The soothsayer traversed the length and breath of the land. As he comes to each hamlet, he sets his wooden gong on the ground in the open square of the compounds and thum – thum – thum! He bangs away as he proclaims at the top of his gravely voice
“The great Iroko tree in the middle of the shrine has fallen
The mighty gods in their majesty and wisdom have decided to turn around
Ah, the land must turn with them
The sun has adjusted itself
We have to adjust the things spread out to dry under the sun
Eh, the great Iroko tree in the middle of the shrine has fallen
Ahhhh, tomorrow is heavy. Who knows what it will bear.
Folks could not understand the words of the soothsayer; As no man dared ask the mouthpiece of the powerful oracle the meaning of his words, people go about with puzzled expressions on their faces. There is no Iroko tree in the middle of the shrine. What is the meaning of the saying that the gods have decided to turn around and that the land have to turn with them”
It sounds all so ominous. The people were worried.
Taiwo is a great hunter. He is the most famous and respected hunter in the land. He is the king’s personal hunter
If the king wishes to eat any kind of bush meat delicacy, no matter the time or season he will summon Taiwo and with no ado Taiwo will enter the forest with his bow and arrows, spear and machete, his hunting bag, charms and dogs. And before long, the king’s desired meat will be delivered.
The king loved Taiwo
Taiwo has a pretty wife, Yinka. Yinka is a loving wife to her husband and a highly respected lady of the land. Everyone loves her, as she is good to kith, kin and neighbours alike. She is ready to listen to people’s problems and does her best to help them as much as she can. The children love her too, as she remembers to buy them akara buns and fruits when she goes to the market.
But Yinka’s happiness is marred by one thing. She does not have a child of her own.
She has gone to all the Babalawo in the land and drank all sorts of magic portions and concoctions. She has eaten all kinds of herbs and roots and made sacrifices to all sorts of deities, including Iya Moopo – Mother of all women. Yet no child.
Taiwo is not happy with the situation. What sort of man, he constantly asks himself, can claim to be a real man without a child. He complains, harasses and bullies his wife for not giving him a child, especially a male one. He threatens to send her packing to her mother’s house if the situation does not improve and fast. He calls her ‘a man’. What use is a wife to her husband if she can not bear him a child? he would ask her.
Every night and day, Yinka cries, asking her gods what she had done wrong to make them deny her the sweetness, joy, and happiness of a child’s cry.
Matters came to a climax one day when Taiwo went out to drink with the men of the village. He got into a quarrel with one of the garrulous drunkards in the village -Deji. Deji took that opportunity to tell him what the whole village had been saying behind him.
“You impotent bastard, Deji maliciously chaffed him, ‘look, if you insult me, I will tell my children to beat up your children. Oh, sorry, I forgot you can not make children like a real man. In fact, I will come to your house so as to better the situation for you. You know it is not decent for two women to sleep in the same house alone as husband and wife. It is against the laws of our land”.
All the people in there burst out laughing. They laughed the embarrassed Taiwo to scorn.
Taiwo left that drinking place in a rage. Immediately he got home, he called all his kinsmen for a meeting. When they had gathered, he greeted them in the traditional manner. He then offered them kola nuts, which they broke and ate. After this, he gave them fresh palm wine, which they drank after they had poured libations to the gods. Then they waited in anticipation of why he had summoned them.
He then addressed them. He told them that they all were aware of his plight. He is one of the greatest hunters in the land.
They agreed to that. His profession is a very dangerous one. Of course, they all concurred.
He is a man of high status in the land
Yes, they agreed with him
Yet he does not have a child of his own
Chai! Omasheoo they sighed in unison, gnashing their teeth and shaking their heads sadly
“I am sorry to give you my elders and brothers this rather short notice. But matters have come to a near emergency position. I saw a young and very pretty damsel in the next village two moons ago when we went for communal hunting there, and I found her desirable. On inquiry I found out that she was not yet married and I therefore want you all to escort me there tomorrow for formal introductions and all the customary follow ups for I wish to take her as my wife”.
Despite the short notice, all the men agreed to go with him to the next village the next day
‘The mad man’s brother bears the shame of his madness’ one elder said
“Yes” concurred the other “We heard drunken Deji’s derogatory insults on our integrity today, and we wish to correct that with the dispatch and speed this family has been noted for”.
