A Story|Blue Eyes: Part One

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People say it was a red night the day Adeola was born. The moon was blood red, there was no star in sight and the air was still like there was no one on earth. The young queen screamed in pain as the baby ripped out of her. She soon gave up ghost while the king was given both the good and the bad news.

Adeola did not open her eyes until full daylight of the next morning; that was when the nursing maid saw the eyes of the baby princess. She screamed and ran out to get the king. He rushed into the hut soon after and saw his daughter on the mat but he saw her eyes when he moved closer, they were blue like the morning sky. The king was startled because he has never seen such color of eyes in his long years on earth, he rushed out of the hut and ordered the guard to get the Priest.

The old chief priest came running on his short, spindly legs immediately he got the king's message. 'My king I got your urgent request, what bothers you this morning ', he said, the king gestured at the nursing maid to bring forth the baby princess. The chief priest saw her blues eyes and gasped and he immediately consulted the oracle to know why the princess is different. It is the work of the jealous witches my king', he said after consulting the oracle, your bloodline has been blessed with good luck so they cursed the princess and she has been born with lot of bad luck that led to the death of the queen ', he concluded. What is the solution Ifalere', the king asked the chief priest, I cannot have a princess living with bad luck in the palace.

Ifalere consulted the oracle again but the grim look on his face portended bad news with little or no solution. 'So, what is the way out, ' the king asked and Ifalere replied in a devastated voice the princess must leave the Palace, my king. What!? The king screamed', how can a royal sleep under the elements? ', he asked and Ifalere replied, ' the gods' solution is to leave the princess with a villager with worse luck who will absorb her bad luck for 12 years and if the rain falls on her birthday then she can return to the palace and live as a proper princess. The king looked conflicted but he had his people to consider, so he made the toughest decision, ' go into the village and find the unlucky person that will be willing to accept the princess.

Aduke trudged home after a long day in the farm, she could hear the villagers whispering but she is no stranger to their gossip so she ignored them as usual. A woman such as she is, who is considered bad luck enough to lose her mother at birth and her father to a horrible illness two decades later not to mention her three husbands, each one dead barely a year after marrying her. Nobody wants to associate with her neither does any man approach for her hand in marriage anymore and she is completely contended in living her life with no more sorrow because she can't bear to lose anyone anymore. She finally got home late in the afternoon and met the king's messenger at her door. ‘Are you Aduke the daughter of oloko?’ the messenger asked. 'Yes I am, what message does the king messenger have for me, ' she asked nervously. ‘The king urgently request your presence in the palace and does not wish to be kept waiting'.

Aduke wondered what business she might have with the king but hurried in to change into clean clothes and followed the messenger, ignoring the whispers of the gossips in her neighborhood. Aduke and the messenger arrived the palace in no time and she knelt and paid homage to the king, I got your message my king but what could someone like me do for my lord, ' she said, the King replied, ' I heard all about you and the things you've been through so I decided to bestow to you the baby princess to have as your own child since the early death of your husband robbed you of a chance to have yours but you can only her for 12 years after which she shall return to the Palace.

This was too much for Aduke. She stood there looking at the king dumbfounded, 'my king you want me to take care of the princess? , ' she asked again to confirm what she just heard, she watched in bemusement as the maid placed the sleeping baby in her arms. Everything you need you need for you and the baby will be provided but she must never know she is a princess and must never come close to the palace until we come for her, 'the king ordered.

Aduke couldn't contain her joy as she clutched the baby to her bosom, this is a gift from the gods who had chosen to forsake her and she promised to care for the child as if it were truly hers. The baby stirred awake and Aduke saw her blues eyes and smiled. ‘So this is the reason they decided to abandon you, because you're different well do not worry because I will care for you like you're not flawed', she thought to herself and walked out of the Palace towards her house and the whole world seem brighter because of the baby in her arms who can't seem to stop smiling at her.

To be continued