The following story, “Ajantala, the Noxious Guest,” is reprinted from Cheeky Frawg Books’ recently published collection of Tutuola’s short fiction, Don’t Pay Bad for Bad & Other Stories, featuring nine of Tutuola’s short stories, in addition to an introduction from Yinka Tutuola and an afterword from Matthew Cheney. We hope you enjoy this story and the collection it comes from, and don’t forget that we also have other materials from or related to Amos Tutuola on this site, including an interview with Yinka Tutuola which formed the basis of his introduction to Don’t Pay Bad for Bad. – The Editors

Once there lived in a village, a hunter, who had a wife. When she was under pregnancy, old people of the village warned the husband, “It is time now for you to suspend killing bush animals, for if you continue to do so you will kill the baby that your wife is going to deliver when it is time, and she will deliver of a terrible creature in the form of a baby when it is time for her to deliver.”

“That is a superstition,” the hunter said after the people had gone back to their houses.

Other hunters used to stop killing animals entirely except after their wives had delivered, so that they might not kill their wives’ babies who had changed to the form of bush animals, and after that went to the bush.

When it was the time, the wife of this hunter delivered a male baby.

“Ha! Ha! Ha! This is how the world is! What did I come for then? I thought this world would be as beautiful as the heaven from where I came! Look at everything how it is very dirty! Of course, I will not keep long before I will go back to heaven!” the baby immediately exclaimed, as he came down from his mother’s womb.

Having said that, he stood up from the blood and was walking with trembling feet along to his mother’s room.

“Ha! Look at the baby, he stood and walked at the same time he was born!” the whole people of the house exclaimed with embarrassment.

“Heigh! I have never seen a woman birth such a terrible baby as this one!” said the mother painfully.

And the baby took the sponge and soap and he washed all the blood away from his body. After that, he wrapped his body with one of his mother’s clothes, and then he sat upright on a very high stool and was looking at everyone with his ungrateful eyes.

“Ha! I am badly hungry for food; what can I eat now?” Then he started to sniff the sweet smell of the food which was inside the room nearest to his mother’s room. “Yes, I am glad. I shall get better food from this room; I better go in now.”

Without bearing fear from all the people’s eyes, which were opened wildly with wonder, he stood up and entered the room. He ate the whole food, that which had been prepared for twenty or more persons. After that, he kicked all the plates and pots and they all broke into pieces. Having done all that, he came out and sat down in the middle of the people, who were looking on with their withered lips and hands.

“Good evening to you, mother of the newly born baby! Thanks to the god who has helped you deliver safely. Hope you have not any complaint after birth?” The people of the village had heard the news of the baby within one hour, and they came to greet the mother and see how the baby was.

“There is not any complaint at all and thanks to the god for that, but…” replied the unhappy mother.

“Doubtless, this is not a real baby, but a spirit of one of the animals which his father, the hunter, had killed,” the people were saying on their way when returning to their houses.

In the morning of the seventh day after he was born, several old people gathered in his father’s parlour, just to give him a name, for that must be done, though he was terrible.

The baby walked by himself and sat in the middle of the people, and he was looking at everyone’s eyes as they were praying. “Long live the baby, and—”

But to their horror, when they were about to announce the name which his father, the hunter, wished the old people to give him, the baby himself announced loudly, “My name is AJANTALA and there is no need to give me another name after this.”

The people sighed and mumbled with wonder. Then some honey, a large quantity of alligator pepper, drinks as palm wine, guinea-corn wine, plantain wine, and corn wine, and plenty of bitter kolas were brought before the people, for all these must be served at the naming ceremony.

But, when they were about to start to eat the kolas, etc. and drink the drinks, Ajantala jumped high unexpectedly and pierced one of the people with a sharp iron. When he turned to another man to pierce that one, again, the people rushed outside. All were running away as hastily as they could, and he chased them and beat them a short distance before he came back to the house.

“There is no wonder, the baby, Ajantala, must be a terrible spirit of a wild animal. Of course, we had forewarned his father to stop to killing animals, except after his wife had delivered, but he did not pay heed to the warning, and this is the result now,” the people were saying about in the village.

“Oh, yes! This is a thick, long stick.” Ajantala took it from the ground. He slammed the door and began to flog his father and the rest of the family with the stick so severely that all of them did not know the right time of day until they forced the door open and then ran away. Of course, he did not touch his mother.

“What is more to do? Yes, there are still many more things to do.” Having remembered what was the next thing to do, he took an ax and started to cut down the wall.

“Ha! Stop that,” his mother warned him.