“Aseh, Iseh, Amen, Eh! Eh!”, rented the air
The next day, they all trooped out as early as the second cock crow and headed with Taiwo in the lead to the neighbouring village in a bid to catch the members of the girl in question’s family at home.
Within the space of two market days, Taiwo had concluded the traditional marriage rites and his new wife Sade had come home to live with him and Yinka.
Poor Yinka, she took this without a word of complain. She accepted it as a norm. After all, she reasoned, a man as highly placed in the society as her man is not expected to have only one wife. Not when she can not bear him any child to inherit his successes, she further consoled herself.
The problem now is that as she Yinka, who is the first wife, has not borne Taiwo any child. If this new wife bears a child before her, the child especially if he is a male, will claim first inheritance of Taiwo’s title and wealth, she Yinka have slaved over the years with her husband to accumulate.
Her heart broke, and she wept, but then she accepted her fate and continued praying.
Taiwo started paying his new wife more attention. Sleeps with her more, goes out regularly with her, and gives her expensive gifts at the least excuses.
Yinka did not seem to mind; instead, she concentrates on her own business and treats her husband and even Sade as respectfully as each of them deserved.
But alas! Sade was not satisfied with things as they were. She easily picks quarrels with Yinka, abuses her without good reasons, ridicules and mocks her as being barren, and goes out of her way to provoke her on any frivolous excuse she can drum up. She even accuses her of being a witch who consumes the children in her own womb, that being the reason why she had been unable to bear a child.
Yinka does not respond. Taiwo, on the other hand, does not seem to want to interfere.
The days moved on to weeks and to months. Yinka still did not get pregnant and to every one’s surprise and dismay, so did not Sade
But one day, however, Sade announced that she was pregnant. Such was the glee and happiness of Taiwo, that when Sade started insinuating that Yinka is a witch and will likely do the child in her harm, Taiwo paid her attention. When eventually she started insisting that she can not live in the same house with Yinka, that she has continuous nightmares and is being warned by benevolent spirits that Yinka will destroy the baby in her womb, Taiwo promptly told Yinka to leave his house.
Poor Yinka, she wept and cried. She implored Taiwo to think again before taking such a harsh and cruel decision about her. But he got angrier and slapped her in the face, threw her things out into the rain and pushed her out of the house too ‘never to show her witch’s face in his house again’ he warned her.
Miserable and sad, Yinka left, but not before telling Taiwo that he would regret this decision he had taken that day.
Sade’s pregnancy progressed. With it, she developed a complaining habit. Taiwo does not go out to hunt any more, it is either Sade’s legs hurting her today or head aching the next day. Taiwo was beside himself, he sincerely looked forward to the day his wife will deliver her baby, so that he can have some rest, as Sade keeps him running around all day and keeps him awake all night.
Then, a few days to the day of her delivery, something terrible happened in the village that affected Taiwo seriously. The king’s chief warrior died.
Now the tradition of the land is such that, a great man like the king’s chief warrior is mourned for three days after his death and buried on the morning of the third day. In the evening of the same day, the king’s town crier using the talking drum will announce to the people the name of the man whom the oracle has chosen to replace the dead Onakakamfor – the king’s chief warrior.
Also, tradition demands that who so ever will be a chief warrior must have a son to bear his name and carry his chieftaincy title should he die in battle. That son must bear the mark of the gods on his body. But if the oracle chooses a man and he does not have a son, on the day the talking drum announces his name as the chief warrior of the king, such a one will have to commit suicide. This is because it is deemed a most shameful thing to the man, his kinsmen, the people of the land, the king and the oracle that a man who is to bear the king’s main armour- shield, spears, bows, arrows and magic charms does not have a successor
On the night the chief warrior died the oracle had revealed to its chief priest that the new Onakalamfor is none other than Taiwo Olumodeji. The high priest told the king. The news filtered through the king’s palace into the village and spread like wide fire. The new Onakakamfor is Taiwo. Taiwo, without a male child.
Sade is pregnant!
Taiwo that night went to the shrine of Olo moyoyo- goddess of the land. The deity that is supposed to make women fertile. He made heavy sacrifices to the goddess that day, asking the deity with a heavy heart that his wife Sade bears a child, a male child before the drum calls his name as the king’s chief warrior on the third day. The oracle accepted his offerings and assured him that his wish will be granted. His wife Sade will bear a child before the drum talks, but the baby in his wife’s womb can not be changed at this time. His wife will deliver what is in her womb- male or female.
