Feather Woman of the Jungle (5 page)

After that, as he had then regained all his senses or was normal, both of us walked nearer to his wife who stood near one corner in that room. Then I forced her to surrender her supernatural power which she was using to change person into another form. She first refused to surrender it, but when she saw that I became so wild that I wanted to shoot her right out that moment, she vomited it in her both palms. It was just like a minute white bird. And it was shaking like a chicken which was just hatched. Then I took one of the
calabashes
which were in that room, she put it in it and then I covered that calabash with its lid before I put it in my hunting-bag because I was taking it to the town to show it to the people.

When it was about eight o’clock in the morning, I was
taking
this woman and her husband to the town. But when I took them to the town and the people saw them in front of me, her husband was snatched with gladness by the people and was
carried by head to his father’s palace, although his wife was stoning along in the town until we came to the palace.

When I took her to the king (the father of her husband) and then I told him how I had saved his son and again, I gave him the supernatural power of that woman, which she had vomited. And when the king removed the cover of the
calabash
and saw it, he gave the order to take the woman to the god of iron in the front of the palace. Therefore she was tied up to a tree in front of the god.

The king and his chiefs thanked me greatly for saving his son. In the following morning, several ceremonies were started which lasted for many days. After the ceremonies had been performed, the king fulfilled his promise. He gave me many costly clothes, costly coral beads and many costly presents which I brought to the village and I sold them for a considerable amount of money.

“And that was the end of the entertainment of this night, my people, or the end of the adventure of my second journey. So tomorrow, I shall continue to tell you the adventure of my third journey!”

Then after the people beat the drums, sang, and danced for a few minutes they went back to their houses with gladness.

Now the people of my village were gathered in the front of my house. They were even increased by seventy-five per cent, because news had reached almost all the rest villages which were near, that I was telling the stories of my past adventures in form of entertainments. When some of the people had seated and those who had no chairs stood round us. Then everyone was served with the palm-wine and the biggest keg was in front of me. So after the drums were beaten and the people danced for about one hour as they were drinking the palm-wine. Then I started to tell the story of my third
adventure
as follows:

After a few days that I had returned from my second journey to the village with a lot of valuable treasures, I bought three puppies and I started to tame them in such a way that within a few days they had become as wild as a tiger. I bought those dogs in respect of my journeys for I had needed dogs’ help greatly in all of my past journeys. The names were given to each of them according to its action and cleverness. The name of the first was “Sweeper” because it always ate without any remnant, the name of the second was “Cutter” because it was so bold, fast and wild that it always cut its victim or any dangerous animals into pieces and the name of the third was “Swallower” because it never chew neither bones nor anything before swallowing them.

Then with my dogs, gun and matchet, I started to hunt in
the forests which were not so far away from the village. With the help of my dogs, I used to kill several animals in one day. So my father, mother, sister and my junior brother, Alabi, were enjoying our lives with the every animal that I killed. But for that enjoyment, I determined not to go to another journey until after one year. Of course, I had forgotten that all the monies which I had saved would soon finish if I did not work hard for more.

During the period that I was in the village, almost all the people of the village were coming to my house to eat and drink from the morning till the late hour in the night. And many of the people told me that they would follow me to my next journey but they were discouraged when I told them the punishment, hardships, danger, etc. of it.

In the very month that I completed one year since when I had returned from my second journey. One fine night, at about eight o’clock I took my usual gun, matchet and after I hung my hunting-bag on my shoulder. Then I bade good-bye to my father, mother, sister and brother and then I left the village for the town of the savage people. That town was far away and I had been hearing from the old people that the people were very rich in all things but no man who would go there and return. They said that the savage people were so cruel that even none of the animals in their bush could be killed or taken away by any hunter, however he might be bold and strong.

But of course, since when I had heard that the people were very rich, I made up my mind that night to go there, not for animals but for the treasures. But I had made a great mistake, I left my three dogs in the village. I thought they would not be able to see well as it was in the night. Of course, my mother had advised me to take them along with me but I rejected her advice.

