chapter 2

Echi was from Umuolu, a village filled with people whose ancestors were mainly immigrants from Afam. The first settlers in Umuolu probably gave the village its name because of their indulgence in productive activities, which has led many to become farmers, woodcarvers, and hunters.

The people of Umuolu were known to have war with many of the neighboring villages, and they usually came back victoriously with the spoils gotten from the raided villages. They sometimes came with girls, which they captured to ease the sexual desire of the men who went for the war. This brutal display of power by Umuolu through war, made the fear of Umuolu spread through the villages which had not been raided. Those villages came together in a meeting and decided that five girls should be given to Umuolu every new yam festival so that the warriors of Umuolu would not attack their villages and destroy it. This idea was welcomed by the people of Umuolu, especially the men who saw it as a means of marrying new wives without the payment of bride price. The women of Umuolu were not pleased with the offer presented because some of the girls posed a threat to their marriages and affected their relationships with their husbands, but wiser and more experienced older women saw it as an opportunity to reduce the laborious work which was on their shoulders.

One of the girls brought to Umuolu was from Umuoku. Her name was Olanna. She was a very beautiful woman with a unique smile. She was so stubborn that she refused all men of Umuolu as husbands. Most of them became angry and came together to decide a proper punishment for her. One of the rejected men was provoked to speak during the gathering when he could no longer hide his disgust. “Imagine, a slave from Umuoku telling us that she cannot marry us. Just imagine that,” he said.

“Some women don’t know the value of men. That is one of the reasons why they can open their mouth and say anything they feel like saying,” another added. 

The men of Umuolu finally decided that the appropriate punishment for Olanna was to bury her alive. They felt it would serve as a warning to any girl who refused to comply with them, to comply with their terms.

When the day for Olanna’s death came, she did not show any sign of remorse. Instead, she kept quiet and folded her hands as the diggers kept on removing the sand from the red earth. 

Echi, who was one of her admirers, pleaded with the men to change their decisions, but they declined. “Please, my brothers don’t kill her,” Echi said.

“Echi, go home and forget this woman,” one of them replied.

“How can I forget my heart? It is impossible.”

“You have to learn to live without your heart. Our decision is final.”

Echi argued with them for a long time, and they finally agreed to let her live when he offered a large portion of his land. 

“Your sacrifices are great, and because of the respect we have for your father, we will let her live, but don’t forget we warned you,” they said.

The diggers were angry at the wasted effort but got over it after they were given five she-goats and a hen. When the men left, Echi begged Olanna to follow him home, but she refused and only accepted when the sun sank deeper in the sky.

*

Echi spent most of his time cooking for her, feeding her, and doing all sort of work to please her, yet she did not agree to be his wife. Many nights he would come into her room, and many nights he would be sent away. He was so much in love with Olanna that he could spend all his life waiting for her. He kept on believing that a day would come when she would succumb to him, and that day eventually came, but it took a long time.

The day of Olanna’s submission to him came, and it was during one rainy season when Echi discovered that she was not at home. He ran out like a mad man and kept on screaming, “Olanna, my love!” 

When Olanna heard her name, she ran and hid in a bush, laughing at the foolishness of Echi. Some of the villagers who heard his shout came to his aid, but got angry and cursed him when he narrated his ordeal to them.

Evening came, and there was still no sign of Olanna. Echi felt all hope was lost and wept for her, for he dearly loved her. After pacing around for a long time, he sat at a corner of a path. His eyes were closed as he imagined being close with her In his hut, their hut. He kept on dreaming of her until he heard a loud cry. Swiftly, he ran toward the direction he heard the cry, and to his surprise, he saw his cherished Olanna, lying on the grass. Above her was a green snake, who seemed to derive pleasure from her constant screaming. It did not bite her. He moved quietly and grabbed a stick, which he used to strike the head of the snake. When the snake died with a long hiss, he carried Olanna home, on his back, and she did not resist, rather, she kept quiet until he dropped her on a bamboo bed and rubbed her body with palm kernel oil. 

