There was a man who had two wives. One wife had borne him two children, whilst the other had borne him none, though she had a stepchild living in her care. Now the husband did not love the wife who had borne children, but instead favoured the one who had borne none.
When a great famine came upon the land, the husband would go into the bush and find food. Yet he refused to give it to the mother of his children and instead gave all to the wife he favoured, and the two of them ate together. This happened always. One day he found twenty guinea-fowl eggs and called the wife he loved, telling her to choose the largest. She took one, boiled it, and gave it to the children to eat. That same day she also went to the bush, where she found corn and prepared a nourishing gruel.
She called her husband and said, "Look among your nails and dip the largest one into the pot, then lick it, rise up, and leave the rest for the children." As he examined his nails, turning them about and asking himself which one to choose, he kept his other hand hidden between his legs, loosening his waist covering. Then he swiftly unfastened it and plunged it into the pot when the woman's eyes were turned away and she could not see.
He stood and declared, "I have put one in." And she said, "You will be put to shame over this," but she said nothing more.
Another day, as the wife went to the bush seeking food, she came upon a spoon a broken piece of calabash. She began to pass by, but the spoon called out to her, saying, "How is it that you would pass and not greet me?" She replied, "Greetings to you." The spoon answered, "Greetings." But as she prepared to leave, the spoon asked, "Will you not ask my name?" She inquired, "What is your name?" The spoon replied, "My name is Help Me." Again she moved to depart, but the spoon persisted, "Will you not ask my name?" Once more she asked, "What is your name?" And the spoon answered, "My name is Help Me, and you must say, 'Help me that I may taste.'" So the woman said the words, and the spoon commanded, "Bring your calabash."
She brought it, and the spoon filled it with abundant food, pouring until the calabash was full. She took it home, gave some to her husband, and she and her children ate the remainder. The next day her husband asked, "For the sake of Allah, where did you get this food?" She answered, "I obtained money, found grain, bought it, pounded it, and made this food." He accepted her words and departed.
The wife rose, took her calabash, and returned to the bush to find the spoon. She greeted it, asked its name, and spoke the words, "Help me that I may taste." The spoon poured food into her calabash until it overflowed. She brought it home, and together they ate until they were satisfied. This happened again and again, until one day her husband demanded, "For the sake of Allah, will you not take me to where you are finding this food?"
She replied, "When the dawn of Allah appears, come with me." At dawn they journeyed to where the spoon lay. His wife instructed, "Salute it," so he greeted the spoon. She then said, "Ask its name." He inquired, "What is your name?" The spoon answered, "My name is Help Me." His wife told him, "Say, 'Help me that I may taste.'" He spoke the words, and the spoon filled their calabash with food. They took it home and ate together.
That night the husband returned to the spoon and took it, bringing it to his house and placing it in the grain store. When he felt hungry, he sent his wife the one he loved into the store to see what was inside. She found the spoon, asked its name, and spoke the words, "Help me that I may taste." The spoon filled her calabash with food. But the other wife, the one who had first discovered the spoon, received nothing. She found no food at all, and it remained this way always.
One day, when the husband was away in the bush, the favoured wife took the spoon to the stream to wash it. There the chief's wife came and greeted her, asking, "What are you doing?" She replied, "Look at that." The chief's wife then asked, "Are you not going to greet it?" They said, "Greetings, greetings," and it answered their salute. They asked, "What is your name?" It replied, "My name is Help Me." They wondered, "What sort of thing do they call Help Me?" The woman told them, "You must say, 'Help me that I may taste.'" They spoke the words, and the spoon poured out food for them. Some drew water from the stream and discarded it, bringing their calabashes, which the spoon filled. They took the food home.
The chief asked his wife, "Where did you obtain this thing?" She recounted the entire story of meeting the wife at the stream, of the spoon's name, and of how it provided endless food. The chief commanded, "Go and bring it to me." His officials and bodyguards went to the man's house and demanded the spoon, saying, "The chief desires to see it." The man, black of heart, gave it to them willingly.
They brought it to the chief, who greeted it respectfully and ordered that large wooden dishes be brought. He asked the spoon its name, and it replied, "My name is Help Me." He spoke the words, and the spoon filled all the wooden dishes with abundant food. The chief declared, "This is far too precious a thing to remain in a poor man's house," and he ordered it brought to his own dwelling. From that day forward, the spoon supplied the chief's household with food, whilst the man who had once possessed it wasted away from hunger.
One day, the wife who had shown the spoon to her husband went to the bush to search for food. There she discovered a branch of a tree or perhaps a whip, as some say lying in the forest. She greeted it, and it answered her greeting. She asked, "What is your name?" and the whip replied, "My name is Whack Me." The woman, thinking it was another source of blessing, spoke the words, "Whack me that I may feel."
Thereupon the whip began to lash her relentlessly whack! whack! and she ran away, crying out in anguish, "Alas, I am repentant! I shall follow you! I will not do it again!" But the whip continued to beat her until people came and rescued her from its fury.
She went home and called her husband, bringing him to where the whip lay. She said from a distance, "There it is I have found another thing to provide food." The husband rushed forward eagerly until he met the whip lying upon the ground. He greeted it warmly, thinking it was something good, and asked, "What is your name?" The whip answered, "My name is Whack Me," and foolishly the man replied, "Whack me that I may feel."
The whip then beat him savagely until it grew weary. He returned home and lay down in pain whilst his favoured wife tended to him. Eventually, he recovered and crept back to where the whip lay resting. He crouched low, moving carefully until he was near enough to seize it. He seized and restrained the whip, brought it to his house, and placed it in the grain store.
He sat quietly, waiting until his favoured wife arrived, complaining of hunger. He said, "Go into the grain store and see what is inside." She rose hastily, asking, "What have you found today?" He replied, "You yourself must enter." She asked, "Must I take a calabash?" He said, "Yes." She took her calabash and entered the grain store. He closed it behind her and asked, "What do you see?" She answered, "Something long." He commanded, "Greet it, cannot you?"
She said respectfully, "I greet you who are resting," and asked, "What is your name?" The whip replied, "My name is Whack Me," and she, deceived, spoke the words, "Whack me that I may feel." At once the whip began to beat her, and she screamed in terror.
Her husband, hearing her cries, fled into the forest in fear. His other wife, the one he did not love, also ran out into the forest, overcome with fright. The wife in the grain store struggled desperately until she found a way to escape and fled as well. They all abandoned the house, leaving it deserted.
Thus, long ago the spoon and the whip dwelt in the wilds, and this was the first time they made their appearance among the dwellings of men, bringing both blessing and curse to those who encountered them.
That is the end of the tale. Off with the rat's head!
THE END...