HOW TORTOISE MARRIED THREE PRINCESSES By Falade Oluwaseun Fategbe

Once upon a time, there lived a king in the town of Kujenyo.  The king had three daughters.  No one in the town knew the names of these princesses except the king and his wife, the olori.  The king was so confident that no one could discover the names of these princesses. 

One day the king called a town meeting.  He disclosed to the residents of the town that any man who discovered the names of the three princesses would have, as his reward, one half of his kingdom.  Such a man would also have his three daughters as wives.  Kings of Kujenyo don’t go back on their words, so, the young men of the town set out on a name-finding mission.  This was largely due to the promise of marriage to the princesses – becoming a son-in-law of the king was a great feat.

Tortoise was one of the young men on the name-finding mission.  He was however at a disadvantage.  He was not handsome and he was not rich. When he revealed his intention to his friends, they made jest of him.  Tortoise was a very wise man, he could devise strategies to solve complex problems.  It did not take him a long time before he got an idea of how to find the names of the princesses.  He fabricated three colourful bicycles and headed for the stream early one morning.  Tortoise knew that the princesses would take the route to the stream to have their bath.  Knowing fully well that it was an abomination for him to move near the stream, he climbed a tree along the pathway that led to the stream. He used rope to draw the 3 colourful bicycles up the tree and waited for the princesses to pass.  Tortoise concluded all his plans at about 4:00a.m when it was still dark and no one noticed him.

At about 5:00a.m the three princesses set out for the stream to take their bath.  Each went in company of her aides.  When the first daughter got under the tree where tortoise had hidden, he let down the colourful bicycle.  The princess was shocked to the marrow.  She could not fathom how a colourful bicycle that she had never beheld even in the palace would fall from a tree.  When she could not contain it, she started singing to beckon on her sisters to speed up and catch a glimpse. The song went thus

Lile (Call):                    Mo ri keke kan                         (I see a bicyle)

Egbe (Response):      Gbinrin ajalubale Gbinrin         (Wonderfully, it falls from heaven)

Lile(Call):                     Opobipobi                                (The name of the first princess)

Egbe (Response):      Gbinrin ajalubale Gbinrin         (Wonderfully, it falls from heaven)

Lile (Call):                    Opobipobi                                (The name of the second princess)

Egbe (Response):      Gbinrin ajalubale Gbinrin         (Wonderfully, it falls from heaven)

Lile (Call):                    Oripolobi                                  (The name of the third princess)

Egbe (Response):      Gbinrin ajalubale Gbinrin         (Wonderfully, it falls from heaven)

Lile (Call):                    Mo ri keke kan                         (I see a bicyle)

Egbe (Response):      Gbinrin ajalubale Gbinrin         (Wonderfully, it falls from heaven)

The convoy of the second princess soon arrived.  She was still admiring the colourful bicycle of the first princess when Tortoise let down the second bicycle.  The second princess also sang the same song in amazement to invite the third princess who also had her bicycle let down when she arrived.  The princesses afterwards left for the stream, had their bath and went back to the palace.  For Tortoise, it was a mission accomplished.

Later in the day, Tortoise approached the palace and requested to meet the king.  When he disclosed to the aides of the king that he had discovered the names of the three princesses, they were astounded.  In a couple of minutes Tortoise was before the king to tell him the names of the princesses.  He made obeisance to the king and carefully explained how he got the names.  The king and the town chiefs have mixed feelings.  They were happy that Tortoise displayed a high level of intelligence but they were also sad that he, a common man, would be an in-law to the king and also have a share of one half of the kingdom.  However they had no option than to go by the word of the king.  Kings of Kujenyo don’t go back on their words. That was how Tortoise married the three princesses of Kujenyo.