Chapter one
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CHAPTER ONE
Everyone has a story to tell, or rather we all have different stories. Stories about love, passion, romance and so on, stories on how we strive to attain a certain goal or position. This is the story of a certain girl, ÓLOTÜRÉ.
Now let me tell you about oloture, she was born under a strange circumstance she wasnt born in a hospital like most babies, or even at home, she was birthed at the foot of a giant kolanut tree at the stroke of midnight. You may be wondering what a pregnant woman due for labour, was doing outside at such ungodly hour.
Chidera as she was fondly called was a young woman in her early twenties who was in a relationship with a yoruba man, Olakunle; olakunle was from a village called Adeoti but due to crisis which arose between adeoti and aremu village, he had to flee for his life when it seemed like their enemies were gaining grounds on them, and then he settled in the village of Oola where he met chirera.
The people of oola were very receptive and kindhearted towards him but they only asked for a favor, never to have any form of sexually immorality with any maiden from the village as it is a taboo to the gods of the land and their ancestors. At first it wasn’t any challenge to him, he himself doesn’t even fancy igbo ladies, according to him he likes his ‘Yoruba goddesses’, round and fleshy with the scent of ewedu leaves on her soft ebony skin and not all these ‘mami water’ as her often refers to igbo maidens.
But fate has other plans and he met chidera. She was the only thing that mattered at that time, the bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, he fell head over heels in love with her and she felt the same way. Fast forward to a few months later chidera found out ahe was pregnant for him, but before then he has been warned by concerned villagers who knew of their relationship with chidera but he paid no heed. No matter how they tried to hide the fact that she was pregnant, the villagers found out as her stomach kept protruding by the day and the matter got to the igwe who then summoned them to his palace. Although the igwe was a kind man he was very enraged because an abomination has been committed and woe would befall the village under his reign.
He sent them back home hoping to speak to the dibia and see what could be done. Little by little evil started to befall the village, the streams, rivers, waterfalls all dried up to the last drop and darkness seemed to overshadow the whole village. Children started dying mysteriously and the igwe summoned the dibia again with the hope that the gods will speak this time and the did . The only way to overcome this evil that has befallen the village was to kill the child in chideras womb and use the blood to cleanse the land. At this time chidera was already nine months gone. Hearing this, Olakunle would have none of it, he cannot let his own first blood be killed in cold blood and he vowed to protect his family
He went home with his woman and the planned ro escape the village at the dead of the night. But the igwe has other plans for them. He sent out his guards to storm their hut that same night and bring chidera to the shrine where the purification would take place. Olakunle put up a good fight but what is the strength of one man compared to about five strong palace guards. Eventually he was killed. Now that brings us to what a pregnant woman is doing outdoors at such ungodly hour.
She ran as fast as she could, for her life and that of her baby is at stake. Adrenaline rushing, heart thumping, and breath heaving, she ran not stopping. But the whole scenario threw her into early labor and right at the foot of the kolanut tree she began to push. No midwife, no bed, in the cold windy night she birthed her daughter. She could hear the footsteps and see the fire lights of the guards approaching her direction, she quickly said a prayer and covered her newly born with some of the dried leaves at the foot of the tree and began to drag herself towards another direction for she knew if she had carried her baby both of them would have been captured. She kept dragging herself slowly for she has already lost a lot of blood from the delivery, and praying to God that her baby is found by someone who isnt after her baby’s life.
She grew weaker and weaker until she finally gave up the ghost, by the time the guards got there she was already dead. They searched around her for rhe baby but couldn’t find it and gave up the search thinking the baby had died inside her. The guards returned to the palace awaiting the break of dawn.
Meanwhile a middle aged woman was seen carrying the new born wrapped in a bundle from her wrapper and a piece of leaf walking towards the outskirts of the village. It had happened that the woman was awoken from the commotion and decided to go outside, she saw chidera at the foot of the tree from afar and by the time she got closer she saw the baby covered in dried leaves, but a leaf caught her attention. She picked up the leaf raises it up to rhe moonlight because it seemed something was written on it. And behold ‘OLOTURE’ was written in blood and she assumed it was the name given to the baby by its mother. This is how oloture was born.
