Feather Woman of the Jungle

Title Page
The Biography of my Town in Brief
Feather Woman of the Jungle
The Night Entertainments
The Witch of the Jungle
I Was Turned into the Image for Two Years by the Witch of the Jungle
The Treacherous Queen and the King in the Bush of Quietness
I was Caught by the Savage Men
From the Town of Famine to the Town of the Water People
The Goddess of the Diamonds on the Mountain
The Day of Separation from My Wife
The Foot Marks of the First White Men who had travelled from Heaven to the World were seen on the Rock in Ife Town. And we visited the Wells from which the Sun and Moon are rising into the Sky and we met the God of Thunder and his Wife in Ede Town
The Hairy Giant and the Hairy Giantess
On the Way to My Village
About the Author
By the Same Author
Copyright

In eighteenth century, the hunter who first came to Abeokuta (Nigeria), emigrated in a few family and detachments and settled in a place called Abeokuta, just to save themselves from the wild beasts, and many other reasons. These
emigrants
are now known to be
EGBA
tribes, and the head and leader of these emigrants was
ODUDUWA
, a title. Oduduwa was the hero father of Yorubas. Of course, Egba people did not live together as they do now and they were very few.

Type of houses built: The houses were of mud and the roofs were thatched with grass and broad leaves, of course, these type of houses are still existing throughout the Yoruba villages.
    The compounds were in form of square and every
compound
contained shrines of many gods to which the family sacrificed.

Daily tasks: Hardly in the morning when the day’s tasks
began
, the spinners would take up their spindles, the weavers would take up their shuttles, the farmers would take up their hoes, cutlasses, etc., the warriors would take up their weapons, the drummers would take up their drums and the hunters would take up their bows and arrows.

Tribal marks: The tribal marks were different types and this was according to the choice of a family.

Women’s dresses: The women’s dresses were aprons, head ties, veils for young ladies or newly married ladies and top covers for old and married women only. Precious beads always on wrists, necks and waists. The camwood powder was used to rub the body and antimony for the eyelids.

Plays and amusements: Our plays and amusements were fables, folk-lores, proverbs, riddles, etc. etc., after day’s work was over.

Means of communications to our neighbours or friends who were far off from us: Long, long ago, before the Yoruba people had ever dreamed of the white people and as there was no book knowledge, the Egba people had the means of communications by means of symbols which we used as letters and some of them are as follows—If two cowries were tied together faced each other, meant, “I want to see you”. But if a long feather was added in return, it meant “be expecting me”. If two cowries were tied back to back meant, “I shun you away”. If another cowrie was added in return, it meant, “I kick you off”. But if the coal was sent in return, it meant, “I fail to understand the cause of
shunning
me away”. Etc., etc.

Believes: Many wild bushes were reserved or untouched simply not to drive away the spirits who were lurking in there. Mighty trees around the town were reserved as they were the inhabitations of spirits and witches.
All these things are still existing but are gradually dying.

When I was seventy-six years old, the chief of my village died. But as I was the oldest man in the village that time, therefore, I was chosen by the rest people in the village to be their new chief.

After the sixth month that I had become the chief, and as my people were always anxious to hear my past adventures before I had become a rich man. Therefore, one night, I
invited
all the people to my house. All sat in front of my house. The women sat in the left of the circle while the men sat in the right and I sat on my usual old high armchair a little distance in front of them. Then I supplied each of the people with a keg of palm-wine, and the biggest keg was in front of me.

As this time was a dry season, so the people could see me well and I could see them well also through the clear full moon of that dry season. But as the people were anxious greatly to hear the story very soon, they could not drink their palm-wine so much when one of them stood up and said loudly—“Yes, we are ready now to hear your adventures!” They thought that it was a story which could be related in one night but it was a great wonder to them at last to see that it took me several nights to relate the whole of it to the end. So this was the first night that the entertainments of my adventures began as follows.

Now, my people, I am very glad indeed that you are anxious to hear the story of my past adventures, and I will start to tell you the story as from this night. But I advise every one of you to pay attention to it so that you may be able to sort out the useful senses which, I believe, will be useful to you in future.

I was very clever and fast enough when I was about fifteen years of age to know which was bad and good, which was to be done or not to be done. But this time I just began to
experience
the difficulties, hardships, punishments, etc., but I had not yet experienced the difficulties, hardships,
punishments
, risk, dangers, etc., of the adventures.

I noticed carefully this time that my father was a very poor old man. He was so poor that everybody in his village had strong belief that he was indeed destined with poverty. He was a farmer by profession and he was a hard working man who had farms more than the rest of the farmers in the village. But yet he was in a great sorrow always, because as he was working hard it was so his poverty was growing worse than ever.

