The tortoise and the magic drum-African folktale

The tortoise and the magic drum 

Efriam Duke was an old lord of Calabar. He was a tranquil man, and could have done without war. He had a wonderful drum that, when it was beaten, always gave him a lot of good food and drink. Therefore, whenever a nation declared war on him, he would gather his adversaries and march to his drum; After that, to everyone's surprise, rather than fighting, there were tables full of fish, foo-foo, palm-oil chops, soup, cooked yams and ocros, and plenty of palm wine for everyone. He did this to keep the country quiet and to send his enemies packing with full bellies and contentment in their hearts. The only disadvantage of owning the drum was that three hundred Egbo men would appear with sticks and whips and severely beat the owner of the drum as well as all of the invited guests if the owner stepped on any stick on the road or a fallen tree.

Efriam Duke was a rich man. He had a lot of farms, hundreds of slaves, a lot of puncheons of palm oil, and a large store of kernels on the beach. He also had numerous children and fifty wives. All of the wives were beautiful and in good health; They were also good mothers, and the fact that they all had a lot of children was good for the king's family.

The king used to invite all of his subjects, including the wild animals, to a big feast every few months; In those days, there was no trouble because the elephants, hippopotami, leopards, bush cows, and antelopes were friendly to humans and did not kill one another at the feast. The king refused to part with the king's drum, despite the fact that everyone, including the animals, was jealous of the king's drum and desired to own it.

One morning Ikwor Edem, one of the lord's spouses, brought her little girl down to the spring to wash her, as she was covered with yaws, which are terrible wounds all around the body. Just before the spring, the tortoise was up a palm tree picking nuts for his lunch; One of the nuts fell right in front of the child while he was cutting it. The mother, not knowing better, picked up the palm nut and gave her daughter the delicious food after the little girl saw it and cried for it. The tortoise climbed down the tree when he saw this and asked the woman where his palm nut was. In response, she stated that she had given it to her child to consume. Then, at that point, the turtle, who particularly needed the ruler's drum, figured he would make bounty babble over this and power the lord to give him the drum, so he shared with the mother of the youngster —

"I'm an unfortunate man, and I climbed the tree to get nourishment for me as well as my loved ones. After that, you gave your child the palm nut that I gave you. I will tell the entire make a difference to the lord, and see what he needs to say when he hears that one of his spouses has taken my food," for this, as each one knows, is an intense wrong doing as per local custom.

Ikwor Edem then, at that point, told the turtle —

"I saw your palm nut lying on the ground, and thinking it had tumbled from the tree, I gave it to my daughter to eat, however I didn't take it. I will bring you before my wealthy husband, the king, if you have any complaints about me or my child."

So, after she had finished washing her daughter at the spring, she showed her husband the tortoise and explained what had happened. The ruler then asked the turtle what he would acknowledge as remuneration for the deficiency of his palm nut, and offered him cash, fabric, parts or palm-oil, all of which things the turtle denied in a steady progression.

The lord then, at that point, told the turtle, "What will you take? You can have whatever you want."

What's more, the turtle promptly highlighted the ruler's drum, and said that it was the main thing he needed.

The king said, "Very well, take the drum" to get rid of the tortoise, but he never told the tortoise what would happen to him if he stepped on a fallen tree or a stick on the road.

The tortoise carried the drum home to his wife in triumph and declared, "I am now a rich man, and shall do no more work." All I have to do to get food or drink whenever I want it is beat this drum, and it will come to me right away."

When they heard this, his wife and children were overjoyed and requested that the tortoise immediately consume food because they were all starving. The tortoise was overjoyed to do this because he wanted to show off his newly acquired wealth and because he was also hungry. He beat the drum in the same way he had seen the king do when he wanted something to eat. Immediately, a lot of food appeared, and everyone sat down to eat. For three days, the tortoise did this, and everything went well; All of his children became obese and consumed as much food as they could. He was in this manner exceptionally glad for his drum, and to show his wealth he sent solicitations to the ruler and every one individuals and creatures to come to a banquet. Because they were aware that the tortoise was very poor, the people laughed when they received their invitations; However, as the king was aware of the drum, he arrived, and when the tortoise beat the drum, the food was brought as usual in great abundance, and everyone sat down and thoroughly enjoyed their meal. They were quite surprised that the unfortunate turtle ought to have the option to engage such countless individuals, and let every one of their companions know what fine dishes had been set before them, and that they had never had a superior supper. When they heard this, the people who weren't there were very sorry because not every day comes with a good meal paid for by someone else. The tortoise was highly respected as a result of everyone's perception of him as one of the kingdom's wealthiest individuals following the feast. Nobody, with the exception of the ruler, could comprehend how the unfortunate turtle could unexpectedly engage so extravagantly, yet they generally made up their brains that assuming the turtle at any point gave another banquet, they wouldn't decline once more.

