Here are several tales Yoruba. Oyo State was the most powerful of the Yoruba city-states. Ilé-Ifé is considered the city of origin of all Yorubas. Here, the Yoruba religion is practiced as in all Yoruba states.
In the forest there is a giant tree called by the Yoruba the "Iroko", which is avoided by all, because in it lives the spirit of an old man who prowls at night with a small torch and frightens travelers.
Anyone who sees the Iroko-man face to face goes mad and quickly dies.
Seeing the thick branches and powerful trunk of the Iroko, loggers are often tempted to cut down the tree and use the wood, but this is very unlucky, as it causes the Iroko man to become displeased and brings misfortune to the woodcutter and all his family.
In any house that contains Iroko wood furniture, strange groaning and creaking noises can be heard at night; it is the spirit of the Iroko, imprisoned in the wood, which longs to wander again in the forest with its small torch.
Yoruba Tales: Orisa Oko
ORISA OKO was a poor hunter, lonely except for his fife and his dog. If he ever wandered into the fields or the forest, he would play a plaintive melody on his fife, and the sounds brought the faithful dog to his side to guide him home.
He made a poor living by trapping guinea fowl in his nets on the land of wealthy farmers, but because of his solitary life and his habit of silence he was respected as a man of secret knowledge whom he cared not for. disclose.
Over the years he grew too old to hunt and took up residence in a cave. People now thought him more mysterious than ever and came to him for advice on the future, so that in a short time he gained great fame as a soothsayer. People from far and near came to consult him, and in this way he managed to live very comfortably.
At that time, witchcraft was punishable by death and the custom in the country was that anyone suspected of this evil art was dragged to the cave of Orisa Oko. If the diviner found him innocent, he led him by the hand, but if found guilty, his head was cut off and thrown to the waiting crowd by the demon Polo, whom Orisa Oko kept in the cave.
This lasted until the death of the old hunter. His followers now wished to continue the practice, and so they hid a very strong man in the cave to act as the demon Polo. When a person accused of witchcraft was brought into the cave, their head was usually cut off and thrown away as before.
However, it once happened that a very tall and muscular man was suspected of magical arts, and his accusers succeeded in dragging him into the cave. A large crowd waited impatiently to hear the result. What was their dismay to see the head of the supposed "demon" emerge from the cave, for the strong man had proved too much for him, and soon reappeared unscathed and triumphant.
People were indignant to learn how they had been deceived, and from that day the cave of Orisa Oko was deserted.
Yoruba Tales: Moremi
A NOBLE from Ile-Ife had a beautiful and virtuous wife named Moremi, and a handsome young son, Ela.
The country of Ifes was at that time the object of ferocious raids by a tribe called the Igbo, who looked so strange in battle that the Ifes saw them not as humans, but as a visitation sent by the gods in punishment for some evil. In vain did they offer sacrifices to the gods; the raids of these strange beings continued, and the earth was thrown into a state of pamc.
However, the heroic Moremi, eager to put an end to this state of affairs, resolved to allow herself to be captured during one of the raids, in order to be taken prisoner to the land of the Igbos and to learn all their secrets.
Bidding farewell to her husband and her little son, she went to a certain stream and promised the stream god that, if her attempt succeeded, she would offer him the richest sacrifice she could afford.
As she had expected, she was captured by the Igbos and taken to their capital as a prisoner. Because of her beauty, she was given to the king of the Igbos as a slave; and because of her intelligence and noble heart, she soon won the respect of all and rose to a position of importance.
Before staying very long in the country, she had learned all the secrets of her enemies. She discovered that they were not gods but ordinary men. When going into battle, they wore strange coats of grass and bamboo fiber, which explained their abnormal appearance. She also learned that because of these cloaks of dry grass, they greatly feared fire, and that if the Ifes rushed among them with burning torches, they would be quickly defeated.
As soon as it was possible, she escaped from the palace and the territory of the Igbos and returned to her people. His news was greeted with joy in Ile-Ife, and soon after, the Igbos were utterly defeated by the trick Moremi had suggested.
Moremi then went to the stream and made a great sacrifice of sheep, fowl and oxen; but the stream god was not satisfied and demanded his son's life.
Sad, Moremi was forced to consent and sacrificed the handsome boy Ela. The Ifes wept to see this sad sight, and they promised to be his sons and daughters forever, to make up for his loss.
But there ! Ela lying on the ground was only half dead, and when the people left, he regained consciousness and got up. Making a rope of grass, he ascended to heaven, and he is certain that he will one day return to reap the benefits of his mother's noble sacrifice.
Yoruba Tales: The Bat
THE BAT is part bird and part rodent, and lives partly on land and partly in the air, but rats and birds shun it, and here's why:
The rats, his cousins, once fought a great battle with the birds, and Bat fought among them.
But when he saw that the birds were likely to be victorious, he left the rats behind and flew into the air to fight alongside the birds.
The rats and the birds were disgusted by this cowardly action, so they stopped fighting and all combined to attack the bat.
Since that day, he has been forced to hide in dark places all day and only comes out at night when his enemies cannot see him.
Yoruba Tales: The Leopard Man
A handsome stranger once came to a certain village and walked among the people in mysterious silence. All the young girls admired him and wanted him to choose one for his wife. But he said nothing, and finally walked away into the forest and disappeared from sight.
A month later, the stranger returned, and this time one of the young girls fell so much in love with him that she resolved to follow him into the forest, not bearing to be separated from him.
