The Witch-Herbalist of the Remote Town (16 page)

The skeleton man had hardly left the hall with happiness when the Omniscient Mother or the Witch-Herbalist, called loudly the real name of the next person, who was a lady of about twenty years of age. This lady was so beautiful that there was not a man who saw her would refuse to marry her with any amount of money she might demand from him.

But when the Mother called her loudly by her surname without being told the name, she told her to come to the front of the altar to tell her her own burden, though the mother knew everyone’s burden already, because she was an Omniscient Mother. But her habit was to ask one to tell his or her own burden first by himself or herself to the hearing of her paramount chiefs, etc. and also to the other burdensome people.

Then with great shame, this beautiful lady reluctantly stood up. She walked to the front of the altar and it was at this time that every one saw clearly that she had not a single hair on her head. Her head was just sparkling like well-polished silver. So as all of us were gazing at her hairless head with wonder, she sobbed out the story of her baldness to the Mother. She told the Mother that she had hair on her head when she was born, it was even very beautiful and lovely.
But one day, when her mother was away at the market, one old woman came and rubbed her head with her left hand. So as soon as the old woman did so, the lovely hair on her head vanished at the same time, and then the cruel old woman disappeared immediately.

This beautiful lady further explained to the Witch-Mother that when her mother returned to the house and saw that there was no more hair on her head, she asked what had happened to her hair, and the lady had told her mother how the cruel old woman came in and rubbed her head with her left hand. She added to the Witch-Mother that her mother and father and the other members of the family tried all their efforts to find the cruel woman, but all their efforts failed. So since that day the people of her town began to hate her and many were making mockery of her whenever she went about in the town. She told the Witch-Mother as well that there was not a man who had tried to marry her or even to speak to her. She said painfully that in a moment she was not happy at all, because of her baldness.

“So this is my own burden which I bring to you and I believe, you will help me to have lovely hair on my head as before.” It was like that this lady told the story of her baldness to the Witch-Mother as she was sobbing continuously.

Then after the Omniscient Witch-Mother had listened to the story of this very beautiful lady, she first remarked strongly:

“When the teeth fall away from the mouth of a lady, an important part of her beauty falls!

“When a lady has no hair on head, a more important part of her beauty falls away as well!

“So a beautiful lady who lacks these two things is
unfortunate
! Because beauty and good character fetch money and happiness for a lady!

“Now, I am going to disclose to you today, as I am really the Omniscient Mother or Witch-Herbalist of this Remote Town, that the cruel old woman who rubbed your head with her left hand when you were a child, was a strong beelzebub.
She is still living inside a small hill which is at the back of your father’s house. And your lovely hair which she rubbed away from your head long ago is on her head now, although I am going to take the hair back from her now and I shall return it to your head today. But I tell you strongly now that as soon as you return to your town, you must tell your father to put plenty of dried refuse and dried wood on top of the hill, and having done so, to put fire on them. As soon as the fire has heated up the hill, the beelzebub will flee far away from your town!”

But when the Mother had talked to this bald lady like that, she told one of her dispensers to bring from the pigeon-holes one thick cloth. When he brought it and gave it to the Mother, we saw that many kinds of small roots were tied all over it. So she told the sobbing lady to kneel down and then she spread the cloth on her head. Then she lifted her head up and she recited some words which the rest of us did not understand. Then as soon as she raised her head down she pulled the cloth away from the head of the lady. But to the greatest surprise of every one of us, the head of this bald lady was full of beautiful and glossy hair.

Having seen it like that, the lady began to dance at the same time. And she was still in this joy when the Mother stopped her. Then the Covenanter warned her that when she returned to her town, she must not provoke the men of her town with her beauty. When the Covenanter had warned her like that, she bowed with great joy for the Mother and the rest of the Mother’s members. Then she started her journey to her town with satisfaction and happiness.

