An Ọ̀yọ́ tale in which a hunter stakes his life against a village head's on the existence of a sixteen-tailed ape, plays dead to kill it, and wins a bet the community afterwards condemns.
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.
Na dis story be di first one for Parkinson 1909 collection, and di person wey collect am give am subtitle say "showing how wrong it is to make heavy bets" . One hunter tell one village head, di Bále, say im see one ape wey get sixteen tails. Di Bále never hear of dat kind creature before. Dem bet dia life put for am. Di hunter pretend say im don die take kill di ape, bring di dead body come out, and dem execute di Bále, after dat di people come talk say nobody suppose dey place bet on top dat kind condition. John Parkinson collect am from Ọ̀yọ́ informants .
Na one of di two stories for dis section wey hunter be di main character, and na one of di very few Yorùbá stories wey get source where apes dey act as group wey get chief.
One day, one hunter reach one village and tell di Bále say im see one ape wey get sixteen tails. Parkinson editor write note about di number: "note the common occurrence of the number sixteen in Yoruba myth," as e refer to Ellis . Sixteen na di main number wey dey organize di Ifá system, wey dem treat for ifa-256-odu.
Di Bále answer say im never see or hear about dat kind beast before.
Den di hunter talk say: come enter bush come see dis ape. And e put condition say if e really be as im talk, make dem put di Bále to death, but if im lie, make im forfeit im own life. Di Bále agree to dis one, and di hunter confirm say im go bring di ape come.
Den di hunter go enter bush, rub dirty and bad bad things for body, come lie down for di road wey di apes dey pass well well.
E no tey, one of di apes come near, and as e see say di hunter lie down, e shake am; but di hunter lie down like person wey don die. Den di ape go back to di rest and tell dem wetin im see. And di chief ape, di ape wey get sixteen tails, talk say: make una go look.
And dem run go see di hunter wey lie down for road, and dem bend down on top am dey shake am, dey sing together:
Dem no give di Yorùbá. Na only English Parkinson use print am .
Dem no record am for inside source .
Come and see the dead hunter.
Translator: John Parkinson
Dem talk say im don die, but dem leave di bow for im right hand and di arrows for im left hand.
Den all di apes go back to di chief ape and talk say: e true say di hunter don die, because im body dey rotten and maggot dey inside am.
Den di chief ape talk say: na true. And e add say im self go go see with im own eyes.
Den di ape wey get sixteen tails come, and as e bend down on top di hunter e talk say: ah, I don catch you now, you wey don kill plenty of my people. And e shake am. But di hunter don ready, e jump up knock di ape down kill am.
Di hunter carry di ape go house go hide am inside house, and e go meet di Bále again talk say: na true matter. And e add say im ready to prove im words, as e remind am of di conditions.
Den di hunter go inside di town tell all di people say make dem meet for one place come hear di conditions of di bet wey im and di Bále make about di ape wey get sixteen tails, and say di Bále suppose die if di hunter prove say na true, and di hunter go die if e no be true.
And di people agree to dis things and to di conditions of di bet, as dem talk say if e fit bring out di chief of di apes wey get sixteen tails, dem go kill di Bále.
When di day wey dem set reach, di hunter carry di dead body of di ape wey get sixteen tails show di people and di Bále. And dem kill di Bále.
But all di people come talk say nobody suppose dey place bet on top dat kind condition, whether dem go really carry di conditions out or not.
Di way e take work na say di hunter win because e give im opponents di exact evidence wey dem dey look for, and di story run di same pattern two times for two different audience.
Against di apes, di trick na dead body. E no hide; e lie down for di road wey dem dey use, rub dirty for body, and allow dem check am. Di apes do proper investigation: one scout come first, den one delegation, den di chief imself. Dem shake am, dem see say e dey rotten and worms dey inside am, and dem use real evidence reach sensible conclusion. Dia only mistake na wetin dem leave alone. Di way Parkinson tell am clear well well: "they left the bow in his right hand and the arrows in his left." Dead man weapon no be threat, so nobody collect weapon from im hand.
