Zumah Part 1 Complete Hausa Novel

“It was a very dark night in the midst of mountains and flowers. She was kneeling there, pointing at herself alone in the courtyard of the wilderness. There was no person in front, none behind—only hunger and thirst all around; she had gone completely out of her senses. Around her were only trees and birds, and then the power of Allah. She struggled and could not struggle, but in spite of all that she did not lose hope in the mercy of her Lord. There she remained kneeling and pointing, while rain began to fall as if from a water pot. At that very moment the baby’s head emerged from her body, and it happened at the same time as the sound of people and the wind bringing to her the words, ‘Do not let her escape, look for her wherever she may go if you value your lives.’ After that she became confused and did not know what was happening in this world.

After some years.

Jigawa village, Shuwarim. Quietly, she moved through the body of the building like a queen until she reached the place where the durumi tree stood by the building. Quickly she climbed and clung to the tree like a monkey, then held onto the back of the house and dropped into the backyard all at once. She laughed, revealing her lined rows of white teeth, because only they could be seen as the darkness of the night was too much. Then she opened her mouth in a strange erotic voice and said, ‘Seni hawa kulu me abin mamaki jikar jadda ganeki sedai Allah.’ She burst out in delight before settling herself and saying, ‘Indo me ƙuli, here I come to you.’ Then she left the place quickly and headed to where she had arranged herself for the night.

A house she saw and entered. When she got there it was as if it were a house with no one in its compound, because the night was very late. She grabbed a small part of the house structure, climbed up, then dropped into the house. She stood, looking around the courtyard of the house, before she removed the rope used for hanging their clothes and wrapped it around herself until her heart felt pleased, as though she had set a trap, before she did what she wanted. Then she headed to a room. An old woman was lying down, snoring. She stood looking at her for some time before removing her wrapper and bringing out a piece of white chalk, which she rubbed on her face, making her look like a spirit. Then she brought out kohl and applied it; she also took a small amount of salatib and cut and shortened her upper lip, so that it pushed out her upper teeth. She was left only with the lower part, and she made a small sound of laughter before pulling out a zogbo hair and straightening herself. Then she started rubbing it on Indo’s neck. When she saw her begin to move, she quickly put her finger into her nose and then into her ear.

Indo suddenly woke up and opened her eyes, and by bad luck they landed on Kuluwa’s face, which had been painted with chalk. She stuck out her tongue and made faces at her like a witch. Indo gave a terrible scream and jumped down from the bunk bed on which she had been lying, in great fear, saying, ‘Innahumanu Sulaimanu wa’innahu bissimilahi, it is you who see us and we do not see you, oh my, what is this confusion in my room?’

Quickly Kuluwa narrowed her voice as if from a hole of water and said, ‘Keeeee Indoooo, keep quiet here before I make a small jinn bite off your tongueee, do you hear me?’

‘Okay, okay, I will keep quiet, I swear by the greatness of Allah, spare my life.’

‘So it was you who went and reported Kuluwa’s case because she touched your child, hmm? You even dared to steal the old woman’s beads, didn’t you? Today we will see about you, since you do not have the courage to look me in the eye,’ she said, and then while saying the name she brought out a whip from somewhere on her body and struck her in one eye with all her strength. Indo jerked and began to cry out because of the pain, since it was a TV cable type, but she had twisted it and turned it into something like a stove wire used for cooking tuwo, so it was as though she were being beaten with a whip made of ropes.

‘If you scream for me, I will give you another one, you wicked woman with a black mouth.’

Quickly Indo covered her mouth with both hands, holding back the tears that were rising to her eyes.

‘You worthless wicked woman, don’t you know pity? He came to borrow from you because of God; you should have given it to him. He too said it was not free; he would take his children to do farm labor, but you refused him, and then because Kuluwa stole from him you reported her, and you even stole the old woman’s beads. Where are the beads you stole from her?’

‘Here they are, here they are, I swear I didn’t even take one naira from them,’ she said, trembling all over.

The wicked woman thrust her hand into her blouse and pulled out four fifty-naira notes, and gave them to her.

‘Wicked woman, look at this money. You must count my ƙuli according to its amount, even if I spare you, you useless woman.’

‘Innalillahi wa’inna ilaihi raji’un, I swear if I eat ƙuli my stomach will burst, and by Allah there is no ƙuli in this place, please spare my life.’

Before she could finish speaking, Kuluwa lowered her hands to her thighs and struck her with the whip. Then Indo screamed loudly in tears, urinating on herself. In pain she said, ‘There are there are peanut ƙuli, I have never disliked it; it is only in the room, I swear.’

‘Then what are you waiting for? Hurry and take it now and eat it, or I will send you to follow the small ƙuli of the jinn and eat the one suitable for a heartless person like you.’

‘No, by Allah I will eat it, please spare my life, this just and righteous jinn woman,’ Indo said while crying, and pulled the basket holding the ƙuli, quickly put her hand inside, took some out and put them into her mouth. The taste of the ƙuli was there and it was sweet, and she began chewing it, and it stuck to her teeth while she ate and cried.

Kuluwa struck her again with the whip, and this time Indo urinated. In a thunderous and powerful voice she said, ‘Hurry and eat it so I can see, and if you dare lift your head before you finish it, you will only see yourself in the city of the king of the jinn’s small ƙuli, because I have understood that you wanted to do me harm.’

Fearfully Indo looked at the pile of ƙuli she was to eat, which were more than twenty when gathered together, and she would not be able to finish them. She simply began crying, eating and crying, rubbing the place where the jinn’s whip had struck her, as her own words put it. She did not dare lift her head, for fear they would take her to the city of the jinn’s small ƙuli, as Kuluwa had said.

As for Kuluwa, she stood to the side watching how she kept struggling to swallow the ƙuli while eating, waiting for someone to come; she wanted to laugh but could not, so that her secret would not be exposed. Quietly she found a way to slip away and leave the room, while Indo was bent over eating the ƙuli and did not know that her jinn had left her room.

When she went out, she dropped down from the place she had entered from and left the house, then quickly headed to their house. There too, she climbed over the wall and performed the same trick with the tree she had held earlier to enter the house. She took a bucket, and quietly headed to the toilet. There she washed off her face with the chalk she had first applied, then came out, and as she came out she collided with a young man. In surprise he stepped back and said, ‘Jidda, where are you coming from like this at night?’

She pouted and then glared at him, and in annoyance said, ‘Didn’t I come out from wherever I came out from, Ya Khalifa? Are you blind? Besides, you can see the bucket in my hand, and here I am at the toilet door, and you ask where I am coming from?’

‘Oh, so you’re going to be rude to me for asking a question?’

She twisted her mouth even more and passed on her way to Jadda’s room, grumbling... hmm, truly this girl must be dealt with because her urine is beginning to increase. While speaking, he went into the toilet because that too was what he had come to do...

As for Kuluwa, when she entered Jadda’s room she climbed onto her bed and began laughing wildly like a madwoman newly seized by madness...