The Brave African Huntress by Amos Tutuola Read Free Book Online

and plenty of heavy stones which were throwing to his victims, were also lying all over that spot. He always held one heavy cudgel which had a very big round head. And as he was talking to me it was so he was looking at the big round head of this cudgel and after a few minutes he would glance at my own head, and this showed me that he was thinking in mind that he was going to beat my head with this cudgel.
    When I noticed that whenever he looked at the head of his cudgel he would look at my head as well and again when I saw all the fearful things which were surrounded him, my bravery flew away from my body and then great fear replaced it at once. Then I began to tremble from feet to head with fear. But when I was about to throw away my gun, hunting bag, etc., and then to start to run away for my life, it came to my mind suddenly this moment that all my four brothers were still held up in the custody of the pigmies and that it was in respect of them I was going to hunt in the Jungle of the Pigmies perhaps I would see them and bring them back to the town. When it came to my mind like that, my bravery returned to my body at the same time. And then I thought over again that—“Although I have jumped this well and I have jumped that well makes cat to fall into a well one day.” This meant as this gate-keeper had killed several hunters, etc., but I as a huntress who had no power like those hunters, would by a surprise, kill him because it is a useless dog always kills hare.
    When all these thoughts came to my mind suddenly then I started to shout greatly on him—“Please, the gate-keeper, open the gate for me and I want to pass into the jungle!” But when heasked—“To pass to where?” I told him very loudly—“To pass to the Jungle of the Pigmies!” But instead to open this gate and let me pass in he simply bursted into a great laughter and he said—“I believe you don’t know where you are yet! To open this gate for you or what do you say now? Look at all these bones and skulls! They are the bones and skulls of all the hunters who had wanted to go to the jungle when I killed them! Come to me and let me cut off your head at once, you hopeless huntress!”
    But when this gate-keeper shouted on me greatly like that I was so annoyed that I did not know when I shot my “ shakabullah ” gun at his head because I thought that as his head had no hair at all the gun-shots would be easily entered his brain and so by that he would fall down and die at once. But to my surprise and fear the gun-shots were unable to enter into his brain at all and instead of that they fell down before him. He picked them up and threw them back to me without hesitation. Again he told me to shoot at his head as many times as I liked and then he bent the sparkling forehead towards me and he was expecting more shots.
    Again, without hesitation I loaded my gun and I shot at his forehead for the second time. But to my surprise, my gun only sounded—“Shaka—bul—laha” and the gun-shots did not do anything to his head at all. At last when I believed that my gun could not do anything to him then I put the gun down and I held one of the poisonous cudgels while my hunting bag was still on my shoulder, and then I told him that I was ready to fight with him. As I was doing that he had gathered some heavy stones and many cudgels into one place. After that he was coming to me direct and to beat me to death with the heavy cudgel which he held all the while.
    As he raised up this cudgel just to beat me to death with it, I hastily jumped to his right and then I beat him heavily on thehead with my poisonous cudgel. After he struggled and he turned to his right and when he was about to beat me with his heavy cudgel, I ran to his back unexpectedly and I hastily beat him on the head so heavily that he felt so much pain that he hesitated for a few minutes as if he was going to fall down and die. When he did so I thought he was entirely powerless and then I was