Ekwuofu nodded and
said he would prepare effective medicine for him, that he was not in
such bad condition as some who had been in great pain, yet he had
completely cured them.
Ezennaya
laughed and told him to proceed, but was uneasy because it was only a
dead person that a diviner would admit that he couldn't cure. A diviner
doesn't admit that his medicine is powerless until he sees the corpse.
Ekwuofu
went to a corner of his house, gathered medicinal grass, and dug up a
root. He pounded the root and rubbed it all over his [Nonyerem's] body,
mashed up a tree leaf he had plucked, fed it to him and he drank. He
took a knife, cut into the place where the scorpion had stung him, and
black, sticky blood ran out. Nonyerem gasped. Ekwuofu said that he was
back to normal, that 'the chicken said that except only for a nice egg,
life would have been perfect'. He took an antidote and rubbed it on that
place, and then told him to sit quietly because he was perspiring and
exhausted.
Ekwuofu
scooped up water, washed his hands; he gave some to Ezennaya, and he
washed his. They sat down, Ekwuofu put his hand into the kola nut bowl,
took chalk and threw it to the floor [part of hospitality ritual], also
rubbed it on both of his eyebrows before giving some to Ezennaya, who
threw it down. He put his hand in his leather bag and pulled out two
white kola nuts, put them in the kola nut bowl, took some alligator
pepper and sprinkled it on, then gave it to Ezennaya. Ezennaya took it,
thanked him, and returned it to him, telling him that the chief's kola
was in the chief's hands.
Ekwuofu
told him to take one and put it in his bag, because when kola nut
reaches home it tells who presented it. Ezennaya thanked him, took one
and put it in his bag, then returned the bowl to him and told him that
the diviner who did the divination would perform the sacrifice.
He
then took it, ground it between his molars "crunch crunch," lifted the
kola nut and said, "May this morning bring good things." Then he turned
back and asked him, "Just because an ant is in the palm wine, does one
leave the bottom part of the wine for it to drink?" Ezennaya replied
that the beauty of the cup is in the hands of the potter.
Ekwuofu
then blessed the kola, saying that good things, health, food, and long
life were what everyone desired. Let a person who gets married have many
children, but the ram says that no one should perform divination for
growth, rather everyone should perform divination for life, because one
who is alive is going to grow. [Cf. While there's life there's hope.]
Ezennaya agreed with him, saying "Amen."
Ekwuofu
said that rain did not fall without the land knowing, therefore what
brought kola nut also brought its blessing, because you can't bypass the
thumb and still snap your little finger.
Ezennaya
agreed, saying that whatever brought on a sore on the leg can make it
return, that the thing whose proper time has come is not considered
stealing. [e.g., climbing trees to pluck fruit prematurely is labeled
greed, whereas gathering ripe fruit that has fallen to the ground in
abundance is not pilfering.]
Ekwuofu
said, "Creator of the sky, the earth, the moon and the sun, see the
kola and bless it for us, because we are children who sit and wait for
food to be brought and eaten, and if someone says he will not eat, let
him gather palm kernels to eat and let him go and see what the mouth of a
dead person is like."
Ezennaya said, "That's how things happen."
Ekwuofu
said, "Lord God, don't allow evil spirits and evil men to bring
disaster on us. We say that if one prepares bad medicine, let him be the
one to feel its effect. One who brought the large basket should carry
it, one who brought the smaller basket should carry it, and what a
person does not know will not know him. We swear innocence against evil
spirits and evil men."
Ezennaya
said, "Amen." Ekwuofu said that his father, Iheonyemetara, said that
his friend, Okoye Ugokwe, on the day the pig was at the base of the
breadfruit tree, blessed the kola during the year of the grasshopper and
said, "What he said he would not do to someone else, let that thing not
happen to him." They both laughed heartily. [This puzzling reference to
the pig might possibly describe a nickname or some inside joke about
Okoye.]
Ezennaya
wiped his tears and told Ekwuofu that he had a good memory. Ekwuofu
told him that he well knew that the poor person always took his father
to market, because when the poor person saw something he wanted to buy
but didn't have the money, he shouted very loudly, bit his finger and
said, "O-o- father!"