“Oh! Which means you too have no sense? All right, I shall teach you good sense now, as I have taught the others.”

And he gave his mother seven slaps on the face.

“Ah! Ajantala, you are a cruel boy, and you are slapping your mother,” exclaimed a man who stood outside. He had hardly finished in saying so when Ajantala left his mother. He jumped from the veranda to the outside and he gave seven slaps to that man.

“Ha! Ajantala, stop that!” another man who stood nearby exclaimed. But to everyone’s surprise, immediately after that man exclaimed “Ha!” Ajantala cut his mouth open to his nape.

Now Ajantala became so fearful that the whole people of the village shunned to go near his father’s house, and his mother had nearly died for all the troubles given to her.

At last, one morning, she took Ajantala to a very far bush. She gave him plenty of sweet fruits.

“Please, Ajantala, stand near this tree and wait there until I come back and take you to the village, for I am now going farther in this bush to fetch our food.” And by a trick, she left him there and came back to the village.

“Where is Ajantala?” his father asked softly.

“I have left the terrible boy in the bush.”

“And he agreed to stay there?” the father wondered.

“Yes, he agreed, by my trick,” responded the mother.

“I thank you for that. You see, it is helpful sometime to pay heed to the old people’s warning.”

“What do you mean by saying so, my dear?” his wife asked calmly.

“The meaning is that several old people had warned me to stop killing bush animals during the period you were under pregnancy, and Ajantala is the result of the warning, and. I do believe he is one of the animals which I had killed during the period of your pregnancy.”

“Ho-o‑o! No wonder!” she discovered the reason why Ajantala was acting like that, and then she believed that he was not a human.

Ajantala waited, waited, waited, and waited under that tree, but his mother did not return to him. He was wandering about in that bush and was looking for his mother until he had traveled to the heart of the bush and came to a small house which was built there. A corn farm surrounded the house, and both the house and the farm belonged to three brothers. Their names were Goat, Lion, and Ram, who was the oldest. They were human beings in those days and were living together in comfort in that house.

“Good day, sirs,” Ajantala walked zigzag into the house and saluted the three brothers, who were sitting and enjoying their leisure hours at the time he met them.

“Hello, good day, boy!” Mr. Ram returned the salutation while the other two were looking at Ajantala and expecting what he wanted to say.

“Please, sirs, I am a wayfarer, and I cannot reach my destination today, and probably not even in two weeks. Therefore, I shall be grateful indeed if you will allow me to stay here with you as your guest for a few days only, before I will continue my journey,” Ajantala asked for this obligation with due respect, as if he was a good boy.

“Of course, we may have mercy on you to let you stay with us for the few days you ask for, though you are very young,” Mr. Ram said on behalf of the rest.

“Thanks, sirs, and God.” Ajantala prostrated.

So, he was allowed to stay with them. He was eating and doing everything with them.

Having seen this luxurious living, a few days later, Ajantala asked, “Please, sirs, I want to discontinue my journey and be a servant for you. I shall comply with all of your orders.” And these three brothers agreed.

The following morning, Ajantala followed Mr. Goat to the farm to fetch their food. Having collected plenty of fruits into the basket, Mr. Goat told Ajantala to carry it.

“Oh! What do you say now, Mr. Goat?” And Mr. Goat repeated what he had told him to do.

“Ho! Ho! Ho! Is that what you mean to do? All right, I shall teach you sense now.” And Mr. Goat was looking at him with the thought that Ajantala was so small that he could not do him any harm.

Ajantala walked like a crab for a short distance. He came back with a handful of dust and he threw it into Mr. Goat’s eyes suddenly. As Mr. Goat was staggering about for help, Ajantala struck him at the forehead with a heavy stone and then knocked him down. A large quantity of blood was dropping down from Mr. Goat’s head.

After a while, Ajantala helped Mr. Goat to stand up, and he put the basket on Mr. Goat’s head.

As they were going along the way to the house, Ajantala warned Mr. Goat not to tell the rest what had happened to him at the farm. Willing or not, Mr. Goat agreed; otherwise he would harm him more severely than that.

“Ah! Mr. Goat, what has happened to your head and eyes at the farm?” the rest asked when he and Ajantala entered the house.

“It was a big stone that fell upon my head,” Mr. Goat replied and rubbed away the blood with his hand.

The following day, it was Mr. Ram’s turn to go to the same farm for food. Ajantala followed him and he did the same to Mr. Ram. And so he did the same to Mr. Lion the day that he followed him to the farm.

These three brothers became fed up to be living with Ajantala, for he was too terrible and powerful for them.

