Wicked Sacrifice

Wicked Sacrifice Sacrifice the son of the god!!! Chief Olokodana looked at the other chiefs standing with sorrowful faces and nodded, “the man who voiced an opinion don’t necessarily die there. Since this has happened, we have no choice than to tell the king.” Chief Runkawe took the child from the midwife who held it up to no one in particular. “Such a pretty child; If only you were a boy,” he said with a heavy sigh. “The king would be devastated. He placed a lot of hope on this,” Chief Oluwo intoned his voice laden with emotion. “Oluwo, you said the oracle favours the king for a male child this time around. What happened?” Chief Olokodana asked. “I wish I knew. I saw a male child, and it was from the king’s eighth wife. Who knows what happened?” Chief Olokodana bent down, and peered into the beautiful face of the king’s wife who slept peacefully on the decorated mat. The labour had been long and suspense full. They had all prayed silently for the Olori’s safe delivery. She delivered safely all right, but contrary to their collective expectation. The midwife wiped her brow with the back of her hand. She bowed slightly, and left the room. “Maybe the gods are no more all seeing as they used to be,” Chief Oluwo suggested, looking at the other chiefs for confirmation. . “What? Oluwo, how can you say that,” Chief Runkawe’s face registered his shock. He hit the mud wall with his fist. He winched in pain. He frowned in surprise as if he expected the wall to be as soft as a banana tree. “Don’t commit sacrilege; the gods are still all seeing. You of all people should know that.” “I am not so sure anymore,” Chief Oluwo said in a voice barely audible. “Remember what that man who says there is only one god said.” How can they forget? They had all laughed at the stupidity of the man. One god indeed! How can there be only one god? No one god can cope with the various duties the gods has to perform! “He said the king would have a male child but the child is not conceived yet. This child whom our gods said would be a male child turns out exactly what the man said it would be- a female child. His idea of one god may be preposterous, his god sees well, maybe better than our gods.” “Oluwo” Chief Runkawe shouted, his weather beaten face red in anger, “what has gone into you today?” Chief Runkawe stole a look around the room as if the gods were in the room with them. “Beware; beware of offending the gods by your foolish words.” “I don’t know about that, I have served the gods faithfully for thirty years. What do I have to show for it according to the man of the one god? Nothing, absolutely nothing. They even denied me the only opportunity to shine. I am seriously considering serving his one god and see what happens.” Chief Runkawe placed the child gingerly beside her mother on the decorated padded mat. The other wives would be secretly pleased. They had all been scared silly of the implication of the eighth wife being the one to give the king the much desired male child. The king promised to send all his other wives

away and make her his sole ‘Olori’ “Who will tell the king?” He asked no one in particular. “Who will tell me what?” The king’s voice boomed from the doorway. He stood looking at his chiefs, and the new born baby sleeping on the mat. “Is the child dead?” “No, kabiyesi,” Chief Oluwo could nor meet the king’s eyes. The king, followed by five hefty looking ‘eso’ walked to the child. He removed the wrapper around the child. He stood looking at the child lost in thought. He dropped the cloth, and walked out of the room without another word. The king sat on his throne dejected. The news of the king’s latest girl was already circulating all over the palace. All the first class chiefs that came to felicitate with the king in anticipation of a male child sneaked away one by one leaving only Chief Oluwo and some elders. “Everybody leave now. I need time to think,” the king ordered. Everybody left leaving the king and Oluwo the chief priest. The king sat with his palm covering his face. His beaded crown sat on a stool by his side. His staff-the symbol of his authority- laid on the floor. Oluwo stood up; he retrieved the staff and placed it by the king’s stool. He bowed to the king without saying anything. “Why, Oluwo? Why?” The king asked in a sad voice. “I wish I can answer you my king, but what I know is that the gods never lied. Iya Osun (Osun priestess) said the king would have a male child by his number eight wife. I did not expect anything different. I know if the gods foretold it, it must be so.” “This time the gods lied.” “My king,” Chief Oluwo protested in a feeble voice. The king raised his hand to silence Chief Oluwo. “I can see it in your eyes. The doubt is written all over you. I am disappointed but not as much as it would have been. I had prepared my mind to the possibility of this happening. Remember that man we nearly killed because of his blasphemy said a hunchback would help me to have a male child. Maybe it is time we took him seriously and look for the hunch back.” “My king; May you live long, the crown will stay long on your head. The royal shoes will remain for long on your feet. I have thought much about that man since the Olori delivered. Looking for a hunchback will not present any problem; we have some of them in this town, but finding the particular hunchback. The man actually said the hunchback would come to us. I think we should wait.” The king stood up suddenly sending his footstool crashing to the floor below the throne. “How long would I have to wait?” “Gently, gently, my king,” Oluwo said bowing down low. He retrieved the stool where it fell and placed the king’s legs on it. “I am sixty five years old. How long do you think I will live? I will give anything, up to halve of my throne for me to have a male child. In spite of the heavy reward I promised anybody who can help me get a male child, nobody has been able to do it.” “Maybe we should wait for the hunchback,” Chief Oluwo chipped in.

