Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria

by Elphinstone Dayrell

Told by Abassi of Inkum.—[E.D., 9.6.10.]

XI.—How a Father Tried to Kill One of his Sons but Failed.

Osewo of Inkum was a rich chief and had many slaves. He also had five wives, four of whom had two children each, but the fifth wife whose name was Agbor had no children. As a child did not come quickly to Agbor the chief used to beat her and use her very badly as he thought she might never have a child and then he would have paid all the dowry and marriage expenses for nothing. Agbor bore all the ill-treatment she received without complaining, and although her husband gave her no money (rods) or food, she remained faithful to him. A year later, however, she gave birth to a male child whom she called Agberamfe. This did not alter the chief’s feeling in any way towards her, and he took a violent dislike to the little boy. Up to the time the infant was one year old he never gave the mother or child a present, and when, as he grew up, the father saw his little son playing about the house he never called him to come to him or dashed him anything as he did to his other children. Up to the time when the baby boy could walk about Chief Osewo never told Agbor to come and sleep with him but she never complained to anyone. This caused the Chief to dislike her more than he had done before, and he told some of his other wives that he believed that Agbor was going about with other men. His servants, however, told him that Agbor was quite faithful to him, but he would not be convinced. After another year had passed, Osewo, having drunk a lot of tombo one evening, sent for Agbor to sleep with him, and in due course she conceived and gave birth to a little girl baby whose name was ’Nse. Even this did not change the chief’s dislike to his son Agberamfe, and by degrees he got to hate the boy, until at last, when the planting season came round, he made up his mind to kill him, but he did not want to do this in such a way that any one could blame him.

Osewo then called all his sons together and gave each of them a sharp matchet, but to Agberamfe he gave a piece of iron. He then told the boys that he would take them into the bush the next day, to the place where he intended to make a farm, and that they should clear some ground for him. The boys then went back to their different houses and told their mothers what the chief had said. When Agberamfe saw his mother he told her that his father had given each of his brothers a matchet but that he had received only a piece of iron to work with although he was the youngest of them all. Agbor at once thought that her husband must have some evil design upon her son; so that night she went to the place where her husband was going to make his farm and saw the Queen of the White Ants. She told the Queen the whole of her sad story, and said that she feared that her husband would try to injure her son. Then the Queen of the White Ants asked her what she could do to help her. So Agbor asked the Queen to send all her people to the place where her son was going to work, and tell them to bite through the roots of the grass and bush so that her son could make a big clearing with his piece of iron without any trouble. This the Queen promised to do, and Agbor thanked her.

Agbor then went to the rabbit[2] who was a great friend of hers, and having told him her story, asked him to dig a hole underneath the bed of her husband so that he could hide there and hear what the chief said at night to his other wives in case he should be planning evil against her son, and Agbor also asked him to tell her every morning what he had heard. The rabbit then went off and dug a hole under the chief’s bed so that he could hear all that passed in the room above him, and when it was dark he went into the hole to listen. In the evening when the chief’s favourite wife came to join him, the rabbit heard him tell her that the next day he was going to take all his sons into the bush to clear his farm, and that the one who was last in doing his share of work would be killed, and that all the boys would be placed in a line and he would tell them to clear the bush to where he would be standing and that as he had given Agberamfe a piece of iron instead of a matchet, he was certain to be last and would be killed. When the rabbit heard this he went off and told Agbor, who was very glad that she had arranged matters with the Queen of the White Ants. When morning came Chief Osewo went into the bush calling upon his sons to follow him, but Agbor went with her son. The chief then placed the boys in a row and told them to clear the bush to the place where he would be standing, and told them that the boy who finished last would be killed as a warning to the others what would happen to them if they did not work hard. He then went off 50 paces into the bush and gave the signal to start. Agbor, however, had taken care to place her son in the place where the white ants were, and he started off cutting right and left with his piece of iron and everything fell before him so that he very soon reached his father before the other boys had got so far as half way. This made the chief very angry. So he called out that he had changed his mind, and told his sons to stop working and go home without finishing the work. Then for some time he did not try to injure Agberamfe. But when the rainy season came he made another plan to kill him, which he told his wife at night, fortunately in the hearing of the rabbit, who told Agbor. The plan worked out as follows:—

