Ajaiyi and His Inherited Poverty (11 page)

As soon as this giant-like gate keeper of the god of Iron led us to the palace of the god of Iron, his master, he took us to the deputy of the god of Iron. He hardly handed us to him when he returned to the gate. Then as we stood before the deputy, he asked from us whether we came there to surrender ourselves to be sacrificed to the god of Iron. But the three of us hardly shook heads and said “no” but we came there just to ask the god of Iron to give us money, when he jumped up from his seat with great anger. He took one of the heavy clubs of iron which were scattered all over the floor. Then without mercy, he
beat us for one hour. When he saw that we fell down and fainted, then he told some of his attendants to drag us to one fence. This fence was made of the strong irons by the god of Iron. And there we met more than two thousand captives and also uncountable of animals as dogs, goats, etc. All of them were kept in this fence to be killed for the celebration of the god of Iron's yearly festival and the three of us were now among those who would be killed.

This deputy of the god of Iron was so cantankerous that he had never sent anybody to the fence of iron without beating him nearly to death. But as the fence was near the smithery shop of the god of Iron, we saw him in his workshop as he was very busy. I noticed carefully that he was about ten feet tall and very corpulent. Every part of his body was full of long hairs, his trousers, huge cap, etc. were rough leather of deer. Uncountable of skulls of both animals and human beings were surrounded his smithery shop, the fence of iron in which we were kept ready to be killed, and were also seeing everywhere in the town. The skulls were so common in the god of Iron's town that almost all the roofs of the houses were thatched with the skulls of dogs, birds, all kinds of the animals and of human beings as well. As we were still in this fence of iron, he began to forge one big iron. The iron was so big that twenty strong men could not even lift it up to one inch but the god of Iron simply held it with left hand as if it was a small feather. Then he put it on his large anvil which was about eleven feet square and fourteen feet high.

To my fear, within thirty minutes that he had started to strike this heavy iron as soon as he took it out from the fire, he beat it into the shape of a very big fearful image. There were more than sixty mighty irons in his big
hearth and the mighty bellows which was blowing by nine men, was bringing out the powerful flame which was rising above the workshop. This god of Iron was very busy this time in carving the big irons into the shapes of almost all the kinds of the living creatures and that as he was taking out one hot-red iron from the hearth with his long tongs it was so he was taking out another one from the same hearth with bare hand. As he was dashing to one corner of the workshop it was so he was dashing to another, he was examining the images which he had already carved whether they were accurate enough.

There was a big bowl of iron in one corner of his
workshop
which contained more than forty-four gallons of blood and he was drinking from this blood whenever he was thirsty. Having seen his fearful actions in the
workshop
, then Ojo, Alabi and myself blamed ourselves for not returning from the gate to our village as the
gate-keeper
had told us to do. We thought that he was just deceiving us as he told us the truth that if we forced
ourselves
to see the god of Iron there was no doubt, we must be punished to death especially this time that the god of Iron's yearly festival was near. But of course the three of us believed this day as we were locked up in the fence of iron that “Truths are failed to sell in the market but lies are purchased with high price without pricing it.” So as we had doubted the truth of this gate-keeper we found ourselves in the fence of iron at last and we were waiting for our death.

“But of course, the god of Iron had been well known throughout the Yoruba land, in the Western Nigeria. One he who knows the god of Iron will never say: ‘Who is he!' otherwise the god of Iron will do a wonderful thing
to him which means he will kill him right out. Old people had strong belief that the god of Iron is the protector of the blacksmiths, the supporter of the soldiers, hunters and the ironmongers.”

It was like that the god of Iron was busy in carving the images almost of all kinds of the living creatures until it remained one day for his yearly festival to start. Then his bearers carried the whole of these images of iron to his palace as soon as he had closed up. Before he left the workshop to his palace, he bathed with blood instead of water. After that his deputy and many others came, they began to flatter him as he was dressing up in palm-fronds which were entirely soaked with the blood. Having dressed up then the whole of them went to his palace in form of a procession.

