"My children, let me tell you, the day you see the dog roaring or you see a hen barking, do not fear, do not panic, the gods have come to visit" Baba Wande said, his eyes glintng with delight under the full moon.
The ninety year old famous Ajipon hunter was as it again; his tale-telling. Tonight, however, his story was different, the same story he loved telling which made people tag him as the mad Baba Wande.
"The gods will visit us, my children. I have read the signs. It is so sad the people of Ajipon have failed to see it too"
As soon as he begins this weird moonlight tale of his, Parents would withdraw their children from him and wonder what wine the man had drunk again. Old age had rendered the hunter useless yet Baba Wande failed to see he was already old. Most of the times, you see him grabbing his gun and heading for the forest, yelling he had to kill 'the big Antelope'.
Tonight, only fve children remained with him, the presence of these fve was no problem if they listened to him. Two of them were child slaves, one was an orphan while the last two had Parents whose hobby was to fght morning, noon and night. Baba Wande leaned backward in his reclining chair and stared absent-mindedly at the full moon. The mosquitoes were out looking for victims who would quench their thirst for blood. The crickets chirped and the birds cooed as a gentle wind blew against the trees and almost put out the candle casting its light on them.
"Baba, why have the gods come to visit?"
"Thank you omo mi (my child). When the top has come to meet the ground, sometmes it does not
mean the end has come. Sometmes, it means the gods have answered our prayers"
Baba Wande's sixth wife came out of the house, her grandchild strapped to her back.
"Oya, let Baba rest, it's almost midnight"
"Dewunmi, do not disturb them, I haven't fnished my tale"
"I will not listen to you now, everyone has gone to sleep. Oyaa, children, go home, there is always tomorrow"
"Have you not heard, you stubborn wife? Tomorrow may never come"
But Dewunmi was not listening. She was already ushering the children up.
"Where is my gun? I say, Wande!!!" That was his long dead frstborn, "Where is my gun? The big Antelope has turned into my wife"
"Baba, what did the gods bring? How were our prayers answered?" The orphan child asked, ignoring Dewunmi's glare.
Baba Wande smiled, suddenly forgetting.
"They visited us with a son"
"Baba!!Baba!!" A shrill cry flled the night and they all looked as a thin woman ran towards them, a
lantern swinging in her hand, trying at the same tme to te her loosening wrapper.
"That is Asake" Dewunmi said, surprised.
"Baba, your child, Wura" Asake said, pantng heavily, "She is in labour"
"Oh, the tme has come. Oya, let's go now and Dewunmi, bring my gun. The big antelope might atack
us"
Dewunmi clearly ignored him.
*** *** ***
He could feel it even before he reached the village. His heir was on its way.
"Hurry up, Adigun. I must witness my child's birth" Dele said, adjustng the load on his back.
"I am happy for you, Dele. Not many brave men like you go on a journey like this and come home to
such good news. How are you sure it's tme?" Adigun asked, trying to keep up with Dele, the lamp ted
to his head, bouncing up and down.
"A father knows when his bundle of joy is coming" Dele said, proudly. "This child is special, I can feel it"
"You're one lucky father"
Suddenly, the ground paved way under Dele's feet and the happy man found himself falling
headlong into a hole.
"Dele!!!" Adigun yelled.
When Dele landed with full force on the ground, he was sure he heard his bones break.
*** *** ***
Baba Wande held the new born baby boy by its heels. The baby wailed loudly, its wails flling the night. It was covered in fresh blood.
Asake was crying. Dewunmi couldn't believe her eyes.
"Haa, Wura!!How soon Death has taken you" Asake said.
Wura was dead. The young beautful girl had died while giving birth. Yet, Baba Wande didn't seemto care. He was looking at his grandson, a grin spreading across his old face.
He raised the baby up, upside down and said with a loud voice.
"My eyes have seen the promised child. Welcome Oronkot!!!"
That night, Baba Wande's tomorrow never came.
Two:
The family house of the Adeoye was bustling with excitement and actvites. Today was a special day,
a very special one indeed. As the nursing mothers pounded yams in mortars, the young girls of the
house busied themselves with picking melon seed. The men flled the gourds with fresh morning palm
wine while the old women sliced the vegetable leaves. The village drummers flled the air with their
amazing drumming while the singers eulogized the women and men working, apparently seeking for
their share of the food. Women who could bathe their litle children did so quickly, the children eagerly
waitng to try on their new "ofs".
Neighbours and family friends gradually began to show up, not without exchanging pleasantries with
the extended family of the Adeoyes. Then they would troop into the biggest house in the compound
which belonged to Dele Adeoye.
The man himself was sitng on his chair, a vibrant-looking man who had not yet lost hope of
walking again. The last tme he had walked had been twenty years ago.