At the point when the turtle had been in control of the drum for half a month he became sluggish and accomplished no work, however approached the nation bragging his wealth, and took to drinking excessively. He returned home carrying his drum one day after drinking a lot of palm wine at a distant farm; in any case, having had a lot to drink, he didn't see a stick in the way. He strolled over the stick, and obviously the Ju was broken immediately. But he didn't know this because nothing happened at the time, and he ended up arriving at his house exhausted and still suffering from alcoholism. He went to sleep after throwing the drum into a corner. The tortoise started to feel hungry when he woke up, so he beat the drum while his wife and children yelled for food. But instead of food, Egbo men stormed the house and brutally beat the tortoise, his family, and wife. At this the turtle was extremely irate, and told himself —

"I asked each one to a blowout, however a couple came, and they had a lot to eat and drink. The Egbos now come and beat me when I want food for myself and my family. Since I do not see why my family and I should be beaten when I have provided everyone with a feast, I will allow the other people to suffer the same fate."

As a result, he immediately invited all men and animals to a large dinner the following day at three in the afternoon.

Many people showed up when it was time because they didn't want to miss out on another chance to get a free meal. Even the blind, lame, and sick men persuaded their friends to take them to the feast. At the point when they had all shown up, except for the lord and his spouses, who sent pardons, the turtle beat his drum to the surprise of no one, and afterward immediately concealed himself under a seat, where he remained invisible. He had sent his wife and children away before the feast because he was sure of what would happen. Straightforwardly he had thumped the drum 300 Egbo men showed up with whips, and began lashing every one of the visitors, who couldn't get away, as the entryways had been secured. The people were beaten for two hours, and the punishment was so severe that many of them had to be carried home by friends on their backs. The panther was the one in particular who got away, as straight forwardly he saw the Egbo men show up he realize that things were probably going to be unsavory, so he gave a major spring and hopped right out of the compound.

The tortoise crept up to the door and opened it after the people had been beaten enough. Individuals then, at that point, took off, and when the turtle gave a specific tap on the drum all the Egbo men evaporated. He decided to give the drum back to the king the following day because the people who had been beaten were so enraged and talked so much to the tortoise. Therefore, the tortoise brought the drum to the king and went to him in the morning. He let the ruler know that he was not happy with the drum, and wished to trade it for something different; As long as he received full value for the drum, he did not mind what the king gave him, and he was willing to accept a certain number of slaves, a few farms, or the equivalent in cloth or rods.

However, the king refused to do so; But because he cared a lot about the tortoise, he promised to give him a magical foo-foo tree that would feed him and his family if he kept certain conditions. The tortoise gladly agreed to this. Presently this foo tree just drag organic product one time each year, however consistently it dropped foo and soup on the ground. Furthermore, the condition was, that the proprietor ought to assemble adequate nourishment for the afternoon, once, and not return again for more. After the tortoise thanked the king for his generosity, he returned to his wife's house and instructed her to bring her calabashes to the tree. They gathered enough soup and foo-foo to feed the entire family that day and returned to their home happy after she did so.

They all ate well and had fun that night. However, one of the sons, who was extremely narcissistic, pondered, "I wonder where my father gets all this good food from? I must inquire."

So in the first part of the day he shared with his dad —

"Let me know where do you get this foo and soup from?"

However, his dad wouldn't tell him, as his significant other, who was a craftiness lady, said —

"Assuming that we let our youngsters in on the mystery of the foo tree, sometime when they are eager, after we have our day to day supply, one of them might go to the tree and assemble more, which will break the Ju."

In any case, the desirous, still up in the air to get a lot of nourishment for himself, chose to follow his dad to the spot where he got the food. This was hard to do because the tortoise always went out on his own and took great care not to let anyone follow him. However, the boy quickly devised a strategy, purchasing a calabash with a long neck and a hole in the end. He then got a bag that his father always carried on his back when he went out to get food and filled the calabash with wood ashes that he got from the fire. In the lower part of the sack the kid then made a little opening, and embedded the calabash with the neck downwards, so that when his dad strolled to the foo tree he would leave a little path of wood cinders behind him. Then, as usual, his greedy father set out to get the daily supply of food by slinging his bag over his back, his avaricious son followed the trail of wood ashes, taking great care to conceal himself and not let his father know he was being followed. The tortoise finally got to the tree, where the boy watched from a distance as he set down his calabashes and gathered the day's food. The boy returned after his father finished and went home, had a satisfying meal, and then went to bed without speaking to them. The following morning he got a portion of his siblings, and after his dad had wrapped up getting the everyday inventory, they went to the tree and gathered much foo and soup, thus broke the Ju.

The tortoise went to the tree as usual at daylight, but he couldn't find it because the entire bush had grown up overnight and the foo-foo tree was hidden from view. A dense mass of prickly tie-tie palm was the only thing visible. The tortoise then immediately realized that someone had broken the Ju Ju and collected foo-foo twice in one day; Consequently, he sadly returned to his residence and informed his wife. After that, he gathered all of his family members and informed them of the incident, inquiring as to who was responsible for it. "My dear wife and children, I have done all that I can for you, but you have broken my Ju Ju," the tortoise said as he brought his family to the place where the foo-foo tree had been, but which was now all prickly tie-tie palm. They all denied having anything to do with the tree. you should hence for the future live on the tie palm."

Because they had nowhere else to go for food, they made their home under the prickly tree, and ever since that day, you will always find tortoises living under the prickly tie-tie palm.