As soon as the beautiful bald lady had got her natural hair back by the help of the courteous Witch-Herbalist, and had
gone away, the Mother called loudly the name of the next burdensome man. She told him to come to the front of the altar. But to the greatest fear of the other burdensome people, as this epileptic man stood up from the seat, his epilepsy made him fall him down, and it made him fall him down so heavily that he became unconscious. After a while he became
conscious
, but he could not stand up and walk. Then he began to roll himself along on the floor to the front of the altar. But when he had struggled hard and reached the front of the altar, the mother saw that his epilepsy was too serious. So she hastily sent for one big pot which was on the rack. When the pot was brought to her, we saw that it was full up with roots of trees and water. Then she hastily poured the dark water which was in the pot all over the body of this man.

To everyone’s surprise, the dark water had hardly touched his body when he became more conscious, and then stood up healthily. Then the Mother told him to jump up three times. But as soon as he had jumped up three times, his epilepsy disappeared completely immediately. This man was so happy that he started to sing and dance with great joy. Having done so for a few twinklings, the Covenanter warned him to avoid abusing people. Then the Mother told him to return to his town. So he bowed and praised the Mother before he left the Hall of Assembly.

Immediately the epileptic man had been freed, he left the Hall of Assembly with great joy. The Witch-Herbalist or the Omniscient Mother, called out loudly the surname of the next burdensome person, who was a woman. She told her to come to the front of the altar. Without hesitation, the woman stood up and walked to the front of the altar, and it was at this
time that the rest of the burdensome people observed that she had only one ear on the part of the right temple of her head. This ear was bigger than that of a human being. There was none at all at the left temple of her head, as it was usually for other people.

But when the Mother and her subjects saw that this woman had one big ear instead of two, she remarked loudly: “One ear does not fit the head! There are two categories of burdens and also there are two kinds of afflictions. One is ‘male’ and the other is ‘female’. Many people have the ‘male’ burdens or afflictions and many other people have the ‘female’ burdens or afflictions. So life is really difficult for the people who have the ‘male’ burdens or afflictions. But life is a bit more easy for the people who possess the ‘female’ burdens or afflictions!”

But as soon as the Mother had remarked like that, and hesitated, the woman told the Mother how she got one big ear instead of two. She explained to the Mother that she was a merciless “born and die baby”. She said that at first, she died three years after her mother bore her. She told the Mother further that it was so she died every three years since she was born. But when she died for the sixth time her mother and father understood that she was a “born and die baby”, and before they buried her false body this time, they cut off her left ear. But as soon as she returned to her company with only one ear, they drove her from their company because a “one-ear spirit” like her could not live with them any more. So this forced her to return to her mother in order to re-bear her. But unfortunately she was reborn this time with one big ear!

She explained to the Mother further that as she was reborn with one ear, she had no power any more to die. She said that since then she was carrying one ear about, although, she added to the Mother, she had deprived her mother and father of a lot of their property before both outwitted her as a “born and die baby”. It was like that this woman with one ear told her story to the Mother.

But the Witch-Mother, who had known everything already, asked from her: “What did you do with all your father’s and mother’s property which you had carried away by other means each time you died?”

But she explained to the Mother: “When I carried the property to my company, all of us shared it among ourselves, and it was so we were sharing all of the property which every one of us might bring from his or her unfortunate mother!” Again, the Witch-Herbalist who was also Omniscient Mother, wilfully asked from this “one-ear woman”: “By the way, how did you manage to deprive your mother and father of their property?” The woman explained: “Through the
sacrifices
, which were sometimes clothes, money, goats, fowls and many other valuable things, which the unfortunate mother sacrificed to gods when I pretended to be dead, so I might not die. But when I simply stopped breathing, the unfortunate mother, etc. would think that I had died. They would not understand that my death was a false one.

“So the false body would be buried. And after the body had been buried, then I would go back to the gods to which the sacrifices were given in order to prevent me from death. And by my spiritual powers I would collect all the sacrifices in forms of metamorphosis, although if the unfortunate mother had gone back to the gods, she would still see the sacrifices there. So having collected the valuable sacrifices in the form of metamorphosis, I would return to my company with them. So that is the life of the ‘born and die babies’.” Thus this “one-ear woman” disclosed the secret to the Omniscient Mother of how the “born and die babies” do their business, although she had already known all their secrets.

