Once upon a time there was a very rich snail called Igbin. Igbin had a huge farm near the big market where he grew all sorts of tasty food. Although Igbin was a successful farmer, he had one big problem. Someone was regularly stealing food from his farm. Although Igbin tried many, many, times to catch the thief, he failed every time. “When I catch that thief, I will teach him a lesson he will never forget” He complained to his best friend and son-in-law, Ijapa, as they rested under a mango tree.
One day Igbin got to his farm early as he always did, and saw that the thief had stolen his crops again. “That’s it!” He cried and he went to see Olu Ode, the chief hunter. “Olu Ode, I need your help to catch the thief that’s been stealing from me for months”. He pleaded with the hunter. “No problem” Olu Ode reassured the snail. “I will set some traps on your farm tonight and we’ll soon find out who the thief is.” At Igbin’s farm, Olu Ode could tell that the thief loved to steal yam, plantain and corn, so that is where he set his traps.
That night the thief came as usual and started picking the biggest and the juiciest fruits and vegetables for himself. As he walked around the farm looking for yummy yams to steal, he stepped into one of Olu Ode’s traps and “Woom!” He was caught. The thief tried with all his strength to escape, but the more he tried, the tighter the trap got.
When Igbin arrived at his farm early the next day and saw that the thief had been to his farm again. He hurried to check Olu Ode’s traps. He was so happy when he realized that one of the traps had caught the thief. But as he got closer to the trap, his heart stopped. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The thief was his best friend, Ijapa, the tortoise. Ijapa had been caught red-handed with all the food he tried to steal, scattered on the floor under him.
You see, Ijapa has always been very lazy, preferring to steal and cheat others instead of working for his food. When he married Igbin’s daughter, he wanted to give her the nice things she was used to. But he was too lazy to start his own farm, and too proud to ask for help. So, he decided to steal food from Igbin.
Igbin was furious to see that his friend was the thief. “Ijapa?!” He screamed. “Why are you stealing from me?!” Ijapa was ashamed. “I am so sorry,” he begged the snail. “Please let me go and I promise I won’t do it again”. But Igbin wouldn’t listen. Ijapa had betrayed him, so he tied his hands and feet “I’m going to make sure the whole village know that you’re a thief,” he yelled as he dragged Ijapa to the side of the road.
Igbin tied the tortoise to a tree so that everybody going to the market that morning would see him. When anyone asked, “Igbin, why have you tied your in-laws to a tree?” He answered “I want everyone to know that he’s a thief. He’d been stealing from me for months”. When the people heard this they shouted insults at Ijapa “Olè (thief)”, “Ole (lazy person)”, “serves you right”. This made Igbin very happy.
Igbin enjoyed punishing Ijapa so much that he refused to let Ijapa go even after most of the people were now at the market. Ijapa begged the snail to let him go but Igbin refused. “I’m going to keep you here so that the people can insult you again on their way home”. So he left Ijapa left tied up by the roadside in the blazing sun, without food or water.
When the market finally closed and everyone started heading home, they were surprised to see that Igbin still had Ijapa tied up by the side of the road. Ijapa was now covered in dust from head to toe from being tied up all day. He hadn’t had any food or water all day and his throat felt as dry as a desert. And he was so weak that when a fly landed on his face, he didn’t notice.
The market people felt sorry for Ijapa. Instead of insulting him again like Igbin wanted, they turned on the snail. “You’re very wicked Igbin” they shouted. “How could you keep him tied up in the hot sun all day?” one person said. “He has suffered enough. Let him go!” Demanded another person. “This is not how you should treat your family”, shouted a third person. Igbin was surprised and embarrassed. “But he stole from me,” Igbin protested. “Let him go! You’ve punished him enough,” they shouted back at the snail. “Maybe I have gone too far with his punishment” Igbin thought to himself. Ashamed, he untied Ijapa and apologised to him for being so mean. “From now on you will work with me on my farm so that you never have to steal again”.
The end.
The Moral of the story:
Stealing is wrong. Stealing, especially from a friend or family member, is very wrong. You will eventually get caught and will be punished.
The tortoise really upset the snail when he stole from him.
Justice must be balanced with fairness. It is right to punish someone who did something wrong. But if the punishment becomes cruel, then it too is wrong.
The snail should not have kept the tortoise tied up all day in the sun. That was a very mean thing to do so he too had done something.
Proverbs:
Some of Yoruba proverbs that share the theme or crime, punishment and justice are;
“Ojo gbogbo ni t’ole, Ojo kan ni t’olohun”
(Everyday is for the thief, one day is for the owner)
This proverb is a warning to the thief that they will eventually get caught.
“Ebu t’alo ni t’ole, t’abo ni t’ana re.”
(The insults on the way out is the thief’s, the returning insults are for his in-law)
This proverb is a warning to the person looking for justice, that it is possible to go too far and end up in the wrong themself.
