Chapter 20: Awọn igbesẹ mi si titobi (My steps to greatness)1

After eating eba and efo riro for dinner prepared by my mom. Actually without me, because she had wanted me to rest well.

To me, I don't really need to stay because I know how to prepare the meal . And this is how it is done:

Eba is prepared by pouring some quantity of garri (fine or coarse granular cassava flour) in a small quantity of boiling water (depending on the quantity of the eba you want to make) and stirring with a wooden spatula until a dough of garri is formed. You can add more water and stir if you want it to be softer or a bit harder. The eba can then be served on plates, and eaten with vegetable soup.

How to prepare efo riro (vegetable soup)

To prepare vegetable soup (efo riro), add 1 cup of palm oil into a large pot, placed over a medium heat, bleach the oil for 5 minutes, add sliced onions and fry until lightly brown. Add the already blended mixture of red pepper, onions, and scotch bonnet pepper, afterwards add a small quantity of blended crayfish, shredded fish, Iru or dadawa, and boiled meat (goat meat or beef). Cover and leave to simmer for 10-25 minutes, allowing the palm oil to float to the top when the source is ready. Finally add the vegetable (spinach, or any type of vegetable), leave to simmer for another 3 to 5 minutes.

Simple as ABC.

My mom gladly allowed me to go to Baba Alowo's house for moonlight stories telling she would the house chores herself and I should spend as much time as I want.

That made me speechless maybe she knew my decisions I made or probably she has foreseen the future.

Unknown to me, that night was the last moonlight story I will hear. Not only me but for the remaining children.

I skipped to the place merrily, when I got there were few children around. I was very early and excited.

As usual, I helped around the house and waited for Baba to finish eating before the story.

Baba laughed and smiled as usual, called us to dine with him with a smile as usual.

Tonight story was one of a kind, I swear I could feel it in the story line.

Baba cleared his throat and start with his usual dramatic tone i"Pẹ́tẹ́ r'Ọ̀yọ́?"

We children replied"Pẹ́tẹ́ bọ̀!"

the answer is àtẹlẹsẹ̀ (i.e. the sole of the foot). Pẹ́tẹ́ sounds like referring to an object that looks flat. And when "àtẹ́lẹsẹ̀" is considered, it looks like a flat object. He laughed and asked another riddle " Awẹ́ obì kanÀjẹ r'Ọ̀yọ́?"

"àjẹ bọ!"the tongue which is the answer to the riddle looks like a lobe of kolaanut. Baba asked another riddle "Mò ń r'Ọ̀yọ́?"

"Mo kọjú s'Ọ́yọ̀Mò ń t'Ọ̀yọ́ bọ̀Mo tún kọjú s'Ọ́yọ̀ o" has the talking drum as its solution. The talking drum has two "faces" and there is no way it cannot be facing the same direction whether coming or going if each side of the drum is considered as a "face". After some riddles have been given, Baba now starts his story."Ààààlọ́ oooo"

We excited children Chorused: "ààààlọ̀"

Baba smiled while gazing at the little smiling seedlings surrounding him before continuing "Àlọ́ mi dá fìrìgbagbó sókè yídó borí, bọ́ba ayé kò rí ọ, tọ̀run ń wò ọ́." This translates to mean 'if you shoot arrow to the sky and cover yourself, if nobody sees you, heaven is looking at you'.Yorùbá moonlight tales have so much to teach the womenfolk more than their men counterpart. This is why many of the Àlọ́ that have to do with human beings and not the pranks of the tortoise always have women as their main theme. Just as some of the Àlọ́ teach on the value of hard word, doing good and so on, so also do they teach that evil will always trail those who do evil, and that "bí a bá sòkò sọ́jà, ará ilé ẹni ni í bá". This means that "if one throws a stone into the market, it normally hits one's relation". "Once upon a time, there were two women who married the same husband. The husband was taking good care of them. Each of these wives had only one child for the husband. The child of each of them was a male child. These two boys born by these two different parents loved themselves so much that one would think that they were born by the same mother.As time went on, they started going to school. The two of them were brilliant and they were making steady progress in their studies. However, the son of the junior wife appeared to be a little bit more brilliant than the son of the senior wife. For this reason, the junior wife started nursing some hatred against this son of the junior wife. She was therefore looking for a way to terminate the life of this junior wife's son. One day, she cooked a delicious food and garnished it with poison, in the hope that when the junior wife's son arrived, he would eat this food and die. She kept the food where they normally kept these children's food. Since she knew that it was this junior wife's son that normally comes home earlier than the other boy who was her own son the question of whether her own son would eat the food did not arise. But on this fateful day, it was the son of the senior wife herself that came home early. When the boy arrived, there was nobody at home; not even her mother, who could have given him the food without poison. The boy went for this delicious food, picked it and ate. As soon as he finished eating the food, he gave up the ghost. Just after the boy had died, his mother, the junior wife and the husband came in. This wicked woman knew what had happened. She knew that she had reaped, through her innocent son, the wicked fruit she sowed."

Ounce Baba finished is story, he smiled a smile that we all knew. Time for questions.

He pointed to me who was right in front of him " Kenken"

The way he called me made me blush in embarrassment. " Sir"

" Sọ fun mi ohun ti o kọ lati inu itan naa (Tell me what you learnt from the story)"

I spoke as quick as my brain processed the answer

"Mo kọ ẹkọ pe ko si ẹnikan ti o le ṣe buburu ati lọ pẹlu rẹ.(I learnt that nobody can do evil and goes away with it. )"

" O dara (Good)" He smiled before he went serious, as his attention were all over me

"Morenikejimi ..... Ọna kan ṣoṣo ti ibi ko ni ba oluṣe buburu ni kii ṣe lati ṣe buburu rara. O yẹ ki o loye ohun ti Mo tumọ si nipa sisọ iyẹn? (Morenikejimi.....The only way that evil will not befall the evil doer is not to do evil at all. You should understand what I mean by saying that?)" After saying that a warm smile found its way to replace the cold look on his face. He smiled as if nothing happened leaving his victim in chills.

I felt goosebumps all over my body....I was scared that I couldn't sit anymore.

I ran like egungun was chasing me. I was scared. What Baba said was ringing in my ears. The wind was whipping the innocent me, I heard ghostly voice whispering to me telling me all sorts of things. It was scary.

The only place on my mind was home and the only person I thought about while fleeing the clutches of whatsoever it was, was my mom.

I wanted to jump on my mom and hide my self in her arms.

I was scared.

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