The Pig and the Tortoise
A tale in which Ìjàpá roasts a pig in a covered fire-trench and loses the whole carcass to a dog blacksmith who stalls him over a seventh knife, explaining why dogs keep away from tortoises.
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A tale in which Ìjàpá roasts a pig in a covered fire-trench and loses the whole carcass to a dog blacksmith who stalls him over a seventh knife, explaining why dogs keep away from tortoises.
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 tori about Ìjàpá di tortoise, Ẹlẹ́dẹ̀ di pig, and Ajá di dog. Ìjàpá invite di pig come play music for im house, afta e don dig trench put fire inside and cover am wit mat, con roast am. E con lose di whole meat give di dog wey e go meet to make knife, and di tori end wit di reason why dog dey run up and down dey avoid tortoise. John Parkinson collect am from Ọ̀yọ́ informants and publish am for 1909 .
Di pig and di tortoise make friend. And one day di pig say e want play and make music for tortoise house.
Con finish, tortoise dig trench for di square compound of im house, put fire for bottom, and spread mat for top.
Wen di pig reach dere, tortoise greet am, praise am for many tins, con tell am make e sit down for top mat. Di pig say: I dey comfortable here. But tortoise insist, dey talk say: you go better pass if you sit down for top mat. As di pig gree wit di idea con sit down, e fall enter di ditch wey dem don prepare, and di fire rush up cover am.
Den tortoise pack leaf put for body of di pig con roast am, bikos di pig no fit comot from di trench. Wen e don roast finish, tortoise bring am out, scrape im body make e ready for chop. Den e dress di pig con tell im wife: keep am, I dey go blacksmith place make e do knife for me.
Den e comot, and as e dey go e dey sing.
Dem no give di Yorùbá. Parkinson print di song for English only .
No Yorùbá text dey recorded for di source .
I have killed a fat pig, and the fat dripped into the fire.
Translator: John Parkinson
No Yorùbá survive and dem no reconstruct anytin. Di method wey Parkinson talk say e use na to keep di way di interpreter talk am , and wetin remain here na brag wey get two part: di kill and di fat. Di corpus note say na di second part dey do di main work: di fat wey dey drop na di proof of quality, and song about fat wey dey drop enter fire na song about wealth for tradition wey meat no be everyday tin. owe-hunger-food-plenty gather di proverb material.
Now di blacksmith na dog, and wen tortoise reach di shop e say: make seven knives for me.
And di dog say: wetin make you want seven at once?
Tortoise answer: I get fat meat wey I roast, and I want chop.
Den di dog say: person wey small like you, how you take get dis kind tin? But tortoise only answer: no worry about dat one, make di knives for me.
Now di dog don already make six knives, but tortoise ask: where di seventh one? Di dog reply: iron don short me, make I go bring am come.
And as tortoise dey wait, di dog go tortoise house con tell im wife: your husband send me make I come carry di meat. But di wife say no. Di dog continue: I dey lie for you? I leave your husband for my shop. So tortoise wife, as e know say im husband and di dog na friend, give am di meat.
Di dog carry di pig, and for di first corner e chop everytin finish. Den, afta e go back to im shop con make di seventh knife, e hand am give tortoise, and tortoise so happy dat e start to sing again.
As e dey near house, im wife hear am dey sing con talk to herself:
Why dis fool dey sing? E don already send person come carry di pig. Nofin go remain for me, I dey see how all dis tin go end.
Tortoise enter im house dey talk say: bring di meat. Den im wife reply: which meat you dey talk? You dey mad or you don drink?
Tortoise answer: dis no be joke o, give me di meat. Di wife answer back: me sef no dey joke. Wetin happen to di person wey you send make e come carry di pig just now?
Who dat, tortoise ask. And di wife answer: di dog.
Tortoise say: Me send am? Con add: I dey go see di dog immediately.
Tortoise go dog house carry six big stick, but di dog don see am from far dey come con comot for shop. Tortoise throw di stick dem pursue am but e no reach am, so e enter di shop wait make e return, but di dog no ever come back.