After the Mother had hesitated for a while, she turned her eyes to this woman. She remarked with great zeal: “Your own burden is a ‘male’ one which is difficult to take from you. Of course it is easy for me to let you have two ears, but I am not happy at all to do it because you have caused your mother and father to suffer a lot! You have deprived them
of their property so much that both of them have become indigent persons! However, as I am courteous and I am not happy if I send one back without taking his or her burden away, I shall help you have two ears as the other people have!”

So after the Mother had remarked like that angrily, she told one of her dispensers to bring a strange garment from one of the racks. When the dispenser brought it we saw that it was completely woven out of root-hair and leaves of different kinds. Then she told the dispenser to spread it on this woman. And when he took it away from her body, she had got two ears, each was as normal as an ear should be.

Having seen two normal ears on the temples of her head, she jumped up with happiness. She danced and sang and praised the Mother greatly. But as she wanted to leave the Hall the Covenanter warned her greatly to desist completely from her “born and die baby” company otherwise she would become again a “one-ear woman” as before. Then she left the Hall with happiness. That was how the Witch-Herbalist or the Omniscient Mother of the Remote Town took away the burden of this woman.

Immediately that woman had left the Hall of Assembly with great joy, the Witch-Herbalist sat back with ease on her special carved large seat. This seat was well carved from different kinds of big roots. And it was beautifully polished with the juice of leaves and roots. Although it was very beautiful, it was extremely hideous for the burdensome people to look at it to their satisfaction.

Then she called loudly the surname of the next burdened man to come to the front of the altar. But it was a great pity
that this man could not walk to the altar, because he was totally lame, the hump which was on his back or nape was as big as a mound. Again, there was a goitre on his neck which was just like a hillock. So both hump and goitre were a heavy load for him to lift himself up from the ground or floor. Not only that, big boils were all over his body and each was as big as the head of a child. His forehead was deeply dented so much that there was not any person who would like to look at it twice. Not only that, as well his nose was so compact that it was very hard for him to breathe in and out. So for this he had non-stop hiccups. More, he had one eye only, the other one had been totally blind for a number of years, and his body was also twisted.

And the only one eye of this man had swelled out as when a big snail moves out from its shell. And this meant he had eight kinds of serious burdens: he was lame, he had a hump, goitre, boils, dented forehead, compact nose, non-stop hiccups and a twisted body. But No. 9 burden which was “one eye” was ruled out from being “a serious burden” after the
Omniscient
Witch-Mother and her paramount chiefs and noble men and women had argued strongly with one another for a number of twinklings whether to count it to be the “No. 9 serious burden” for this man. So at last all of them agreed that as being blind in one eye was common among humans it should not be counted as “a serious burden”.

But when I fastened my eyes on this man for some
twinklings
with marvel and fear, then as usual, and as the Witch-Mother and her members were still arguing warmly about “No. 9 burden”, my two “minds” who were my partners, etc. began to argue with each other. The first “mind” said with wonder: “Can the Witch-Herbalist free this man from all of his burdens?” But the second “mind” did not hesitate to reply: “Yes, I believe the Witch-Herbalist will certainly take all of his burdens away!” But when my two “minds” had argued like that with wonder and stopped, it came to my “memory” at this time that: “So far as I or as one of the
burdened people are concerned, my own burden would be very easy for the Mother to free me from it”, this means, to make my barren wife pregnant.

But this thought had hardly come to my “memory” and given me sound assurance when my first “mind” said: “
Although
the Mother will give you the juju-medicine or soup which will make your wife pregnant, you will not keep to the warning of the Mother and of her Covenanter. So this will make things difficult for you and your wife when you return to your town!” Again, the other one which was the second “mind” and which never deceived or confused me, added: “Even he and his wife will be sacrificed to the god of the river at last!” Again, the first “mind” supported the second “mind” at the same time: “Yes, both of them will be sacrificed to the god, but together with their property!” Again, the second “mind” made the first “mind” to understand that: “Although he and his wife and their property will be sacrificed to the god of the river, both of them will succeed at last, and then they will return to the town with honour and a newborn baby!”

