Estimated Reading Time: 5 min
What The Tapster Saw Summary
The story begins after the tapster drank palm-wine to forget a bad dream. The next morning, he got ready for work, gathering his ropes and magic potions, and tying three empty gourds to his bike.
On his way, he saw a warning sign that read: “Delta oil company: This area is being drilled. Trespassers in danger“. He looked at the sign but did not understand it.
He saw some palm-trees and was drawn to the strong smell of their red-green bark. He secured his potions and started climbing fast, using his rope. As he climbed, his chest started to hurt. The morning sun blinded him, and he saw bright golden lights.
The palm branches moved away from him, and he fell. This was the first time he had fallen in thirty years.
When the tapster woke up, he felt no pain, which was surprising. He felt that the fall had actually helped him, making him feel “unbelievably light and airy”.
He walked through “spangles of glittering cobwebs”. Fireflies flew into his nose and ears, but then came out of his eyes with their lights still shining.
Warnings, Roots, and the River
After walking a long distance, he saw a second signboard. This one stated: “Delta oil company: Trespassers will be persecuted”. Near this sign were piles of earth, gravestones, one palm-tree, and flickering-mangrove roots. He made a mark on the tree-trunk, and it instantly turned into a real wound.
As he walked past, the twisting roots wrapped around his ankles. They held him down and started to tickle him. They let him go only after he began to laugh. Next, he arrived at a river. The water was thick, or “viscous,” and did not seem to move.
Near a borehole, three turtles were relaxing. One of these turtles had Tabasco’s face. A multicoloured snake came out of the borehole and moved past him. The river water then became clear and bright. The snake’s skin started to burn with a “noiseless flame”.
A Dialogue with Death
While the tapster was watching this, a voice came from behind and ordered him: ‘Don’t turn round’. The tapster stayed still while the turtles looked at him. The turtle with Tabasco’s face urinated toward the tapster, looking “positively fiendish” in its delight.
The tapster laughed, and immediately, something heavy hit his head from behind. He quickly turned around but saw nothing. He laughed again and was hit even harder. He felt the “substance of his being dissolve”. He asked, ‘Where am I?’ but received silence.
The glittering snake slid back out of the river. It raised its head to spit at him, then went back into the borehole, shining brightly. The tapster started to shake, but also felt strangely calm. He felt his body or mind was multiplying.
He asked ‘Where am I?’ again, but the voice did not answer, and he heard footsteps moving away. A voice later said that the tapster had ‘You have been dead for three days’. The tapster, who knew a lot about wine, just listened.
The voice asked if he wanted to leave. When he said yes, the voice explained: ‘If you want to leave, we will have to beat you out’. When asked why, the voice replied: “Because you humans only understand pain”.
The Herbalist
The tapster threw a stone at the snake, and the turtles laughed, claiming ‘There are no snakes tonight’. One turtle attacked him, trying to strangle him with a stethoscope.
Tabasco then appeared from the borehole, joined the turtles, and prepared a pipe using alligator pepper seeds instead of tobacco. Tabasco then blew black ticklish smoke into the tapster’s face.
A voice told him: ‘You have been dead for six days. ‘
The smoke caused the tapster to float into a familiar world. He felt a tickling sensation and remembered his childhood Masquerades, where his mother carried him. He relived a dream featuring a famous blacksmith, sorcerers, and witch-doctors.
While floating, a voice told him, ‘It’s getting too late. Wake up.’ He was hit by “Invisible knocks”. He then let out a mighty sneeze.
The sneeze caused several things to happen: clustered eggs exploded, the snake lost its opal eyes, and the voice broke apart into the sound of dying mosquitos. Green liquid shot out from the borehole, sweeping away the snake, the signboard, and the turtles.
The Awakening
When the tapster recovered from the chaos, he found Tabasco the herbalist standing over him, waving a censer. When the tapster asked where he was, the herbalist apologized for not paying attention to his dream earlier.
Tabasco then informed him: ‘You fell from a palm-tree and you have been dead for seven days’. Tabasco said he had been trying to teach him and would not charge, as it was the “most interesting case” he had ever seen.
Tabasco then celebrated by pouring a liquid on his shrine’s soapstone image, which had green glass eyes and two green turtles at its base.
🡆 After reading this summary, test your understanding with a specially prepared MCQs on What The Tapster Saw by Ben Okri.
