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ADANNA'S PLIGHT(AN ADAPTATION FROM IGBO FOLKLORE)

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The village of Ogbolieke was a quiet place, nothing much ever happened there. Some would even go so far as to say it was a tad bit boring. Things had remained the same in the little village for years, everyone knew everyone, and there was never any new news...at least until today. Chief Ikechukwu Tagbo, the leader of the council of elders was about to have a child. His wife Ozoemena had been pregnant many times but she never got past 6 months before having a miscarriage, so when she passed the 6 month mark, everyone in the entire village was practically holding their breath in hopes that she would actually see the pregnancy through.

On that faithful day, the entire Tagbo household was thrown into confusion when her water broke. The midwife came as fast as she could because there was no way Ozoemena was going to make it to her clinic.

Ozoemena!!! Ebe ké nó?
[Ozoemena!!! Where are you?]

She said this as she walked into the house.

Ó nó eba!!
[She's over here]

Ozoemena's sister replied. The midwife found her way to them and began work. After 5 long hours of intense labour, the baby finally came out. It was a girl and oh my she was a beauty.
She was light skinned just like her dad, but had her mother's face, no, that's not right, she was far prettier than her mother ever was. It was almost as if all the past failed pregnancies where leading up to this being of unparalleled beauty. She had jet black hair and hazel colored eyes which made her look even more beautiful.

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Ikechukwu who had been in a meeting with the elders since morning had no idea his wife had gone into labour, nor that he was already a father. It wasn't until one of his servants ran from his house all the way across the village to the King's palace where the meeting was holding that he received the news. Overwhelmed with joy, he sprang from his seat and took to his heels, you can imagine how it must have looked; a fairly old man with a sizeable pot belly running across the village with a huge smile on his face.

When he arrived at his house, the midwife had already gone and his wife Ozoemena was asleep and beside her laid his daughter. He looked at her and said

I will call you Adanna(Father's daughter, Ada for short)

Fast forward to 20 years later.

Adanna had grown into a beautiful woman, the most beautiful in all the land. Men travelled from far and wide to see her, and suitors kept flooding in more and more as the days went by. Kings and the sons of kings from neighbouring villages where all on the list of people who wanted to take Adanna's hand in marriage, but unfortunately she had no interest in them. News of Ada's beauty spread all across the continent and soon suitors from different tribes, Hausa, Yoruba, Ijaw and many others started coming in. Ada still didn't agree to any of their proposals and they all went home empty handed. Adanna saw herself as perfect, and she wanted someone perfect as well to be her husband. All the suitors that came before her were either too short, too tall, too fat, too dark or too light for her. She had an idea of what a perfect man would be like and none of her present suitors fit the bill. Her father had long since been pleading with her to abandon this idea of perfection that she had but she didn't listen, she was determined to marry her idea of "the perfect man".

One of her would be suitors, Toyosi, 2nd son of the Oba of Ibadan just got turned down by Ada. Heartbroken and dejected, he started on his journey home. He'd been turned down by Ada because though he was handsome, he was too short for her. His heart ached every time he thought about Ada because like many others, the second he saw her, he fell in love. Unfortunately for him, his convoy was ambushed by robbers and in the process of trying to escape, he was killed. The thought of Ada still lingered in his mind as his soul descended to the underworld.

He arrived at the underworld free of all his attachments to the world of the living, but he couldn't still let go of the thought of Ada. He told stories of her beauty to the residents of the underworld and one day, news got to the ears of a demon named Oberin. Oberin heard all that Toyosi had to say and was determined to marry Ada, the only problem was he didn't have a physical body, he was nothing but a floating skull in the underworld and that wasn't going to change even if he went to the world of the living

How do I make this girl agree to my proposal if I'm nothing but a skull?
He thought to himself as he floated around in the underworld

Source

After a few minutes of thinking, it finally hit him, if Ada wanted the perfect man, then all he had to do was become the perfect man. He devised a plan to make it happen and shortly after, he left for the world of the living.

His plan was simple, to become the perfect man, he would steal body parts from every tribe in Nigeria that was known for having the best body part. He left the underworld with five items, a cane, a single gold coin, a bottle of palm wine, and a large satchel to carry his soon to be acquired body parts.

