The Witch-Herbalist of the Remote Town

Title Page
Acknowledgement
The Rocky Town
The God of the State
When I Became a Hunter
At Last I was Married to Lola
My Wife was Barren
My Preparation for My Journey
I Left My Town for the Remote Town
The Brutal Ape
Abnormal Squatting Man of the Jungle
The End of the Path
The Wild Jungle Wealthy People
The Strange Round Shadow
Long-Breasted Mother of the Mountain
The Crazy Removable-Headed Wild Man
The Town of the “Born and Die Baby”
The Offensive Wild People
The Stalwart Gateman and his Devil
The Fight on the Roadside Shrines
The Roadside Town
Road to the Remote Town
The Remote Town
In the Palace of the Witch-Herbalist
In the Hall of Assembly of the Mother
The Complete Skeleton Man
The Bald Lady
The Epileptic Man
The Woman with One Ear
The Man with Eight Burdens
It is My Turn Now
On My Way Back to My Town
I Ate from the Soup on the Way
I Returned to My Town At Last
Wife and Husband Conceived
Under the River
People Thought that We were Deads
My “Memory” Sued My First “Mind” and Second “Mind”
About the Author
By the Same Author
Copyright

The publishers would like to thank Molara Ogundipe-Leslie of the University of Ibadan for her advice and help in preparing Amos Tutuola’s manuscript for publication.

In the Rocky Town, the inhabitants worshipped only the god of iron, god of thunder, god of oracle, and god and goddess of the rivers. All kinds of images and idols and the “god of the state” which belonged to the government of the Rocky Town, were also worshipped. The inhabitants lived amongst the wild animals such as tigers, lions, wolves, leopards, etc. This was so because jungles, forests, etc. were more than the inhabitants of the town.

But as my father was more intelligent than the other old people, he was installed as the chief priest of oracle and the chief of the pagans. There was a big and deep river on the outskirts of the town, the distance of which was about two kilometres from the town. Several shrines were built near the banks. All of the people of the town kept their gods, idols, images, etc. in the shrines. And there they worshipped them. But as these gods, idols, images, etc. were of different kinds, therefore, different kinds of sacrifices were offered to them.

The big and deep river was flowing heavily to the south with very strong tides and waves. The water which formed this river was gushing out continuously from a strange pitcher of antiquity which stood like a small hill at the spot from where the river started to flow. As various kinds of bold and terrible images were carved on the back of this strange pitcher of antiquity, it was so different kinds of fearful noises were coming out from the inside of it. All these horrible things made the people fear to go near both the river and the vast pitcher, although many beautiful mighty trees, palm trees, coconut trees, etc. were lined up along the banks which had very lovely white sand.

But there was none of the people who lived in this Rocky
Town, neither grown-ups nor children, without his or her own god, idol, or image which he or she worshipped. So as
uncountable
shrines were built at the banks of the river, the people called the banks at some time THE TEMPLE OF GODS, IDOLS, IMAGES, ETC. If any one of the inhabitants had no god, idol, or image, which he or she worshipped, both children and grown-ups of the town would not like him or her, but they would take him or her as an unbeliever, and the rest of the people would not even go near him or her at all.

Furthermore, there was one of these gods which was called “the god of the state” and it belonged to the government of this Rocky Town. This special title was given to it because it was the most powerful and terrible of all the rest of the gods and idols, except the god of thunder. The height of this “god of the state” was just like that of a sternly looking giant. It was too terrible and fearful for the eyes of human beings to see, because it held above its head a very long and big spear by the right hand in such a fearful way as if it was preparing to stab to death without hesitation one who might go near it or stand at a short distance before it. This big and fearful spear which it held was so dazzling from its sharpness that it was hard to look at it for a half-twinkling or thirty seconds,
without
the eyes being hurt. (In the Yoruba language, “twinkling” means minute.)

The body of this “god of the state” was fearfully decorated with the skins of various kinds of animals such as lions, tigers, leopards, crocodiles, boar, forest lizards, etc. All of these skins were jointly woven into one huge garment of the Rocky Town’s type. The huge garment reached only to its elbows, neck and a half of its thighs. On the left of this god, there was
a complete skeleton of a man which it held tightly with the left hand. The platform on which it stood upright was about twenty metres above the ground. It was round but was flat at the top. Hundreds of skulls of men, women, animals, big birds of all kinds, etc. were stuck round the platform and so many were gathered round the feet of the god.