The tension of waiting and uncertainty started.
Two men of the village were discussing these occurrences in the land in the village square. The first observed that it is good that Taiwo’s new wife, Sade is pregnant. “What if she gives birth to a girl?” asked the second man “Then that will be a disaster” the other states emphatically.
“But what if it is a girl with the mark of the gods?” “Do not say that. It is only in folk stories do we hear about a girl who carried the mark of the gods. It is the right of the male in our land”
“That is so” concurs the other “Yet I wonder what the soothsayer means by that the gods have turned, and that the land will turn with it”
Alas! on the night being the eve of the day the talking drum will pronounce Taiwo the new Onakakamfor, Sade gave birth to a child- a baby girl.
Taiwo shook his head in disbelief and shock. Sade was devastated. Kith, kin and well wishers all gathered.
The men grind their teeth and crack the joints of their fingers, shaking their heads solemnly. The women shed silent tears, others sobbed while those who could not control their emotions wept openly for Taiwo.
Time gradually passed. The solemn wait resumed, but this time with a morbid tone to it. Slowly the sun appeared in the horizon. It is the great day. The dead chief warrior will be buried this morning. In the evening when the lengthening shadow of the Iroko tree in the village square in front of the Oba – the king’s palace touches the palace gates, the talking drum will officially announce the new Onakakamfor. The Chief Warrior.
As the seconds passed so did people count the length of Taiwo’s life in seconds, and so did they count Sade’s. For the tradition also has it that in such an event, when the husband commits suicide, the wife is also expected to die with him but the wife has the option of running away to a distant land. She can not live in that village again. As far as the land is concerned, she is a living dead. Such is the law of the land.
So it came to pass that before the dawn totally broke, Sade has disappeared. She had decided to run away. She did not desire to die with Taiwo. The family women took care of the child, feeding her with cow and goat milk while waiting for her unfortunate father’s death knell to sound.
In the morning the drum announced the burial of the dead warrior. The burial ceremony commenced immediately in a rather hushed, solemn and tensed atmosphere. Made doubly so by the tragedy that is about to befall one of their illustrious sons.
The king was there with his wives and chiefs. Taiwo too was there. The Oba responded to his greetings solemnly. People greeted him quietly and ruefully, as this is regarded as his last official outing. The next news folks expect to hear of him is his suicide. But the brave Taiwo without any betrayal of his impending death participated fully in all the rituals, traditional dances and gymnastics that the warriors of the land performed for the great dead warrior.
The Oba admired his courage and wept in his heart for the fate that is to befall this great hunter. To lose two great men of his land in one market week is a terrible loss to any land. He moaned.
The burial ended. Everybody went home and the waiting now started in earnest. The sun continued moving slowly and ever slowly across the sky. The tension mounts. Even the elements, the animals, birds and insects knew the tension in the land. There was no noise. The silence was loud.
However, in this entire tense atmosphere, only one creature moved. A solitary woman was approaching the village through a lonely track road leading into the back farmlands. She has covered her head and that of the baby she is carrying on her back with a light clothe, to shield them from the scorching sun.
The woman is walking neither too fast nor too slowly but purposefully non the less. She still has quite a distance to cover before getting to the village.
The sun has crossed over on to the other side. The shadows have started growing towards the east. The shadow of the Iroko tree still has the length of a palm tree to make to the king’s palace gate.
The tension continued. Nobody comes out to the Village Square. No mortars pound in the kitchens of the village. No child cries from the houses. Silence reigns. The approaching woman walks on, ever purposely. The distance of the shadow reduces to a banana tree. No birds chirp, no insects buzz. Higher tension and the strange woman with a child on her back continued approaching the village that is expecting a tragedy.
The shadow gets to the length of a cassava stalk, the tension got thicker and the walking woman comes nearer.
Now the distance between the shadow and the king’s gate is the length of an arm. The waiting village started sweating, the noise of the silence becomes deafening, and the approaching woman stepped into the out farm.
It is minutes to the explosion, when the talking drum will announce Taiwo’s meeting with fate, and the weeping and wailing will emanate from his house. Then the eldest of his kinsmen will inform the village oracle high priest and the king that Taiwo said that he could not fulfil the wish of the oracle and therefore as a brave son of the soil has taken his own life. The oracle then in outrage will order the young men of the village to burn Taiwo’s house and raze it to the ground.
