The Tortoise and Tela
An Ọ̀yọ́ variant of the magic yam-rock tale in which the rock opens to a song rather than a command, and Ìjàpá betrays his friend by bringing the whole country to empty the store.
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An Ọ̀yọ́ variant of the magic yam-rock tale in which the rock opens to a song rather than a command, and Ìjàpá betrays his friend by bringing the whole country to empty the store.
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 one Ọ̀yọ́ version of di magic yam-rock tori, where di friend wey hold di secret na one man wey im name na Tela instead of lizard, di rock dey open to song incantation instead of spoken command, and wetin Ìjàpá do wey bad no be say im load imsef too heavy only, but say im carry di whole country come pack everything comot for di store. E end with how tortoise break scatter for di rock and insects join am back, and di line where dem join am still dey show for im back. Na John Parkinson collect am and publish am for 1909 .
Di version wey close to am well well where lizard hold di secret na alo-ijapa-and-the-rock-of-yams, and dem compare di two with di oda tori dem about how tortoise shell take start for alo-why-the-tortoise-shell-is-marked.
Parkinson state where im get im tori from for di beginning of di article, and di statement make sense to quote because e give pass wetin most collectors for dat period dey provide:
The following tales, told to me for the most part by natives of Oyo, have been left as far as possible in the phrases of the interpreter, himself a Yoruba .
So: Ọ̀yọ́ provenance, wey pass through interpreter wey dem identify as Yorùbá even though dem no call im name, and dem intentionally keep di English close to how dat interpreter talk am instead of polishing am into fine book English. Dat one na transmission chain wey get two levels inside and Parkinson dey open about di two. Dem no give any Yorùbá text for dis tori, and di English dey one step away from di pesin wey tell di tori.
Parkinson still group im tori dem clearly. E note say "Stories VIII., IX., and X. tell how the tortoise got the marks on his back" , wey mean say na one single collector record three different explanations for di same physical feature from di same region. Dat kind thing no common, and na di strongest evidence for dis section say di Yorùbá tradition no hold only one fixed explanation for di shell.
Tortoise na animal wey get sense well well, and e and one man wey im name na Tela tight as friends. Food scarcity dey di land. Tela know where e fit get food and tortoise no know, and from time to time Tela go go dat place go chop while tortoise dey suffer hunger.
Den tortoise talk say: you be my friend, but you never show me where you dey get food; you dey look fat, but me I no get wetin to chop.
And Tela answer am, for one sentence wey tell di people wey dey listen exactly how di tori go end:
I thought of taking you, but I know you to be wise, and I fear that you will go to my place without my permission, so that I do not tell you.
One day though, Tela promise to carry am go, and when dem reach di place tortoise see say na rock. And Tela sing.
Dem no give di Yorùbá. Parkinson print di song for English only .
No Yorùbá text wey dem record; word-for-word meaning no dey.
This rock must open because the owner of the house has come! I "Prince Tela."
Translator: Yorùbá interpreter wey dem no mention im name
No Yorùbá remain for dis incantation, so dem no fit give di three-layer treatment and dem no reconstruct anything. Wetin person fit notice be say di English clearly no be standard natural English, and Parkinson tell us why: e keep di exact phrasing of di interpreter. Di broken way dem take arrange di words for di end, "I 'Prince Tela'", read like say na name dem dey declare instead of sentence wey dem complete, wey be wetin opening formula dey do. Di corpus note as analysis say incantation of dis kind dey work by to mention di right wey di speaker get to enter, so di way di English bend fit be say e preserve something real about di Yorùbá instead of say na mistake say e no translate well.
Di rock open and dem enter inside chop belleful. After dat tortoise try to carry food go house for im wife, and dem separate, each person go im own house.
For di second day, when Tela no dey around, tortoise waka round di country and invite all di people make dem come Tela place come take food. Dem arrange for one particular day, and when dem reach di rock tortoise sing di incantation by imsef, and di rock open, as e no know say na tortoise sing am. And di animals finish all di food for di store.
When dem don finish, tortoise talk say: Na me go be di last person to commot. So all of dem commot, and as tortoise dey go, di middle of di rock fall on top am.
