Chapter 7

CHAPTER VII AFFINITIES AND WERE-BEASTS The idea that the soul of man or woman has the power to leave its human form and enter into that of its “ affinity,” or appear in the shape of a were-beast, is as firmly held among these people as was our childhood’s faith that the soul passed at death into the body of a winged angel. Countless persons are ready to swear to cases of metamorphosis which, they declare, have come under their own observation, and are as unshaken in this belief as was Benvenuto Cellini in the existence of the salamander sporting in his grandfather’s fire. Perhaps only those who have lived among peoples where these beliefs are but commonplace, and have saturated themselves with the environment in which this idea of a mysterious link with the jungle folk seems but natural, can understand the attitude of mind which has evolved such a faith 1—though it is only a few hundred years ago when the existence of were-animals was commonly credited throughout Europe. The means by which a human being can consciously send forth his soul to enter the body of—or rather, in most cases, to materialise as—an animal or vegetable affinity, have been described at some length in a former book.2 The Ibibio have a nearly identical method. They believe that every man possesses three souls or spiritual bodies, viz. 1 It may perhaps be possible that this belief has arisen from the ability of some powerful mediums—and there is some reason to think that spiritualistic phenomena occur in a very developed form among these tribes— to send out ectoplasm bodies. 2 In the Shadow of the Bush (Heinemann, London ; George Doran, New York). 87 (i) the ethereal or astral, which roughly corresponds to the Egyptian Ka and perishes after death, (2) the soul or individuality, which resembles the Egyptian Ba, survives the body and inhabits the world of ghosts between incarnations, and (3) the immortal spirit or true Ego, somewhat like the Egyptian Khu, which always stays with God. The first two, along with the physical body, would appear to be emanations of the last. In some regions it is thought that the ethereal soul belonging to a man is, at the latter’s birth, projected into a real tree or animal, or is born in the shape of one, remains in such during the man’s lifetime, and dies simultaneously with him. Most Ibibio, however, including the Efik and the majority of those in Eket District, are of opinion that this- “ bush-soul,” as it is called, “ lives in a man’s belly ” save at such times as it is consciously sent forth—usually during sleep. In this case the way to send out the Ukponn- Ikott (Bush-Soul)—or Ukponn-Mmong (Water-Soul) if it turns into a water animal—is, among some peoples, only shown to the son of a chief or a man who has paid the fees and reached a high position in one of the secret societies, especially the Ekkpe (Leopard) Club. Such a man is initiated into the mystery by one of the old men, who makes a medicine composed of a mixture of leaves, eggs, water, etc., in a calabash. Often he is taught how to project his soul in the form of a bird, which can fly fast and see what is happening in a far country; sometimes how to “ possess ” at the same time a crocodile, a cray-fish and a small fish, into any of which he can turn at will. The power of metamorphosis is generally termed Uworraw-Ukponn, corresponding to the Ibo word Ehihi, and is sometimes inherited, sometimes bought. Since many believe that it is only used for evil purposes, the faculty is not often boasted of, or admitted, by its possessor. Nearly all “ strong ” animals in the bush, such as leopards, elephants, etc., are credited with being were-beasts, but such can only be recognised by hunters, who, unless bad men, would not shoot them, since their death would entail that of their affinity. Among Eket, snake “ affinities ” predominate over all others, though many women say that their souls go forth and enter the great fish in the rivers. A man named Ikot of Usun Inyan gave the following account to Mr. Eakin : “ I was sitting, with others, in the verandah of my house, when one of the company suddenly jumped up, crying out that his soul was caught in a trap on the farm of a man whom he named. He had the appearance of struggling violently, as though seeking to loose himself, and begged some of those present to go to the place indicated and set free his affinity. Several of the spectators ran to do as he asked, while I stayed by him, to see what would happen. In a short time he quieted down, and said, with an appearance of great relief : ‘ Now I am free once more. My soul has come back to me.’ “ Not long afterwards our friends returned, and said : “ ‘ We went to the place pointed out to us, and there found a great python (Asaba) caught in a trap. So we cut the ropes and the snake glided forth into the bush.’ ” There are said to be two kinds of Asaba, or snake-souls. In one case the “ affinity ” is hereditary and totemistic, and in the other acquired from a magician. Large sums are paid to powerful Juju men in order to induce them to perform the rites which will enable the aspirant to enter at will into python form. The reason that this “ affinity ” is specially sought after is that such serpents are looked upon as guarding the mysteries of sacred groves and waters, and the secrets of long-forgotten, buried treasures. To these it is thought that were-pythons can procure access, and so bring riches. Such ideas are world-wide. Only to white peoples, and in modern times, is the snake a thing of unmixed dread. Among Red Indians the “ serpent folk ” are still regarded as “ elder brothers.” For the ancient Egyptians, they were the guardians of tomb, treasure-house and granary floor—the symbols of Wisdom and Eternity. To Roman and Greek the serpents of Aesculapius were the sign of healing. The Sacred Cobra spread its hood shelteringly over the head of the sleeping Buddha ; while, in the India of to-day, old cobras, grown white with age-long watching over the forgotten treasures of dead kings, play as great a part in the rude tales of the jungle folk as in the charmed pages of Rudyard Kipling, to whose Jungle Books we owe so deep a debt of gratitude. It is said that the greatest caution must be exercised in choosing the wizard by whom the necessary rites for entering into the python affinity are to be performed. Should one go to a magician of evil mind, or who, for any reason, harbours a grudge against the applicant, instead of selling him the male Asaba Juju, the name of which is Kukubarakpa, he will give the feminine one. Among other rites, first the swallowing of a large bolus is obligatory. In shape this is much like a small edition of the pad which carriers wear on their heads, beneath their loads, and upon this rests the snake after it has been metamorphosed by magic from a thread, seven fathoms long, which the unfortunate man is made to swallow. Should this support not have been provided, it is said that the snake would press directly against the body of the purchaser, and so cause his death. If the witch-doctor is led by evil will to insert the female, instead of the male, part of the Juju, woe betide the recipient ! For no sooner does the snake find herself within him, than she proceeds to lay eggs. Then the wretched man swells and swells, until all the townsfolk can see what has happened. “ O, oh, ho ! ” cry they, pointing him out to one another. “ Behold ! Such an one has sought to buy the male serpent, but he went to a wizard of evil mind, and the mother-snake has entered his body to torment him ! Let us beware of him, therefore, for, very surely, he is a man of ill-will! ” Snake souls may usually be known by having a skin which peels off, a long neck and jaw, and, most unpleasant attribute, foetid breath. Sade, a labourer employed by Chief Henshaw, was given as an instance of this affinity. The origin of the greatest of all Asaba Jujus, that of Kukubarakpa, shows totemistic traces, and is almost identical with the story of the Sacred Crocodile of Idua Asang. The tale was thus related : “ Two towns, which lay on either side of a narrow creek, had long been on unfriendly terms. After a while the Situ. (See p. 94.) Fish Trap. (In which the soul of Esiet Idung was caught in the form of a fish.) inhabitants of one of these crossed over at low tide and attacked the other, thinking to gain an easy victory. Instead of this, after hard fighting, they themselves were driven back to the edge of the water, which had, meanwhile, risen so that they, were cut off from escape. Now, in the creek lived a great python named Kukubarakpa, and no sooner did he see the plight of the invaders than he laid himself bridge-wise across the water—his head on the one bank and his tail upon the other. Over his body fled the vanquished, and, when all were safely landed on the farther shore, the bravest of the victors tried to follow. Kukubarakpa waited until these were crossing over his body, then sank suddenly, dragging them down with him, so that all were drowned. In gratitude, none of the people whose ancestors were thus saved kill or eat python to this day.” Not long ago a man of Usun Inyan town asserted that his wife, Esiet Idung by name, had told him that her soul sometimes left her and went to dwell in the body of a fish in the Kwa Ibo River. One day she came to her husband, crying: “I am caught ! I am caught, and must die ! for a fisherman has snared my soul in his trap by the waterside. Go therefore to the place of which I shall tell you and release me before it is too late ; for should the man come and kill my affinity, I must die also.” On this, in all haste, the husband took a canoe and went with his friends to the trap which his wife had described. They opened the door and let all the fish swim out into the river. Among the others they noticed one of great size, which plunged eagerly out into the current. On their return they found that the woman had recovered ; but all believe that, had the fish been killed, she must have perished also. So firmly is this belief in fish affinities held among Eket women that, when other Ibibio have had a specially good catch and carry fine specimens of smoked fish to market, the former are known to burst into bitter tears at the sight, weeping and wailing, “You have slain our kin.” 1 1 Possibly in this belief some likeness