The Brave African Huntress (10 page)

As I was running away for my life it was so they were chasing
me to catch and kill. They were still chasing me along until when I saw a small hut which was in the heart of this forest. Immediately I saw this hut, I was running to it. But when they about to catch me I shouted greatly to the inhabitant of this hut to help me. And to my surprise, I hardly shouted when a very old and weary man ran out from the hut and he was asking me—“What is that! What is that!” until when he saw these pigmies at my back. Immediately he saw them that they wanted to kill me, he gave me chance to run to his hut, but he hastily expanded both his hands to left and right which were disturbed them, he did not allow them to enter his hut.

When he stopped them he asked from them what was the matter. And they explained to him with great anger that I was the huntress who had driven them out of their town after I had killed the rest of them. They told him as well that as they saw me this day they were prepared to kill me as a revenge. And they did not let this old man say anything when they forced their way in and he followed them at the same time. But I had passed to the forest through the back door of the hut as they were still explaining to him all what I had done to them some time ago.

When they searched this hut and they did not see me from there. They told this old man to find me out at all costs. But when he refused to do so, because he wanted to safe me, then they began to beat him with the sticks which were in their hands. At last when he felt much pain he took his cutlass and he was cutting everyone of them without mercy. And when he nearly killed all of them then the rest who were not more than two or three in number, escaped. After the rest were escaped I came back to the hut, I thanked greatly from this old man. After that both of us buried those whom he killed. And that was how I came out from the “Bachelors' town”.

After we buried them near his hut he gave me food and I ate
the whole of it within a few seconds because I was very hungry before I came there. Although this food was not as nice as the kind which I had been eating when I was the queen of the “Bachelors' town”. Having finished the food and I rested to my satisfaction, I told him that I would be living with him for some days before I would continue to find my way to go back to the Jungle of the Pigmies and he agreed.

This old man was so quiet and wise that I followed all the advices which he used to give everyday. But I was unable to look at his face or mouth whenever he was advising me, it was a great fear for me, because “When the front teeth fall away, the beauty of the mouth falls” and that was so for this old man, all his front teeth had fallen away and it made his face so ugly that it was very fearful to see always.

The fifth day, which was “The Day of three Resolutions” which was Saturday, that I was living with him and as we were discussing together how he came to live in the forest, there entered the hut a wonderful man. Immediately he entered the hut we raised up our heads and then we were expecting what he was going to say. But instead to tell us what he wanted he simply took one stool, he sat on it and then he asked for food without hesitation. Of course as this old man was quiet and wise he gave him food and water without any question.

As this wonderful man was eating he began to tell the old man that he would be living with him and he would be working for him. He told him further that his mother had wilfully thrown him in the jungle since when he was about nine years old, because he had troubled her too much. After he explained to this old man like that he (old man) asked from him his age and he replied that he was about fifty years of age. The reason why this old man asked for his age was that his voice was sharper or older than his appearance.

Both of us bursted into a great laughter when he said that he
was about fifty years of age. Because we wondered greatly when we saw his height which was not more than two feet and he was so thin that I could compare him with a stick which its diameter was not more than four inches.

He was a talkative because he could talk throughout the day and night without a break and he was talking very fastly yet his voice was very sharp. He was so troublesome that he could not live with anyone but we did not aware of that at first.
Whenever
he was talking fastly thus he would be closing and opening his small eyes and thus he would be turning his head here and there and also sniffing the smell of that place. However, this old man pitied his condition and he agreed to him to be living with us. But when he asked for his name the following day that he came to live with us, for he (old man) had forgotten to ask for it before this time. He told us that his name was Ajantala, but the old man chuckled suspiciously and he did not say anything.

