“Grandpa is late! Go pack your things, we will be leaving for the village first thing tomorrow morning, so try to pack up early and get enough sleep”, Mr. Mayo told his wife and children, Dayo and Shola.
Dayo felt sad on receiving the information from his father. He was very fond of his grandfather and he old man was equally fond of him. They always travel to the village during the Christmas celebration and also for the annual new yam festival. Although over eighty years of age, his grandfather was still very much active and still went out to the farm. On many occasions when they went out to the village he do accompany his grandfather to the village and he enjoyed the usual lunch of pounded yam and bush meat soup that was always prepared on the farm by his grandfather, after eating, Dayo will help him in sorting out the yams that they will take back with them to the city.
Also, his grandfather was a good story teller. He could tell a variety of stories ranging from ancient traditional histories to local folktales and poems. Whenever they were on their way to the farm, grandpa would tell him the names of all the birds and animals they saw, the various farm owners they met on their way. He could tell the name of some medicinal plants and tracks of various animals has his grandfather had thought him. And while they worked, his grandpa will tell him the names of all the different varieties of yams and how to identify them. But most of all, he enjoyed the night after supper stories that his grandfather usually told them. He remembered how he and his cousins who lived in different parts of the country but who also come to the village during festive periods, will sit round the fire on mats and low stools while grandpa will sit on his reclining cloth chair as he told them stories from his infinite stock house of folktales.
His favorites story was the one in which the tortoise made a fool of the hippopotamus and the elephant. He always laughs whenever he remembered this story and it goes thus;
One day, the tortoise was sitting in front of his house on a hill idle and bored, he thought of what he would do to keep him entertained but could not find any solution no matter how hard he tried. He was about giving up and going in to sleep when his eyes caught sight the elephant grazing in the valley below, the giant animal was moving leisurely with strength and pulling down huge branches of trees to get at the leaves. He smile and was as he was about to bend low into his hut, he also caught sight of the hippo lying just above the surface of the water and enjoying the heat of the sun on it back. Immediately, a thought flashed through his mind and he gave a sinister smile. He rushed in, put on his clothes and ran down the hill. On getting to the valley he approached the elephant and when he was some few feet away from the giant he stopped.
“Greetings! My dear friend and weak comrade! How are you doing today?” the tortoise hailed the elephant.
The giant brute was shocked and also angry. How dare the slow and lazy tortoise call him weak?
“Are you referring to me?” the elephant asked, pointing at himself with his large trunk.
“Yes, of course! Aren’t you weak in comparison to me?” the tortoise said calmly.
“I can crush you with just one foot!” the elephant said angrily.
“No need to shout. Why don’t we undertake a tug of war contest to determine the strongest? Each of us will tie separate ends of one rope to our necks, I will go into the water while you stay on land where you have more advantage. Whoever pulls his opponent to his end will be the champion and will be forever respected by him! Agreed?” the tortoise asked with an air of confidence.
“Agreed!” the elephant said and continued to feed. He knew he would defeat the tortoise.
They fixed the bout to take place in two days time, by noon.
The tortoise also approached the hippo and the hippo was mad fit anger at being talked to without respect by the tortoise.
“Let’s have a tug of war, whoever pulls his opponent will whip him in the presence of all other animals”, the tortoise said.
The hippo readily accepted.
“You will stay in the water where you are strongest why I will take the land”, the tortoise told the hippo who also accepted.
They fixed the bout for to take place in two days time, by noon.
On the appointed day, as soon as it was noon, the tortoise took a strong and very long coil of rope and made for the elephant that was standing under a tree some metres away from the river but within the dense forest. He fastened the rope to the neck of the elephant and made his way to the river. He went in and fastened the other end to the neck of the hippo.
He came out of the river and went to the middle of the rope, after making sure none of the animals had sight of each other, he tugged at the middle of the rope and both animals began to pull. The tortoise climbed up his hilly base and was laughing himself to stupor as both animals kept on dragging and struggling. This went on for hours but none was able to pull the other to itself. The tortoise brought out a gourd of palm wine and drank on while he watched the entertainment the two giants were unknowingly entertaining him.
Tired and surprised, the elephant decided to check how come the tortoise was able to stand his pull for so long, he could not believe the tortoise had such strength. As he was almost getting to the brink of the river, he collided with the hippo that has also given up and was coming to check out the mysteriously strong tortoise. On seeing the ends of the ropes fastened to their individual necks, the two animals were furious for being made to make fools out of themselves by the tortoise and they swore to strip him naked and give him the beating of his life whenever they get hold of him.
Tears ran down Dayo’s eyes as he remembered the good times.
“Grandpa was a chatterbox!” he said to himself. “I will miss him!”.
End of an era
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