X.—How an Inkum Boy was Drowned by His Companions and how they
were Punished.
There was once an Inkum woman named Omegha, who was considered very good-looking, but, curiously enough, no man had ever wanted to marry her, although she was very popular and went about from one man to another. She also went from town to town, showing off her beauty, in the hopes that some man might fancy her and ask her to marry him.
At last she got tired of walking about, and returned home to live with her parents. Her father was very fond of her, but often said that he wished she had been a boy as she would then have been able to help him with his work on the farm.
After Omegha had been living at home for a little time, her father said to her, “I wish you would get a son who would help me on the farm when he grew up.” Omegha replied that, although she slept with plenty of men, she had never conceived. Her father then warned her that she would never bear a child if she went on as she was doing, always changing and sleeping with so many different men.
He then advised her to live with the same man for a whole month, and then see what would happen. Omegha waited for a week, and then did as she had been advised to do by her father, and, after a month had elapsed, she found that she had conceived.
A few months after this, Omegha’s father died, leaving her mother and herself in the house. Then her mother said to her “Now that your father is dead, you must not go about as you did before, as there are only two of us. You shall stay at home and I will look after you and the child who is soon to be born.” They then wrapped the dead body up in mats, and made a hole in a room at the back of the house, where they buried the corpse.
Some time afterwards, Omegha gave birth to a son, whom she called Ogor. The boy grew very fast, and after a time he was able to walk.
As Omegha was a poor woman, she used to take her little son with her to the farm every day. But when Ogor was six years old, she got tired of doing this, and used to leave him in the house with his grandmother, who was very fond of him. Then Omegha used to go off alone, and visit her numerous men friends.
Ogor had often been told by his mother not to go near the river, and he was frequently warned not to play about with the other boys of his age in the town, as they would surely lead him into mischief.
One day, while his grandmother was cooking, he heard the company of small boys to which he belonged playing outside, so he stole out of the house and joined them. When the boys saw who it was had come to play with them, they asked him why he did not always come out and join them, so he told them that his grandmother would not allow him to go out of the house.
The boys then said they were hot from playing and were going down to the river to bathe. They invited Ogor to go with them, but he refused and ran home.
Before he reached the house, his mother, who was returning from visiting one of her lovers, met him and gave him a sound flogging for being so disobedient.
That night, the boys belonging to Ogor’s company, of whom there were eight, met together and decided that Ogor had been very rude to them. They therefore determined to punish him the next time they caught him.
A few days afterwards, Ogor again stole out of the house when his grandmother was busy, and joined his companions who were playing in the town not far from the beach.
When the play was finished, they all went down to the river to bathe, and swam out to a sand bank in the middle of the river, it being the dry season.
One of the boys had brought some strong tie-tie with him, and two others went off and soon came back again with a heavy stone. Ogor was then put on his back and securely fastened to the stone with the tie-tie. He did not struggle or cry out, as he thought it was all done in play.
When the boys had finished tying up their companion, they looked round very carefully to see whether anyone was watching them, but, finding there was no one about, they carried Ogor out into the river, and threw him into the water where it was deep, and he sank at once. The boys then swam back to the beach, and went off to their various homes.
Just about this time, Omegha returned home, and, missing Ogor, asked her mother what had become of the boy. The old woman told her daughter that Ogor had stolen out of the house as he had done on the previous day, and she thought he had most likely gone to join the small boys’ company as she had heard them playing in the town.
Both the women then went out to look for the boy, but could not find him or any of his companions, as they had all returned to their parents’ houses. They searched everywhere for Ogor, but could not find him, so at last Omegha thought of the porcupine, and made up her mind to ask his advice as to what had happened to Ogor, and what was the best thing to do to get him back again. She then walked to the porcupine’s house and told him that she was in great grief as she had lost her only son Ogor, and could not find out what had become of him. Omegha then asked the porcupine to help her, which he promised to do. He then went into his back room to consult his ju-ju, and, being very clever, it did not take him long to find out what had happened to the boy, so he soon returned to Omegha, and told her that her son had been thrown into the river by his companions, and that the water ju-ju had taken him to his house at the bottom of the deep pool in the river.
Omegha then went down to the beach with the porcupine, and, when they arrived at the water’s edge, the porcupine, who was a very good swimmer, at once dived into the river and swam to the water ju-ju’s house. The porcupine then told the water ju-ju that he had promised to help Omegha, and asked if the boy was there. The water ju-ju replied that he had saved Ogor’s life as he was sorry for Omegha and her mother, who were poor people, and only had this one boy.