Days passed, and Olanna improved. She became stronger, and when he asked for her hand in marriage, she gladly accepted. The marriage ceremony was set as soon as Olanna could walk properly. Echi made sure the marriage was held in a grand style. He invited men of honor and titles to grace the occasion, and he made sure everyone left the celebration feeling satisfied and filled. Most of the invited guests were pleased with the marriage, but they considered him a weak man because he wasted his time trying to woo Olanna, while the older women praised him for respecting Olanna and her feelings.

Two long years passed, and there was no child. this posed a threat to Echi and Olanna as his mother would constantly visit them and gaze at Olanna’s stomach, saying, “Is there a child in there?” 

Many times she would say, and many times, he would reply, “Mama, a child would come, we believe a child would come.”

“When will it come, Echi. I am no longer getting younger and I want to see my grandchildren before I die,” she would add and then look at Olanna in disgust. “Echi you are wasting your time with this woman. Go and marry another woman in this village that will bear you children since your cock has refused to bear you children.”

His mother never came to his compound without asking for her grandchildren, and he knew this made Olanna feel unhappy. His mother’s words were always tormenting and laid emphasis on her inability to produce children. Once, she had called Olanna “an infertile woman who had refused to receive the seed of life from her husband.”

Echi got tired of the consistent abuse meted on his wife daily and decided to seek advice from his closest friend, Uchendu. When he reached Uchendu’s hut, he greeted him and narrated his ordeal.

“Your problem is my problem. We will find a way to solve it after you have given life to your body,” Uchendu said. He went inside his hut and brought a gourd of palm-wine, which he gave to Echi. 

“This is life!” Uchendu said and sat down.

“Palm-wine is good for the body, but a man who carries a heavy burden on his shoulders is not meant to succumb to the deceit of palm-wine,” Echi replied.

“No, it is only a coward that will reject the taste of palm-wine because he harbors the fear that its content might intoxicate his head,” Uchendu said, and they laughed.

Echi pulled himself together after he drank the palm-wine. He returned the gourd to Uchendu, who accepted it and put it beside him.

“Uchendu, I have come to discuss my burden with you, not because I cannot manage it or think of a solution, but because I want to heed to the words of my father. It is better to chase a stubborn goat with two hands than with one.”

Uchendu cut him quickly and released his hand from his mouth. “I have heard you my good friend. I think I have a solution in mind.”

Echi nodded and gestured for him to continue.

“My friend, your problem is a minor thing. All you need to do is to meet our chief priest, and he will make your wife pregnant.”

Echi stopped the movement of his hands. Hands that had become toughened by the vigorous years of working hard. He looked at Uchendu and smiled for the first time since he arrived at his friend’s hut. His smile changed to laughter, and Uchendu joined him. When the laughter had died down, he looked at Uchendu again. “You are too wise to be a man. I have never regretted having a friend like you. Only the gods know how they would appreciate you for your kindness. I never thought of going to our chief priest; in fact, it never occurred in my mind. I wonder where my mind was going when this problem was eating me up. Well, I must go and do as you say. There’s no more time to waste.”

“Be patient. I know you want to go and see Isiewu. I can see the desire burning inside you. Before you leave, I have a gift for your wife.”

“My wife?” Echi said, touching his chest.

“Yes, your wife,” Uchendu said firmly.

“Don’t bother to bring the gift. My hands are weary and too tired to receive a gift.”

“How can you say your hands are tired when you can wrestle with a strange man, any day any time?”

Echi laughed again, louder. “You are good with using words that can tempt me.”

“I know.”

“Even if you praise me from now till tomorrow, my words will still remain the same”.

“Yes, your words might not change. I agree with you. But my words will still have an effect on you, I promise you that.”

