Feather Woman of the Jungle Page 4

  As he was groaning loudly and continuously as if he was put in the fire and as his pains were so much that he could not see me. So I walked cautiously nearer to him, I leaned my gun on my waist, I hung my matchet back to my shoulder and then I clapped hands very quietly. He was first startled with fear as if I were the person who was giving him the pains, then he lifted up head very slightly as if it was tied to the floor and then he hesitated to hear what I came in to tell him. But as fear and wonder did not allow me to say one word that moment, so he rested his head back on the usual place and continued to groan as loudly as before. My hope was that he would sit up or stand up if he heard my claps, but he could not do neither of these things.

  Having listened again for a while, with a quiet voice, I asked: “Hello! How? But what is happening to you, which is so much painful that you are groaning repeatedly as if you are in the fire?” Then he tried all his best and lifted up his head a bit, he breathed out heavily with grief and with a harsh and sorrowful voice, he replied: “Yes, you are quite right to ask such a question from me. But if you know my grievances you would not be surprised to hear my groan.” But when I heard his voice which showed me that he would be able to explain his grievances to me, and that he was willing to, I walked to the corner, I leaned my gun, after that I dragged that old chair, which had three legs, before him. But as I was sitting on it, I fell down and the chair itself fell apart, because I had forgotten that its fourth leg had been broken off. Therefore I stood up, I supported it with that leg and then I could sit on well.

  Again, I asked quietly: “Please, tell me all your grievances probably I may be able to help you.” And then after he had breathed out heavily with grief and hesitated for a while, he started to relate his story to me: “I was the king of this palace (the house in which I met him) and my father is a powerful and kind king in his town which is about ten miles away from here. During the time that I was the king of this town (the quiet bush in which that house was), I married one wife. She is very beautiful and in respect of this, I loved her so wholeheartedly that I told her every one of my secrets. Not knowing she is a powerful treacherous woman who has also supernatural power.

  “But as she had noticed that I preferred to drink the drinks such as palm-wine, guinea corn-wine, bamboo-wine, etc. every night, before I slept. So not knowing that my wife had one kind of a powerful juju which she used to put in the drinks before she was bringing it to me to drink. That juju was to make me to sleep and not to wake till when the cocks crowed in the morning or I would not be able to wake from the sleep for several days if cocks were failed to crow. Alas, I did not know or outwit this beautiful clever wife that she was mixing up my drinks with juju before bringing it to me and she did so for many years successfully.

  “But one midnight, as I sat in my beautiful armchair to rest for a few minutes, and as I kept very quietly as if I was sleeping. Then my attendants who thought that I had slept and as they noticed that my wife had gone to somewhere in the town, started to lament. One said to the others: ‘It is a pity indeed, that our master (king) does not suspect his wife yet, that she is mixing up his drinks every night with a powerful juju!’ The second lamented: ‘I wonder! But the juju powder is so powerful that when our master drinks it will fall asleep at the same time and will not be able to wake by himself if cooks do not crow in the morning!’ Then the third lamented: ‘Very wonderful! I had noticed too that immediately our master had slept last night, the woman went out but she returned as soon as the cocks had started to crow!’ And the fourth asked from the rest: ‘By the way, what is she going out to do every midnight?’ The rest suggested: ‘Perhaps, she is going out to sleep with another man!’

  “Again, the first attendant asked: ‘If she is going to sleep with another man. Is that man richer than our master, the king? And that means that man is giving her more money than the king!’ The fifth said angrily: ‘An ordinary man can never give her enough money like our master. But of course, women are never satisfied….’ And the fourth suggested: ‘Is it possible to tell our master the secret of his wife?’ But the rest shook heads and said: ‘No!’ Here my attendants stopped when my wife entered.

