CHAPTER SIX

The king called all his witch doctors to ascertain what could be the cause of the illness and subsequent death. During the examination they discovered she was pregnant.

‘Damn it’, cut in Dawson.

‘The king’, continued Candida, ‘put out all his men to find the person responsible for the pregnancy. As the maid was usually the only person allowed to move with the girl, she was threatened to say the person whom she had seen with Tori (the king daughter’s name). She of course know about Mosusu and Tori and she was pretty sure that no person other than Mosusu could be responsible for the pregnancy. She confessed having seen Mosusu with Tori and that was enough for the king.

Mosusu was immediately sent for and brought before the king. He stood before the king, the face as white as snow and very quiet.

‘There is nothing I can do now’, he thought, ‘I had to be killed. What a fool I have made of myself. I promised my father that I would be able to bring the Eagle to him and now, all that is gone. What I fool I have been for falling in love with Tori . Nothing can save me now'.

Standing in front of the king all the time, he said nothing. It was now clear that he would be killed for the crime he committed, even though he did not actually kill Tori. He merely fell in love with her.

Usually in the village, dead people are buried in a forest far away from the village. It takes seven days of active paddling in the river to get to the haunted forest which is believed to be inhabited by dangerous spirits and animals of all sort. The king, not wanting to be guilty of the blood of anybody ordered Mosusu to be taken with the corpse of his daughter to the forest and left to die of starvation or eaten by wild animals.

Mosusu, standing directly behind the bearers of the corpse under guard, with a crowd of mourners, escorted the corpse to the forest. At the end of the seventh day, they got to the forest and the corpse was placed on the ground and Mosusu made to stand beside it. The bearers entered their boat and left.

Mosusu was left alone in this dangerous forest. Night was beginning to approach and night creatures were now announcing the arrival of the night. He had no food and nothing to protect himself from any danger except the short gun and knife he had taken from home when he went looking for the Eagle. Around him, were ripening bananas that have been placed as sacrifices to the gods of the forest. As he was so hungry, he took some of these and started eating. Finally, he sat down on the stump of a tree near the corpse of the girl.

Everywhere became finally dark. At first the forest was quiet. Only the noise of birds looking for places to roost disturbed the forest. Suddenly his heart started beating faster as he thought he saw a creature – black and big moving toward him. His hand jumped to the gun in his pocket and fired a bullet at the creature. From the spout of fire that came from the mouth of the gun, he saw that there was no creature. It was only an illusion. But that was only the beginning. Terrible things were soon to follow. As he sat in the darkness, his eyes were gradually getting used to the environment. It was getting darker and darker as midnight approaches. Exhausted from the stress of the previous days, he dozed off .He was suddenly awakened by a noise far away in the forest. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a beaming light -lighting up that area of the forest. He wondered if that could be a hunter but he quickly dismissed the idea from his mind because no hunter would make a seven days journey to this forest to hunt. Suddenly he heard a noise as if of rain and the drifting noise was increasing in his direction. He spun round, looking everywhere, his gun in his hand. At first he saw nothing, yet the noise was getting closer to him. Then suddenly out of nowhere came a mighty python heading straight for him. The size of the gigantic python made him freeze and helpless. He aimed a good shot at the creature, but it was to no avail. The shot could not slow it down. He aimed another shot, this time at the head, then another at its eyes. He continued shooting until he was left with two bullets. The python was now about ten feet away from him although it speed was gradually reducing. When it was pretty near him, he aimed one shot at its eyes again and dived to a corner. The python missed him by two inches. The last bullet got the python by the eyes. Although fatally wounded by the gun, it continued to move towards him. Its struggle continued for at least thirty minutes before it finally lay lifeless. Mosusu took his dagger and stabbed it right in the skull. Long after it was dead, the stomach continued to move and writhe in pain. The size of its stomach was so big that Mosusu thought it must have swallowed something unusual. Mosusu got his dagger and tore open the stomach of the creature.

In the stomach were three dead people, two men and a woman. He also noticed an unusual protruding towards the rear of the snake. On slitting it he found two small bottles. As it was dark he could not see what they contained. At day break he examined the bottles more closely. The two bottles contain two different liquids. Could they be magic potions? Mosusu had read stories about magic potions and wonder whether these bottles contain magic potions. Out of curiosity he took one of the bottles and opened it. The pungent smell that came from it made him to accidentally spill some of its content on the ground. Some of the spilled content touched the feet of Tori. Immediately life entered the leg for it became fresh like that of a live person. Amazed by what happened, he decided to pour some of the liquid on other parts of her body and her body became fresh like that of a sleeping person.

Out of the same curiosity he poured some of the content of the other bottle over her body. After about a minute she opened her eyes and sneezed, releasing a large amount of gas from her nostril…Tisssss!!! She moved her body and started to talk.

'Where am I?' she asked seeing the horror around her. 'Why are we here Mosu?'. Well, he told her everything how she got sick, died and all that followed. She looked around, saw everything around them and was shaken to the very core. Later, Mosusu performed the same thing on the three people he had found in the python’s belly and they all came alive. They were very happy.