may be traced to the root idea, beneath the Syrian myth, that Derceto, the mother of Semiramis, was changed into a fish. Amid the Eket, unlike their neighbours, the Ubium, fish affinities seem to be exclusively feminine. At least no case of a male fish-soul has come to my knowledge from this part of the District. Another Eket woman of Usun Inyan, the sister of the “ Fish-soul ” above described, believes that the spirit of a wild boar occasionally enters into her body. At such times she becomes so possessed by the affinity that it is said to be impossible to hold her. Superhuman strength seems to flow into her, and she is reported to bound from the ground as though she would spring to the very roof. The only way of quieting her is to send for a man of the same town, known to belong to the wild boar totem. He has but to enter the house and lay his hand, though never so lightly, upon the afflicted woman, and she at once quiets down and returns to her normal state. Chief Henshaw declares that two kinds of wild-boar souls are known to exist. The first is the common sort called Edi Ikott, of which affinity the above-mentioned woman may be cited as typical. Old hunters tell, with bated breath, of another, the ’Ndaw Edi, which they fear to shoot, lest they should be killed by the herd. “ Among every thousand or so of bush pig,” they say, “ one is to be found, of great size and very splendid, with a skin marked like that of a leopard.” When Chief Henshaw was a boy, he declares that such an one was killed on his father’s plantation, and that he himself saw it, “ with these very eyes.” Such animals, so hunters state, are the kings of the bush pig. “ They are never allowed to walk at all, but are carried everywhere by those of the common sort. On the rare occasions when such have been shot, their feet were found to be white and tender, which proves that this statement is true ! Never do they seek for their own chop. This is brought by the lesser pigs, at dawn and eveningtime, to a place made ready in the depths of the bush, where fresh leaves have been strewn, up and down, for a bed. Each year the King Boar is carried away to a new place amid very thick bush, so that the hunters should never find him. No least spot of mud must be allowed to touch him, at any time, for these rare and mighty beasts cannot abide any foul thing ! ” Just as the ’Ndaw Edi themselves are said to exist only in the proportion of about one to a thousand, so their human affinities are rare in the extreme. Only one case of such was brought to my notice—a woman of Idua Oronn, who claimed to be of the Kind Boar totem, and, in consequence, at certain periods of the year, refused to set foot to ground, lest her sole should be soiled thereby. At such times, when she sallies forth, the people run before her, spreading mats from which they are careful to wipe every speck of sand. “ Even when passing over so carefully prepared a way, should her eye fall upon mud or any foul thing, she would check her steps, and, drawing back her foot, stand hesitating, in the manner of a cat that will not wet its feet, until the offending sight had been covered or removed. Down to the water-side she passed, then dived a bit, and came out again, restored to her usual state, but lifting feet and hands very daintily ! ” In the same town there lives a Juju man of most evil reputation, who is credited with the power of sending out his soul into a crocodile, and, in this shape, to be in the habit of lying on the little beach just below the Rest House, when Government officials of any importance are staying there. He is said to do this in order to listen, in case report of his ill-deeds is brought to their ears. Should such a thing happen, he goes into hiding until the matter has blown over, and is stated to have thus often evaded punishment. Should anything happen to cause him more than ordinary annoyance, he is thought to avenge himself in a terrible way. Some eight years ago he was incensed against Government, and especially against the Political Agent, on account of restraints placed in the way of his evil deeds. As a result, so it is said, he lay in wait, in crocodile form, upon the little beach, until one of Chief Henshaw’s boys went down to bathe. At once the cruel jaws opened, and, to the horror of his companions, the unfortunate lad was dragged beneath the surface. Now a motor slip has been constructed over part of the beach, and a wharf built out on the other side, the Rest House standing above and between the two. One September evening we were sitting on the verandah, listening to the interesting accounts of our guest, a French officer lately arrived from Morocco, where he had passed through seventeen engagements without so much as a scratch. Ten o’clock struck, and the visitor rose to go, when suddenly a horrible cry rang out from the stillness. Seizing any lamp which came to hand, we tore down the steep slope, urged on by screams, high-pitched and awful, evidently those of a man overtaken by dreadful terror and anguish. Just before the slip was reached, these stopped, as suddenly as they had arisen. The water beneath was flecked with patches of dull froth, as