of Pauper and Brawler.
Even if Pauper and Brawler were just ‘the sheep which does not change its last year’s wool’, they were living in their poverty, wretchedness, fight and brawls in righteousness and with contentment.
It was the third day that Slanderer had stolen the Oba’s property when the Oba just observed that one of his Olori was missing from the Aafin or palace. But as soon as the Oba had observed this, he sent for his chiefs. Without hesitation, the whole of them started to search for this missing Olori.
But it was when they were searching for the Olori when they saw that the crown, the beaded walking stick, the Staff of Order, the beaded shoes and the coral-beads of the Oba were also missing from the place in which they used to keep them in the Aafin.
Of all these missing property, the Oba’s crown and the Staff of Order were the most important ones which troubled the Oba and his chiefs indeed.
The Oba could not sleep and he could not nap. He could not stand still and could not sit down with ease and it was so for his chiefs. Food? No! Drink? No! There was none of them who could eat and drink. Because ‘a disease that affects the Oba also affects his chiefs’. What befalls the Oba also befalls his chiefs.
Because even if the Oba’s crown was important, the Oba’s Staff of Order was also important for the Oba and his chiefs. Because it is only with this Staff of Order the Oba’s Deo can arrest the offenders. And it is this same Staff of Order the Deo takes to one who the Oba and chiefs want to come to the Aafin. When the Deo gives this Staff of Order to someone, he must follow the Iko with it to the Aafin immediately or if not, he has comnnitted an offence. The Staff of Order is just like a summons paper.
At last, when the Oba and his chiefs tried their best to find the missing property bu
t failed to find it, they consulted one powerful Babalawo, the Ifa priest. They asked him to help them find out from the Ifa about the missing property.
When the Babalawo cast his Qpele, the Ifa’s messenger, on the ground, then having studied the ‘odu’ which appeared carefully, the Babalawo interpreted it to the Oba and his chiefs that the Ifa said that the Oba’s stolen property would be found in one of the sojourners’ rooms.
Having heard what the Ifa prophesied, the Oba and his chiefs were now happy and their minds were at rest. But as the Oba and his chiefs were unable to hesitate till when the prediction of the Ifa came to pass, the Oba instructed his Bell-ringer to announce round the town with the bell, to tell all the young men and old men and also all the sojourners to gather together in front of the Aafin the following morning.
But this Oba’s and the chiefs’ emergency invitation was very fearful to the people of the town. For this, it was hardly morning when the people hastily set aside what they were doing, but they ran to the front of the Aafin. They sat down and were expecting what the Oba and chiefs were going to tell them, whether good or bad they never knew.
It was not so long before the Oba and his chiefs walked from the Aafin to the outside. Then the crowd of people hastily prostrated and they were greeting loudly: ‘Kabiyesi, the ruler of earth and second to gods!’ But then the Oba shook his white tassel to them while his Herald, on his behalf, replied loudly: The Oba greets you!’
But it was greatly strange to the crowd of people to see that there was no crown on Qha’s head and there were no beaded shoes on his feet this morning, whereas the Oba had never come out to the crowd of people as this before without wearing his royal dresses. More, the people were also shocked when they did not see the sign of happiness on the Oba’s and his chiefs’ faces as was usually so.
But as it is ‘if there is no happiness in the house, the house will be just like the bush’, is that the people never knew all that had happened in the Aafin.
As soon as the Herald (the Qtun Oba, Chief Ogundabede) greeted the people on behalf of the Oba and chiefs, he announced to the people, he said: ‘It is a few days ago since we have started to search for the Oba’s crown, his beaded walking stick, his coral-beads, his Staff of Order, his beaded shoes and also one of the Olori (queens)!’
The Oba’s Qtun or the Herald continued his announcement, he said: ‘We appeal to you all the people of the town and to you all the sojourners, that those of you who know one who had stolen the Oba property, should please tell us!’
But as the Qtun or the Herald had just concluded his announcement like that, it was at that moment Pauper and Brawler, his wife, who were among the sojourners in this Agbe-o-gbin’yp town arrived.
As Brawler continued to brawl loudly in amidst the crowd of people and they were laughing loudly at her strange brawls, one of the chiefs remembered just this very time that it was in the Mansion of Sojourners Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer were living together, and that Slanderer, being one of the Iko, was not among his fellow Ikp who were in the gathering that morning.
‘But what has caused Slanderer to absent himself from his duty this morning?’ When that chief asked like that in suspicion, then another one of the chiefs said: ‘But let us go and search that Mansion of Sojourners, perhaps we may find the Oba’s missing property there!’
But when this chief brought this advice, the crowd of people agreed to go and search the mansion at once. But then the people, chiefs and the Oba and many of the sojourners pushed Pauper and Brawler in front of them. They followed them to the Mansion of Sojourners in which Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer were living.
When the chiefs, the Oba and some of the boys entered the mansion, the first room which they searched was that of Pauper and his wife. But the Oba’s property was not found in it. After, they searched several other rooms yet they did not see the Oba’s property in them.
It was like that they searched one room and the other without seeing anything there until when they came to the room in which Slanderer lived, at the far end of the premises.
When they opened the door of his room suddenly, they met him inside the room, with the Oba’s coral-beads on his neck, the Oba’s beaded shoes on his feet, the Oba’s crown on his head. Too, they met the Olori in his room.
