The tailed head-hunters of Nigeria : an account of an official's seven years' experiences in the Northern Nigerian pagan belt, and a description of the manners, habits, and customs of some of its native tribes / by A.J.N. Tremearne.
- Arthur John Newman Tremearne
- Date:
- 1912
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The tailed head-hunters of Nigeria : an account of an official's seven years' experiences in the Northern Nigerian pagan belt, and a description of the manners, habits, and customs of some of its native tribes / by A.J.N. Tremearne. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![among the rebels, the King’s Daughter, go and bring her here.” Then Salifu began crying again, and told the Mare what he had been set to do, and she said, “Here is my Foal, bring sour milk in a large gourd, put some millet into it also, and mix them [a very great delicacy, as mentioned before], and let him drink it.” When the Foal had drunk, the Mare said, “Now saddle him, mount, and go off.” Salifu said that he did not know the way, but the Mare said that the Foal knew it, so off they started. They travelled all day and all night, and, by the next morning, they had reached the town. Then the Foal said, “Let us find a place where we can hide in this long grass; when the Women come out to draw water we will seize the Girl we want.” So they went and hid until noon, when a crowd of Young Girls came out of the city to go to the waterside. Four of the Girls were holding a cloth like a canopy over the King’s Daughter, and she walked along between them. Then the Foal rushed out of the grass, and the Boy seized the Girl, and lifted her on to his saddle, and they galloped off as the alarm was sounded. But Salifu returned safely to his house, and brought the Girl to his Brothers, and she said, “ Oh indeed, did you not seize me for vourself.? who is it who made you do it for him.?” Then the Brothers said to her, “ Go into the house ! ” But the Girl said, “ Oh no, I am a King’s Daughter, I will not enter unless a Ram is killed in my honour.” So a Ram was brought, and she told them to kill it, and, when it had been divided up, she took the skin and beat it with her hands, and the skin arose and became a Ram again. Then she said to the King, “ Now you also let me treat you likewise,” and the King agreed, and she killed him. Then she said to the Brothers, “ You also will I kill unless you make Salifu King;” and so they agreed, and she made him King and took him to the King’s palace, and she said, “ To-day you are King, Salifu; he who refuses to follow you, kill him. They refused to do what your Father told them, but you obeyed, and so you are now best off.” Birds seem usually more intelligent than animals, and there is a tale of the battle between them in which the latter are badly](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29010445_0401.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
