ADAOBI (HISTORICAL TALE) 3

THE PAST

CHIEF: When I went home that night. I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about the conversation I had with my very old friend Okeke. “Could it be true?” “What if she isn’t that bad?” “Is there a possibility our forefathers lied to us about her?” I couldn’t think straight. The persistent churning of my stomach kept disturbing me. There was no food in the house and I wasn’t sure I would eat the next day. At that point, I knew I had just 2 options, defy the cautions of my father or die of starvation.

EBUKA: Which did you pick? Did you go to Nwanyi Mmiri?

CHIEF: If you were in my shoes, what would you have done? The next morning, I went as fast as I can to the river bank to avoid being seen by the other villagers. Luckily, the goddess wasn’t in the water, she was just at the bank of the river, singing. Her voice was so beautiful that it took away the fear I had of her.

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OKAFOR: You have such a beautiful voice.

MAIDEN: (Smiling) Thank you. I don’t usually get visitors, what brings you to my abode?

OKAFOR: Hunger, Pain, isolation, desolation and all the bad things of life.

MAIDEN: What would you have me do?

OKAFOR: Please help me out Beautiful Mother of the waters. I would do anything you ask for in return of your return. But please, don’t turn me away empty handed.

MAIDEN: Anything?

OKAFOR: Anything.

MAIDEN: ill do as you ask. Ill make you rich and powerful, ill make you powerful and famous. But, you’ll have to give me an offering of 10 tubers of yam every first day of the month.

OKAFOR: As long as I have the resources to get you what you ask of, I’ll never fail you.

MAIDEN: You’ll have more than enough to spare, what you’ll lack is the time to do as I ask, but as long as you do as I ask; it shall always be well with you. Failure to do this would bring you great misfortune, and I’ll make you suffer so bad that you start to plead for death.

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ADAOBI: Did she keep her promise?

CHIEF: Yes she did. I became rich beyond my wildest imaginations. I was famous to the extent I was summoned by the king to be given the title of a chief in the village. Things went on fine for more than a year, as long as I kept my end of the bargain. But my pain began when I married the most beautiful woman in the village, Adaobi’s mother.

EBUKA: What happened?

CHIEF: The goddess visited me in a dream on my wedding night and requested that I see her first thing the next morning. When I got to the river bank, she said she’s had enough of yams. She desired a living sacrifice. I am to give her an offering of 5 cocks every month.

EBUKA: Did you accept to do that?

CHIEF: I had no choice. I gave her 5 live cocks every month for 2 years until my wife got pregnant with Adaobi, and then the task she gave me started becoming difficult.

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MAIDEN: Over the years, I have been with you; I have made you the talk of town and the envy of other men. You and return have kept your word and have done as I have asked in all these years. I want you Chief Okafor, to give me a male cow every month from this day onward. I’ve had my fill of cocks.

CHIEF: A cow? Beautiful Mother Of the waters, giving…

MAIDEN: (Yells at him in Anger) don’t you ever call me that?

Then I knew something was wrong, because in all the years I’ve been bringing her offerings, I always refer to her as THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHER OF THE WATERS and she has never cautioned or protested.

MAIDEN: You call me Beautiful, yet you had to take in the most beautiful woman in the village as your bride, without my consent.

CHIEF: But Beautif…

MAIDEN: (Swept him off his feet with a dashing wind) I said, DO NOT CALL ME THAT?

CHIEF: (Trying to wipe away the dust from his eyes) I’m sorry Mother Of the waters. You never included such when I came for your assistance years ago. I’ve always observed your rules with utmost care, and I’ve never failed you, not even once.

MAIDEN: You lost my favor the day you wedded that woman, but I, Nwanyi Mmiri, am a woman of my words and I never go back on my words. As long as you do as I ask, I wouldn’t harm you.

CHIEF: But Mother of the waters, getting a cow in this village is difficult and my offering is due a week. Please have mercy on me? Please request for another and I promise to come through.

MAIDEN: What I desire is a male cow and nothing you do can change my mind? Do not forget what failure to provide me my desired offering would lead to.

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CHIEF: I did all I can to get a male cow before then, but despite the wealth and connections I had, I wasn’t able to get one.

EBUKA: what was the next step you took?

CHIEF: I went back to the mother of waters and pleaded for her pity.

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CHIEF: I am sorry, please forgive me. I did all I humanly can, but I couldn’t get what you requested for.

MAIDEN: my instructions were clear. If you can’t get my offering tomorrow, will come for your soul in a month, so ill advice you make the necessary arrangements before your demise.

CHIEF: Please have mercy on me! Please!


CHIEF: she entered into the river, leaving me in tears and confusion. My wife was due to give birth in less than a month and she would definitely need me to be there for her after she gives birth. How would she cope if I die? I went home heart-broken and in tears. I was sleeping that noon, when suddenly an idea struck me.

EBUKA: Which idea?

ADAOBI: What did you do next?

CHIEF: I went to the high chief priest and explained everything to him from the beginning to the end. He made me understand that even if I choose to do nothing and let Nwanyi Mmiri take my life, she wouldn’t stop at that until she destroys my entire household. He explained to me that my life isn’t what Nwanyi Mmiri is after. He said in order to break all ties with the mother of the waters; I have to sacrifice a soul.

EBUKA: Which soul?

CHIEF: I offered to give up my soul to protect that of my wife and unborn child but he said she already owns my life. I’ll have to decide in between my wife’s life and my unborn child’s life.
ADAOBI: I guess you choose to kill mum just to save me.

CHIEF: She made the decision herself. I called one evening and explained everything to her. She chooses to save you instead. I did my best to convince her, but she loved you so much, even though you weren’t born yet.

EBUKA: Is that why you refused to participate in the offering ceremony?

CHIEF: The people of this village are in big trouble. With time, she would start demanding for bigger things, and at a point, the villagers won’t be able to provide what she needs anymore. That’s when they see the other side of her. And that includes you my dear friend, Ebuka.

EBUKA: I didn’t participate in the offering. I had nothing to offer.

CHIEF: That explains why you aren’t rich like the rest.

EBUKA: Even if I did participate, I won’t have anything to gain, because all I do is clear bushes and weeds on people’s farms.

CHIEF: What you do for a living doesn’t matter. Nwanyi Mmiri would always find a way to bless and grant you fortune so you’ll be in her debt.