Tortoise

The Tortoise is a trickster in Nigerian folktales, and in other parts of Africa also; the stories on this page all come from Nigeria.

The first story cycle (which has four parts) comes from the Efik people of southern Nigeria.

The second story cycle (which has three parts) comes from the Igbo people of southeastern Nigeria.

Tortoise and the King's Drum

The King's magic drum produced unlimited food and drink. The King alone knew the drum's secret: if the drum's owner stepped over a stick, warriors would come out of the drum and attack him.

Tortoise, who was poor and lazy, wanted that drum. He climbed a palm-tree and waited. When the King walked by, Tortoise dropped a palm-nut.

The King picked it up.

"You stole my food!" Tortoise shouted. "I'm poor; you must pay!"

"Take whatever you want," said the King kindly.

"Give me the drum!" said Tortoise.

Smiling, the King agreed, but he didn't tell Tortoise the drum's secret.

Tortoise is Rich

Tortoise rejoiced. "With this drum, I will have food and drink without working!"

Tortoise ate, and he was happy.

Tortoise fed his family, and they were happy.

Tortoise feasted the whole village, boasting about his wealth. Now everyone admired Tortoise.

One day Tortoise got drunk on palm-wine and started to dance. As he danced, he stepped over a stick.

He wanted more wine, but when he beat the drum, the warriors emerged, armed with whips and clubs, and they attacked Tortoise.

Tortoise was angry. "I should not be the only one to suffer!" he thought, and he made a plan.

Tortoise's Revenge

"When I was poor, everyone mocked me," Tortoise thought. "Now they only pretend to like me, but I'll teach them a lesson."

Tortoise announced another feast. He invited all the men and animals, but he sent his own wife and children away.

Then, when everyone arrived, Tortoise beat the drum. The warriors appeared and attacked all the guests. Tortoise kept drumming, and the warriors kept attacking.

Tortoise didn't stop until all the guests were lying on the ground, groaning in agony.

Then Tortoise went to the King. "This drum is no good!" he said. "You must give me something else.

Tortoise and the Breadfruit

The King showed Tortoise a magic breadfruit-tree. "Every morning, the tree produces breadfruit. Harvest only once each day, not twice."

Tortoise gathered breadfruit each morning, and his family ate happily.

Tortoise's son asked where the food came from, but Tortoise wouldn't say. So the son poked a hole in Tortoise's sack and filled it with ashes. After Tortoise returned with breadfruit, the greedy son followed the trail of ashes. But when he reached for a breadfruit, a thorn-bush sprang up and swallowed the tree.

When Tortoise came the next morning, there was no tree.

Just a thorn-bush.

No more magic.

That story-cycle came from the Efik people, and the following story-cycle comes from the Igbo (Ibo) people:

Tortoise and Guinea-Fowl

"Let's go eat apples!" said Tortoise to Guinea-Fowl, and they went to the apple-tree.

"How will we get apples?" asked Guinea-Fowl.

"Like this," said Tortoise. He lay down and shouted, "Give me an apple!"

The tree hurled an apple on Tortoise's back. The apple split, and Guinea-Fowl ate the apple. "Delicious!" he said.

"Now you!" commanded Tortoise.

But Guinea-Fowl was scared. "My back isn't strong enough."

They argued, and finally Tortoise shouted, "Give Guinea-Fowl an apple!"

The tree hurled an apple down on Guinea-Fowl's head, killing him.

Tortoise ate the apple, and then he ate Guinea-Fowl too.

"Delicious!" he said.

Hawk and Tortoise's Flute

After Tortoise ate Guinea-Fowl, he made a flute from Guinea-Fowl's leg bone. Then he sat outside his house and played: tilo-ntiloo-tiloo!

Hawk flew down and started to dance."What a wonderful flute!" he said. "Let me try it! I'll play while you dance."

"No!" replied Tortoise. "If I give you the flute, you will just fly away with it."

"Grab hold of my feathers if you want," said Hawk."I won't fly off."

Tortoise grabbed Hawk tightly by the feathers and handed him the flute.

"Thank you!" said Hawk, and then he quickly flew off, leaving Tortoise with nothing but feathers.

Tortoise's Revenge

Tortoise got angry when Hawk stole his flute. He watched and waited until Hawk flew away from his nest. Then Tortoise climbed up to the nest.

Hawk's mother was there.

"Hawk forgot his flute!" said Tortoise. "He sent me to fetch it."

Hawk's mother gave Tortoise the flute.

Later, Hawk heard Tortoise playing.

"Where's my flute?" he yelled at his mother. She told him what had happened.

Hawk was so angry he threw her on the fire. Then he repented, but it was too late. She burned up.

That's why hawks hover over bush-fires: they are seeking their old mother.

Back to Hare

Ahead to Spider

Ahead to Mantis

Author's Notes.

The first story cycle comes from a story that is over 2500 words long, so obviously I left out a lot of detail in condensing it down to just 400 words. The story starts by explaining how the king uses this magic drum to keep the peace: whenever his enemies showed up, the king would use the drum to summon a huge feast, and instead of fighting, he would feed his enemy, and they would leave happy. The king is a very sympathetic character in this story (not always the case with kings in folktales!). In the original story, it was the princess who picked the palm-nut up and then Tortoise petitioned the king, but to keep the story short, I went straight to the king. Also, in the original story, the tree drops cooked foofoo; I made it a breadfruit tree, since foofoo is not a familiar term for some readers; you can read about foofoo at Wikipedia. The thorn-bush at the end is called "prickly tie-tie palm" and that is where tortoises supposedly live today.

In the second story cycle, the original just said "fowl" which could mean a domestic chicken or something like a guinea-fowl, so I went ahead and chose the guinea-fowl. For the fruit. The fruit they are eating is African star-apple, although I just said apple. In the original story, both Tortoise and Guinea-Fowl divide the first apple, but I thought the story worked better if Tortoise was angry because Guinea-Fowl ate the first apple. The text of the song in the story is "tilo ntiloo tiloo, egwu nara n'obodo ayi" which the author translates as "music and dancing are taking place in our town."

Bibliography.
"The King's Magic Drum" in Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell.
"Tortoise and Fowl" in Among the Ibos of Nigeria by G.T. Basden.

Banner image of tortoise from Pxhere.
ìyáàlù bàtá drum.
Leopard society of Nigerian Egbo warriors.
Tortoise.
Breadfruit, also called ukwa.
Nigerian guinea fowl.
Bone flute (this flute comes from South America).
Nigerian hawk.

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