Old Mama's Tales

8/2/2019 Old Mama's Tales

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OLD MAMAS TALESA Collection of Atte Folklores

By

Hellene O. Alabi

STORIES

The Stubborn Bride

The Impossible Mission

Teterube

FORWARD

My first child, Eshiofe was born on the twenty-ninth of February; as if the day was not

special enough, it was the day the call came in, one of those bright and sunny days. I

remembered the sunny-ness of the day because I was working on the flower-bed behind my

kitchen. I had been on maternity leave for exactly ten days and I was slowly losing my mind.

Lacking anything to do, since my darling husband Fred had employed a cook, a laundry man and

a housekeeper, I resorted to gardening.I was pulling out the weeds between my rose bushes, while the sun warmed my shoulders from

the spaghetti strapped flowing dress I wore, when my mobile phone started to ring inside the

kitchen. I laboriously got to my swollen feet and waddled towards the sound.

I was trying to get to it before it stopped ringing because my husband was always teasing me

about how I keep forgetting that mobile phone could be moved around instead of been in motion

to reach them when they were ringing.


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I just barely made it and depressed the green button, Yello I said triumphantly into the phone a

little breathlessly, expecting to hear Freds voice, he always called by this time to see how I was

doing, I heard my mothers weeping voice instead,Old mama just passed she managed to say before she started crying again and I muttered

something and absently ended the call.

Old mama was my fathers mother, one of those rare, wise and extremely colorful people, thetype that should be celebrated but pass through life been ignored, because they were not the firstperson to fly a plane in their country or do something that mundanely extraordinary, who were

not termed important simply because they didnt hobnob in the right circles.

I managed to sit down heavily on the slopey basket chair leaning on the wall outside the kitchen

door as sadness enveloped me, I had been planning for weeks to visit her in the outskirts of

Lagos where she had settled down in, but my condition had dictated otherwise.

A slice of memory of the last time I had seen her flashed through my mind, she had visited me

here, when I just got married, her small sparkly eyes taking in the elegant living room. Then she

had turned to me and smiled, her whole face wrinkling like paper in the process, her freckles

disappearing between sliver folds of soft, pale skin,

Your husband owns all this? she asked. I smiled and nodded, I was a bit overwhelmed by mysurrounding myself, so you married him for his money? she asked again quietly.

No old mama, I didnt know he was this rich, we moved here after our engagement, I married

for love, like you I added with a smile. She smiled and shook her head slowly, Then I pray youlive life full, like me too she said sagely, I was slightly puzzled, it sounded like a Chinese

adage,

Yes, full but youre hardly done yet, abi? I asked as I took her birdlike hands into mine, she

smiled again and said nothing. Fred entered at that point and I forgot all about it until now. I

wiped the tears that trickled down my face as I speed-dialed Freds line. It started to ring, Im

on my way! he said excitedly into the phone,

No, its not that I replied, he thought I was calling to tell him my water has broken,Oh, whats up babe? he asked instead, losing steam. I sniffed,

Old mama has passed I said to him, why did I say it like that? I wondered as I listened to his

platitudes of God gives, God takes away, why didnt I say has died? as I sat pondering I felt

wetness between my legs,

You may still have to come I said as calmly as I could into the phone,

Babe, you know I have a series of meetings immediately after the presentation, do you think

you could wait till then? he asked, I nodded as I felt the first pangs of labor,I could I said into the phone, teeth grounded to stop myself from screaming,

But Im not sure your baby will wait that long

He was home in ten minutes and I had my baby girl four hours later.

She was an albino, just like old mama.

*

When I was four years old, my parents decided that living in Lagos was robbing us of our

identity and ethnicity, especially when one day, my immediate elder sister came back from

school and told my father that during the social studies class, she had been called to say

something about her hometown and she had replied that she was from Apapa, which had caused

an racket from other pupils. The teacher had advised her to ask her parents where they were


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really from, so we were bundled into a commercial bus that my father rented from one of his

friends and had taken the day-long arduous journey from Lagos to the then Bendel state back to

our village.

