BOOMERANG

A man had three daughter: Faith, Maria and Angela. One day, Angela was beaten by her husband. Hurt and resentful, she ran away and went back to her parents' compound. When she got near the door of their sleeping hurt it was night and pitch-dark. She told herself: “I will not disturb them now; they might say: go back at once!” While she was standing there, hesitating, she heard what her parents were discussing. Her mother was saying ‘if we go to the witches’ meeting place now, we shall only get a small piece of human meat because we are not contributing anything ourselves’.
Her Father asked: “what can we do?”
The mother had a plan; “visit one of your daughters and take a child so that we can give it to the witches. Faith’s children are too clever and so are Maria’s, they will not be so easy to bewitch. The best thing will be to get one of Angela’s children in your power, preferably the one with the swollen belly, or the youngest baby. They will be easy to get rid of”.
While there, Angela heard the discussion and was horrified. She withdrew without making a sound. When she was far enough, she ran quickly to her husband. No one in her parents place had seen her. She told her husband what she had heard, with death in their hearts they discussed together what they could do to counteract her parents’ evil schemes.
The next morning, they told their children: “Remember that you must never eat anything from anyone, don’t touch it, for if you eat it you will get sick and die. Even if granny comes her or granddad, don’t speak to them and don’t forget anything they give you may be poisonous and give you terrible pains in your tummies”!
After the parents had advised their children, they went to the fields to plant their corn, but they could not take their mind off the trouble. That same day, the children’s grandfather arrived. He found the children alone in the compound and asked them; “Where is your father”?
The children replied! “Our parents are in the fields”. The old man then gave a locust to the second child and said; “Here, go and roast it and eat it”. It’s good he took the other two children, the eldest and the youngest, and held them near him, for he did not want them to die too. “One was enough”, he thought.
The second child took the locust inside, held it over the fire for a while, then hid it in a pot and put a flat stone over the opening. He delayed a little, and when he emerged from the hut, his grandfather had gone.
When the parents came home that evening, they asked their eldest child;
“Has anybody been here”?
“Yes, granddad was here”
“Did he give something to any of you”?
“Yes, he gave a locust to my younger brother, who roasted and ate it”.
When the mother heard that, she beat her breast, crying out; “Oh, my child is dying, he has been hit by witchcraft!” She called the little and asked him;
“Did grandfather give you a locust”?
“Yes”
“Did you roast it”?
“Yes”
“Then, did you eat it? Tell me”!
“NO, I didn’t, it’s still there”!
The father took the stone off the pot the boy pointed at, and looked inside. He saw a locust and put the stone back. The parent were jubilant! “Our child was saved by his obedience”!
The parents then planned a counter-attack on the wicked grandfather. They killed a big chicken and cooked it, its inside was stuffed with various delicacies, and the bewitched locust was included. The meat was to be served in one bowl together with gravy.
That night the grandfather was invited to dinner. He loved chicken sauce, so he took a ball of tapioca and dipped it in the gravy; then he took a piece of liver, and ate that too. He asked where the grandchildren were but he was told that they had been sent to their aunt’s for the day. That of course to prevent them from having a piece of the meal. Next grandfather looked inside the bowl and discovered the locust, he was so startled and at once collected his things put them in his bag and zoomed off without saying goodbye.
Angela said to her husband; “Father discovered the locust and did not eat it, but its juice had gone all through the sauce, so he had certainly eaten some of it. He has eaten himself, for the evil spirit which he had put in the locust was part of the evil spirit that rules him too. She was right. A few days later her father fell ill, and died shortly after. The spirit which he had sent to his grandchild, so that it might kill him as soon as he had eaten it, was now inside his own stomach. It ate him from the inside! It killed its host.
When his daughter was informed of her father’s death, she screamed: “Oh my father! The strong one had destroyed himself; his own magic was too powerful for him”! The people asked her to explain her words, and she told the story. The body of the wizard was burnt and the ashes was throw in the forest.

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