by Amos Tutuola
It was when Ajantala was trying to steal this old man’s property (bundle) away it revealed to him that Ajantala was one of “The forest burglars”. As he was living with us without the wish of this old man, it was so he was searching everywhere perhaps he would be able to trace out the bundle.
At last when he failed to trace it out he began to pull the roof of this hut down little by little. When the old man believed that he would pull the whole hut down in a few days time and again if we did not keep ourselves away from him this time he would kill us when we fell asleep if he could not get the bundle back. So one night, when Ajantala lay down roughly as if he had slept. This old man first suggested that the better thing to do now which could safe us from him was to pack all our blongings and leave this hut this night so that we would travel far away before he would wake in the morning.
When this old man suggested like that I supported him, I told him that it would be better now to pack our food and the rest of our blongings in a big basket and then to leave there at once. Of course I had no any blongings which I could pack except this old man. Because this time I was just as a “bird who has no property to take along with himself whenever going to somewhere except his feathers”. All of my blongings were in the Jungle of the Pigmies. So at the same time I helped this old man to pack all his blongings together. I tied them together into a bundle. I put this bundle in a big basket, after that we put our food, basins, pots, etc., on top of the bundle. Having done that we hid this basket in a corner of the hut, then we went to the stream which was not so far away from there, to bathe. But not knowing that Ajantala never fall asleep when we began to make this arrangement and he heard how we were going to do.
So after we left for the stream he stood up cautiously and as he was very short and thin, he simply put all the things which were in the basket down. He went inside it, after that he put all these things on top of himself. Ajantala arranged these things so perfectly that we did not suspect that he was at the bottom of the basket when we returned from the stream.
Immediately we returned this old man helped me to put this basket on my head, after that he put the bundle (his property) on his head, after that we left this hut cautiously so that Ajantala might not wake, for we thought that he was still sleeping, although we did not put on the light and the hut was so dark that we hardly saw even ourselves. It was this bundle Ajantala was trying to steal away.
As we were travelling along very hastily and having travelled about one mile away from this hut. And as we believed that we had already freed from Ajantala who was inside the basket, we began to scold and curse Ajantala badly and he was hearing all, but we did not know at all. When we travelled till daybreak, then we stopped when we felt to eat. Without fear, this old man helped me to put this basket down. After we put it down and as I was taking some plates from the basket, Ajantala jumped out from it suddenly. When we saw him jumped out this old man and I scattered to different direction unexpectedly with great fear. Because this fear was so much that we could not hesitate to see who jumped out from the basket. And it was after a few minutes before we came back to the basket and unfortunately, Ajantala had carried all of this old man’s property away.
When we came back but we met only empty basket then it revealed to us that Ajantala was inside the basket as I had been carrying it about. So we took this empty basket and then we began to find him about at the same time, perhaps if we could find him out we would be able to take the property (bundle) back from him. It was like that Ajantala, the noxious burglar of the forest, stole all of this old man’s property away.
But we could not travel so far when this old man became very seriously ill for his property which Ajantala had stolen away. When he could not walk again, I put him on my back and then I continued to travel along. And when I travelled until my back was paining me I put him down under a tree. I built a booth and I lay him under it, after that I covered him with broad leaves because there was no cloth to be used. After this, I went round there and luckily I did not travel so far when I came to a farm. Yams and corn were planted on one halve of this farm while a lot of big guords were planted on the rest halve part of it.
When I came to this farm the first thing which I did was that I went round it just to make sure whether the owner of it was there or not. But when I did not see anybody there, then I took some yams and corn and I took one big guord. After that I went back to the old man. When I made fire and put two yams and corn in it, then I went to the river with that guord. After I cut its head away and washed inside of it thoroughly, then I drew water with it and I brought it to the booth. After the old man and I ate the yams and the corn to our satisfaction we drank from this water to our satisfaction as well.
It was like that I was doing everyday until when this old man became well and then we continued to find Ajantala about. One morning, as we were roaming about we came to a tree in which there was a hole. Not knowing that Ajantala had foreseen us while we were still far away. And he entered the hole of this tree, he hid himself inside it and he was waiting for us perhaps we would travel to that spot. After a while we travelled to this tree. But as it had plenty of leaves which threw cool shadow on the ground and again as we were very hungry and thirsty, so we stopped under this tree. After we put our yams and corn down, I made fire at once, I roasted them. After I peeled away the backs of these yams we began to eat them. But as this old man leaned his back on this tree and as we were eating the yams greedily Ajantala stretched his hand from the hole of this tree and he pulled up the hairs of this old man’s head. When he first did like that the old man was greatly shocked with fear when he felt much pain. He raised his head up, he looked at this tree but he did not see anybody there. Because Ajantala had hastily put his hand back into the hole of the tree. After a while he knocked this old man’s forehead again with a stick and when he raised his head up again he did not see anything and this was a great wonder and fear to him.