The plan was simple; we were told by our military-strict father that we either learn all we could

about our village and especially how to speak in our native tongue in one year, or we will never

return to the only home we knew in Lagos.Dismayed and sad about losing our friends we all promised him that in a years time we will be

fully equipped with the proper cultural dogmas and so fluent in our native tongue that he himself

will beg us to speak English. He nodded satisfied with our responses and returned to his station

in Lagos, leaving us and our young, angry mother behind in his widowed mothers cracky hut.We stared at everything through young, disbelieving eyes. We were unprepared for most of the

food that were placed ever so hastily before us by our crossed-eyed aunt Asabi, who couldnt

speak a word of English.

Living in the village felt like we had been uprooted from life as we knew it and thrown

downward and backwards through time into an African folklore. The first thing after we had

forced ourselves to swallow the goopy gruel that passed as ogi there, was that we discovered

there was no electricity or signs of it ever being there and playtime actually started long after thesun has set and the moon was out. And what passed as fun was story telling by an old adult. The

stories varied between adventures and sad love lore, depending on the story teller.

My grandmother, whom we came to refer to, simply as old mama, was an excellent love story

teller. That first night, right after my mother had bathed us with fresh water from the stream

behind my grandmothers hut whose fish were not eaten for some mysterious myth, we gathered

in front of the narrow hut and sat on mats that my mother had insisted on spreading on the cold,

sandy-white ground. Most of the other villagers simply sat on bare ground, not minding their

already dirty, tatty clothes. We all turned our small expectant faces upward towards old mama

who was lighting a locally made cigarette perched like a lady on one of the low stools she had all

over the hut.

Under a million stars and half of a waning moon, with bulrush lamps that blew thick,

fragrant smoke around in the gentle night wind, she inhaled deeply and let the smoke drift out of

her nostrils, then sighing contentedly as her sparkly eyes took on a dreamy, faraway cast, she

started the magical, but sad love story of Omugha.

The Stubborn Bride

Once upon a time, in a village that was imbedded in the roughly circuitous seven hills

which were called the kukuruku hills, was the village of Atte. The people of Atte were the envy

of other villages outside the hills. Not only were they protected from wars

by the great spirits of the kukuruku hills, the land was rich with gemstones and vegetation. It was

not unusual in Atte to see the womens wrappers heavily decorated with large uncut stones of

different colors, the rarest stones, were the ones that came out of the earth completely red, as if

the gods themselves had soaked the stones in blood of their preys. They ended up using these

stones as currency. The Ogie-awa of Atte was a powerful man; he had thousands of livestock and

almost eighteen bags full of the red stones. He had three wives, the first and second had

daughters while the youngest one was barren. This was the only shadow in the Ogie-awas

almost perfect existence.


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Every night as he lay down to sleep, he agonized over what will become of his wonderful

village, if the gods decided to call him home that night.

One day, a stranger came to buy some metal work from the famous Atte market, but the

blacksmith accused him of trying to steal, which was a grievous crime in the land.

He was taken to the palace of Ogie-awa and as he sat presiding over the matter, he realized that

the blacksmith was falsely accusing the stranger and he acquitted the stranger and had theblacksmith jailed for trying to swindle a stranger of his money. The stranger thanked the kind

and wise Ogie-awa and invited him to his village, which was three days journey away. The Ogie-

awa accepted the invitation when he found out that the stranger in question was actually the

prince of his land.

One full moon later, the Ogie-awa embarked on his journey to the other village. He left

his trusted chiefs in charge. The journey took longer than three days because the scouts were

required to check out every leg of the journey, before they took it, finally, after seven days on the

road, they entered into the village and were promptly directed to the palace of their chief. The

prince was waiting with a welcome party. That night, the young, unmarried maidens of the

village danced in front of the Ogie-awa under a canopy of stars and indigo skies. As he watched

the dancing maidens through the huge bonfire, he noticed one of the fair maidens whose voicerang out like a clear call of the morning birds. The Ogie-awa immediately asked the prince who

she was.