One night, when Ajantala had gone to bed—they did not know that he never fell asleep—Mr. Ram first said, “I am afraid Ajantala is a noxious guest, and if we don’t find one way or the other now to escape, one day he will kill all of us.”

“Certainly, he will kill all of us one day,” Mr. Goat supported. “But I suggest that the best thing to do now is to pack all our belongings and leave this house tomorrow morning. I am sure, before he will wake, we should go as far as to a place that he will not be able to trace us out,” Mr. Lion suggested quietly.

“Yes, you are right, Mr. Lion, and it will be better if we pack our belongings and food into one basket now, and by five o’clock in the morning leave here,” said the other two.

At the same time, they packed all their belongings into one basket and put plenty of food in it, which they would eat on their way.

Having done that, they went to bed and slept. But, Ajantala, who had heard all of their discussions, stood up cautiously, wrapped himself with dried broad leaves, and put himself at the bottom of the basket.

By five o’clock, these three brothers woke up, then Mr. Goat put the basket on his head and all left that house. They thought that they had saved themselves from Ajantala who was in the basket.

Having traveled about for miles, they came to a tree and stopped under it to rest for some minutes.

“Eh! We leave our lovely house today and Ajantala will occupy the rest of our things,” said painfully Mr. Lion.

“Were you not the one who had agreed to Ajantala staying with us?” Mr. Ram said.

“Ha! I was not the one, but Mr. Goat was,” Mr. Lion denied.

“Yes, you were the one, Mr. Lion, I believe,” Mr. Goat supported.

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Not me at all, but you were the one, Mr. Lion,” exclaimed Mr. Goat.

“Shut up there, Mr. Goat, I am quite sure you were the one,” roared Mr. Lion.

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Don’t tell a lie against me, Mr. Lion.”

“I say shut up your mouth, and if you don’t admit now that you were the one, I shall kill you and eat your body at once, especially now that I am badly hungry for meat,” Lion roared again.

“All right, if I was the one who had approved Ajantala’s request to be with us, let this ground on which we stand now split, and then swallow me. But if I was not the one, let something bring Ajantala to us now to scatter all of us.”

Mr. Goat hardly finished this curse when Ajantala jumped out of the basket, and they could not even glance at him when they scattered in different directions out of fear.

Mr. Lion escaped to the forest while Messrs. Goat and Ram escaped to the village, and then became domestic animals from that day.

It was from that day they became enemies of each other. And that is the reason the lion kills the goat or ram whenever it sees one of them, for the lie they had told against him in the past.

Thus Ajantala separated the three brothers.

The post Ajantala, the Noxious Guest appeared first on Weird Fiction Review.

Now we started our journey from the Deads’ Town directly to my home town which I had left for many years. As we were going on this road, we met over a thousand deads who were just going to the Deads’ Town and if they saw us coming towards them on that road, they would branch into the bush and come back to the road at our back. Whenever they saw us, they would be making bad noise which showed us that they hated us and also were very annoyed to see alives. These deads were not talking to one another at all; even they were not talking plain words except murmuring. They always seemed as if they were mourning, their eyes would be very wild and brown and every one of them wore white clothes without a single stain.

NONE OF THE DEADS TOO YOUNG TO ASSAULT.
DEAD BABIES ON THE ROAD-MARCH TO THE DEADS’ TOWN

We met about 400 dead babies on that road who were singing the song of mourning and marching to Deads’ Town at about two o’clock in the mid-night and marching towards the town like soldiers, but these dead babies did not branch into the bush as the adult-deads were doing if they met us, all of them held sticks in their hands. But when we saw that these dead babies did not care to branch for us then we stopped at the side for them to pass peacefully, but instead of that, they started to beat us with the sticks in their hands, then we began to run away inside the bush from these babies, although we did not care about any risk of that bush which might happen to us at night, because these dead babies were the most fearful creatures for us. But as we were running inside the bush very far off that road, they were still chasing us until we met a very huge man who had hung a very large bag on his shoulder and at the same time that he met us, he caught us (my wife and myself) inside the bag as a fisherman catches fishes inside his net. But when he caught us inside his bag, then all of the dead babies went back to the road and went away. As that man caught us with that bag, we met inside it many other creatures there which I could not describe here yet, so he was taking us far away into the bush. We tried with all our power to come out of the bag, but we could not do it, because it was woven with strong and thick ropes, its size was about 150 feet diameter and it could contain 45 persons. He put the bag on his shoulder as he was going and we did not know where he was taking us to by that night and again we did not know who was taking us away, whether he was a human-being or spirit or if he was going to kill us, we never knew yet at all.