Ajipon's most hardworking farmer, Dele had the biggest farm and barn in the village. He was also a
great exporter of cocoa even to the Whitemen. Considering his paralysis, his daughters and wives took
care of the farm for him. He was a proud man with fve wives and twelve children.
The last of his wives who had been his favourite had died the night she gave birth to her frst child.
Wura by name, Dele had fallen madly in love with her and planned to make her the mother of his heir.
Not that Dele had no sons. His frst wife had bore him two sons but he failed to count them as sons. One
was an imbecile, a disappointment to Dele while the second was sound minded yet the foolish boy had
decided to behave like a mad boy. He was as disobedient as a goat whose owner had abandoned and as
spoilt as a son whose father ruled the world.
Dele had every reason to be dejected but instead he blessed his village with his immense
generosity and joviality.
"Adewale, it is you. Welcome, joy shall never depart from our homes" Dele greeted as visitors streamed
in, "Mama Biyi, do not mind your old son, I did not see you. How is Biyi and his oyinbo (white)
wife?...Hmm.. The man himself, the only man to which the palm trees are as short as the orange tree..
Dayo elemu (palm-wine tapper), you're welcome"
Soon the large sitng room was flled with visitors. Dele was the most happiest father on earth
today. He kept ordering more wine for his visitors.
"Mama Bunmi, has the wine fnished? Why have you and your children chosen to move like snails
today?....Olu, you must eat Mama Shade's bush meat. Even the grasshopper will begin to look like bush
meat if you do" His statement was responded with laughters. "Don't worry Dele, I have come here to
fnish your palm wine and iyan (pounded yam). I even told my wives not to prepare any meal for me
when I come back" Adewale said.
"Very good. When it comes to feasts as this, be prepared to fll your stomach. I, myself, will not let
everyone go without them getng flled"
"They are here!!They are here!!" Female voices cried from outside with great excitement.
The new visitors were ushered in with Chief Adeot, the richest man in Kankare village, the frst
man to buy a bicycle and the frst man to send his children into the whiteman's land, taking the lead.
People said he housed his wealth inside his protruding belly. His well starched agbada could buy Dele's
family house and his shoes were said to have been imported from England where he had sent his
children to.
"My in-law, my in-law" He greeted Dele, smiling and making his fat cheeks look even fater.
"Chief Adeot, the man whose house wealth has refused to leave, the olowo (wealthy) of Kankare,
welcome" Dele said and ofered him a stool.
"Dele, Agani bless you. He who says you will not be my in-law will choke on a bone and batle with it tll
he sees his grave. I am here, Dele and I have brought your gif. What do they say that a man goes to a
woman's home to marry her but today, I have changed that. I have brought my daughter to marry your
son"
"If I say I can't wait to see her, let it not be I will be suspected to be eyeing my daughter-in-law" Dele
said and people laughed, Chief Adeot laughed the loudest.
"Nevertheless, where is the beautful ower you have brought?" Dele added.
"Owosola!!, come in and meet your father-in-law" Chief Adeot called.
Immediately, singings and drummings could be heard from outside. Women danced and swayed their
waists to the beats, ushering a dark-skinned tall girl in. She was dressed in an expensive of sown into
iro, buba and gele (head gear). She was extremely beautful and when she smiled, she showed a perfect
set of white teeth. She knelt before Dele and the proud man blessed her.
"May Agani bless you. May you be fruitul in your husband's house..May you live happy and long in your
husband's house...The wicked ones will not fnd their way into your home..."
As he prayed, people responded with ase (amen).
"Ose omo mi (thank you my daughter). As long as it is from your heart you wish to marry my son, there
is no obstacle, from heaven or from man, that will stop this joining" Dele turned to his third wife, Asake
by name. The caring woman had nursed his heir from birth," Go and call the groom. Tell him it's tme to
see his wife"
Asake smiled and bowed slightly. Then she signalled to the drummers, singers and the groom's
male friends to follow her. The men danced excitedly as they walked towards his room.
Asake stopped in front of his door and knocked three tmes.
"My son, it is tme to see your wife. Everyone is waitng for you.. I have come to fetch you"
With this Asake opened the door. But to her greatest surprise, she found the groom's keeper, Rant,
who was to guard the groom tll he got married to evade any foul play, gagged and ted on the mat. The
only window in the room was lef wide open...
Oronkot, the groom was no where to be found....
Three:
Who did not know Oronkot? Who will dare to lie that he has never heard of the young energetc
good-looking man whom every mother wished were her son?
Oronkot Adeoye was twenty years old , yet in his twenty years in this world, ever since he had
started walking, the people of Ajipon had seen a divine uniqueness in him.