Echi thanked Uchendu and left his compound. He decided to go back home and rest before taking his wife to the chief priest. When he reached home, he told Olanna the good news. She was happy but shocked at their mistake. “Why didn’t we think of it?” she asked.

“You cannot blame me. I was so bothered about the problem that I forgot to seek the help of the chief priest,” Echi said, then he held Olanna. “What is important is the solution and not how we got it.”

After they talked about how they will narrate her barrenness to the chief priest, Olanna decided they should both go early in the morning when everyone was still asleep, and he readily accepted. He ate the food Olanna prepared and went to sleep. 

In his dream, he dreamt that his grandfather was giving him triplets, which were all boys. As he tried to get hold of them, his grandfather drew them back. He walked slowly at first, beckoning the children to come to him. The more he came forward, the more his grandfather drew them backwards. When he saw that his slow pace was doing him no good, he started walking fast, but to his surprise, his grandfather was moving faster and dragging the children along with him. He became angry and started running. The more he ran, the more his grandfather’s movement increased. 

He stopped and looked at his grandfather in disgust. “Grandfather!” he shouted.

His grandfather beckoned him to come closer. He gathered his legs and started running again, with his hands stretched towards the children. He yelled and shouted until the children were out of sight. Suddenly, he was quickly woken up by the movement of feeble hands on him. 

“Echi, why are you shouting?” Olanna asked, tugging his shoulders.

He got up from the bamboo bed and looked from left to right to see if there were any signs of the children and his grandfather, but everywhere was empty, except for the presence of him and Olanna. He wiped his face and stood up, still not convinced that his grandfather had left with the children. 

He got up and opened the window and looked at every nook and cranny his eyes could travel to, but it was still the same. Empty. Void. He left the window and started searching every corner of the room, pushing things and throwing Olanna out of his way. Finally, he sat down and accepted the fact the children were gone with his grandfather.

“Echi, why are you pushing me around like a hunted goat?” Olanna said and started crying. Her tears were bitter, angry, and frustrated sobs that made her body move randomly.

Echi stood there, his hands hanging limply in his lap. He did not know what to say, how to tell her he was sorry for everything. He got up again, shut the window, and let her cry for a while. Then he bent to comfort her. As he soothed her, a lot of things ran through his mind. He was debating within himself whether she would remain childless or whether she would get pregnant and later lose it or whether she would give birth, and later, the children would die. His head ached as he thought of the possibilities of losing his unborn children. He wished he could get rid of the ache that hung so heavily on his head and tame it and then strike it. Why didn’t his grandfather leave the children for him? he thought. But how do I know if he is truly my grandfather when I never met my grandfather? 

Olanna released herself from his chest after many sobs and laid on the bed with her hands under her head. She had no choice but to wait for a child to come, a child she could call her own, and a child that would be formed by the two of them. Till then, she had to wait. She wiped her tears and told Echi to hold her hands. While his hands touched her skin, she closed her eyes. Then she faced him, her eyes looking into his, and said in a silent whisper, “You are wonderful.”

Echi bent over to hold her and heard her silent whisper, but he was far gone in his sleep. He slept for a while before he heard the sound of the cock, crow. He got up slowly from the bed and tapped Olanna on her back, and she obliged. They quickly had their bath and got dressed.

On the path that led to Isiewu’s shrine, their ears were constantly disturbed by the sound of whistling insects that communicated to their folks as they joyfully whizzed through the air.

“We will soon get there,” Echi assured her in a low voice.

The morning breeze blew and was accompanied by a rumbling sound. Olanna pressed her wrapper tighter around her body to shield herself from the cold that was steadily gaining entrance into the soft body that Echi caressed every night. They kept on walking and passed two men.

“Excuse me,” one of the men beckoned them with a lively tone. “Do you know the road to Umuolu?”

“You are already in Umuolu,” Echi replied.

The men chatted with Echi for a brief period. They asked him a lot of questions about Umuolu before bidding him goodbye.

“Who are they looking for?” Olanna asked when Echi returned.