The king rubbed his clean shaved head with his left palm. “For how long are we to wait? When and if he comes, how would he come into the palace? It is forbidden for a hunchback to enter the palace.” “It is forbidden by tradition. Who makes tradition if not the king?” Chief Oluwo whispered into the king’s ears. Two Eso (palace soldiers) roughly pushed a man who struggled to free himself from their stranglehold inside the room. The man fell. The two Eso pull him to his feet. He shook their hands away. “What?” the king shouted at the two Eso. “Are you mad?” The two Eso prostrated. They laid on the floor with their faces pressed to the mud floor. The stranger remained standing. He raised his head proudly as if unaware of the presence of the king. “May the gods break your head stranger” Chief Oluwo kicked the stranger’s legs, sending him crashing on the floor. A pouch of cowry shells flew out of his tunic. Chief Oluwo placed his foot on the stranger’s back, and pressed him to the hard floor. The stranger cried out in pain. Chief Oluwo stretched his hand to pick up the pouch on the floor; he shrank back in shock. The pouch was as hot as an ember! “Who are you? What do you want here?” “I am an Ifa priest,” the stranger replied his voice muffled by the floor. “Stand up,” the king commanded. “What is your mission in the palace?” “I come from a far away land to deliver a message to the king.” The king hardly heard the man. He was looking at the man’s back. Praise Obatala. The hunchback the man of the one god foretold stood right before him. He could not see his hunch before because he thought the man was short. He was short because of his hunch! The king could hardly contain his excitement. “Speak stranger, what brings thou to our land?” “I know what the king must do to have a male child,” the stranger replied. “You do?” Chief Oluwo asked puzzled. The man looked like a beggar, but he could not deny the power in his pouch. Better play along. If they found out he was up to no good, they would sacrifice him to the gods. “Speak stranger before we detach your head from your neck.” “I worship a god in my land to which we make sacrifice once in five years. Yesterday was the day of worship. My god told me what I must do to make the king have a male child.” The king beckoned the head of the Eso who by now stood with head bowed beside the hunchback. “Take the stranger to the head of the Olori, tell her to feed him and prepare a special place for him to sleep in the palace tonight.” The stranger bowed low and followed the Eso out of the palace. When they were out of earshot the king said to his Chiefs, “what do you think?” Chief Olokodana who came in with Runkawe in the middle of the drama with the hunchback, looked right and left as if to make sure the stranger was out of earshot. “What is there to think my king? The gods brought the answer to our prayer right inside the palace. Orisa be praised.” The king stood up from his throne. “I thought so myself. Anyway, we will

