There was once a woman who quarrelled a lot with her
husband. Everything the woman did seemed to make
her husband angry. All this made her very unhappy
But, instead of examining herself to find her faults, and
erving to please her husband, she was bitter against him.
They became strangers to each other under the same
roof
One day, she approached an 'Ifa priest (diviner)
and asked him, 'What must I do to make my husband
love me? The diviner listened to her story. Then he
said, 'I will give you a potion to help you. But you must
bring me the milk of a lioness to put into the potion.'
Milk of a lioness!' the woman cried, "Who on this
earth has ever thought of milking a lioness? Everyone
knows that the lion is a very fierce animal. Even the
bravest animals fear and hate it? But the woman was
prepared to do anything to make her husband love her.
What could she do? She thought about it for some
time. At last she decided to go to a hunter who knew
where to find the den of a lioness. The hunter knew it
was a difficult and dangerous task but the woman
pleaded with him. In the end he agreed to help her.
He promised to lead her to the den of a lioness.
Before she started out to find the lioness, she bought
a goat. She killed it, cut it into pieces and roasted it.
She packed some of the roasted pieces into a calabash.
She hoped that this meat would help her to tame the
lioness
When she reached the den, she stood at a distance,
hidden from the lioness. She threw the pieces of meat
to the lioness one by one.
Then she went back home
but the next day she went to feed the lioness again.She did this every day for six days. On the seventh day,
she got very close to the lioness, as it was eating the
meat. The woman crept up to the lioness and began
to stroke it. Then she began to milk it.
Afterwards she went back to the diviner who was
amazed at her story. He said to the woman, 'You have
shown great courage and patience in milking a lioness.
Use this patience with your husband and he will find it
easy to love you.'