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English Translation
Early the next morning, Bulkuma woke up early, fed her rooster grains and water, and sat it in front of her while telling it all the houses it should go to cause mischief, even explaining the plot hatched against her and how she wanted it to retaliate.
Just close to Maghrib, she released it. The rooster set off into the darkness and began committing havoc.
At the compound of Garbati, who was seeking her hand in marriage, the rooster did its business right on his cap, and it spilled Talatun Sule's for-sale porridge. As for Adama, while running after it in an attempt to escape the destruction it was causing, she slipped and landed awkwardly on the ground, injuring her hip and screaming, "Oh my hip, oh my hip, oh my pelvic bone, oh my pelvic bone!"
Tsalha's wife grew furious when the rooster's droppings fell from the roof straight into her pot of steaming tuwo tuwo paste. She picked up her pestle, declaring that if she caught it, she would throw it into her soup to vent her anger, even if it meant a fierce fight with its owner. In the chase, the tuwo flour was spilled, her tuwo pot broke, and she collapsed to the ground, weeping over the self-inflicted disaster the rooster had forced upon her.
Bulkuma's rooster continued to turn the town upside down, and it was only around midnight that it finally returned home.
Bulkuma, sitting at the edge of the room waiting for it, grabbed it, praised it with joyful praise names, tied it down, and fed it grains and water. She sat close to it, telling it stories like a human being.
Ever since Bulkuma bought the rooster, she reduced her wild wandering, focusing instead on the rooster, chatting with it and expressing her delight at how it helped her vent her frustration. Whenever she went out, she could hear how exhausted the townspeople were because of it. Inwardly, she laughed, telling herself, "You have only seen a little; soon you will regret what you did to me. I am Bulkuma, a thorn, just right for your hips."
As she walked along the path, she heard Tani's son and Audun Sa'ade talking under the neem tree, plotting a plan to ambush the rooster en masse, slaughter it, and make daddawa condiments out of it.
She stood aside, listening to their conversation until she finished hearing their entire plan. She smiled and said to herself, "You are dreaming; my rooster is too mighty to end up in a cooking pot. Instead, it will cause pots to break and mourn their loss."
In the evening, she released it again. The rooster dashed into the town, wreaking havoc from house to house, hopping across compounds, knocking over people's belongings, and driving women and men, adults and children, old and young, completely crazy. The town filled with noise and wailing.
The way Tani's son and Audun Sa'ade chased the rooster from house to house in a coordinated group only amplified the destruction done that day.
Bulkuma stood by the roadside, listening to the people saying, "We must go to Tani's son's and Audun Sa'ade's houses to be compensated for the damage caused."
Inwardly, she laughed, enjoying how the rooster executed her evil plot, especially how Audun Sa'ade and Tani's son brought trouble upon themselves, and now compensation had come around to fix things. The scheme they had plotted against her rooster had backfired on them.
The next day, Bulkuma was sitting at the edge of her room, coaching her rooster on how to cause havoc today, feeding it all the tactics she taught it as if she were talking to a person, when she heard a voice from the courtyard. A boy was saying, "Someone is outside asking for Bulkuma."
Gwoggo was filled with surprise and asked, "Bulkuma? Who is it?"
The boy shook his head slightly, looked at Gwoggo, and said, "I don't know him, but he came in a big car and even gave me fifty Naira."
Gwoggo widened her eyes, trying to comprehend what the boy was saying.
At that exact moment, Bulkuma rushed out of her room and said, "It is my city boyfriend! While the people of this village hound me with malice, it turns out I am luckier than their children. I am going to the city to live in a big house with a car."
Gwoggo looked at her in astonishment.
Bulkuma, dressed up like someone attending a wedding party, walked out of the house with a swagger. The moment he saw her come out, he began to smile, watching her until she reached him. She walked up to him with a beaming smile and asked, "Good morning?"
He adjusted his stance and replied, "Morning, my beauty, what is the news?"
She laughed, tilting her head to the side, and said, "The news is booming to the tenth degree, enough to fill a leather bag! Let me tell you, my rooster has driven the townspeople crazy. It keeps wreaking havoc on them, and it refuses to be caught—it runs like the wind! They have even started calling it a ghost-rooster."
