by Amos Tutuola
And when I saw that this mighty tree was toppling down as well, then I hastily sold my “death”, I said within myself that before this “super-animal” would kill me I must first defend myself perhaps I would be saved. Then without hesitation I shot him. But when the gun-shots hit him on the chest and hurt him as well on the hind legs. It was this time this “super-animal” became more powerful and more dangerous than ever. And it was this day that I believed that—the half killed snake is the most dangerous. Because this animal was then shrieking and shouting and humming more terribly with angry voice than ever. His fearful humming was hearing all over the jungle.
He was jumping and dashing to the trees, rocks, etc. and within a few minutes he had broken down all the trees of that area and scattered everything in disorder with great anger. When he came back to the tree on top of which I was he started to bite the bottom of this tree until it fell down. This tree hardly fell down when he jumped on me, but I was so lucky that immediately this tree fell on hard ground, it sprang up again before it lay down quietly, I fell off from it to a little distance, so by that he missed me to grip with his paws. Of course I hit my back on another tree which was near that spot and that gave me much pain. And as I was hastily standing up he had jumped high up and as he was coming down just to cover the whole of me, I hastily lay flatly on the ground and then he simply rolled along on the ground instead. Before he stood up again I had taken my cutlass and I was waiting for him at once.
Within one second he had stood up, but he did not attempt to bite me this time, he wanted to hit me to death with his horns. But at the same moment that I saw what he wanted to do this time, I hastily leapt to my left when he was about to butt me with his horns and I cut him several times with my cutlass within this moment, so he simply butted a heavy rock instead when he missed me. He hardly missed me when he turned to his back and as he was coming again with great anger, I hastily leaned my back on the stump of the big tree which he had cut down, and I exposed my chest and belly in such a deceived way that he believed that he would not miss me as before. So as he was running furiously towards me with all his power and when he was about to reach me, I hastily leapt again to my right unexpectedly and unfortunately he simply butted the stump of that tree. So all his horns pierced this stump of tree, he could not pull them out but he was held up there helplessly, except his hind legs with which he was scattering the ground very roughly.
After I rested for a few minutes then I started to beat him with my poisonous cudgel until when he was completely powerless and then he died after some minutes. It was like that I killed this “super-animal” as I could call him. But to my surprise was that as he had already dead the light of his eyes was still shining clearly and thus it was when I left there.
After I had killed this animal I started to look about for the fearful boa constrictor which my father had told me about his news that he (boa) was also very dangerous. As I was looking for this boa constrictor it was so I was killing all the wild animals which I was seeing on the way. And in a few days time I killed the whole of them. So this time there was no more the fear of the wild animals again in this jungle except the fears of this terrible boa constrictor and the pigmies. I roamed about for several days but I did not come across this boa until one day when I travelled back to the place where I had killed “super-animal” unnoticed. But it was still a great surprise to see that the light of the eyes of this animal was still shining clearly. The flesh of his body was already decayed and the bones were already scattered on the ground but the eyes which brought out this light was still alive, the light was as clear as when the animal was still alive. So the eyes and the long hairs which were covered the skull were still on this skull as well and all the horns were still on the skull but they were still pierced the stump of that tree since the day that the animal had butted it (stump) himself.
In the first instance that I came there unexpectedly and when I saw this head with the clear light I thought that the animal had become alive after I had left there the other day. I stood before this head and I started to think of what to do with it, because the clear light which came out from the eyes was very attractively. When I thought what to do with it for a few minutes and I did not know yet so I pulled the head out of the stump. I first trimmed the hairs of the head very short then I cut those long horns very short too after that I trimmed the inside of the skull very neatly. But to my surprise when I put this skull or head on my head it was my exact size and it seemed on my head as a cock helmet. I was seeing clearly through the eyes and the light of the eyes travelled far away in the jungle but I was then so fearful that there was no any living creature which would see me would not run away for fear because I was exactly as when that animal was alive. So when I believed that it would help me in future I wrapped it with the skin of animal and I kept it in my hunting bag. As from that day I was using it in the night as my light and I was wearing it on the head whenever I was hunting. So this wonderful head became a very useful thing at last.
The Huge Stern Pigmy
Captured Me
We must first greet the mother of a new born baby whether her baby will die soon or not.
If wild boar acts as rudely as pig does, he (wild boar) will ruin the town. And if slave becomes king the people will not remain—He will revenge.
After I wrapped this wonderful head and put it inside my hunting bag I travelled towards the north of the jungle, because this day was “The Day of New Creation” which was Thursday. As I was travelling along it was so I was looking for the fearful boa constrictor to be killed but I did not see it until I travelled about eight miles. When I travelled further I came to where there were plenty of the vast hills, mountains, and very rough mighty rocks which were as high and vast as mountains. There were several paths which went along to the inside of each of these vast rocks and this showed me that there were towns inside the bottoms of the rocks.
