INTENTION MATTERS A LOT

Life challenges with their vicissitudes know not where to draw the line; otherwise, they should not be saddling children with hardships. Child labour short-changes children.  To devise tactical coping strategies to survive varying situations right from infancy, perforce makes adult of children. Psychologically wounded are the many traumatised casualties of forced induction into adulthood via child labour. “Okoro erughị eru wara ọgọdọ, ikuku buru ya, oburu ọgọdọ ya – Should a youth not attain the right age before wearing cloth, the wind will carry away both him and his cloth.” Anyway, “Onweghị ihe anya hụrụ, gbaa ọbara – Nothing, no matter how unsightly, will ever make the eyes to shed blood.” “Mbe sị na nsogbu bụ nke ya, ya mere ya jiri kwọrọ ya n’azụ – The Tortoise said that trouble is his, that is why he carries it on his back.” “Onye ọ biara, obugara onye? – If it is one’s lot, to whom, will the one transfer it?”

Ezinwa had to shoulder her own burden and the responsibility of being her parents’ keeper right from childhood. “Ma ọnwụ egbughị ji ejiri chụ aja, emechaa ọ ga epu ume – If the yam used in sacrifice does not die prematurely, it will eventually germinate.” “Ma ọnwụ egbughị nwa eghu, emechaa æ ga aghæ ikenga eghu –  If a kid goat survives, it will eventually become a full grown goat.” Things will ultimately improve despite teething problems.

Long ago, an honest, polite and kind-hearted girl lived with her sick parents in Eziobodo,

THE CHARGE FOR OVERLOAD

Once upon a time, there lived an upright police man who feared to soil his hands by taking either bribe or undue advantage of mobile courts and roadblocks to extort money from motorists. His colleagues knew him as a highly principled man who was very uncompromising. They tried to convert him but could not get him to indulge in sharp practices. On his own part he tried to no avail to positively influence his colleagues. His colleagues knew that he was right but they would not join him because they had family obligations to meet. They told him: “Ntukwu na-agụ ngwere mana odụ ekweghị ya - The Lizard longs to stoop but his tail would not let him.” “Ihe isike mere ayịya jiri gbaguọ - Circumstances made the crayfish to bend.” “Ọkụkọ ghara kwọm kwọm, oji gini azụ ụmụ? - If the hen gives up clucking how will it raise its brood?”

In the barracks, people saw him as a failure for while other uniformed men came back from work with enough money to feed their families and take care of other needs, the upright man waited for his meagre salary to cater to his own family but it was never enough. His wife used to augment the feeding money by petty trading at the mammy market. Poverty really gnawed at his household. Because of the level of poverty in his house, some naughty children in the barrack playing out door games referred to him

THE PRUDENT WIFE

The Tortoise had a happy home where he lived with his wife, Aliga. His favourite dish was Akidi (a special type of bean). Each time Aliga cooked akidi before leaving for the farm with her husband the Tortoise intermittently answered imaginary calls: “Owe! Wait I’m coming O!” He would tell his wife that those who booked appointments with him were calling him for the meeting. He pretended to have a meeting whereas he could not resist the temptation to go home to steal akidi from his wife’s pot. This happened several times but each time, the Tortoise refused to admit that he ate the Akidi. One day, in order to catch the thief, his wife, Aliga, cooked akidi as usual but

THE LIVING-DEAD

Once upon a time, there lived an amiable couple. They understood each other so well that they lived happily together. They were people of humble means. They had three children of very tender age. It was while the woman was delivered of the third baby that she died of exhaustion in protracted labour.

THE MOON MAN

Once upon a time, a man took his axe and went to a nearby bush to split firewood on a Sacred Day. He was not a stranger in the Land. So he knew that one should not work, cry, quarrel or fight on Eke market day no matter what. So his act amounted to defiance. He caught the full impact of his offence when God  placed him on the moon for all to see, as a reminder that disobedience is not good. Thereafter, to forestall such a drastic penalty from God, men quickly intervene whenever there is contravention on Sacred Days. They gather together immediately they hear the noise of quarrelling on a Holy Day and punish the offenders by giving them a fine of a fowl each. Thereafter the community pursue and catch any fowl seen in the vicinity. The fowls are killed, cooked and eaten by all the people present as a kind of peace offering but if the fowls do not belong to the offenders, they would pay for them.

WHY WALL GECKO IS CALLED "THE TELLER"

Once upon a time, there was a great famine, an extreme scarcity of food resulting in widespread hunger within the animal kingdom. The Tortoise racked his brains on how he survived famines in the past and he mapped out clever strategies to enable him survive this one too. He contracted the rabbit to burrow an underground subway from his house down to the marketplace. On a market day, just as people were busy buying and selling, the Tortoise and the rabbit hid themselves in the hole and began to sing this hair-raising song with disguised voices:

Ụmụmmadụ n’azụ ahia. kparanụma nụma n’azụ ahia kparanụma

Anụmanụ n’abia ahia, Kparanụma nụma n’abia ahia kparanụma

Ụmụagbara abiala ahia, kparanụma nụma abiala ahia kparanụma

Ụmụmmụọ chọrọ aja, kparanụma nụma chọrọ aja kparanụma

Onye k’ eji achụọ aja? Kparanụma nụma eji chụọ aja kparanụma!

