Description
Ijapa, who is too lazy to work, unless he cannot help it, relying on others to be fed, uses his cunning and tricks to this end with surprising results.
Ijapa, who now lives in Eweko with his family, wakes up one morning to the aromatic and delicious akara (bean-based food), hawked in his area, and wonders how he is going to lay his hands on some. Unsuccessful in convincing the akara-seller to treat him to the akara gratis, he devises a plan which involves enticing her away with his mesmerising music – drumming and singing. To this end he makes a drum and flutes from a giant rat’s skin and bones respectively, and hides among high grasses and bushes, near the road the akara seller always takes. Upon hearing this music, the akara-seller abandons her tray of akara, and as if in a trance, dances her way to the outskirts of the town, whilst Ijapa quickly steals the tray. Ijapa repeats this ruse a few times when the akara-seller’s mother, the Oba (ruler) of Eweko and his courtiers drop by at the scene themselves, until he is caught in a trap laid out by the authorities and has to face trial.
