The Leopard-Man
A cautionary tale in which a maiden follows a silent handsome stranger into the forest despite three warnings, and he turns out to be a leopard who hunts her back to the village.
Dis na cautionary tori about one maiden wey fall in love wit one fine stranger wey no dey ever talk for inside di village, follow am enter forest against three clear warnings, and come discover say na leopard wey get permission to waka like man once every month. Di leopard pursue am; one tree pity am come fall across river make she fit cross; she reach di village wit total tiredness but she dey alive. Na M. I. Ogumefu record am for English for 1929 .
Na di most complete tori about Ekùn di leopard as character wey dis compiler fit find, and e get one big loss wey join body wit am, wey dem discuss for under.
Di songs don miss
Dis tori get three songs and none of dem survive. Ogumefu report each of dem for indirect speech: di stranger under di tree "began to sing a melancholy song, in which he told her that though he was allowed once a month to wander about in villages and towns like a man, he was in reality a savage leopard and would rend her in pieces as soon as he regained his natural form"; and during di chase "he sang that he would tear her in small pieces, and she in another song replied that he would never overtake her" .
So di main secret wey di tori open and di whole chase sequence na song dem take do am, and di record wey dem consult only keep wetin dey inside di songs. Dis na di warning wey Ogumefu give for im own preface, say di tori dem "include very old songs, but these cannot here be given in full" , wey affect dis single tori where di loss cost pass. alo-ogumefu-1929-as-a-source explain di general problem.
Wetin lost no be decoration. Based on di evidence of di content wey dem report, di chase na call-and-response, threat wey get answer wit defiance, wey be di same structure like di goblin road-song for alo-the-palm-oil-seller-and-the-goblin and di accusation duel for alo-ijapa-and-the-dumb-princess. For performance, na dis section di audience for carry. Di corpus record di loss as loss and e no try reconstruct am.
Di tori
One fine stranger waka quietly pass through one village, and all di maidens admire am and wish say make e choose one of dem as im bride . But e no talk anything, and at last e waka commot enter forest disappear.
One month after, e come again, and dis time one of di maidens fall in love wit am so much dat she decide say she must follow am enter forest, since e hard am to stay without am .
When di stranger look back see say she dey come behind am, e stop beg am make she return home . But she refuse, come shout:
I no go ever leave you, and anywhere you go, I go follow.
Beautiful maiden, you go regret am, di stranger reply wit sadness, as e dey hurry go front.
After some time e stop again and once more beg am make she turn back . She give di same reply, and again e talk, wit sorrowful voice:
You go regret am, beautiful maiden!
Dem waka go deep inside di forest, and at last reach one tree wey leopard skin dey ground for di foot . As e stand under di tree, di stranger sing di song wey tell am wetin e be: say even though dem allow am once every month to waka around for villages and towns like man, for reality na wild leopard e be, and e go tear am to pieces as soon as e change back to im natural form.
Wit dis words, e throw imsef for ground and immediately e turn to leopard wey dey growl, come start to pursue di girl wey dey fear well well .
But fear give speed to her leg so dat di leopard no fit catch am . As e dey pursue am, e sing say e go tear am to small pieces, and she reply for anoda song say e no go ever catch am.
Dem run for long distance, and suddenly di maiden reach one deep but narrow river wey she no fit cross. E be like say di leopard go catch am after all. But one tree wey stand for di river bank pity am come fall across di river, so dat she fit cross.
At last, as her body almost finish, she reach di edge of di forest and enter di village safely. Di leopard, disappointed say e no get wetin e wan chop, waka back go inside forest, and nobody ever see di fine stranger again.
Wetin di tori dey do
Di mechanism na say di danger dey identify imsef again and again but nobody believe am, and di tori make sure say na di predator dey give di warnings. Di leopard stop twice for road to beg am make she go back, and Ogumefu mark im manner both times, "sadly" and "in sorrowful tones." Den e tell am exactly wetin e be inside song, before e transform. E no dey lure am. E dey try send am go, and e fail, because she don already decide before.
Her line na di tori hinge: "I will never leave you, and wherever you go, I will follow." Dat na declaration of complete commitment, and for anoda tori e for be something to admire. Here, na to person wey she never hear im voice before, wey she meet twice, and wey she no know anything about, and na precisely dat sentiment carry am pass three chances to turn back.
Dem dey warn against two things at once, and di corpus mark dis as analysis. Di first one na di obvious one, di fine stranger wey come from nowhere, wey be di same warning like alo-adun-and-the-borrowed-body, where one woman wey refuse all local suitors marry man wey dem assemble from borrowed parts. Di second one na di girl own certainty. Wetin defeat all di warnings no be di leopard cunning, but her conviction say to follow am na love and say love don settle di question.
Di rescue make sense to note because she no earn am for ordinary sense. She no outsmart di leopard or reach safety by cleverness. She run, and one tree pity am come lie down across river. Di corpus note say dis one na different moral economy from di tortoise tori dem, where outcome dey follow conduct: here, one young woman wey make clear mistake still get saved, by di forest imsef, and reach home. Di tori na warning, no be punishment.
Make we also look wetin she lose. For material things, nothing: body don tire am but she dey alive, and di stranger no return again. Compare am with alo-the-palm-oil-seller-and-the-goblin, where di girl wey follow supernatural stranger for road, wey refuse im warning to turn back, come get reward instead of make dem hunt am. Di two tori use di exact same style take start, stubborn girl wey dey follow non-human being wey dey tell am repeatedly make e go back, but di two tori get opposite outcome. E make sense make we state this one clearly against any thinking say di genre get one regular system of rules, and e align with di argument for alo-why-the-tortoise-shell-is-marked about how di tradition dey accommodate different tellings wey no agree with each other.
Ekùn the leopard
Leopard na regular figure for Yorùbá oral art, and na only small amount of narrative this compiler fit get where e appear as character instead of just figure of speech. Wetin dey this section:
- This tori, where Ekùn fit change shape and e dey hunt women.
alo-how-leopard-got-his-spots, two different explanations of how leopard take get marks for body, one involve Akiti the hunter and one involve woman soapy sponge.- Supporting role for
alo-the-tortoise-helps-the-animals, where di leopard offer to use im claws take kill di water creatures, and fail like every other person.
This one small far pass di material wey dey for Ìjàpá, and di corpus state am clearly say e no see any leopard collection wey compare to di tortoise cycle. Whether one dey inside di Yorùbá-language collections wey this compiler no fit get, nobody know.
Variants
Dem no see any Yorùbá-language version and no second collection of this tori dey. Di record wey dem check no talk anything about variation.
Di corpus notice structural resemblance with alo-the-palm-oil-seller-and-the-goblin, wey different collector record 35 years before: girl wey dey follow non-human stranger wey repeatedly warn am make e turn back, wey be sung exchange for di two cases. As two independent collectors record di same style, e be evidence say di follow-and-warn song na real Yorùbá narrative pattern, no be just wetin one teller invent. Di corpus confirm say di pattern exist and no be say connection dey between di two tori, wey their outcomes differ completely.
Performance context
Evening telling, wey dem treat for yoruba-alo. Di tori wey remain na summary of performance wey dem comot di song parts, and di corpus note say di real length for performance for long pass wetin dey printed page well-well: three songs, wey one of dem na chase, inside text of about eight hundred words.