Ajapa the Tortoise by Margaret Baumann

Author:Margaret Baumann [Baumann, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780486149684
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2012-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

XIX. Oluronbi’s Promise

In a certain village no baby had been born for fourteen years. The women grew idle, as they had no children to care for, and the men, who would have been instructing their sons in the secrets of hunting and wood-craft, as well as in the various occupations of the village, shook their heads sadly over the drowsy silence that reigned where childish prattle and running feet should have made a cheerful and comforting noise.

One night all the men of the village met in a secret grove and discussed the matter. Bada, the drummer, was more vehement than all the rest.

“Alas!” he complained. “I am growing old, and who is there to carry on my work? Shall a stranger from some other village come here with his drum to play for the dancing and to mock at us?”

“Alas!” sighed all the rest.

“There is some evil charm hanging over the village,” continued Bada. “Or perhaps the women of the village are not pleasing to the gods. Let us turn them out into the forest.”

The rest cried out against such a harsh thought, but the fat goldsmith, Alagbede, said:

“It is true. Our women must be very wicked, since the gods will not trust them to train up little children to bring prosperity to the village. Let us cast them off.”

In the end all the men gave their consent to the suggestion, except Sani, the wood-carver, who loved his young wife Oluronbi devotedly. He was a very skilful man, and even the King of the land had praised his carving, for he designed stools supported by the figures of two fighting elephants; and again the shapes of crocodiles, strange birds and beasts of the forest, decorated with the marks of a hot iron, and so lifelike that all were astonished to see them.

Being thus a man of importance in the village, Sani was listened to with respect by the rest, though most of them were older than himself.

“I agree with you, my friends,” he declared, “that things are in a very serious state. At the same time, I feel that there is good fortune in store for our village. Let us therefore wait another year before we cast off our wives, and I now pledge you my word that my own wife, Oluronbi, whom I love dearly, shall be the first to go.”

After much discussion, the rest agreed, and the meeting came to an end.

But someone reached the village before the men: one of the women, concealed among the tall grasses, had heard every word which had been spoken, and she ran like an antelope to tell her friends what had transpired.

Oh, what sorrowful looks did the women cast upon one another when they heard of the cruel decree of their husbands! But none felt such grief as Oluronbi when the words of Sani the wood-carver were reported.

“Alas! alas!” cried all the women together. “We shall be turned out into the forest to be killed by the leopards and wolves. Alas

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