Having travelled in the darkness till about two o’clock in
the morning, I came to the forest in the middle of which that savage people lived. Having travelled deeply in it, then I stopped behind a rock. I sat down and I was resting for I was very tired before reaching there. As I was still resting and thinking in mind of what to do before I could get some of the treasures of that savage people, I did not know when I leaned on that rock and I fell asleep at the same time. But as I was dreaming of the man who had been transformed into
half-snake
by his wife, the man that I had saved when I went my second journey. There I felt suddenly a heavy knock on my forehead. The knock was so painful that I dazed and fell down at the same time. But as a brave man should do, I hastily stood up and ready to shoot my gun. But as I was about to shoot the gun, there I saw a tall black shadow. The shadow held my gun downward and then within that moment it gave me a slap on the face suddenly, and my gun sprang to a short distance.

Of course, as I put all my hope only on this gun, so I ran to it at the same time. As I bent down and I was just trying to pick it up, the fearful shadow had come nearer to my back and as I was standing up. The shadow pushed me from back and I turned somersault suddenly several times within that moment. However, I hastily stood up with the gun in hand and it was that time I saw clearly who was ill-treating me like that. The shadow turned into a very tall old woman
immediately
I stood up. She was very strong and tall like a giantess, she was very rough in appearance, neither of her arms was very long and strong, and so every one of her feet was long and thick, the hair of her head was long, dirty and scattered roughly like that of a mad person and her both breasts were nearly touching the ground.

As I stood before her, my height hardly reached one-sixth of her height. But when I raised up my head just to ask from her why she had treated me so badly like that. I noticed that
she franked both eyes, she was in excess anger and was
murmuring
with great annoyance. When I saw her in that fearful action, I could not ask anything from her again. So I simply stood before her and I was looking at her with fear.

After a while, when she started to push my nose with finger and was murmuring repeatedly: “What do you come to do in this forest by this hour! Have you ever seen a person like you to come here! You people will disturb us in the day and so in the night!” Then I was walking backward slowly but I did not turn my back towards her because it had just revealed to me that she was not a human being but a dangerous night creature. But as I was walking backward with fear, she was also walking slowly towards me and was still pushing my nose with her thick finger.

At last, when my nose was going to burst soon, I thought in mind that if I did not defend myself at that stage, the hideous night woman would kill me soon. Therefore, I struck her forehead with my gun instead to shoot it to her because I feared whether they were many and if the rest heard the sound of my gun might rush out to kill me.

To my surprise and fear, my gun was hardly struck her forehead when she said loudly: “Ah! ah! ah! you beat
immortal
night woman!” And then she stretched one hand to her right and rooted out one slender stick and without
hesitation
, she was beating me from head to feet repeatedly. As she was beating me and I was striking her head with my gun, it was so she was repeating: “Ah, immortal beat you this night and so you will die soon!” So it was that night I knew that immortal creatures were not to be beaten by human being.

At last, when I was quite sure that she was stronger than me and if she continued to beat me so severely for some minutes more, I would die. Then I left her to strike with the gun but I started to run away for my life in the darkness but yet, she was chasing me along and beating me with all her
power and so she was saying: “You are mortal, so you can die but I am immortal therefore, I cannot die!”

When I heard her saying so, I became more afraid and I ran to one mighty tree which was nearby. I hardly started to climb it along when she ran to it and continued to beat me but that did not prevent me to climb it along. She tried to pull me down but was late to do so because I had then climbed the tree far away. And as she stood at the bottom thinking what to do to bring me down to her, I had got to the top of the tree and sat on one of its branches and I was looking at her faintly at the bottom.

After she had failed in all her efforts to bring me down, then she went away. But when I had waited for some minutes and did not see her to return, I thought she would not come back to me and I was very happy about that. Unfortunately, as I was just climbing the tree down, there I saw that she was coming back and two strong men with big axes in hands were following her. Then I hastily climbed back to the same branch.

Immediately she brought the two men to that tree and pointed me to them and they saw me on top of that tree. They started to cut it as hastily as they could although it had several big buttresses. But when I believed that I would die immediately it fell down or if I did not die, the night woman and her men would tear me into pieces if they could catch me. So this critical moment forced me to remember my mother’s advice. For she had told me to take my three dogs along with me before I had left the village and I blamed myself greatly for it.

