How Tables Came to Umu
Madu
Chapter One
Umu Madu in
the Good Old Days
There was once a village called Umu Madu, where the people loved to have
feasts. Every chance the villagers had, they called a feast to celebrate
one thing or another.
"There is a new moon in the sky," the people of Umu Madu would say
sometimes. "Let us have a feast to celebrate it."
"The moon is now full," the villagers might say a few weeks later. "Let us
have a feast to celebrate the full moon!”
At the beginning of the farming season, after they had planted their crops,
the people of Umu Madu had a feast.
In the middle of the farming season, after the rains had started and the
farms were green with growing crops, the people of Umu Madu held a feast.
At the end of the farming season, after the crops had been harvested and
placed in the barns, the people of Umu Madu had a feast.
Sometimes even when nothing happened, the people of Umu Madu had a feast.
If anyone asked them what the feast was for, they replied: "We are having
this feast because nothing has happened."
Some of the feasts were small and some were big, but always there was a
feast in the village of Umu Madu, and all the feasts were long and happy.
A Feast for All
All the feasts were held under the big cottonwood tree in the middle of the
market clearing at the center of the village of Umu Madu. The men killed
the chickens or the goats or a cow, depending on how big the feast was.
They also cut up the meat and cooked it in big iron pots, which they stirred
with long sticks. The women cooked the soup and the stew as well as the
rice and the fufu. Children fetched water or firewood and darted
here and there on errands for the adults.
When everything was ready, the elders of Umu Madu appointed four or five
young men to divide the food, so that every man, woman and child would get a
share. Fufu and rice were piled high on everyone's plate. Big
pieces of meat stuck out above the surface of everyone's stew and soup.
However, the heart of the feast was the big lumps of meat which were spread
out in long row on banana leaves or raffia mats. From the oldest man to the
youngest child, the people of Umu Madu chose their shares of meat according
to their ages.
For as long as
anyone could remember, the people of Umu Madu had always eaten their feasts
on the ground. Some people squatted on the ground. Some people knelt on
the ground. Some people sat on the ground.
No Skin Arrives-A Truly Strange
Stronger
Then one day a stranger arrived in the village of Umu Madu.
This was not the first time a stranger had come to Umu Madu. However, this
stranger was very strange. No one had ever seen or heard anyone like him
before. The villagers nicknamed the stranger No Skin because his skin had
no color. No Skin had hair which looked like corn silk and eyes which shone
like glass beads. At first everyone thought he had no toes, until he took
off his shoes and allowed some of the villagers to count his toes. He had
ten of them.
"Urupirisi. Urupirisi. Urupirisi," No Skin said to the villagers of
Umu Madu. When someone was found who could understand No Skin's language,
what he was saying was: "What have we here? Why are intelligent people like
you eating their feast on the ground?"
"We have always eaten our feasts on the ground,” villagers replied. "Where
do you want us to eat? On the tree tops or in the sky?"
"Haven't you ever heard of tables?" No Skin asked.
"No," the villagers replied, surprised and a little ashamed. "We have never
heard of tables. What are tables?"
No Skin began describing a table to the people of Umu Madu. He drew a
picture of a table on the ground for them as he said: "My friends, these are
modem times. If you want to be modem and up-to-date, you must stop eating
on the ground and start eating on tables."
'Where can we find a table?" the villagers begged. “We do not want to be
left behind by progress. We want to be modern and up-to-date."
"No problem," No Skin replied. "Send along four able-bodied men with me,
and they will bring back a table to the village within a week."
Umu Madu Gets a Table
Within a week, just as No Skin had promised, there was a table in the
village of Umu Madu. It was big and long and heavy, and the villagers spent
many hours admiring it, walking around it, rubbing their hands on it and
smiling at their reflections on its shiny top.
"This table is so good," the elders of the village said, "That we cannot
wait until the next feast several weeks from now to try it. Let us have a
feast at once and try the new table."
Everyone thought that was a good idea.
So a feast was called immediately. Two cows were killed. Fufu and rice
were cooked in abundance. Everyone in the village came out to enjoy the big
feast on the new table. No one bothered about raffia mats and banana leaves
anymore.
However, as the young men who had been appointed by the elders began to
divide the meat, they made a disturbing discovery. There was not enough
space around the table for everyone.
"We have a problem here," one old man said. "How are we going to solve it?"
"Why don't the elders go into a conference with one another, as is our
custom," someone suggested. "Let the elders tell us what to do about this
problem."
"Yes, yes everyone agreed. "Let the elders decide for us."
So the elders went into a conference. After a long time, they came back to
the assembly and announced: "We cannot agree on how to satisfy everyone
about the table. We cannot agree who should eat at the table and who should
not. So we have decided instead to return the table to No Skin, so we can
continue our unity and eat our feasts on the ground together, as we have
always done. If we cannot find No Skin, we can put the table away, and he
can take it back whenever he comes this way again."
"No-o-o-oh!" many members of the assembly shouted. There was a lot of
murmuring and grumbling Then, one young man said: "We now have the table and
everyone agrees it is a good thing. Would it not b foolish to let it sit
idle? Would it not be even more foolish to give it back to No Skin ... All
members of the assembly of Umu Madu who agree with me, please say,
“Hay-ay-ay!"
"Hay-ay-ay!" everyone in the assembly seemed to shout.
The Table Creates Discontent
The elders were surprised and disappointed. Not often did the community
assembly fail to heed their advice. "All right," the elders said, "if that
is the will of Umu Madu, then so be it. However, we will choose positions
around the table according to age. Old people will choose first. People of
Umu Madu, show that you agree with us by saying Hay-ay-ay!"
