Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria

by Elphinstone Dayrell

At last he told Chief ’Njum not to do anything for two months, as, by that time, the witches would think they were quite safe.

He was then to prepare a big feast and make plenty of strong tombo, half of which was to be made from the tombo drawn from the top of the tree and the other half from a tree which had been cut down. He was then to mix the two lots of tombo together. Cows would then be killed and goats, and all the people of the country, including the witches, would be invited to attend the feast which would be given in honour of the chief’s dead wife.

A certain house would be set aside for the witches to sleep in, and they were to be given plenty of tombo to drink, so that they would sleep well. When they were fast asleep, they would be covered up with dry palm leaves and then burnt to death.

Chief ’Njum agreed that this was a good plan, and commenced making preparations for the feast. When they were completed, a man was sent to the eight witches with a message from Chief ’Njum, that he would like the people who had been turned out of the town to take part in the big feast he was giving in honour of his dead wife.

When the man had gone, the cripple tried to persuade the other witches not to go to the feast, as he said that the people of the town would be certain to revenge themselves upon them for the death of Nara, but the witches did not agree with him, and said that it was impossible for Chief Njum to know that they had killed his wife, as no one had seen them do it, and they did not think he would ask them to a feast if he wished to harm them. They also said that they had not had a good feed for a long time, so, in spite of the entreaties of the cripple, they decided to go.

When the day of the feast arrived, the seven evil men carried the cripple to the town, and at once began to eat as much as they could, and drank large quantities of the strong tombo. But the cripple eat very little, and did not drink any of the tombo, as he was suspicious of the people.

Very soon, the seven witches were quite drunk, and lay down in the house which had been set apart for them, and went fast asleep. The cripple also lay down and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep, but in reality he was wide-awake and very watchful.

When Ogbaja saw that all the witches had gone to sleep, he covered them all over, very softly, with dry palm leaves, and, having set fire to them, went out and fastened the door.

The seven men were burnt to death, as they were too drunk to escape, but the cripple managed to crawl into a large water-pot which was kept in the room for drinking-water, and the fire did not hurt him, as he only kept his mouth just out of the water.

When the house was burnt down, Ogbaja went inside to see that all the witches were dead, and counted the bodies, but could only find seven. He thought he must have made a mistake, so he counted them again out loud, one, two, three, up to seven, and the cripple called from his pot after him the numbers up to seven. Ogbaja could not understand this, so he counted the bodies again aloud, and again the cripple copied him. Ogbaja then called the people in with hoes, and they dug up the ground, but could not find the eighth body. Ogbaja then counted the bodies again, and the people listened carefully; the cripple answered as before, and they guessed from the direction the voice came from that the last of the witch-men must be in the water-pot, so they looked in and found the cripple. They dragged him out of the pot at once, and said, “As you do not seem to like to be killed with fire, we will kill you with the water-pot you took refuge in.” They then dragged the cripple down to the waterside, where they made a large fire, and put the water-pot into it. The cripple begged them not to put him in the fire, but no one answered him. When the pot was red-hot, it was taken out of the fire and placed over the cripple’s shoulders. He was then pushed into the river. The red-hot pot caused steam and mist to rise from the water, and it is still to be seen when the mornings are cold that mist rises from the river, and people say that this is caused by the red-hot pot which was placed over the shoulders of the wicked cripple when he was thrown into the water and the steam still continues to rise.