Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria

by Elphinstone Dayrell

XXI.—Why the Head of the Male Goat Smells so Strong.

There was once a male goat who cut a large cotton-tree down and then burnt it. When it was quite dead, mushrooms began to grow on the trunk. Now these mushrooms are very good in palm-oil chop, and the goat thought he would like to eat them. Unfortunately, just before he gathered them, the elephant went to the tree and rooted them all up. When the goat saw what the elephant had done, he was vexed, so he went and told the elephant that he had cut down the tree and burnt it in order to grow the mushrooms for his food, and as the elephant had spoilt them all, he demanded fish or meat to make soup, as compensation. The elephant said he did not care much for either fish or meat, and had none to give, so he gave the goat some beans instead. The goat was satisfied at receiving this present from the elephant, and took the beans home to his house and left them in a calabash on the floor. During the night, while the goat was asleep, a rat came into the house and eat all the beans up.

When the morning came, the goat, missing his beans, guessed that the rat had eaten them, and told him that he must pay for the beans he had stolen. The rat said he was willing to do so, and gave the goat one of his small children. The goat took the young rat home and put it on the ground just outside the house. He then sat down to watch, and very soon a hen came along who, being very hungry, swallowed the young rat. The goat at once told her that she must pay, so the hen gave him one of her chickens. The goat allowed the little chicken to run about, and went out himself to get some food. While he was gone, the hawk, who was hovering round, soon caught sight of the chicken, and swooped down and carried it off and eat it. A sheep, who had been watching, told the goat, when he returned, what had happened to the chicken, so the next morning the goat went to the hawk and demanded payment. But the hawk, having nothing to pay with, gave the goat one of his feathers out of his wing to settle the matter, and said that those particular feathers were much liked by the young men, who were fond of dancing, and also by the fighting-men, as they put them in their hair for decoration and then danced round the town. The goat was not very satisfied with this, but as he did not see any way to get anything else out of the hawk, he had to pretend that he was contented, and took the feather home.

Next day, hearing there was a big play being held at Inde, and that all the young men who had returned from fighting, were gathered there, he went over, taking his feather with him. When he got to the town he put the hawk’s feather on the ground in a place where everyone could see it, and then went for a walk round the town, eating a few freshly fallen leaves from the ju-ju tree as he went.

After a time he returned to where the people were dancing, and found, as he had expected, that his feather had been taken. It did not take him long to discover his hawk’s feather, which was in the hair of one of the fighting-men. The goat went up to the man and told him that the feather was his, and asked for payment, so the man took the goat to his house and gave him one yam in satisfaction of his claim.

The next day the goat went one day’s march inland from the river, where yams were unknown, and found that all the people were planting koko yams, which are very inferior in every way. The goat then asked the people why they grew koko yams, which were poor things to eat, and showed them the big yam he had received from the fighting man from Inde. The goat told the people that in the country he came from they always planted the proper yams, and the koko yams were only used in the hungry season when food was scarce. The goat then put his yam on the ground and pretended to go away as if he had forgotten all about the yam, but he did not go far, and watched to see what might happen.

Very soon the owner of the farm, thinking he would like to grow some of these big Inde yams, took the yam up and, having cut it, planted it in the ground. When he had finished, the goat went up to him and said, “Where is my yam?” The farmer said he thought the goat had forgotten all about the yam, so he had planted it, but he was willing to pay, so he told one of his wives to bring a ball of camwood, which he gave to the goat.

The next day the goat went on into a country where the people did not use camwood as a part of the marriage ceremony, and went from house to house looking for a girl who had just been circumcised and was about to be married. At last he found one, so he went into the house and asked the woman if she were going to be married, and she said, “Yes.” So the goat said, “How is it you are not rubbed with camwood?” and showed her his ball, saying, “In my country no woman can be properly married unless she is rubbed all over with camwood.” The girl replied, “In our country we have no such custom.” So the goat left the ball of camwood in the house and went out for a little while. On his return he found that the parents of the girl had taken his camwood and rubbed their daughter all over with it. As usual, the goat demanded payment, and the mother of the girl gave him a sleeping-mat.

In the morning the goat went on to the next town, taking the sleeping-mat with him. He went to the chief’s house, and, having had some food, placed his mat on the ground and went to sleep on it.

The next day one of the chief’s slaves died, and when the people were going to bury the body, the goat, observing that they wrapped it up in plaintain leaves, at once said, “In my country, when anyone dies, they are wrapped up in sleeping-mats.” He then went out for a walk. When he returned he found that, as he expected, his sleeping-mat had been taken; so he went to the chief and asked for payment. But the chief replied, “You said that it was the proper custom to bury dead bodies in sleeping-mats, so we took yours to bury the dead slave in. If you have any complaint to make or wish to be paid, you had better settle with the dead body.”

So the goat went to the corpse and asked it to give back his mat or else to pay him for it, but he received no reply.

The next day the goat went again, but again got no answer. On the third day, when the dead body did not reply, the goat became so angry that he charged the dead body as hard as he could, and butted it with his horns again and again. By this time the corpse had become quite putrid, and as the goat’s horns tore the body his head was covered with bad-smelling blood. When he had revenged himself sufficiently he returned to the town, and the people told him that he smelt very badly of dead bodies. The goat replied that in every town he had visited he had always been paid for anything belonging to him which had been taken, but that in this town the chief had referred him to the dead body of the slave, and as the corpse refused to pay he had butted it with his horns, and the smell seemed to stick to him. Ever since that time the man-goat’s head has had a strong smell.

Told by an Okuni woman.—[28.6.10.]