Edidor was a very pretty Okuni girl. She was a good dancer and singer,
and won the love of plenty of young men, but although she liked to
enjoy herself with them, she would not marry any of them. At last,
however, she met a man called Ode, to whom she took a great fancy, and
married him. Ode was a fine young man, and many women wanted him, but
he would have nothing to do with them, and did not marry any other
wives, as Edidor asked him to look upon her alone. Ode had three
children by Edidor, the first-born being a boy, and the other two girls.
After a time Edidor got tired of Ode and ran away to one of the Inde
towns, leaving her children with her husband. She went about from one
man to another as she had done before she was married, and attended all
the dances and plays until at last Ode heard where she was. He then
took his three little children to his father-in-law, asking him to look
after them for him, as he was going to Inde to try and get Edidor to
return to him. The old man did not want Ode to get his daughter back,
as he preferred her to walk about and go with different young men, as
in that case he would receive numerous presents from them, whereas
Ode, having paid his dowry, never gave him anything. He therefore sent
a message secretly to Edidor informing her that her husband was going
to look for her, and advising her to try and kill him, so that the
children would become his property, as he knew his daughter would not
want to look after them.
When Ode was ready he got into a small canoe and started down river for
Inkum, but he had only gone a little distance when the canoe sank, and
Ode swam to the shore. He looked upon the sinking of the canoe as a
bad omen and a warning to him not to go that day.
When he returned home his friends encouraged him to make another
attempt to get his wife back, and advised him to take a larger canoe,
which would not be so likely to upset. Ode started off in a big canoe
the following morning; but when he got to the other side of the river
he heard a kingfisher making a noise on his right-hand side, in a
bush overhanging the river. Not knowing what this omen might mean, he
stopped at Okanja, which is only a little way lower down the river on
the same side as Okuni, and went to see a friend of his who was known
to be clever at reading signs, and told him that the kingfisher had
made a noise on his right-hand as he was going down the river. The man
then said to Ode, “What kind of a child did you first get when you were
married?” And Ode told him that his first-born child was a boy. Ode’s
friend then said, “Your good fortune depends on your left.[7] You will
meet with much opposition where you are going, and you will not bring
back what you are going to seek.” So Ode returned to his canoe and
paddled on with much suspicion in his heart. He landed at Inkum, and
went to see a friendly chief called Aigonga, to whom he told his story
and asked him for help. The chief gave Ode one of his boys to show him
the way overland to Inde and they started off together.
Unfortunately for Ode, his wife Edidor had consulted a ju-ju man called
Ekum at Inde, who had a very powerful medicine which enabled him to see
what was going to happen, and this man told Edidor that her husband was
on his way to catch her and take her home, and that if she wanted to
stay at Inde she should hide herself at once.
When Ode arrived at Inde he searched all over the towns, but could not
find his wife. He then asked some of the people what had become of her,
and they told him that the previous day she had been seen talking to a
very powerful ju-ju man, and that if he were wise he would leave his
wife alone and go home at once, as his life was probably in danger.
But Ode would not go home, and got an Inde boy to show him the place
where the ju-ju man lived. Ode then asked Ekum what had become of his
wife Edidor. Ekum did not at first reply, but gave Ode one sharp stick
and one blunt stick, and after a time said, “Touch your body with the
sharp stick and also with the blunted one; if you feel any pain with
the sharp stick, go home at once and do not bother me any more; if
you do not feel any pain, come to me to-morrow morning and ask me any
questions you like concerning your wife.”
The Inde boy who had gone with Ode, directly they had gone a little
distance from the house, strongly urged Ode to go home, as the sticks
the ju-ju man had given to him were known to be very dangerous, and if
he went there again Ekum would probably either poison him or call upon
the lightning to kill him, which he was quite capable of doing. The
boy also said that by far the best thing Ode could do was to ask his
father-in-law to help him to recover his wife, and not to come to Inde
himself again. Ode thought the advice good, and returned to Okuni with
the two sticks Ekum had given him; these he gave to his father-in-law,
telling him what had happened, and at the same time asking him to try
to get Edidor back for him. When he saw that Ode’s life had been in
danger and that he had escaped, the old man repented, and told Ode
to stay at Okuni and he would try to make Edidor return to him. He
therefore sent a messenger to Inde to tell Edidor to return at once to
Okuni. But Edidor was enjoying herself too much, and had no desire to
return to her husband. The ju-ju man also had taken a fancy to her,
and when he found that Edidor’s father had been trying to persuade his
daughter to return to her husband, he put some ju-ju into her food
which made her take an intense dislike to her husband. When Edidor’s
heart had turned and she found that she hated Ode, Ekum made some
strong poison, which he gave to Edidor and told her to put it in her
husband’s food, and that when he was dead she should return and marry
him.
The next day Edidor started off for Okuni, taking the poison with her,
and intending to kill her husband on the first opportunity, but when
she reached the house Ode produced their three children and talked to
her very kindly until her heart was cold. Edidor then lived with Ode
for a month, until the ju-ju man, finding she did not return to him,
made another strong ju-ju, which at once made Edidor want to go back
to him at Inde. She therefore packed up her things, and was starting
off for Inde when Ode seized her and said she was not to go. That very
night Edidor put half the poison Ekum had given her into Ode’s food. He
then became very ill, and died after two days.
Ode was buried by his relations, but Edidor only mourned a very short
time and then ran off to Inde, where she joined her lover. Ekum was
very glad to get her back again, and called all his friends together.
He then killed a goat, and they had a big feast, and he told all the
people that Edidor was going to be his wife.
During the night Ekum asked Edidor to marry him properly, but she asked
him to wait for a time until she knew all his ways and habits, and she
promised she would then marry him. For some little time after this
Edidor went about with different men, but Ekum always found her out,
and when she returned to him he would tell her what she had been doing
and the name of the man she had been with. This made Edidor afraid,
but she dare not leave Ekum altogether, as he might get the lightning
to kill her or cause his ju-ju to catch her. Then Ekum again asked
Edidor to marry him, and she agreed to do so, but said that before
the ceremony took place she wanted to join his ju-ju, so that she
might know everything and not be afraid. Ekum was pleased at this, and
showed Edidor all the ju-ju he had, and explained them to her. When
he had finished, Edidor was so frightened that she ran away and left
Ekum. Ekum, however, looked into his ju-ju pot and saw at once where
she was, so he sent a messenger, who seized her and brought her back.
Then Edidor made up her mind to kill Ekum, so she went to his ju-ju pot
which he always looked into when he wanted to know where she had gone
or what she was doing, and broke it. She then cooked the food and put
the half of the poison Ekum had given her for Ode into the food and
gave it to Ekum to eat; he died the next day. Before Ekum was dead,
Edidor ran back to her father’s house at Okuni.
When the Inde people found that Ekum was dead, they at once knew that
Edidor must have killed him, as she had run away. They therefore went
to Okuni to have the palaver judged. When all the chiefs and people had
met together, Edidor was accused of having poisoned Ekum, her lover.
Edidor then stood up and told the chiefs that Ekum had made her poison
her husband, and that when she found his ju-jus were so powerful; she
broke them, and gave half the poison Ekum had given her for her husband
to him in his food, and that he had then died at once.
After considering some time, the chiefs decided that they would not
punish Edidor, and said that “The stone Ekum had thrown had returned
and hit him.”[8]
The chiefs then said that for the future, whenever a man had a poison
ju-ju or other powerful medicine, he should not tell any of his wives
or any other women, because if they wished to run away from their
husbands they would first of all break their ju-jus and then poison
them.