“I don’t know. They might probably be looking for their relatives. Anyway, that is not our problem. It is their own problem.”

Olanna pointed to the chief priest’s hut when they arrived at the shrine of Isiewu. “Look at it,” she yelled as they approached the hut, raising her hands.

Echi heaved a sigh of relief as he stared at the hut on the outskirts of Umuolu. They dusted their feet on the earthen floor that stood as the veranda to Isiewu’s hut. The floor was covered with different designs. Some were made with white chalk and formed parallel lines, which were straight and finely curved at both edges, while others were made with black charcoal and formed strange heads of lizards and goats.

Isiewu welcomed and greeted them as they entered the shrine. He had white paint around his left eye and black paint around the right eye. This made him appear scary to most of the villagers. He walked with pride on his shoulders and made sure his footsteps were done orderly to suite his occupation. He carried nothing in his hand except for his goatskin bag, which contained his medicines and charms he used in solving the peoples problems.

Echi sat down, followed by Olanna. The chief priest studied the face of his visitors properly and gave a weak smile. “You are welcome, my son. You are welcome my daughter,” Isiewu said.

“Thank you, eye of the gods,” Echi replied.

Isiewu left them after a brief salutation and went inside his divination room. He returned with a goatskin bag and a changed face. He had cleaned up the white paint on his left eye and replaced it with blood. 

“What brings you here?” Isiewu asked, dropping his goatskin bag on the floor.

“Eye of the gods, our elders say, ‘a toad does not come running in the daylight unless something is after it.’ My wife is the reason why I am here.”

“Oh, I see,” Isiewu exclaimed, widening his eyes. 

He quickly set to work and brought out the materials that would help him communicate with the gods. He brought out the feather of an eagle, the eye of a goat, and three cowries, and then he rubbed his hands together. He placed the feather on the floor and put the eye of the goat on top of it. He grabbed the three cowries and shook it randomly while reciting some incantations. “The man who bears a heavy machete on his hands and cries for blood should be ready to dance with the spirit of a pregnant she-goat.”

After a series of incantations, he threw the cowries in the air, and they landed on the feathers. He frowned and shook his head.

“What is wrong, eye of the gods?” Echi asked.

Isiewu moved and stared at Echi, “Bring the palm of your wife,” he ordered.

Olanna gently shifted towards Isiewu and displayed her palm in front of him. He observed the three long lines that were in her palm and frowned. Two of the lines intersected at their edges, while the other was left alone to wander around freely.

“Badluck!” Isiewu declared.

The couple exchanged glances, they were not expecting Isiewu’s pessimistic reply, and their fears increased. Olanna cried again, cursing herself for her childlessness and the pains she gave to Echi. She wished she had died the day they wanted to kill her; at least, the smell of the dust is better than the smell of infertility. 

Echi gripped her hand tightly, trying to comfort her. He didn’t like to hear her lamentations. “Can something be done?” Echi broke the misery.

“Yes, she can bear a child. In fact, children, but there is no chance that your generation will live up to the fourth. I suggest it is better to remain childless than to waste your time looking for children. It is useless because your generation will still end.”

“Why do you say so, eye of the gods?”

“Echi, a curse have been made on our head, which restricts you from bearing children. The only way to break the curse is to pay a painful sacrifice. A sacrifice that will affect you badly and make your life meaningless. Useless. As we all know, nothing in this world is free. A man cannot harvest yams on a farmland when he has not levelled the ground for the yam tendrils to dwell.”

“I don’t understand, eye of the gods. Your words makes no meaning to my ears. What you speak is strange and beyond the understanding of the human mind.”

“You have to be brave, my son.” Isiewu laughed. “How can your ears be troubled when it is possessed by a man that chants war proverbs that diviners of Umuolu find difficult to interpret?”

Echi looked at Olanna; he saw fear in her eyes. She was afraid of not giving birth. And most of all, he knew she was afraid of his mother. He turned to Isiewu and furrowed his brows. “What can be done? What must be done?” he asked in a husky voice.

