XIV. Yoruba

Extract

Aje may be virgins (wundia), matrons (adelebɔ), or old women (arugbo). All of them can change themselves into small birds and fly to a meeting place in the bush, where they kill men by sucking their blood. Only the old women cry out when they fly about as birds. Ordinary people cannot recognize witches in everyday life. There is a medicine, however, which when applied to the eyes gives one the power to see witches. A person whose eyes have thus been opened will be surprised to see witches sitting in Church or beside his friends. The medicine also enables one to recognize which people can turn themselves into witches. There are medicines to protect oneself from the attentions of witches. Witches have to find a way into a man and cannot affect any one who is strong and healthy. Witches meet in companies, but in secret, for they will not admit that they are witches.