Di chief ape own word na di sharpest thing for inside di story. As e bend down on top wetin e believe say na dead body, e talk say: ah, I don catch you now, you wey don kill plenty of my people. Dem no just deceive am; dem deceive am for di exact moment wey e dey feel sweet about victory wey im no win. Dat one follow di same pattern like Ìjàpá shout to di drum for alo-ijapa-singing-drum, victory speech wey person give inside situation wey di speaker misunderstand completely.
Against di village, di trick na procedure. After im don kill di ape, di hunter hide di dead body, go back to di Bále, repeat di claim again, remind am of di terms, and den, before im bring anything come out, e gather di whole town and make dem agree to di conditions beforehand. Na only after di community don agree publicly say dem go kill di Bále na im e show di dead body. Di corpus note for analysis say di hiding of di dead body na di key move: e change bet between two men wey suppose be private matter make e turn to public agreement wey di town don approve, so dat when di evidence appear, nobody go dey left wey fit argue.
Di last sentence na wetin make dis story get value for where e dey, and e dey do something wey no common:
But all di people come talk say nobody suppose dey place bet on top dat kind condition, whether dem go really carry di conditions out or not.
Di community carry out di judgment, den condemn di arrangement wey bring am come. Dem no talk say di Bále dey innocent, or say di hunter cheat, or say dem no prove di bet. Wetin dem talk na say person no suppose make dis kind bet at all, and di condition wey dey follow am, "whether dem go truly carry out di conditions or not," make di objection sharp pass: di wrong dey inside di bet wey dem stake, no be inside how dem take enforce am.
Parkinson own subtitle, "showing how wrong it is to make heavy bets," report di same understanding , and na di collector dey tell us wetin di person wey tell am di story talk say na di purpose of di story.
Na dis communal-judgement resolution yoruba-alo identify say dey common with di Ìjàpá cycle, wey show here for inside human story with one difference wey make sense to note: di judgement no fall on anybody. Di Bále don die, dem no punish di hunter, and di verdict na general principle wey dem bring out after everything don happen. Di corpus note say story wey allow clever person kill village head through formal procedure, den come end with di community rejecting di procedure, na moral lesson wey dey hard to accept pass simple story of punishment; and na Parkinson teller, no be dis compiler, frame am say di story dey about how bet bad instead of di cleverness of di hunter.
Di chief ape get sixteen tail, e dey lead community, e dey send scouts, e dey judge dia reports, and e come check tins by imself. E dey talk. E don lose several of im people to dis hunter and e know am well.
Di corpus record say na dis be di most complete description of apes or monkeys as social actors wey dis compiler find for inside di sourced Yorùbá record, and say e no be trickster role. alo-what-is-not-here bring out di finding say dem no find any Ìjímèrè monkey-trickster cycle from di source, and di material wey dey, here and for di Frobenius passages wey dem mention for there, show monkeys as advisers, victims, and communities instead of people wey dey plan wayo.
Dis compiler no find any Yorùbá-language version and no second collection of dis story. Di record wey dem check no talk anything about am.
Na evening story, wey dem treat for yoruba-alo. Di apes line "come and see the dead hunter" na wetin Parkinson mark say dem sing as chorus, wey make am di audience part, and na characters wey no understand wetin dem dey look dey sing am. Di rhythm of di story na three movements go meet di same dead body: scout, delegation, chief, wey be di counting structure wey common across dis section.
The evening storytelling tradition, the call-and-response frame that opens it, riddles as a separate discipline, and the Ìjàpá cycle read as a body of ethical and comic literature.
Two competing aetiologies of the leopard's markings printed consecutively by one collector, one in which Akiti the hunter's arrows leave dark marks on an invulnerable leopard, and one in which a bathing woman throws her soapy loofah at him.
What John Parkinson's Ọ̀yọ́ tale collection contains, why its stated provenance is unusually candid for its period, and how to read its editor's comparative footnotes.
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