Alain Mabanckou - Memoirs of a Porcupine

the four witnesses who’d come with Aunt Etaleli had been chosen from four different villages, as tradition required, to ensure that that whatever these people reported back to their different localities would be neutral and faithful to the truth, the little group walked for half a day till they got to Lekana, home of the famous witch doctor Tembé-Essouka, an old man, born blind, with spindly little legs, and a beard which grazed the ground as he moved his head, it seems the local leaders revere his knowledge of the dark arts and go to him for advice, he never washes, for fear of washing away his powers, he wears a tattered old red garment, does his business by the side of his bamboo bed, can control the rain, the wind, the sun, requires payment only on results, and even then you pay in cowrie shells, the currency which was used at the time when this country was still a kingdom, he doesn’t trust the national currency, he thinks times haven’t changed, the official currency’s a delusion, that the world is made of kingdoms, each with its own sorcerer, and that he is the greatest sorcerer of all, and as soon as they reach his house on the hill he gives a great snort of derision, which always terrifies visitors, then he’ll start telling you in detail about your past, the exact details of your date and place of birth, the names of your father and mother, tells you why you’ve come, shakes the terrifying masks hung up above his head, communicating with them, this was the man who would decide between Kibandi’s father and his aunt, the four witnesses had tried everything they could to reconcile brother and sister, who had not spoken a single word to each other while they were walking through the bush, the group arrived at the gates of Lekana around midday

dear Baobab, the people of Lekana were used to a flow of people coming to consult Tembé-Essouka, who, on hearing visitors’ footsteps, shouted from his tumbledown house, ‘hey, you there, what do you think you’re doing here, Tembé-Essouka isn’t here to sort out trivial matters you could easily settle among yourselves, don’t come bothering me for nothing, I don’t need your cowries, the guilty man hasn’t come with you, I see water, yes, I see water, I see a young girl drowning, she’s the niece of an old man being accused by a lady, if you insist, if you don’t believe me, enter at your peril,’ and since Aunt Etaleli was more determined than ever, the group entered his hut, and it was not so much the putrid smell that repelled them, all six, but the masks, who seemed angered by the strangers’ stubbornness, their temerity, Tembé-Essouka had a damp, exhausted look about him, he was sitting on a leopard skin, fiddling with a rosary made from the bones of a boa, whose head was nailed above the entrance to the hut, the visitors sat down on the floor, and the fetichist set to thinking, murmuring, ‘disbelievers, I told you the culprit wasn’t with you, why have you entered my hut then, do you doubt the word of Tembé-Essouka, or what’, Aunt Etaleli got onto her knees, began sobbing at the sorcerer’s feet, she wiped her tears on the edge of the pagne knotted about her waist, the sorcerer pushed her away, ‘let’s be clear about this, this house is not a place for tears, there is a cemetery a bit further down, you’ll find any number of carcasses there who’ll be happy to receive your tears’, but still Aunt Etaleli stammered ‘Tembé-Essouka, my daughter’s death is not a normal death, people shouldn’t die like that, I beg you, look carefully, I’m sure you’ll help me, the whole country is in awe of your great knowledge’, she began sobbing again, despite the sorcerer’s annoyance, ‘hell’s teeth, silence, I said, do you want me to kick you out of here, d’you want me to send an army of bees to buzz you, eh, what is this business, then, who d’you think I am, do you still not understand, that the old man here, the one you’re accusing of this misdeed is not the one who ate your daughter, how many times do I have to tell you, dammit , and now if you insist on knowing the truth, I will reveal it to you, because I see everything, I know everything, and to convince you of the innocence of this man you’ve brought here, you must all undergo the trial of the silver bracelet, too bad, don’t say you weren’t warned, I’ll give you ten seconds to decide whether I begin the trial, yes or no’