So is the fate of the woman who came into the world as a man.
One minute, – – -thirty seconds, twenty, – – -ten, – – -five-, the shadow creeps slowly, ever slowly -then BOOM! The silence broke. Bam tum bam tum, bam bam bam tum tum tum. Knock knock knock. Everything happened simultaneously. The oldest man of Taiwo’s kindred lurking in a corner all this while got up and proffered to Taiwo a gourd by his side. It contains the sap of the melon root. A lethal poison. Taiwo accepted it with his head held high.
Knock, knock, knock. This time louder. All attention turned from Taiwo to the door. The first knock had been drowned by the sound of the long-expected talking drum.
Who could be calling at this most unholy moment?
The old man nodded to the door making a sign to the woman sitting closest to it to open it. This she did, and in stepped the strange woman coming to the village with a purpose. All eyes were fixed on her.
Slowly she removed her light sun cape. In the near dark room, almost no one recognized her. For revealed despite the obvious tiredness is a healthy, pretty and relaxed woman. All the wrinkles of worry pain and anguish gone. Yinka has come home. A more enchanting Yinka than that which left less than nine months ago.
Equally slowly she removed the child on her back, bowed fully to her elders and all gathered, greeting them in the customary traditional manner. Then she proffered the child to Taiwo.
‘Taiwo, I wish to present to you your child.’
The surprise was stunning. Everyone was agape. Taiwo most of all. The lethal calabash he was holding fell out of his hand and smashed on the ground. He stood with open mouth staring at mother and child.
Bam bam tum tum – – – The oracle has chosen who to lead
the warriors of this great land into battle. The wise oracle
has chosen a man of valour, a man known and respected
for his bravery and fearlessness. A powerful and highly
respected hunter, who has many times braved the attack
of the lion and the stampede of the wild elephant,
bringing them all down to present to his Oba as a token
of his strength and prowess. The oracle has chosen
Taiwo Olumodeji, the son of Olatunde Olumodeji,
the grand son of Idowu, who went with his legs and brought
the head of the Oba of Ijaya in his hands in battle – – -bam bam tum tum – – –
The voice of the oracle priest goes a notch higher
Olonwu has spoken and has spoken wisely
What was is not
What is will be
The wind has changed direction
A new sun has risen, a new morn is born
He does a totally uncharacteristic dance step and an unprecedented look of glee fleeted across his wizened old face
The mighty ones in their majesty and wisdom have turned around
Ahhh, the land must joyfully turn also
He continues as his voice recedes in the distance
The die is cast. The whole village pricked its ears, waiting for the wailing that is to emanate from the Olumodeji compounds.
But to the village’s utter shock and disbelief, a shout of glee and joy greeted the tom tom’s message.
What is happening? Was the question on every lip.
Again, the drum repeated it’s message, again it is greeted with a mighty shout of happiness from Taiwo’s house. The villagers could not contain their curiosity anymore. They started creeping, then trickling, and then started rushing to Taiwo’s compound.
What they beheld mesmerized all. For there was Taiwo and his kinsmen, dancing jubilantly around, carrying a bouncing baby girl and in the middle of the celebration is Taiwo’s estranged wife, the beautiful Yinka.
The king immediately sent out his emissaries to find out what was going on. It was explained to them that when Taiwo had sent Yinka away, she was a month pregnant but did not bother to tell him because of the way he was treating her and also because she was not quite sure. So during her sojourn in her village, she had given birth to a baby less than a month ago. The child is a girl, yet she carries the strange mark of the gods all over her body.
When news got to her yesterday of her husband’s predicament she decided to hurry and save his life, despite his wickedness to her.
Aaaahhhh, says everyone is that what the oracle priest has been telling us. This is the dawn of a new era, things in the land will not be the same again, a change has come. The gods have turned and the land has to turn with them, a female champion for the king!
Aaahhhh, the land must brace itself for a change.
The king was very pleased. He ordered the chieftaincy ceremony to commence without delay. And to show the village’s appreciation to Yinka for acting courageously, wisely and selflessly, thereby averting a calamity from the village, he bestowed on her a highly honoured title reserved only for women of valour in the land. A title as prestigious as that of her husband’s.
And the child?
Ahhh, that is another story.
Some called her the Mystery child.
Some called her the child of Destiny
Others simply called her the child of change – – –