WHY MEN APPEASE NATURAL FORCES

In ages past, there lived a couple Mmiri (Rain) and Egbe-eluigwe (Thunder). They begot a son, Amụma-mmiri (Lightning), named after Mmiri, his father. The couple were very close hence the adage: “If you heed the voice of thunder you will not be drenched by the rain.”  Egbe was well known for her deep and thunderous voice that sounded like a gun and whenever she conversed with her husband, her voice rumbled in the distance. In fact it was because of her voice that she was named Egbe, meaning gun, and because it seemed as if Elu-igwe (the sky) shot the gun, eluigwe was added to Egbe to get Egbe-eluigwe (Sky’s gun). Moreover, she had to be distinguished from her namesakes Egbe (Hawk) and Egbe (Dane gun).

Egbe-eluigwe was adventurous but life in the sky was unexciting. Therefore she preferred to live elsewhere with her son, Amụma-mmiri, amid a community of people. She was very humorous.

WHY HAWKS HOVER OVER BUSH FIRES

Once upon a time, the Tortoise courted the pretended friendship of a young Fowl. He told him how friendly he was with his late father. He gave him useful advice on how to evade being sacrificed to the pixies and won his confidence. One fateful day, the Tortoise met the Cock on the way as he was coming to pay him a visit. He convinced the Cock to follow him to visit his friend, the Ụdara tree because he had nothing in his house to offer such a great friend as the Cock. The Cock accompanied him to the Ụdara tree. When they got there, Tortoise sang to the Ụdara tree:

Udara dakwa m  n’ekpuru m o! Kpuru k’ekpu (2ce)

Tiim ọ dala-o kpuru K’ekpu! (2ce)

Ụdara fall on my back, Kpuru K’ekpu! (2ce)

Tiim, it has fallen, Kpuru K’ekpu! (2ce)

THE SCAPEGRACE

When he was young and sprightly, Tortoise rushed to Ụrashị to marry a wife. Like every other youth, he was a fantast. He thought it was an easy matter to get married. He faced the stark reality when he got to Ụrashị unaccompanied by relatives and his in-laws asked him to pay 100 cowries as bride price. Impecunious Tortoise was crestfallen and ashen-faced for although he was young and agile he was averse to work. He became weak and like a child, he toddled and sluggishly trudged home. Normally, return journeys are faster but his first trip characterised by scuttling movement contrasted drastically with his foot-dragging return journey. He was pensive like a frustrated poor man. He did not know where to get that kind of money. “How can high bride price deprive me of the bride I prize highly?” he asked himself

THE PRICE PAID FOR EXPOSING EVIL DOERS

Once upon a time, a great famine broke out in the animal kingdom and food was in short supply. The Tortoise was at his wit’s end as to how to sustain his family. By then, he was the king of the animals. He craftily concocted a plausible story as to the cause of the famine and the envisaged solution.

He convoked a summit of all the animals and briefed them on the cause of the famine and called for affirmative action on the part of one and all if the famine were to be arrested. The Tortoise claimed to be an oneiromancer, a person who could divine the future through the interpretation of dreams.  According to him, “the famine was caused by the deity, Apụ, the idol worshipped by our forefathers but neglected by our generation.  Apụ is angry. That is why he decided to punish us with famine. The solution is to restore the worship of Apụ. I recommend that we commence within a fortnight.” The animals agreed. They were eager to avert the food crisis. They fixed a date for the worship.

THE MYSTERIOUS LEAF

Once there lived a man who climbed trees very fast and with so much agility that people said he had the dexterity of the monkey in tree climbing. People from far and near hired him to prune the trees in their farm lands or to harvest their palm fruits and oil bean seeds. His fellow tree climbers, whom he outstripped and outshined in competitions, eyed him askance and nicknamed him “social climber,” but his name was Eburuche.

From above, Climbers observe many untoward things that people do below. It is said that

REWARD & PUNISHMENT

One day, a woman, Ụwọma and her daughter went to a long distance farm. They worked tirelessly for the whole day and left for home. On their way back, the girl realized that she forgot her money which she left under a dead tree. She sought her mother’s permission to go back quickly and get it. Her mother told her that it was unsafe to do that because night was falling. She promised to run as fast as she could and still meet her mother on the way before she got home. The mother consented. 
In the farm the girl went straight to where she kept her money, but the money was gone. As she was looking for her money, night fell. Night time is when fairies go about their own business. It is even significant that she kept her money under a dead tree. Suddenly a spirit appeared in the form of an old woman. The girl greeted her cautiously and sang:

ALLEGORICAL NOTION OF MARRIAGE (PART II)

