--- title: Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water. — Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria · full text with trees · page 2 description: Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water., «Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria» by Elphinstone Dayrell: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: Ogbaja of Ikom was the son of Chief ’Njum, and his mother was called Nara. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/page/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/) / Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water. # Xix.--why the Mist Rises From the Water. · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/) **2** About this time, many people from the surrounding towns and countries disappeared and were never seen or heard of again, until at last it became known that one of these wooden drums lived in a town in the bush not far from Ikom, and if anyone strayed into the wooden drum’s town by accident he was swallowed alive and was never seen again.[75](../../75/ "tree and pragmatics") The people of Ikom therefore warned their children never to go by themselves to the farms unless they knew the road very well indeed, as if they took the wrong path and went to the town where the wooden drum lived, they would be swallowed up and would disappear for ever.[76](../../76/ "tree and pragmatics") In those days a man called Okongo Osim lived at Ikom.[77](../../77/ "tree and pragmatics") He had a very beautiful wife whose name was Inkang Ezen.[78](../../78/ "tree and pragmatics") They only had one child, Ibanang Okpong by name, and both the father and mother were very fond of her.[79](../../79/ "tree and pragmatics") They took great care of the little girl, never allowing her to go about by herself, and frequently warned her about the bad ju-ju who lived in the bush and eat people.[80](../../80/ "tree and pragmatics") Ibanang, however, did not pay much attention to what her parents said, and, as she was never allowed to go out to the farm, she grew to be very discontented.[81](../../81/ "tree and pragmatics") The parents arranged that they would never go to their farm together, so one day Okongo Osim would go to the farm and leave his wife to look after their daughter, as she could help in the cooking and get water from the river.[82](../../82/ "tree and pragmatics") The next day the father would stay at home to look after the girl and his wife would go to the farm.[83](../../83/ "tree and pragmatics") This went on for some time, until at last Ibanang became very dissatisfied, as she had never been to their farm and wanted to see what it was like very much.[84](../../84/ "tree and pragmatics") So she waited until the day when her mother had gone to the farm and she was left in charge of her father.[85](../../85/ "tree and pragmatics") Ibanang then said she was going down to the river to get water to boil the yams in, but, instead of doing as she proposed, she left her water-pot on the ground outside the house, and ran off along the path which she knew her mother always took to go to the farm.[86](../../86/ "tree and pragmatics") After she had gone for a little distance outside the town, Ibanang came to a place where the path divided and, not knowing which way to go, she took the path which led to the right, and ran on until she came to a cripple sitting on the side of the path beneath a tree.[87](../../87/ "tree and pragmatics") He greeted her and offered her some kola.[88](../../88/ "tree and pragmatics") But Ibanang was in a hurry to find her mother, and would not stop.[89](../../89/ "tree and pragmatics") She ran on and paid no attention to the cripple, who shouted after her that she ought to go back, as the path did not lead to her farm.[90](../../90/ "tree and pragmatics") After she had gone a little distance she was out of breath, so she stopped to rest for a time.[91](../../91/ "tree and pragmatics") While she was resting, a small wooden drum came up and spoke to her.[92](../../92/ "tree and pragmatics") He offered a kola nut, which she refused, and he then told her to go back, but Ibanang would not listen to him and said she was looking for her mother.[93](../../93/ "tree and pragmatics") She then ran on and passed several more wooden drums, each one bigger than the last; they all told her to return, but she was obstinate, and still ran on until at last she came to a clearing in the bush where there was an enormous wooden drum held up by forked sticks and resting on the ground.[94](../../94/ "tree and pragmatics") As the girl had never seen anything like this drum before she went up quite close to it.[95](../../95/ "tree and pragmatics") The drum then said to her: “What are you doing in my town?[96](../../96/ "tree and pragmatics") No one is allowed to come here, and if anyone does come, they never go back again.”[97](../../97/ "tree and pragmatics") The girl then began to be afraid and looked round to see how she could escape, but the path she had come by had closed up and there was no way out, as she was entirely surrounded by thick bush.[98](../../98/ "tree and pragmatics") She then listened and could hear singing and dancing going on, but the sounds seemed to come from the inside of the drum, and, although she looked round everywhere, she could not see anybody.[99](../../99/ "tree and pragmatics") While she was wondering where the sounds came from, the big drum opened his lips wide and swallowed her up.[100](../../100/ "tree and pragmatics") She slid down his throat and fell into a big compound where there were many people singing and dancing.[101](../../101/ "tree and pragmatics") Ibanang did not know any of the people, but they were those who had disappeared from the surrounding towns for some years.[102](../../102/ "tree and pragmatics") She then asked some of the people why they did not go back home; so they told her that the only way was to climb up and cut the heart and liver out of the drum, but they could not do that as they had no matchets or knives.[103](../../103/ "tree and pragmatics") This made the girl very sad, but, as she could not see any other way out of the place, she made up her mind to enjoy herself, and sang and danced with the rest of the people.