Ìjàpá and the Babaláwo
A tortoise tale in which Ìjàpá tastes a fertility medicine prepared for his wife three times and dies of it, with the Yorùbá text of the Alugbinrin pleading song from a named informant.
intermediatehigh·
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A tortoise tale in which Ìjàpá tastes a fertility medicine prepared for his wife three times and dies of it, with the Yorùbá text of the Alugbinrin pleading song from a named informant.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Dis na story about Ìjàpá the tortoise, im wife Yáníbo, and one babaláwo wey prepare medicine make she fit born pikin. Dem tell Ìjàpá make im no taste am. Im go taste am, and im belle come swell up like pregnant woman own. Dem forgive am two times, but di third offence kill am. Na inside dis story di song wey dem preserve pass for dis section dey: seven call-and-response lines wit di refrain Alugbinrin, wey dem publish for Yorùbá wit English gloss from one named informant .
As Pa. Oduremi Eluwole, wey dey 80 years old, from Oke-Ola Modakeke take narrate am, recorded on 12 March 2022 and published by Bamidele Omolaye .
For olden days, Ìjàpá wife, yáníbo, no fit born pikin. Ìjàpá try well well to find way make she fit get belle, and im go dey find help from one herbalist to another. After some time, im hear about one herbalist wey people say get power well well. Im go meet di man, explain everything wey happen in detail, and di babaláwo consult and appease di oracle.
After dat one, di babaláwo tell Ìjàpá say im wife go get belle, and say im go prepare concoction make she chop. Im warn Ìjàpá make im no even try taste am. Im prepare am, hand am over, and send Ìjàpá go house wit am.
Den Ìjàpá perceive di aroma of di concoction, see say e sweet, come taste am, dey think say di small quantity wey im take no go do im body anything. Na di opposite come happen. Im belle start to swell up like pregnant woman own. Fear catch am well well, im run go back to di babaláwo, and when im reach there, im start to sing.
Call: Bàbáláwo mo wá bé bè Response: Alugbinrin Call: Ògùngùn tó se fún mi lérèkàn Response: Alugbinrin Call: Ó ní n mó mò mówó ba nu Response: Alugbinrin Call: Gbòngbò ònà ló yò mí tèrèrè Response: Alugbinrin Call: Mo mó wó ba lè mó mú banu Response: Alugbinrin Call: Mo bo júwokùn, ó rí gbendu Response: Alugbinrin Call: Bàbáláwo mo wá bé bè Response: Alugbinrin
Call: Herbalist I came to beg Response: Alugbinrin Call: The concoction you made for me earlier Response: Alugbinrin Call: He said I should not have a taste Response: Alugbinrin Call: I accidentally hit a taproot and stumbled Response: Alugbinrin Call: My hand touched the ground and mistakenly touched my mouth in confusion Response: Alugbinrin Call: I look at my stomach as it began to swell Response: Alugbinrin Call: Herbalist I came to beg Response: Alugbinrin
Just like di other songs inside dis article, di published Yorùbá get grave and acute accents but no subdots at all: no ẹ, ọ or ṣ appear anywhere inside di article . Dem reproduce di text here exactly as dem print am instead of to correct am, because to put subdots back go mean say person dey supply reading wey di source no give. Make una read bé bè as wetin stand for bẹ̀bẹ̀, tó se for tó ṣe, and so on. Di literal gloss wey dey up note di intended forms where dem dey clear, and na di compiler own, built on top Omolaye English; na di reason why confidence on di gloss dey medium.
Alugbinrin na di refrain and Omolaye no translate am, im just print am as e dey inside di English column. Na one of di well-known Yorùbá story refrains, and wetin e dey do na for rhythm and make people participate, no be for lexical meaning. Where refrain of dis kind no carry lexical meaning, di corpus no dey invent one for am.