Na why dog dey like to run up and down reach today so dat e go see and avoid tortoise.
Di way e work na say di trickster fall hand bikos of im own boast, and di tori trace how di secret take leak clear-clear. Ìjàpá tell di dog three tins wey e no need talk: say e want seven knives, say e get fat meat wey e roast, and, as e dey sing for street, say e don kill animal sef. Di question wey di dog ask, "person wey small like you, how you take get dis kind tin?", na di moment wey di robbery take become possible, and as Ìjàpá refuse to answer am, "no worry about dat one, make di knives for me," e bad pass if e even answer, since e confirm say something dey wey make sense to carry.
Di seventh knife na di trick. Six don ready; di seventh one no dey and e no need am. Na reason to make am wait, wey dem create right dere, and na di tortoise supply di excuse by imself wen e ask where e dey. Ìjàpá come trap by im own order for knife wey too plenti, wey show say e dey greedy: one knife for don enough to cut di pig.
Den di tori do something wey no common for dis cycle. E give di wife interior monologue, and na she be di only character for dis section wey understand wetin dey happen as e dey happen. "Why dis fool dey sing? E don already send person come carry di pig. Nofin go remain for me, I dey see how all dis tin go end." E mistake about one fact, as e believe say im husband send di dog, but e totally correct about di outcome, including im own share inside. Di corpus note as analysis say dat line dey do double work: e bring di plot reversal and e show di kind marriage dem get, since di first tin wey come im mind wen e hear im husband dey sing wit joy na say she herself no go get anytin.
E also dey important to mention the pig. E no want sit down for mat. E say e dey very comfortable where e dey, but dem come convince am with pressure wey dem disguise as hospitality, wey be the same style dem use on top Erin for alo-ijapa-and-erin-the-false-coronation: sweet mouth, then specific request make e move go one particular place. Both victims die because dem gree sit down.
The aetiology wey take end am simple and direct as e dey usually be. Everything for the story wey dem for fit settle, the stealing, the chase, the six sticks, dem leave all of dem without resolution till today, and this unresolved state na im be the explanation itself: dogs dey run up and down because debt no reach to dem collect.
Parkinson Tale X, alo-the-dog-and-the-tortoise, also pair these two and also end with aetiology, but the moral roles change: for there, na the dog be the person wey dem do bad to wey come pay back insult, but for here the dog na pure thief. The two story follow each other for Parkinson article and e no talk anything about the pairing. Dem no record whether the people wey tell am the story understand dem as one set, and the corpus no assume say na so.
yorubatales.com get stories wey dem title "Ijapa and Aja (Dog)" and "Ijapa and Elede (Pig)" , wey show say both pairings still dey circulate, but the site no put who get each story and nothing dem quote from am. The compiler no find any Yorùbá-language version of this particular story.
Na evening telling, wey dem treat for yoruba-alo. Dem sing the song two times, the two times na man wey dey waka sing am, and na the second performance be the one wey the audience know say e empty, since dem don see as the dog chop the pig for corner. Wetin the wife talk under her breath na to herself she talk am for front of audience wey already know pass wetin she know, wey be the standard structure of dramatic irony and na wetin dem use for here for room of children wey dey listen.
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.
A tale in which Ajá the dog plants the leaves Ìjàpá threw in his face, grows a tree that bears agidi, and repays the insult exactly, with the tortoise killed by a falling stone when he tries the same song.
A tortoise tale in which Ìjàpá rescues a drowning hunter's son on condition of enslaving him, hides him inside a drum that appears to sing by itself, and loses him when he drinks himself unconscious at a dance.
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.
Twenty-nine Yorùbá proverbs built around Àjàpá the tortoise, the tradition's central trickster animal, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Sixty-seven Yorùbá proverbs on hunger, eating, restraint at table and the difference between a full house and an empty one, each with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation it is spoken in.