She adjusted her stance, placed her hands on her hips, and began narrating in detail how her rooster terrorized people, jumping around and devouring whatever it crossed.
He burst into laughter, saying, "Indeed, this rooster of yours is too powerful for the town; it has become a riot-starter."
She said, "Let me tell you, it even made Zakiyya cause self-destruction. She sat awkwardly on the ground, crying endlessly like someone who received a death notice."
He laughed heartily, a unique kind of laughter Bello always had whenever he witnessed mischief.
She said, "I am telling you, everyone in this town is terrified right now. They no longer spread their clothes out to dry on roofs, because whatever my rooster finds, it knocks down—whether it is grains, maize, or tuwo flour."
Bello was laughing so hard he shed tears, holding his stomach because the story amused him so much. Every time she added a new detail, he burst into laughter all over again.
She said, "But they are getting close to figuring me out, so you must give me money to buy another rooster just like it so I can use it as a decoy."
He said, "Alright then," pulled out six thousand Naira, and handed it to her.
Bulkuma accepted it with a laugh.
He pulled out a small cooler and handed it to her, saying, "Here, this is food cooked by my wife, Zuhra. Eat it and see how insanely delicious it is; I brought it to you as a token of love."
She stepped back slightly, looking at the cooler with suspicion, and said, "Tsh! What if she mixed fetish medicine inside so that when I eat it, I go mad?"
Bello shook his head, laughing, and said, "No, nothing like that. Eat your food with peace of mind."
When she opened the cooler, a sweet aroma hit her nostrils—the kind of aroma that makes someone want to eat even when completely full. Her eyes closed in pleasure, and she didn't even realize when she picked up a spoon and took her first bite.
The deliciousness of the food hit her so hard she forgot everything else, eating continuously without a break. Before she knew it, she had consumed almost all the food without leaving anything behind. She wiped her mouth with her finger and looked at him in surprise, saying, "Wow... this woman really knows how to cook."
He raised an eyebrow and said, "Totally, she is an expert."
Dijen Sababi walked past, gossiping with a chewing motion. Her eyes landed on Bulkuma and Bello, and she hissed to show her displeasure at what she saw.
Bulkuma, seeing how Dijen Sababi kept staring at them, puckered her lips, adjusted her stance, and raised her voice slightly so she could be heard, saying, "He is my city boyfriend! The villagers conspired and called me a nuisance, saying I would never find a husband. Well, look, I have found a city man with a car, one who is far better than their broke, backward children."
Dijen Sababi felt the sting of the words right in her heart, as if fire had been thrown into her chest, especially since she felt she deserved Bello much more than this nuisance of a woman.
Rage continued to churn inside her. Her hands trembled, and she felt like dragging Bulkuma and beating her up like a child. But if her eyes weren't deceiving her, this was Bulkuma's wealthy city boyfriend. She looked at Bello, then at his car, and a thought hit her: if she picked a fight, she might get crushed.
Right there, she swallowed the words on her tip, turned her face away from them, and stomped off angrily, kicking up dust, her heart boiling. She felt humiliated in public, seeing the exact type of man she wanted end up with that nuisance.
Bulkuma watched her leave with a triumphant smile. Bello looked at her, shook his head slightly, and said, "You really have a tongue, Bulkuma."
She replied, "It's necessary. In today's world, if you don't stand your ground, people will walk all over you."
He smiled, looking at her and marveling at her boldness and sharp tongue, which sometimes charmed him and other times made him reflect deeply.
They chatted for a long time, with her making him laugh, before he finally left. She watched him until he got into his car. He waved at her, and she waved back with a joyful smile until the car disappeared from sight.
She turned back toward home, her heart set on buying a decoy rooster.
Early the next morning, she headed to the market, searched various places until she found a rooster identical in color and size, looking as if they shared the same mother.
Without wasting time, she bought it and smuggled it back to the village. Soon, townspeople began arriving one by one—some angry, some asking questions, and some wanting to verify the truth.
"Bulkuma!..." Malam Tsalha called out loudly. Sule said, "Bulkuma, where are you? We want an explanation about this rooster of yours causing us havoc."
She stepped out of her doorstep with such calmness that one would think she knew nothing. She stood at the doorway, looking at them, and said, "I have nothing to do with it; here is my rooster, it hasn't even gone out."