  “Thus my attendants had lamented about me without knowing that I did not sleep but I had put all they had said about my wife in mind. In the night, when I was ready to go to bed, she brought my drinks as usual. But as soon as she had left the room I threw it away and then I pretended as if I had drunken it. After that I lay on my bed and pretended as well as if I had slept. After a while she came back, she examined the tumblers just to make sure whether I had drunken it. When she saw that all the tumblers were empty, she quenched the light of the room and then she lay on the bed with me. And it was not so long when I had pretended to be asleep when she stood up. She walked to her cupboard, she opened it and took out the best of her dresses such as gold beads, rings, headgear, clothes, etc. Then she dressed up as if she was going to marry that night and after that she took out one covered calabash from the cupboard.

  “When she removed the cover of it, I saw that one white creature like a small bird flew out and perched on top of that cupboard. After she had put the calabash back in the cupboard and closed it back. She held the bird with right hand above head, she faced my bed and then started to say wisperly: ‘Let not this foolish and hopeless man, who calls himself the king of this town, wake till when the cocks start to crow when I shall return.’

  “After that she opened one of the windows and said to the bird again: ‘Let you fly out now and be driving away all the dangers and evils of the road before I come.’ Having commanded it like that, she released it and then it flew away. After that she walked to the door of the room, opened it and walked out to the sitting-room. Again she opened the door of the sitting-room which led to the main door. When she opened it and walked to the outside and I heard when she slammed it heavily, I stood up, I hastily dressed up in my big black garment. I put on my native trousers and black cap. Then I took my sword from the rack near my bed. I hung it on the shoulder and spread the garment over it, then I followed her.

  “It was so she was going alone as quickly as she could in the rays of the moon and I was following her just to know where she was going that midnight. Having travelled far away, she came to the market which was at the outskirt. In the centre of the market, I saw one well-dressed man who stood in the rays of the moon and was waiting for her. Then she went to that man and she embraced him. But the man snatched himself from her and he grumbled: ‘It should have been better if you have told me that you would not be able to come in time!’ But as I hid myself in the dark stall which was near them, I saw my wife when she held that man again, knelt before him and started to beg him: ‘Oh, my lover, don’t be annoyed with me, because it was not my fault for keeping late behind. But I had been waiting for that foolish man (myself) who called himself my husband, to sleep and he had not slept in time! Therefore, don’t be annoyed with me, my lover!’ and she kissed the man.

  “As both were doing like that, my wife began to tell all my secrets to that man. Having left that, both started to abuse me so much that they bursted into a great laughter at a time as they embraced themselves. Having seen them like that and heard all they said about me, I became so annoyed that I took my sword out of its sheath. I rushed against them and I cut the man on the waist suddenly. As he was falling down my wife escaped for her life at once. Then without hesitation, I went back to my palace through shorter road. I entered my room, after I had hung my sword back on the rack, I lay on my bed and pretended at the same time as if I had slept.

  “After a while my wife entered the room. After she had shut the door gently, she loosened her dresses and put them back in her cupboard. Having waited near the window for a while, her bird flew in and perched on top of the cupboard. But to my surprise, she hardly touched it when it changed into a white round stone. Then she put that stone into that white calabash, she covered it with its lid and then put it back in the cupboard. Having done that, she walked to
my bed and then lay on it. But she did not suspect at all that I was the one who had killed that man, her lover.

  “As I lay on the bed, I was unable to sleep at all, but I was wondering about the evil deeds of the women till the morning. In the morning, as I was the king of this town (the quiet bush) who had the right to give an order at any time. So, I ordered my bellringer to announce round the town that all the dead bodies of the men who had died last night should be brought to my palace for examination. I did that so that my wife might know that I had seen all she had done last night. And before nine o’clock in the morning, about six dead bodies were brought to my palace and my wife’s lover was among.

  “But when she saw him in pool of blood, she started to weep, she could not hesitate in one place but was entering the room and coming back to look at him several times in a moment. She was greatly perplexed that time. Sometime she was driving the flies away from that dead man but she was not doing so for the rest dead bodies. After a while she brought one of her finest cover clothes and covered the man with it so that the flies might not be able to perch on him again.