Then with perplexity, I stood up right on top of the tree and I hopelessly called with the topmost of my voice: “My dogs! My dogs! My dogs! The Cutter, the Sweeper, the Swallower! Let all of you come to this forest now!” It was like that I was calling my dogs by their names with fear
without
stopping. I wondered that the dogs were hearing the call and were trying to come to me but unfortunately they were in their room that time and the door of that room was already locked up when my people had wanted to sleep.

After they had struggled and failed to get the way out, then they started to bark loudly and were running to and fro until their noises woke my mother. So she opened the door and they went out. As I was still calling them and they were
running
to that forest with all their power, those two men had cut the tree to the stage that it was shaking slightly to fall down and that night woman was ready to snatch me
whenever
it fell. A few minutes later, I lose my hope, because the tree was then preparing to fall down. But as I was still calling my dogs perplexedly, there I saw them running here and there in that forest, they were finding me about and they hardly come to the tree when I incited them to the two men and the night woman.

To my great joy, they were hardly saw me on top of that tree when they rushed against them. The men tried to cut them with their axes but my dogs did not give them chance but they were biting them instead. At last, they escaped with the night immortal woman and my dogs drove them far away before they came back to me and I had come down from that tree then.

Then I left that area with my dogs for another part of the forest. I lay down helplessly till the morning because that immortal woman had beaten me too much, but I was not discouraged at all to continue my journey to the town of the savage people.

In the following morning, I started to roam about in that forest in search for that town. But to my surprise, I found nothing like a town in that forest. When I roamed till about one o’clock midday then I stopped under the shadow of a tree. Having rested for a while, I went further and my dogs
killed one animal which I roasted immediately. I ate some of it and I gave the rest to my dogs. Not knowing that there was no real town in that forest for those savage people but their inhabitations were the holes of the rocks which were common to be seen everywhere in that forest. And they were not
coming
out in the day-time except in the night. So I rested till the night when this revealed to me.

In the following night, I started to roam about with my dogs. After a while, I was seeing them everywhere in the forest and so they were troubling me just to leave there but I did not leave there until when they became entirely annoyed and then they chased me to kill. When I climbed a tree and hid in its leaves they failed to catch me. Having tried all their efforts to trace me out but failed, then they went away. And it was not so long when I fell asleep on that tree while my dogs slept at the bottom. My intention was to continue my journey in the following morning to another part of the world having failed to find any treasure in that forest.

To my fear was that, when it was about two hours that I was sleeping, I woke suddenly by the barks of my dogs. Then I peeped down to see what was happening to them, but I saw that all of them were tied up together with a single rope to one nearby tree. They were struggling to cut that rope but they could not do it. But when I was preparing to come down to see who was ill-treating them like that, there I saw clearly this time that over five hundred of the savage people sat round that tree. Then without hesitation, I hid back in the leaves and they did not suspect that I was on top of that tree. Not knowing that the bottom of that tree was the place of their meeting and they came there that night to make an important meeting. I wondered that my dogs did not wake until when they were tied up to the tree.

I saw through the flame of the fire which was glaring in the centre of their circle, that many of them were seriously sat
down, many were arguing within themselves so seriously that they were preparing to beat themselves, fighting weapons were in the middle of them. Their attitudes showed that there was a serious misunderstanding between them and that they gathered under that tree and were waiting for their king to come and settle it.

After they had waited for about one hour but their king did not come out. One of them stood up, he shouted loudly: “Oh, the king of the savage people, why not you attend to the meeting, this night? Are you sick? The skull of man is your drinking vessel! The bones of man are your walking-stick, etc! Come out! Come out! Come now, we are waiting for you!” After the flatterer had flattered their king like that, then he (king) shouted so terribly and loudly that his voice shook the hills, rocks and trees and all the animals in that forest were so feared that they became mutes, all birds woke in their nests and all the rest living creatures were so feared that they were unable to move their bodies but stood still as if they had died.

After a few minutes that the king had shouted like that, I saw him when he was coming out from one mighty rock which was not so far from that tree. He was walking with the
walk
ing
-stock which was made with man’s bones and his bearer carried one big skull of human being with one chair and he was following him to that meeting. When both of them came to the meeting, the chair was put in the centre of the circle and when he sat on it then that skull was put down before him and he rested his feet on it. Then the bearer went to his back and he stood there as if he was keeping watch of him. After that the king shouted very loudly and terribly as before. But his voice shook that tree so heavily that I fell on him suddenly without my wish.