Smiling he told him she was the first daughter of one of their soldiers, he had only two

daughters, and they were the most beautiful girls in the village. The Ogie-awa nodded and

inquired how he could meet the soldier so he could ask for his daughters hand in marriage. The

prince after laughing for a long time, told him not to bother, it was their custom to marry one of

the unmarried maidens to any visiting dignitary.

Overjoyed, the Ogie-awa told him he chose the young maiden. The prince beckoned to one of the

messengers that stood before him and whispered into his ear. The large, benign-looking man that

was a eunuch nodded and moved fluidly towards the teeming throng of gaily dressed dancing

maidens and whispered into the ears of the maiden that was favored by Ogi-awa. She listened for

a moment, smiled and nodded her head, then she turned to another girl that was smaller but

looked like her and whispered into her ear. They hugged each other and broke away from the

group and ran home to tell the news of her sudden elevation to her parents.

Three days later, Ogi-awa prepared to depart, as gifts were presented, a small group consisting of

the two maidens from the dancing group and several adults made their way to the Ogi-awa. They

all knelt in front of him in obeisance. He responded by stretching his staff towards them, his eyes

were on the elegantly covered maiden in front of him. He addressed the man that was introduced

as the father of his young bride-to-be. He promised to bring him more gifts to add to the ones he

had received from the prince of the land. The man thanked him profusely and told him it was an

honor to have a daughter that pleased such an eminent personality.

The journey back to Atte took three days; the Ogie-awa shunned most of the protocols as

he was anxious to get back to the village to prepare for a proper marriage to his new betrothal.

His three wives took one look at the beautiful Omugha and hated her. Omugha, who came with

her younger sister, did not notice the hostility that was coming from the other women, but her

younger sister immediately perceived it and mentioned it to her sister, who told her she worried

too much.


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The preparations for the wedding started with full swing, the villager brought farm produce

every day to the palace as gifts for the young bride, but as the day drew nearer, the Ogie-awas

wives became more agitated and hostile. Their fear was that the young virgin may be able to

produce an heir for the king and they will be relegated to the background and simply forgotten.

They decided that they had to take matters into their own hands and one market day, they

journeyed to a neighboring village to meet with a dreaded witch doctor. Their mission wassimple, a charm to kill an enemy. The witch doctor concocted a charm for them and told them to

sprinkle it into their enemys food, but the second wife spoke up against that immediately, we

cannot make it too obvious she cautioned the others, if we cook forher and she dies, everyone

will know we are responsible she concluded.The other two nodded at her wisdom and turned to the witch doctor, we need for her to die as if

by natural causes the third wife said harshly, she shifted on her stool, she had used all sorts of

herbs just to be pregnant, unlike the other two who had five female children between them, she

knew she will be the worst hit if the new wife ever produced an heir.

You can invoke her name, we were told you have done that before she said to the witch doctor,

who sat coolly staring at them. He sighed and shook his head, that will only work if the person

in question is evil, I have called her spirit he told them in a whisper as if the evil spirits werelistening in on their conversation, but it didnt appear, but dont worry, they dont call me

Irikpekpe, the great spirit one for nothing he brought out another animal skin bag and emptied

the dried mangled bones on his mat, then he grunted.

Picking up one slender bone that looked suspiciously like the long beak of a bird but was smooth

enough to pass for a stone, he tied a rope around it and stretched it out to the women, they all

refused to accept it, dont worry, its not potent until some incantations are pronounced on it hetold them. Eagerly, the third wife reached for it and tied it on the edge of her wrapper, be

careful that it does not break he cautioned her, you will carry out the incantation, since you

accepted the bone he told her, she nodded gravely, just

tell me what to do she said as they all leaned in and he started to tell them what must be done to

kill the Ogie-awas bride-to-be.