It was like this Ajantala was illtreating him until when I put the water in my mouth. As I was drinking it, Ajantala stretched his hand out from the hole of this tree again and as he was still pulling up the hairs of this old man’s head as before, I saw his shadow in this water. Immediately I saw the shadow of his hand in the water, I hastily looked at the tree and I saw plainly that it was his hand. Without hesitation, I gripped it and I began to pull it but he could not come out. He was only shouting for pain. As I pulled his hand but he could not come out from this hole, then this old man ran to the other side of the tree and he saw the entrance of the hole there. Then I left his hand this side and I went to the other side as well.
When I joined the old man, willing or not we pulled him out. After that we beat him until when he confessed to us where he hid the old man’s property which he had stolen from us when he hid inside the basket the other day. And we went there, we collected them, but he had sold all the household utensils and some clothes. After that we continued to roam about while Ajantala still lay helplessly on the ground because we beat him too much and we believed before we left him that he would die after a few minutes. That was how we got some of this old man’s property back from Ajantala.
But we did not aware that after a few days Ajantala became well and then he started to look for us just to take this old man’s property from us at all costs. Of course, we did not believe that if even he became alive again he would be ever attempted to do so again.
The Rolling and Talking Guord
The style which I have never seen in my life, the son is riding the horse but his father is fetching for fodder.
One whose head coconut is broken will not be able to wait and eat it.
Immediately we took the rest of this old man’s property from the place in which Ajantala hid them we continued to travel along as hastily as we could so that we might be able to find a suitable place on which to build another hut and again we feared greatly as we were carrying this old man’s property about. Because we believed that there were still many “forest burglars
” like Ajantala in this forest, and it was not safe still if we did not build a hut and keep the property in it in time. But we could not find out a suitable place till one day when we came to the farm from which I took yams, corn and big guord the other day when this old man was seriously ill.
When we came to this farm, I explained to this old man that it was from that farm I took yams, corn and guord when he was ill. So when we came there we took some yams, we made fire near the halve part of it on which big guords were planted. We put these yams inside the fire to be roasted. But when they were roasted enough and when we were about to start to eat them after their backs had been peeled off. There we saw unexpectedly that one of these big guords which was not so far away from us, began to roll itself on the ground towards the spot that we sat before the fire. And as we were still looking at it with great fear and embarrassment, we heard that it was singing as well, thus—“The guord is driving them away! The guord is driving them away! The guord which has no hands! The guord which has no feet! But the guord is driving them away! And if the guord can overtake them, will kill them! The guord will eat them!”
Immediately we heard this fearful song again from this guord, we began to run away for our lives. But to our surprise, as we were running away furiously it was so this guord was rolling and chasing us along. After a while this old man was feeling tiredness but I was still pushing him with hands as I was running along, so that this fearful guord might not be able to overtake us because “not one whose head a coconut is broken will wait to eat it” he would die of headache at once.
And with great fear we did not know when we ran to a distance of about two miles and this guord did not attempt to go back from us and this old man was so tired that he was going to fall down soon and I too were so tired that I was unable to be pushing him along with hand any longer this time. This rolling and talking guord was indeed “a style which I had never seen in my life”, because as he was chasing us along it was so it was singing this fearful song which was so fearful to us that even if it killed us at once without singing this song it was far better.
Luckily when this old man and I were entirely powerless to be running along, we saw a river. This river was very big, wide and deep as well. Its bank was very steep. So when we saw it at a distance of about four thousand yards, we began to run to it at the same moment and to our surprise this guord was still following us. Immediately we ran to it, we hastily entered one canoe which was tied with a rope to a tree which was on the bank. We hardly cut the rope when we began to paddle it along on this river. But as the tide of this river was very strong so the canoe could not move as fast as we wanted it to move. And after a few seconds it was unable to go forward but the tide was pushing it here and there and again as we were in this fear all the property of this old man fell into the river and the tide carried them to the bank at the same time.
As the canoe was still doing so, this rolling guord was seen rolling down the steep bank and when it nearly to reach the river, it hit a rock and then broke into several pieces. To our surprise was that when this guord broke, it was Ajantala who came out from it. He stood up at the same time and he began to scold at us, he was throwing stones at us and he was laughing at us funningly. But when it revealed to us this time that it was Ajantala, who was inside the guord and who had been singing and driving us to kill all the while, we became so much angry that we started to paddle the canoe back to the bank perhaps we would be able to catch him. But alas, the strong tide did not allow the canoe to go to the bank direct, but it swerved to the direction where the tide was stronger instead.
We wondered greatly when it was Ajantala who came out from this guord when it broke. Because we did not know how he managed to enter into it and again it was a great surprise to us as he had been rolling along together with it as if it was somebody who had been pushing this guord along.
