The Brave African Huntress
Page 13
When I counted the whole of them they were more than four hundred. They told me that abundant of them had returned to their respective towns immediately they came out from the custody, but they remained in the jungle as they could not trace out the right way on which they could travel back to their own town. When they explained to me like that with gladness, then I told them the name of my town and the name of my father and I asked from them whether anyone of them knew my father or mother. I gave them this description so that I might know whether my four brothers were with them or not. But to my surprise I hardly described myself like that when my four brothers ran to me and they embraced me and I did so as well.
I explained to them further that I had fought with the whole powerful creatures and I had killed the whole pigmies of this jungle. I told them as well that I had been to the “Bachelors’ Town”, in which I became a queen. After these explanations, I told the whole of them to follow me back to my hole. So everyone of them took his blongings and they followed me at once.
We built a number of temporary booths at the front of my hole. They were living inside them while I was living inside this hole as their leader. But when I believed that it would be easier for us to travel by river than by land because everyone of them was too weak to trek a long distance. So the following day, after we took breakfast, we began to cut down mighty trees which we were going to carve into canoes. Although it took us several weeks before we made sufficient canoes because we had no other instruments except my cutlass. After we constructed sufficient canoes and pushed them to the bank of the river, then I began to kill animals like deers, antelopes, bush-goats, etc. We were eating their flesh while I was putting their skins in the sun to dry. Within two weeks I killed more than one thousand animals. When we were unable to finish their flesh as before, then we roasted them with fire while their skins were hung in the sun to be dried. Of course these people and my four brothers never knew yet what I was going to do with these skins.
When I believed that I had got sufficient skins and roasted meat, then with the help of these men I dug plenty of gold dust, silver, copper, brass, antimony, etc., etc., etc., because all these precious metals were very common in this jungle. After that we put them in one of the canoes. But when we were ready to leave this jungle in the following morning. The whole of us were going about in this jungle, we were fetching for the edible fruits which we would be eating together with the roasted meat along the way to my town. After a while we came to a curious fruit-tree. It was so curious that we did not know the name of it. Each of its fruits was as small as a chocolate and a part of it was as creamy and cold as ice. Having tasted it, it was as sweet as a chocolate and that part of it was just as ice-cream. So for this reason we plucked uncountable of them and we put them in one of the canoes as well.
We woke up very early in the morning, I gave each of the skins to each of these men to wear it, because everyone of them was already naked and it would be a great shame to them if they appear to the town in this shameful condition. After each of them wore the skin and we ate to our satisfaction, then we went to the river. After I nailed the “reflecting eyes” on the front of the canoe on which I was going to sit. For we were going to use this “reflecting eyes” as our lamp.
This “reflecting eyes” as I called it, was the head of the fearful animal which had sixteen long and sharp horns and which I had fought with and killed long ago. After it was dead its eyes which were in its skull did not die but both were still reflecting very powerfully like a powerful light. Having nailed this wonderful skull or “reflecting eyes” on the front of the canoe then we pushed the whole of the canoes on the river. My own canoe was at the front while the rest were at back, and a number of men who would be paddling it sat in it with me.
As this day was “The Day of Victory” which was Tuesday and as we wanted to be in my town before coming Tuesday. So each of these men took one of these curious fruits and put it in his mouth. As they were eating them at a time they formed a kind of a song. They first shouted greatly with great joy just to show that they were leaving this jungle safely. And as they were singing this song they began to paddle the canoes along homeward as hastily as they could, because “hastily, hastily, hastily the sun is going back to its place of yesterday” their ambition was to reach the town within a few minutes. The song which they were singing along went thus—
“Bulla—bul—laha: Shaka—bul—laha
With all chocolates: bullaha—bul—laha
Ice-cream: You scream: row o: row o o: row o o o
Bulla—bul—laha: Shaka—bul—lah
killed all the pigmies!
Monday—Tuesday—with all Ice-cream:
for Ice-cream: row o: row o o: row o o o . . .”
As these cheerful men were paddling the canoes along the river it was so they were singing this song repeatedly and they were shouting with great joy whenever they remembered that they had already freed from the pigmies. Whenever we met another canoes on this river they would throw a lot of these fruits to the people who were inside them with joy. And this “reflecting eyes” were helping us too much whenever it was dark because it was so reflecting on the water that we did not miss our way till we reached my town after the sixth day that we were on the river.
Before we reached my town news had reached there that I had killed all the pigmies and that I was bringing a lot of hunters who had been detained by the pigmies, back to the town. And we hardly landed our canoes when the people ran to the canoes and embraced us with great joy.
Everyone was taken home by his family and my own family took my four brothers and I to the house as well. The following morning, a great merriment was performed throughout the town for our arrival.
After a few days I sold all the precious metals and I became a rich lady at once.
And that was the end of ADEBISI’s adventure of the Jungle of the Pigmies. Adebisi was one of the brave huntswomen of those days gone by. Those women of those days had endured great dangers as well as the men of those days had endured great dangers.
About the Author
Amos Tutuola was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria, in 1920. The son of a cocoa farmer, he attended several schools before training as a blacksmith. He later worked as a civil servant. His first novel, The Palm-Wine Drinkard, was published in 1952 and brought him international recognition. From 1956 until retirement, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Company while continuing to write. His last book, The Village Witch Doctor and Other Stories, was published in 1990. He died in Ibadan in 1997.
By the Same Author
THE PALM-WINE DRINKARD
MY LIFE IN THE BUSH OF GHOSTS
SIMBI AND THE SATYR OF THE DARK JUNGLE
FEATHER WOMAN OF THE JUNGLE
AJAIYI AND HIS INHERITED POVERTY
THE WITCH-HERBALIST OF THE REMOTE TOWN
PAUPER, BRAWLER AND SLANDERER
THE VILLAGE WITCH DOCTOR AND OTHER STORIES
Copyright
This ebook edition first published in 2014
by Faber and Faber Ltd
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All rights reserved
© The Estate of Amos Tutuola, 1958
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The right of Amos Tutuola to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
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ISBN 978–0–571–31138–5
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Amos Tutuola, The Brave African Huntress