Chapter One Hundred and Twelve
1. Opisa who became the Oniruwa after the death of his father Iruwa had two wives.
2. Now the two wives of Opisa had given birth to two children apiece. And the children did not grow up to a year before they died.
3. For they fell sick often and died eventually.
4. Now the Oniruwa sought after a priest, saying, tell me the cause of my misfortune.
5. And the priest said, there are many witches and wizards in the land.
6. Let them be gathered together and beheaded.
7. Are they not the flying birds we see at night? Are they not also the rats and the cats which run around? For the witches go in other appearances to do evil.
9. Now the king said, how shall we overcome them? And the priest said, we shall hunt them down one after the other.
10. Now at night, the priests assembled the hunters. And they hunted the nighthawks and the bats and owls which they saw flying around.
11. Now when they had shot stones at any bird, they went to see where it had fallen.
12. And whenever a bird had fallen at the roof of a house, they went into the hut to find the witch, thinking that the bird had entered into that hut and had turned back to a human.
13. Now the old women of such huts were taken and burnt or stoned to death publicly. And where there was no old woman, they took the little children who could not speak well yet.
14. For they said that the bird was it which had turned back to the old witch or the little witch or wizard.
15. Now a day came when the hunters chased a mole at night. And the mole hurried into the palace wounded.
16. And they entered the palace court that night and saw Omata the aged mother of the king lying on the bare floor outside. And when she saw them, she laughed.
17. And they informed the king, saying, surely your mother is a witch also.
18. Surely she is the one who did not let any of your children survive.
19. Now the king was surprised and said, I think my mother is worried by old age. For many times, she loves to play in the sand like a child.
20' And at other times, she bathed herself outside. And she even wandered out of the palace sometimes.
21' And she complains about many things now more than how she does when she was young.
22. And she laughs unnecesarily too. But we did not think of all these things as witchcraft till today.
23' Now the priest said, all these are the signs of witchcraft. Bring her and let us kill her. For she transformed from a mole to a human when we shot a stone at her.
24. Now the king refused that his mother should be killed. Now in the morning, it was announced all over the land that the mother of Oniruwa was a witch. But the king had refused that he should be killed.
25. Now all those whose parents and grandparents had been killed for witchcraft came and protested.
26' And they chanted, Opisa give us your mother. Give her to us, for she is a witch. A homo in the day and a mole at night.
27. Bring the old witch for a kill. Now when the people did not cease, the Oniruwa released his mother to be killed.
28. And she was stripped naked and stoned to death.
29. And they went and cast her body in a thick bush where those whom they had killed as witches and wizards were kept.
30' And the place was forbidden to the common people.