Did you ever hear your grandma say that if you saw the head of salt fish you would stop eating it? Well here it is. What do you think? - photo by Robert Lalah

So a couple of weeks ago, I was in Norway and came across the much-maligned codfish head that Jamaicans so often say is the ugliest part of any living thing that you will ever come across.

Now, the one I saw was, in fact, detached from the body and, to make matters worse, was dried for a more than two months. So, if the head of a cod was ever going to be ugly, it was now.

I have to say, though, that it wasn't all that bad. Maybe it was a serious case of oversell, because I had heard so much about how ugly it was supposed to be before I made the trip, but I was a little disappointed with the outcome. It seemed like a regular fish head to me, not a demonic embodiment of all things evil from the depths of fish hell, as some have made it out to be.

But what do I know? I decided to consult the experts, so I headed to the hills of Clarendon to seek audience with Maleva Wright, the 78-year-old pastor of the Jesus of Nazareth Praise Sanctuary in Hayes. She, I am told, has been spreading both the gospel and the codfish myths all across Clarendon for more than 30 years. I took a picture along with me to find out what she thought.

"Dis yah? No man, yuh coulda neva ah carry salt-fish head fi mi look pan! Yuh wah bring crosses dung pan me?" she yelped at first glance. She took a few steps back.

It took a considerable amount of time to calm her down, but eventually she came around. I asked her to have another look at it.

The woman, her hair grey with age, whispered a verse from Psalm 23, then looked at the picture again.

"Alright, it ugly, but it nuh ugly to dat. Maybe when it did alive it did uglier," she said, handing the picture back to me.

I asked her if she had ever actually seen the head of a cod before.

"No sah! Dat ah one ting mi run from. When mi was a pickney my madda used to tell wi seh if we did ever see salt-fish head, we woulda never eat it again. So, me mek sure mi never try fi look pan none," she said, her eyes wide.

I asked Miss Maleva what she had thought the head looked like.

"Well, mi hear seh it look like man. Dem used to say it have lip and nose and bite after yuh like smaddy," she said.

"Mi hear seh inna Africa people use dem fi do all manner ah evil, but mi nuh sure," she added.

I asked her if she felt any better about the situation, now that she saw a picture of one.

"Well, likkle bit. But fi tell yuh di truth, mi wouldn't want to see one inna real life. Di picture alright but do nuh badda carry none ah di real ting dung yah," she said.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

The famous whirlpool in Saltstraumen, Norway. Norway exports a whole lot of salt fish to Jamaica. They tend to send them without the heads, though.