‘Haa, Slanderer! You did all these!’ the chiefs and the Oba shouted in shock. But as it is ‘the heavy rain which calms the birds in the bush’, it was just so for Slanderer that morning. He was terribly afraid, he sighed and he became confused and haggard at once.
Without hesitation, the chiefs took the crown away from his head, the beaded shoes were pulled off his feet. They took the coral-beads from his neck. They took the beaded walking stick and the Staff of Order from him. After, they pushed him and the Oba’s Olori roughly to the outside. And just in the same way they pushed Pauper and Brawler to the outside roughly although both were not offenders.
But now. Slanderer did not know what to say more than ‘Haaa! Haa! Haa!’ as they were pushing him. Pauper, Brawler and the Olori along to the Aafin.
Then the chiefs pushed Slanderer, Pauper and Brawler into the custody of prison for three days without giving them food or water. It was like that Slanderer put Pauper and Brawler in undeserved punishment. Although Slanderer was a habitual cunning man and the most evil-doer as well, all these could not help him this day.
But it was the third morning that the chiefs brought the three of them out from the custody of prison to the Aafin to judge their case and then to sentence to a long term of imprisonment one who was found guilty of the offence.
When Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer were brought out from the custody of the prison, they took them direct to the royal court of law, in the Aafin. It was Pauper who was asked to defend himself first. But he told the chiefs who were the judges that he was innocent of the Oba’s stolen property. After, the next person who was asked to give her own statement of the case was Brawler.
But instead of telling the court whether she knew about the stolen property. Brawler started to brawl continuously in front of the judges, the chiefs and the Qha. But the chiefs did not understand all that she was saying in her brawls and also all were strange to the ears of the Oba and his Deputy, the Chief Ogundabede.
But when the chiefs and the Oba were tired of Brawler’s useless brawls, they started to struggle to quiet her, but it took them more than ten minutes before they succeeded in stopping her from brawling.
But when it was Slanderer’s turn to give his own statement, for him, it is just like ‘the danger is in the farm of “Longe” and “Longe” himself is the danger’. While he was in the custody of the prison, he had already planned how he would defend himself before the judges.
And without hesitation, he pointed his hand to the Qtun Oba, the Chief Ogundabede. He told the rest of the chiefs and the Oba that the Deputy Oba was the right person who brought and hid in his room the Oba’s property which were the crown, beaded walking stick, beaded shoes, the Olori and the royal Staff of Order. Thus Slanderer, who possessed the whole evil characters of the earth, told a lie against the Otun Oba.
‘Haa! But Chief Ogundabede, you as the Qtun Oba, have done all this havoc?’ the Oba and the chiefs were shocked and shouted in one voice on Chief Ogundabede in uncontrolled anger.
‘But I or who?’ the Qtun beat his breast in earnest as his eyes flashed out real fire at that moment. ‘That means you all believe the lie which Slanderer has told against me to be true or how?’ the Qtun Oba asked boldly.
‘Surely and without even any doubt, all of us believe the allegation which Slanderer has made against you! Slanderer is not brave and bold enough to steal the Oba’s property!’ the Oba and the rest of the chiefs made disgraceful noises against Chief Ogundabede.
But now the Ifa’s prediction on the Oba’s property that they would find them came to pass in the end, even if it was Slanderer who, as one of the sojourners, stole those things.
As I said earlier, the title of the Chief Ogundabede,
the Qtun Oba, was the highest of all the rest of the chiefs. For this, he had much power in the town. He was tall, stout and was very strong. He was open-handed, kind and cheerful. So all this caused the children and young people of the town to love him much.
But what caused his father to name him as Ogundabede when he was bom was that he came to the earth through the ‘odu’ ogundabede. So for this reason, his father simply named him after this ‘odu’.
Certainly, this name is indeed frightful to people. Because the ‘odu’ ogundabede is mainly causing enemies and sorts of difficulties for one who is created for it and it also relates to stealing. But in the end that unfortunate person who possesses this ‘odu’ will, however, overcome his enemies, difficulties, etc.
But as the ‘odu’ ogundabede through which Chief Ogun-dabede came to the earth relates to stealing, therefore, he was pilfering when he was a youth but he had stopped doing so before he became the Otun Oba, especially as soon as his father had offered the right sacrifice to the Ifa.
But then the chiefs and the Oba began to clap loudly and disdainfully on Chief Ogundabede as a dishonest Qtun Oba. And again they began to sing the song of disdain in high tone, saying:
Ogundabede, the thief-o-thief! He stole Oba’s crown!
-O-thief! Thief! Ogundabede, the thief-o-thief! He stole Oba’s coral-beads!
-O-thief! Thief! Ogundabede, the thief-o-thief! He stole Oba’s beaded shoes!
-O-thief! Thief! Ogundabede, the thief-o-thief! He stole Oba’s Staff of Order!
-O-thief! Thief! Ogundabede, the thief-o-thief! He stole Oba’s Olori!
-O-thief! Thief!
It was like that the Oba and the chiefs stood up, clapping and singing tumultuously on Chief Ogundabede, the Deputy Oba.
After a while, this hostile action turned to a great scuffle suddenly. But when the Deputy started to beat the rest of the chiefs and the Oba mercilessly and they too were beating him in return, they kicked the Oba unaware. Then the Oba lurched and he fainted immediately because his backbone broke into two. But as the Chief Ogundabede, the Qtun Oba, was stronger than any of the rest, he beat them so mercilessly that every one of them was severely bruised.
Pauper, Brawler and Slanderer Page 15