No long after dat Tela hungry and e go di rock go chop, and e see tortoise head dey stick commot. And Tela talk say: how e take be say I see you here? When I bring you come here day before yesterday you promise say you no go come, but now you don come and you carry friends follow body.
But tortoise talk say: bring me commot and no dey talk.
And Tela, as hunger dey catch am, start to sing as before, and di rock open. Now hunger dey seriously catch Tela, and, as e no wait to talk because of di food wey e think say dey wait for am inside, e enter and see say dem don chop everything and nothing remain.
Vex catch am so tey e hold tortoise and wan crush am, when tortoise talk say: make you get patience and I go tell you everything. Den, e continue say, to talk di true, something dey wey always dey make me talk things wey I no suppose talk.
Den Tela wey hunger dey catch talk say: I no get time for dis kind thing. And e break am for di rock smash am to pieces.
After dat di big ants and all kind of insects gather join am back together. Dem all try dia best, but dem no fit repair im back properly, and na so di lines where dem repair am dey show for tortoise back till today.
How the tin work be say, dem predict the betrayal, allow am, and den e happen exactly as dem talk am. From the start, Tela talk say e dey fear say tortoise go go the place without permission, e give reason say na tortoise own sense make am, but e still carry am follow body anyway. Therefore, the story no treat Ìjàpá character like wetin surprise anybody, and e no treat Tela like fool say e trust am: e treat trust like wetin person give even though e clearly see the risk. owe-friendship-trust-betrayal pack the proverb material on top this same matter together.
Na how big the offense dey na im separate this version from the lizard version. For alo-ijapa-and-the-rock-of-yams the tortoise tif extra yam for imself and im own load trap am. For here, e call the whole country gather, and the crowd wey e bring pack everything for the store. Na tif wey dem organize like say dem dey welcome visitors, and e use voice wey no be im own do am, since the rock open because e no fit know who dey sing.
Ìjàpá confession na the best line for the story, and the collection point am out as one style of characterization wey scarce well-well for the story cycle:
To talk the truth, something dey wey dey always make me talk things wey I no suppose talk.
E no dey defend imself by denying, like wetin e do for the Alugbinrin song for alo-ijapa-and-the-babalawo. E dey name one force wey dey control am, and e place am outside im own power, "something dey wey dey always make me." Na this one near pass for the recorded cycle to make the trickster explain imself. Tela, wey hunger dey kill, refuse to listen, and the story no present this refusal like say Tela do bad thing. The story just mention two times say hunger dey catch am well-well, wey be the explanation for why person wey get sense go destroy another person in the middle of im sentence.
Check who repair am too. For Ellis version, cockroach and ant come because e call dem by name. For here, big ants and different kinds of insects "gather" on their own, without anybody calling dem. Dem present the mending like something wey just happen to creature wey break finish, and dem talk say e no perfect at all without any crying or pity.
Check alo-why-the-tortoise-shell-is-marked for the full comparison. The stories wey close pass to this one na Ellis lizard version and the Bouche 1880 Nago version wey Parkinson editor summarize, wey follow Ellis plot instead of this one . Parkinson own sequence bring two more shell aetiologies wey get completely different plots, alo-the-dog-and-the-tortoise and alo-the-tortoise-helps-the-animals.
Evening telling, wey dem treat for yoruba-alo. Dem sing the spell three times for this story: Tela sing am on the first visit, the tortoise sing am for the raid, and Tela sing am again during the rescue, so the audience get refrain wey dem go follow sing, and the third time wey dem sing am na im reveal say the store don empty. That kind structure, song wey dey change meaning as dem dey repeat am without changing words, na the same style wey dem use for alo-ijapa-and-the-babalawo.
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 famine tale in which Ìjàpá wheedles the secret of a magic yam-store out of the lizard, loads himself too heavily to leave, forgets the opening words, and is smashed and mended by insects.
The Yorùbá tradition holds no single account of the marks on the tortoise's shell, and this file sets the four sourced narratives side by side to show what varies and what does not.
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.
Sourced Yorùbá proverbs on what friendship actually obliges, how far trust can safely go, and what betrayal by an intimate looks like.
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.