[104](../../104/ "tree and pragmatics") When Ibanang’s mother returned from the farm her husband told her that Ibanang had escaped from the house and had gone to the farm.[105](../../105/ "tree and pragmatics") But her mother knew that she must have lost her way, as she had not been to the farm and guessed at once that she had gone to the town of the wooden drum, where she would be killed.[106](../../106/ "tree and pragmatics") She then abused her husband as much as she dared for not looking after their child properly, and pulled her hair down and cried all the night.[107](../../107/ "tree and pragmatics") Inkang Ezen told her husband that in three days’ time she would set out to find Ibanang, and that if she did not find her she would never return.[108](../../108/ "tree and pragmatics") The next two days Inkang Ezen spent in borrowing native razors from her friends and sharpening them.[109](../../109/ "tree and pragmatics") Then on the third day she started off, when there was no one about, with the razors in her cloth, and went by the road leading to the town of the wooden drum.[110](../../110/ "tree and pragmatics") She had not gone far when she met the cripple, who was always in the same place from morning until sunset.[111](../../111/ "tree and pragmatics") He offered Inkang Ezen some kola, as he had done to her daughter, but she refused to take it.[112](../../112/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the cripple called her back and said she was on the wrong road and that if she went further she would never return; but the woman told him she did not care, as she was looking for her daughter, who had disappeared.[113](../../113/ "tree and pragmatics") She went on, and met the small drum, who also offered her kola, and tried to persuade her to go back, but she would not listen to him.[114](../../114/ "tree and pragmatics") After that, she passed drum after drum, until at length she arrived at the big drum, who asked her why she had come, so Inkang Ezen said she was looking for her daughter Ibanang, and would like to go to the same place where she had gone.[115](../../115/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the big drum took her up, and, having opened his big lips wide, he swallowed Inkang Ezen in the same way as he had swallowed her daughter.[116](../../116/ "tree and pragmatics") When she went down the drum’s throat and reached the compound, she came across several people she did not know, but, on looking round, she saw her daughter, and ran to her and embraced her.[117](../../117/ "tree and pragmatics") She talked to Ibanang for some time, until the people came up and spoke to them.[118](../../118/ "tree and pragmatics") Inkang Ezen told them that Ibanang was her daughter, who had lost her way in trying to find their farm.[119](../../119/ "tree and pragmatics") She also told them that she had found out how to escape from the drum before she came, and had brought some sharp razors to help them to cut their way out.[120](../../120/ "tree and pragmatics") When the people heard this, they were so glad that they danced and sang all the night through.[121](../../121/ "tree and pragmatics") In the morning Inkang Ezen gave her razors to the men, and they at once climbed up into the drum, and commenced cutting the drum’s heart out, bit by bit.[122](../../122/ "tree and pragmatics") When they began to cut, the drum felt a great pain in his inside, and made such a noise that all the small drums and the cripple came to enquire what the matter was.[123](../../123/ "tree and pragmatics") When they came, the big drum told them that he had a bad pain in his heart, and thought that the people he had swallowed must be trying to cut their way out.[124](../../124/ "tree and pragmatics") He then asked them if they could do anything to help him, but the small drums said they could do nothing.[125](../../125/ "tree and pragmatics") All this time the men inside the drum were cutting away at his heart and liver with their razors, until at last the drum got up from his seat, and fell over dead.[126](../../126/ "tree and pragmatics") When the drum fell down, Inkang Ezen told the men to work hard and cut their way out.[127](../../127/ "tree and pragmatics") They cut their way through the drum’s heart and liver, and then made an opening in his lips big enough for a man to crawl through.[128](../../128/ "tree and pragmatics") One man got out, and told the people inside that it was quite light.[129](../../129/ "tree and pragmatics") Then all the people came out of the inside of the drum one after another, including the goats and other animals that the drum had swallowed.[130](../../130/ "tree and pragmatics") Everyone praised Inkang Ezen very much for the way she had delivered them, and asked her to show them her house, so that they would know where to find her in the future.[131](../../131/ "tree and pragmatics") She was very glad to do this, and took all the people to her husband’s house.[132](../../132/ "tree and pragmatics") When they arrived, a report was sent round the whole country that the big wooden drum, the destroyer of men, was dead.[133](../../133/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the men went to the home of the big drum with axes, and cut the drum into pieces and carried them to Inkang Ezen’s house.[134](../../134/ "tree and pragmatics") After the body of the drum had been eaten up, the bones were preserved.[135](../../135/ "tree and pragmatics") They bored holes in the leg bones, and took the marrow out.[136](../../136/ "tree and pragmatics") The bones were then used to beat the drums with at dances and in times of danger.[137](../../137/ "tree and pragmatics") The people who had escaped from the drum’s inside each took one of his bones and departed to their different towns, where they all made big wooden drums like the one which had swallowed them.[138](../../138/ "tree and pragmatics") Told by Ewonkom, an Ikom woman.--\[E.D., 23.6.10.\][139](../../139/ "tree and pragmatics") [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/) **2** - ← previous: [page 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/14/) - next →: [Xxi.--why the Head of the Male Goat Smells So Strong.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/15/) - ↑ back to [Ikom folk stories from Southern Nigeria](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg70959/)