you won’t believe me, dear Baobab, Papa Kibandi at once accepted to undergo the trial of the silver bracelet, while even those who reckoned they had nothing to worry about were thinking twice about it, firstly because Tembé-Essouka was as blind as a bat, secondly because the outcome of the trial could be affected by panic, Papa Kibandi was not going to back off, Aunt Etaleli had suddenly dried her tears, she seemed to delight in advance in the idea of seeing her brother exposed before four witnesses, the fire lit up the hut, crackling like the fires which tear through the bush in the dry season, the masks seemed to move their thick lips, whispering occult phrases to the sorcerer, to which he responded with sudden shakes of the head, smoke swirled round the visitors’ faces, each coughing and spluttering louder than the next, a smell of something rotten, then of charred rubber caught in their throats, and when the smoke finally cleared Tembé-Essouka placed a pot filled with palm oil on the fire, threw in a silver bracelet, let the oil boil for some time before plunging his hand straight in, the boiling oil came up to his elbow, he recovered the bracelet without burning himself, showed it to the astonished group, put it back in the pot, ‘now it’s your turn, madame, you do the same’, after a second’s hesitation, Aunt Etaleli plunged her hand into the pot, seized the bracelets, almost cried victory, and the witnesses, reassured, all did the same, again with success, and the sorcerer turned next to Papa Kibandi, ‘it’s your turn, I’ve made you go last, because you are the supposed eater’, Papa Kibandi immediately obliged, and triumphed, under the watchful eye of Aunt Etaleli, while the other witnesses turned to stare at the accuser in amazement, the sorcerer said, ‘the four witnesses and the man unjustly accused will now leave this hut and wait outside, and I will reveal to you, madame, who it was that ate your daughter’, Aunt Etaleli stood alone facing the masks, who by now looked disgusted, and the sorcerer was deep in thought, eyes closed, and when he opened them Aunt Etaleli had the feeling he wasn’t actually blind at all, he looked her straight in the eye, gave a bark like a Batéké dog, the fire suddenly died, he began counting his beads again, chanting something Aunt Etaleli didn’t understand, his eyes rolling, this time lifelessly, his thumb and index finger seized one of the biggest beads, he stroked it nervously, stopped his chanting, took the aunt’s right hand, asked her ‘now who’s this guy they call Nkouyou Matété I see in my thoughts, eh’, Aunt Etaleli stared, then gathered her wits to say, ‘Nkouyou Matété, you did say Nkouyou Matété’, she asked, ‘you heard me, who is he then, he’s very strong, he’s hiding his face, but I can still make out his name, he’s surrounded by other men, they seem to be arguing, issuing death threats’, and Aunt Etaleli muttered sceptically, ‘it can’t possibly be him, he’s my husband after all, he’s the father of my late daughter, you mean to say it’s him, well, I mean, it’s not possible, he wouldn’t eat his own daughter, I tell you, surely’, ‘it was he who ate the girl, he’s in a club that meets in the village of Siaki by night, and every year one of their members sacrifices to the other initiates someone dear to them, this season it was your husband’s turn, and since his harmful double is a crocodile, your daughter met her death by water, drawn into the current by her father’s animal, now the last word is yours, either I call in the four witnesses and your brother, whom you accuse, or you choose silence and keep what I’ve told you to yourself’, without a moment’s hesitation, Aunt Etaleli said ‘I want you to do something to my husband, I want you to put a spell on him, I want him to die before I get back to Siaki, he’s a bastard, a scoundrel, a sorcerer’, Tembé-Essouka almost recovered his sight he was so angry, who do you take me for, eh, I have never put an evil spell on anyone, I simply observe, help those in difficulty, and for anything else, go and talk to the rogues and charlatans in your own village, I am not one of them, who do you take me for, eh’, ‘please, Tembé-Essouka, at least say nothing to the men waiting outside, I particularly don’t want my brother to find out, I accused him wrongly because of the people of Mossaka, they say he has a harmful double who’s a rat, so you can see why, surely, put yourself in my position,’ the sorcerer stood up, as far as he was concerned the meeting was over, and before showing Aunt Etaleli the door he said, ‘that’s your problem, I will say nothing to anyone, Tembé-Essouka has done his job, don’t forget to shut the door behind you and to leave some cowries for the ancestors in the basket at the entrance’