It was a very cold night; it had rained all day that fateful market day, so most of the

traders still had their wares tied under their makeshift outer shed that was used both as storage

and a place to cool off during the dreaded dry season. Omugha had finished her chores for the

day and had long since turned in and instantly fallen asleep, but her younger sister, who lay

beside her kept tossing and turning from the cold and the sheer fact that she was missing her

home. She decided to go outside and light a fire to warm her until she was sleepy. She got up and

made her way cautiously towards the back of the hut, she stopped short when she heard people

talking. As she listened, she started to shiver uncontrollably, she recognized the voices as those

of the Ogie-awas three wives, from what they were saying, they were planning to kill her sister!

She turned and hurried back into the house and debated whether to wake her peacefully sleeping

sister up or wait till morning. She decided to wait till morning, she knew her sister did not joke

with her sleep, she will only be angry at her if she woke her up.

Lying back down on the thin mat, she knew she will not sleep till morning.

As the cock crowed to wake the farmers up, the clouds were still dark with stars and a half moon,

Omugha stretched and finally woke up, she yawned and turned in the direction of where her

sister usually slept, Im up already her sister said from her sitting position by the door, startled


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Omugha stared at her, is something happening today? is it the day for the decorator to come and

use the asuto design my hands? she asked as she got to her feet, no her sister replied, but

theres something you must know she told her solemnly.Omugha stood with arms akimbo, her face suddenly relaxed and smiling, what could be so

important that you have to wake up so early to tell me? she asked cocking her head playfully,

wait, I know she said, smiling mischievously, you want to marry the great one too! she saidas she started to laugh, her sister did not join in, ok, what is it, are you unwell? she asked as

concern replaced the smile on her beautiful face.

I am well, thank you and no, I dont want to marry the Ogie-awa she replied quietly, but I

miss home, dont you? she asked her sister, hoping to use that as an opening to what she wantedto tell her, Omugha shrugged nonchalantly, not really, I mean, here Im not just another young

maiden, Im the kings bride she said smiling again as she placed both hands on her wide, well

shaped hips, Im honored here, while back at home, we had Odo, the village fool playing pranks

and breaking our water pots she stared into space for a while, no, my dear she said in a verypositive tone, I dont miss home and you shouldnt either, home is where your husband is, and

mine is here she stopped again and looked at her sister, who knows, yours might just be here

too, then we can be together she said trying to cheer her sister up.You cannot marry the Ogie-awa! her sister blurted out, taking in Omughas surprised

expression, I heard yesterday now the words rushed out, they were plotting on how to kill you

on your wedding day, so if you dont marry the Ogie-awa you can live, then we can go backhome and be happy she said as she held her sisters hands.

Who did you hear? Omugha asked her calmly, the three wives! she replied urgently in a

hushed tone, If we say we are going to the market, we can escape before they start looking for

us she told her clearly amused sister in haste.Nobody is escaping, and Im sure you were mistaken, you know their dialect is different from

our own, so you must have heard wrongly she told her sister, still calm.

Her sister shook her head emphatically, I know what I heard, you forget I used to come here

with mama to sell, I speak the language better than you, I know! she persisted,Ok Omugha replied, I will report them to my husband as soon as I see him trying to pacify

her sister, she knew fully well she will not see the Ogie-awa until the wedding day; such was the

custom of the land.

Her sister nodded and sat back defeated, she knew there was no way to convince Omugha of her

imminent death, so she started a song, just like they used to do back home, when they were sad

or troubled,

I nene ye Omugha, I nene ye Omugha


O pele uso nu yowe gbopkagba, ede nu we ruwe so kpagbo Omugha ye

Eme ni wa geru o kpagbo Omugha ye

Omugha o, I nene Omugha

Omugha sighed shaking her head as she exited her hut; she wanted to instruct one of the palace

messengers to get her a hair dresser.


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As the day of the wedding drew closer and people flooded into their hut to carry out one beauty

rite or the other in preparation for the wedding, Omughas sister stopped eating and she could be

heard singing sorrowfully in their local dialect and crying.