go along with him to see what he has to offer. Runkawe.” “Yes my king; may you live long,” Chief Runkawe answered. The king looked at his watch. “Call the meeting of the Council of Chiefs immediately. We still have time to hear what the man has to offer.” ‘Yes, second in command to the gods,” Chief Runkawe bowed. The stranger arrived at the meeting of the council of chiefs with all the chiefs in attendance. Chief Oluwo waved him into a vacant seat facing the chiefs. The stranger looked out of place in the midst of the well dressed chiefs. Even in the damask buba and sokoto given to him by the head Olori, he still looked like a beggar. The chiefs surveyed him in silence. He did not look much as an ifa priest. What could such a scraggy looking hunchback offer them? Chief Oluwo stood up and addressed the gathering. “My fellow chiefs, this is the Ifa Priest I told you about. He should now tell us in his own words how he hoped to give the King a male child. Speak stranger,” Chief Oluwo barked at the stranger. The success of the stranger would compromise the position of Chief Oluwo as the custodian of the town customs and gods. He would try as much as possible to make the man fail. The hunchback stood up to address the gathering, “Greetings to the king the second in command to the gods. My Chiefs I greet you all. I am the Chief priest of Ifa in my town as well as the priest of the most powerful god in my town. During our yearly festival this year, the god said I should come to your town and solve the problem that has been causing your king serious concern.” “Stranger” Chief Oluwo snapped, “Enough of the sermon. How are you going to give the king a male child?” The stranger smiled at Chief Oluwo who glared at him. “I am not the one who is going to give the king a child. Who am I? It is the gods that will do that.” “Then tell us how they are going to accomplish that without much ado.” Chief Oluwo shouted at the Ifa priest. “Oluwo,” Chief Runkawe who felt embarrassed by Oluwo attitude shouted. “Give the man a brake. Let him say his piece.” “I am used to that sir,” the stranger said, his voice calm. “The king will prepare a room no one has slept in before. He will fill the place with foodstuff to last for seven days. He will place a chair that must look exactly like his throne in the place. No other item should be in the room. You will look for a hunchback. On the seventh day, the king would put his best cloth, shoes and royal beads and crown on the hunchback who will sit on the chair placed in the room. All the chiefs including the king would prostate on the floor before the hunchback, and say ‘long lives the king’ the hunchback would die shortly after that. We don’t need any other prayer after that. The king would make love to his favourite Olori in the room that night. She would start to carry a child from that very day.” The chiefs looked at themselves and nodded. They told the hunchback to go ahead with the preparation. The chiefs dispersed. They scheduled another council of chiefs meeting for three days. The king instructed the Eso to get hold of a hunchback for the ritual. The Eso searched everywhere without success.

The entire hunchback in the town and environs seemed to have disappeared. On the seventh day, the king called his chiefs and some town elders very early in the morning for a meeting. “My chiefs and elders of our town, you all know that we’ve been unable to lay our hand on a hunchback for the ritual for the past seven days. Today is the last day. If we don’t get a hunchback today, all the preparation of the Ifa priest will come to nothing,” The king coughed, and took a sip from the palm wine in the calabash placed on a stool by his side. He looked at the blank faces of his chiefs. “I worried over this throughout the night. Early this morning, I realized that what we are seeking in Sokoto (a town) is already in our sokoto (pocket).” “Chief Olokodana scratched his head. He stood up. “May the king live long. May his reign never end. My fellow chiefs and elders I greet you all. Since the second in command to the gods said they have found the hunchback, what are we waiting for? Our elders say ‘no need to delay a task that does not want be delayed’ let us call the Ifa priest to proceed with the sacrifice.” “Not so fast Chief Olokodana. I told you I found a hunchback but I did not tell you where I found it,” The king waved his horse tail; the symbol of his authority at Chief Olokodana. “My king,” Chief Runkawe said looking at the other chiefs, “it does not matter where we got the hunchback as long as he or she is a stranger.” “My Chiefs, in this case, it matters. The hunchback in question is the Ifa priest.” The chiefs looked at themselves. All stunned. The king cannot be serious. How can they use the Ifa priest who is going to perform the sacrifice for the sacrifice? “My chiefs, the sacrifice of the Ifa priest ended yesterday. He already told us what to do. We don’t need any other thing from him. What do you think?” The king smiled at his chiefs. “My king,” one of the oldest among the elders stood up, “I don’t think this is right. The gods would never accept such sacrifice.” “Shut up old man,” The king stood up. He kicked the keg of palm wine at the side of the throne in his annoyance. The keg broke sending white liquid all over the floor. “It is because of your attitude that my father demoted you as a chief. You will never learn.” The gathering fell flat on the floor in prostration to the king. The king has the power of life and death. He can have anybody executed at his will. The king is next to the gods. All the elders and the chiefs remained on the floor until the king anger subsided. Chief Oluwo stood up. He coughed. “My fellow chiefs I greet you all. I don’t agree with Chief Arigbabu that the gods will reject the sacrifice if we use the Ifa priest. The gods demanded a hunchback; the Ifa priest is a hunchback,” “Point of correction,” one of the Chiefs raised his hand without standing up, “Arigbabu is no more a chief. He is an ordinary person.” “My mistake Chief Oriola, forgive me. As I was saying, who else but me knows what the gods will accept or not? I say we sacrifice the hunchback; the gods will not reject the sacrifice,” Chief Oluwo concluded.

