The Tortoise and the Naked Man under Water

The Tortoise and the Naked Man under Water

This story is about a man who lived under water, I'm a certain river. The man was named and had lived under the water for years. No one in the nearby villages knew that there was a naked man living in the river. There was a mango tree beside the river which the man fed on. He came out of the river at night and he plucked the mango fruits and sat under the tree to eat the fruits he plucked. If he sighted someone coming to the river, he would quickly jump into the river quietly, without the person noticing the bubble of the water.

A tortoise went to the river one day and saw a ripe mango fruit on the mango tree. The tortoise climbed to pluck the mango fruit and as it held the mango fruit, it mistakenly fell off its hand into the river. The tortoise was upset and quickly climbed down the tree in order to retrieve the fruit from the river. The naked man saw from inside the water that the tortoise was determined to enter into the water to get back the fruit. He did not want that to happen because the tortoise would see him. So, he quickly picked the mango fruit and held it to the surface of the water for the tortoise to see and pick it. The tortoise saw the fruit and took it but it was also surprised how the fruit could still be on the surface of the water.  It wondered if something must have held it beneath.

The tortoise threw the mango fruit back into the water, to see if it would come to the surface again without floating. The naked man picked it up and held it on the surface of the water, as he did not want the tortoise to enter the water. The tortoise was shocked and resolved to look into the water, to see if there was something beneath the mango fruit that was keeping it stable on the surface of the water. As he immersed its head into the water, the naked man held it face and the tortoise struggled in vain to pull out its head from the water. As the tortoise was there struggling with its head inside the water, while other parts of its body were outside, some people came to the river and saw it and shouted. The naked man removed his hand from the tortoise and he sank deep into the water, so that the people would not see him. The tortoise ran into the forest panting. From that day, the tortoise did not go to pluck the mango fruit again.

The Wicked Slave

A long time ago, if a girl old enough to marry, her husband-to-be must not be from her own village; he must come from another village. There was a girl called Ada who was married to a man in a nearby village. Both of them had not seen each other. One day, Ada was set to meet her husband. She went on the journey with her sister and a slave.

 By the time she was ready to go, a priest warned her never to take her bath in a river on her way and she said she would obey him and set out on the journey. As they went, they got to a river and the slave told Ada to take her bath but Ada refused. The slave insisted and told Ada that she must take her bath before seeing her husband. Ada still refused; so, the slave told her not to worry, that she would go to the river and fetch the water for her. Ada agreed and the slave went to go to the river and brought the water. She told Ada to take her bath at the river bank. Ada went to the river bank and pulled off her clothes. Then the slave pushed Ada into the river and Ada suddenly turned into a fish. The slave took Ada's cloth and wore it and told Ada's sister not to say a word about what had happened and that if she did, she would kill her. They arrived at the village and the man saw the slave and thought it was Ada. A great feast was made. Ada's sister was troubled. While everybody was eating Ada's sister took some food to the river and began to sing:

Oooh Ada, my sister, come and eat,

Your sister is calling you,

Come and answer me.

You are not a fish but your slave,

Pushed you into the river,

And now, she is also the bride.

Ada came out and took the food and swam back into the river. On another occasion the sister came again and did the thing and Ada came out, collected the food and told her sister not to be coming again, as she had completely become a fish.

 Unknown to them as they discussed, there was a man in the bush by the riverside who saw all that transpired between Ada and her sister. The man went and told the man who was supposed to be her husband, but he didn't believe and wanted to see things for himself. He spied the little girl and found that what the man told him was true. He ordered that the juju priest should be invited and that was done. The juju priest prepared a concoction in seven pots.

   Ada's sister went to give her food and sang as usual and Ada came out and collected the food and wanted to jump into the water. The men quickly held her with a net and they put her into the seven pots and she became a beautiful girl and they took her to the village.

 The slave saw Ada and was ashamed and wanted to run away, but some men also held her back. Ada told the slave to fetch some firewood and she did and she told her again to fill a big pot with water and she did. Then Ada cut off a piece of her hair and dropped it in the pot of water and told her slave to go inside and get it. The slave went into the pot of boiling water looking for Ada's hair and she died. That was the end of the wicked slave.

The Mermaid Princess

Once upon a time in the mermaid world, under the sea, there was a king. The king was the most powerful being in the mermaid world. He had a daughter who was the princess. At that time, there was a law in the mermaid world that if they saw any human beings they should either kill them or take them captive. The princess was very good in music. She used anything she saw to make up a song and sing.

There was a day, she was on the sea and she sighted a man in the creek. She started singing:

    Oh, beautify bird, come to me, I will make you happy.

 Oh, beautiful bird, come to me, I will marry you-ooooo...

The man looked in the direction of the song but didn't see anyone. The song was so melodious in his ears that he had to walk further to the shore of the sea, where he heard the song being sang. As he got there, the song began to emanate from the creek, at the location he had been previously:

    Oh, beautify bird, come to me, I will make you happy.

  Oh, beautiful bird, come to me, I will marry you-ooooo...

He turned but yet couldn’t see anyone. This continued for a long time, causing him to move from one end of the creek, to another in a bid to see who was singing the song.

 At last, he saw a very beautiful girl on the shore of the sea. The man sat by her side and saw that she was a mermaid with half of her body like a fish tail. While they sat on the shore, the princess father came and wanted to kill the man. He scolded the princess for daring to be friendly with a human being.

The princess prevented her father from killing the man. She told her father she wanted to marry the man. Her father, the king of the mermaids, reluctantly accepted that she should marry the man, after she insisted. A lot of treasures from the sea were given to her, as she married the man and they both lived on land in the man's village.