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In the beginning, women like men used to have beards. The women’s beards were always fully grown, beautiful and luxuriant, just like their hair.
The women were very proud of their beards they taunt the men about their short beards while they boast about their very long and rich beards. The women adorn their beards with every kind of ornaments just like the hair on their heads.
The issue of the long beards and hair of woman did not go down well with the men folks. They always complain about it when they are gathered in the village square for a pot of palm wine. They complain about it when they are gathered in the obi Eze for meetings with the Eze – The king. They even complain about it when they are making sacrifices to the oracles.
The women do not help the situation as they are always getting into lots of mischief with their long beards.
One day, the servants of the king had taken the king’s silver plates to wash in the river. They did not observe that the king had removed his golden ring that afternoon when he was served a plate of pepper stock fish oil bean salad. The meal is more enjoyable when one eats it with his fingers, licking the sauce off your fingers whiles eating. The king had placed the golden ring on the tray on which he had been served the meal but had forgotten it there, after the delicious meal. The servants had therefore taken the plates, the tray, ring and all to the river to wash, not knowing that the ring was there.
How Women lost their Beards
Unfortunately when they emptied the plates into the river, the ring fell into the river unobserved by them, and immediately a big fish had swallowed the beautiful ring.
Not long after that the king started looking for his golden ring. He searched his royal chambers
He called all his wives and told them that the golden ring was missing. The king’s wives immediately summoned the whole house hold of the king, including princes, princess, maids, man servants and all. The first wife addressed them all about the missing ring. She told them the importance of the ring. If the king does not wear the ring in a meeting with the people, then he is not recognized as the king. He is just another ordinary citizen. Also if somebody from another kingdom gets hold of the king’s ring, then the king of that other kingdom becomes their king. The most important however is that without the royal ring they cannot consult the oracle of the land to know when their enemies might attack them, what their neighbours are planning against them, when to hold the new yam festival, or even to make sacrifices to the oracle so as to make the land fertile for plants to grow and animals to multiply.
The town crier was summoned with haste and the whole kingdom was notified of the loss of the kings golden ring. There was confusion in the land. The people were very frightened of the implications of this loss of their king’s ring. The elders gnashed their teeth, and cracked their fingers and wrung their hands in despair. The normally chatty market women now talk in hushed whispers. People moved about in groups with sullen looks. The active young men and age grade groups formed search parties and ransacked the whole of the kingdom from house, to barns,
How Women lost their Beards
kernels, sties, farmlands, to fields and even inside the rivers. But all to no avail.
It was a gloomy period for the kingdom.
The king promised that any one who finds the ring he will give a part of his kingdom in the mountain region, where the shepherds live. He will also give the person five hundred heads of cattle, one hundred goats, two thousand sheep and twenty thousand chicken, duck and turkey.
Obinna is a poor orphan boy who lives alone in a little hut in the outskirts of the village. He feeds by catching fish in the river. When he catches a large quantity of fish, he will sell them .Otherwise he will eat the fish if the number he caught is little. One day, in the river, he caught only one big fish, he tried further to catch more fish but all to no avail. So he decided to clean up that one fish and cut it up and remove its innards and wash it in the river. If he sees any one who offers him a good price he will sell it, otherwise he will jolly well eat it himself.
At this time also by the river side, a woman of the village; Ngbokwo was washing her clothes. Ngbokwo was a woman of substance in the village. She was a leader of the village woman and therefore commands a lot of respect both among the female and male folks of the village. As Obinna cut open the fish, the kings golden ring fell out. Obinna who lives alone and far from the major homesteads was quite unaware of the missing ring. So he did not know the importance of the ring that fell out of the fish. He picked it up and called on Ngbokwo to come and see what has just come out of a fish he caught. Now Ngbokwo immediately knew what the ring is and cleverly took it from Obinna, telling him it is probably a worthless piece of metal thrown
How Women lost their Beards
into the river by some water worshippers. Obinna hearing this immediately lost interest in the ring. Taking his fish, he bid Ngbokwo a good day and left for home leaving the ring for her.
However on his way, he ran into some of the young men of the village who were combing the village looking for the ring. They scolded Obinna for not taking part in the search for the King’s lost golden ring. Obinna was surprised when he heard this and asked them to describe this ring for him. The leader of the group willingly did this and also explained to the peasant Obinna the significance of the ring.
Obinna then told them how he found a ring that matched their description inside the fish he is holding and how he left it with Ngbkwo who is still at the stream. The young men immediately ran off to the stream and there accosted Ngbokwo on Obinna’s claims. Ngbokwo was unimpressed by the young men and told them she did not know what they were talking about. The young men forcibly took Ngbokwo’s washing and searched them all. They also searched all the surrounding but did not find the ring. They therefore took Ngbokwo to the king, and narrated their story to the king.
The great king now appealed to the woman to let him have the golden ring of authority. Ngbokwo refused to release the ring unless the king fulfils his promise of giving a part of his kingdom to the person who finds the ring. She said that she did not want the mountain region, where those wild shepherds live and behave like their animals. She demanded for the central area of the kingdom where the rich folks live. She also wanted double of all the livestock the king promised the finder of the ring, plus jewels and clothes and
How Women lost their Beards
other expensive ornaments, she also wanted Obinna banished from the land for embarrassing her.
The king explained to her that it is not even possible for him to give out any part of the kingdom without the power of the authority of the ring. Without the ring, he can not exercise his duties as the king. He again appealed to her to let him have the ring then he will be able to fulfill his promises.
To everybody’s surprise Ngbokwo brought the ring out from her large and long beard. The people gasped, while the men shook their head in utter disappointment, at the debasing use the women folk have put the beard. When the king has received the ring, he asked the leader of the young men to narrate the story of their finding of the ring again. This the young man did, indicating how Obinna found the ring and Ngbokwo took it from him with lies.
The king called his council of chiefs and elders. When they finished their meeting, the king announced that he will keep to his initial promise and give to the finder of the ring the rulership of the mountain region of his kingdom, and double all the livestock he initially promised, and all other things Ngbokwo requested. He now proclaimed that the beneficiary is Obinna.
The king now announced that due to the wicked things women use their beards for, all the women in the land would have their beards shaved off, and the faeces of the tortoise rubbed on their jaws and upper lips so that hair does not grow there again.
This is how women stopped having beards up till this day.
