Where Animals Talk; West African Folk Lore Tales/Part 2/Tale 10
A Quarrel About Seniority
Persons
| Ihendi (Squirrel) | Pe (Viper) | |
| And 2 Children | Ikundu (Vengeance) Ihana (Help) |
A Hunter |
NOTE
This story suggests that when a neighbor flatters another, suspicion is raised that he is plotting some evil. Squirrel and the Adder professed great friendship; but their friendship was soon broken.
Claims of seniority are a constant cause of native quarrels.
A certain fetish-charm or "medicine" (generally poisonous) is supposed to be able to decide, on its being drunk by accused parties, as to their guilt or innocence.
There is a common belief in premonitions by unusual beats of the heart, or twitching of any muscle.
Squirrel and Adder were great friends, living in the same town. Each of them had two wives.
One day, in the afternoon, Squirrel and one of his wives went into the house of Adder. The latter said to his wife, "Make ready food." So, she made a great deal of food. Then he said to his friend Squirrel, "Come, eat!" But Squirrel said, "I won't eat alone without my wife." So he called his wife to eat. His wife came and ate at the table. Then he said to Adder, "Also, you call your wife to eat with us." So Adder's wife came. And Squirrel said to Adder, "Now let us eat; for, everything is right." So they began to eat.
While they were eating. Adder said, "I have a word to say about you, Ihendi." Squirrel replied, "Speak your word; I will listen." Then Adder asked, "You, Ihendi, and I, Pe; which is the elder? And your wife and my wife; also which is the elder?" Squirrel replied, "I am the elder, and my wife is older than your wife." But Adder said, "No! I am the elder; and my wife is older than yours." Squirrel responded, "I will give you my answer tomorrow in my own house." This occurred in the evening.
Then the day darkened, and Squirrel went to his house to lie down. Adder also went to lie down in his bedroom.
In the night, Squirrel remarked to his wife, "My wife! what sort of a word is this that Pe has spoken about so to me? I don't know about his birth, and he does not know of mine. We have no other person in the town who is able to decide which of us is the elder, and which the younger. This question has some affair behind it." His wife replied "I think that Pe wants to get up a quarrel in order to kill you or our children." Squirrel had two children, one named Vengeance and the other Help. Squirrel replied to his wife, "No! I will have no discussion with Pe; but tomorrow there shall be only a test of Medicine."
Soon the day broke. Squirrel sent word to Pe, "Chum! you and I will have today nothing else but a medicine-test and no quarrel. For, you and I profess to love each other. I do this to prove both yourself and myself, lest you get up some affair against me, even though we love each other very much." Adder consented, "Yes; get the Medicine. I will know then what I shall say."
Squirrel went to the forest to get leaves and bark of a certain tree for the kwai (test). On his return, he said to Adder, "Here is the test; let us drink of it." Adder replied, "The Medicine is of your getting. You first drink of it." Squirrel agreed, "Yes, I will drink first."
So, Squirrel, conscious of his innocence, drank the test and swore an oath, "If I meet Pe's mother, it shall be only in peace. Or his father, only peace; or his children, only peace." Squirrel added, "I have finished speaking for my part." And he sat down on the ground.
Then Adder arose from his seat and stood up. And he exclaimed, "Yes! let it be so!" He took up the medicine from the ground; and he drank of it greedily. And he swore, "If I meet with the children of Ihende, it will be only to swallow them. Or, father of Ihende, only to eat him; or mother of Ihende, only to eat her!" Then he sat down.
But, Squirrel exclaimed, "Ha! my friend! you saw how I drank my share of the medicine, and I have not spoken thus as you. For what reason have you thus spoken?" Adder answered, "Yes! I said so; and I will not alter my words."
They dispersed from the medicine ordeal, and went each to his house. Then that day darkened into night. And they all went to their sleep.
Soon the next day broke. Squirrel and his wife prepared for a journey to the forest to seek food. He said to his wife, "Leave the children in the house." So the woman shut them in, and closed the doors tight. And he and she went off to the forest.
Later on in the morning. Adder arose from his place, and he said to himself, "I'm going to stroll over to the house of my friend Ihende." So he came to Squirrel's house, and found no one there. He tried to break in the door; finally, he succeeded in opening it; and he entered the house. He found the two children of Squirrel lying together asleep. He shook them, and they awoke. He asked them, "Where is my friend?" They answered, "Our father and mother have gone to the forest."
Then Adder suddenly joined the two children together and swallowed them. (They were both of them lads.) Then he went out of the house, and closed the door. His stomach being distended with what he had swallowed, he went back to his house, and laid down on his bed.
Off in the forest, Squirrel said to his wife, "My heart beats so strangely! I have eaten nothing here; what should disturb my heart?" His wife replied, "Well! let us hasten back to town. Perhaps some affair has happened in our house!"
They hastily gathered their food, to go back rapidly to town. On their arrival, they went at once to their house. Looking at the door, the wife exclaimed, "I did not leave this door so! Who has been at it?" Her husband urged, "Quickly! Open the door! Let us enter at once!" They opened the door; and found no one in the house.
Then Squirrel, fearing evil, said to her, "Stay you here! I will go over to Pe's house. I know that fellow!" He came to Adder's house, and found him distended with this stomach. Squirrel asked him, "Chum! have you been at my house?" Adder answered, "Yes, I went to your house; but I have done nothing there." Squirrel asked him, feeling sure of his guilt, "But, where then are my children? Why did you not leave even one of them? Ah! my friend!" Adder replied, "When we drank the Test, did I not swear the truth that if I met with your children, I would swallow them?" Squirrel answered, "Yes! and you have kept your word well! But you shall see something just now and here!" Adder laughed, and said, "What can you do? You have no strength like mine."
Close by the house of Adder (which was only a hole in the ground) was a large tree. Squirrel went out of the house, and climbed to the top of the tree. There he began to wail for his dead, and cried out, "Ikundu ja mâ! Ikundu ja mâ!" (A play on words: either an apostrophe to the name of one of his children, or a prayer for vengeance). Another squirrel, that was a mile or two away, heard the wailing; and it came to where Squirrel was. Also his wife followed Squirrel to that tree; and she wailed too. And other squirrels came; about twenty.
A hunter, living in the town of Mankind, started from his town to go hunting. Coming along the path, he heard Squirrel crying. Looking up, he exclaimed, "O! how many squirrels!" He thought to himself, "Why do these animals make this noise, and keep looking down at the foot of this big tree?"
He approached near to the tree; and they dispersed among the branches. He then said to himself, "I will look around here at the bottom; for, as those squirrels continue their cry, they keep looking down here." Searching at the foot of the tree, he saw a hole, like the home of some beast. Looking in, he saw the Adder sluggish in his distention. The hunter killed it with his machete. And he took the dead adder with him to the town of Mankind.
Squirrel, from the tree-top, shouted after dead Adder, "You have seen my promised Ikundu." (Another play on words; either—"You saw my child;" or, "You see my Vengeance.")