if churned, while one or two eddies were still to be seen, marking the place where the unfortunate man had been dragged under. On the cement edge lay a leather belt, that on which Situ, our Yoruba steward, always carried the keys of those boxes with which he was entrusted. Nets were got out without delay, while canoes full of men beat up and down the river, on the chance that the reptile might rise for a moment, or abandon his prey. All to no purpose. Our utmost efforts failed to find trace of the man who, for four years, had followed us in all our journey- ings, and whom the foul, evil-smelling creature had seized, in an unguarded moment, and dragged down to a terrible fate, almost within reach of the hands so eagerly stretched out to save him. Of the kindness and genuine good feeling shown by all on this sad occasion, I have no words in which to express adequate acknowledgment. From our French guest, the agents of the European factories, several of whom were aroused from sleep, and Chief Henshaw, called from the enjoyment of his new gramophone records, down to the smallest “ cook’s mate ” or “ boy’s boy,” each thought only how to exert himself to the uttermost if but something might be done to save the life reft from us with such appalling suddenness. Situ was a splendid type of Yoruba, over six feet in height, of refined features and unusual intelligence and initiative ; brave, cheerful and faithful under all the trying circumstances which we had experienced together. Strange to say, only the day before, we had been warned that the “ crocodile man ” was angered on account of a land palaver. He had been heard to mutter that it would be well for those in any way connected with Government to avoid the river-banks after sunset. All the people round, therefore, held him responsible for Situ’s tragic end. Exactly seven days later, on September 14, it was reported that a police constable named Okon Eduek was dragged down from Queen’s Beach at Calabar. Next night another policeman was mounting guard at the same place, when he saw two crocodiles coming as if to seize him. A chief, long known as a crocodile affinity, was suspected of the deed, because, according to the testimony of a witness, he had quarrelled with the dead man the day before, and said to him : “ Wait. I am going to hide you. Fire will burn your head, and after two days’ time you will never see the white sky again.” 1 Many people, however, assert that the crocodiles concerned in this case were not were-beasts, but members of the dreaded “ Human Alligator ” Society, a sister cult of the well-known “ Leopard Society ” of Sierra Leone. Not long after we had left Idua Oronn, the following telegram came from the native official in charge of the station : “ Since your departure, a very large alligator 2 has been always seen underneath the Customs wharf, and has made several attempts to carry people away. Can you please arrange for a policeman to guard with gun and cartridges on the wharf ? ” Although “ guardianship of crocodiles ” is no part of the duty laid down in the regulations of the Southern Nigerian police force, a constable was despatched for the protection of the Oronn, but without avail. I am glad, however, to be able to say that the beast held responsible for the death 1 So far as my experience goes, the adjective blue is not applied to the sky by West Coast natives. By all those whom wre have had the privilege of studying, the vault of heaven is spoken of as white. 2 Crocodiles are almost invariably spoken of as alligators by English- speaking natives, though none of the latter exist in this region. In the same way leopard becomes tiger in West Coast phraseology. of Situ fell to my rifle on the last night before we left the District. Local opinion has credited me with the destruction of yet another crocodile “ affinity ” ; but, as were-crocodiles are objects of special dread and hatred, no ill-will has been caused by either deed, the latter of which came about as follows : Once, when paddling down the Cross River, my attention was called to an unusually large crocodile lying on one of the little beaches. This was pointed out as a notoriously bad character, which uad been in the habit of raiding waterside farms and dv dlings in search of dogs and poultry. Among other victims he had pursued a puppy brought out some time before by the Oronn Mission. So unusually daring were his depredations that the neighbouring peoples had decided he was no ordinary reptile, but one possessed by the soul of a man ; because, as they said, “ Only such an one would be so bold.” On this occasion the paddlers begged me to shoot and I did so. As a result, the great beast sprang upward, beating the air with all four legs, then sank like a stone. A few days later a chief of Idua Asang, well known throughout the country-side as a “ crocodile affinity,” died, and the great reptile has never since been seen. To the minds of people such as Ibibio these facts seem to afford positive proof that the Chief’s soul was in the body of the crocodile which I shot, and which sank into the river to die, its death entailing that of the human being with whom it was mysteriously linked. It is considered difficult to shoot a were-crocodile, as he is usually attended by the Osari bird, which remains on the watch and warns him of the approach of a hunter. When a “ crocodile man ” dies, the creature in which his bush soul used to dwell is said to creep on shore, where it wanders round, dazed and senseless, seeking its lost human “ affinity.” Then those who meet it call to one another : Enyene imam emi akpa, Man animal this die, Modo ukponn essie ofumde. Therefore soul his wandering. With that they fall upon the helpless brute and send its spirit to the ghost kingdom, perhaps there—who knows ?