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 husband was devastated. He wished there was a nursing mother in the village to help him breastfeed his new born baby as she suckled her own baby. That was the practice by then because women were very sympathetic. But there was no such mother at that particular point in time, so he pathetically fed the new born baby on fresh palm wine and coconut milk and luckily he survived.

Mothers were very concerned and compassionate. Unknown to everyone, except the children, their late mother came daily to bathe, feed and watch over them whenever their father went to the farm and each day she left before he returned. This went on for a long time and the children were robust and healthy. One day their father prepared food for them and they said they had eaten, the man asked them how they were able to cook food as small as they were. The innocent children told him that they did not have to cook because mother was there to cook and feed them. The man presupposed that they did not know what they were saying but as he had become touchy since his beloved wife died, he left them to go and weep. He did not want to cry in their presence for men were not supposed to cry. This phenomenon went on and on until he decided to verify what the children were saying. One day he told them that he was going to the farm but actually he hid himself in the inner room from where he had a full view of what was happening in the kitchen. At the usual time, his late wife came, bathed the children, suckled the baby, cooked and caringly fed the other two children. He hid himself and made this observation for two consecutive days just to make sure that he was not hallucinating. On the third day he could not restrain himself. He emerged from his hiding place and wanted to clasp his wife but the phantom vanished. He burst out crying aloud uncontrollably. Neighbours assembled to console him and to find out what the matter was. They were touched by the story and they advised him to remarry and provide another mother for the children, or their mother would take them one after the other.  He heeded their advice and quickly remarried.

Unfortunately, the new wife was a far cry from expectation. She treated the children well when their father was watching. Immediately their father left the house she treated them badly like her slaves. She did not give them good food, especially meat, fish and egg. She said that if they ate eggs they would learn to steal. The children lost weight and became malnourished, sad and sickly.

One day, she went to the market and bought ụdara fruit. The children were excited because children generally like ụdara. “Mummy give me ụdara. Mummy give me ụdara,” each of them said. They had a rude shock when she told them “Adị m ka ukpochi na anaghị  amị n’ oge ụnwụ makana ọnaghị azụ nwa onye ọzọ - I am like plantain that does not fruit during the period of famine because it is not interested in nurturing other people’s children.” Despite the children’s request, she ate all the ụdara in their presence without offering them even one. She rather gave the eldest child the ụdara peels and seeds to throw away. The child sorrowfully went behind the house. He remembered his mother and wept. Instead of throwing away the ụdara seeds, he scratched the ground with his bare hands, threw in the seeds and covered them with soil. He sat there weeping and singing:

Ụdara puo nda, puo puo puo nda (twice)

Nwunye nna m, nda, gbata ụdara n’ ahịa, nda

 Rawa rawa racha nda, enyeghi nwaenwenne

Ụdara puo nda, puo puo puo nda.

Ụdara germinate nda, germinate (3ce ) nda

My step mother bought ụdara from the market, nda

Ate all without giving any to the motherless child

Ụdara germinate nda, germinate (3ce) nda.

He went there quite often to sing this pathetic song and he cried as he sang for he always said “If mother had been there, she would have given us the ụdara.” All along his mother had been hovering over him and she overheard everything he said. One day just as he sang, the ụdara germinated. It was wonderful. Filled with joy, he sang:

Ụdara too nda, too too too nda (twice)

Nwunye nna m nda, gbata ụdara n’ ahịa, nda

 Rawa rawa racha nda, enyeghi nwaenwenne

ụdara too nda, too too too nda!

Ụdara grow nda, grow, grow, grow, nda (2ce)

My step mother bought ụdara from the market, nda

Ate all without giving any to the motherless child

Ụdara grow nda, grow, grow, grow, nda!

Surprisingly the ụdara grew into a tree and he sang again,

Ụdara mịa nda, mịa mịa mịa, nda (twice)

Nwunye nna m nda, gbata ụdara na ahịa, nda

Rawa rawa racha nda, enyeghi nwaenwenne

Ụdara mịa nda, mịa mịa mịa, nda!

Ụdara fruit nda, fruit fruit fruit, nda (2ce)

My step mother bought ụdara from the market, nda

Ate all without giving any to the motherless child

Ụdara fruit nda, fruit fruit fruit, nda!

His ụdara tree fruited and he sang:

Ụdara chaa nda, chaa chaa chaa, nda (2ce)

Nwunye nna m nda, gbata ụdara n’ ahịa, nda

Rawa rawa racha nda, enyeghi nwaenwenne

ụdara chaa nda, chaa chaa chaa, nda!

Ụdara ripe nda, ripe ripe ripe, nda (twice)

My step mother bought ụdara from the market, nda

Ate all without giving any to the motherless child

ụdara ripe nda, ripe ripe ripe, nda!

His ụdara ripened and he sang,

ụdara daa nda, daa daa daa,nda

Nwunye nna m nda, gbata ụdara n’ ahịa, nda

Rawa rawa racha nda, enyeghi nwaenwenne

Ụdara daa nda, daa daa daa, nda.

Ụdara fall nda, fall fall fall, nda (2ce)

My step mother bought ụdara from the market, nda

Ate all without giving any to the motherless child

Ụdara fall nda, fall fall fall, nda!

