7 The Evil Forest

As it were in the good old days, when a woman gets married into a family she becomes more like property to them. According to tradition once her husband dies, she can be inherited by a family member likely the brother to her husband alongside his properties.

Nnadozie, the elder and only brother to Nnanna was the one to inherit Ego and his late brother's properties. He was a carbon copy of Nnanna though he was not as muscular as his brother; he was taller, hairier, lighter in colour and more handsome. He was a rich farmer that has a large farm where he harvests over five thousand tubers of yam at the end of every farming season; he was not a wrestler like his brother.

He was fond of Ego, had also asked for her hands in marriage even before she met Nnanna but she declined because he was already married to Chinyere and together they had two healthy boys Ekene and Emeli. When Nnanna was still alive, whenever he met Ego on the way; he would fondly ask her

"Our wife, so you choose my younger brother over me. Is it because he is more muscular or because he is di mgba?"

Playfully she would reply "Both and by the way you are too handsome; I don't want to share my husband with all the young girls in the village".

They will both laugh, then she would greet him and he would ask her about the family and his brother before they part ways.

When Nnanna kicked the bucket and Ego had ended her mourning period, he invited her over and told her that he would not be forcing her into marrying him as tradition demands. That she was free to get married to whoever she wants to; that she could continue to live in her late husband's compound for as long as she wants and that she could come and demand anything she needs from him.

Though Ego was still young, she refused to remarry after the death of her husband. Some men still came to ask her for marriage but she felt no other man could love and care for her as Nnanna did. So she remained a widow, poor and childless. And being a widow with no skill, or handwork at that particular time in history was not an easy venture. But the day came when her life took a new turn, for good or bad we will soon find out.

Ego ventured into a new kind of trade in order to stay alive. She goes into Ajofia in search of herbs like nti ngbada, akidi mmuo, utaba ani, ahihia ebisango and returns to sell it in the market for a valuable price. The most important of all the leaves was nti ngbada, a plant very useful in the treatment of measles, headaches, parasitic infection, diarrhoea, dysentery as well as venereal diseases and also serves as an antidote to poisons. It is part of the traditional meal as it is boiled with water, drained completely of the water content and added to soup and consumed as a vegetable.

This trade raises for her a reasonable amount of money that she uses to sustain herself though it is barely enough. Just as gold is not found on the surface of the earth; this particular herb cannot be found in the nearby bushes and farm, it has to be in the forest. It is a wild plant, so it grows among its kinds in the evil forest. Today she has decided to go into the forest in search of it.

Ajofia, as the name implies, is believed to be a place where evil resides. Acts like patricide, incest, stealing of yams and sheep, bestiality, witchcraft, willful abortion, pregnancy within a year of husband's death, suicide by hanging and the killing of sacred animals are all considered as Nso ala.

This can result in the wrath of Ala, the earth goddess upon the offenders. The punishment for such misdeeds ranged from sudden death, famine, pestilence, and poor harvest as well as the loss of property to the inability to have children and defeat in war or being tied up and thrown into the evil forest and left to die. When men or women who were considered to be wicked or evil dies, they are not buried at home for it is believed that they will hunt those still alive; so they are thrown into this forest for the bird and wild animals to feast on them. People who contracted infectious diseases are considered unclean and cursed by the gods. Thus, they are also taken to the Ajofia and left there to die. Any deceased Osu that don't have lands of their own are also buried in this forest.

This forest is associated with diseases, death and restless spirits. It is believed that since they were not buried, their spirits wander the earth restlessly; they do not repose with their ancestors. They are forever perambulating in the forest ready to torment any living being that ever ventures into the place.

This forest is not only home for restless spirits; it is also a den of robbers, slave traders and all sorts of dangerous animals. Some of these wild animals sometimes venture into the village to wreak havoc; they slip in when everywhere is quiet; when villagers have gone to the farm or early in the morning when the maidens go to fetch water from the stream.