Chikaima sat cross-legged as she listened to Grandma’s tales of the famous Iyi Nzu, a renowned river in Chekwurube village.
“Once upon a time…’’ Grandma began, her eyes lighting up as if she could remember vividly all that had happened when Chukwuabiama was still living with the forefathers of Chekwurube village.
Utomba was the village princess. Her eyes shone like the moon and her skin was brighter than the sun. People called her Omalicha because she was the prettiest maiden in the whole land. She lived by the riverside and nobody knew who her parents were. Rumour had it that she was created by the mermaid that lived inside the Iyi Nzu River.
Year in and year out, troops of young men from all around the world would visit Iyi Nzu River just to watch her do her famous agbara dance. Whenever she danced, her body quivered and bounced, and her legs would move in beautiful rhythms to a music that only she could hear. Rumor also had it that she might have been created by Chukwuabiama himself who occasionally came down from Eluigwe to keep her company. On days when he was busy answering the prayers of his children all around the world, he would send down his servants to come down from Eluigwe to play beautiful songs for her.
“Are there instruments in Eluigwe?” Chikaima asked. Her big brown eyes dazzled in awe as she imagined what Eluigwe music would sound like.
“Of course.” Grandma replied. “Eluigwe music cannot be compared to any other music in the entire world. They have Udu, Oyo, Gongo and so many other instruments that we on earth have neither heard nor seen.”
Chikaima frowned as she asked again, “What of Violin, Guitar and Piano?”
Grandma smiled and patted the little child on the cheeks. “Those were handmade and will not sound as sweet as the ancient instruments carved by Chukwuabiama himself.”
“So, what happened to Utomba, did she die?” Chikaima asked again.
Grandma’s eyes took on a sad expression as she heaved a bitter sigh.
No one can tell exactly what happened to her. She took advantage of the fact that men worshipped her beauty and started demanding meat, yam, palm wine and other things from the men who usually went to watch her do her yearly agbara dance. But, one day, there was a great noise at the Iyi Nzu River. A palm wine tapper who was nearby at that time, said he saw her battle with a big python that had wings. A few days later, she disappeared and to date, no one knows what happened to her.
“Could it be that Chukwuabiama was angry at her for collecting food items from men when he was already supplying her with all she wanted?” There were tears in Chikaima’s eyes as she asked the question.
“Maybe she ate from a tree that Chukwuabiama warned her not to eat from.” Grandma replied quietly.
Was it an Udara tree?
Some say it was an Ube tree.
Why did Chukwuabiama tell her not to eat from the ube tree?
Nobody has an answer to that. Maybe he was trying to protect her from something we don’t know about…
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Mary Uduma is a Nigerian content writer with a professional background in journalism. She prides herself in storytelling, blog writing, book publishing, and search engine optimisation. She recently published a book on Selar titled BECOMING THE WOMAN OF YOUR DREAMS. Mary loves literature and all it entails. Creating compelling imagery with words is what she lives for. Children’s literature is a new passion she has taken up. According to her, an opportunity to allow her readers to visualise scenery with their mind’s eye is a euphoria that words can’t express.
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Read – The Special Child in Class 6A – A Children’s Literature by Munachim Frank-Dobi – Nigeria
Great storytelling. Thanks
Great storytelling.