Page:Folklore1919.djvu/579

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
Thirty-two Folk-Tales of Nigeria.
213

do). So the mosquito comes at night and the left hand drives him away.

ii.

Cock and hen were husband and wife, and the hen bore many children; when the hawk came for food the cock gave him no chance; but the cock died and the hen wept for him; then the hawk came and took the chickens one by one and the hen called out: “Kokokokokọọ” (one chicken); and she called for her husband: “kpukpukpukpukpukpure” (bring stick), and since then all cocks call: “kpukpukpukpukpukpukpure.”

iii.

In Ogiso’s town were two boys born of the same mother and they were great thieves and stole things from people’s pockets. They were brought before the king and he did not know what to do; so he called the town and made them plant corn and said he would kill whoever touched it; but no one was to tell the boys. But some one told them; and they agreed that one should carry the other and that one should pick the corn; then “if they try ita, we are all right. We can say: ‘If I took foot to walk, may ita catch me,’ or ‘If I took the corn, may ita catch me.’” So one night they went and A carried B. B filled the bag and gave it to A and filled his own bag too.

At daybreak there was an outcry, and the king called the town together, and people said: “Those boys have done it.” So they took ita to try, but the boys tried it and escaped.

(Ita is an ordeal in which the tongue is pierced with a fowl feather; if it cannot be withdrawn in three attempts, the patient is guilty.)

iv.

Ototanagmo and Ototanelimi (ruler of the world, ruler of heaven) met on the road and asked each other where they came from and what they were doing. Then they agreed