When he was quite sure that the canoe would sink if we force it to come to the bank. He picked up all of this old man’s property which were scattered all over the bank and then he tied them into one bundle. But when this old man saw him as he tied them together and he was preparing to carry this bundle away. He told me that willing or not, we must force the canoe to the bank at once, so that we might take his property (bundle) back from Ajantala. But as we were forcing the canoe to go to the bank carelessly, we did not aware when it ran to the strong tide and then it sank suddenly. So he swam to where Ajantala was and I too swam to the other bank without my wish. The old man was entirely tired before he could swim to where Ajantala stood on the bank and I was entirely tired as well before I could swim to the other bank of this river where there was a jungle.
But before he got out of the water to the bank, Ajantala had carried his property away. It was like that Ajantala, the “forest burglar”, stole this old man’s property away for the second time. Now, I stood on the other bank, I could not swim back to him and he too could not swim to me. So we were looking at ourselves with great sorrow. At last when we did not know what to do before both of us could be together as before, I waved hands to him for a few minutes and then I bade him good-bye with sorrow and tears which were rolling down from my eyes. When he looked at me till when I disappeared in this jungle, then with great sorrow and tears, he left the bank of this river for that forest. It was like that this old man, who took great care of me as if he was my father, and I departed from one another without our wish.
Back to the Jungle of the Pigmies
The clock which strikes twelve, is coming back to strike one. And after it strikes one, it will strike half again.
Now, I came back to this Jungle of the Pigmies. The jungle which I had left without my wish when the fearful boa constrictor, the “snake of snakes”, wanted to swallow me the other day. This day which I came back to it was “The Day of Immortality” which was Sunday. Immediately I discovered that it was the Jungle of the Pigmies, I was greatly shocked with fear. Because I believed that no doubt, I came back to the usual troubles. Especially when I remembered that there were no gun, cutlass, the cudgel, etc., with me with which to defend myself as before. And I did not know the real part of this jungle in which I put them before the “snake of snakes” had attacked me the other day. Although when I remembered that this day was “The Day of Immortality” I did not fear so much again. Of course there might be some troubles for me later on but there was no fear of death at all.
However, I was travelling along in this jungle confusely. And I wondered greatly that I did not travel so far from the bank of this river when I saw a rough track. Again I did not travel so far on this track when I saw about ten pigmies who were travelling on this track towards me. We saw one another at the same moment. As I had no any weapon with me with which to fight them, so I hastily picked some pebbles from the ground and after that I began to run away for my life. But as they had recognized me at the same time that I was the huntress who had ruined their town. So they began to chase me to catch. A few minutes after they scattered in the jungle so that they might be able to catch me.
When I believed that if I continued to run along like that they would catch me at all costs, so I climbed a tree to the top and I hid there. After a few minutes they travelled to this tree. They surrounded it without hesitation and then they were expecting that I would come to them soon without knowing that they were there already. Of course, they did not see me on top of this tree until after a few minutes when one of them raised his head up and he saw me on top of this tree. But when he was about to tell the rest that I was on top of the tree, I hastily threw one of the pebbles at him and it hit him on the left eye so hardly that he fell down suddenly. When the rest saw him did so they scattered away with fear, because they did not know what happened to him.
A few minutes later, they came back, but that one whom I stoned had already died. When they saw that one of them was stoned to death they became so wild at this time that they started to look at the top of every tree and inside of every hole which was in this spot. After a few second
s they saw me as I cast down on top of this tree. They hardly saw me there when one of them was greedily climbing the tree from the bottom, he was coming up to catch me. Again when he nearly to reach where I was, I threw another pebble at him and it hit his forehead. He fell down and he began to shout greatly for pain. It was so I was killing them one by one until they remained two. Having seen this again, the rest two began to stone at me continuously. But when I believed that they would stone me to death soon if I did not find my way to escape. I jumped down suddenly and before they attempted to catch me I started to run away.
Within a few minutes they caught me. After they beat me mercilessly for some minutes, they said that they would not kill me at the same time but they would take me to their new town when they would do that before the rest of their people. Then they cut slender sticks. Each of them held more than two of these sticks. After that they arranged themselves into a single line and they put me in the middle. Then after they put a very heavy stone on my head and they tied both my arms backward, we started to travel along on this track. Whenever I fell down the whole of them would beat me mercilessly with that sticks for some minutes before we would continue our journey.
After we travelled for some hours I began to feel hunger badly but they did not give me anything to eat. Of course they were eating the ripen fruits which they were picking along this track and they were drinking water whenever we travelled to a river but they would not allow me to drink from this water at all. As we were travelling along it was so they were adding more to the load which was on my head so that it might be heavier than what I could carry. After a while, when I could no longer afford this non-beating and as the load was too heavy for me to be carrying it along any longer, I began to groan. By this time I fed up to be alive any more. At last when this sorrow was too much for me I begged them to kill me at once but they refused. They told me that they would take me to their new town and the rest of their people would see me before they would kill me.