Fetichism in West Africa : $b forty years' observation of native customs and superstitions
John Stuart Mill · en
One day this woman had to go to her plantation; and she arranged for the
journey, taking her little boy with her. Before she left the village to go
to the plantation, she told the townspeople, "I will remain at the
plantation for some days, to take care of my gardens; for I am tired of
losses by the wild beasts spoiling my crops." But the other women said,
"Ah! your plantation is too far; it is not safe for you to be by
yourself." But she said, "I cannot help it; I have to go." She was brave,
and persisted in her plan, and made all preparations. On a set day, with
her basket on her back, her child on her left hip, and her machete in her
right hand, she started. She went on, on, steadily; reached the
plantation, and rested there the remainder of that day with her child.
After her evening meal she shut the door of the hut and went to bed. The
door was fastened with strings and a bar, for the plantation hamlets had
no locks.
She awoke suddenly about midnight, and thought she heard a noise outside.
She listened quietly. Then she heard the sound again. Presently she
discovered by the noise that some one was trying to climb upon the top of
the hut, for the roof was low. Soon, then, she observed that this person
was trying to break open the palm-thatch of the low roof. She still lay
quietly. But she remembered a big spear which the husband always kept in
one of the rooms of that hut; so she slowly got out of bed, and very
softly went to the corner of the room where the spear was standing, and
returned to bed with it.
The breaking of the thatch continued. Soon she saw the room filled with a
strange light, and then she saw a man trying to enter the roof head
foremost. She bravely kept still, and watched his head and shoulders
enter. She could not see his face, and did not know who he was. But she
did not wait for certainty; she thrust the spear upward at the man's head.
Immediately the figure disappeared, and she heard a heavy thud as he fell
to the ground into the street outside.
She now began to be frightened; she no longer felt safe, and dreaded what
might happen before morning. So she began to get ready to return to town
that very night. She girded her loin garment, fastened the cloth for
carrying her child, took her machete, hasted out of the hut, and started
for her village. In her fear she ran, and rested by walking. Thus,
alternately running and walking, she reached the village so exhausted and
weak with loss of sleep that when her husband's door was opened she fell
fainting on the floor. He and others were alarmed, and asked, "What?
What's the matter?" As soon as she was able to speak, she told the whole
story. They asked her, "Did you see the person? Do you know him?" She
said, "No; only one thing I know: it was a man, and he fell into the
street."