She dragged out the decoy rooster she had bought and brought it out. The townspeople stepped closer to inspect it, some even walking around it to examine it thoroughly. She had bought a duplicate of that rooster precisely to avoid trouble in case someone ever came to her house to confront her.
She said, "If you think I'm lying, come back in the evening and check. My rooster knows no mischief; it never goes anywhere outside the house."
People began looking at one another in confusion. Someone said, "Well, we still have to see it with our own eyes first."
Another said, "This one doesn't look as wild as the other one, though. I told you, that previous rooster was a ghost-rooster."
They broke into arguments.
Bulkuma stood watching them, hiding a smile in her heart. Inwardly, she thought, "Now you can argue all you want, since I have cleared my name."
With that, they dispersed, each with their own thoughts, while she turned back into her house, her heart filled with the feeling that she had completely triumphed over them.
In the evening, she released her hyper-destructive rooster into the town while displaying the decoy rooster right in the courtyard where anyone peering in could see it.
Before the sun had even fully set, she began hearing noises in town—screaming, complaining, and mentioning the rooster's name like a terrorist.
"It has come again!" Salame screamed.
Tasallah burst into tears, saying, "It spilled my morning porridge grains!"
Malam Wada said, "As for me, it broke my household clay pot!"
Within a short time, the villagers gathered outside Bulkuma's house to expose her lie, but they found this very rooster standing firmly inside the house, peacefully eating its food.
They stopped dead in their tracks.
Tasallah said, "Wait, how is this possible?"
Gwoggo Saude ignored them and continued with her chores.
Tsalha stepped closer, inspected it carefully, walked around the rooster, and said, "Well, look, this one hasn't gone out; we see it right here."
Old woman Tarasulu shook her head and said, "We must clear her of suspicion; she is not the one to blame."
Instantly, the suspicion was lifted from Bulkuma. Some even began apologizing to her, feeling as though they had wronged her previously.
As for Bulkuma, she stood calmly, looking at them like someone who knew nothing. She raised her voice slightly and said, "I already told you. I have nothing to do with it."
With that, they dispersed in shock and confusion, each trying to figure out how such a thing could happen—the rooster was right at home, yet it was seen causing havoc in town.
Even so, the rooster didn't stop. Every single day, it initiated a new crisis. Sometimes it chased and frightened children, sometimes it scattered food items, and other times it created chaos right in the middle of the market, causing people to run and fall.
The villagers fell into distress. Everyone lost solutions. Some began saying it was a jinni, while others suspected witchcraft.
The town heated up over this affair.
On the other side, Bulkuma folded her arms and watched the conflict escalate, her heart filled with joy that no one had discovered the truth, despite the continuous turmoil her rooster brought upon the town.
One evening, Gwoggo Saude went out to visit a newborn at Marka's house. It was then that she witnessed the full scale of the destruction Bulkuma's rooster was causing in town. People were cursing, running, screaming, falling, while others tried to stand and catch a glimpse of it.
Her heart grew cold, especially when she saw Fatse selling awara crying uncontrollably, wailing pitifully, and calling upon God to judge the person responsible for buying the rooster, the one who bought it, the one who enjoyed its purchase, the one who funded it, and even the seller and the middleman.
Right then, she made up her mind: starting today, the rooster was done causing trouble. No one would suffer from it anymore; she would take action and handle everything herself.
Her heart grew very cold. As she walked back, she plotted how she would tie Bulkuma down securely, slaughter those cursed roosters, fry them, and put an end to all the madness.
When she returned home, she didn't let Bulkuma know anything, but in her heart, she had already decided. Tomorrow, she would take action against the roosters causing havoc in the town, slaughter them, fry them, and put an end to the intense chaos they brought. She sat quietly in her room, planning how to execute everything secretly without anyone noticing.
The next morning, as the sun began to shine, Bulkuma was fast asleep in the courtyard. Gwoggo pounced on her swiftly, tying her down securely with a tight binding she knew Bulkuma couldn't escape.
Bulkuma, being a heavy sleeper, only woke up later, filled with shock to find her body tightly bound. She widened her eyes, looking at Gwoggo in confusion, and tried to move but couldn't. With a crying voice, she asked, "Gwoggo, what did I do?"