Everyone who heard the song were so moved they always asked Omugha for its interpretation,

she brushes it aside and explained to them that her sister was home sick and the song was a folk

song they used to sing when they were children. She failed to tell them that the words of the songwere a warning from her sister to her, that her life was in danger and everyday, death drew close

to their doorstep.

She was more irritated than afraid by her sisters song, because she was fooled by the niceness

and politeness the other wives showed every time she was present. They went out of their way to

help her and were quick to instruct her on proper behavior during the wedding ceremony.

On the night before the wedding as the asu, the local henna was used in decorating her hands and

body, they sat close to her, smiling and complimenting her beauty.

It was only her sister, who sat outside and sang the soulful song again,



O pele uso nu yowe gbopkagba, ede nu we ruwe so kpagbo Omugha ye Eme ni wa geru o kpagbo Omugha yeOmugha o, I nene Omugha

Her song sobered up the gathering, and even though they could not understand the words,

everyone could hear the sorrow and anguish with which she sang calling her sisters name; only

Omugha chose to ignore the wailing young maiden as she continued to chat blithely, as if she

couldnt hear the song at all. That night, after everyone had gone tosleep and even Omughas sister had stopped singing and was asleep from exhaustion and hunger,

the stealth figure of the third wife made her way towards the throne of the Ogie-awa and after

some incantation, she placed the bone on steps and quickly retreated back to the confines of her

hut, satisfied and almost dancing with suppressed excitement.

The day of the wedding dawned bright and beautiful. The sky was covered with soft,

puffy white clouds and vast expanse of blueness. There was a soft wind blowing, as if the gods

themselves were blessing the union.

The rhythmic sound of the six thickset women pounding, could be heard echoing in the still

morning as they pounded freshly boiled yams that will be eaten as breakfast, the water fetchers

hurried around filling as much of the huge earthenware pots that lined the Ogie-awas inner

compound with water, they knew it will be in large supply throughout the day.

In the elegantly decorated huts that housed the wives of the Ogie-awa, there was relative silence

as Omugha roused herself and stretched her plump hands over her head in a yawn. She smiled

when she remembered that the day was created for her.

She looked idly around for her sister and saw her sitting beside the only doorway into and out of

their hut, she exhaled, mildly annoyed. She was sure her sister had not slept for long. She smiled

at her and got a frown in return, shrugging she turned away from her, if she was going to be like

that, it was her burden to carry, she thought as she retied her wrapper and headed out through the

doorway, at least for my own happiness, allow the dressers to make you up and apply the asu

she said to her sister beseechingly before exiting to find her maids.

The drummers started beating the wedding drums shortly before noon.


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The villagers were already gathered at the large village square, everyone tried to outdo each

other in the flamboyancy of their decorated wrappers; it left the whole place looking bright and

extremely colorful.

The Ogie-awa was already seated awaiting the arrival of the bride so that the ceremony will

commence. Words had reached him through his trusted chamberlain that the beautiful bride had

left her hut and was dancing her way to the village square. From afar, Omugha appeared like anAfrican goddess as she was flanked by seven maidens from the village. They danced behind her

and cautioned her to go as slowly as possible. Her sister took the rear, having reluctantly dressed

up; she decided to see for herself when her sister will die.

As they finally got to the square, the maidens fell back as Omugha approached her future

husband. It was customary that she did the last leg by herself, to show that she was not been

coerced into marrying the Ogie-awa. When she got to the foot of the elevated throne that had

three steps, she paused and elegantly knelt down, until the Ogie-awa asked her to proceed.

Getting up again, she placed her right foot on the first rung and danced, turning to wave to her

soon-to-be subject.

