Ajaiyi and His Inherited Poverty (3 page)

Now, it remained Aina and myself in the house. We were not happy at all because we were no more with our mother and father, both of them had died and left us in the poverty.

In the following morning, some of our neighbours advised me to go and pawn myself for money that which we would spend for the funeral ceremony of our father which would take place in a few days time. Having thanked the neighbours for their advice, Aina and I left the village for another village where a woman
pawnbroker
lived. When we entered her house, we met her in a well decorated sitting room. Then we knelt down before her and greeted her—“Good morning, the
pawnbroker
!”

“Yes, what do you want?” the pawnbroker lifted her head up and asked with a huge voice. As Aina was looking on, I told the pawnbroker—“well, I come to pawn myself for money!”

“You little boy like this! But what are you going to do with the money?” the pawnbroker asked with wonder.

“I am going to spend the money for the funeral
ceremony
of my father who died recently!” I replied to the pawnbroker loudly.

“But I think you are still too young to do hard work,” the pawnbroker said with pride.

“Although I am still young but I am very strong
enough to do hard work. You know, I was born and bred in poverty!” I explained without shame.

“All right, come nearer and let me test your body to know whether you are strong enough to do hard work!” the pawnbroker pressed every part of my body with both hands for about thirty minutes with doubtful mind.

“Ajaiyi is very strong to do hard work, madam!” Aina told the pawnbroker with a sharp voice.

“Well, of course, I shall give you only two pounds but you will be working for me from morning till two o’clock everyday and I am not going to feed you. Take the two pounds but you must come to start work as soon as you have finished the funeral ceremony of your father. But put it in your mind that you will be working for me until you will be able to refund my two pounds!” the pawnbroker reluctantly gave me only two pounds.

However, I took the money from the pawnbroker. Then Aina and I thanked her greatly as we were leaving. So we came back to the village. The following day, we cooked many kinds of food and bought all kinds of drinks. Then all of my father’s friends, neighbours, drummers and singers were invited. All of them ate to their satisfaction. After that the drummers started to beat their drums and as all of us were singing the song of funeral and dancing, it was so everyone was drinking the drinks. So when it was daybreak the people, Aina and I danced round the village before the people went back to their houses. It was like that we performed the funeral ceremony of my father in respect of which I pawned myself for two pounds.

Now, my father’s warning before he died that we should remember “The Day After Tomorrow” came to the truth because almost everything which we used for
his burial and funeral ceremony were given to us for free of charge in respect of his kindnesses to his neighbours and other people. But this proverb or warning was still a puzzle to us. We had not yet understood it well.
However
, after my father’s funeral ceremony, I started to go and work for the pawnbroker from morning till two o’clock without giving me food. But for the rest part of the day, I used to go and work in my late father’s farm. So I was getting yams, etc. which Aina and I were eating.

One day as Aina and I sat in our father’s sitting room and we were thinking seriously about—“Remember The Day After Tomorrow” as my father used to warn us in his days whenever Aina and I offended someone or one who was older than us. Of course, it was a pity to us later on that we did not attempt to ask my father, before he died, the meaning of his warning.

As Aina and I sat in the sitting room this day and I began to suggest to her; “Perhaps, ‘Remember The Day After Tomorrow’ is the name of our eldest brother who was born and had left our father for another town before we were born!” I suggested to Aina like that. “And
probably
our father was just warning us not to forget him,” Aina supported my suggestion. At last, both of us
confirmed
that “Remember The Day After Tomorrow” was the name of our eldest brother who had left our father for another town before we were born.

After some months that my father had died, a strange man came to my father’s house. This strange man was an expert trickster and kidnapper of children. He was the very kidnapper who peeped through the window to the sitting room and he heard how my father prayed for us and then warned us not to forget “Remember The Day After Tomorrow” when he wanted to die. But as this kidnapper noticed well that my father got a big hunch on his back. So one day, he put a flat stone on his back in such a perfect
way that this stone seemed exactly a hunch when he wore a big garment over it. Having done so, he came to my father’s house and he met us as we sat in our father’s sitting room.

“Hello sir! Welcome sir! Please have a seat sir!” Aina and I received this kidnapper with great respect especially when we saw the costly garment which he wore over his false hunchback and also the costly big horse tail which he held as if he was a chief.

“This is the cold water, sir!” I ran to the pot and brought the cold water. I knelt down before him with great respect as I was giving him the water. After he drank it and rested for a few minutes, he asked from us as if he had not yet heard of the death of my father and mother:

“By the way, where is your father?”

“Father? Our father had died a few months ago!” Aina and I replied at a time with sorrow. “Died or what?” the kidnapper asked with a deceiving voice. “Yes, he had died and left us in his poverty!” both of us explained to him loudly.