In the following morning, before the celebration of his yearly festival started, he ordered all his bearers to go and bring the whole of us from the fence. Having brought us to him and as soon as we stood in front of his palace, he gave one long heavy matchet to each of the bearers who were about two thousand in number. Then he told them to behead the whole of us and pour our blood into the bowls of iron which were put in front of him. Without hesitation his bearers started to behead us
without
mercy and they were pouring the blood that which was gushing our from the necks of the people that they first beheaded into the bowls. But as the god of Iron sat on his throne it was so he was drinking this blood together with his deputy and the others whose ranks were below that of the deputy. They were singing loudly, dancing, many of them were kicking themselves, many were staggering here and there in the circle, some were jumping high up
and falling down headlong and thousands of them were striking the irons very loudly instead to beat the drums. All these were included the enjoyments of the god of Iron's yearly festival.

It was like that the celebrations of the god of Iron's yearly festival started this morning. But as the bearers of the god of Iron were still beheading the captives and as they raised their matchets up to behead us. God was so good, it came to our minds this moment to run in to the circle, to mix up with the dancers and join them to dance perhaps if we did so we might be safe from killing. So, Ojo, Alabi and myself jumped into the circle. Without hesitation we mixed up with the dancers and then we began to dance with them. But unfortunately, the way the three of us were dancing was not conformed with the way and the style they were dancing there, our own dance was quite contrarily to their own.

As soon as they discovered this, the whole of the dancers, etc. stopped and every part of that place became as quiet as a grave-yard suddenly.

As soon as everything became quiet and the dancers, etc. became motionless suddenly but only the three of us were dancing round the circle. Then the god of Iron and his deputy looked up suddenly just to know what had happened to his people but both of them saw us this time as we were still dancing contrarily to the way that his people danced. So without hesitation and with great anger, the god of Iron told three of his bearers who stood at his back to go and bring the three of us nearer to him. Luckily, as the three bearers were taking us along to him, it came to Ojo's mind how his mother was
flattering
the god of Iron whenever she was worshipping him
when she was alive. Ojo's mother was a god of Iron worshipper before she died.

Without hesitation, Ojo began to flatter him in his original family name. When the bearers escorted us to him and as he listened to Ojo and heard his original family name from him. He did not know when he stood up from his throne, he jumped into the circle, he began to dance with happiness. Then his deputy, etc. dancers, singers, etc. etc., joined him at the same time. The whole of us danced with him for more than two hours before he went back to his throne. When he rested for a while, he asked the three of us with a cheerful voice to come nearer to him and we did so with fear. He asked from Ojo: “How did you know the original name of my family, my good boy?” Ojo explained to him that his mother, before she died, was one of his worshippers in the village, so he heard his original name of his family from her
whenever
she was sacrificing to him.

When Ojo explained to him like that he shook head with happiness. At the same time, he told him to flatter him again. Then as Ojo began to flatter him again, he and his deputy stood up and began to dance again. Having danced for a few minutes, he went back to his throne. Then he told us that we would not be killed as the rest captives. When he told us like that we were very happy, but of course the three of us were not captives, we were finding money about before we came to his town. So we told him that we were in great poverty and that we wanted him to give us sufficient money which could set us free from our poverty. But he replied at the same time that he was not the possessor of the money but the Devil. He told us that when we returned to our
village we should go to him and ask him to give us the money. He said further that he was quite sure the Devil would give us as much money as we required. . Having told us like that, he asked us to stay with him to be flattering him until the end of the celebrations of his yearly festival. So as we must not go against his wish, we reluctantly agreed to stay with him.

