PURNISH OR PERISH

As he stood in their midst and recited chants and incantations, the whole gathering was deathly silent. The Chief priest and his entourage of priests and priestesses were the most revered individuals in the traditional set-up.

They after all communicate with the divine and are considered to be processors of supernatural powers. Even the Chiefs have to show the utmost respect towards these individuals. Their word and decrees are accepted to be from the gods themselves. Do their word is therefore law.

After some time his eyes went all white as he seemed to have been processed by the spirits.

"Hmmm mmmmm, hiaaa hiaaa, hmm" he kept muttering as he limped around the village square. His attending priestesses were throwing white powder on the ground he was limping around on one leg.

He would jump into the air occasionally and mutter some deeply profound incantations. The priest was playing the drums used in their voodoo rituals. It was indeed a solemn atmosphere all around, as everyone was afraid to make a costly mistake by creating any sound that could distract the ritual being performed.

" The gods are angry!!!! The gods are very angry!!!! The gods are angry. " he said as he came to a standstill surprisingly not out of breath at all. He now walked back towards the animal skin that had been spread for him by one of the priestesses.

He sat down and gestured for one of the younger priests to interpret as he spoke a strange language; the language of the gods that mere mortals could never understand.

As he spoke the priest would interpret," Mene meme. My oooh uuuu, lulla oooh data masts." the chief priest spoke.

" A taboo has been committed by one of our beloved daughters. This taboo could bring a village destructive punishment upon all." the young priest interprets.

The chief priest then tossed his cowries again and continued in the strange language. " Dama kalamata dzida laltsa lakatate. Hmmm, kata data tsi gata data kama latte."

"The gods have found the young girl guilty of breaking their divine or donations. This was an agreement between the gods of the two Kingdoms back then with the mother Earth as a witness." the young priest interpreted.

The Chief Priest got out of his trance and once again threw his coweries, now with clear eyes he addressed the people. " The gods are of old and full of wisdom."

"The gods have protected our Kingdom for thousands of generations gone by and would continue to do so for the next ten thousand years to one" he continued.

He threw the coweries again," For a man to go against the wishes of the gods only results in a calamity. Esi of the Royal blood line have gone against the gods despite all the warnings from her friends and parent".

"A disobedient child is always a harbinger of disaster indeed. Even you bethrothed warned you severally but you wouldn't listen. " He chastised the now crying young mother.

"The girl knowingly committed repeatedly acts that are against our divine laws. She broke her bethrotal, got pregnant before bride price was paid." looked up from his coweries and continued.

" Hmmm!!! She had relations with a man on the bare ground, in a farm; therefore defining the sacred earth!!" He declared with anger apparent in his voice.

The crowd could not be contained this time round. Cursed and abusive words were thrown out by individuals among the crowd. This revelation had angered the gathering very much.

Having sex on the bare ground in a farm or even spreading a cloth was considered a gracious taboo and an insult to all women. So one could understand the anger and indignation the crowd felt.

After a long while the crowd financing calmed down and the proceedings continued. The chief priest spread his coweries again and recited incantations .

"The most serious of her crimes is having relations with the enemy Kingdoms Prince and bearing a child for him on our land"

He concluded and packed his incantation tools into his leader bag.

He sat down and took a fowl that was prepared before hand.

"To cleanse the ground. And appeade the mother earth a foel would be offered as sacrifice and that goat would be offered to the bethrotal family."

He stood up an slaughtered the fowl, pouring the blood on the floor and chanting some strange incantations at the same time. After he was done he sat back down.

" Over the course of the past six months many offerings were presented by the family of the girl and sacrifices were made to appease the gods. This is the finally piece"

He handed the fowl to one of the younger priests to pit away. He now faced the crowd ready to pass the final judgement.

"The gods have spoken and decided to punish only the culprit and the abomination must be removed from among the people and sacrificed to the gods for this calamity to be averted.

The women among the crowd almost simultaneously burst into sorrowful wails as the y heard the verdict. The men all had downcasted faces as they look at the Paramount Chief with sympathy in their eyes.

This is his only daughter, the Paramount Chief himself seemed to have aged considerably within the past few months. But now he sat down lifelessly, his slumped into his chair in total despair.

The queen gaming running and flung herself at the feet of the chief priest wailing and pleading that the gods should temper justice with mercy.

The elders all stood up and went aside to consult and find a way out of this sad event. They huddled in one corner of the gathering and intense discussion could be heard .

The Sorhefia had since jumped out of his chair to stand defensively in front if the weeping mother who was holding tightly to her new born baby. His stand shows he was ready to cut down any one that would make a move against the young girl and her baby.

Esi lifted her head to stare with tears in her eyes at the broad shoulder of the man standing bravely infront of her. At this time he seemed to be her only defence. She couldn't help but wail the more as she remembered how stupid she had been to betray him.

The elders came back and petitioned the Chief Priest and made several suggestions that could give them a leeway out of the current predicament.

The chief priest consulted in every instance a suggestion was made to see if the gods would acquiesce but, each ended in failure of the gods to show mercy. At last the Chief Priest was almost hit by a sudden thunder strike.

At once one of the younger priestesses was processed by the spirits as she jumped high into the air and started dancing and jumping about. She continued for awhile before uttering one sentence.

"Purnish the culprit and remove the abomination from your midst or Perish!!!