“Could you remember that your father warned you before he died that you must not forget—‘Remember The Day After Tomorrow’?” the kidnapper asked and
pretended
as if he was in grief.

“Oh, yes, our father used to warn us always before his death that we must remember—‘Remember The Day After Tomorrow’, and he told us also that—‘Remember The Day After Tomorrow’ would come home soon after his death!” both of us exclaimed hastily.

“Was that so? Good!” the kidnapper asked and then paused for a few minutes as he began to raise his head up and down in a slow motion as if he was thinking seriously
about our father’s death. “Now, I confess to both of you that I am your eldest brother, whose name your father, before his death, was mentioning to you always. And my name is ‘Remember The Day After Tomorrow’ and I am this before you today [he stood up and posed himself with pride before us for a few minutes and then he sat back]. I was born and went to another town before both of you were born. Therefore, both of you are my junior brother and sister because your father was my father as well. So I come today to stay with you and I shall be taking great care of you as well as our father did before he died. Even to believe that I am your eldest brother, the first born of our father! [the kidnapper stood up, he showed us his false hunchback and then he sat back.] Look at my
hunchback
.”

“Yes, we believe that you are our eldest brother and your hunchback which resembles that of our father also proves that you are our eldest brother whose name is—‘Remember The Day After Tomorrow’,” the kidnapper had persuaded us with his trick and we admitted at the same time that he was our eldest brother.

“By the way, where is you mother who is my mother as well?” the kidnapper asked from us loudly with trick.

“Our mother died before the death of our father!” we replied with sorrow.

“And so both of them had left you in their poverty?” the kidnapper asked as he lighted his long and curved
smoking
pipe.

“Yes, we have already inherited their poverty!” we replied with tears.

“Hoo—hoo—hoo!” the kidnapper, with his trick, having heard like that from us, he covered his head with
both palms pretended to be weeping bitterly for some minutes. But he did all this also just to convince us that he was our eldest brother.

“Hah, stop weeping, brother! What are you doing all this for! Please stop that, sir!” both of us stood up and caressed him until he stopped.

Then he stood up. He walked to every part of the house. He peeped to every room just to see the kind of the property which were inside them.

“But I wonder, our father and mother were so poor that they did not leave any precious property for you except rags, cutlasses and hoes! Hah, I believe now that they were really created with poverty!” the kidnapper shouted as he was returning to the sitting room and then he sat back. So with gladness, Aina went to the kitchen. She cooked the little yam that we got in the house. She brought it to him and all of us ate it together.

After a few days that this kidnapper had been living with us he advised us: “I believe, things are too dull in this village. Therefore, I shall take both of you to the town where I came from. You will be working in that town and I believe, in one year’s time, everyone of you will
become
rich and then you will be free from the poverty which you have inherited from our father and mother. Then you will come back to this village as rich persons!” The kidnapper deceived us just to be able to take us to another town and sell us as slaves.

“Thank you, brother, for your useful advice. But who will be taking care of the house when you take us away?” I asked him with surprise.

“Never mind about the house, my junior brother, and don’t be afraid, there is no any valuable property in this
house which can attract the thieves to carry away. Look at this juju [he showed us one wrapped leaf] which I am going to hang on the main door now. Its wonderful work is to keep all the thieves away from this house!” The kidnapper stood up, he walked to the main door and hung the wrapped leaf there.

Then by four o’clock in the following morning, before our neighbours and other people woke in the village, the kidnapper took us to another town which was far away from our village. As soon as he took us to this foreign town, he again took us to the house of a wealthy
slave-buyer
who was also a very strong idol worshipper of this town. When we followed him to the sitting room of this slave-buyer, we met him sat on a high chair which was made of bamboo. He wore black native garment and a big red native cap was on his head. He sat on that bamboo chair at the centre of his sitting room. Several fearful idols were on each corner of the room. The height of each of them was up to that of a tall and huge person. The fresh blood was flowing down from their heads to their feet and this showed us that this slave-buyer or idol worshipper was sacrificing living creatures or human being to them frequently.

Immediately we entered the sitting room, the
kidnapper
greeted the slave-buyer and then he sat on another bamboo chair which was on the right. He hardly sat down when he shouted on us to stand at a little distance in front of the slave-buyer and we did so at the same time with fear. Then without hesitation and with a sharp voice, the kidnapper told the slave-buyer: “Yes, I bring these two poor children for you to buy!” He pointed his finger to both of us as he was telling the slave-buyer like that.

“Good. But how much do you want to sell each of them?” the slave-buyer asked from him with a huge voice. Then the kidnapper told us to pose ourselves well for the slave-buyer just to be able to see every part of our bodies. When he forced us to pose ourselves well for the slave-buyer and we did so but as he gazed at us with his fearful eyes, the kidnapper told him: “I will sell each of them for twenty pounds and you will give me two big garments and caps in addition!” But when we knew that he wanted to sell us, we shouted greatly: “Hah, brother, do you want to sell us?” So without mercy, the kidnapper struck our mouths with a stick as he boomed on us: “Shut up your mouths there! Don’t you know
whom
you are talking to?”

