A long time ago, a monarch by the name of Efriam ruled the land.

He was a very collected

and gracious man. Efriam was also a very peaceful individual, and he refrained from
engaging in hostilities with his opponents in order to preserve peace in his hometown of
Calabar. Efriam once owned a fantastic drum, and whenever he beat it, a ton of food and
beverages would spill out. His adversaries used to be greatly affected by the drum. The king
used to organize a lavish feast for them and provide them with delectable food and beverages
that would come out of the drum whenever they would throw a war. The only drawback of
the drum was that if the owner stepped on a stick in the road or a tree that had fallen, all the
food would immediately spoil, and 300 Egbo men would show up with sticks and begin
severely beating the owner and all the invited guests, which was extremely dangerous.

Efriam owned numerous farms and a large number of slaves, making him a very wealthy guy.
He had numerous, healthy children and fifty lovely brides.
The monarch would have a large feast in the city every few months and invite all of his
attendants. The invitation used to be extended to the wild animals as well, and they would
come to the feast. The king's magic drum was the object of intense obsession for everyone in
the realm.

One sunny day, a very ill daughter of the king's wife went to the spring with her mother to be
washed. A tortoise was up on the palm tree gathering nuts for his young when suddenly one
of the nuts fell to the ground in front of the daughter of the king. The young girl began
sobbing as she noticed the palm nut on the ground.

"What's wrong, my darling, why are you crying?" inquired King's wife.

“Mommy! That nut on the ground is what I desire." Tears welling up in her eyes, her daughter
answered.

The nut was picked by the queen's wife, who then presented it to her daughter.

The tortoise eventually arrived in pursuit of his nut.

"Where is my palm nut," the tortoise asked of the woman. "It crashed here, but where is it? I
cannot locate it."

"The nut was given to the King's daughter since she was weeping and really hungry", the
king's wife claimed.

The tortoise addressed the king's wife from behind the king's drum. "The food was for my
family because my kids were starving at home. Will I feed them anything? I shall now inform
the king of what took transpired. When I learn that his wife has stolen my food, I will hear
what he has to say."

"I noticed your palm nut on the ground and assumed it had fallen from the tree", Ikwor Edem
retorted. "I was unaware that you were the one removing the palm nut from the tree. You are
welcome to accompany me, though, if you insist on complaining about me to my spouse."

She went to the king with the tortoise and explained what had occurred in the spring. When
the monarch questioned the tortoise about what he wanted in return, the tortoise flatly refused
to answer. He didn't want any cash or gold, but the magic drum is what he really wants.

King gave him the magic drum and didn’t tell the tortoise the bad consequences of the drum.
The tortoise who was extremely happy at that moment thanked the king and took the drum
home. He told his wife now they don’t need to worry or work because they have the magic
drum which can take out plenty of food and drink.
His family was very happy when they got to know about the magic drum. His children asked
him to beat the drum as they are very hungry and he continued to beat the magic drum for
three days and used to enjoy the variety of food and drink he gets by beating the magic drum.
His children become very healthy and used to eat whatever they want. The tortoise was very
proud of the drum and one day he invited the king and the whole city to attend the feast.
Only a small number of people, including the king, attended the feast because no one thought
the invitation was genuine and laughed at the tortoise because he was so impoverished. They
all shared in the feast.

They are astounded at the tortoise's rise to wealth. They complimented the tortoise for
providing such delectable fare for the feast. When the feast was over and everyone went
home, the tortoise felt even better about himself. The tortoise was formerly revered by all, and
he was regarded as one of the richest men in the land. Everyone anticipated the tortoise's
invitation to another lavish feast and decided not to decline it.

The obsession for the drum made the tortoise lazy and he didn’t go to work since he got the
magic drum. He used to attend parties of rich people and drink a lot of palm wines making
him more lazy and proud of the drum. One day he was drunk and with the drum, in his hands,
he was moving towards his home when suddenly he walked over to the stick in the path. The
JuJu was broken at that moment.
He was unaware of the spell being broken and arrived at his home. He threw the drum away
and went to sleep. The next morning, the tortoise children began to feel hungry and asked him
to beat the drum which he did but instead of food, the house was filled with the Egbo men,
they started beating the tortoise and his children.
This angered the tortoise, and he threw a feast so everyone can have the beating of Egbo men
like he and his family had. So he sent invitations to everyone to come to the feast the next
day’s afternoon.
At the feast, many people came because they wanted to enjoy the meal. The king couldn’t
make that day and excused himself. The tortoise started to beat the drum and went to hide
under a table, where he could not be seen by the Egbo men. He has sent his wife and kids to
their grandfather’s home to save them. Suddenly Egbo man appeared and started to beat all
the guests out there. The beating went on for two hours leaving the people badly injured.
The leopard luckily escaped because when he saw the Egbo men, he knew something was
wrong.
The tortoise becomes very happy seeing the beating of the guests. The people were so angry
with the tortoise for the beating they had because of the tortoise, so they decided to have a
palaver with the tortoise. The next day the tortoise went to the king and returned him the
drum. He told the king he did not want the drum as it’s of no use to him. He demanded money
and gold in the drum’s replacement.
The king refused his demand and told him he is very sorry for the tortoise but he will give
him a magic foo-foo tree instead, which will provide him with food. The foo-foo tree only
had one fruit once a year, but daily it gives foo-foo and soup on the ground. But this time the
king came up with a condition that the tree will provide the food only once a day and the
owner has to collect the food and not return for more food on the same day. The tortoise went
home and told his wife about the tree and they went to the foo-foo tree to gather the food for
the day. They gathered plenty of food and returned home happily.
That night, they had their dinner and enjoyed themselves. The next morning the most greedy
son of the tortoise asked him “Father, from where you do you get the delicious meal we have
last night”? but the tortoise refused to tell him.
But the greedy son didn’t stop there. He followed his father on the way to the foo-foo tree.
Following his father wasn’t easy as he take great care that there was nobody around him when
he was leaving to get the food. The boy came up with a plan and made a situation that his
father can’t suspect him of following the tortoise. At night while having dinner, the boy didn’t
say a single word to his parents and went straight to his room. The next day, when the tortoise
was back with food from the foo-foo tree. The boy along with his siblings went to the tree and
collected food, breaking the Ju Ju.
The next day, the tortoise went to the tree, and it was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was
a prickly tie-tie palm. The tortoise suspected someone has broken the spell and went home
and told everything to his wife. They called all the children and asked them who have done
this thing to which they denied they haven’t gone to the tree and know nothing about it. The
tortoise, along with his family went to the foo-foo to the place where the tree was situated and
made their home under the prickly tie-tie palm. That’s the reason we find the tortoises living
under prickly tie-tie palm trees.