STORY SERIES
…she mentioned me to halt while she hurried off. It was after she
had gone that remembered that I had been postponing a nature’s call all the while;
no doubt, it was as a result of my joy at meeting someone as beautiful and nice
as Aduke. I
was later relieved as I got out of the bush, and I walked towards
the village slowly.
It was a very small place with just a few huts scattered about,
some facing each other. There was a wide flat platform somewhere in the middle
of the huts which I guessed was where the villagers spread their crops dry. But
the place was now used for a different purpose as I met a group of men sitting
in a circle there chatting and enjoying themselves with a drink of palm wine.
As I walked towards them, one of them was the first to sight me and quickly
drew the attention of others who then all turned their gaze at me.
“I am asking of Chief Ogunlari, the baale of this village” I said
having got to where they were.
“Hope there’s no problem one of them asked me, I shook my head”
“Okay, do you know him? If you see him, can you recognize him?”
I again shook my head and one of them simply asked me to tell them
what brought me here. I explained politely that I would prefer to see the
person concerned alone. Then one of them stood up and taking my hand, led me to
a corner of the place.
“Yes, I am chief Ogunlari. What is the matter?”
Remembering what Aduke had told me, I simply told him that I
needed a job.
“What is your name and where are you from? Who is your father?”
“My name is Ifabiyi and I am from Orija. My father’s name is
Fatumbi but he is dead now”
“Who directed you here?”
I wasn’t expecting the question at first; I didn’t know what to
say. Yet, I knew I should not tell a lie, so, I later told him that I met a
friend who advised me that if I come to meet him, he was always ready to help.
From all indications, the man was satisfied with my explanations. He smiled
broadly and then took me to his wife.
“Iya Aduke” he called. The woman who was busy at the back of the
hut who came rushing in to see what had happened.
“We have a visitor, find him something to eat”
Before going to join his friends again, he told me that I could
join him outside after my meal if I so wished and he also took me to the
visitor’s room.
I was happy that for the second time in my life, I came to a place
where I was well-received and treated like a real human being, for, not long
after my introduction to Aduke’s mother, she asked the girl to bring me a bowl
of pounded yam. I fell on it like a hungry lion and within few seconds, I had
leveled the mountain.
After my meal, Aduke’s mother who had now finished the house
chores in which she was earlier engaged came to find out how I got to Ogodo and
whose son I was. I told her a bit of my history and my mission here. It was
quite easy to see that she was a nice woman.
“Welcome. My son God will be with you. You will never be alone”
she showered prayers on me.
When she later left me, I moved outside to watch events, as soon
as my host saw me he made a sign that I should join them in the fun they were
having but I politely declined. I was not used to taking palm-wine. Besides, I
knew that even if I had liked the drink it would not be reasonable of me to sit
in the midst of elders and share drinks with them. I told him that I preferred
joining the little children who were engaged at one section of the place in the
moon-games and he excused me. I was sure I was going to thrill those children
with some fascinating folktales I heard from my mother before her death.
Children will always remain what they are. None of them bothered to ask for my
identity before they started relating to me as if we had been living together
for some time. And when I volunteered to tell them a story, all of them started
adjusting their seats while some were cautioning the others to keep silent.
“Alo oooo” which means ‘story’ - I started
“Alo o” they all replied enthusiastically.
“Long,
long ago, in the animal kingdom, the lion who was the king sent a message round
that whichever animal could do what no animal dared would have half his
property and would become his second in command. Hearing this,…to be continued
on Saturday.
Story series is published
every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Don’t miss it
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