Urenma (The River Goddess) - Episode 4

 

The energy and excitement of her new found love could not let her sleep much that night long before her usual time of waking up, she woke and began to sweep her father’s compound. When she was done she washed the earthen pots and plates used the previous night to eat and went down to the stream to fetch water. All that while she had a song in her heart and a skip in her stride; she felt like the eagle gliding though the sky . She prayed under her breath to the gods she had spoken to some hours earlier that by the time she had reached home from the river; her parents must have woken up so she could tell them about her love for Obinze. The concept of love was new to her, it made her want to walk in the air and fly without wings. It was one thing she never felt as a princess of the gods. “If mortals have this to enjoy, then it must be beautiful being mortal”, she thought. Thankfully by the time she returned from the river her parents were already awake. Her mother had begun to simmer her soup and some fufu which they couldn’t consume the previous night. When Ngbankwo lifted her face to respond to her daughter’s greeting she saw a glow in her face, she had to ask, “Is that you Urenma?”

“Yes mama, it is I”.

“Oh my god! You look like a child of the gods. What did you see at the river this early morning?”
Okeke who was in one corner of his compound cleaning his mouth with a long chewing stick had also seen his daughter’s face glowing like the moon

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

. At first he had mistaken her for an ancestral spirit. But when Urenma spoke he realized she was his daughter, so he came over to know the reason for the radiant look on her face. “Ure I actually mistook you for a spirit from my ancestors, how were you able to hang the glow of the moon on your face?” “Papa it is the joy in my heart you see on my face”.

Urenma set down her water pot and waved at her parents to sit close to her. They all sat on a raffia bench called Nkpoko; then Urenma let them in on the reason for her joyous mood and her radiant face, “Papa and Mama, I have found love!” She waited for them to take in the full weight of her words; she could see from their eyes that they wanted to hear more, so she continued, “The man who has found favour in my eyes is Obinze Mmaduako………..” “Amadioha! Obi who? The boy whom you speak of is the poorest young man in Ukeh and all the villages around us. Why choose him as your lover? Or don’t you intend to marry him?” asked Ngbanwko.

“Mama relax, you and papa shouldn’t worry about his proverty. A man’s fortunes can change, can’t they? Have you two forgotten how poor you were before I was born? You have told me the story several times papa. Look at you now, aren’t you the envy of Ukeh? I want you two to note my words this morning. Have I spoken anything and it failed to be fulfilled?”

“No you have not Urenma”, responded her parents.

“Now hear this, that wretched orphan, who has no one but his old dying grandmother shall in one year time become the richest man in Ukeh and all the land surrounding us. I have seen it and not only that, from today his fame shall begin to spread across our land and beyond. Has any of you heard of a wrestler breaking the bones of other wrestlers?”

“No Urenma, the gods protect them during wrestling matches”, replied Okeke.

“Well papa, today you will hear of a wrestler breaking the bones of fellow wrestlers and that will Obinze”.

“Ah aah Urenma! Obinze is not a wrestler and has not wrestled before. How then could he become a bone-breaking wrestler in his first attempt?” asked Ngbankwo.

“Well mama, I have seen it. It will happen this evening at the village square, I want the two of you to come and watch him. He will make the legendary Ojadili to look like a beginner”. Okeke and Ngbankwo had seen a lot about their daughter to know that her words never fail. There was no basis to argue with her so they accepted all she said and asked her to bring Obinze home after the wrestling festival to share a meal with them.

By evening the village square in Ukeh was filled with people from far and near. The village troop danced to ebullient drumming by young drummers. There was fanfare and boasting as each clan in Ukeh boasted that they would win the wrestling championship. Except the few young men who Urenma rebuked at the river and the chief priest, no one else knew Obinze was going to take part in that year’s wrestling championship and that he was coming to take revenge for all the ridicule he and his clan had suffered. Every year his clan had managed to send three wrestlers who always were beaten at the early stages of the wrestling competition. While the people waited for all the wrestlers to arrive they were entertained by dance groups and masquerades. Obinze was the last wrestler to arrive at the village square. When he showed up, he was dressed in costly apparel and had Urenma by his side holding his hand and occasionally brushing her cheek against his. There was a hush at square; one could have heard a pin drop. The drummers stopped beating the drums and the dancers missed their steps, as all eyes were fixed on Obinze matching into the square with Urenma.

He led Urenma to the corner were his clan took their position and announced that he had come to wrestle. His clan brothers were shocked, none amongst them had seen him neither practice nor wrestle before, but with Urenma by his side they could not deny him. Her beauty was such that men acted cowardly before her presence. He was asked at what time he would like to enter the wrestling, he replied. “From the beginning”.

Read " The Quest " by the same author ( Ifeoma Isabella Okeke )

. With his entrance and the amazement that followed it, the drumming and dancing came to an end.

The elders who were preside over the wrestling competition took the centre stage and announced to all present and the wrestlers that the competition had begun.

They announced the rules of the competition and invited the clans who were to do the first round of wrestling. When it was time for the Umu Umeh clan to wrestle, Obinze stepped into the center square and the crowed booed. Then his opponent was called out and he ran into the square and began to gyrate and the crowd cheered him on.

When the referee signaled that the wrestling had begun, Obinze’s opponent ran toward him to sweep him off his feet. Obinze grabbed him with his left arm and swung him around in the air like a rag and then flung him to the ground like a log of wood. The painful cry of the young man hushed the crowd. His thigh bones had been fractured by the impact of his body on the ground.

He couldn’t stand up, his cry sent attendants into the square, when they found out he had broken bones, they put him on an Nkpoko and bore him to a native orthopedist.
The crowd, his fellow wrestlers and the elders were all shock to see a wrestler break another wrestler’s bones. It had not been heard or seen in Ukeh for many decades. There was no one alive in the land to testify of having seen that at anytime. Meanwhile Obinze took his position for another round of wrestling match with a new opponent. His new opponent took to the wrestling ground with some pomp and pageantry, having made a name for himself the pervious year in the competition.

The crowd roared and cheered as he pomped his fist into the air and beat his chest with pride and zest. Obinze didn’t take any interest in his opponent’s ostentatious bravado; he just waited for the fight to begin.