XXIII THE BOA-CONSTRICTOR

Sacred-Texts African   

OGUNFUNMINIRE, the famous hunter, lived to such a great age that he was no longer able to go into the forest and chase the deer and the leopard.

 Life had no other pleasure for him than hunting, so he went to a magician and asked for some charm which would enable him to continue his occupation.

 The magician gave him two pots, each containing a charm. Every day Ogunfunminire dipped his head into the first pot and was at once transformed into a boa-constrictor, in which form he glided into the forest and hunted to his heart’s content. At night he returned and dipped p. 43 his head into the second pot, and so became a man again.

 This went on for a long time without the knowledge of the old hunter’s family, but when at last they chanced to discover the secret, they were filled with horror, and his son in a rage kicked at the pots and overturned them both.

 Ogunfunminire was at that moment hunting in the forest, and when he returned to his house and found the magic pots overturned and empty, he was filled with dismay, for he had no means of regaining his human form. For some days the boa-constrictor glided about near the house, seeking for a few drops of the charm, but in vain, and at last he disappeared into the forest and was never seen by his family again.