Isiewu stopped laughing and straightened up. “You want to have children?” 

“Yes, eye of the gods.”

“I can give you children. Every chief priest of Umuolu can do that, but I must first demand the offering of the gods.”

“What do you want? Goat, yams, hen. Just tell me what the gods want, and I will give it to them.”

“The gods don’t eat, so they don’t want your goats, neither do they desire your yams nor your hen. What they desire has been specially given to me by them. I am only their instrument, and whatever they say, I listen and do in accordance with the way they ordered. If you want children, you have to pay the ultimate sacrifice, which is life.”

“Whose life?” Olanna asked, staring at Echi.

“The gods desire your life. Only the life of the women brought to Umuolu yearly can break the curse. If you desire children, you have to sacrifice yourself for them. The decision of the gods are final.”

Outside, they stood on the veranda of the shrine, lost in thought. After some time, Echi broke the silence. “Will you do as he ordered?” Echi asked.

“Echi, I don’t know what to do. I am confused. How can I die for my children? It is impossible.” 

“Then I will remain childless all my life,” he said in a whisper.

“No, you cannot remain childless all your life. There must be another solution to this problem.”

“We already have a solution,” he said, holding her hands. “You have to die, Olanna, and that’s the only way out.”

“If I decide to die for my unborn children, how can I train them? Who will train them?”

“The gods know. The gods will take care of that.”

Olanna released her hands from Echi’s grip. “How can I be sure Isiewu is not lying?”

“Olanna, the chief priest never lies, and whatever he says is true. I know this is extremely hard. It is painful for you to die and for our unborn children to live. But we have no choice.” Echi paused and took a deep inhale through his nostrils. “Isiewu has told me everything will go smoothly, and in a month, you will get pregnant. Well, that can only be possible if you agree.”

Olanna turned her face away and stared at the impending danger waiting for her in a dark corner, ready to strike at any time. “When will I die?” she asked.

“Isiewu said you will die immediately after you give birth to three sons.”

“Three sons?”

“Yes, three sons. Just like those lines that run across your palm.”

“The benefits are tempting, Echi, but I can’t die like that. Let Isiewu ask the gods to give me more time to nurse the children. I need to breastfeed them and make sure they are strong. If I die after giving birth to them, who will take care of them? How will they survive without my breast milk? No! I can’t die like that. There must be a way out.”

Echi grinded his teeth in discomfort and touched her again. “What do you suggest we do?”

“Look for an alternative. There must be another solution. A solution that does not involve me dying immediately after giving birth. We can meet other diviners for better solution. After all, he is not the only diviner that exists in this village. There are other diviners that are better than him.”

“Look, Olanna, I am not happy as you are dying. But I have no choice than to accept the words of the chief priest of Umuolu. There is no diviner in Umuolu who is greater than Isiewu.”

“Echi, the gods did not demand for your life, that is why it is easier for you to say these things for me. If your life was requested, I doubt you will agree to the demands of the gods.” 

Echi raised his right hands and touched his forehead. “Do you want us to remain childless?” he asked again, putting his hands down.

“There must be something we can do. Anything. Let us ask Isiewu if he can extend my lifespan. That would be much better.”

They went inside and gave Isiewu their suggestion. They told him to increase Olanna’s lifespan or tell the gods to allow her to live longer to see the children mature. 

“I am sorry to carry this bad news. The gods are powerful, and their words are final. They cannot allow your wife to breastfeed the children before she die. They have decided her lifespan should not be increased. Olanna, I would advice you, listen to your husband and carry out the sacrifice in order to remove the shame and infertility you have placed on him,” Isiewu said.

“Can’t you reduce the children to one and spare my life?” Olanna suggested dejectedly.

“I am sorry. It is difficult to kill two and spare your life. The gods have made a decision which they cannot change. I am deeply sorry.”

