Prologue (1)

"Oh Oluwa, god of the forest, what a beautiful maiden I see in the green grass over there!" Babida the lumberjack exclaimed as he took a minute break from timber cutting. The reason for his sudden pause: a thin and black-skinned eighteen-year-old girl with curly hair, holding in her right hand a basket full of mushrooms. Her name was Suzie.

She was sent to the woods by her grandmother, big momma - like she tenderly called the old woman - to fetch mushrooms for the dinner soup.

She had her back turned and was totally focused on her task when the woodsman noticed her. She was worry-free searching for the white Button species and sorting them out. She was throwing away those that caused sickness and putting the good ones into her rubber-made basket for the elderly's favorite meal.

She bent graciously to pick up the mushrooms and while doing so, her pink silk mini-dress moved upward, exposing, even more, the charms of her hairless legs. The skirt featured cords at the waist fastened on the front side in the form of a butterfly knot.

Babida the lumberjack was subjugated and the short pause he was taking, mutated into an eternal moment of infatuation. The steel ax he had held in the palms of his strong hands for the past two hours slipped and fell on the ground covered by plenty of tiny pieces of wood.

"Hi, there!" He cried out from the top of his lungs.

Struck by the high decibels of the logger's voice, Suzie looked behind her, eyes wide open and the left hand on her chest, then deeply sighed, and took two steps back.

In front of her, was a sweaty thirty-something years of age tall black man with a herculean body that he was proudly displaying under the hot sun of the afternoon. He had pecs as massive as Mount Everest and possessed nurtured biceps displaying an impressive number of veins.

"Who are you?" The young maiden Suzie shouted in panic.

"What are you doing here?" She added while continuing to move backward.

"Sorry Miss, my intention had never been to frighten you. Please pardon my nonmanners!" Babida the lumberjack replied to her with a softened tone.

Not quite sure how to react to the stranger's assurance of coming in peace, the young maiden Suzie rather chose to walk away.

"Anyway, I am leaving now," she said to him as she sped up her exit from the bushes.

"A moment, please! May I at least know your name?" Babida the lumberjack responded to the young woman while flashing a bright smile.

"What for? I said was on my way. Did you not hear me?" The young Miss Suzie retorted then started running away, her basket full of mushrooms in her hand.

Babida the lumberjack extended his right arm in an attempt to stop her but it was too late. The beautiful unknown girl had vanished away as fast as she could.

Deeply disappointed, the woodsman sprung, fists closed, then screamed.

Back in the center of Ekule, one of the most incredible villages of the Batang empire in Africa, the young Miss Suzie released her breath. She had escaped from the unknown.

"Ouf! I'm now far away from that...who knows ...stalker," she said relieved as she entered the very bustling center of the imperial city.

She then continued her walk home where her grandmother had long been waiting for her to prepare the mushroom soup.

"Hi, big momma!" Suzie said to the sexagenarian woman as she got inside the house.

"I am back home," she pursued while rushing to the kitchen, for she was late for the preparation of the dinner. She laid the basket of mushrooms in the sink and barely had she done so that an angry voice emanating from the living room shook her up.

"Where have you been, you little blighter?" Suzie's grandmother asked her upset.

"Big momma, I am sorry!" Suzie mumbled while hurrying to hug the old lady in an attempt to calm her down.

"Today there were so many mushrooms across the forest and thus I had to make sure I carry home as many as possible. I also had to be very selective and pick up the healthiest ones for your preferred soup," she convincingly explained.

"Hmmm, now you are flattering me. You know every time how to appease me, especially when you bring home my favorite chow." Grandma answered back her granddaughter in a mild tone of voice.

Suzie thereafter returned to the kitchen. She removed the mushrooms from the basket and placed them in a pot. She opened the tap to fetch some water, then tidied the white Buttons up.

And then…! A flash memory of what had happened in the woods popped up.

"Big momma, let me tell you the strange thing that occurred when I was in Ekule's forest earlier in the day!" Suzie declared to her grandmother who was sitting on her rattan chair in the parlor.

The aged woman was airing herself with a floral folding hand fan. She stopped for a moment, and glanced in the direction of her granddaughter before uttering doubtfully: "You again with your stories, what's up this time around, little tattletale?"

The night had completely covered in the village of Ekule. Babida the lumberjack was unsuccessfully trying to have some sleep after though a long and hard day of work. The reason was that he couldn't help reminiscing about the unexpected encounter in the bushes he had earlier in the afternoon.

The image of the dark in complexion young maiden with whirling hair and dressed in a pink silk robe with cords on the waist fastened in the form of a butterfly knot could not get away from his mind.

The mighty woodsman was hit by a wave of love that shook him in all directions and made him lose control of himself. For the first time in a long moment, he felt weak. The fascination he was having for the unknown pretty maiden was now viral.

"I wonder where the young maiden in pink dress dwells?" Babida the lumberjack whispered to himself.

"I bet she lives in the neighboring village Okala in the west, for I have never spotted her around here," he persuaded himself.

"Therefore, tomorrow early morning I will travel to Okala and look for her," he decided.

"I must first try to get some rest," he added as he laid his head on the pillow, and stretched his hands and feet to the edges of his ebony-made bed, then finally fell asleep.

Before dawn, Babida the lumberjack rose up. He geared up and completely changed his appearance. Indeed, with the help of the mirror in the tiny bathroom of his cabin and the sharp blade of his ax, he got rid of his enormous beard and made his mustache clean-cut. He then applied lemon juice on his face to eradicate the dead cells and the recalcitrant pimples.

Thereafter, he took a bath that was longer than usual before spraying rose-made fragrance on his armpits, neck, cheeks, and voluminous chest. He squirted too a few drops of the perfume onto the palms of his hands and rubbed slightly his face and the rest of his body.

Lastly, he wore a long perfectly white boubou with a brown kufi hat and covered his feet with brown leather sandals.

Done with clothing, he took the way to Okala and arrived at the main arteries of the village. They were crowded and noisy as always. Charcoal merchants, butchers, fish sellers, tailors, jewelers, customers, passers-by, and running kids were animating the streets.

Babida started his inquiry. He asked passers-by if they knew the whereabouts of a slim and black-skinned woman of eighteen years of age or a little bit above with curling hair who could wear to perfection a silk robe, notably a pink one with a butterfly knot on the front side.

People had no idea who the young Miss was. Desperate, Babida held on for a moment. He stood in a corner, thinking about what he would do next. A group of three kids about twelve years old who were playing in the area and had remarked on him walked up to him.

One of the teenagers, who seemed to be the chief of the band, spoke to him and affirmed with an imperious tone: "Ho! I know someone who can help you find whoever you are looking for."

Babida was very disturbed by the small boy's lack of tact but chose not to scold him. He preferred to focus on how the latter could assist him in his love quest.

"Oh really? Well, I'm all ears, speak!" The logger reacted.

"Look to your left, straight! Over there is the Witch's street," the toddler said while showing the direction with his index finger.

"Go there and all your questions will be met with answers!" He commanded.