A Father’s Warning

There was once a man and his son who always went hunting together. When they went hunting, the women in their compound kept all the dogs and horses tied up. The only animals not tied up were the horses on which the man and his son were riding.

One day, while out hunting, the man and his son met a strange woman. Her body was covered with a great many mouths, and she was cooking food in a large pot. As she cooked she fed the mouths. The air was filled with complaints from the impatient mouths: “Feed me.” “Feed me.” “I haven’t had enough food.” “Feed me.”

When the man and his son saw this sight, the son called out, “Oh, what a terrible woman. What a terrible sight!”

The woman became very angry. She rushed at the man and his son, but they fled from her. Thereupon she changed herself, she and her many mouths, into many fast-flying birds. But the man and his son changed themselves into even faster flying birds. They flew back to the safety of their family home.

The strange woman was still angry, but she had a plan. She changed herself into a beautiful girl, more beautiful than any other girl in that country. Then she went to the village of the man and his son, carrying a large basket on her head.

In front of the chief’s house the strange woman in the form of a beautiful girl called together all the young men of the village. She placed her large basket on the ground.

“Throw stones,” she told the young men. “Whoever succeeds in knocking over the basket will be allowed to marry me.”

All the young men wanted to marry the beautiful girl and so each one threw stones at the basket as best he could.

“Don’t enter this competition,” the hunter advised his son. “There is some hidden wickedness here.”

But the son ignored his father’s advice. Unlike the other young men who threw large stones, he threw a small stone at the basket. Immediately the basket fell over. The young man was therefore declared the winner of the contest. He was married to the beautiful girl and they lived in his family’s compound.

After some days the beautiful girl said that she wanted her husband to take her back for a visit to her own village. The young man agreed.

“Tie up all the animals,” the young man told the women in the compound. “But if the dogs cry, release them.”

The young man mounted a handsome horse. Then he and his wife travelled to his wife’s village. They arrived before dark and the young man was given a place to sleep.

In the middle of the night the young man was woken up. The leg of a man came up from under his bed.

“Go. Go,” warned the leg. “Otherwise you will lose your life.”

Without waiting for anything, the young man jumped up, ran to his horse, mounted and began to ride off.

The wife heard the young man leaving. She ran after him.

“Come back! Come back!” she shouted, but the young man paid no attention.

Quickly the beautiful girl changed herself into a mighty bird. She flew after the young man and his horse. She turned herself into the strange woman again, with the many hungry mouths all over her body. She pulled off one of the legs of the horse and she ate it. Then she pulled off another leg of the horse and she ate that too. Yet the remarkable horse was still running and carrying the young man on its back. The strange woman came again and again, until she had eaten the four legs and the body of the horse. Because there was nothing left for the young man to ride he quickly climbed up a tall tree.

The strange woman waited under the tree.

“When you come down from the tree we will eat you,” cried the woman, “I and my many mouths.”

“Yes. We will eat you,” cried all the mouths.

Meanwhile, the dogs tied up at the young man’s home began to howl and cry. The women in the compound remembered their instructions. They untied the dogs. The dogs rushed out. They found the tree with their master, the young man, clinging to its branches. Then they saw the strange woman beneath the tree and attacked her. They totally consumed every part of her, that strange woman and all her protesting mouths.

The young man came down from the tree. He gasped with relief and thankfulness for his escape. Then he saw his horse waiting for him, complete with its four legs and its body. He mounted the horse, and followed by his dogs, he returned home.

“You did well to release the dogs when they cried,” he told the women in the compound. He provided them with a feast of goats, chickens and rice for them to eat and enjoy.

“You were right to warn me,” he said to his father. “I know that in future I should follow your advice.”