Chapter One

Sade sat in anticipation of the latest story her mother would tell. Inside their hut only a candle cast a shadowy glow on the only two occupants of the hut. The wind blew around them as yellow leaves left their majestic trees to land on the forest floor below. Perfect timing for a story when even nature wanted to get closer and listen in.

Nike spoke in a soothing confident voice as she weaved her tale. A Long time ago there was a woman named Olurombi in an African Kingdom. She was made fun of by the other women for being without child. To them having a child was the most important duty of a woman. The taunting happened everywhere. Whether she was fetching water at the river or buying food at the market. She could feel their eyes and judgment upon her. She didn’t need to look to see the pointing fingers or hear the words whispered by the market women to know that they were talking about her. Over time this made her very sad and lonely.

Friendless and childless she decided one day to seek help from the man of the oracle. The white bearded oracle man was referred to by the villagers as the wise one that communicated with the gods, everyone went to consult him to help solve their problems and even the king had once been spotted in the wise man's little hut seeking for advise. When Olurombi arrived to consult the wise man he stopped her from talking and claimed to know why she had come to see him. Olurombi guessed that the whispers about her most have reached the wise man, she also guessed that it could be that the wise man had seen a vision about her from the gods. Whichever way, she did not want to ask the wise man how he knew her problem so as not to make him angry as he is know as the great wise one with bad temper who is expected to know everything by the people of the kingdom due to his mysterious supernatural powers. After the wise man narrated Olurombi's problems to her accurately about her been childless, Olurombi shivered with fear. The wise man told Olurombi not to be afraid and that he knew what to do to help her. He gave her precise instructions to take a sacrifice into the deep forest and to place it under the tallest Iroko tree. She was to prepare the best meal she had ever made with goat head and bitter leaf. Then in the middle of the night, take the meal to the deepest part of the forest and place it under the tallest Iroko tree. This is a sacrifice that she must offer up to the spirit of the Iroko tree. After which she will have the child she longed for. But there was also a price. When the time came she must be ready to let go of the child.

There was a weak lightning and thunder outside the hut. It was as if the weather was taking a turn as Nike’s story did.
Olurombi did not think twice about the price attached to the offer. She wanted a child so badly and was willing to do anything. She followed the oracle man’s advice and prepared a sacrifice with seven different type of vegetable leaves with various spices and a soup with catfish and goat meat. In the middle of the night she set out into the thick jungle and placed it under the tallest Iroko tree she could find in the deepest part of the forest.
“Guess what?” Nike broke from the story.
“What?” Sade breathed in anticipation.
The sacrifice worked and soon after Olurombi became pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She named her Aduke, a name which meant Much Loved Child. Aduke grew to be the finest girl in the kingdom and the envy of the rest of the girls.
The women in the kingdom could no longer make fun of Olurombi and even wanted to be her friend. She was now very happy and loved her daughter dearly.
“Now let me teach you the musical that tells the rest of the story,” Nike told Sade.

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