Gwoggo replied, "You didn't do anything, but I am going to do something."
She set a pot of water on the fire until it boiled intensely. Carefully, she carried the hot water over, looking at Bulkuma, who sat frozen with fear in her eyes.
With fear and shock combined, Bulkuma asked, "What are you going to do with hot water?"
Gwoggo Saude smiled and said, "I am going to fry the roosters of this house, make a pepper soup, and bring an end to the destruction they cause in town."
Bulkuma jolted in panic at the atrocity about to be committed against her. Her eyes filled with tears, and she cried, thinking of the fate awaiting her roosters. She tried to stand up, grab her roosters, and run, but she couldn't move.
Gwoggo Saude stepped closer to her, adjusted her footing, and said, "You should have spared yourself. Once I set my mind on something, I execute it. I am tired of the curses your rooster brings upon us in town. Today, I am bringing an end to everything. Everyone can finally rest."
Bulkuma began wailing bitterly, her eyes overflowing with tears as she witnessed the disaster Gwoggo was about to inflict on her roosters. Her heart raced as she watched Gwoggo grab the decoy rooster, slit its throat, and then storm into the room to drag out the hyper-destructive rooster, plunging a knife into its neck as well.
She began the process of scalding them in hot water, plucking their feathers, cleaning them, and frying them. The aroma of meat spread throughout the house. Bulkuma, tied up, watched the events unfold, her crying intensifying as she saw her roosters turn into meat right before her eyes.
After Gwoggo Saude finished frying, she untied Bulkuma, divided the meat, gave her her share, took her own share, sat down near the mango tree trunk, and enjoyed her meal to the fullest 😅😅😅.
Bulkuma sat with her rooster meat in front of her, eating while weeping bitterly, her heart filled with sorrow.
At that exact moment, a boy was sent from the village. He looked at her and then at the meat in front of her. She glared at him and said, "Stop staring at me! This meat is for me alone; I won't forgive anyone who even smells it."
Gwoggo Saude tore off a decoy rooster's chicken thigh, raised her voice, and said, "We have already eaten the meat, and there is nothing anyone can do about it except look—like jute leaves at the bottom of a grave!"
She called the boy, handed him a piece of meat, and he accepted it with gratitude, delivering the message he was sent with.
Bulkuma spent the entire day nibbling on the meat amidst tears and deep reflection, feeling frustration and sorrow simultaneously, especially because she was so used to her destructive rooster being her conversation companion.
Two days passed, and the townspeople felt peace—no rooster noise, no destruction, no familiar panic. Celebrations immediately began, with people congratulating one another. They were rid of the nuisance, and normal peaceful life returned to the town. Everyone finally rested from the intense trauma and chaos the ghost-rooster had caused them.
Gwoggo Saude found inner peace seeing that her actions had brought an end to the crisis that had long plagued the town.
As for Bulkuma, whenever she remembered how her roosters were slaughtered, fried, handed to her to eat, her heart filled with sorrow. Even though she had exacted revenge on the villagers—since they even apologized, expressed remorse, and said their curses on her had manifested as the ghost-rooster—she still felt the loss.
Ever since Gwoggo Saude slaughtered Bulkuma's roosters, Bulkuma's life changed completely. She became silent, as if a part of her happiness had been stripped away.
Their house, which used to be filled with the movement and sounds of her decoy rooster and her chats with the destructive rooster running around the courtyard like a playful child, was now dead silent.
She retreated indoors, taking a long time before stepping outside. Her destructive rooster had become like a sibling and a conversational partner—when everyone else forgot her, it remained by her side. Now that it was gone, she felt like she no longer existed in the town. Even stepping outside became rare; occasionally, she would step to the doorstep to watch people walk by and children play.
One day, Gwoggo Saude came out of her room and found Bulkuma sitting alone in the courtyard, resting her chin on her hands in deep thought.
She stood watching her for a moment, shook her head with a hiss, and said, "You should have just put your mind at rest, it would have been better for you. It was just a rooster you purposely raised, and then things got out of hand. Revenge is not madness, after all."