"Hay-ay-ay!" most voices shouted.
However, there were some voices which said "No!"
The Village of Umu Madu liked to do things by having everyone agree. So the
elders said, "If we cannot do it by age, how then shall we do it?"
One young man raised his hand and was given permission to speak.
"The times we live in are modem times," the young man said. "Modern times
and modern things like the table are for the young. So I say, the young men
should eat at the table. The elders can eat on the ground. Everyone who
agrees with me say "Hay-ay-ay!"
"Hay-ay-ay!" most of the young people shouted. "No-o-oh!" most of the older
people shouted. The village of Umu Madu was faced with one of the
sharpest disagreements its community assembly had
The elders looked at one another, shook their ever seen elder cleared their
heads and scratched them. Then one cleared his throat and said:
''Perhaps we can do it by
volunteering. Perhaps some people will volunteer to eat on the ground."
Everyone thought that was a
good idea. However when the elder said/ "Who will volunteer to eat on the
ground?" people began to answer "Someone else."
“Who else?" the elders asked.
“Anyone else but me," everyone said.
At this point, the elders decided to go into another conference. For a long
time and after many debates they still could not agree on what to do. In the
end, they decided to settle the matter by drawing sticks. Anyone who drew a
short stick would eat on the ground. Any one who drew a long stick would
eat at the table.
Feasts Turn to Fights
However, by the time the elders returned from their conference to announce
their decision the people were pushing, shoving and fighting for places
around the table.
"Shame!" the elders cried in dismay. "Shame, Umu Madu, shame!"
When the fighting stopped, the elders said, "All right, all right, if this
is what we have been driven to, then let everyone keep the place he now
has. Those of you who have occupied places around the table, keep your
places. Those of you who are on the ground, stay on the ground. But please
stop fighting like hyenas. We came here to feast not to fight."
That was how
the matter was settled for that day. However it did not end there.
Disunity had come to the feasts of Umu Madu, because when there was a feast
some people ate at the table and some people on the ground. Envy had come
to the feasts of Umu Madu. Those who ate on the ground looked enviously or
rolled their eyes at those who ate at the table. Pride had come to the
feasts of Umu Madu. Those who ate at the table stuck up their noses in the
air and looked down on those who ate on the ground. Unhappiness had come to
the feasts of Umu Madu. For the first time ever, everyone was not happy at
the feasts.
Every feast that the people of Umu Madu held now ended in a fight. People
came to the feasts not just to enjoy themselves but to fight for places
around the table. Those who had eaten on the ground during the last feast
thought it was their turn to eat at the table this time. However, those who
had eaten at the table the last time thought they should do so again.
"Once a person has fought to get a place by the table,” some of the
villagers said, "'he should keep it permanently.”
Some villagers
even felt that once a person had been able to eat at the table, his wives
and children should also eat at the table, and even his children and his
children's children, whenever they were born, should have the future right
to eat at the table.
Some villagers became so angry at what was going on that they refused to
attend any more feasts.
Then one day just before a very big feast, someone secretly sawed more than
halfway through one of the table's legs. In the middle of the feast, when
the meat and all other goodies had been heaped on the table, the leg broke,
the table tipped over, and all the meat fell to the ground.
Various people accused one another of the trick. A big free-for-all
fight broke out. Pots were broken. Basins of rice were kicked over. The
meat was trampled underfoot.
Tables Are Abolished
The day after the big fight, the elders called everyone together in the
market clearing. "Umu Madu," the elders said, "the table which No Skin gave
us has been nothing but trouble. There is only one way to solve our
problem-destroy the table before it destroys us."
"Hay-ay-ay!" the whole assembly responded in unison. "'Let us destroy the
table before it destroys us!"
The men, women and children of Umu Madu went home and got their axes,
machetes, clubs and pestles an set upon the table and smashed it to pieces.
"Now we can be one again,” one elder said, after the task was done.
"Yes another elder replied. "We can eat our feasts unity and harmony once
again."
"Yes," someone else in the assembly said. "Let us ca a feast immediately to
celebrate our freedom from the table."
"Yes, yes," everyone agreed.
A date was set for the special feast. Three cows were killed. Banana
leaves and clean raffia mats were laid out on the swept ground, as in the
old days. This was going to be the biggest and happiest feast Umu Madu had
ever had.
Individual Table Owners Assert Their
Rights
However, just as the feast was about to start, someone pointed out that a
few villagers had brought their own little, private tables to the feast.
"Why?" the elders asked. "Did we not agree to eat together on the ground as
we used to do before No Skin brought the table?"
"We agreed! Yes, we agreed!" a majority of the assembly replied.
"Why then have some people brought tables?" the elders asked.
"I now like tables," one table owner said. "I found No Skin, and he said I
can have my own table if I wish. So, since I enjoy eating at a table, why
shouldn't I be able to do so?"
"Me too,"
another table owner said. "I not only like tables, but I have become so
used to them that I can no longer bear to eat my meals on the ground."
Other table owners gave similar answers.
"You must destroy the tables," the elders commanded, “so that we can have
harmony and unity as of old."
"My table is mine to do with as I please," one table owner said in an
insulting voice. "It cost me plenty of money. No one can destroy it."
Another
table owner agreed with the first one. He said, "If I cannot eat my part of
the feast on my table, then I will not share in the feast at all!"
So, the big feast, which was supposed to bring back peace and harmony to Umu
Madu, instead, brought disharmony and discord. There was first a long
argument and then a big fight, during which many bones were broken. Since
that day harmony and unity left the village and have not returned.
