Today on our folk tales, we present to you the part 5 of the western African story, titled “The Woman With Two Skins.”
When the king knew that the wrestler was his son he was very glad, and told the guards to take the jealous woman away, and punish her in accordance with their laws. The guards took her into the forest and tied her up to a stake, and gave her two hundred lashes with a whip made from hippopotamus hide, and then burnt her alive, so that she should not make any more trouble, and her ashes were thrown into the river. The king then embraced his wife and daughter, and told all the people that she, Adiaha, was his proper wife, and would be the queen for the future.
When the trouble was over, Adiaha was dressed in fine clothes and beads, and taken back to the palace by the king’s servants.
That night the king gave a big feast to all his subjects, and told them how glad he was to get back his beautiful wife whom he had never known properly before, also his son who was stronger than all men, and his fine daughter. The feast continued for a hundred and sixty-six days; and the king made a law that if any woman was caught with charms, for her husband, she should be killed at once. Then the king built three new compounds, and placed many slaves in them, both men and women. One compound he gave to his wife, another to his son, and the third he gave to his daughter. They all lived together quite happily for some years until the king died; his son came to the throne and ruled in his stead.