It was like that the three of us remained with the god of Iron till the end of the celebrations of his yearly festival but we were not happy at all since when he had told us that he was not in possession of money. In the following morning that his yearly festival was ended, we told him that we were leaving for our village that morning. Then he gave each of us one matchet and one heavy lump of raw iron which weighed more than one ton. Then he told one of his bearers to lead us to the gate so that the gate-keeper might not kill us as the thieves of iron. So before we left we reluctantly thanked him and we reluctantly bade him goodbye as well. But when we were about to leave we asked him to tell us what we were going to do with the heavy lumps of the raw iron. He told us that when we carried them to our village, each of us should put his own in one corner of his house and then he should be worshipping it. He explained to us further that one who worshipped this heavy lump of iron meant that he worshipped him.

Then Ojo held the matchet as he put his own lump of iron on head, Alabi did so and I did the same as well. After that we left his town this morning with sorrow as well as we had left the town of the Creator with the empty hands. When the bearer led us to the gate and he introduced us to the gate-keeper, he allowed us to pass
peacefully. But we hardly left the gate to the distance of about one mile when we threw the heavy lumps of iron into the bush when we could not carry them further. Each was too heavy for even four men to carry. So we could travel as quickly as we wanted to. It was like that we left the town of the god of Iron without getting money.

Now, we could travel as quickly as we wanted to
immediately
everyone of us had thrown away into the bush the heavy lump of the raw iron which the god of Iron gave to each of us which he told us to be worshipping when we returned to our village. But to our fear and surprise, after three days that we had thrown these heavy lumps of the iron away. As we were still travelling along in this jungle, when it was about one o’clock p.m. we heard the great fearful noises at back suddenly. These noises were just as if thousands of people were shouting together loudly as if a terrible thing happened to them
unexpectedly
. Again, as we were hearing these terrible noises it was so we were hearing the heavy sounds of the rolling heavy things. The sounds were so heavy that all the ground was shaking as if it was going to sink down together with us.

As soon as we began to hear all these fearful things, we stopped, we looked at back but we saw nothing except the noises and the heavy sounds which were coming nearer
and nearer to us as we were hearing them. As these
invisible
things were coming nearer and nearer to us it was so they were becoming more terrible. When the three of us craned at the direction from which these terrible things were coming to us for several times but we did not see anything. Then without hesitation and great fear, we began to run along as fast as our feet could lift us. But to our surprise, as we were running away for our lives, it was so the terrible noises and the heavy sounds were following us along as if they were chasing us to catch.

From these noises and the heavy sounds, we began to hear again clearly and continuously these fearful
warnings
:

“Wait and carry us along with you!”

“If you wait, you wait for dangers!”

“But if you don’t wait, you don’t wait for the money!”

“It is better for you now to carry us along with you!”

“But if you carry us, you carry troubles and
misfortunes
along to your house!”

“If you don’t carry us, you fail to carry good-luck along to your house!”

“If you don’t wait but we catch you by ourselves, your right arm and left leg will be torn away from your body; and all will be given to the god of Iron!”

“Better you wait now and carry us along with you!”

“But the better you wait and carry us along to your house!”

“It is certain that you carry vanity, poverty, troubles, sickness and uncountable of money along to your house!”

“Better you wait to carry us along with you to your house now! Wait! Wait! Wait!”

It was like that we were hearing these warnings
continuously with the heavy sounds of the invisible rolling thing and the great terrible noises. Not knowing that the three heavy lumps of the raw iron which the god of Iron gave us to be carried to our village were living evil creatures. Although they were not the day he gave them to us but they became alive and began to make great terrible noises as they were following us as soon as we threw them away when they were too heavy for us to carry.

So as these three lumps of the raw iron were living evil creatures, they wanted us to carry them to our village to be worshipping them. But we continued to run faster than before immediately we were hearing them warning us continuously that “the better you wait and carry them along with us the better we carry as well the vanity, poverty, troubles, sickness and uncountable of money along to your house!” Yet as we did not wait to carry them along with us. These three lumps of the iron were then chasing us fiercely along in the jungle to catch us by all means as they were still making fearful noises, heavy sounds and warnings which were so terrible that a strange whirlwind came suddenly. This whirlwind was so strong that as soon as it began to blow, we were confused, we could not control ourselves again but we were staggering about in the jungle. It nearly rooted out the mighty trees, all the birds which were perched on branches of trees flew away with fear and also all the animals ran out with fear from their hiding places and were scattered all over the jungle.