He had two sons, my junior brother whose name was Alabi and I was the senior while his only daughter Ashabi, was the last to be born. But as the sons of a hard working man are always proved to be lazy, rascal, etc., so Alabi and I were so lazy that we never helped him in the farm. Of course, I was
not interested in farming as from beginning. At last, when he became entirely old and weary and could not even work in the farm, he began to buy our food, clothes and the rest of our needs in credits. But one day, when he failed to pay some of his debts, his creditor treated him very shamefully. Having seen this treatment, I was greatly annoyed and then at the same time I invited my junior brother, Alabi, to one corner of the house. I told him thus: “My junior brother, we are old enough to go abroad to find a kind of a job to do. When we work hard for some years and save a considerable amount of money, then we shall come back and give the money to our old father and mother and by so doing they will free from their debts and poverty.”

Without any argument, my junior brother agreed to my advice at the same time. In the following morning, I invited my father, mother and Ashabi, my junior sister, to the
sitting-room
. I told them that Alabi and I were leaving them that morning for abroad to find a job to do. He and my mother replied that they were pleased. Then I asked from my father what would he give us to take along with us. But with sorrow he replied that as we had already known he had nothing
except
his hoes, cutlasses, farm jumpers and aprons. So without hesitation, I put on one of his aprons and one of his farm jumpers and so my junior brother did. After that I put his two hoes and cutlasses in one basket and my junior brother carried it. Then we bade them good-bye and in return they prayed for us that we would return to them safely. It was like that we left my father’s village that morning, to an unknown place.

After we had travelled so many miles, we came to the end of the path on which we had been travelling, when it was about six in the evening. Then we stopped when the darkness came. But of course, there was new moon which was not yet so bright. But as there was nothing for us to eat and we were
badly hungry, therefore we were unable to sleep well till the daybreak. Very early in the morning, we woke up and with empty stomachs we continued our journey in an endless jungle. After we had travelled about two miles in that jungle without meeting anybody in it, we were very lucky to see many ripen mangoes, paw-paws and many other kinds of fruits which were scattered all over the bottom of a big tree. We believed that those fruits were brought there from a far farm by monkeys and other kinds of climbing animals. We stopped and with greediness, we ate as many as we could, and also picked better ones into our basket which we were going to eat when we were starved again.

Having rested for two hours, we continued to travel along and we travelled till the evening before we stopped and ate the rest fruits. After that we lay on a big fallen tree and slept on it till morning. But we travelled for nine days in that endless jungle before we could reach the middle of it. As both of us had already tired and weary, so we stopped under the cool shadow of a gigantic tree.

As we were resting and also discussing of what to eat, there we noticed that more than two hundred small and big birds were crying terribly and flying round an old woman. One big ostrich was in front of that old woman. The ostrich was so big and tall that we were unable to see the old woman clearly. It was walking here and there as if it was guiding the woman. If the woman walked to her left or right that ostrich would do the same thing and would spread its wings on her and all those birds were also crying terribly and rushing to wherever the old woman went.

In the first instance we thought to run away for our lives but we could not do so for we did not know where to run to in that endless jungle and instead, we were looking at her as she was wobbling towards us. When she was near us, we saw her clearly. Her body was downy but she wrapped herself from
knees to the waist with the skin of a tiger and the rest parts were soft feathers. The feathers were really grown out from her body except her head which had white thick hair. Her eyes were red and hollow with old age. Her breasts were hardly to see because soft feathers were covered them. Almost all her teeth had fallen out so that made her mouth to be moving up and down always as if she was eating something in the mouth.

When she was approached us nearer and looked up suddenly and saw us, then she was coming to us direct. To our fear again immediately the curious ostrich perceived us as we were looking at them with great fear, it became very wild and then rushed furiously against us to cut us into pieces, but we hastily stood up and leaned on that gigantic tree under which we had seated all the while. And again, those small and big birds left the old woman and rushed to us. They started to cry terribly and scratch us with claws repeatedly until the old woman wobbled to that spot. Immediately she came, they parted for her to see us well and the ostrich walked to her left.

As we were still wondering and trembling with fear from feet to head, she started to ask with a fearful, huge and weak voice: “What do both of you come to do in my land or do you not know that this is my jungle?” I answered at the same time with a trembling voice: “We are sorry to come to your jungle, old woman. But I shall be glad if you will spare me a few
minutes
more just to explain to you of what we were finding about before we came to your jungle.” Then she said as she was obstructing that ostrich several times with her left hand whenever it wanted to run against us, “Yes, I am pleased to hear your explanations, boys!” Then I started to explain to her as my junior brother, Alabi, was looking on with fear: “Yes, you see, our father and mother are so poor that they could not even feed us. For this reason, both of us were determined to go abroad and find a job to do, so that we
might get money to give to them when we return to them.”

This old woman paused for a while except her teethless mouth which was moving up and down without chewing
anything
. As she paused all of her birds perched on her shoulders and head, kept quiet and were looking at us as if they heard our grievances. Then after a while, she asked: “By the way, do you know my name?” Both of us said with one voice: “We don’t know it!” Then she said: “My name is ‘Jungle Witch’. I am the owner of this jungle from the beginning of the earth. Nobody live here with me except these birds (she pointed finger to them) whom I had changed from persons into birds for they had trespassed my jungle like two of you!” But
immediately
she mentioned her name to us, “Jungle Witch”, all of her birds flew round her and then perched again on her body. So that showed us that they honoured her. They perched quietly and were listening to her as before.