Olanna felt lonely. She thought she was fighting for her life and a way to preserve it. All along, she had believed she would have a child because Echi had assured her that she would. But now that her fate had been declared by Isiewu, all her struggle seemed hopeless.

Inside her, she discarded the sacrifice and made up her mind not to die. She also reasoned the benefit of three sons and the pride it would bring to her husband, who had constantly been facing insult from friends and relatives because of her childlessness. She did not believe in diviners, men who threw cowries and waited for it to land on the feathers of decayed birds, men who were thieves and used cunning ways to deprive and exploit people as they pleased. That was how she saw them, felt them, thought of them, but yet she had a sudden urge to cooperate with Isiewu, although she knew the sacrifice Isiewu would perform on her body would be too painful to bear. How could she cope with hot palm oil on her body? It would be too hot for her body to bear. She would have to watch the hot red liquid flow from her head to her feet until she was completely or partly covered with blisters.

“I cannot do it,” she said firmly.

Isiewu laughed long and loud, which annoyed Olanna. 

“Your wife is wasting my time. She thinks I am joking and saying words that are of my own and not of the gods,” he said and faced Olanna. “Listen, woman, I am Isiewu, which means the head of goat. I cannot be the head and act like a tail. You are not the first barren woman to come here, and you would not be the last. There are some women who have paid more costly price in order to have children; yours is one of the least in my list. I have done many works, ranging from childbirth to marriage, and I have even contended with evil spirits, men of darkness who can suck your life within a short period of time. You can ask your husband how many spirits I have battled with. Yet I am still alive. I have gone to the land of the seven dwarfs where no man without a potent charm can venture to. I have dined with giants and came back from their world alive. Who does that? No one. Even the beast of the forest knows the sound of my footsteps. I know you are afraid, very afraid, but I can assure you that everything would perfectly go well.”

Olanna was confident of Isiewu’s potency, but she asked another question that puzzled her mind. “Isiewu, eye of the gods,” she said, imitating her husband. “You said my generation would not reach the fourth generation. Why is it so?”

“Woman, you ask stupid questions. Can’t you read the meaning in your palm? There are three lines which signifies three sons and three generations. So it is impossible for you to have a fourth generation. There is no need for you to bother yourself about having a fourth generation. The important thing is the three sons you would bear, or will you be alive to see a fourth generation? Our elders say, ‘It is better to have a feast today and die tomorrow than to manage a bowl of fufu for a year,’” Isiewu said.

“When would you do the sacrifices?” Echi asked. He had been silent for a short time.

“Tomorrow, by this time. Don’t worry, it would be brief.” Isiewu laughed again. It was a humorous laughter that terrified Olanna.

They left the hut of Isiewu, feeling great joy and great pain. The joy was more on the side of Echi, who was happy that he would soon be the father of three sons while the pain rested on Olanna’s lean shoulders.

“Echi, will you not miss me?” Olanna asked when she served their meal.

Echi stared at her and swallowed the last piece of yam. He dipped his hands in a bowl of water and washed them. “Olanna, I will miss you, but I will try to cope with your absence, especially when the male children are there to comfort me.” 

Olanna’s face changed, she was annoyed, and she left for their room. She was angry that he was not saying words that would comfort her. Instead, his words were only focused on the male children that were yet to be born. She felt that she was a tool to be used by her husband to achieve his selfish aim and not a wife that was to be loved. All these thoughts ran through her head, and she finally contemplated running away in the middle of the night when she was sure Echi would be fast asleep.

Night came as quickly as she had expected. She persuaded Echi to sleep early so that they could meet up with the sacrifices the following morning. “You need to sleep early,” she persuaded, rubbing his back slowly. 

“All right. I will sleep early just to please you.”

Olanna sprang into action when she heard the heavy snore coming from the nostrils of her husband. Slowly, she tiptoed out of the room and carefully closed the door behind her. She felt her wrapper slowly pulling away from her waist as she left Echi’s compound, but she did not care because of what was at stake. Only when she was sure she was far away from Echi, did she stop to tie it properly.