They both broke out laughing again, and the tears on their noses ran streaming down their faces.
Ekwuofu
then said, "Ancestors great and small, come to the meeting, kola has
come. Our father Atii come and chew kola. God the Creator, come and chew
kola. Oyara, come and take kola and chew it. Ikedioji, come and chew
kola. Dunu, who sired many children, come and bless kola for your
children. Nwokoro Arinze, come and chew kola. Iheoma and Mba and Enuaku,
come to the meeting. Spirits both named and nameless, come and chew
kola."
Ezennaya
told him that if a son of the soil was selected [from a group] for
scarification, the others would be rubbed with charcoal.
Ekwuofu
laughed and told him that if a child were not treated the same as his
peers, he would be jealous, because all the vultures were nearby, and
all people are human. And if you stand up to dig yams, you still have to
squat down to look for its tongue. [The small protrusion at the bottom
of a yam is called its "tongue."]
Ezennaya
answered that he had spoken truly, but that if you started to scratch
an itch as much as it took to feel good, your body would be bruised,
because his ancestor said that if you started to eat as much as you
liked, you would harden your stomach [through constipation].
Ekwuofu
told him that one should not stay in the forest too long, because when
one had accomplished the purpose for which he came, he should take his
basket and go home.
He
then broke open the kola nut, took the tongue of the kola, threw it out
into the compound, and told the spirits and the ancestors great and
small to come and eat their share. He took a lobe of kola nut and ate,
took alligator pepper and ate, then gave some to Ezennaya who then ate
also, took alligator pepper and ate, cleared his throat, and thanked
Ekwuofu, "Thanks for the kola."
He
acknowledged his thanks, took the parts of the kola that remained on
the platter, and set it on a ledge of the wall of the house.
Ezennaya
put his hand into his waistcloth, brought out his snuff box, and tapped
it with his fingertip seven times. Ekwuofu looked at him and told him
to wait, that he would give him some snuff, that it was said that a fool
did not know that his brother was a guest.
He
then put his hand into his leather bag and brought out his snuff box
which was covered with smoke residue, opened it, took some snuff out,
put it into his left hand, and gave it [the box] to Ezennaya. Ezennaya
took it, removed some snuff, returned the box to him, and thanked him.
Then
they both sat down, taking snuff and telling stories of the elders,
because when vulture-eaters meet together, the basket is brought down.
Afterward, Ezennaya told him that he had not asked him how water entered
the pumpkin stem, because the toad does not run out in the afternoon
for nothing.
Ekwuofu
cleared his throat and told him that sleep did not spoil the eyes, that
divination does not come to an end, that Ichekoku, the spirit, does not
run away. Truly, when a child eats what he is staying awake for, he
goes to sleep. Therefore, Ekwuofu asked him why the cocoyam became
lumpy.
Ezennaya
then told him how he had been in his house when Nonyerem's mother,
Ugonwa, brought him in and related all the details that were on her
mind, then left Nonyerem with him and told him that the pot should not
be broken. [Warning that he should do his duty by the child.]
Ekwuofu
replied that a short time ago Obiekwe had come and told him that a
scorpion had stung him, that he had then applied some medicine to the
spot and that he [Obiekwe] had gathered his strength and had gone home
crying.
The
whole time they were saying all these things, Nonyerem was defecating
and urinating and crying in the compound under an orange tree, and he
felt as though he wanted to chew palm nut and drink water.
After
he cried out three times strangely and then stopped, they looked at him
and felt their hot urine [out of fear], and their hearts pounding "kpum
kpum." They went over and looked at him and he slumped over like a
sack. They lifted him up, his arms hanging limp and his eyes changing in
appearance.
Ekwuofu
then told him that he should take him home, or else take him to the
house of Enweani. [First mention of Enweani--perhaps a very strong
diviner.] He began to tremble, because if you do not actually confront a
diviner with a child's corpse, he does not agree that his medicine is
exhausted.
Ezennaya
then put his hands together on his head, staring out fixedly,
perspiring freely. He took seven deep breaths and then said that the
matter had broken down [gotten out of hand].