AFRAID OF TOUCHING TERRIBLE CREATURES IN BAG

We were afraid of touching the other creatures that we met inside that bag, because every part of their bodies was as cold as ice and hairy and sharp as sand-paper. The air of their noses and mouths was hot as steam, none of them talked inside the bag. But as that man was carrying us away inside the bush with the bag on his shoulder the bag was always striking trees and ground but he did not care or stop, and he himself did not talk too. As he was carrying us far away into that bush, he met a creature of his kind, then he stopped and they began to throw the bag to and fro and they would take it up again and continue. After a while they stopped that, then he kept going as before, but he travelled as far as 30 miles from that road before daybreak.

HARD TO SALUTE EACH OTHER, HARDER TO DESCRIBE EACH OTHER, AND HARDEST TO LOOK AT EACH OTHER AT DESTINATION

Hard to salute each other, harder to describe each other, and hardest to look at each other at our destination. When it was 8 o’clock in the morning, this huge creature stopped when he reached his destination, and turned upside-down the bag and the whole of us in the bag came down unexpectedly. It was in that place that we saw that there were 9 terrible creatures in that bag before he caught us. Then we saw each other when we came down, but the nine terrible creatures were the hardest creatures for us to look at, then we saw the huge creature who was carrying us about in the bush throughout that night, he was just like a giant, very huge and tall, his head resembled a big pot of about ten feet in diameter, there were two large eyes on his forehead which were as big as bowls and his eyes would be turning when­ever he was looking at somebody. He could see a pin at a distance of about three miles. His both feet were very long and thick as a pillar of a house, but no shoes could size his feet in this world. The description of the 9 terrible creatures in the bag is as follows. These 9 terrible creatures were short or 3 feet high, their skin as sharp as sand-paper with small short horns on their palms, very hot steam was rushing out of their noses and mouths whenever breathing, their bodies were as cold as ice and we did not understand their lan­guage, because it was sounding as a church bell. Their hands were thick about 5 inches and very short, with fingers, and also their feet were just like blocks. They had no shape at all like human-beings or like other bush-creatures that we met in the past, their heads were covered with a kind of hair like sponge. Though they were very smart while walking, of course their feet would be sounding on either hard or soft ground as if somebody was walking over or knocking a covered deep hole. Rut immediately we came down with them from the bag and when my wife and I myself saw these terrible creatures, we closed our eyes, because of their terrible and fearful appearance. After a while, the huge creature carried us to another place, opened a rise-up hill which was in that place, he told the whole of us to enter it, then he followed us and closed the hole back, we not know­ing that he would not kill us but he had only captured us as slaves. When we entered the hole, there we met other more fearful creatures who I could not describe here. So when it was early in the morning, he took us out of the hole and showed us his farm to clear as the other more fearful crea­tures we met in the hole were doing. As I was working with these nine creatures in the farm, one day, one of them abused me with their language which I did not understand, then we started to fight, but when the rest saw that I wanted to kill him, then the whole of them started to fight me one by one. I killed the first one who faced me, then the second came and I killed him too, so I killed all of them one by one until the last one came who was their champion. When I started to fight him, he began to scrape my body with his sand-paper body and also with small thorns on his palms, so that every part of my body was bleeding. But I tried with all my power to knock him down and I was unable to as I could not grip him firmly with my hands, so he knocked me down and I fainted. Of course, I could not die because we had sold our death away. I did not know that my wife hid herself behind a big tree which was near the farm and that she was looking at us as we were fighting.

As there remained only the champion of the nine terrible creatures, when he saw that I had fainted, he went to a kind of plant and cut 8 leaves on it. But my wife was looking at him by that time. Then he came back to his people. After that, he squeezed the leaves with both his palms until water came out, then he began to put the water into the eyes of his people one by one and the whole of them woke up at once and all of them went to our boss (the huge creature who brought us to that place) to report what had happened in the farm to him. But at the same time that they left the farm, my wife went to that plant and cut one leaf and did as the champion did to his people, and when she pressed the water in that leaf to my eyes, then I woke up at once. As she had managed to take our loads before she left that hole and followed us to the .farm, we escaped from that farm and before the nine terrible creatures reached the hole of our boss, we had gone far away. That was how we were saved from the huge creature who caught us in his bag.

As we had escaped, we were travelling both day and night so that the huge creature might not re-capture us again. When we travelled for two and half days, we reached the Deads’ road from which dead babies drove us, and when we reached there, we could not travel on it because of fearful dead babies, etc. which were still on it.