They rewarded her with cheers and accolades. She placed her left foot on the second rung and

smiled up to the Ogie-awa. By now the king was panting with ill concealed excitement, hereached out with his hand towards her. She placed her right foot on the third rung and she

stepped on a small white pebble. Slowly, her hand that was reaching out to the Ogie-awa

wavered, then her smile died slowly as her face took on a look of surprise, then she half turned as

her wide eyes met her sisters panic-stricken ones.Then she turned back to the Ogie-awa and sank to her knees in front of him, the villagers cheered

again and praised her humility until they noticed that she was toppling down to the ground, then

her stunned eyes blinked once and shut slowly and then she was still. Dead at the foot of the

throne!

There was such an outcry like there have never been before in the whole village, everybody in

one accord mourned the death of such beauty, through the tears and cries of the gods injustice,

there was a wailing that cut through all other voices, stopping the cries of all that heard it.

It was the sister to Omugha, singing the same warning song she had sang for days as a warning

to her sister. The Ogie-awa asked her to step forward and when she was led to the foot of the

throne, she knelt before her sister, took her still face in her hands and said, You see what I wastelling you? you wouldnt listen, you see? I told you they were going to kill you her voice

dissolved into groans, the Ogie-awa leaned down and shook her shoulder, what did you just

say? he inquired, as the head of the village, he was unable to show his real emotionsit was anabomination for anyone to see him cry, or laughwhich was of profound sadness and emptiness

for the loss of his young beautiful bride, she turned her head up and looked at him with such pain

that he flinched and drew back,

I told her they were planning to kill her she said again, cradling her sisters head as she slowlyrocked on her haunches. The Ogie-awa looked around him for support, it seemed to him that she

had gone mad with grief, who, child? he whispered hoarsely, his blood already boiling, if there

was any truth in what he had heard, heads will surely rollYour wives! she spat out clearly for all to hear. There was another outcry and instantpandemonium. Omugha was forcefully removed from her sisters death-like clutch while they

were both carried away to the palace, Ogie-awa immediately called for a meeting with his chiefs.

As the sun balzed overhead, the stillness of the village was a caricature of the bustleness of the

morning. Everyone had been ordered to stay in their huts until the elders found an answer to the


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bizarre happenings of the day. After heated arguments, it was agreed that the wives will be

brought before the chiefs and asked to tell what they knowif they knew anything at allof

omughas death. They were sent for and solemnly they knelt before the chiefs and their husbandstears in their eyes for Omughas death. The Ogie-awas right hand man, Alake, cleared his

throat, they were unused to accusations of murder in their village so there was no protocol on

how to handle the present situation, we greet you our mothers he started, they all bowed inunison, Omughas death comes as a shock and a cruel blow to our community he continued as

most of the chiefs hissed and shrugged their shoulders, the Ogie-awa sat staring impassively

straight ahead as if he heard nothing, but her sister has leveled accusation that you are all

responsible for her death he finishedas the wives shrieked in shock, ah! My chief replied theoldest wife, of what gain will it be for us if she dies? Killing her does not mean our illustrious

husband will not take another wife she replied wisely, she looked at the other wives and they

nodded their consent at her reply, the third wife was finding it difficult to keep a mournful face,

besides we told her that all that jewelry she was wearing will arouse the annoyance ofoya, thegoddess of beauty, was she trying to

out do the goddess she added flippantly, she was ecstatic that the young woman was dead.

Alake nodded his head, he thought the young maiden was too beautiful to be a human, hesecretly thought she was the daughter ofame, the goddess of the rivers, whose daughters usually

turned into humans to lure young men astray. It had happened before but he kept his thoughts to

himself, so you are pleading innocent of this accusation he asked them instead, they all nodded

and the oldest wife spoke up again for all of them. He turned to the ogie-awa spreading his

hands, our noble king, you have heard from your wives that they are innocent to this accusation,

the young maiden must be distressed over her sisters sudden death, we should think of how to

inform her parents of this terrible news he finished as the Ogie-awa got up and wordlessly leftthe gathering.

