Ijapa and his wife, Yarinbo, had been married for many years. Although they loved each other, they were unhappy because they didn’t have any children.

One day Ijapa’s friend, Okere, told him about a Babalawo, a medicine man, in the next town who might be able to help them finally have a baby. Ijapa was excited and he immediately set off to visit this Babalawo.

When Ijapa arrived at the Babalawo’s house he greeted him respectfully “good afternoon baba!” The old man smiled and asked “how can I help you?” “My wife and I have been married for more than 10 years and we can’t have children. Please baba can you help us?”

The Babalawo looked at Ijapa and felt sorry for him. “There is something I can give you that might help,” he said. The Babalawo went back into his hut and began to prepare a special soup for Ijapa’s wife.

When it was ready, the Babalawo brought a pot full of the soup to Ijapa “take this home to your wife and make sure she eats all of it by herself.” The Babalawo also warned Ijapa, “make sure you do not eat this soup. It is only for women”. “I won’t Baba, thank you” he replied excitedly as he left for home.

As he walked home, Ijapa could smell the soup in the pot on his head. It smelled so good! Eventually, Ijapa just had to take a look inside the pot. “I know Baba said I must not eat any of this soup so I’m just going to look inside the pot to see what ingredients he used”. When he looked in the pot, he saw a delicious mix of herbs, spices, meat and fish. This made Ijapa’s tummy grumble loudly and he suddenly felt hungry. But Ijapa remembered the babalawo’s warning and he didn’t eat any of it.

Ijapa tried very hard not to think about the soup the rest of the way but the smell was making him very hungry. Eventually, Ijapa finally gave in and decided to have a small taste of the soup. So he sat under a tree and picked out one small piece of meat to eat. “Oh, this tastes so good” he exclaimed. “I’ll just have one more bite and then I’ll go home” he thought. But the soup was too tasty and Ijapa didn’t stop eating until he ate all of it! The very fully ijapa then laid under a tree to rest and soon fell asleep.

When he woke up, Ijapa felt heavier and as he started to get up, he noticed that his stomach was a lot bigger than before. He panicked “Haaa what have I done? Why didn’t I listen to the babalawo”. Slowly his stomach continued to grow bigger and bigger. When he was nearly home, his stomach had grown so much that he looked like he a pregnant woman, ready to give birth. Ijapa cried out “somebody help me! My stomach won’t stop growing!!” Yarinbo, who had been waiting for her husband, heard his voice and ran out to him. Seeing his huge stomach she asked, “what happened, why is your stomach so big?” Ashamed of how greedy he was, Ijapa lied “I dropped the soup the babalawo gave me and licked the little spilled on my hand and now I’m pregnant” Yanribo felt sorry for her husband and quickly took him back to the Babalawo to save him. On the way, Ijapa who was now in a lot of pain started singing…

Babalawo mo wa bebe – Alugbirin
Babalawo mo wa bebe – Alugbirin
(Medicine man I’ve come to beg you)

Ogun to se fun mi le kan – Alugbirin
(The medicine you made for me earlier)

To ni k’ima ma f’owo k’enu – Alugbirin
(You said not to taste it with my hand)

To ni k’ima ma f’ese k’enu – Alugbirin
(You said not to taste it with my leg)

Gbongbo lo yo o mi gere – Alugbirin
(A tree root tripped me and I fell) 

Mo f’owo kan obe, mo fi k’enu – Alugbirin
(I touched the soup with my hand and tasted it)

Mo f’ese kan obe, mo fi k’enu – Alugbirin
(I touched the soup with my leg and tasted it)

Mo b’oju wo kun, o ri gendu – Alugbirin
(I looked at my stomach and it looked massive)

Babalawo mo wa bebe – Alugbirin
Babalawo mo wa bebe – Alugbirin
(Medicine man I’ve come to beg you)

When they arrived, the Babalawo was shocked “how did this happen? Didn’t I warn you not to eat the soup?”. Ijapa lied again saying he accidentally tasted the soup when it spilled on his hand. Knowing Ijapa was lying, the Babalawo gave him a potion that would shrink his stomach back to its normal size. But he warned Ijapa that the potion would only work if he was telling the truth. Looking at his stomach which was about to explode, Ijapa admitted that he had eaten the soup. After his confession, the babalawo made him drink the potion and thankfully, it worked. Ijapa’s stomach shrunk back to its normal size.

Yanribo was furious with her husband for being so greedy and lying about it. Thankfully, the babalawo had some soup left over and he gave it to Yanribo who carried it home herself because she could not trust ijapa with it.

The End.

The Morale of the Story:
The moral of this story is that it is important to listen to instructions. Don’t be greedy and don’t lie.