“If we all agree, I will call the priest, and inform him we have found the hunchback. My chiefs would be ready for him as soon as he enters the room. They will overpower him, and placed him on the chair.” The king laughed. They called in the hunchback who unaware of the chief’s evil intention hurried to heed their call. They offered him to a seat while they placed a calabash of already drugged palm wine in his hand. Drugged and disoriented, the Ifa priest fell down flat on his face. They chiefs whisked him to the room already prepared for the sacrificed. They placed him on the spiritually poisoned throne. The king and the chiefs prostrated before him and shouted, “Long live the king.” The Ifa priest because he was a powerful medicine man, opened his eyes during the ceremony and placed a terrible curse on the town. “The gods will accept your sacrifice but because of your treachery, no male child born of any woman in your town will live to celebrate eight days. Your town will never be free from strive and tribulations until such a time when the gods decide to purge your land of this atrocity.” He slumped and died. The chiefs sneered at the hunchback. They told the king the gods had accepted their sacrifice. The old man stood up to speak. “Old man, what is your problem this time? You already told us the gods would not accept the sacrifice. You have been proved wrong. Even the hunchback said the gods would accept it.” Chief Oluwo shouted at him. “At what cost? Remember the Ifa Priest’s curse. I dread the aftermath of this abomination committed in this town today. I know you don’t like the man, but he is a very powerful medicine man. I see death, plenty of death to atone for the sacrilege committed in our land today.” The king stood up and pointed his staff of office at the old man. The old man fell down on his face in fear. He prostrated flat on the ground in front of the king, “May the king live long, may his linage continued till eternity. I did not intend to annoy the king. I only pointed out what I saw. If it displeases my lord, I withdraw it.” Nine months later, the king’s favourite Olori gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. There was much celebration in the town. One the eight day, the king spared no expense in celebrating his son’s eight day. The heir to the throne was born; the king would now die in peace. Few years later, bad things began to happen in the town. Young children died in large numbers. Epidemic of different origins kills people in hundreds. When the elders could not bear the happenings in the town any longer, they consulted Ifa oracle. Ifa told them the town had committed abomination by sacrificing the son of a god to the gods. The town had not even seen anything yet. By the time the gods finished with the town, not a single soul would remain. The chiefs trembled before the Ifa oracle. “We have all sinned. We agree that we have, but what can we do to appease the gods,” Chief Runkawe asked. “Nothing. The gods wants nothing but revenge. There is one other thing though, an eye for an eye. Three sons of Uroaya for one of their sons” The Ifa priest told the chiefs. The chiefs and the elders of the town had no choice but complied. They sacrificed two sons and a daughter of the town to appease the gods. The death

stopped. They decided on their own to offer a peace offering to the hunchback. It became a yearly sacrifice. They still offer the yearly sacrifice until today.