All the paths which went to the inside of each of these rocks were very clean, but many fearful things like images of giants, wild animals, big snakes, etc., were put on both sides of each of the paths. Complete skeletons of apes, tigers, human beings, etc., were also put on both sides of the paths. All these things were just warnings for another kinds of creatures not to enter or go near the rocks. But as I was unable to travel farther when I travelled to these rocks, etc., because I had already tired and again the night was approaching. So for this reason I stopped near the corner of one of these rocks. This corner was just as a room with a flat stone as its roof. Then I leaned my gun and the poisonous cudgel on the rock which was a wall for this room and I hung my hunting bag on it as well.
After that I gathered dried sticks together, I made fire in them and I roasted the edible fruits which I picked on the way along to these rocks. Having eaten the fruits to my satisfaction then I slept. Of course I saw several small animals on my way coming to these rocks but I did not attempt to kill any one of them for my food because I had tired of eating animals every day, for I did not see another thing to eat since when I had entered this jungle. Throughout that night there was nothing happened to me but I was dreaming of those images, etc., which were put on both sides of the paths. In my dreams, all these terrible images, etc., were chasing me about to kill. It was so they were troubling me until one of them which was the skeletons of a giant caught me and as he wanted to stab me at belly, so I woke with great fear but when I stood up and opened my eyes with fear I saw that it was already the daybreak and it was that time it just revealed to me that I had been just dreaming and all what I was seeing were not truth.
When I woke up I went to the spot where there were plenty of wild grasses. As I believed that these kind of grasses were always holding the dew which was falling down from the sky in the night. And as there was no pond or river from which I could get water, so I collected the dew which was on these grasses into a big snail shell until when the shell was full. After that I came back to the fire. Out of the dew I washed my face and I drank the rest aft
er I ate another fruits which I roasted.
But I hardly finished with these roasted fruits when I began to hear the mixed noises of people from the bottom of this rock. The noises were just like that of a big town. But anyhow, as “We must first greet the mother of a new born baby whether her baby was going to die soon or would not die” therefore I waited there until I finished my fruits. After I ate the fruits and I was still hearing the noises I thought within myself that perhaps if I kept longer than that in this spot some of the creatures who were living under this rock might come out and when they met me there they might kill me. So I took all my things and I left there at once.
As I was going along it was so I was stumbling my right foot thumb on the ground after a few minutes interval and this was a very bad omen. Again several birds were flying past my head and everyone of them was striking my eyes with its wings and this was a very bad sign indeed. I became so sad when I saw all these bad signs that my body became very weak at the same time, because I believed that no doubt I would be in a trouble very soon. Especially as I was a huntress these kinds of signs were dangerous to happen to me and again when I remembered that this day was “The Day of Trouble” which was Friday, my body became more weak and I was then quite sure that the trouble which I was going to meet soon would be very serious.
Anyhow after I thought over that a person never died twice and that if I died I would go to heaven, then I sold my “death” and I continued to travel along as hastily as before I saw all these signs. When I travelled till nine o’clock a.m. then I began to look for small animals to be killed for my food. But I wondered greatly that I did not come across them except those squirrels which were barking at me here and there. I did not know whether as these squirrels were barking at me repeatedly their noises were suspecting me to these small animals and by that they were hiding themselves before I was travelling to where they were. But when it came to my mind like that I stopped when I travelled to a big tree which had many big buttresses. Then I cut plenty of broad leaves. When I knelt down behind one of the buttresses of this tree, I held these broad leaves with teeth in such a way that they covered my face and the rest part of my body, so that these animals might not see me again, but they might think that I was a plant.
Having done so I began to keep watch of the animals. Of course as I was doing this thing it was so I was thinking in mind of all the signs which I had seen on the way before I travelled to this tree. Because I believed that no doubt a very bad thing must happen to me before the night of this day.
It was like that I knelt down and I was keeping watch of the small animals for good two hours without seeing anything like animals except those squirrels which were hung near me and barking at me repeatedly. But when I was tired to wait for these animals and as I was just thinking in mind to stand up and go away from there. Then these animals began to pass through that place in great number, but they were running here and there as if somebody was driving them to somewhere, none of them hesitated in one place so that I might shoot it. But after a few minutes some of them were hesitating in one place for a few seconds and at the same moment that I sighted one of them to shoot. There appeared a stern huge pigmy from an unknown place. He was shouting greatly and continuously and his shout was driving these animals to another part of the jungle.
It was a great anger to me when it was the very moment that I wanted to shoot those animals that this stern pigmy began to shout greatly. For this reason I said with anger that “We must first greet the mother of a new born baby for safety delivery whether her baby would still die soon or not”, which meant if this pigmy would kill me or not I must challenge him first. And at the same moment that he travelled with shout to where I hid myself I asked from him with great anger—“By the way, you this stern huge pigmy, what are you shouting for? You hopeless thing!” When he heard like that he first bent down and peeped to where I hid just to make sure whom I was. Because the leaves with which I covered myself did not allow him to see me but he was just hearing my voice. When he saw me there, he kept quiet and looked at me thoroughly with wonder for about five minutes for in the first instance he could not say whether I was a pigmy like himself.