We were so much feared that we nearly to fall down when she explained to us that her name was “Jungle Witch” and also when she told us that those birds were once persons
before
they had trespassed her jungle. My junior brother looked at my eyes with fear instead to speak out to me and in return, I looked at the ground with the same fear instead to reply him with mouth. We were in this fear when she asked again whether we knew anything about her ostrich and we said: “No!” Then she explained: “You see this ostrich” (she pointed finger to it). When we said: “Yes,” she told us: “This ostrich had been a very beautiful woman before. But she had betrayed me and married to my husband after I had divorced him, then with my power, I changed her into the form of ostrich. So I started to ride her about like a horse. Her name when she was a woman was Ata. But since when I had changed her into the ostrich, she is laying two dangerous eggs every month instead born human babies. The eggs are so dangerous that all that she had laid had changed all who had
trespassed my jungle and who had offended me into many forms.”

When the Jungle Witch had related her story to us, we were so much wondered that we were unable to talk but we were looking at her and her birds. After a while she asked again: “Will you be able to keep my law and warning?” But when I told her that we would keep it, she said: “All right, if you can do so both of you will leave this my jungle with plenty of money and other wealths. But it is doubtful because none of those who had trespassed my jungle had returned to their towns or villages. As you have promised that you would keep my warning and law, all right, follow me now!” Immediately she had told us like that the ostrich lowered itself in her front and she mounted it and we were following her as her birds were flying round her and crying along greatly.

We did not travel more than two miles when we came to a part of that jungle which was full of cola-nut trees. She took us round the cola-nut trees first and then told us: “You are in charge of all these cola-nut trees as from today. All the
cola-nuts
which the trees may bear are for you. If you wish you can be carrying the nuts to the nearest market for sale. But be sure that you are keeping the money you are selling the nuts so that you can get a considerable amount of money to give to your father and mother when you return to them!” After she had told us like that, she took us to a big hut which was not so far away from the cola-nut trees. She told us to be living in it. There were several images in the front of that hut. They were in a single line and faced the hut and at the extreme left of them there was a deep pit. That pit was covered with a wooden tray. After she had shown the hut to us, she came down from her ostrich and all her birds were perched on the heads of that images. Then she walked to the images and we walked to her. As she stood before them she pointed finger to the covered pit and warned us that we must not remove the
cover of it or to see what were in it or if we did so, it meant we were against her warning and therefore we would be punished for it. She explained further that, that was the warning which she had already asked from us whether we would keep it and that we had promised her that we would keep it. But she did not tell us what were inside that pit or why we should not remove the cover of it.

Then she turned to those images, and we were following her as she was inspecting them one by one. After a while she began to tell us that every one of the images was a person but with her power she had turned him into the form of image for he had trespassed her jungle. She explained furthermore that we too could change into that of images if we disobeyed her. But of course, when she told us like that I hastly interrupted that it was too risky to live in her jungle and that we would leave there for another place because we did not want to turn into images at all. But with great annoyance, she replied at the same time that willing or not, once we had come to her jungle we would not be allowed to go away without being tested or if we attempted to leave there after she had gone away we would turn into the images at once.

Now, as we heard like that from her again, another serious fear came into our minds. We did not know what to do again more than to agree to what she had told us to do. Immediately this Feather Woman or the Jungle Witch had explained to us like that, she walked back to her changeling ostrich and mounted it. She started to ride it along on a rough narrow path which was behind that hut and her birds were making great noises as they were following her. To our surprise and fear was that after a few seconds we did not see her and her birds on that path. Whether she was disappeared with her birds or sunk into the ground, we did not understand but that was another fear and embarrassment to us.

After this Feather Woman or Jungle Witch had disappeared,
I went back to that images. I was looking at them with wonder. When I noticed well, I saw that they were real human beings in appearance although their bodies were mud. And when I touched their bodies were warming as if blood was in them. Sometime they seemed as if they winked and sometime as if they attempted to move the heads, arms and legs. So that showed me that in fact, they were alive although they were partly mud. Again I noticed their surroundings and I saw that there were plenty of broken and worn-out whips were lying all over the ground and in the front of them and that showed me as well that the Feather Woman used to flog them whenever she liked.

Having seen all that again, I went back to the hut, Alabi and I sat down quietly, every one of us supported his jaw with left palm and we were looking at every part of the jungle which was as quiet as a grave yard. After a while, just to expel our fear and sorrow for some time, I went around the hut, I collected some wood and brought them to the hut. I made fire in the fireplace or hearth which was in the hut. After we warmed our bodies for some minutes and we forgot our fear and sorrow then we went far away from there. We collected plenty of big fresh fruits and brought them back to the hut. Then we roasted some of them in the fire. But to our fear again, as we were eating that nuts, all that images were seemed that moment as if they were begging us to give them from the roasted nuts to eat as well.