The invisible-pawn
One night, at about ten o’clock, I saw a certain man who came to my house. He told me that he was always hearing the word – “POOR,” but he did not know it and he wanted to know it. He said that he wanted to borrow some amount and he would be working for me in return as a ‘pawn’ or as permanent hired labourer.
But when he said this, I asked how much did he want to borrow? He said that he wanted to borrow two thousand cowries (COWRIES), which was equivalent to six-pence (6d) in British money. Then I asked from my wife whether I should lend him the amount, but my wife said that the man would be a – “WONDERFUL HARD WORKER, BUT HE WOULD BE A WONDERFUL ROBBER IN FUTURE.” – Of course, I did not understand what my wife meant by that, but I simply gave the man the six-pence that he demanded. When he wanted to go, I asked for his name, then he told me that his name was ‘GIVE AND TAKE’, after that I asked him where he was living, and he replied that he was inside a bush which nobody could trace. When he said so, I asked him again, how could the other labourers reach him whenever they were going to the farm, then he replied that if the rest of the labourers were going to the farm very early in the morning, they should call his name out as they reached a junction of roads on the way to the farm. Then he went away. But when my labourers were going to the farm early in the morning, when they reached the junction and called his name out as he said (with loud voice), he answered with song. After that he asked them what kind of work they were going to do that day. Then they told him that it was only to till the ground, after that, he told them to go and till their own ground, but he would go and till his own at night, because small children must not see him and it was forbidden for adults to look at him. Then the rest of the labourers went to the farm and tilled their portion. When it was early on the following morning, the rest of the labourers went to the farm as usual, but they saw the whole farm and bushes around there cleared as from a mile to fifty by this Invisible-Pawn and he had cleared all the farms which belonged to my neighbours too. So when the other labourers were going to the farm early in the morning as usual, I told them that they should tell ‘ Invisible-Pawn’ that today’s work was to cut fire wood from the farm to my house. When the rest of the labourers reached there they called him and told him that today’s work was to cut fire wood from the farm to the house. Then he told them to go and cut their own, and he would cut and bring his own to the house at night. As the rest of the labourers were calling him at the junction, he was not visible to them at all. But to my surprise, when everybody woke up early in the morning, we could not come out from our houses, because this man (Invisible-Pawn) had brought both fire wood and logs of wood together with palm-trees and other trees to the town, and all the town was almost covered with this wood, so that nobody could move about in the town and we did not know the time he brought them. Then all of the town’s people began to clear the woods with axes etc., but it took a week before we could clear away the wood from the town. As I wanted to see him (Invisible-Pawn or Give and Take) and how he was working I told the rest farm labourers to tell ‘Give and Take’ that today’s work was to be barber for my children at home, but he told his colleagues that they should go and barb their own, he would come and barb his own at night, so the rest of the labourers went away. When it was night, I told the rest of the labourers to keep watch on him and see how he would barb heads for my children, but to my surprise, it was not yet 8 o’clock in the night before everybody slept in that town, even no domestic animal was awake. After that the ‘Invisible-Pawn’ came and barbed for all of the people in that town, adults or females with domestic animals, he took everybody to the outside before he shaved their heads, then he painted the heads with white paint, then he went back to his bush and nobody woke up till he had completed that evil work. When it was early in the morning, everybody met himself or herself outside, and when we touched our heads, they were shaven and painted with white paint. But at the same time that this new town’s people woke up and saw that all the hair on the heads of their domestic animals had been cleared as well, then they rose up in alarm that they had fallen into another terrible creature’s hand again. But I checked them and explained how the matter went, so by that time, they wanted me to leave their town, but I thought that I should do something to please these people, so that they would not drive me away from the town. One day, when the labourers were going to the farm, I told them to tell ‘Invisible-Pawn’ that today’s work was to go and kill bush animals and bring them to my house. When he heard so, he told them as usual. But when the day broke, the town was full of bush animals, so that all the people in the town were now pleased and did not want me to leave there again.
After that, one day, I sat down and I began to think over how this man was working like this and he did not ask for food etc., so when the corn was ripe then I told the labourers to tell him that if he went to the farm, he should take some yams, corn etc. So they told him this when they reached the usual junction.
I did not know that this ‘Invisible-Pawn’ or ‘Give and Take’ was the head of all the Bush-creatures and he was the most powerful in the world of the Bush-creatures, all of these Bush-creatures were under him and working for him every night. So after he had finished that night’s work in my farm together with his followers, then the whole of them took all the yams and corn etc. of my farm and took the all the yams and corn etc. from my neighbour’s also. I did not know that he had followers at all who were working for him and instead of him alone taking some yams and corn, so all of them took the whole lot away at night.
Then I remembered what my wife foresaid that – “This man would be a wonderful hard worker, but he would be a wonderful robber in future.” So the following morning when the labourers had told him to take some yams and corn from the farm, everybody went to his farm, but unfortunately they found their farms without crops that they had planted there, for all the farms had been cleared by these bush-creatures as flat as a football field.
But when all the farmers or my neighbours saw what ‘Give and Take’ had done, they grew annoyed with me, because they could not plant other crops throughout that year again and had nothing for themselves and their children to eat at all and all of my own crops were taken away too, but I could not tell my neighbours. When these people saw what ‘Invisible-Pawn’ or Give and Take’ with his followers had done for them, then they united together to raise up an Army against me, so that I might leave their town and also to revenge for the great loss which ‘Give and Take’ had given them through me. Then these people gathered together and formed a great army. Then I asked my wife what should be the end of us in this town? But my wife said that it would be the loss of lives of the natives, but it would save the two non-natives. By that time, I was hiding my wife and myself in that town, because all the natives of the town were hunting for us up and down, of course they did not want to fire guns inside their town, because of their children and wives and we (my wife and I) did not leave their town because they could not fire their guns inside the town. But as I was thinking how my wife and myself could be safe from, these people, so my wife remembered me to call for the help of the ‘Invisible-Pawn’ (Give and Take), perhaps he might render his help. When my wife advised me like that, then I sent for one of my labourers to go and tell the ‘Invisible-Pawn’ that the people of new town would raise up an Army against me in two days to come, so that I begged him to come and help me early in the morning of that day.