Chapter 9
Chinedu came back after being gone for two weeks, he came back with three Onye-Ocha, Willams, George and Jack. When they entered the village, everyone was staring at them as if they saw a ghost, some cautioned their children who were outside to enter the house. Willams felt uneasy until they reached their destination. They exchanged pleasantries with the first onye-ocha while Chinedu left them to catch up after dropping what they came with.
“This house I something else, this is where you stay?”
“Yes Williams, the king gave me this house” onye-ocha main said
“So we gonna be sleeping here with you?” Williams asked again
“Yes until the king give you a place. We are not here to settle down Williams, we are here for something important, something special. Settle in, rest. In the evening, we would go and see the king, the king may even invite us before the evening”.
“What is the plan?” George asked
“Just follow me, do whatever I do. I understand them”. Chinedu walked inside to inform them that their presence is needed in the palace, main onye-ocha told Williams, George and Jack to carry what they came with and follow him to the palace, he has plans which George and Jack know nothing, they just followed.
When the got to the palace, the elders were already seated and patiently waiting for them to arrive. When the arrived, the elders stood up to welcome them by waving they royal staff, Chinedu greeted the elders and the king on their behalf and introduced George as Onye-ocha abuo(two),Jack as onye-ocha ato(three), Williams onye-ocha ano(four), but the main onye-ocha still remain just onye-ocha. Chinedu knew that if he introduce them by their names, the elders and the king will not pronounce the names.
Onye-ocha spoke while Chinedu interpreted “These are my brothers, they are here to teach the villagers about our language and our chi, then probably take them to their land”
The elders smiled as the looked at each other, the king smiled and welcome them to the village. Onye-ocha continued “We brought gift for the king”. They signaled Chinedu to carry those gifts from them and present them to the king, which he did. Chinedu brought out a black coloured leather shoes and continued interpreting for the onye-ocha while George, Jack and Williams kept quiet
“This is a leather, you put it on your leg instead of the animal skin you place your barefoot on” he said as he held the shoe high “With this shoe, your leg cannot touch the ground, the soil cannot touch your leg. Let us show you how it work’’
Onye-ocha signaled to Chinedu to wear it ion the king’s leg. Chinedu asked the king for his permission which was granted, he moved forward to him, removed the animal skin and wore the shoe on his leg.
The king was smiling and staring at the beautiful onye-ocha magic, the elders glanced at each other smiling, as if they were communicating with each other with their eyes. George tried to laughed but was pinched my Jack who sat next to him.
Onye-ocha continued as Chinedu interpreted “Do you like it?”
“Yes I love it, this is magical, your chi is really strong”
“You won’t be needing the animal skin. You can give it to us while we give you more of the slippers.”
Ichie Njoku stood up, he cleared his throat “my king, should the elders take this magic on your leg too?”
The king looked at him, “this is meant for the king alone”.
“Yes your majesty, the wise one”.
“Your majesty” Onye-ocha continued as Chinedu interpreted, he took the animal skin and handed it to Onye-ocha who gave it to George to put inside the bag “We have more”, he brought out a gold coloured clock, the king drew his lips in a wide smile as he held the clock, “with this clock, you can see the time and what that lion statue beside you (chinedu pointed at the lion statue standing beside the king throne) is doing for you, that is what the clock will do for you”
The king stared at the clock in admiration as he held the clock up to his face, he wondered how they managed to make the stick inside to move like that, he gave it to the elders who stared at it in admiration “chi ha di ike oo(their gods is strong)” Mazi Anyaogu exclaimed. The king ordered the guards to give onye-ocha the lion statue close to his throne, as he replaced the statue with the clock. Chinedu handed the statue to the onye-ocha who gave it to Jack to put inside his bag.
“that will be all for now”, Jack interpreted as he sat down.
“You have done well oye-ocha, onya-ocha abuo, onye-ocha ato na(and), onye-ocha ano, thank you. Do you need anything?”
“yes your majesty” ony-ocha said as he signaled Chinedu to stand up and continue his interpretation
“my colleagues need a house close to mine and a cook”
“okay”. He turned to ichie Anyaogu
“Ichie, take my guards and build huts for our visitors’
“Yes your majesty”
Chinedu stood up and continued his interpretation “We are grateful your majesty. We will do our best in this community”.
“Unu emela(thank you), anything you need, let me know”
“thank you”, Chinedu said as the onye-ocha, Williams, George and Jack stood up to leave, the bowed to the king and left.
The elders and the king were smiling and watching them as they disappeared, ichie Njoku was the first to speak up, “chi ndi a di ike(their chi is strong)”
“Eziokwu. I and my family must worship their chi, they have shown us they are stronger”Ichie Anyaogu said as he stood up to leave. He bowed and left, ichie Njoku, Ichie Ogbu and ichie Ndukwe.
Ichie Njoku saw Anyaogu walking briskly to his house, he wondered why he would be walking like that, he hurried up towards him, maybe he has a plan, but who knows, or maybe he got a bad news from home,
“Ichie Anyaogu! Anyaogu!!’’ Anyaogu was deep in thought, he did not hear him. Njoku ran towards him and tapped him, he shivered
“Haa Anyaogu, why are you rushing to your home? You are practically running and lost in thought”
“Ichie, I did not notice, amaghi m (I didn’t know)”
“Hope all is well Anyaogu?”
“Yes, all is well” he stopped immediately “What do you have to say about what happened in the palace?”
“Nothing much, onye-ocha chi is very strong. I will start going there from tomorrow bu Orie day”
“But Ichie, don’t you think that the king supposed to tell them to give us that thing he wore on his leg?” Anyaogu asked with a concerned face
“Eziokwu (true), we are the elders, and the king supposed to treat us right. What do you want to do about it ichie?”
“I don’t know yet. I am thinking of going there tomorrow to see onye-ocha”
“Why?”
“I will not tell you now until I come back from that place”’
“Okay oo, be careful, you are an elder” Njoku warned
“Thank you. How are your wives?”
“I have just one wife now, Ogochukwu”, Njoku said as they continued their journey while discussing
“What happened to your first wife?”
“That one is not a woman, that one is our fellow man”, they both laughed
“But, what happened?”
“She was worshipping chi onye-ocha na agwaghi m(without telling me)”
“Nwuye gi a kpara ike(this your wife is strong)” he said “that is an evil act. She is a woman and should be under his husband. Agway a joro njo(her character is bad)”
“Ohoo!” Njoku exclaimed as he threw his hands in the air
“What did you do?”
“I sent her packing, she is in her father’s house”
“Good. Ya kpa agwa out ahu na ulo mpa ha(she should behave like that in her father’s house, omenaala anyi kojoro ya(our tradition is against it)”
“What of you pregnant wife?”
“Olaedo m, Ogochukwu nwa di mma(Ogochukwu the beautiful one), she is fine “
“When will she be due?”
“I don’t know but soon.” He scratched his head “Taking care of a pregnant woman adighi mfe(its not easy).”
“I understand, I was there. This is your first child, you get through it”
“Isee!!”.
They reached their crossroads and took their separate path
“Ngwanu, o ga di nu echi,ma o bu mgbe obula I huru m(okay, it will be tomorrow or anytime you see me.)”
“Okay. Bye bye”, Njoku said as he turned to his path.