Everyone praised Inkang Ezen very much for the way she had delivered them, and asked her to show them her house, so that they would know where to find her in the future. She was very glad to do this, and took all the people to her husband’s house.
When they arrived, a report was sent round the whole country that the big wooden drum, the destroyer of men, was dead.
Then the men went to the home of the big drum with axes, and cut the drum into pieces and carried them to Inkang Ezen’s house.
After the body of the drum had been eaten up, the bones were preserved. They bored holes in the leg bones, and took the marrow out. The bones were then used to beat the drums with at dances and in times of danger.
The people who had escaped from the drum’s inside each took one of his bones and departed to their different towns, where they all made big wooden drums like the one which had swallowed them.
Told by Ewonkom, an Ikom woman.—[E.D., 23.6.10.]
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.