  “When she did so to that man only and left the rest untouched, I asked her: ‘Is that dead man your relative?’ But she replied with tears: ‘Not at all.’ I asked again: ‘But you are interested in him more than the rest. Why?’ She explained: ‘Of course, he was a man that I knew before he had died.’ I asked: ‘From where did you know him, in the market place or where?’ So this time she shrunk suspiciously and then she replied: ‘Don’t try to know about that.’ When she said so, I went to my room and came out with my sword. I showed it to her. Then I explained to her that the man was her lover whom she had met in the market last midnight. I stretched the sword forward, I told her to look at it. But as she was still looking at it, I told her plainly that I had killed her lover with it last midnight and it was that time she knew that I was the man who had killed her lover.

  “So immediately I had revealed her secret, she went to her cupboard and after a while she returned to me. As she stood before me sobbing continuously, she spat on my face and then said loudly: ‘I command you to remain in one place until when my lover comes alive again!’ But to my fear, she hardly spat on my face and commanded like that when I had lay down in this room (in the room I met him). So since the day that I had lay down in here, I could not stand up and again all the houses and the peoples in them had turned into the bush in which my palace (the house in which I met him) is. Now, it is too late before I had understood that ‘the beauty of the beautiful woman is a danger’.”

  When this king had told me his story and then he continued to groan loudly as before, I raised my head up with wonder for a few minutes. After a while I dragged the seat nearer to him. But when I lifted the big cover cloth which was on his body, I was greatly surprised and feared to see that he was turned into a snake from feet to the waist. That part was about four feet diameter with sharp scales but it was tapered to the end (feet) like that of a tail of a big snake.

  It had several kinds of colours like that of cobra. To my fear again, that part was also chained tightly and that chain went into the ground, so he was unable to move or shake at all. And from his waist to forehead was that of man but it was full of sores caused by whips.

  When I first lifted up the cloth of his body and saw his half-body which had changed into that of a snake, I was so much feared that I first ran to a short distance and then shouted greatly: “Hah, a beautiful woman is a danger indeed!” Then with embarrassment, I walked back to him and I sat on the same chair and I was looking at him without knowing what to say again. After a while, when my fear had left me, I asked from him: “Please, tell me, what are you groaning for?” He stopped groaning and explained: “I am groaning for two reasons. Firstly, the part of my body which is turned into that of a snake is paining and aching me very severely, because my wife is beating it with a heavy cudgel every midnight, and secondly, I am groaning for my life which is spared for this severe punishment. I prefer to die at once than to remain like this. I am begging my Creator to take my life before this time but there is no answer.”

  But as he had mentioned that his wife was still coming to beat him every midnight, I asked from him where was she living. He told me that he did not know where she was coming from. Then I asked again whether she was bringing food to him whenever she came to beat him. He replied: “Not at all.” I asked again: “If she does not, but what are you eating as you cannot even shake yourself how much more to stand up and walk about?” He replied: “I do not eat and I do not feel to eat since when she had changed me into this form.” Furthermore, I asked: “When she stops beating you what does she do next?” He replied: “When she stops beating me she will go to the dead body of her lover which she had lay in uncovered grave in the room which is next to the end of this palace. She dug a grave in that room and lay the dead body of her lover in it since the very day she had changed me into this form.” Having heard like that from this man who was the king of that palace, I stood up at the same time. I walked to the extreme end of the palace. And I saw the dead body of his wife’s lover in a room over there, but it had become skeleton.

  It was inside the grave which was not covered and was decorated as when a dead body was “in state”. Every part of that room was very clean and was beautifully decorated by the woman. She put one big native mud lamp before the grave and it shone dimly over the grave but it needed more oil to make it brighter.