In the following morning, when this old man was preparing to go to his farm to fetch for our food, Ajantala told him that he would follow him and he agreed. But when he put some yams and some edible fruits in the basket and he asked Ajantala to carry it to the hut. To his fear, Ajantala shouted on him without hesitation—“What do you tell me to carry, old man?” and the old man repeated what he had told him to do. Again Ajantala shouted on him—“Oh, is that how you want to treat me? All right, I will teach you a sense now!” So without
hesitation
, Ajantala threw a handful dust into the old man's eyes unexpectedly, and as he was staggering about for help, Ajantala hit his head again with a heavy stone and then he fell down helplessly at the same time. But when Ajantala saw him in this condition he let him there and he ran back to the hut, for he thought he would die after a few minutes.

Immediately Ajantala entered the hut and met me as I was
still preparing our food. With his usual sharp voice, he told me that the old man sent him to come and collect all his (old man's property) property and bring them to him, because the old man did not want to come back to his hut any more. When I first heard like that from him, I was greatly shocked at the same moment. I thought within myself that which meant this old man wanted to leave I alone in this hut and again I thought that perhaps the rest pigmies had made arrangement with him and he had agreed to them to come and kill me and perhaps that was the reason why he wanted to leave his hut without me.

As I was still suggesting in mind like that, Ajantala had put the whole of this old man's property at the front of the hut. Not knowing that when the old man lay down in the pool of blood for a few minutes he got up and then he was coming back to his hut when the blood stopped. But when he met Ajantala as he was just tieing all his property into one bundle and after that to carry them away, he challenged him at the same time that what was he doing with his property. Of course Ajantala did not deny at all, he explained to him that he was going to sell them. When he heard like that from him he began to struggle with him to take them back from him while I stood near the hut and I was looking at them.

But at last when I believed that Ajantala wanted to overpower him and if it was so, he would run away with the property. So I ran to them and I helped the old man to take his property back from him. But Ajantala held the property so tightly that we could not take it from him till this old man became dizzy and then fell down, because too much of blood had run down from his forehead when Ajantala hit the forehead with a stone in the farm.

Now it remained I alone who was ingrafting Ajantala not to take this bundle (the old man's property) away. Although I was
a brave huntress but I was unable to conquer Ajantala at all. Because as he was so small and thin he was very strong like a giant. After a while he flung me away as if I were a grain of maize, but I hastily gripped his thin legs when he was about to run away with this bundle. But as he was trying to take his legs back from me he fell down. Now both of us held ourselves and we were beating ourselves mercilessly while he still held the bundle with his left hand. Luckily when he was about to overpower me the old man stood up. He came to us, he ran to Ajantala's back, he snatched the bundle from him unexpectedly and then he ran to the hut with it while Ajantala was still beating me and I was beating him as well.

This old man hardly kept the bundle in the hut when he ran back to us when he believed that Ajantala would beat me to death soon. Then both of us were now beating Ajantala until when we were tired. When Ajantala stood up he ran to the hut, he searched it but he could not trace out this bundle because the old man, the owner of it, hid it under a big pot but Ajantala did not remember to open it. When he failed to trace it out, we thought he would go away. But when he did not go away, this old man told him frankly that he did not want to see him in his hut any more. But to our fear, Ajantala replied that he would not go away except when he got the bundle back. At last when the old man failed to drive him away from his hut he left him. But he was still troubling us badly to take this bundle away and whenever we were eating he would eat it along with us without asking him to do so.

It was when Ajantala was trying to steal this old man's
property
(bundle) away it revealed to him that Ajantala was one of “The forest burglars”. As he was living with us without the wish of this old man, it was so he was searching everywhere perhaps he would be able to trace out the bundle.

At last when he failed to trace it out he began to pull the roof
of this hut down little by little. When the old man believed that he would pull the whole hut down in a few days time and again if we did not keep ourselves away from him this time he would kill us when we fell asleep if he could not get the bundle back. So one night, when Ajantala lay down roughly as if he had slept. This old man first suggested that the better thing to do now which could safe us from him was to pack all our blongings and leave this hut this night so that we would travel far away before he would wake in the morning.