Every youth wanted to be like him, every damsel wanted to marry him. He had his mother's
charming beauty, his father's perfect fgure, his hair was as dark as the night, his strong hands gripped
the spear and made animals shudder. If Oronkot shot at an animal, he never missed. His eyes were as
sharp as an eagle's, his dimples made him so handsome when he smiled and his deep voice only made
his strong built more perceptble.
Today, instead of being at his wedding, Oronkot was seen walking around the village, carrying
alongside him his epidemic cheerfulness. As he went, he rendered help to his fellow villagers. He helped
the old woman carry her bundle of frewood into her home. He helped Ayinka, the butcher catch and
return his eeing goat.
"Agani bless you, my son" Ayinka prayed.
The kids who wanted badly a ripe mango high on the mango tree got help from him. The drummers
praised him as he passed. Oronkot made sure he didn't leave without showing them his dancing skills.
He helped a widow repair her leaking thatched roof and when he saw a farmer's kids bringing back
home huge sacks of yam, he lent a helping hand, refusing ofers to take home some tubers of yams.
This was what he loved doing. Oronkot viewed it was his destny to help the people of Ajipon. Not
that his father never liked what he was doing but the paralysed man was too imposing. Oronkot hated
that.
"I know you never listened to me even as a small boy and I don't frown on that because you are a man.
But if I talk to you concerning this issue, do not say your father has come again o. If I break a kolanut
with my mouth and ofer it to you, you can refuse it but if I talk to you with this same mouth, do not
reject my words" Dele had said, one bright morning, on the day Oronkot turned eighteen.
"What is it, father?" Oronkot asked.
"You're now a man my son and you need to start thinking about your future. I am so sorry I am unable
to walk or I would have gone out there to fetch you a wife. My son, it's high tme you got married"
Oronkot had clearly refused. A wife wasn't his priority as for now but the truth was that, Oronkot
was a proud handsome man. He couldn't tell his father but he loved the way the unmarried men in the
village envied him and the way every damsel wanted to be his. Now to go and get married would taint
his pride. Besides, he saw the way his father lived with his step mothers. Women were too nagging and
demanding.
"You stubborn son, at your age, I already had three wives!!" Dele had yelled angrily afer Oronkot had
sent away a young girl his family had used to set a trap for him. He had been sleeping on his mat when
the prety girl had walked in and had chosen to sleep beside him. Oronkot had given a strangled cry and
sent the girl away immediately.
"I am not you, father!!" Oronkot had said back.
"May Agani burn that wide mouth of yours!!"
When Oronkot had turned nineteen, he had celebrated it by going into the forest and killing a bush
pig with his bare hands. The drummers whom Asake had employed to come and praise her son, had
eulogized him from morning tll night. But Oronkot had heard his sisters say
"They praise him like he is truly a man. He is so scared of getng married I have never seen him try to
woo a girl. All he does is aunt at them his strong build and those silly girls fall for him shamelessly"
"He'ld never marry anyone of them. I wonder if he has anything between his legs"
Now his father had really stepped out of his boundary to forcefully get him married.
His suspicions had started one very night when he had returned back from hanging out with his
friends and he had seen Chief Adeot come out of his father's room. They had been talking in hushed
tones and had stopped immediately they heard him come in.
"How are you, Oronkot? Bless the man who has you as his son, not that I won't have you eventually"
The man had winked at him.
Oronkot detested the Adeots but had had heard they had one very beautful daughter. Oronkot
remembered his father always teased him when he was younger that would eventually one day become
Owosola's husband.
Then the family began to buy foodstufs and new clothes.
"Who is celebratng, father?" Oronkot had asked his father.
"My friend, Chief Adeot. He is bringing the celebraton to our house"
Then Rant, one of his father's friend's son began to follow him everywhere he went to. Surprised,
Oronkot had asked his best friend, Alamu, why he was been followed.
The wide mouthed talkatve had let the cat out of the bag.
"That is what they do to a man who is about to get married"
Oronkot frowned.
"But I'm not getng married"
Alamu began to choke falsely, fnding every means to leave Oronkot.
"Your mouth like basket that can't retain water, tell me now, what do you know?" Oronkot demanded.
"Odaa( okay) I'm not sure but your sister told me you are getng married tomorrow"
"Owuuu (no!!) who is planning the marriage?"
"Who else than your father? See my friend, just pick one of these prety girls in the village and make her
your wife. It's not a disease. Aren't you lucky any girl would break Agani's shrine just to be your wife
unlike us who have been stucked with bad luck when it comes to girls"
" I thought my sister agreed to marry you?"
"But will your father agree to join us? He believes if we are joined and we have children, our children
early morning duty would be to spread rumours. Is that what I do? Tell me, Oronkot"
Oronkot pretended as if he knew nothing and had even happily received his new, expensive cloth.
