Feather Woman of the Jungle by Amos Tutuola

Author:Amos Tutuola [Amos Tutuola]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571311354
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2014-09-03T04:00:00+00:00

The Goddess of the Diamonds on the Mountain

The entertainment of the sixth night

(My fifth Journey)

Now my people were gathered in front of my house to listen to the story of my fifth journey. After they were served with palm-wine and I drank some kegs. Then I sat right on my usual old arm-chair. I put fire in my pipe and as I was enjoying it, I started my story as follows:

Well, as I had told you last night that I was not discouraged at all to go to another journey, although I had helped the people of the town of famine but the end of my help was really bad and I left there with empty hands. But I continued my fifth journey after one year that I had returned from the town of famine. So immediately I woke up in that morning, I dressed up, I took my gun, hunting-bag and my usual matchet. After that I walked to my father’s room, I bade him good-bye and so I did to my mother and then I set on my journey that morning.

After I had travelled for so many days, I came to a sea. This sea was so dangerous that several thousands of people were losing their lives in it every year when crossing it. It was in the north-east of my village. But those who had risked their lives and crossed it to the other side had returned with great fortunes and it were that fortunes had attracted me to attempt to cross it. When I waited on the bank of it for many days and yet there was no canoe with which to cross it. Then I started to travel along on its bank. After a while I saw one old canoe which had been driven on the weeds by the waves. When I examined it, it had splitted from one end nearly to the other. But of course, I did not know whether the owner of it had been drowned in that sea and that was a great fear to me. But anyhow, I tied up the splitted part very securely with a rope. Having done that, I cut a twig of a big tree and carved it like a paddle. Then I hung my gun, hunting-bag and matchet on my shoulders, after that I pushed that canoe on the sea and then I was paddling it along.

To my surprise, and fear, I did not paddle it more than one mile when heavy rain and gale began. The gale was carrying my canoe deeply into the sea. I tried my best to paddle it back to the shore but all my efforts were failed. I was still in this restlessness of mind when the snows began to drop repeatedly. As I was protecting my head from the snows, the gale was carrying my canoe far away and as I was blaming myself that if I had known I should not had coveted to come to the sea, then the lightning started.

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