The ụdara fruit fell and was very tantalizing and delicious. He ate some and took some to his siblings. Their stepmother saw them eating ụdara. She seized their ụdara, ate it and accused them of stealing. The small boy protested that they did not steal. He had to explain how the ụdara came about. “In that case, the ụdara is mine because if I did not buy ụdara from the market, you would not have had ụdara seed to plant and sing to. From now on each time you pick the ụdara, bring it to me.”  As the ụdara fell only when the child sang, their stepmother went there every day but could not pick a single ụdara fruit. She therefore made the children go to get the fruit when she wanted it. They went and sang and the fruits fell. Knowing that their stepmother would not give them some, they ate their own there and wiped their mouths but being children they could not do it very well. So when they got to their stepmother with the ụdara, she inquired if that was all the fruits that fell and they nodded in affirmation. She became crossed with them and asked them about the gummy ụdara juice on their mouths, which was making their lips stick together.  As a warning not to repeat such another day she would send for ụdara, she flogged them mercilessly. They wept bitter tears, calling on their mother as they cried.

As they were calling on their dead mother she abused them verbally saying to the last born “even you who came into this world with your legs! Which mother are you calling upon, the one you killed?”

In those days the rate of maternal and infant mortality was very high. The maternal mortality was often caused by breach births even though it was a taboo for a child to exit the womb with the legs instead of head. Why would a child come into the world with his own legs? Would he walk and run at once? It was also an abomination for a child to cut the upper teeth first before the lower teeth. A child who did that was supposed to be buried alive. Though, it was a very rare occurrence. It was against this backdrop that the stepmother abused the last born child. Like every other woman she said “Ọlọ m’ọlọgbuo alọrọlam - May children who incarnate in order to claim the lives of mothers never be my lot!”

That same day, the children’s mother appeared to their father in the farm and threatened to take all her children if he would not take proper care of them. The man came home and confronted his second wife about the wellbeing of the children and the two of them had a row. The husband called his wife a pretender by singing this common allegorical song to her.

O mezie nwata ihu nne ya (3 ce)

Nne ya gawa ahịa

o were mmiri kwụo aka chie nwa

mgbe ahụ omeziela?

“One who treats a child well in the presence of her mother but when the child’s mother goes to the market she gives the baby a drink of the water used in washing her hands. Has such a one done well?” 

The next day, the stepmother ordered the children to go and fetch ụdara for her. The children went and because they were hungry, they ate some of the ụdara and took some to her. She observed their lips and noticed the sticky ụdara gum on their lips and she beat them mercilessly again, calling them good for nothing children, liars and thieves. The children wept bitterly calling on their mother as they wept: “Mama mụ-o Ooh Ooh Nm! Mama mụ-o, Ooh Ooh, Nm!”

 From nowhere, their mother appeared to deal with their stepmother, who, on seeing how fierce their mother’s ghost was, took to her heels, shouting as she fled.  She ran to another compound and met a lady whom she wanted to grip saying “Agbakukwere m gị! - I fly to your protection!”

As the lady did not see who or what was pursuing her in broad daylight, she suspected that it had to do with spirits. She stepped aside saying “Ụlara m ihe chụga gị achụwa m - Leave me alone lest whatever is pursuing you begins to pursue me as well!”  With this their stepmother fainted and foamed in the mouth. That is why motherless babies should never be maltreated.

From that day onwards, their stepmother treated the children kindly. They became healthy and happy and their mother’s ghost stopped appearing. Their father ceased to be pensive and depressed; he could not help thanking God. The ụdara began to drop by itself when it ripened and so their stepmother could pick some by herself. They became one happy family.

CRITICAL THINKING

The story shows that there is life after death and also communion of the living and the dead. Because children were innocent, they interacted with their mother’s benevolent spirit without harm. The confrontations show that the living-dead are concerned about the plight of the people they left behind. They are unhappy when they suffer unnecessarily. They can assist the living and can fight for the weak and oppressed. That is why motherless babies should never be maltreated. It is noteworthy that when their hypocritical stepmother began to treat the children well, their mother’s ghost stopped appearing. It could imply that the sufferings of their relatives make the spirit of the dead earthbound.

When love returned to that home, and the children, their father and stepmother became a happy family, the ụdara began to fall on its own and even the stepmother could pick some by herself. There is nothing as desirable in a home as love and unity. Peace and happiness follow in their steps because they come from within.

The moral of the legend is that the less privileged must be treated with honour and respect. Foster parents should therefore not bully motherless babies, so that they will learn to be good natured and gentlemanly when they grow up. The story taught children the stages that ụdara undergoes. It germinates, grows, fruits, ripens, mellows and then drops.

Finally, it pays to be good natured and to love one’s spouse. For, if the father of the children was not good to his late wife, she would not have come back to help look after the children. He would have had to cater for the children all by himself and he would have been unable to cope because he needed to also attend to his farm. Mindful of his goodness and love, the late wife came to his assistance, and she taught the second wife an unforgettable lesson.

The most important thing to note is the erroneous belief that when there is breach birth and the mother dies during delivery, the child killed its mother and the reverse is the case whenever there is stillbirth.  One of the refrains sung when villagers congregate to rejoice over the safe delivery of a baby reads thus “... A sina ọ mụgburu nwa, ama ya akwụzule Igbo. Ezi nwanyị ọ mụgbu nwa?... If she had delivered the child to death, i.e. killed the child in the process of child delivery (stillbirth) the news would have spread through the length and breadth of Igbo land. Does a good woman have a stillbirth?” This indicting rhetorical question seriously calls for a treatise on reproductive health and the deconstruction of some of the myths surrounding childbirth, especially maternal and infant mortality. “Superstition sets the whole world in flames; philosophy quenches them,” says Voltaire. Hence Francis Bacon says “Knowledge is power.”

Eboh M.P., Fables, Proverbs & Critical Thinking, Pearl Publishers International, Port Harcourt, 2015, pp. 195-205.

ENDNOTES