When the stranger turned and saw her coming behind him, he stopped and bade her go home; but she would not, and exclaimed: "I will never leave you, and wherever you go, I will follow you." »
"Beautiful young lady, you will regret it," replied the stranger sadly, hurrying up.
After a while he stopped again and begged her again to retrace her steps; but she made the same answer, and again the handsome stranger said in a sorrowful voice: "You will regret it, beautiful young lady!"
They plunged into the depths of the forest, and finally arrived at a tree at the foot of which lay a leopard skin. Standing under the tree, the stranger began to sing a melancholy song, in which he told her that although he was allowed once a month to roam the villages and towns as a man, he was in reality a wild leopard and would rip her to pieces as soon as he regained his natural form.
At these words, he threw himself to the ground, immediately became a snarling leopard and began to pursue the terrified girl.
But fear gave his feet such speed that he couldn't catch up with her. As he chased her, he sang that he would tear her to small pieces, and she in another song replied that he would never catch up with her.
They ran for a great distance, then the girl suddenly came to a deep but narrow river that she could not cross. It looked like the leopard was going to catch him after all. But a tree, which stood on the bank of the river, took pity on her and fell on the other side of the river, so that she could cross.
Finally, almost exhausted, she arrived at the edge of the forest and reached the village safely. The leopard, disappointed with its prey, fled into the forest, and the handsome stranger was never seen again.
Yoruba Tales: The Waterbird
The water bird always stands on one leg, and that is why:
Once a water bird, in search of food, swallowed the king crab, and the whole crab tribe was so furious that they swore they would have their revenge.
“We will find this horrible bird,” they declared, “and tear off its legs. We're sure to find it, as its legs are bright pink and its feathers are pink and white.
But the water rat heard the crabs plotting and rushed to tell the water bird.
" Oh! Oh! cried the water bird. "They're going to rip off my beautiful pink legs, and then what will become of me?" What can I do ?
"It's very simple," replied the water rat. “If you stand on one leg, they'll think you're another creature. »
The bird thanked him and folded a leg. When the crabs arrived, they saw, as they expected, a very large pink bird with one leg and a large beak.
“Our enemy has two legs,” they said. “It can't be him. And they passed.
Yoruba Tales: The Ants and the Treasure
ONCE upon a time there was a poor man who was very kind to animals and birds. However little he possessed, he always saved a few kernels of corn, or a few beans, for his parrot, and he used to scatter on the ground every morning some delicacies for the industrious ants, hoping that they would be content to eat him. corn and leave his few possessions intact.
And for that, the ants were grateful.
In the same village lived a miser who, by cunning and dishonest means, had collected a large store of gold, which he kept securely immobilized in the corner of a small hut. He sat outside this hut all day and all night, so that no one could steal his treasure.
When he saw a bird, he threw a stone at it, and he crushed any ant he found walking on the ground, for he hated all living things and only loved his gold.
Predictably, the ants had no love for this miser, and when he had killed a large number of them, they began to think how to punish him for his cruelty.
“What a pity, said the king of ants, that our friend is a poor man, while our enemy is so rich!
This gave the ants an idea. They decided to transfer the miser's treasure to the poor man's house. To do this, they dug a large tunnel under the ground. One end of the tunnel was in the poor man's house, and the other end was in the miser's hut.
The night the tunnel was completed, a great swarm of ants began to carry the miser's treasure into the poor man's house, and when morning came and the poor man saw the gold lying in a heap on the floor, he was overjoyed, thinking that the gods had sent him a reward for his years of humble toil.
He put all the gold in a corner of his hut and covered it with native cloth.
In the meantime, the miser had discovered that his treasure had dwindled considerably. He was alarmed and could not imagine how the gold could have disappeared, as he had been watching outside the hut all the time.
The following night the ants again carried much of the miser's gold down the tunnel, and again the poor man rejoiced, and the miser was furious to discover his loss.
On the third night, the ants worked for a long time and managed to remove all the rest of the treasure.
"The gods have indeed sent me a lot of gold!" cried the poor man, putting away his treasure.
But the miser summoned his neighbors and said that in three consecutive nights his hard-earned treasure had vanished. He stated that no one had entered the hut except himself, and therefore the gold must have been removed by witchcraft.
However, when the hut was searched, a hole was found in the ground, and they saw that this hole was the opening of a tunnel. It seemed clear that the treasure had been taken down the tunnel, and everyone started looking for the other end of the tunnel. We finally discovered him in the poor man's hut! Under the native fabrics in the corner, they found the missing treasure.
The poor man protested in vain that he could not slip through such a small tunnel, and he said he had no idea how the gold got into his. But the others said he must have had a certain charm by which he made himself very small and slipped through the tunnel at night in the miser's hut.
For this offence, they locked him in a hut and sealed off the entrance. The next day he was to be burned alive.
When the ants saw what had happened of their plan to help him, they were deeply perplexed and wondered how they could save their poor friend from such a painful death.
It seemed to them that there was nothing else to do but to devour the whole hut where the prisoner was confined. They accomplished this after a few hours, and the poor man was amazed to find himself standing in an open space. He fled into the forest and never came back.
In the morning, people saw that the ants had worked, because there were still some stumps from the hut. They said, “The gods have taken the punishment away from us! The ants have devoured the hut and the prisoner!
And only the ants knew that wasn't true.
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