By 
All of Amos Tutuola’s works follow a defined structure. Although all are heterogeneous and anecdotal in nature, all the episodes are linked, albeit vaguely, by the hero’s participation in them. Romances usually begin with a situation that forces the hero to embark on a mission. This quest takes him through various trials at the end of which he returns to his original point, a better man.
On The palm wine drinker the preliminary pages prepare the ground for the imminent search. Its hero, Palm Wine Drinkard himself, shows up with an inordinate appetite for select palm wine. From the age of ten he drank 225 barrels a day and did not want to do anything else. He knew what was good for him and that was just what his witch doctor had prescribed. But when his regular supply was interrupted after the death of his tapster, his social position took a severe blow. Friends who once cried out after him abandoned him. Then, upon being hinted at the possibility of redeeming his tapster, he embarks on his quest in Deads Town.
He and his wife were involved in numerous trials and adventures, mostly supernatural. Beings like Death, the Skull, the insane and cruel creatures of the Non-Returnable Sky City, the Mother-Faithful, the Red-People, the Prince-Killer, the hostile dead babies and the starving creature fight him in such ordeals. . he often came face to face with Death in such situations.
Among the diabolical creatures he encountered was a “beautiful full knight” who, while traversing the woods, would return the rented parts of his body to their owners while paying rent and soon became a full-bodied knight reduced to a skull. His newfound wife gave him a child of his thumb. But this boy was freak, an arsonist, who kills pets, and a bigger drinker than his father. As a result, the drinker was forced to burn it to ashes. And out of the ashes appeared a half-length boy speaking with a “voice lower like a telephone.”
At the end of his search, Drinkard reconciles himself with the futility of bringing his tapster back to life, since he had lost all communication with the world of the Alives (the living). But the quest wins him out: the magic egg that provides him with everything he wants, like palm wine and food. He is also trained to alleviate the famine of the city. He is also trained to correct people’s greed. Thus it emerges in the end as the consciousness of the people.
On Simbi and the satyr of the dark jungle, Tutuola introduces the heroine on the first pages. This sociable and pleasure-loving girl almost lost her mind when she learned of the disappearance of her two friends. This leads to her frustration with her affluent and comfortable background. Therefore, he embarks on his quest to experience poverty and punishment even against the better judgment of his elders. In slavery, he experiences all kinds of brutality and degradation. When, defying codes of conduct in the field, she is immersed in a song that kills her master, she is nailed to a coffin and thrown into a river. Upon being rescued and brought to Sinner’s Town, she discovers her long-lost friend. At the moment of being executed, she cunningly snatches the King’s swords, beheads him and, along with her friends, escapes. They kept wandering the Path of Death to find their way home. Her apparently neurotic friend, Bako, now joins in to inflict punishment on Simbi: she is arrested for robbery in the Village of the Multicolored, where she is also accompanied and brutally beaten. Bako’s exploits here lead them to flee the land. Now they travel from forest to forest until they meet the fearsome monster, the satyr, whom she faces in a grueling battle. Terribly ill, she is carried by an eagle to a hollow tree where, almost swallowed by a boa constrictor, she is rescued by a woodcutter who later marries her. In the land of Poverty her clothes turn to ash and to top it off, strange events, the fruits turn into stones as soon as she reaches out to pick them up.
The satyr then launches his second attack. She flies up to his nose in the form of a water bug and stings him to death. Free your friends from the Satyr’s cage. They then return to their villages and collect their price from their captor, Dogo. The moral transformation in Simbi is summarized as follows: After having rested for a few days, she went from house to house … warning all the children that it was a great mistake for a girl who did not obey her parents. [S.S.D.J.p134]
Ajaiyi, the narrator of the third selection AJjaiyi and his inherited poverty he introduces himself, his family and the village. This takes us 200 years into the past when he first came to this world through another father and mother. Their desire to change their fortunes after the death of their parents led them to the kidnapper cap. This kidnapping sells them to the idol worshiper. They escape to the forest where they fall into the clutches of another evil being, the Spirit of Fire. The benevolent Queen of the River helps them out.
Ajaiyi now has a bitter experience with Ade, the traitor, who through betrayal deceives him of his newfound wealth. One-legged ghosts capture them on their way to the Creator. But they regain their freedom by engaging them in a tough battle. Disappointed that tax matters cannot be dealt with in the abode of the creator, they turn to the Iron God who nearly killed them. In the end, the creator presents them with heavy pieces of iron under which they fight for the rest of their journey. Even when they are abandoned, they are pursued to the witch country. There they are being held in preparation for their possible sacrifice. But with the transformation of the witch mother in the pupils of the eye, they escape and arrive at a friend’s village. From there they are led to the devil. There he heroically opposes selling his soul to the devil. Back in his village, Ajaiyi begins to make frantic movements to redeem himself from poverty. But when he realizes that the witch doctor has not been sincere, he attacks him and takes all his money. But as shown below, Ajaiyi’s series of grueling experiences has sharpened his moral responsiveness.
Although I had six thousand pounds of this witch doctor from my town with the bravery that I had obtained from various people in their satanic way. Of course, this money could free me from my poverty. But I didn’t spend it at all because it came to mind this midnight that “money was the father of sins and insincerity.” And I remember this midnight also that Ojo, Alabi and I were seriously warned in the city of the creator that we should stay away from sins when we returned to our village. Also, when the Head of the Creator’s drums led us to the place of punishments in the Creator’s village. I saw countless gentlemen, millionaires, lawyers, moneylenders, judges, etc., who were in the greatest fire regarding the sins they had committed to obtain money before they died. So, having remembered all this, instead of paying my debts with this money, I simply kept it in a room.
[A.H.I.P.Pp233-4]
With this money in hand, he then builds churches instead of paying his debtors. This and his dedication to spreading the word of God demonstrate his selfless devotion to the welfare of the people.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:
Collins, Harold R. AMOS TUTUOLA New York, Twayne Publishers Inc., 1969
Frye, Northrop, ANATOMY OF CRITICISM
Larson, Charles R. THE EMERGENCY OF AFRICAN FICTION, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1972 Lawrence, Margaret DRUMS AND LONG CANNONS
Moore, Gerald WE LOVE TUTUOLA
Palmer, Eustace THE GROWTH OF THE AFRICAN NOVEL