Northcote Whitridge Thomas

“ So from that day on people have said, “You are a bigger liar than the corn.”
xvi.
Osalobwa had three sons, and he asked them their names; and the first said, “Ilekiado” (I go to the market to trade) , and the second, “Ububo agagbe” (I can only farm) , and the third, “Esezagazo” (sacrificer) . So he told them to settle in one place, and they went to market and farmed and sacrificed. Then Osa called them to come and see him and I. and U. dressed in fine clothes. But E. had no clothes at all; and they sat down in their father’s house and he brought three yams—white, red and water yam. ”

“ The Kukuruku appear to have a Sobo element, which fled from the south of the Ẹdo area to escape the exactions of the king of Ẹdo; they are dwellers mainly in the hill country, but how long they have been established there it is difficult to say; their language is split up into numerous tongues so diverse that towns a few miles apart cannot understand one another. The list of the kings of Ọkpe suggests that the separation of the Ẹdo and Kukuruku may go back six hundred years; but this does not necessarily apply to other sections of the Kukuruku. ”

“ Then the dog came with meat and explained that she had found her children again, and asked if the cubs had not been found. So she told the leopard to run quickly to the bush and she would find them, so the leopard ran and the dog went to the top of the rock and shouted: “Run, they are just in front.” Then she took the pups out of the hole. ”

“ The Ọra country is bordered on the south by the Ọdo proper, on the west by the Yoruba at Ifọ on the north by the Kukuruku, who also form part of the eastern boundary, together with the Eša. Ọra and Eša are both very near, linguistically, to the Ẹdo proper; Eša was subject to Ẹdo till some sixty years ago when Adolo, king of Ẹdo, fought his elder brother, who had established himself in the Eša country, and was defeated. There is a good deal of intermarriage between Ọra and Eša women and Ẹdo men. ”

“ Once there was a man who had a son, and when it was hungry, it cried for meat; so the father took a fowl and killed it, and the child ate the liver; the next day, it cried for meat again, and he killed a goat, and the child ate the kidneys and liver; the rest of the meat was thrown away. The next day it asked for pork and ate only the kidneys and liver; then it demanded beef and ate the kidneys and liver; the rest of the meat all the town took and divided. Then the child demanded horse meat and the same thing happened. ”

“ When the matter was explained, Osa said: “I make Esezagazo king from this day; so he was king and Edo (Benin) and the others obeyed him.
xvii.
All the yams were ready in elimi (heaven) to go to the world; when they reached the river Omi, they discussed to whose house they should go, and Asekme (white yam) said, “We will go to the head of the town”; but Asoko said, “No, we will go to the ogie”; and Olomuda said, “We will go to a rich man.”
Then Water Yam said, “I am the last son; it is no use to go to a big man ”

“ Then the man who had been in the pot called him and explained what had happened. The moral of this is that it is best for each man to get his own wife.
xix.
The vulture and the green pigeon were friends, and one day some one told the vulture that the pigeon was sick; so the vulture said, “Why did he not send to me?” So he went to see him; but a man said, “You will not find him alive.” Then a doctor divined for the pigeon and told him he must transfer the sickness to his friend when he came. So the pigeon called the vulture and said he was very bad. ”

“ Otwa, Kukuruku Country.
vii.
In the country of Isoka a boy had a goat which was gravid; and one night it bore two kids. Then the town met and asked how he got a goat that bore two kids? For goats may not bear kids at night; and they said it must be killed. So the boy, who was poor, said “All right”; and the goat was killed and they cooked it and began to cut it up; and he went to gather seven medicine stones and put them in the pot and told the demi-god to whom the stones belonged: “Any goat that bears in the night, if they don’t kill her, you must.” ”

“ The vulture flew past and the pigeon gave him a sickness that lasted three years, and all the feathers fell from his head. Then the vulture said: “If you have a friend who is sick, don’t go too close.”
xx.
The leopard was making his farm, and one day begged the animals to come and make heaps for him (for yams) ; so they got ready and came and made heaps. Presently they had drunk all the water, and some one said: “Who will fetch water?” So the leopard went, and while he was away the tortoise said: “We are fools to work for the leopard who killed our fathers and mothers.” ”

“ A man had a wife and they had seven sons; so they tried ifa (divination) and were told if they wanted a daughter to get a cow and kill it far away where there were no people and eat it there. So they went with the seven sons; but they forgot fire; so when the man killed the cow he looked for the matches and found none. ”

“ Then Ilefo said he could get a leaf that would recall both the girls to life, and a boy heard him talking and went and told the king. The snake gave the medicine to the boy and told him to mix it with the blood of a woman whose nose had been cut off, and that to get the blood they must cut off her head. Then the king went to the prison and offered a share of his property to the boy if he would recall his daughters to life; so he released the boy, and he went out to wash and came back and got ready. So he told the king he wanted the blood of a woman whose nose had been cut off ”