chapter 1
Chapter 1
Having stayed in the sea for about fifteen minutes, Agu was agitated; he thought that his friend might be in some kind of trouble. He cried out, calling his name but there was no response. “Oh my gods of Udi, what will I tell his parents?” As he took a step to rush to the village, Enyi emerged from the sea like one who has conquered a big challenge, and called him back: “Agu! And on turning around, he saw Enyi who was seriously laughing at him.
“Are you scared?” Enyi ask.
“What is wrong with you, do you want to kill me?”
“Don’t be scared my friend, nothing will kill me in my home, the sea is my second home.”
“All I am saying is that you don’t repeat this again.”
Enyi and Agu were childhood friends; they became very close when they heard that their birth days were on the same day. Everybody in their community knew how they came about. They became very close, thereby calling themselves twins from different mothers. They do a lot of things in common but they have different natures. While Agu is afraid of the sea and enjoys farming in their little farm land, Enyi loves anything called water. He swims like a fish. Several times he has come home with big fishes that people of his age group cannot catch. In many cases, the fishes were distributed to some of the people in the community.
Enyi came from an island named Udi. They were surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. Their main occupation is fishing and all their festivals are connected with their occupation. The biggest of their ceremonies is the fishing competition.
During the competition, different age groups compete differently and the winner receives an award, a tittle. Enyi has always been the winner in his group but he has never received a tittle because of his age.
After the festival, the people of Udi will take the fishes to other communities were they trade their fishes by batter to get other food stuffs. There was no road leading to these communities except by sea, so they go with their only means of transportation, their canoe
The people of Udi are very peaceful; there has never been any war or problem of any kind in their community. People living in the mainland never come to them because they are afraid of the sea and as a result of this; the people of Udi deemed it useless to become trained warriors. They believed that the ocean is enough protection for them.
When Enyi was born, his parents took him to the sorcerer as tradition demands to tell his future, and they were told that people will change his name and that he will be a warrior. For years they were not able to know the meaning of what they were told because there has never been any war in their village, and there are no warriors. They decided to wait patiently to see the outcome. One day, while he was still a month old, his grandmother was bathing him when his legs touched her waist little Enyi put his legs on the waist and stood up. Everybody laughed but his parents did not laugh.
Years passed, and at his eleventh year, his frequent visit to the sea and his love for it became so much that his friends began to call him Enyimmiri (sea elephant) instead of his real name Enyinna (father’s friend.) his parents were happy that one of the prophecies has gained fulfillment.
His activities in the river became so much that his parents were very worried especially when people started disappearing from their village. It is believed by the villagers that the gods of the sea are responsible for the disappearances. They speculated that maybe the spirits needed more people in their kingdom, so whoever comes to the sea alone or in the evening is taken by the gods.
Parents started warning and guiding their children. They king sounded much warning for everybody to be careful.
Enyi’s mother tried several times to keep him at home but he gave no attention to their warning
Enyi had an unusual childhood; he never played like other children who practice masquerades, dancing, hide and seek.
The only play he involves himself in is wrestling. When he wrestles, his back never touches the ground. People say his skin is very smooth and slippery. When one wrestles with him for the first time, one would think he rubbed some kind of oil that makes it impossible for his opponent to hold him; he is as slippery as a fish.
Sometimes he wrestles with the wind, throwing himself to the ground as if someone was hitting him, and sometimes hitting the ground just like when he is hitting someone. People watch and laugh at him while some can’t imagine how he has this much strength at his age.
Enyi was born in the time when slavery was talk of the town, but his people were not aware of what it was all about. They never knew that it was the slave traders who caught people they claim to have been disappearing.
One day, his mother called him and advised him to stop going to the sea because she does not want him to be taken by the sea gods. “You can play in the village or under the moon light with your friends; every kind of fun is here in this small but mighty community of ours.”
“You are mistaken mother. There is nothing to admire here. At the ocean, I can watch stones glitter in the sunshine like diamonds on dewdrops. I love seeing the big and small fishes swim gracefully in the water, the rays of sun emanating from the sky down to the ocean as if they are connected to each other. I love it when it waves; exposing some precious treasures of the world and making us realize that the water has boundaries.”
“I love to watch birds of different species, sizes and colours fly on top of the sea. All these and more I cannot see from the village.”
Enyi caused his mother to meditate on things she never thought of before, and after sometime, she said “it is pleasant for one to admire nature my son, but the sea is dangerous. People are missing in this village. Rumor has it that the gods of the sea are taking them, that is why I am begging you to stop going there for now.” “I have heard you mother, but believe me, the sea is not dangerous. One day we will find out where those lost people had gone. I certainly believe that there is more to their disappearance than the gods of the sea taking them.” He stood up and left his mother’s presence.
Enyi tried to please his mother, but he couldn’t stay away from the sea for as long as one week. He sneaks away to the sea, but gives out the fishes he caught so that his mother will not find out about his frequent visit to the sea.
