How we cite our quotes: Act.Line
Quote #1
[…] Tell my tapper I have ejected
Fear from home and farm. Assure him,
All is well. (1.30)
Elesin is trying to reassure the Praise-Singer that he's not afraid of—and therefore won't bail on—his duty to carry out the ritual suicide.
Quote #2
There was fear in the forest too.
Not-I was lately heard even in the lair
Of beasts. The hyena cackled loud Not I,
The civet twitched his fiery tail and glared:
Not I. Not-I became the answering-name
Of the restless bird, that little one
Whom Death found nesting in the leaves
When whisper of his coming ran
Before him on the wind. Not-I
Has long abandoned home. This same dawn
I heard him twitter in the gods' abode.
Ah, companions of this living world
What a thing this is, that even those
We call immortal
Should fear to die. (1.32)
To try to assure the Praise-Singer and Iyaloja that he is not a coward, Elesin tells the story of the Not-I bird, who basically went around trying to claim people for Death. When he shows up, most people and animals shoo him away out of fear rather than accepting their fate. For more on this bird, check out the "Symbols" section.
Quote #3
I, when that Not-I bird perched
Upon my roof, bade him seek his nest again,
Safe without care or fear. I unrolled
My welcome mat for him to see. Not-I
Flew happily away, you'll hear his voice
No more in this lifetime—You all know
What I am. (1.34)
Elesin is contrasting himself with the people and animals who ran away from the Not-I bird, saying he set the bird's mind at ease by (we assume) indicating that he would welcome Death.
Quote #4
Elesin-Oba why do your eyes roll like a bush-rat who sees his fate like his father's spirit, mirrored in the eye of a snake? All of these questions! (1.75)
Despite Elesin's claims that he isn't afraid to die, the Praise-Singer isn't so sure. Elesin's eyes are rolling (which seems to imply looking around in fear, we presume?), and he's asking a lot of questions about whether he's already crossed to the other side without having to go through the whole suicide bit. It seems that the Praise-Singer is worried that Elesin is hoping the suicide part is over, which would seem to indicate some fear on his part.
Quote #5
Not many men will brave the curse of a dispossessed husband. (1.111)
Talking to Iyaloja, one of the women remarks that it's kind of bold of Elesin to demand that he get to marry a girl who is betrothed to someone else. It seems to testify a kind of bravery to her… which is one way of looking at it.
Quote #6
Oh Amusa, what is there to be scared of in the costume? You saw it confiscated last month from those egungun men who were creating trouble in town. You helped arrest the cult leaders yourself—if the juju didn't harm you at the time how could it possibly harm you now? And merely by looking at it? (2.24)
Even though he's converted to Islam, Amusa gets pretty nervous when he sees the Pilkingses dressed up in the costumes of the egungun cult. Not knowing or caring about the traditions and spiritualism behind the costumes, Jane doesn't have the faintest clue why he's so afraid upon seeing them.
Quote #7
And yet this fear will not depart from me
The darkness of this new abode is deep—
Will your human eyes suffice? (3.90)
The Praise-Singer still isn't convinced that Elesin is brave enough to pull this one off, since his eyes might not be able to help him make his way through the darkness.
Quote #8
My young bride, did you hear the ghostly one? You sit and sob in your silent heart but say nothing to all this. First I blamed the white man, then I blamed my gods for deserting me. Now I feel I want to blame you for the mystery of the sapping of my will. But blame is a strange peace offering for a man to bring a world he has deeply wronged, and to its innocent dwellers. Oh little mother, I have taken countless women in my life but you were more than a desire of the flesh. I needed you as the abyss across which my body must be drawn, I filled it with earth and dropped my seed in it at the moment of preparedness for my crossing. You were the final gift of the living to their emissary to the land of the ancestors, and perhaps your warmth and youth brought new insights of this world to me and turned my feet leaden on this side of the abyss. For I confess to you, daughter, my weakness came not merely from the abomination of the white man who came violently into my fading presence, there was also a weight of longing on my earth-held limbs. I would have shaken it off, already my foot had begun to lift but then, the white ghost entered and all was defiled. (5.42)
Given that Elesin is talking about death as a great abyss and says he found his feet "leaden" on this side of it, we're guessing that perhaps there is at least a little fear at play in his reluctance/failure to pull off the suicide (beyond the British intervention).
Quote #9
And it was a brave man indeed who dared lay hands on you because Iyaloja stepped from one side of the earth onto another. Now look at the spectacle of your life. I grieve for you. (5.98)
Here, Iyaloja is taunting Elesin about his change in circumstances. The British who have Elesin locked up have just manhandled Iyaloja in searching her, and Iyaloja turns that indignity into yet another insult against Elesin, since it's proof that he's no longer considered mighty and fearsome—if he were, the men wouldn't have dared to lay a hand on her.
Quote #10
Explain it how you will, I hope it brings you peace of mind. The bush-rat fled his rightful cause, reached the market and set up a lamentation. 'Please save me'—are these fitting words to hear from an ancestral mask? 'There's a wild beast at my heels' is not becoming language from a hunter. (5.88)
Elesin has tried to explain his failure to pull of his suicide, but Iyaloja isn't really having any of it, implying instead that he's just a coward.