For the first time in her life, Olanna knew the worth of her life. She had never valued her life, even when she was about to be buried alive. But during the past few days, she had tried her best to cherish it. She turned towards the path that led to the stream of Umuolu as she walked quickly and hastily. She felt an intense pain in her chest when she reached the stream, and in a bid to reduce it, bent and drank some water. She stood up and turned around to follow the corner of the stream. Her heartbeat stopped when she saw Echi. She had been caught. Echi stared at her for a while. It was an intense look of shame and disgust, which tormented her whole body. It was followed by a series of shouts and regrets, which ended with her being dragged back home forcefully.

“You are trying to run away, isn’t it?” Echi asked when they got home.

“No, I am not.”

“Then what are you doing at the stream by this time of the night?”

Olanna kept quiet and waited for the interrogation to be through. She watched as his temper rose and subsided without her saying a word, then replaced by sorrowful tears, she had never seen before.

“Do you want me to remain childless? Do you want the villagers to laugh at me? Do you want my generation to end?”

“How can you say so, Echi? All I want is your happiness.”

Echi bent his head, not looking at her face. “Why did you run away?” 

“I was afraid. I didn’t want to die.”

“Then why did you deceive me?”

“I am deeply sorry, Echi. Please don’t look at my foolish mistake,” Olanna begged.

Echi looked at the earthen wall, and in his mind, he thanked the gods for the mosquitoes they had sent to disturb him, which made him aware of her absence. If she had left him, he knew he would never dream of having children in his entire life because most of the villagers had decided that only one bride brought from the unraided villages was enough for one man. Where would he get a girl from an unraided village as a sacrifice?

“I am deeply sorry,” Olanna pleaded again. Her eyes wandered at the darkness of his eyes as they sat side by side, not touching each other.

“Let us go back to sleep, and this time, I will keep a close eye on you before you attempt running away.” 

As they went back to their room, it occurred to Olanna that he did not act as she had thought. She was not even expecting him to talk to her calmly. She anticipated Echi would use the method that most men did to send messages to their wife in the village, which was beating and spanking. She had a vague feeling of guilt for running away from a man who saved her life and made her feel like a real woman with rights and dignities, and not a mere commodity to be purchased, used and thrown away. She knew he had accepted her death, and that could not mean he was utterly bad because most men in his position would do the same. Then who was to be blamed? The person who laid the curse on his head or the gods who made the greatest demand from her, which was her life? But one thing which baffled her the most was what the gods would gain from seeing her husband lonely without a woman by his side. The answer was there, and the truth was simple, the gods were wicked. They know the roles of women in the village, but why did they create them if they knew they would be offered back to them for their husbands to be pleased. Indeed! The gods were wicked.

She tried to imagine the face of her parents if her dead body was returned to their hut, and they were told the cause of her death. Her mother would cry till her tears became as thick as blood, and her father, an old man with a lively temper, would surely chase the people who brought her dead body since she was forcefully taken away from him.

At home, she would have had a perfect life, befitting of a queen, due to her position as the only child of her parents, but Umuolu people had spoilt everything good in her life. They had ruined her peace, love, and happiness she shared with her family and friends. They had abducted her and incurred hard conditions on her, but she was lucky, for some reason, not to be ill-fated like other girls who were taken by the eyes of lustful men and married to men with no regard for them. In that case, there was a glimmer of hope for her because she married a man who had given her the peace she would never have achieved if not for the priceless effort he had paid. So she knew it was right for her to do anything he requested. Finally, her decision was made. She was going to do anything for the man that loved her. If it was death, so be it. She was willing to embrace it until it drove her body to the land of no return, where her spirit would dine with the spirits of her ancestors and receive a memorable handshake for sacrificing herself for the benefit of her husband. Her mind was made up. No one could change it.