  Having seen this again, I started to go from one room to another and then to the premises. As the man had told me that he was the king and that house was his palace. So when I went round the house, it showed that it was a beautiful palace before. Because everything that I saw in it were belonged to only a king, but all were very old and were nearly eaten off by the insects. The premises was full of gods and idols of all kinds but they had fallen and scattered all over the ground. Then I went back to him in the room. When I sat on the usual seat, he stopped groaning. He lifted his head up and asked me: “Did you see the dead body of my wife’s lover?” I replied that I had seen it but it had become a skeleton.

  Now, I told him that I would help him. But he asked with wonder how could I help him. But I told him to wait and see what I was going to do.

  Then I took my gun and matchet, I went to the room in which the skeleton was. I took one cover cloth from the wall, as many fine clothes were hung all over the walls of that room by that woman. Then I went inside that grave, I lay on the skeleton, I put my gun on the left and matchet and one strong rope on the right, after that, I covered the whole of my body with that cloth. Then I was waiting for the woman to come.

  When it was three o’clock in the morning, this woman entered the palace through the door of the premises. She held one mud lamp with left hand and one heavy cudgel with right hand. First, she went direct to the room in which her husband, the king, was. She beat him without mercy for about one hour. He begged her with sorrowful voice, but she did not listen to his plea. He sobbed, groaned, cried, wept and shouted for mercy but she did not stop to beat him. As she was beating him, it was so she was repeating: “You killed my lover! You killed my lover! You killed my lover!”

  When she left him to beat, then she was coming with the lamp and cudgel to the room in which the skeleton of her lover was lay. But as she was coming, I saw her clearly that, she was indeed, a very beautiful woman. She was not too tall and not too short. She was not too black and not yellow and she was dressed in clothes that showed she was mourning the death of her lover. My aim was to shoot her to death immediately, but her beauty prevented me to do so and again, if I did so, her husband would not be able to change back to his former form again.

  When she entered the room, she first repaired the lamp, she took one bottle of palm-oil from the corner of the room, she poured some oil from it into the lamp. When it shone to the grave and every part of the room, then she stood before the grave. First, she knelt down and she saluted the skeleton as if it was still alive. After tha
t she stood up and said loudly: “My lover! My lover! My lover! When are you coming back to me? Have you forgotten me? Don’t forget me! I am expecting you soon! For in respect of you, I had changed my husband, the king of a big town, into the form of a half-snake and I am beating him every midnight! Come! come! come back to me, my lover!” Having said like that, she wept bitterly. But when she was preparing to go out, I said loudly with a huge voice: “Hah, my lover! My lover! My lover! I have come from the town of deads this midnight. But I will be allowed only to stay with you if you change your husband the king, back to his former form! Better you go and change him back now and then come back to help me out of this grave!”

  But when she heard like that, she was so happy that she ran to her husband. She thought that I was her lover and that in fact I just woke from the dead. When she stood before her husband, I heard when she commanded very loudly: “Now, as my lover has come back to me, so I command you to change back to your former form!” She said so with a joyful voice. Her husband hardly changed when she ran back to the grave. When she came back, she stood before the grave, she stretched both hands towards me and then said: “Yes, my lover, I have done what you asked me to do. I have changed him back to his own form. Hah, welcome, my lover! I am ready now to help you out of the grave!”

  Then I told her to come nearer so that my hands could reach her own. But when she came nearer and was stretching hands to hold me, I hastily snatched her own hands instead. Without hesitation, I tied both up with that rope and then I was dragging her towards the grave. But when she saw the rope in her hands and that I was pulling her towards the grave instead to come out to her, she was greatly feared. She struggled to run away, but I did not allow her to do so. She tried to cut off the rope and run away for her life but I was pulling her into the grave. After a while, she was despaired and said: “Are you not my lover?” I replied with a fearful voice: “I am not your lover at all but I am a man who come to take you to heaven now! Come inside the grave and let us go together!” But she replied with fear: “Not at all! Please leave my hands and let me go away!”