Tears
came to Ezennaya's eyes like 'Nwole [a bird] that perched and kept on
crying. They thought about what to do, but could not think of anything.
Ezennaya
then took his cloth and put it on, put his straw hat on his head, took
his staff, and waddled off for the house of Okafor Ojionweya so he could
perform divination to find out why the child was fainting and what he
should do so that the child could avoid the hand of death.
While
he was going along the road, he greeted no one, man or woman. There was
not one single person he encountered on the road whom he looked at
directly, because the thing that killed the female goat did not allow
her child to open its eyes.
Okafor
was tapping wine in the compound when Ezennaya entered his house, but
Ezennaya whistled to him and told him to hurry because a person was
about to die. Okafor agreed, but told him to take a seat in the house
while he climbed down, because no one else was at home and the elders
said that what a pregnant woman craved was also craved by the one who
impregnated her.
Soon
Okafo came down, said that if the small pot was neglected it would
extinguish the fire, then, causing laughter, he entered and called
Ezennaya by his praise name. He answered him like someone who answers
from a deep hole.
Okafor
asked him how the head was carrying the basket. [Idiomatic expression
meaning "how are things going?"] Ezennaya told him that the thing that
ate the food was seeking to eat up the soup. Okafor put down the
climbing-rope, the knife that he used for tapping wine and the wine
ladder, and then asked him why his trip was not for a good purpose.
Ezennaya
then started to tell him what happened, and how his son had drawn out
the tunnel demon so he could shoot it, but the worst of all was that
Nonyerem was dying from it.
Okafor
shouted and said that the devil had hung himself from the fireplace
shelf. He asked if he wanted him to do divination for him or if he
wanted him to give him medicine. Ezennaya told him to do divination for
him first, because one who doesn't know where the rain began to beat
down on him will not know where his body gets dry. He told him to do a
divination for him and tell him why the misfortune had occurred and what
he should do so that Nonyerem would not yield to death.
Okafor
Ojionweya then cleared his throat, ground his teeth and went and
brought down his divination bag and set it on the ground, brought out
his ikenga [image of a household god] and set it down, took his
leather mat and spread it out, brought down his wine-gourd and kola nut
platter and set them down, then sat down on his leather mat.
He
then poured out a cup of wine and scattered some around for his deity
to drink, broke kola, took the tongue of the kola and placed it on his ikenga
and told them that he had come, that they knew what they had tied up
and they should release it, because when wine saw someone it recognized,
it was an honor.
Okafor
then gathered up his divination objects and cast them out, took some
chalk and threw it out, and rubbed some on his eyebrows. He took his ofo
[staff of authority] and struck it on the ground, picked up his bells
and scattered them, then picked up his string of divination items and
cast it on the ground, shouting, "okalatulo, Otulo mgbakwu'' [like
abracadabra?], picked up the string and cast it out, picked it up again
and cast it out three times, took the ofo and struck it on the ground, and then said something not understood by the people who were there.
Everyone stared, watching like sheep.
After
he had finished divining, he told Ezennaya the place the children had
gone when the scorpion stung Nonyerem. He also told him what happened,
and how Nonyerem's mother had gone to his house. Ezennaya was nodding
his head. He told him that the cause of the scorpion's stinging Nonyerem
was the ancestor Oriudele, because Nonyerem's grandfather had gone and
kidnapped Oriudele's eldest son and sold him out. So he continued to be
humiliated, as his descendants did not want to perform the cleansing
rites to completely clear all the abominations they had committed
together and brought upon on the children's children who had been
affected.
Okafor
told him that he who had eaten the food was wanting to completely lick
up the pot of soup. [The bad spirit was still unsatisfied.]
Ezennaya
then told him that he did not know the one who died and whose funeral
was causing an uproar, but that all he wanted to know was what he should
do so that the pot that was coming apart should not break in his hands.
[He did not want to be responsible for the boy's death.]