To our fear again, when we ran to the left all of these animals ran to that place as well as these three heavy lumps of the iron chased us to that place. Without
hesitation we ran back to the right perhaps we might be saved. But these uncountable animals did the same thing with us and the three heavy lumps of the iron chased us to that place as well with their horrible noises, etc. As we were still running here and there in this jungle confusedly and with fearfulness it was so we were falling down heavily together with these animals because all the vast hills, the ground and the mighty trees were then shaking as if they were going to sink down.

At last when all our efforts to run to the right or left were failed, and as we saw this time that the heavy lumps of the iron were approaching us nearer. We began to run ahead as fast as we could. But these terrible active lumps of the iron were still chasing us along deeply into the jungle and it was so we were running on and on with great fear till we entered one small country unexpectedly. As soon as we ran to this country unexpectedly, we hid behind a house, we thought that we were safe like “the hawk in the sky which does not realise that the people in the land are seeing it”. It was so for us this day which was “The Day of Trouble” (Friday). So as we hid behind that house and were still breathing quickly and audibly because we were entirely tired. These three heavy lumps of the iron rolled on the ground to this
country
. As they were rolling about with their terrible noises and heavy sounds, they saw us in the corner of the house in which we hid ourselves. As soon as they saw us and were rolling to that corner to catch us. We ran direct to the house which was next to the bush.

And without even knocking at the door we forced the door open and then ran inside. As we ran inside and saw an old woman who was the owner of this house, we
hastily engrafted her with fear. But to our fear, we hardly did so when these heavy lumps of the iron rolled into this house as well. As soon as we saw them, we left the old woman, we began to run from one room to the other as they were chasing us to catch. As they were still chasing us about in this house, this old woman had understood that these terrible lumps of the iron were from the god of Iron and that they were living evil spirits. So she hastily ran in to one of the rooms, she brought out one keg of the palm-oil. And as these lumps of the iron were still chasing us here and there she began to chase them. As soon as she met one of them but she hardly poured some of the palm-oil on it when it stopped on the very spot that she met it.

As soon as that one had stopped she continued to chase the rest two. Very soon she met one of the two and she hardly poured some of the palm-oil on that one when it stopped on the same spot. And without hesitation she continued to chase the last one which was still chasing us about. When she met it she hastily poured the oil on it and it stopped at the same moment on the same spot. It was like that these three heavy lumps of the iron became liveless or motionless as soon as this old woman poured the palm-oil on them.

Having stopped them with the palm-oil, she invited the three of us into her sitting room. She told us to sit down and rest because she noticed that we had entirely tired. Even we were unable to speak out any word this time, we were only breathing in and out.

After we had rested for almost one hour, she called out loudly her only son whose name was Ishola, to bring food and water for us. Within a few minutes Ishola
brought the food and water to us. Ishola was about fifteen years old, he was healthy and smart and very cheerful to the strangers and his many friends. As soon as we
finished
with the food, this old woman, who was Ishola’s mother, told us to follow her and we did so. She took us round the whole of her house first and then to the garden which was more than one acre. She planted almost every kind of the edible fruits there. In her house there were only two entrances, one was in front of the house and this was the main entrance. The other one was at the back of the house and this was through to the garden. The
garden
itself was entirely surrounded by the thick high walls. There were no windows at all in this house.

As soon as she had shown everything to us, she told us to push one of the three terrible heavy lumps of the iron, which had chased us to her house, to under one big tree which was in the centre of the garden. We were afraid to touch it but we pushed it to under that tree when she assured us that all of the three (lumps of the iron) were no more harmful since she had poured the palm-oil on them. As soon as we had pushed that one to the foot of the tree, she told us to push the second one to the
entrance
which was through to the garden and we did so. Then after that she told us again to push the third one to the entrance of the front of the house. Having done so, she told us to follow her back to the sitting room.