He started his journey in Northern Nigeria, in the city of Daura, Katsina state. The Daura people are of the Hausa tribe in Nigeria and the Hausa account for a significant portion of all unskilled labour in Nigeria. They are also known for cattle reading and as such walk great distances on a daily basis. Daura was the perfect place to find the perfect set of legs and thats what Oberin planned to do. He came across an Hausa man, fair in complexion, who was having trouble controling his cattle so he approached the man and offered him the cane as a means to control the cows in exchange for two legs, they shook on it and the Hausa man took the cane(Don't ask me how a skull was talking to a man and he didn't run for his life😂😂😂). Sure enough it worked, any cow that went astray was flogged with the cane and went back into the herd, the others followed suit. When the time came to fulfill his end of the bargain, the Hausa man sharpened his knives and prepared himself to kill one of his cows and give Oberin two of its legs. It was then that the Oberin told him which legs he actually wanted; his own. In a split second the Hausa man's legs where gone and so was Oberin, a deal with a demon is equivalent to a deal with the devil, it's binding!!!

Oberin placed the legs into his satchel and went searching for his next body part. He made his way to southern Nigeria, to a place called Ikwerre in Rivers state. The people of Ikwerre where known for a lot of things, but one thing that stood out was their wrestling competitions, the Igbo people were also known for the same thing, but not wanting to be seen by anyone who might know Ada, he opted to come to Ikwerre instead. He came here in search of anyone who had the ideal pair of arms for him to use. He heard of Okene, the village wrestling champion who owed all his victories to not only his skill, but the strength and size of his arms and then Oberin knew he had found his target.
Okene was an exceptional wrestler, but he was also an exceptional drunk. He'd drink himself to stupor everyday and his drink of choice was palmwine. It didn't take Oberin long to find Okene, he was quite a large man who like the Hausa man was light skinned and he drew stares everywhere he went. Okene had been walking round the village all day looking for where her could get a glass of palm wine but unfortunately, the village had run out of palm wine.

I'd do anything for a glass of palm wine right now

Okene said as he sat down on the floor, cup in hand. Oberin saw this and made his move. As Okene sat on the ground, head between his legs, he heard something enter his cup, he opened his eyes and saw that his cup was filled with palm wine. Immediately, he chugged the drink down his throat, and since it was from the underworld, it tasted better than any palm wine he'd ever had. Okene looked at Oberin and thanked him but asked for more. Oberin told him that he'd give him another cup if only he'd give him a hand with something. Okene unsuspecting of Oberin's treachery quickly agreed. The palm wine seemed to taste even better in his mouth and he beckoned for Oberin to give him more to which he did but only if Okene would give him a hand with something else. Soon after Okene was drunk and unaware of what or where he was. At that point Oberin proceeded to collect his payment for the cups of palm wine to which Okene asked him what he wanted him to give him a hand with. Oberin laughed and said

Fool, it is your hands I seek

And as fast as he took the Hausa man's legs, he did the same to Okene. Unable to tell the difference between what was real and what wasn't, Okene laid there unaware of what he'd just lost.

Once again Oberin set out but this time he ventured to East, to the village of Isialangwa in Abia state to be exact. These people were known for one thing and one thing only, cannibalism!!! Oberin figured that if there was any place to get a good torso. He didn't spend much time there as the people of Isialangwa were only interested in people that they could eat, not a bony skull. The people of Isialangwa are Igbo, and the only thing Igbos love more than anything is money!!! Oberin offered them the gold coin he brought from the underworld and they happily provided him with the torso of a wandering traveller that had been so unfortunate to enter their village.

Oberin pieced together the body parts he had obtained and they fit perfectly. All that was left was a face that would complete it all. It was then that it dawned on him to simply use Toyosi's face. Seeing as Toyosi just recently just left the land of the living, he was sure that his body would still be fresh and he could use his face.

Sure enough he was able to find Toyosi's body and after putting on his face, he set out to find Adanna. Upon reaching Ogbolieke he came across different people who were either on their way to see Ada or where headed back home after being rejected by her. He finally reached Ada's place and as she stepped out to see him, she was taken aback. Although she knew she had seen his face before she couldn't believe how much he'd changed since she last saw him.

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Toyosi!!! Is that you?? What happened??

Oberin played along and said

No my love, I'm Toyosi's elder brother Oberin

She gave him a look over and concluded that he was indeed perfect. Against her father's will, she married Oberin and followed him off to Ibadan, or at least she thought that's where they were going. She fell asleep on the journey there and woke up in the underworld, she cried out for her husband Oberin but only a floating skull appeared before her.

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Oberin then revealed himself and told her what he'd done. She was disgusted, but alas, she couldn't unmarry him because like I said earlier, a deal with a demon is like a deal with the devil, it's binding!!!!

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That's it for today folks, if you liked it then

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This is coming to you from @stach's very own @francistagbo.