When this old man suggested like that I supported him, I told him that it would be better now to pack our food and the rest of our blongings in a big basket and then to leave there at once. Of course I had no any blongings which I could pack except this old man. Because this time I was just as a “bird who has no property to take along with himself whenever going to somewhere except his feathers”. All of my blongings were in the Jungle of the Pigmies. So at the same time I helped this old man to pack all his blongings together. I tied them together into a bundle. I put this bundle in a big basket, after that we put our food, basins, pots, etc., on top of the bundle. Having done that we hid this basket in a corner of the hut, then we went to the stream which was not so far away from there, to bathe. But not knowing that Ajantala never fall asleep when we began to make this arrangement and he heard how we were going to do.

So after we left for the stream he stood up cautiously and as he was very short and thin, he simply put all the things which were in the basket down. He went inside it, after that he put all these things on top of himself. Ajantala arranged these things so perfectly that we did not suspect that he was at the bottom of the basket when we returned from the stream.

Immediately we returned this old man helped me to put this basket on my head, after that he put the bundle (his property)
on his head, after that we left this hut cautiously so that Ajantala might not wake, for we thought that he was still sleeping, although we did not put on the light and the hut was so dark that we hardly saw even ourselves. It was this bundle Ajantala was trying to steal away.

As we were travelling along very hastily and having travelled about one mile away from this hut. And as we believed that we had already freed from Ajantala who was inside the basket, we began to scold and curse Ajantala badly and he was hearing all, but we did not know at all. When we travelled till daybreak, then we stopped when we felt to eat. Without fear, this old man helped me to put this basket down. After we put it down and as I was taking some plates from the basket, Ajantala jumped out from it suddenly. When we saw him jumped out this old man and I scattered to different direction unexpectedly with great fear. Because this fear was so much that we could not hesitate to see who jumped out from the basket. And it was after a few minutes before we came back to the basket and unfortunately, Ajantala had carried all of this old man's property away.

When we came back but we met only empty basket then it revealed to us that Ajantala was inside the basket as I had been carrying it about. So we took this empty basket and then we began to find him about at the same time, perhaps if we could find him out we would be able to take the property (bundle) back from him. It was like that Ajantala, the noxious burglar of the forest, stole all of this old man's property away.

But we could not travel so far when this old man became very seriously ill for his property which Ajantala had stolen away. When he could not walk again, I put him on my back and then I continued to travel along. And when I travelled until my back was paining me I put him down under a tree. I built a booth and I lay him under it, after that I covered him with broad leaves because there was no cloth to be used. After this, I went
round there and luckily I did not travel so far when I came to a farm. Yams and corn were planted on one halve of this farm while a lot of big guords were planted on the rest halve part of it.

When I came to this farm the first thing which I did was that I went round it just to make sure whether the owner of it was there or not. But when I did not see anybody there, then I took some yams and corn and I took one big guord. After that I went back to the old man. When I made fire and put two yams and corn in it, then I went to the river with that guord. After I cut its head away and washed inside of it thoroughly, then I drew water with it and I brought it to the booth. After the old man and I ate the yams and the corn to our satisfaction we drank from this water to our satisfaction as well.

It was like that I was doing everyday until when this old man became well and then we continued to find Ajantala about. One morning, as we were roaming about we came to a tree in which there was a hole. Not knowing that Ajantala had foreseen us while we were still far away. And he entered the hole of this tree, he hid himself inside it and he was waiting for us perhaps we would travel to that spot. After a while we travelled to this tree. But as it had plenty of leaves which threw cool shadow on the ground and again as we were very hungry and thirsty, so we stopped under this tree. After we put our yams and corn down, I made fire at once, I roasted them. After I peeled away the backs of these yams we began to eat them. But as this old man leaned his back on this tree and as we were eating the yams greedily Ajantala stretched his hand from the hole of this tree and he pulled up the hairs of this old man's head. When he first did like that the old man was greatly shocked with fear when he felt much pain. He raised his head up, he looked at this tree but he did not see anybody there. Because Ajantala had hastily put his hand back into the hole of the tree. After a while he knocked this old man's forehead again with a stick
and when he raised his head up again he did not see anything and this was a great wonder and fear to him.