Together, they went to the bank of the river near the forest to wait and see, if they could be lucky enough to see any boat passing by. After what seemed a whole day, they saw a boat of people coming from a distant market and they called.

It was on a hot sunny day when they arrived in the village, seven days after they have been picked up by the traders. The news of Mosusu’s return and of Tori being alive went with the wind like a bush fire spreading wide through the entire length and breath of the village. For a small village like Alada, it was great news. Soon people were trooping along Mosusu and Tori curious to know how the impossible became possible. In time the whole village gathered together in the King's palace to see and hear the story of what happened. Tori’s mother was wet with happy tears when she saw her daughter again. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was too good to be true. The king was not left out in the rhapsody and soon ordered everybody to be quiet so as to allow Mosusu tell the story of his travails.

Mosusu, standing at the centre of the courtyard of the king’s palace filled with people, told his experience in the forest. He did not leave out any piece of information. The whole village sat in silence while they listened to the baffling story unearthed by Mosusu. A reception was quickly organized by the king and all in the village danced round the palace showing their happiness for the return-to-life of their King’s daughter. Gifts were showered on Mosusu who was brave enough to have fought and killed the deadly snake and for restoring the life of four people. For days people continued coming to the king to express their happiness for the return of his heiress. After some days, life in the palace returned to normal with everybody going about their normal activities.

Time passed, and it was enough for Mosusu to prove his worth by being amiable, respectful and always willing to comply with any of the king’s requirements. In no time was the king convinced of Mosusu’s devotion and love for his daughter and he was allowed to seek the hand of Tori in marriage. However, he did not forget his own mission to Alada, the promise he made to his father about the Eagle. The marriage between Mosusu and Tori was arranged and while the arrangements for felicitations were underway, Mosusu thought out plans to convince the king to give the bird as a gift to his daughter.

The day now arrived for the marriage. Everywhere was filled with the feeling of happiness and merriment. The atmosphere was breezy, sunny and hot with the cries and songs of young women dancing around in a circle at the centre of the courtyard. The people of the village, boys and girls, old men and women including invited guest, all of them looking their best, sat all around the ends of the squared palace closed to the walls watching the dances and proceedings with voluptuous ease. Everybody was now set for the appearance of the young couple which will culminate the peak of the festivity. A locally brewed gin was served to the audience and guests.

Mosusu was able to convince the king to part with the Eagle as a gift for her daughter . The king did not altogether agree with this, but after a controversy, he consented. Towards the height of activities and just before the singing and dancing died down, Finally the newly married couple emerged from the back of the palace with such a grace and idyllicity that the whole compound heaved a cry of joy and approval for the couple. Tori was seated on the horse in front of Mosusu. The horse moved with grace round the compound and finally came to rest by the king. The king handed them a small basket of orchid together with other gifts.. People started throwing flowers at them as they passed them. All the villagers were now coming in to present their gifts and flowers. The next day after the marriage ,Mosusu gathered his properties , carried his wife and the eagle and traveled home.

Mosusu finally arrived home just before dark. His father who thought that his son must have been dead, could not get over the shock of his return with the Eagle and a most beautiful girl as a wife. A festival was organized for them and his father parted with some of his most valuable properties to Mosusu for bringing the bird as he has promised. These enabled the young couple to start life together and they lived happily ever after.'

It was already dark when Candida finished her story. She sat back and gave a short laugh of embarrassment. She looked across at Dawson who sat gazing at the setting sun with both his hands supporting him from behind. Apparently he didn’t appear to be listening. He sat transfixed at the moment looking at the sun. But actually, Dawson has listened to every bit of the story and was trying to imagine the scenario the story had portrayed. He was wondering. What was it she had called the stories she had often told him – ‘Old meaningless and boring legends’. But was that true? NO. They were rich in flavor and far more entertaining than most of the stories contained in paperbacks he had read. They were truly interesting – refreshingly cool and thought stimulating for an evening like this. And according to her, these stories had come from her grand mother. Yes, Africa is rich in such stories, but only those children who were lucky enough to have stayed at one time or the other with their grand parents would have the opportunity of being told. He couldn’t imagine how children like Hendrick and Avwarosuor who have lived the whole of their lives in the city can hear such stories. True, Africa is full of educative stories and lessons could be drawn or learnt from them. Dawson heaved a sigh of relief and sat upright. It was now his turn to look at Candida. She shifted uneasily and diverted her attention to the sun which has almost disappeared behind the river sending a vibrant red colour over the surface of the water. There was silence between them, only broken by Candida speaking again

‘Did you enjoy the story?'

Dawson hesitated before he answered the question.

‘Enjoy! Why, of course, I devoured every part of it. It was marvelous and really interesting’, he said seriously.

‘You must have a magnetic brain’, he continued, ‘to be able to remember every part of the story as your mother had told it and for it to retain such a touch of excellence!’

‘But why’, she remarked, ‘you would have done better than me if you were you were in my shoes’.

‘You are wonderful, Candida' he said , and wiping the warm sand from his palms, he stood up and stretched. ‘Let’s go home’ ‘we are already late for our supper’.

By the time they crossed the garden and said goodnight to each other it had grown suddenly very dark and as Dawson walked back to his room, he was feeling very elated.