But as soon as he became hostile to us like that
unexpectedly
I became so annoyed that I told him: “But don’t be harsh to us like this at this time! Please, remember that you have confessed to us that you were our eldest brother whose name is ‘Remember The Day After Tomorrow’!” Having heard like that from me, he stood up suddenly and shouted greatly on us: “Who is your brother? Tell me now! Who is your brother?” then he sat back as the slave-buyer was still gazing at every part of our bodies. “I am afraid, everything has now been changed here,” Aina whispered to me with fear.

Then the slave-buyer turned his face to him and told him: “Well, I can pay only ten pounds for each of the children because they are very young. They cannot work in the farm but of course, I shall sacrifice them to my idols in the next festival which will take place in a few weeks time!”

“You are going to sacrifice us to your idols or what do
you say?” Aina and I shouted with fear as we stared at him.

“I say shut up your mouths there! Will you pose
yourselves
once more to the slave-buyer!” the kidnapper shouted on us with a fearful voice. Then he turned his eyes back to the slave-buyer and said: “All right, pay the money now. But of course, each of them is worth more than ten pounds!”

Then without hesitation, this slave-buyer or idol worshipper paid him the money and he gave him two native garments and two native caps before he told him to go away. But as this kidnapper was going away, I shouted with tears: “Hah, you sold us!” and Aina shouted with tears as well: “But you have told us that you were our eldest brother! But we have just been understood that you are not our brother at all!” Without shame, the kidnapper now proudly explained to us: “I am sorry that it is too late now before you do understand that—‘Remember The Day After Tomorrow’ is not the name of a person but it is a warning. And it should have been better if you have asked the meaning of it from your father before he died. So there would be no a kidnapper like myself who would be able to bring you from your village and then sell you as slaves like this! Goodbye!” So the kidnapper went away with laughter as Aina and I were still standing and were shaking with fear before the slave-buyer. A few minutes later, two strong men entered the sitting room. They tied our arms together with ropes and without mercy they dragged us to the compound where there was a shrine in which there was another fearful idol. Then these two men left us before this idol and then went out.

After a few minutes these two strong men came back
to us in the shrine with strong ropes in their hands. They put my both arms to my back and then tied both tightly with the rope. After that they put Aina’s both hands to her back and tied both together with the rope as well. Having done so, they laid both of us flatly in front of the fearful idol which occupied the whole of the shrine. After that both of them went out. But after they had gone out, I looked at this fearful idol and I saw that many long swords were hung round it. All were dangling here and there whenever the breeze blew. The idol itself was in height of a giant, it had the shape of that of a human being from neck to the foot but its head was that of a bull with two long horns on head. But of course, the head was bigger than that of a bull and also the two horns on its head were longer and thicker than that of a bull.

When we were sure that the slave-buyer who bought us from the kidnapper was going to sacrifice us to this idol, then we began to struggle to loose the ropes away from our arms and then to escape for our lives. But we could not loose the ropes at all. After a while, I asked from Aina that “Who will save us from this place?” But Aina replied that “There is nobody who can save us except our dead father and mother.”

It was like that we were tied up in this shrine till the night without giving us anything to eat. When it was about five o’clock in the following morning, the
slave-buyer
or the chief idol worshipper, his family, servants and his followers began to sing loudly and all were coming to this shrine as they were dancing. As we were hearing them singing loudly, Aina said with fear—“Hah, they are coming to kill us now for this idol.” But as soon as they reached the entrance of the shrine, all of them stopped,
they began to flatter the idol with different voices. But as they were still doing so and the drummers were still beating the drums in such a way that the chief idol worshipper, his family, servants and his followers, began to dance round the shrine like a mad person. Then this time, I did all my best to loose the rope away from my hands and God was so good the rope was cut
unexpectedly
. Then without hesitation, I took one of the swords which were hung round the idol. I hastily cut off the rope which was on Aina’s arms.

So I hardly cut off the rope when I put her in one of the corners of the shrine. After that I held the sword firmly and then hid myself in another corner. I was waiting for them to enter and then to fight them with the sword. After a while, all of them with the drummers rushed in to the shrine as they were still dancing and singing loudly. But as soon as all of them were kept quiet unexpectedly when they did not see us in front of the idol. I rushed against the Chief Idol Worshipper (slave-buyer) but as I was about to behead him with the sword. All of them were so feared that they run away from the shrine. And they hardly rushed out when I told Aina to follow me. Then I began to chase them along to kill with the sword which I raised above my head. But as I was still chasing them about in the town to kill, they escaped into the bush without their wish.