Bulkuma replied, "But people said it was terrorism." Gwoggo Saude laughed and said, "Oh me, Saude! Since when did slaughtering roosters become terrorism? Or are you trying to call me a terrorist because you look down on me?"
Bulkuma shook her head and said, "No, not at all, that's not what I mean. But still, you should have left my property alone since it was my right."
Gwoggo Saude said, "Oh, true, but I have a question: what about the people's property it kept destroying? Were those your rights too?"
She paused, recalling how the rooster used to enter people's farms and ruin their crops, and when it returned to town, it broke pots and knocked down laundry.
She said, "Therefore, I figured I couldn't let a single rooster cause a crisis bigger than we could handle."
Bulkuma wiped away her falling tears and said, "But what was the decoy rooster's crime that it had to be slaughtered too?"
She let out a sigh. Her eyes filled with tears, but she stopped them from falling. Slowly, she raised her head to look at Gwoggo Saude, as if wanting to speak, but the words refused to come out.
Gwoggo Saude pulled up a small stool, sat down, and said, "True, that one had no crime, but given how you lived with the destructive rooster, plotting mischief and schemes with it, if I had left the decoy rooster, you would have started training it the exact same way. You would just sit down in front of a rooster and talk to it like a lunatic possessed."
A boy entered the house and said, "Someone is outside asking for Bulkuma."
Bulkuma raised her head, looked at him as if forced, opened her mouth, and asked, "Who is it?"
The boy turned, walked out toward where Bello sat in his car, and said, "She asked who it is."
Bello smiled, his eyes filled with amusement, and said, "Tell her it's Bello."
Without wasting time, the boy returned to the house, went to Bulkuma, and said, "He said it's Bello."
She raised her hand and said, "Alright, I'm coming out."
She stood up from her stool and walked out to the doorstep without bothering to check her face or her clothes.
Bello, who had been upset back home, had come to Bulkuma to soothe his mind with humor and the scandalous tale of her roosters and the townspeople. But when he saw her face scowling, he was filled with surprise at what could possibly have made her so angry.
Her face, which was always bright and cheerful, was now...
Summary
Bulkuma trains her pet rooster to wreak havoc and destroy property throughout her village as an act of revenge against the townspeople who mistreated her. Her campaign of chaos drives the villagers crazy while she secretly enjoys their misery, even acquiring a decoy rooster to maintain her alibi. Meanwhile, she starts dating Bello, a wealthy man from the city who finds her stories hilarious. Eventually, Bulkuma's sharp-tongued guardian, Gwoggo Saude, discovers the massive distress the roosters are causing. Taking matters into her own hands, Gwoggo slaughters both roosters, fries them, and forces Bulkuma to eat the meat. Though the village finds peace, Bulkuma sinks into deep depression over the loss of her beloved animal companion, even as Bello returns to visit her.
Description
This narrative is a humorous yet satirical village drama exploring themes of petty revenge, neighborhood conflict, and unconventional companionship. It highlights Bulkuma’s cunning nature as she weaponizes a domestic bird to outsmart her critics, contrasted with Gwoggo Saude's pragmatic, no-nonsense authority. The story paints a vivid picture of rural Nigerian village life—complete with gossip, communal dynamics, market culture, and generational clashes between traditional oversight and youthful rebellion.
Comments
- Character Dynamics: Bulkuma’s relationship with her rooster blurs the line between pet ownership and psychological coping, treating the bird almost like a human confidant and co-conspirator.
- Satire & Humor: The escalation of chaos—from ruined porridge and broken tuwo pots to villagers screaming in terror over a chicken—provides excellent comedic relief and highlights the absurdity of petty village feuds.
- Gwoggo's Pragmatism: Gwoggo Saude acts as the ultimate reality check. Her swift, uncompromising execution of the roosters serves as a humorous resolution to an escalating crisis that local diplomacy failed to solve.
Conclusions
The story concludes that unchecked malice and petty revenge ultimately require decisive intervention. While Bulkuma successfully achieved her goal of making the villagers regret crossing her, her victory was short-lived because her collateral damage (the roosters) became too disruptive for her own household to tolerate. In the end, life in the village returns to a peaceful baseline, leaving Bulkuma to mourn her unusual bond while navigating her evolving relationship with the outside world represented by Bello.