The neck of this terrible god was very huge and several thick veins were sprung out round it. Its eyes were just like those of an owl but bigger and more fearful. Each was moving sternly to different directions at one-twinkling intervals. Its nose was the same shape like that of a human but bigger. Each of the nostrils was so large that it could easily contain a big bottle. Its head had the shape of that of a human as well, but it was bigger than that of a human. The hair on this head weighed more than one ton of a load. All was muddled
together
from the rotten blood of the animals, humans, etc. which was pouring on it often and often. Each of its jaws was flat and thick beyond what a person could see and laugh at.

The upper lip of this “god of the state” was spread on the lower one and it could not move up or down because of the large quantity of long hair which pressed it one one place, And the lower one was dropped towards its chest because of the very long and thick beard which overweighted it.

Furthermore, one of its jaws was painted with white and red paints, while the other was painted with white and yellow paints. So whenever the strong breeze started to blow, the garment of the various kinds of animal skins which were woven together would be making different kinds of fearful noises which the ears of the human beings could hear and be happy from. So for its fearful and ugly appearance both young men and women of the town feared it greatly. But they gave it much respect which they could not even give to the king.

As thousands of the gods, idols, etc. which belonged to the common people of the town were kept in the shrines at the bank of this river, as well as the “god of the state”, special
ceremonies were performed for them in the tenth month of the year, for seventeen days and nights. The sacrifices which were given to each of the gods, idols, etc. were of different kinds. But the kinds of the sacrifices which were given to the “god of the state” were almost all kinds of the bush animals and domestic animals, including kola nuts, bitter kola nuts, palm oil, etc. And this “god of the state” was the imitation of the very powerful and most kind god or spirit of the river.

Special sacrifices were given to the god of the river once in a year. But many people were giving the god thank-offerings in addition. Of course, as he was kind, it was so he was cruel. Because sometimes he made the barren women to become mothers of children, and sometimes when he was cruel, he forced swimmers to drown and then dragged them to the place of his abode in the bottom of the river, and there he would detain them throughout their lives’ time. So when sacrifices were ready to be given to him in the year, a very big canoe would be carved from a mighty tree. Several kinds of bold images would be carved right round its body. Each of the images would be painted with different colours of paints, and the canoe itself would be beautifully painted both inside and
outside
. Then after, all of the sacrifices including one young man and one young lady were put in the canoe. Then many animals and fowls would be slaughtered. Having cooked their flesh and every one of the people having eaten it to his or her satisfaction, they would start to sing and dance round the canoe and also the “god of the state”.

Having sung, danced and drunk the palm-wine for a while, then one big ewe would be slaughtered in front of the “god of the state”. So having poured some of its blood on the “god of the state”, they would pour the rest on the heads of the young man and the lady who were dressed in beautiful clothes, etc. After that, the whole people would pray greedily to the god of the river to accept their sacrifices and to send peace and good health to them in return. Having prayed greedily like that for about twenty twinklings, then the
drummers would start to beat their drums, and as the whole people started to sing the song of the god of the river loudly, some of the strong men would push the canoe to the middle of the river. As the water started to carry the canoe away gently, the drummers would continue to beat the drums and the rest of the people would continue to sing, dance, etc. until the canoe would be lost to their view. But as soon as the canoe was lost to their view, the people would continue to sing and dance as they were going back to the town.

When my father saw that I was stronger and braver than any of my playmates, and also saw that I was bold and stout, he bought one bow and a large quantity of arrows for me. He told me to go to the nearby jungle to hunt for wild beasts. So I was very happy when my father gave me the bow and arrows. But the people of my town were very surprised to see that I killed many kinds of wild beasts before I came back to the town.

Having seen this, both young and old people were afraid of me each time they saw me. As I continued to kill many of the wild animals every day for some months all of my friends deserted me, because they thought that sooner or later I might kill them as I was killing the wild animals in the jungle. But I recalled them with the flesh of the animals as soon as I understood what they thought about me. So as soon as they ate from the flesh of the animals they were no more afraid of me, and we continued to play together as before I became a hunter.