A Complex Answer

Ṣeyi woke up before sunrise (5.00 am) the same dream had just disturbed his night again. Ṣeyi hadn't enjoyed a single day of "bad mornings, good afternoons and excellent evenings" ever since the dream started and as a result, Ṣeyi's life had changed ironically for the better. The Osi was very happy with the improvement, but for Ṣeyi, his life is just one bad dream after another and the strain of his disturbed nights had started to affect his day to day activities despite the fact that that he tries to hide it from his friends. That is not his problem, for now, now he desperately needs a powerful chant, just one chant, a good chant that will make him a great warlord in Yoruba land.

"The Ifa priest!" Ṣeyi exclaimed, only he can help after all the old man is heavy with wisdom. The need to see the priest drove Ṣeyi to leave the sanctuary of his hut very early in the morning even though it's still dark. For obvious reasons, Ṣeyi decided to leave his sleeping mat for a while in order to pay a visit to the Ifa priest. So he lit up his palm oil lamp, washed his face with cold water, which he fetched from the stream earlier the previous day and used his chewing stick to clean his teeth. The Ifa priest always had one comment or another about his appearance whenever they met. Ṣeyi could hear the loud racket coming from the next house, chief Oloyede the man who enjoys changing his wives the same way a man changes his clothes all in the name of respect, rather than greed. From the heat of the argument it seems like the lusty chief is finding fault with his present wife, he is definitely warming up for his next wife. In order to do that he needs to find a fault with the present wife so that he has an excuse to send her back home to her parents, up until now Ṣeyi still wonders why women foolishly say yes to his wedding proposal. The man has no special physical or attractive features, he is a port bellied fool with cola nut stained teeth, bad manners and he's greedy. However, like the husband-hunting theory states, women of 30 seasons with her beauty fading away like the flower that exceeds its blooming season, it's only natural that she would say yes to the chief's proposal. "Better to marry a rich dog than a poor lion" and they live to regret it.

Ṣeyi took his black soap and his drying cloth in order to take his bath before he visits the Ifa priest, one can never be too careful with that old man. He used a wooden comb on his hair rubbed some palm oil on his body wore his Sokoto and which stopped beneath his knee and dressed in his yellow native Agbada.

"Time to go," he said proudly, picking up his catapult and some small knives as his weapons of choice and some other items that he needs then left the house, as he walked towards the priest's house he took time to reflect on the chant that he desperately needs. The other candidates had already mastered more than one chant while he was away causing trouble for the other villages and now they had all left him behind, he felt his hand tremble as the realisation of his weakness dawned on him. He is now desperately looking for his first powerful chant while all the others are out establishing their oath covenant in preparation for the transition into power; he gnashed his teeth in frustration.

Ṣeyi had time to wonder about many things, he is not the same child that he was 2 seasons ago. He has grown, he still remembered the exact words of the watcher and how the mysterious demon used his name against him. Ibiolu the name the watcher had used to address him only two people had called him by that name, the watcher and the Ifa priest. The sun seems to delay in its mission of providing light to the world (Ṣeyi thought) and the cock in its inpatients had started to crow. Ṣeyi chuckled, so this is what it's like very early in the morning.

Ṣeyi had questioned the Ifa priest many times before about the watcher and the old man had always given him the riddles for answers "Oju-aye (eyes of life) will give you the answer". That is the annoying thing about the old man, ask him a simple question and he will give you a complex answer, ask him a complex question then he will give you a foolish answer. To be honest all the of Ifa priest's answers makes no sense to anybody but the Ifa priest himself.

"Apeepo lẹyin agba, agba mbọ wa kan Ọ" (a young person who finds fault with an old man should remember that he will one day be old)

For such a reason Ṣeyi planned everything that he's about to say so as to programme the old man's response, funny enough the old man stood in front of the shrine motionless as though he had always been there.

"I knew you were coming," the Ifa priest said to a disgruntled Ṣeyi, "The creator told me, have you stopped praying?"

"Errr!" Ṣeyi signed in a confused tone; he has forgotten everything that he had intended to ask the priest. This old man is good, but he's not intending to be swayed from the problem at hand "that's not why I'm here, I'd like you to help me..."

"Stop all the dreams that tempt and haunt you at night" the Ifa priest interrupted which congealed Ṣeyi's blood with an icy chill. How much does this old man know? Ṣeyi wondered

The shocking revelation took Ṣeyi by surprise, he had told no one about his dream not even Akin his closest friend.

"How did you know?" Ṣeyi voiced

"The real question is, how are you going to solve this problem" The Ifa priest, corrected, "Of which if it tarries your soul would be consumed, leading to your death"

Wonderful, Ṣeyi thought. He answers a question by asking another more confusing question, it's a good thing that Ṣeyi still had some wits about him after all this is not the first time the priest has manipulated the situation into his own favour.

"I'm not going to die, I'm strong" Ṣeyi declared "Bi a o ku iṣẹ o tan (as long as there is life then the mission goes on)"

The Ifa priest smiled, Ṣeyi has definitely learnt a lot from his stay in the shrine. "Ṣeyi do not let your pride to blind you 'Bi ekolo ba kọ ebe, ara rẹ ni i gbin si i' (when the earthworm makes a heap it buries itself in it)"

"I'm not going to die," Ṣeyi said, forcing a smile

"Don't you want a solution to your bad dreams?" The Ifa priest pressed.

"No," Ṣeyi replied

"But..."

"Baba all I need is a good chant," Ṣeyi said, hoping to make the Ifa priest give him a solution to his problems by mistake

It is a game that Ṣeyi enjoys playing, manipulation of motives. If he asks for the solution to his problem, he knows that the Ifa priest might give him another difficult to solve riddle so if he pretends not to want the answer then the unsuspecting Ifa priest will give him everything he wants. A foolish plan, but it might work.

"So all you want is a chant," the Ifa priest observed, scratching his chin "Then what is your covenant?"

"Yes!" Ṣeyi said in an excited tone "And I don't know my covenant" sensing that his plan is working

"The young men of now a day's," the Ifa priest said to himself "always seeking what they want instead of what they need"

"Sir, I know what I need" Ṣeyi added, hoping to confuse the Ifa priest, "I need a strong chant"

"Fear," the priest replied

"What?" Ṣeyi voiced in a confused tone

"The solution to your dream, its fear,"

Ṣeyi stood motionless, surprised that the Ifa priest was able to see through his ploy "and the chant" he said after a long pause

"Sorry Ṣeyi, but your first chant must be acquired through your own strength, taken not given" the Ifa priest answered

With his message delivered the Ifa priest returned to the shrine to give the early morning prayers, leaving Ṣeyi more confused than he was before. The old man surely lives up to his reputation, Ṣeyi asked one simple question and the old man gives him two complex answers and a terrible headache.