To make sure the kind of a creature that I was he asked from me with his native language—“Who are you? Will you come out and let me see you?” But when I could not answer him and I did not come out as he told me. He came to me with anger. And when he saw that I was a huntress, with gun, etc., in hand, he gripped my neck as if a giant gripped a grain of maize. He dragged me out of the place that I hid with anger and he still held my neck when he said loudly—“Oh, you too, come to steal our animals away! All right, I will take you too to where the rest of you are in the punishment since past ten years!”
As he held and pressed my neck so hardly that I could not even breathe in or out easily, he took my gun, hunting bag, the wonderful head of the animal which I wrapped with the skin of animal, the cudgel and cutlass from me. After that he tossed me without mercy to a short distance from this spot and my head was so struck the bottom of a tree that I could not stand up or even to raise up my head a little bit when he cut a strong rope. Then he came to me, he pulled me upright, he put both my hands to my back and then he tied both together with this rope. Having done that he hung my hunting bag and the head of the animal on his shoulder, but he did not loose the bag and the head of the animal which I wrapped, to know what were in them and he did not attempt to shoot or touch the trigger of my gun before he put it on his shoulder as well, of course I could not say whether he knew how to shoot gun or whether he had seen a gun before. After this he cut a long and strong whip with my cutlass. Having done this he held the cutlass and the cudgel with left hand and he held the whip with right hand.
After he stretched this whip to the direction that which he wanted me to be travelling along. When I was travelling along on that direction he followed me and he began to whip me mercilessly along to this direction. This direction went along to the vast rocks and mountains from where I had come to the very spot that he caught me. As I was going along with my hands which were tied very tightly toward my back it was so this huge pigmy was whipping me mercilessly. Whenever I missed the right direction on which he wanted me to travel, he would give me several heavy slaps on the ears. I was falling into the pits which were on this direction as he was pushing me along with his big navel, because he had no spare hand again with which to help himself, he held my things with them.
His navel was big that it could contain more than four gallons of water. It swelled out from his belly to a distance of about five feet. In respect of this fearful navel he was not wearing other cloth on his body except a big apron. Whenever he was walking very hastily along, this navel would be shaking and sounding heavily as when the water was shaking in a large tube and it appeared on his belly as if a very large bowl covered the belly.
As he was following me along and flogging me repeatedly, it was so he was shouting horribly on me—“Thief! thief! thief! I catch you today! All days are for thief to thieve but one day is for the owner to catch the thief!” It was like that this stern huge pigmy was shouting on me greatly.
When this punishment was too severe for me then I became powerless to walk after a short time. I was unable to go along any longer. When he saw this, he started to push me along with his fearful large navel and I was staggering along powerlessly. After a while I began to beg him for mercy but to my surprise was that the more I begged him the more the punishment he would give me would be severe. Not knowing that he hated to hear like that, it was a great anger to him. But at last when I begged him and he did not stop to flog me I told him that “If wild boar acts as rudely as pig does he (wild boar) will ruin the town” and if the rest pigmies like yourself had acted as rudely as you are illtreating me now, they (the rest pigmies) should had killed you. And I told him as well that if he had become a king all the people of his town would not remain in a few months time for his illtreatment.
When he heard all t
hese words from me the punishment which he was then giving me was more severe than before. It was like that he was pushing me along with his navel as hastily as he could until when he pushed me to these vast rocks and mountains and without hesitation he pushed me like this into one of the vast rocks. It was this time I knew that he was one of the inhabitants of this rock, under which there was a big town of pigmies. And immediately he was pushing me along on the road which went along to this town, I said within myself that no doubt the pigmies would punish me to death in a few days time.
Uncountable of wild animals as lions, tigers, buffaloes, wolves, etc., and uncountable of the poisonous reptiles as boa constrictors, pythons, alligators, etc., were full up on this road. As he was still pushing me along they were rushing to me just to kill or swallow me but when they saw that it was this pigmy who was pushing me along, they would not do anything to me but they were parting to both sides of the road for us to pass. I believed that all these creatures were also the keepers of this road. They were killing and eating all the enemies of these pigmies.
As the attitudes of these creatures were too horrible for me as we were meeting them on this road, so whenever I feared and ran to either sides of the road, this pigmy would whip me very severely at the same time and then he would shout greatly that—“just be going along, you don’t see wonders yet, you thief of animals!” After one and a halve hours we came to the gate of the town. The door of this gate was so strong and heavy that twenty men could not even push it to one side. But the gate-keeper was an ape. This ape was as strong as a giant. Of course he was not tall but he was so stout that he was easily opening and closing the door of this gate. When he pushed me with his fearful big navel to this gate and it was closed by that time, he knocked it with all his power. Then the ape or gate-keeper came out from the small house which was near the gate, he opened the door and then this pigmy pushed me in. But when this ape saw me he looked at me so savagely that I nearly fell down with fear. And when he rushed furiously against me and he raised up his heavy foot just to crush me to death at once, this stern huge pigmy hastily waved hand to him to leave me. Then he (ape) shut the door back, after that he entered that small house but he was still looking at me afar with his savage eyes.