He then said that he had no objection to returning Ogor to his mother, and that the porcupine might take him away when he departed, but he insisted that the boys who had thrown Ogor into the river should be punished, and told the porcupine to tell the chiefs of the town that, if they did not punish the boys very severely, he would seize everyone who came into the river and keep them in his house for all time.
The water ju-ju also told the porcupine that he must take Ogor to his mother when it was dark, and hide him in the house until the palaver was heard, so that no one should know that Ogor was alive.
The porcupine waited until the evening came, and then, having thanked the water ju-ju for his kindness, swam off with Ogor, and took him to his mother’s house, taking care to go by the back way so that no one should see them. Omegha was delighted to get her son back again, and hid him away. She then thanked the porcupine, who went off to the chiefs of the town and delivered to them the message from the water ju-ju.
The chiefs at once sent the drummer round the town to tell all the people to attend at the palaver house the next day, that no one was to go to their farms, and that all the small boys of the town were to attend.
In the morning, the chiefs took their seats, and the people sat down all round them. The porcupine was then called upon to tell all the people what had happened. So he stood up and said that Ogor, the son of Omegha, had been thrown into the river by his companions, they having first tied him up and fastened a heavy stone to him to make him sink. They had then left him to drown, but the water ju-ju, being kind-hearted, had saved him.
Ogor was next called, to the great astonishment of the eight boys who thought he was dead. He pointed them all out, and told the chiefs which of the boys had tied him up and those who had carried him and thrown him into the river.
The head chief then said that all the eight boys were guilty of trying to drown their companion, and that they should all be taken to the beach and killed as a warning to other boys not to kill one another. He also pointed out that the water ju-ju had threatened to seize all the people who went into the river if the boys were not properly punished.
All the people agreed that it was a just sentence, but one chief, called Eka, refused to allow his son, who was one of the eight boys, to be killed, and said he would see what the water ju-ju could do.
All that night, the mothers of the seven boys cried bitterly; and begged the chief not to kill their sons, but he told them that the sentence must be carried out, as otherwise the water ju-ju would be angry and kill many people.
The next day, the seven boys were taken down to the beach and killed, and their fathers took their bodies home and buried them. The town then mourned for three days.
The head chief then called the porcupine to him, and told him to go to the water ju-ju and tell him that the seven boys had been killed, but that Chief Eka had refused to allow his son to be killed, and had defied the water ju-ju to do his worst.
So the porcupine set off and dived into the river and reported to the water ju-ju all that had happened. The water ju-ju said the head chief had done quite right to kill the seven boys, as, had he not done so, he would have made the people suffer very much. He also said that he would deal with Chief Eka’s son later on. Then the porcupine returned to the land and reported to the head chief all that the water ju-ju had said.
When Chief Eka heard the threat of the water ju-ju he at once gave orders to all his people that none of them were to go into the river, but, that, if they wanted to wash, they must carry the water to their houses for the purpose.
This was done for two years and nothing happened, but, in the commencement of the third year, Chief Eka’s son, thinking he was quite safe, thought he would like to bathe, so he went down to the river and went into the water as far as his knees; he then washed himself and returned home. As nothing had happened to him the first day, he went down again in the afternoon when the sun was not quite so hot, and jumped into the deep water, but the water ju-ju, who was waiting for him, at once seized him and dragged him out of sight under the water.
The people who were bathing at the time, when they saw the boy disappear at once, guessed that it must be the water ju-ju who had taken him, so they went and told Chief Eka what they had seen. When he heard what had happened, he went to the porcupine and asked him to go to the water ju-ju, and offer him two slaves if he would return his son. The porcupine agreed to go, providing Chief Eka gave him one slave and 500 rods for his trouble. The chief willingly agreed to this, and the slave and rods were brought to the porcupine’s house that very night.
In the morning the porcupine went down to the river, and dived in as he had done before, and swam to the water ju-ju’s house and told him that Chief Eka offered to give him two slaves if he would release his son. But the water ju-ju refused them, and said, “Tell Chief Eka, if he wants to see his son, let him look in the river in two days’ time.” So the porcupine went back and delivered the message to Chief Eka, who was very sorry as he was so fond of his son.
Two days afterwards, Chief Eka went down to the beach, where he saw the dead body of his son floating down the river, so he sent some men out in a canoe and they brought back the dead body and it was buried.
Ever since that time, the people of Inkum believe, when anyone is drowned and his body floats after three days without being eaten by the fish or crocodiles, that the water ju-ju has killed the dead man because he had done some evil thing.
Told by Abassi of Inkum.—[E.D., 9.6.10.]