The era of arranged marriages has passed. There are too many broken marriages these days. The rate of divorce is increasing among our people who live overseas. The high rate is rearing its ugly head even here in our land. If you have your ears to the ground you must have heard the saying that if we pour new wine into old wine skin the new wine will burst the skin and waste the wine. When young boys come home from USA to seek for a wife, they are necessarily looking for a nurse because the nursing profession is lucrative in America. The question is: Are they looking for a wife or are they looking for a money spinner? Of course, the youth like to go to America. Did the artiste, Mama G not sing: “I love you the way Government loves to owe teachers; I love you the way Nigeria loves American visa. Iji kwe ego? Iya mgbo mgbo.”  When the money-making-machine-wife gets to America and her eyes open as they are bound to open she will know her rights and know the truth that she was primarily married for wealth creation and not for love and companionship. When she refuses to play the role of both devoted patient wife and breadwinner as her foremothers did, divorce or death becomes the answer, the way out.

In the process of getting married, there is an interlude called courtship. This is the time intending couples study one another and try to see if they can cope with each other’s likes and dislikes. It is after this careful study that one gives his or her consent. Marriage is a free act; it is not forced and it requires exchange of will. You don’t jump into marriage because a suitor lives overseas or because a rich handsome man is asking for your hand in marriage. COURTSHIP, FREEDOM, AND CONSENT ARE REQUIRED. This is the 2^nd step.

There is a dangerous euphemism making its rounds among young girls: “Na love we go chop?” The primary end of marriage is love and companionship. The secondary aim is procreation. Children are the fruit of this loving union. A common joke is that Oyibo generally marry because they are in love but the African marries to fall in love later, if ever. Listen to me! This is false. There has always been love in our land. In the olden days many girls eloped with their lovers who could not pay bride price. The pet names which the then husbands gave their wives depict deep love. Such pet names as Obidiya (the husband’s heart), Ahụdiya (the husband’s body), Onụdiya (the husband’s mouth piece), Ụkwụdiya (the husband’s leg), Mmadi (the husband’s paragon of beauty), Uredi (the husband’s pride), Ihudiya (the husband’s face), Egodiya (the husband’s money), Ugodiya (the husband’s eagle), Uridi (the husband’s ornament), Omashịrịdiya (the husband delight) were not given for the fun of it. These affectionate names were given out of love.

ALLEGORICAL NOTION OF MARRIAGE (PART I)

Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man who was foresighted. Owing to the fact that he was the only child of his parents he married many wives and he married quite early too. So he had numerous children and grandchildren to consolidate his base. He thought of the best legacies to bequeath to posterity. His mind went to great and undying practices such as rituals. It occurred to him that human beings do what every other animal does except that they symbolically ritualise their own acts. For instance, all animals eat but humans take time to prepare their food: obtain, cook, dish out the food, sit down at table, wash their hands, eat, pick their teeth, drink water, wash their hands again, etc. Thus, on account of rituals, human beings complicate feeding, which lower animals do with ease. To sleep, lower animals just lie down and close their eyes but humans go through the ritual of making sleeping mats, beds, mattresses,  pillows, bed sheets, etc. They achieve the same purpose but whether humans arrive at a better quality of sleep is a matter for further reflection. Every animal procreates but humans go through the ritual of courtship, marriage contract, permanent relationships, live together as a family and eventually make their own babies and keep them under tutelage up to nineteen years or more.

THE PRODIGIOUS FATHER

Once upon a time, there lived an extraordinarily wealthy person. He was a very wise and astute investor. He had business empires here and there. He was a very generous father and he had four children. His policy was to have all his children born and bred abroad for an integral learning experience right from their childhood. He gave each one of them powerful instantaneous means of communicating with him at any given moment. He asked them not to request their needs from any other person. His plan was to bring back home each child that graduates so that he/she would inherit a business empire of his/her own to manage and enjoy. And he made this known to them.

PARABLE OF THE STOMACH

Our elders say “Egbuo dike na ọgụ ulo echeta ya na ọgụ ama – when  a people kill their champion during skirmishes at home they will be forced to remember that warrior while fighting external aggressors.” People who destroy their leaders out of jealousy always rue it. “Agbawọ dike izuzu agba ya mgba na abọ – when people scheme and take decision behind the back of an important dignitary they will be forced to reconsider and reverse their decision.

Once upon a time, God made the different parts of the body. He housed them in a magnificent garden and gave them certain ground rules. The most essential of all the rules was the law of hospitality. He commanded them to be compassionate, generous, and welcoming; they should freely give alms and show hospitality to all, especially to unknown visitors.

HOW THE CHOICES WE MAKE IN LIFE CAN MAKE OR MAR US

Among the Igbo, to nurture good relationship, a person may give a she-goat, ewe or hen to a friend to rear. As the goat/sheep/hen reproduces, they share the offspring. But if the goat, sheep or hen dies it has to be returned to the owner.