TO TRAVEL IN THE BUSH WAS MORE DANGEROUS AND TO TRAVEL ON THE DEADS’ ROAD WAS THE MOST DANGEROUS

Then we began to travel inside the bush, but closely to the road, so that we might not be lost in the bush again.

When we had travelled for two weeks, I began to see the leaves which were suitable for the preparation of my juju, then we stopped and prepared four kinds which could save us whenever and wherever we met any dangerous creature.

As I had prepared the juju, we did not fear anything which might happen to us inside the bush and we were travelling both day and night as we liked. So one night, we met a “hungry- creature” who was always crying “hun­gry” and as soon as that he saw us, he was coming to us directly. When he was about five feet away from us, we stopped and looked at him, because I had got some juju in hand already and because I remembered that we had sold our death before entering inside the white tree of the Faithful- Mother, and so I did not care about approaching him. But as he was coming towards us, he was asking us repeatedly whether we had anything for him to eat and by that time we had only bananas which were not ripe. We gave him the bananas but he swallowed all at the same moment and began to ask for another thing to eat again and he did not stop crying “hungry-hungry-hungry” once, but when we could not bear his crying, then we loosened our loads. Perhaps we could get another edible thing there to give him, but we found only a split bean and before we gave it to him, he had taken it from us and swallowed it without hesitation and began to cry “hungry-hungry-hun­gry” as usual. We did not know that this “hungry-crea­ture” could not satisfy with any food in this world, and he might eat the whole food in this world, but he would be still feeling hungry as if he had not tasted anything for a year. But as we were searching our loads, as perhaps we could get something for him again, the egg which my tapster gave me in the Deads’ Town fell down from my wife. The hungry-creature saw it, and he wanted to take it and swallow but my wife was very clever to pick it up before him.

When he saw that he could not pick it up before my wife, then he began to fight her and he said that he wanted to swallow her. As this hungry-creature was fighting with my wife, he did not stop to cry “hungry” once. But when I thought within myself that he might harm us, then I per­formed one of my jujus and it changed my wife and our loads to a wooden-doll and I put it in my pocket. But when the hungry-creature saw my wife no more, he told me to bring out the wooden-doll for identification, so I brought it and he was asking me with doubtful mind, was this not my wife and loads? Then I replied that it was not my wife etc., but it only resembled her, so he gave the wooden-doll back to me, then I returned it to my pocket as before and I kept going. But he was following me as I was going on, and still crying “hungry.” Of course, I did not listen to him. When he-had travelled with me to a distance of about a milt‑, he asked me again to bring out the wooden-doll for more identifica­tion and I brought it out to him, then he looked at it for more than ten minutes and asked me again was this not my wife? I replied that it was not my wife etc. but it only resembled her, then he gave it to me back and I was going as usual, but he was still following me and crying “hungry” as well. When he had travelled with me again to about two miles, he asked for it for the third time and I gave it to him, but as he held it he looked at it more than an hour and said that this was my wife and he swallowed it unexpectedly. As he swallowed the wooden-doll, it meant he swallowed my wife, gun, cutlass, egg and load and nothing remained with me again, except my juju.

So immediately he had swallowed the wooden-doll, he was going far away from me and crying “hungry” as well. Now the wife was lost and how to get her back from the hungry-creature’s stomach? For the safety of an egg the wife was in hungry-creature’s stomach. As I stood in that place and was looking at him as he was going far away, I saw him go so far from me that I could hardly see him, then I thought that my wife, who had been following me about in the bush to Deads’ Town had not shrunk from any suffering, so I said that, she should not leave me like this and I would not leave her for the hungry-creature to carry away. So I followed, and when I met him I told him to vomit out the wooden-doll which he had swallowed, but he refused to vomit it out totally.

BOTH WIFE AND HUSBAND IN THE HUNGRY-CREATURE’S STOMACH

I said that, rather than leave my wife with him, I would die with him, so I began to fight him, but as he was not a human-being, he swallowed me too and he was still crying “hungry” and going away with us. As I was in his stomach, I commanded my juju which changed the wooden-doll back to my wife, gun, egg, cutlass and loads at once. Then I loaded the gun and fired into his stomach, but he walked for a few yards before he fell down, and I loaded the gun for the second time and shot him again. After that I began to cut his stomach with the cutlass, then we got out from his stomach with our loads etc. That was how we were freed from the hungry-creature, but I could not describe him fully here, because it was about 4 o’clock a.m. and that time was very dark too. So we left him safely and thanked God for that.

The post The Palm-Wine Drinkard Excerpt: Dead Babies and Terrible Creatures in Bag appeared first on Weird Fiction Review.