Ụmụmmadụ n’azụ ahia. kparanụma nụma n’azụ ahia kparanụma
Anụmanụ n’abia ahia, Kparanụma nụma n’abia
ahia kparanụma
Ụmụagbara
abiala ahia, kparanụma nụma abiala ahia kparanụma
Ụmụmmụọ chọrọ
aja, kparanụma nụma chọrọ
aja kparanụma
Onye
k’ eji achụọ
aja? Kparanụma nụma eji chụọ
aja kparanụma!
People
transact business in the market. /ch.
Animals
do come to the market too. /ch.
Elves
have arrived at the market also. /ch.
Spirits
desire sacrifice. /ch.
Who
will be used for this Sacrifice? /ch.
In those days, it was
believed that spirits or elves used to camouflage themselves and come to the market
to buy and sell. The way to spot them out was to bend down pretending to pick
something just to watch their feet that never touched the ground. People were
careful not to offend anyone as they haggle in the market because you never can
tell.
As the Tortoise and the
Rabbit sang their strange song from underground, people were bewildered. They
could feel their heads swelling with gruesome fear. It was rumoured that
fairies had invaded the market. What is more the song indicated that pixies
require sacrifice and who will be the unlucky victim to be sacrificed? So
people ran away abandoning their wares.
The Tortoise and the Rabbit
emerged from the tunnel and carted away desirable foodstuff to store at home.
They repeated this whenever they needed to replenish their food supply. One day
they invited the male Lizard to join them in this exploit. They sang as usual
with gusto and panache but with greater intensity and volume since they were
three in number. When people fled and the market place was deserted, the trio
set about looting foodstuff. The Lizard made for the fish. He took a big chunk
of it and tried to gulp it down. Fishbone stuck to his throat. He tried in vain to clear his throat but he could
neither swallow it nor spit it out. He waggled and tossed his head up and down
trying to throw up in order to relieve himself. In the process he mistakenly
dipped his head into a pot of red palm oil. To enable him see, he struggled to
wipe his face but did not bother about his neck. That is why the male Lizard
has a red neck till this day.
When the trio returned to
their hideout, the Tortoise and the Rabbit were astonished that the Lizard came
back without any booty. They asked him why. He opened his mouth and attempted
to explain but he could not speak; he could only nod. They perceived the nice
aroma of dried fish as the Lizard opened his mouth and they understood he had
problem with fishbone. They wanted to help him remove it so they examined his
mouth but the fishbone hooked tightly and was lurking deep within his throat.
So they could not get rid of it. The fishbone still makes him uncomfortable
till today. That is why the Lizard often bobs his head up and down.
The Wall Gecko did not like
the calamity that befell his relative. So he decided to tell on the Tortoise
for he overheard him relate his plans to the Lizard prior to the incident. For
this very reason, the Wall Gecko was termed “Ncheke
ọgba-ama – Wall Gecko, the teller.” But he did not reveal Tortoise’s
secret for the sake of reporting him; it was his responsibility to fight the
cause of his younger relative, being mindful of the dictum “No matter how big
the red necked Lizard may be the Wall Gecko drinks the dregs of wine as his
elder.”
The market people,
therefore, accused the Tortoise of scam. He flatly denied the charge of fraud
and declared his preparedness to swear by any juju whatsoever. Strange enough, the accused provided the juju to be sworn by him. The Tortoise secretly pleaded with Asha – the weaver bird to assist him. On
the day appointed for the oath-taking, Tortoise put many weaver birds into a
perforated pot which he hid amid odds and ends: very dirty rags, white chalk,
frighteningly hair-raising fetish and bizarre cult objects. When the birds
began to chant in a strange manner, the assembly was terrified and could not
stand it. It was too eerie. So they dispersed, sneaking away one after the
other believing that what they had before them was an awe-inspiring potent juju. And if Tortoise was ready to swear
by that he must be innocent.
The Tortoise was very happy
and proud of his ingenuity. “This is really an oddity!” he mused. He proudly
carried the pot of birds to his house. The birds expected him to congratulate
and thank them for saving his neck. On the contrary, fearing that they might
someday divulge his secret, he put the pot upon fire in order to roast the
birds alive, thereby paying good with evil. The birds pleaded with him to spare
their lives but he turned a deaf ear. When he wanted to eat them, presuming
that all of them were dead, he removed the lid of the pot and the only
surviving bird escaped and perched on the head of Tortoise’s son. The Tortoise
was enraged. He took his cutlass to kill the bird but the bird hopped aside as
he furiously struck his own son on the head and he died on the spot. Next the
bird alighted on Tortoise’s daughter and again he took aim and angrily tried to
hit the bird. The bird quickly escaped and the blow landed on his daughter
killing her instantly. Next the bird rested on the back of Tortoise himself,
who thinking that he could cleverly fall on his back to crush the bird, climbed
a tree and fell on his back. That was how he met his doom, but the bird smartly
flew away, having avenged the death of his relatives.
CRITICAL THINKING
The market people were
superstitious. For this reason, the Tortoise outwitted them several times.
However, what the Tortoise had was a mere pyrrhic victory. His losses
outweighed his gain in the end. It is not good to do evil and it is worse to
return evil for good.
Even though the birds were
charitable to the Tortoise, they should not have shielded a culprit or tried to
pervert justice. It is very dangerous to be taken into confidence by evil doers
because they might eliminate their confidant in order to preserve their secret
just as the Tortoise did to the birds. As our people say, “Onye ya na ụmụagbara na eri nri na eji ngaji toro ogologo - One who
is eating with spirits should use a very long spoon.” So caution is
called for. Is it not said that the fall of a dead leaf is a warning to the
green ones?
The Lizard was a nervous
animal and he often made mistakes. That was probably why he failed where others
succeeded. First his greediness caused him his power of speech. Second he
dipped his head in red oil and that became a permanent stain. He went home
empty handed, whereas the Rabbit and the Tortoise carted away reasonable amount
of foodstuff. We should never do the wrong thing simply because others are
doing it. Our elders say “Onye na adịghị
ka ibe anaghị eje ibe ejije – One who is not like others does not imitate
others.”
Eboh M.P.,
Fables, Proverbs & Critical Thinking, Pearl Publishers International, Port
Harcourt, 2015, pp. 90-96
No comments:
Post a Comment