But when both my “minds” had argued with each other like that, I was much embarrassed so that I nearly fainted because I did not understand their arguments yet at all, especially as they mentioned in their arguments that my wife and I would be sacrificed to the god of the river which was in my town.

However, when I became conscious, I continued to fasten my eyes on this horrible man with great horror. But when the Mother saw that all the burdens of his body were too heavy for him to walk or move to the altar by himself, she told four of her attendants to carry him to the front of the altar. When he had been carried to the front of the altar the Mother hesitated and looked at him with much surprise for more than five twinklings. After that she raised her head up and started to look at the ceiling of the hall for about ten twinklings before she dropped her head down again. But as I observed, her attitude showed that she had not seen such a burdened
man, whose burdens were so many and terrible as those of this man, before.

But at last she asked from the lame, etc. man how he had managed to reach or come to the Remote Town. This
Eight-Burden
Man explained with hiccups that he had crawled from his faraway town to the Remote Town when he was informed that the Mother would take his burdens away unfailingly if he could get in touch with her. Then the Mother shook her head up and down, and she asked from him again how many years it took him to crawl to the Remote Town. The man explained with his usual hiccups that it took him more than eight years before he could crawl to the town.

When he explained like that, the Mother shook her head up and down again, and then she remarked strongly: “I have conceived many serious questions in my womb which I want to ask from you. When I deliver these questions, as when a woman delivers a baby, I want you to answer them to the hearing of everyone who is in this hall: Whose son are you? Are your father and mother rich or poor? What are their professions? Are they evil-doers? Are they doing evil works in the corner of their house?” Thus the Mother asked all these questions from this Eight-Burden Man.

But the lame, etc. man answered the questions: “I am the son of evil-doers and they are my father and mother. Both are not rich but poor. Every corner of their house is full of evil things. They had killed hundreds of people with their evil powers and they had also brought thousands of rich people of the town to a miserable state! Having seen these their evil works, the whole people of the town hate them. But as vengeance, after some years that they had started to do evil things, all of these burdens came upon me!” It was like that this lame, etc. man explained to the Witch-Mother with hiccups.

Then the Mother remarked loudly: “Yes, the son of the evil-doer must reap evils! All the evils which your father and mother had done to others have come upon you and they are
your burdens now! However, as you have suffered for many years, I have mercy on you!”

Then the Omniscient Mother told one of her dispensers to bring one pitcher which contained the vegetable decoction and which was for washing off such burdens as that of this man. When the large pitcher was brought and the
dispenser
had put it down before the lame, etc. man, the
Omniscient
Witch-Mother instructed the dispenser to wash him with the vegetable decoction. Having done that, she told him to give the lame, etc. man some of the vegetable-water to drink. But to the greatest surprise of the other burdensome people who were still waiting for their turn, all the burdens of this man vanished immediately. He became a beautiful healthy gentleman in our presence.

So when he saw himself that he could walk, that he had no more hump, goitre, boils, dented forehead, compact nose, non-stop hiccups, nor twisted body, he jumped so high that his head nearly hit the ceiling of the hall. He was intoxicated with joy for many twinklings before he became conscious. Then he sang and danced for a few twinklings, and then he bowed low to the Omniscient Mother with laughter. But before he was told to go back to his town, the courteous Witch-Mother took his “No. 9 burden” away for him. After that, the Covenanter warned him seriously that he must not do any evil work in his life, otherwise his burdens would certainly relapse even more severely than before. But the Omniscient Witch-Mother hinted him that his father and mother who were evil-doers all their days, would die before he returned to his town. Then after the Mother had hinted him thus, the Covenanter told him to go back to his town, and then he left the Hall with great happiness which one could not describe.