Elili and Aikor were both Inkum women, the wives of Chief Nyip. They
each had a female child by him.
Elili was the head wife and looked after the house, and for several
years everything went well, until at last Elili became sick, and, after
a short illness, died, and was buried.
Her daughter Oga was quite young when her mother died; her breasts were
only just beginning to get round, and she had not been circumcised.
On Elili’s death Aikor took charge of the house, and cooked all the
food. When it was time to hand the food round, Aikor always gave her
daughter Nagor the best food, and only gave a very small portion to
Oga, as she was a very jealous woman, and disliked Elili and her
daughter.
This went on for some time, until one day Oga took the food which was
not sufficient for her to her mother’s grave, and sat there crying and
calling for her mother until the evening came, when she went home. The
next day she went again and wept on the grave, until at last the grave
opened, and she could see the top of her mother’s head. Oga continued
to cry until sunset, and then she had to go home.
The following day, as soon as it was light, Oga started off again
for the grave, and cried more, and by sundown her mother’s head and
shoulders had appeared.
The day after, by constant crying, she induced her mother to come out
as far as her waist, and, after a few more days of persistent weeping,
she got her mother out altogether.
As it was dusk at the time, Oga led her mother to the back of the
house, and hid her in a small room which was used only for storing yams
and baskets. There she remained undiscovered for three days, and then
Oga went to her father and said, “If you will give me a good present, I
will show you my mother alive.”
Her father then gave her a piece of cloth, and Oga took him to the room
where Elili was hiding, and said, “Here is my mother, who I have got
alive again out of the grave.”
Chief Nyip was delighted to get his favourite wife back again, and they
lived together as they had done before.
Very soon after the return of Elili from the grave, Aikor died, leaving
her daughter Nagor in the charge of Elili and Oga. Elili then began to
revenge herself upon Nagor for the way Oga had been treated. Nagor was
made to do all the hard work of the house, and was also half starved.
This caused Nagor to go and cry on her mother’s grave. After crying
bitterly for three days, her mother began to come out of the grave,
and on the fourth day, when Aikor’s head and shoulders were showing
above the ground, Nagor was so anxious to get her mother out altogether
that she caught hold of her head and pulled with all her might, with
the result that she pulled her mother’s head off her shoulders. Nagor
then took the head and placed it in the same room where Oga had put her
mother Elili.
She then called her father to come, but when he saw his dead wife’s
head, he was very angry with Nagor, and told her to go and bury it
again in the grave. Instead of doing as she was told, Nagor threw her
mother’s head amongst the young palm oil trees. This caused them to
bear fruit which resembled a woman’s head in shape and size, and even
at the present time the young palm trees have bunches of fruit which
look like a woman’s head with the plaits of hair all round.