The next morning, a messenger was sent to Omughas village to come with the prince. He was

told to run night and day to make sure he got there and was back before the body started to

decay. But Omughas body that was laid out inside her hut looked as fresh as if she was asleep. It

took the messenger three days to go and return, he brought word that the prince was on his way.

By the sixth day, the prince arrived the village with Omughas father and his chief priest.

Immediately Omughas sister narrated her story again, infront of everyone, the two noble men,the two chief priest and the whole village. Omughas father stood up and bowed to the Ogie-awa,

his face forlon, my king he began, my daughter is not given to telling tales, though as a

woman, her words should be taken with a pinch of salt, but I will beseech you that the oracles be

consulted and if her death was not natural, I would like the culprits brought to justice he bowed

deeply again and sat back down, the prince stood up and bowed to the Ogie-awa, who was still

not reacting, my dear noble friend, I am deeply sorry for your loss, and I apologise for my

subjects strong words about justice he said spreading his hands, finally the Ogie-awa waspaying attention to him, but grief reduces even the strongest of men and in our quest to lighten

the pain, we shift blames on things we can hold and fight, please feel free to do whatever you

want, the maiden in question was already yours, even though the ceremony was not completedhe concluded and sat back down as Omughas father broke down and started crying.Ogie-awa cleared his throat, shifted on his chair, let the young maiden be brought here! he said

gruffily, the chiefs looked around at each other, Alake stepped forward, she is kneeling beforeyou my king he replied pointing to Omughas sister, who was still kneeling and weeping, I

mean the dead one! he said clearly. The villagers looked at themselves in confusion, the body


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was already six days gone, the messengers shrugged and tied their neck scarves over their noses,

they expected foul smell. But when they got to the hut, they found the dead maiden without

smell or decay, as beautiful as if she was taking a nap before the ceremony she was dressed for.

They picked her up effortless and carried her to the village square. An elevated stand with a mat

was laid out, they placed her on it and the whole village started to mourn afresh, for the dead

maiden was quite a beauty to behold.Let the chief priests find out if she died of natural causes Ogie-awa ordered.The chief priest of Atte and the chief priest that accompanied the prince promptly stepped

forward, they looked at each other and bowed respectfully to themselves, then they started with

their consultation of the oracle.

As the day cooled and the sun was setting, the chief priests communed between themselves and

then the Atte chief priest spoke up, this is the unanimous words of the gods he said in a hoarse

voice, there was a hush in the square as everyone leaned forward to hear, the gods have taken

their own! he stated and started to leave, everyone screamed but the Ogie-awas wivesscreamed the loudest in jubilation, Ogie-awa bowed his head, sad, Omughas sistergot up and

took off towards the area where her sister had died, she stopped abruptly and was seen looking

down at the ground, then she stooped and picked something up and ran back, My king she saidkneeling with tear-streaked face, I hold in my hand the stone that killed my sister, let the wives

touch it and if nothing happens to them, then they will be completely exonerated the Ogie-awa

nodded and asked his wives to step forward, they all did fearfully. He asked the first wife to pick

up the bone, kneeling down, she declined and said the task should start with the youngest wife.

The Ogie-awa then asked the youngest to pick up the bone, she was too afraid to disobey the

Ogie-awa but she was also afraid of the potency of the charm, as she shuffled on her feet,

Omughas sister threw the small charm at her and the minute it touched her, she turned to a

stone, she picked up the pebble and threw it at the other two, as they struggled to flee, the stone

touched the second wife and as she turned into stone, she grabbed the hand of the first wife and

they were eternally turned into stone. As the crowd screamed at the spectacle before them,

Omugha sneezed and stretched there was an instant uproar!

She was assisted to her feet and the Ogie-awa for the first time ever wept openly as he hugged

his young bride.

Seven days later, Omugha was married to the Ogie-awa amidst her father, the prince, her

watchful sister and the whole village. The place where the three wives stood as statues was

covered by palm fronds and they were referred to as the three evils.

They stand there till this day.

The End

Old Mama's Tales

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Transcript of Old Mama's Tales