Then as she sat down on one high chair she told the three of us to sit on one long sofa which was in front of her. Then she asked gently from us: “From where were you three of you returning?” Ojo hastily explained: “When the three of us were returning from the town of the Creator we branched to the town of the god of Iron.
After we had celebrated his yearly festival with him, we asked him to give us money but he gave us the three terrible lumps of iron instead. He told us to carry them to our village to be worshipping them. He told us as well that as he was not the possessor of money but the Devil
therefore
we should go to him for the money when we
returned
to our village. But having carried the three lumps of the iron to a short distance and were too heavy for us to carry further then we threw them away. But since the day we had thrown them away, they started to chase us about to catch until we had escaped to this your
country
and then to your house for your rescue!”

“Yes, in fact, both the god of Iron and the Creator are not the possessors of the money! You had made great
mistake
to go to them! Only the Devil is the possessor of the money!” this old woman explained to us briefly. But she hardly explained to us like that when she began to tell us her own story which went thus: “To be frank, I am the Chairwoman of all the witches of this country. I am the most wicked witch. In this country, only witches and wizards are living here. I have four other members who are, Ayinke, the secretary of the witches, Odere, the president of the witches, Awele, the vice-president of the witches, and Abeke, the messenger of the witches! So I am powerful and wicked more than all those I have mentioned to you now. They are coming to my house every midnight to hold meeting with me. Although the three of you are finding money about but you have become the captives. You have already brought yourselves in my trap. You are confined into this house as from this moment till when it is my turn to prepare food for my members! You know, I am a basket weaver and also the
field rat killer. My only son, Ishola, takes all of them to the market for sale and I buy all my needs from the money that I realize by selling them (baskets and field rats). I believe, you will remember that I told you to push one of the three terrible lumps of the iron to the foot of a big tree which is in my garden; you have pushed the second one to the entrance which is through to the garden and you have pushed the third to the entrance of the front of the house!

“So if you try to escape through the garden, the terrible lump of iron which is put there will chase and catch you. If you try to escape through the entrance of the front of the house, the lump of the iron which is put there will chase and catch you as well and if you try to do the same thing through the entrance to the garden the one which is put there will catch you as well. Now there is no chance for you to escape from my house. All the three lumps of the iron are keeping watch of you! You know, they are not ordinary lumps of the iron but they are living evil creatures! So before I will sacrifice each of you to my witch members, you will be helping me to clear my garden, to make the baskets to kill the field rats and to do the house works! I had even killed the only daughter that I had had in my life for my witch members a few months ago. And it will be one year’s time before it will be my turn again to kill somebody to my members. But Ishola, my only son, has not known yet that I am a witch. My three friends, (she called us friends) that is how things will go. And I hope you do agree!”

As soon as this old woman, the chairwoman of the witches whose name was Adeola, had told us her story and said plainly that she would kill us one by one for her
witch members, she stretched right hand up near her head, she took her old hand woven fan from the rack. This fan was woven from the palmyra palm. Then she began to fan herself continuously as she was expecting what we were going to tell her about all she had told us.

Having heard from her that she was going to kill us for her witch members and she told us again that once we had entered her house we could not escape otherwise the three heavy lumps of the iron would chase and catch us for her. The three of us first took a full heavy breath suddenly. I looked at Ojo’s eyes and Ojo looked at Alabi’s eyes but Alabi looked at the ground. The three of us were so perplexed this time that we did not know what to do. But after a few minutes I became normal before Ojo and Alabi. Then I asked from this old woman: “Why cannot you stop to kill people?” But she said without hesitation: “Why should I stop it! As you aware that it is ‘difficult to cure the inherited disease’. Therefore I am unable to stop killing people or to leave my witchcraft which I had inherited from my mother since my youth!” Then she snubbed at us as if we were goats.