While everyone had been busy outside, he had overpowered Rant, ted him up and escaped.
His father was not going to pick his bride.
*** **** ***
William Henderson was a Britsh, a young eighteen year old boy who had had no choice than to follow
his widower of a father, Charles Henderson to the contnent they all called 'Black Hell'- Africa. Charles
was a colonial master whose zeal for the atainment of more wealth by Britain had driven him to come
to Africa.
William hated the contnent at frst but no sooner than his father had begun to win more towns for
the Britsh, his hatred changed into that of pride. These blacks were fools. Most of them sold their towns
to the hands of the Britsh just for a pair of shoes. Infact, one king had given fve of his children to them
in exchange for a standing mirror!!. The illiterate blacks feared them. When it came to ordering them,
they obliged because they had seen what they (the whites) could do with their guns.
William walked proudly to the stream to have his bath, anked by two burly built blacks, assigned
by his father to protect him. The stream was at the outskirts of a village called Ajipon, a village his father
had yet to conquer. Only for a short tme, he thought. The hot sun was down and this afernoon, it
seemed to be shining down all its hotness. It burned his skin and William winced in pain. One thing he
hated about Africa's sun. It seemed when God made the sun, it had frst risen in Africa and by the tme it
would reach the Whitemen's land, it had wasted all its energy. A bath in the stream would do, William
thought, longingly.
However, when they got to the stream, three girls were about to fetch water into their water pots.
"Heyy!!Leave this stream at once, it is to be used by our boss" One of his guards said.
The girls eyed him biterly and hissed.
"And why should we leave this stream for a mere white man? Tell him to go back to his country and act
as king over all the streams they might have there" A girl with a bold stature said.
"How dare you talk to him like that?!!Leave at once or you will regret it"
"Tell them I am losing my patence" William said.
"Aren't you even ashamed of yourselves?" A very short girl said," Threatening your own people for
useless white animals who think they own the world?"
"Let them be. As for this stream, we will not leave here untl we have flled our waterpots" The third girl
said, light in complexion.
The guard suddenly grabbed one of their water pots and smashed it on the ground. The short girl
let out a sstrangled cry.
"My mother's pot!!"
"Cry from now tll tomorrow, if you do not leave I will break your legs next" The mindless guard said.
Just then, a voice asked.
"Is something wrong? Do you have any problem with the girls?"
It was Oronkot. The girls began to smile as soon as they saw him.
"Ehn, Ehn, You're fnished today. Don't mind this shameless man. He broke my friend's waterpot
because one oyinbo wants to use the stream" The bold stature girl said.
"Young man, stay out of this" William warned.
"Haa, my boss, we have to leave now, haven't you heard of this man?" The second guard said fearfully.
"Who is he?" The frst guard sneered.
"Let me introduce myself, I am Oronkot"
"Haha, Oronkot, the bold one of Ajipon. I have heard of you but sadly, I am a man who sees untl he
believes"
"Bayo, you shall not fght him" The second guard warned.
Bayo hit his chest with his palm.
"I am Bayo, the brave son of Akanni. My father didn't teach me to be a coward"
"I hope you do not leave here blind because you will see too much" Oronkot said, fearlessly.
"Let see what you're made of" Bayo challenged.
The two big men dashed at each other and tried to topple one the other. The fght lasted for two
minutes and ended with Oronkot pinning Bayo to the ground, pouring sand into his mouth. The girls
cheered Oronkot but jeered Bayo.
"Yes, eat the earth you coward. Oronkot has you to the ground. How dare you challenge him?"
William and his guards ran without looking back afer Oronkot released Bayo, ordering them never
to come back.
"Let me help you beautful maidens with your water pots"
"Thank you, Oronkot" The girls chorused.
"But wait, Oronkot, aren't you supposed to be at your wedding?" The light skinned girl asked.
"Do you girls want me to get married? Because as for me, Oronkot, I am stll yet to fnd my bride"
****** ***
Afer Oronkot helped the girls carry their water pots home, he decided to take a walk in the Ajipon
dangerous forest. He had heard tales of the forest. Apart from harbouring evil spirits, it also harbored
dangerous wild animals. But Oronkot cared less. He just wanted to get far away from home for the day.
As he neared the heart of the forest, he began to hear panicked voices. Oronkot crouched low,
straining to hear the voices again. He raced to where it was certainly coming from and swept a cluster of
leaves sideways to see what was going on.
Few metres from him, he saw a group of people, standing stll, fear writen on their faces. Two men
held spears and pointed it forward while the others were females, fve of them. They were scared of
something possibly in front of them.
They had to be, because right in front of them and ready to devour them was a big maned
lion.........
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