aiyekootọ (the world detest truth) - toheeb bankole

The parrot is known as Odidere (albeit often called Ayekooto) in Yoruba. The name is indeed a thoughtful one. Ayekooto means ‘the world rejects the truth’. How forthright a notion! The Yoruba believes that the man who held to the truth may not have common mat to sleep on. The naming Ayekooto shows that the Yoruba may have had a forgotten story behind the name of this beautiful bird. The story is told of the time that animals speak the language of man. A farmer was enticed by the lorikeet and he brought in the bird to stay with him. The lorikeet speaks and understands the language of man. So she goes and come back with the man each time of the day. One fateful day, a buffalo belonging to the neighbour of the farmer wandered to the farm of the lorikeet keeper. The farmer killed the buffalo, he smoked part and cooked part of it and also kept what remains away in the farm. Not long after, the true owner of the buffalo came to the farm a