A CERTAIN WOMAN had tow daughters. One was married to a man who lived in a town where no one was allowed to go to sleep, the other to one in a town where one might spit.

One day the woman cooked a dish of sweetmeats to take to the daughter who lived in the town where no one was allowed to go to sleep. As soon as the dish was ready she started off and, when she arrived, all the household said to her, “Welcome, welcome!” Food was prepared for her, for the son-in-law said, “See, my mother-in-law has come.”

Bu the daughter said, “O parent, no one may sleep here. Do not eat too much lest sleepiness should overcome you.”

But the mother said, “I knew long before you were born that sleep was not permitted here.”

“Oh, very well then,” replied the daughter, “I’ll say no more.” And the mother ate every bit of the food that was brought to her.

The night =, although she lay down, she managed to keep awake. In the morning the daughter took up her jar to go to the stream for water and said to her mother, “See here, I have put the breakfast on to boil. Please keep up there fire while I am away.

but when the daughter had gone, although her mother managed to replenish the fire for a time, drowsiness overcame her in the end, and she lay down and fell fast asleep, Just then a neighbor came to get fire and, when she saw the sleeping woman, she exclaimed, “Alas! So-and-so’s mother-in-law is dead.”

Then the drummers were sent for, and soon the whole town had assembled at the house and a grave had been dug. The drums were saying:

“Birrim, birrim, get a corpse mat,

Death’s in the son-in-law’s house.”

But the daughter heard from where she was, and cried out:

“Stay, oh, stay, don’t get a corpse mat,

We are accustomed to sleep.”

And when she had come to her house, she roused her mother, and said, “Wake up, wake up.” Then the mother awoke a start and the people were terrified, but they soon saw that it was nothing to be afraid of, and the whole town began to learn how to sleep.

Now the mother returned to her own home, and one day she cooked more sweetmeats and decided to visit her other daughter, the one living in the town where no one might spit.

When she arrived, the household said, “Welcome, welcome!” And the son-in-law said, “My mother-in-law has come.” So he killed a fowl and sent her a dish of rice. The daughter said to her mother, “Do not eat much. You know that in this town no one is allowed to spit.”

The mother replied, “Thanks for the information! I knew that before ever you were born.”

“Very well,” said the daughter, and she took no more notice. The mother ate until she was full.

Now when night came, she wanted very much to spit, but she did not know where she could do so without being found out. At last she went to the place where the horses were tied, and she spat, and covered the place with some of the cut grass there. But the earth was not used to this, and the part spat upon rose up and began to complain, saying:

“Umm, umm, I am not used to this,

Umm, umm, I am not used to this.”

Soon all the people came and siad, “Who has spat here?” Then they said, “Bring out the magic gourds, the small one and the large, and let everyone come here and step over them; and the gourds will catch hold of the one who has spat.” So all the people of the town stepped over them, but no one was seized and they were surprised. Then someone said, “See here, there is a stranger amongst us, let her come and step over the gourds.”

Immediately when she had come and had lifted up a leg to step over, the gourds seized her, and everyone said, “It is she who has spat, it is she who has spat! And the gourds began singing these words:

“The things which clasp and hold on,

The mother-in-law has got them.”

She could not sit down, for they held on to her body.

Now, the spider, that interfering person, met her, and said, “O mother-in-law, how lucky you are to have gourds which sing such a beautiful song. I should like to have them.”

So she replied, “Very well, spit on the ground and say that it waas not you who did it.”

And when he had done so, he said, “There! But ut us not I who have done it, if it is I, O you magic gourds, seize me.”

And immediately the gourds loosed the woman and seized him. They began singing:

“The things which clasp and hold on,

The spider of spiders has got them,”

and the spider felt exceedingly pleased, and began to dance.

But soon he got tired and said, “O mother-in-law, you thing to be avoided, come and take your gourds.” But she refused to do so.

Then the spider climbed a tree, and when he got high up he threw himself down on his buttocks, so as to smash the gourds. But they moved to one side, and so the spider’s back was broken and he died. then the magic gourds returned to where they had come from, and all the townspeople began to spit, for they saw the there was no harm in it.

[ HAUSA ]