— once more to join its human affinity. Chief Daniel Henshaw told us many stories of such were- creatures, among others the following, which came within his own experience : Once, when on a trading expedition up the Akwa Yafe River, the morning meal had just been finished and a little girl was leaning over the end of the canoe washing a silver spoon. Suddenly she gave a cry and let the spoon fall into the water. They backed the boat and tried to find it, but the river was deep, and nothing was to be seen, save a crocodile swimming off into the shadow of a fallen tree- trunk near the bank. On landing at a town, some seven miles distant, one of the chiefs of the place stepped forward and smilingly presented to the visitors a spoon of identical shape and pattern, saying : “ Will you not accept this and come and eat at my house ? ” The newcomer was angry and drove him off, crying, “ Go away ! You are bad people here. I will have nothing to do with ‘ crocodile men ’ such as you.” With that the party got back into their canoes and went on to another town farther up stream. On the beach, just below the Rest House at Jamestown, the son of one of the head-men of Ibut ’Ntung, a little fishing settlement near by, was strolling one evening when a crocodile, hiding in the bush which screened a strip of marsh, knocked him down with a blow of its head. The boy cried out, “ Crocodile has got me.” At once his father and most of the neighbours rushed to his help, but only to see him dragged under. Three months later, at low tide, some fisherfolk were passing a sand-bank near the opposite shore. There, they assert, they saw the body of the lost boy, lying upon a ridge of sand, quite fresh and as if but newly killed. They stated that there was no water in the body, such as is always found in those who have met death by drowning. The only mark of injury was a spot of blood beneath the nostrils. In September 1913 a boy was said to have died at Adiabo under similar circumstances. H Both among Efik and Ibibio the mystery is explained in the following manner : “ Crocodile men,” it is said, “ fear to eat their victims at once, because the friends of those carried off throw Juju after Juju into the water, calling upon the name of the spirit and begging that the man, whose soul is in the animal which has killed their dear ones, should be utterly destroyed. Instead, therefore, of feasting upon his prey, the crocodile bears his victim, as quickly as may be, down to a house beneath the river, there to be revived by magic rites and kept as a slave, until the friends have grown weary of calling upon the Juju, after which the unfortunate captive may be devoured in safety. Should the crocodile soul, however, have reason to think that people suspect him of the crime, he destroys his victim as quickly as may be, lest, by the power of one of the three great Jujus to which appeal is usually made in such cases, the relatives should be directed to the magic house beneath the water, and the prisoner released by a power greater than any of his.” In olden days when a man was suspected of having brought about the death of another in such a manner, he was taken before one of these Jujus—the Ekoi Animm,1 Ndemm I bum, the shrine of which was on the bank of the Cross River, or Anamfa, at Idua Oronn. In the case of the policeman said to have been seized by the crocodile man at Calabar, the chiefs asked and obtained, from the Provincial Commissioner, permission to consult the oracle once more. So far as could be learned, there is only one kind of medicine, Ibokk Ibakpa by name, which is so strong as to give protection both from real and were-crocodiles. A trader at Urua Eye knows the secret of the ingredients, and this knowledge has made him rich. Two or three different kinds of magic leaves are crushed together and mixed with powdered bark and roots. After a man has bought some of this, he always keeps it by him in the canoe ; then, when he sees a crocodile swimming in the water, or lying on mud or sand, he takes some in his hand and manoeuvres until he is in such a position that the breeze will carry 1 In the Shadow of the Bush, pp. 93, 50, etc. the scent of it towards his prey. The magic takes effect at once ; the beast cannot turn or attempt to get away, and only lies or floats like a log. One thing, however, must be remembered ; that is, never to call the beast Mfion (crocodile) but only Unam (animal). So long as this prohibition is regarded, the canoe can be taken close up to the illsmelling creature, which can then be seized and carried