Chief Osewo sent all his slaves to the other side of the river to cut the leaves of the tombo palm to make roof mats with; they were also to take some rats with them and catch a crocodile. When they returned they were to place eight bundles of the leaves in a row along the road, and they were then to put the crocodile on the ground and cover him up with leaves for the ninth bundle. The slaves did as as they were ordered, and after three days returned and reported to the chief that everything had been done as he had directed. Then the chief called his nine sons together and told them to go down to the beach one after the other and bring up a bundle of the leaves, and they were then to start making mats to repair the houses, but he told Agberamfe to go last because he was the youngest. Agbor, who was waiting outside, then gave her son some strong tie-tie which had been made into a running noose. She also gave him a sharp spear and told him that he was to spear the bundle before he went near it as there was a crocodile hidden beneath the leaves. She also told him that if the crocodile showed his head he was to cast the noose round him and tie him up securely. Agberamfe then went down to the beach and threw the spear as hard as he could at the bundle. He was fortunate in pinning the crocodile to the ground and very soon it showed its head through the leaves, whereupon the boy threw the noose round its jaws and made it fast to a tree. He then withdrew the spear and stabbed the crocodile until it was dead. Agberamfe then placed his bundle of leaves under the crocodile, and having got it on to his head carried it up to the house and placed it in front of his father. The chief was more angry than ever at this, and determined to make another plan that would not fail. So when the dry season came round he told his favourite wife at night time that he had arranged with a blacksmith to kill the boy. That the next day he would send Agbor’s son to blow the bellows, and that when the iron was red hot the blacksmith would plunge it into the boy’s inside, and that he would die in great pain. The rabbit, who was listening all the time, told Agbor of the plan he had heard, and she warned her son not to blow the bellows, but to watch the blacksmith carefully In the morning Chief Osewo told his son to go to the blacksmith and blow the bellows for him as he was making something for him. Agberamfe went as he was told but he stood outside the shelter and watched the blacksmith very carefully until he saw him pull the red hot iron out of the fire and make a dart for him. He was quite prepared, fortunately, and ran off home at once and told his father what had happened. His father pretended to pity the boy, and told him that he would send him the next day to his friend the leopard to look after him, and that he should stay there for ten nights. In the evening Chief Osewo sent for the leopard and told him that he was going to send his son Agberamfe to him for ten days, and that during that time he must contrive to kill him by stealth and send the boy’s skin to him so that he might be quite sure that his son was dead at last. This time Agbor had no plan, but she told Agberamfe to be very careful all the time he remained in the leopard’s house. The boy started off the next day, and when he arrived at the house he was much surprised to find that the leopard was as rich as his father. After they had finished their evening meal the leopard told Agberamfe to sleep with his sons, but the boy suspecting that the leopard had designs upon his life, waited until the leopard’s sons had gone to sleep and then having placed a log in his bed went outside to sleep. The leopard came in the middle of the night, when it was so dark that he could not see very distinctly, and killed the boy he thought was Agberamfe, but he was mistaken and killed one of his own sons instead. The leopard was very angry when he found what he had done, so that the next evening he shut the boy up in the goat house. But Agberamfe very soon undid the fastening and got out, closing the door behind him. He then went to sleep in the same place where he had slept the previous night. About midnight the leopard brought fire and burnt the house down, thinking that he had made certain of the boy this time. But when the morning came Agberamfe greeted the leopard as usual, much to his surprise. The leopard then went to the house he had burnt, and found that he had destroyed all his own goats, leaving the boy still uninjured. This annoyed the leopard so much that he determined to take the boy back to his father and not to try and kill him any more as each time he tried he did something to damage himself. The leopard then returned the boy to his father, and said he could not kill him as he was too cunning.

By this time, Agberamfe had grown into a fine good-looking young man. Some little time after the leopard had tried so unsuccessfully to kill the boy, the Chief thought he would make a trial to see which of his sons liked him best. So the next day he told his wives not to wake him as he was not feeling well. He woke up in the middle of the day and refused to eat until the evening. He then told his wives to sleep in their own houses as he was ill. In the morning he pretended to be very weak. He shut his eyes and held his breath from time to time. The boys, thinking their father was about to die, began to dispute amongst themselves as to what share of their father’s property each should take. But Agbor’s son sat beside his father’s bed the whole day. When the night came the Chief saw that Agberamfe was looking sad, and told him to go home to his mother, but the boy would not go, and told his father that he was too fond of him to leave him and let him die alone. So he stayed all that night with his father while his brothers were laughing and playing outside, and the Chief clearly saw that they did not care in the least that he was ill.

The following morning, the Chief got up from his bed, and having called all his people round him, explained the trial he had made, to see which of his sons loved him the most. Osewo also told him of the behaviour of his sons when they thought that their father was dying, and that Agberamfe had stayed by his side and looked after him all the time, although he had so often tried to kill him. The people then advised the Chief to divide his property into two shares, so that when he died, one share should belong to Agbor’s son, who would be able to look after his sister; and the other share would be divided amongst the other eight boys. This the Chief did.

Moral.—It is not the one who makes the fire to boil the koko yams[3] who is most likely to eat them. And it is not always the ones you love most who will care most for you.

Told by Abassi of Inkum.—[E.D., 10.6.10.]