Di song na legal defence wey dem set to music, and all di comedy dey inside di middle three lines. Ìjàpá no deny wetin im do. Im agree wit di instruction, "im say make I no taste am," den im come bring one elaborate accident to explain why im taste am: one root for road trip am, im hand go down to ground to avoid hard fall, and im hand come go im mouth inside di confusion. Nobody for di room believe dis thing, including di babaláwo, but di plea still work anyway for di first two times. Na dat one be di joke, and na di same joke as di closing cry inside alo-ijapa-singing-drum: Ìjàpá state di facts accurately but come file dem under di wrong cause.
After e hear di plea, di babaláwo feel pity, forgive am, heal di swollen belle, and give am another concoction make im carry go house. Ìjàpá taste di second one. Im belle swell up again, and im go back go sing di same song. Di babaláwo no happy, but im show empathy di second time, heal am, and give am di third one.
Ìjàpá taste di third one. Im belle swell up. Without shame, wey be Omolaye word, im go back to di babaláwo again, and dis time di babaláwo refuse to help, because im don warn am two times already. Di belle swell up sotay e burst, and na so Ìjàpá take kill imself wit im own greed.
Di mechanism na escalation against warning wey dey fixed, and di structure na rule of three wey di audience fit count. Dem design di story so dat di children wey dey inside room go know wetin dey come before di third tasting, wey come change di last verse from suspense go enter judgement: dem dey watch person dey do something wey dem don already see fail two times.
Wetin dey strange for inside dis cycle na say Ìjàpá die. Normally dem dey catch am, flog am, disgrace am, scatter am and repair am, but di tori dem dey usually bring am back make e continue to dey waka. For here di ending na final, and e be final because di offence no be say e thief from im mate, but na disobedience to babaláwo wey hold medicine wey no be im own at all. Omolaye record di lessons wey dem intend make people learn plainly: dem expect children make dem learn to dey faithful, make dem no dey think of only theirself, make dem see wetin greed dey cause, and make dem dey obey every instruction wey elders give .
One detail dey wey make sense to mention wey di article pass over. Di medicine na for Yáníbo, and wetin e dey for na pikin. Di greed of Ìjàpá no just put am for danger, e chop wetin im wife need, three times over, and di tori end with am dead while di wife still dey barren. Di corpus mark dis one as analysis instead of wetin Omolaye state: di belle wey swell up na punishment wey shape exactly like wetin e thief, fake belle for inside di body of person wey chop im wife fertility. Dat match between di crime and di consequence na di sharpest style for di tori, and e work without any word of commentary.
Di name of di wife make sense to record. Yáníbo, wey dem print for di article without capital letter or subdots, na di standard name of Ìjàpá wife across di Yorùbá tori tradition, and e appear for inside di praise formula wey dem dey use start tori wey dem quote for alo-the-opening-formula-and-the-teller as Ìjàpá Tìrókò, ọkọ Yánníbo, Ìjàpá of the silk-cotton tree, husband of Yánníbo. Na still di title of Olagoke Ojo Yorùbá-language collection Ìjàpá Tìrókò Ọkọ Yannibo (Longman Nigeria, 1973) . Di spelling dey differ across sources between Yáníbo, Yánníbo and Yannibo, and di corpus no choose one pass di other.
Dis tori dey circulate for di modern retelling site yorubatales.com under di title "How Tortoise (Ijapa)'s Stomach Became Hollow," wey frame am as aetiological tori about tortoise body . Di informant of Omolaye no give am dat kind ending: for im version di belle burst and Ìjàpá die, without any explanatory coda about di shape of di living animal. Whether di aetiological frame na traditional something or modern addition no be wetin person fit settle from di sources wey dem consult, and dem record di difference instead make dem resolve am. Di site no put who get each tori and dem no quote anything from am here.
Di compiler no see any second scholarly transcription of dis tori.
Tori of evening time, wey dem treat for yoruba-alo; di musical setting, compound duple metre on top hemitonic pentatonic scale with di lead singer wey dey set di pitch, dem describe am with staff notation inside Omolaye article . Dis tori na di clearest case for dis section of song wey dey repeat. Na di same seven lines dem dey sing three times for three different visits, so di audience dey learn di refrain on di first pass and master am by di third time, and di last performance of am na children dey sing am wey already know say e no go work.
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