off in safety. He cannot move to harm any one. Many fisher- folk have this “ medicine ” rubbed into cuts, purposely made in their bodies, so that they may never be without it, in case the canoe capsized or some accident caused them to fall into the water, in which event there would be no time to seize the protective medicine from out the box in which it was stored. With regard to the prohibition as to calling a crocodile by its usual name, it is interesting to note that, according to Skeat, there is a regular tabu language used by Malay fishermen, of which the following are examples : Fish : Daun kayu (tree leaves) or Sampah laut (jetsam). Snake : Akar kidup (living creeper)—exactly like the Efik “ bush- rope." Crocodile : Batang kayu (tree log) 9 To come nearer home, Scottish and English fishermen, too, believe that salmon, seal, and other denizens of the water have a similar objection to being called by name, but do not in the least mind being referred to as “ the red fish,” “ the bald beast,” or “ the queer fellow.” 2 In all probability the Malay name, “ tree-log,” was given not only as an euphemism, but also because it so exactly describes the appearance of these dreaded monsters. Both Efik and other Ibibio say that, when old tree-trunks float down a river, crocodiles are sure to follow, because such logs resemble them and therefore lull suspicion. An instance, in seeming support of this belief, came within our own experience, and is perhaps worth mentioning. Two nights before Situ’s tragic death, a great tree- trunk, covered with grass and creepers, was borne down 1 Malay Magic, p. 315. 2 For a full account of this strange tabu see Sir J. G. Frazer, Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, p. 392 et seq. on the ebb tide and stranded on the beach before the Rest House at Idua Oronn. Next day the flood tide carried it up stream again, into the mouth of the Uya-Oronn River, thence on and on, to a point where a fallen mangrove tree, of magnificent girth, stretched far out into the current. Caught on the one side in the terminal branches of this, and on the other firmly wedged into the farther bank, the great weed-grown trunk had fixed itself across, effectively barring the river just beyond a sharp bend, where the water swerved suddenly between walls of high bush. Round this elbowlike curve came our canoe, propelled by some dozen paddlers, to dash, almost full tilt, into the unexpected obstacle. It was only with difficulty kept from capsizing, and as the water was over twenty feet deep at this point, the current running like a mill race, and the place well known as a haunt of crocodiles, the adventure was more exciting than pleasant. It was most fortunate, however, that the barrier had considerately placed itself across our path by daylight, rather than on the only other occasion on which we had passed down the creek. This had been two evenings earlier, when press of work had detained me till nightfall, and we crossed over the very spot in darkness so intense that even in mid-stream it was hardly possible to see one’s hand before one’s face. The second time we managed to pass by through climbing on to the mangrove trunk, and thence lifting the canoe bodily over the barrier. In this rather difficult operation our poor Situ distinguished himself, as usual, by energy and courage. Next evening the trunk was again borne down by the tide and, once more, found a resting-place upon the little beach, followed, so natives assert, by the crocodile, which, a few hours later, seized Situ. Mr. Dayrell, a District Commissioner of Southern Nigeria, and the author of Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, with whom we once had the pleasure of travelling to England, told us that he had come across a chief of Okuni, Tatterbong by name, who was immune, together with all his family, from danger by crocodiles. It is stated, though our informant did not himself testify to this, that any member of this chief’s family could swim close to the Okuni sacred crocodile Uya-Oronn Creek. and scratch its back. The chief died about nine years ago, and shortly afterwards the reptile disappeared and has never since been seen. A case which came up before the Native Court at Idua Oronn is concerned with this belief in crocodile “ affinities.” In it a man named Ekpe Esien stated on oath : “ I had some ‘ palaver ’ with Antikka Esuk. While we were quarrelling he said to me : ‘You have killed Edem Edan and Owo Esuk in your crocodile form, and you think that people do not know about it.’ ” In reply to this charge Antikka Esuk stated : “ When I quarrelled with prosecutor he said to me : ‘ You are a man who eats sacrifices upon the road as your father did.’ By this he meant that my father was a wizard. Further he said : ‘ If you are not careful, I shall cover you as I did your father.’ Another time he said : ‘ Look ! Here is my Juju. If you do not take care it will kill you as it did your father. You killed my daughters, Ukoyo and Ikwi, by your witchcraft, and you want to kill all the townsfolk as your father did.’ It was because of this that I said to him that he himself had killed two men while in crocodile form.”