THE LUCKY FISHERMAN
were no hooks or casting nets, so that when the natives wanted to catch fish
they made baskets and set traps at the river side.
who was very poor,
began to make baskets and traps out of bamboo palm, and then
when the river went down he used to take his traps to a pool and set them
baited with palm-nuts. In the night the big fish used to smell the palm-nuts and
go into the trap, when at once the door would fall down, and in the morning
Akon Obo would go and take the fish out. He was very successful in his fishing,
and used to sell the fish in the market for plenty of money. When he could
afford to pay the dowry he married a woman named Eyong, a native of Okuni, and
had three children by her, but he still continued his fishing. The eldest son
was called Odey, the second Yambi, and the third Atuk. These three boys, when
they grew up, helped their father with his fishing, and he gradually became
wealthy and bought plenty of slaves. At last he joined the Egbo society, and
became one of the chiefs of the town. Even after he became a chief, he and his
sons still continued to fish.
crossing the river in a small dug-out canoe, a tornado came on very suddenly
and the canoe capsized, drowning the chief, When his sons heard of the death of
their father, they wanted to go and drown themselves also, but they were
persuaded not to by the people. After searching for two days, they found the
dead body some distance down the river, and brought it back to the town. They
then called their company together to play, dance, and sing for twelve days, in
accordance with their native custom, and much palm wine was drunk.
finished, they took their father’s body to a hollowed-out cavern, and placed
two live slaves with it, one holding a native lamp of palm-oil, and the other
holding a matchet. They were both tied up, so that they could not escape, and were
left there to keep watch over the dead chief, until they died of starvation.
covered in, the sons called the chiefs together, and they played Egbo[1] for
seven days, which used up a lot of their late father’s money. When the play was
over, the chiefs were surprised at the amount of money which the sons had been
able to spend on the funeral of their father, as they knew how poor he had been
as a young man. They therefore called him the lucky fisherman.
would meet together and would be provided with palm wine and food, as much as
they could eat and drink, which frequently cost a lot of money. Dancing and
singing would also be kept up and a band would play, consisting of drums made
of hollowed-out trunks of trees, beaten with two pieces of soft wood, native
made bells and rattles made of basket work, with stones inside, the bottom
consisting of hard dried skin, and covered all over with long streamers of
fibre. Other drums are also played by hand; these are made out of hollow wood,
covered at one end with dried skin, the other end being left open. The drummer
usually sits on two of these drums, which have a different note, one being a
deep sound, and the other slightly higher.]
