Urenma (The River Goddess) - Episode 3

 

While Ukeh and the villages around them waited with bathed breath to know who Okeke would give his daughter to as wife, Urenma had a fatal accident- she found love. One day Urenma was at Nwangele River washing sliced cassava for her mother when a handsome young man walked into the river to fetch water. Some young men who were washing thier clothes at the river began to poke fun at him . The young man was poor and looked dirty; his name was Obinze. Obinze had lost his parents while he was still very tender and was left with only his aged grandmother. The old woman was too old to fend for herself and Obinze, so from a young age Obinze began to farm and hunt to care for his grandmother. Life was not fair to him, but however he killed enough game and harvested enough farm produce to keep him and grandmother from starving to death. This time of the year, Ukeh youth wrestling festival was about to begin. Every young man in Ukeh had taken to the chief priest a strong and healthy c--k, for the chief priest to perform a ritual which would keep them from breaking bones or sustaining injuries which could lead to death in the wrestling match. Every wrestling festival Obinze would fail to take part in wrestling matches because he could not afford to give the chief priest a c--k.

Even in times when he had a c--k to give to the chief priest, he would sell it so he and his grandmother could eat. So some of the boys at the river that day ridiculed him for his poverty and continued failure to take part in the wrestling festival every year

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/urenma-the-river-goddess

. Thier caustic words shot at Urenma’s heart like arrows. Obinze did not reply a word to them; he simple held his udu (earthen pot) under the river so water could fill it. Meanwhile Urenma could no longer bear the taunts hurled at Obinze; though she had not met him before nor had heard of him, her heart went out to him in compassion. From her task of washing sliced cassava tubers, she raised her head like a cobra and barked at the young men who made fun of Obinze, “Shut up you fools! How I wish your mothers squeezed you all dead while you were trying to come out of them. You are all filthy and deserve not to live! I swear by th gods, tomorrow, Obinze will fight at the wrestling festival and he will break each of your bones and be crowned champion”.

Urenma’s words broke over the young men with the power of her other nature. The boys cowered and froze with fear. Obinze was afraid and raced to her defense thinking the boys would attack Urenma. He was surprise that they didn’t, Obinze thanked her for coming to his defense but told her that she shouldn’t have bothered because he had grown accustomed to their taunts. Urenma told him that she meant what she said and asked Obinze to wait for her to finish washing her sliced cassava. As Obinze and Urenma walked home and chatted about the wrestling festival she took Obinze’s hand like a woman would take that of her lover. Obinze was surprised and couldn’t say a word, he had heard of the fame of her beauty and the class of men who jolted each other with their wealth to win her hand in marriage. Urenma deliberately took Obinze’s hand; she knew what she was doing. She knew the news of that would spread through the entire village and she wanted it so.

She was miffed at the way Obinze was treated and wanted all to know that he was going to be the next big thing in Ukeh, she, would make sure it happened. Urenma told Obinze to meet him at the chief priests shrine as soon as he got home and set down his water pot.
About forty minutes later Obinze met Urenma at shrine of the chief priest holding a gaint c--k. She handed it to him and said, “Go in and see the chief priest. Let him offer the ritual for your safety in wrestling festival, by tomorrow you will be breaking bones at the village square”. “But Urenma, I won’t be able to break their bones. Won’t the same spirit protecting them be protecting me?”
“Don’t worry about that, by tomorrow the spirit that protects wrestlers will not be at the village square. I will be the one watching over the wrestlers and will decide whose bones I want broken. Go in now and see the chief priest”.

Obinze did not understand her meaning, nor had he seen a weird character like her before. After the chief priest was done with Obinze, he come out of the shrine and met Urenma. Ure; as she was fondly called, was happy for him. She gave him a pile of new clothes hideen in a basket and said. “These are for you Obi M. Tomorrow you will be dressed in your best as you make your way down to the village square".

Obinze’s heart palpitated when Urenma called him ‘Obi M’. No woman had called him by that name nor had they taken notice of him and now the most beautiful of them all called him by that name. Urenma drew closer to Obinze and gently rested her forehead on his; she could hear Obinze’s heart pounding rhythmically. She knew he was in shock of the affection she had shown him and her beauty. She said to him, “Would you let me walk by yourside as you make your way to the village square by tomorrow?” “Yes I will be happy to!” “Thank you Obi m”. Obinze was in a hurry to pull himself away from a woman whose beauty of the gods pale in comparision to hers. As Obinze turned to take a walk away from her, Urenma pulled him back and asked, “Can I kiss you? You will need it tomorrow to win your matches?” Obinze was speechless, he stood starring at the beauty in front of him, and then as if nudged by an unseen hand, Obinze grabbed and kissed her passionately. When he was done he felt energy surging through him like the power of thunder; he shook and fell to the ground. Urenma began to laugh at him and sat beside him on the ground. Obinze asked “What was that Urenma?” “Tell me the truth, well I already know it, was that your first kiss?” “Yes it was. I have never kissed a woman before”. “You should not have felt all that energy now. It should not have come now until tomorrow on the ground. This is not good for us Obinze. It means…….well forget it. That was my first kiss too. No man had kissed me all my life”. Urenma suddenly looked crestfallen; Obinze sat up from the ground and asked, “Has your hand been given to a man in marriage? I did not know please forgive me for taking the liberty to kiss you…….” “Don’t worry about that Obinze. It is not the reason I feel sad. I was going to kiss you anyway. I was expecting it to be just a simple kiss to help you at the square tomorrow, but it wans’t”. “It wans’t? What does that mean?” “Obi m don’t worry, I hope you will understand my meaning later. Let us go home”.

In the night when Urenma had gone to bed, she slipped into the river kingdom as that was her habit, but that night she went to the river world, with an intention- to make a request to the gods. As the gods sat, deliberating on the affairs of men and spirits, Urenma walked into the chamber of the gods, dressed in the full power of her beauty. She knelt before the gods and asked to be given permission to speak, the eldest god waved at her to speak,”Lords and gods of the spirit world, I have come with a burden, my heart is heavy; I need you to make it light for me.

Read " Deba Ezodo (The Tale Of An African Princess) " by the same author ( Ifeoma Isabella Okeke )

. I have found a man amongst mortals whom my heart has grown soft for. I know I am a princess of the spirit world and cannot love a man. However I have come to make my requests known to you all. I want you to grant me permission to love him until my time amongst men is fuifilled and I be summoned to return. I am now partly flesh and the nature of flesh sways me”.

The eldest of the gods spoke, “When you asked us to grant you the unthinkable, which was to be born as mortal we did. But what you did not know was that the permission to be born as a mere mortal also gives you the right to love a man…..but!” the eldest gods bellowed, “……..you must never marry the man whom you choose to love. If you choose to marry a man, there will be so much you will lose, there will be consequences”.

Urenma was relieved to know she could love a man. She thanked the gods and returned to the natural world. She woke up in her hut and shed tears of joy, by dawn she would tell her parents about her love for Obinze. She know they would protest because of his abject proverty, but she knew that would be no problem; she would turn his fortune around and make him the wealthiest man in Ukeh. She was confident that if she told her parents that Obinze would become the wealthiest man in Ukeh, they would believe her.