Okafor then resumed his divination. After he had finished he told Ezennaya that the agwu spirit was very angry, but that he had pleaded mightily with him, and the agwu had then agreed that Ezennaya should bring him one white ram, a white cock, a small hen, a piece of abada [printed cloth], three dried fish, a pot of ngu [palm oil sauce], peeled cassava, three pots of wine, and six yams.
Ezennaya
asked him if that was all, and he said yes. He then told Okafor that he
would go and gather all those things, because when a diviner who
performs a divination is going to offer a sacrifice, he knows how the
divination and the sacrifice should be done.
Ezennaya
then went and assembled all the things that had been divined for him,
because if a snake falls kparakpataa [onomatopoeic sound], he is killed
kparakpataa. He then called his relatives and neighbors and took the
things to the obi of the Ogwugwu priest, because the snake that
one person kills changes into a python. [Exaggeration results when there
are no witnesses.]
When
Ezeonyekwelu heard how night wanted to fall in the afternoon
[disaster], he wasted no time, because his child was an only child. He
himself felt pain like hot pepper, because if you shoot once and strike a
tree trunk, shoot a second time and strike a tree trunk, it is as
though the arrow had been carved for that very tree trunk.
The
Ogwugwu chief had already struck the gong of the Ogwugwu and the elders
were coming. When one of them came out he would shout out to the next
one and tell him that he should get started. As each one came out, he
put on his goatskin bag, gathered up his shoulder cloth and folded it
over his shoulder, took his staff in hand and came along grinding his
teeth. Several of them, being very poor, went on the errand to Ogwugwu
wearing only a loincloth. And those who had no wealth, not even dog
meat, just came out and watched and their mouths would water, because
when there is a feast with plenty of meat in the shrine of a spirit,
even the free-born citizen becomes a slave. [Shrine slaves are in a
superior position in such a situation because they are in charge of all
the meat offerings to the spirits.]
Onwuana, the Ogwugwu priest, then went and took down the ikenga and okpesi
[household gods] that were in Ogwugwu's house, before he carried out
Ogwugwu and his daughter, and started to hang them in the spirit's
shrine, then took his shoulder cloth and went all around the spirit's
shrine.
Nwaoka then picked up the drumsticks and struck the ufie
[musical instrument used to announce meetings]. Chinweuba, like the fly
that saw a pile of feces and then went unbidden to do an errand, picked
up the rattle and started to shake it. The young men there came out and
started to dance to the drumbeat. The musicians were playing music that
sounded like "ugbogulu so nsi, ugbogulu so nsi."
Onwuana
then took kola and went to bless it in the spirit's shrine, took chalk
and rubbed it on his eyebrows, then came out and brought wine, poured
one cup and sprinkled it out for the spirit, and told him that Ezennaya
had brought these things to thank him, and ask what he could do for him
because a bad rat had entered the palm tree and began to change to a
brown color.
When Onwuana came out, he told Ezennaya that Ogwugwu had accepted the things.
Ogwugwu's
messenger then dragged out the ram, and the priest took a knife and
spread its blood around the spirit's shrine. They took a knife and began
to peel yams, others cut dry palm branches and led out a goat, but the
ram was the one they skinned.
They
then began to cook food in the spirit's house. Some women brought a
mortar and began to prepare dried cassava flakes, and took two dried
fish, so that people could take it and eat cassava with sauce.
Onwuana
went and took down a keg of wine, splashed it around a couple of
places, "yakwuru, yakwuru, yakwuru," then poured a cup of wine and
splashed it on top of the shrine, poured his own and drank it, before
telling each person to bring out his cup so that some could be poured
out for him.
They
all quickly put their hands [into their bags] and brought out cups,
poured wine and drank, then waited for the items on the fire to be
cooked, because hunger that expects to be satisfied does not starve a
person to death.
Agummadu
["leopard man," a praise name] Ogbayaka put his flute to his mouth and
blew it loudly so the vultures would descend. Not long afterward, more
than thirty vultures came fluttering down. Soon there were vultures
swarming everywhere, because if you make an animal sacrifice and you
don't see vultures, you know that something big has happened in spirit
land.
Ezennaya
then had completed everything that Okafor had divined for him, and he
was pleased. He then left, because he said that there was nothing
preventing the dog's death, that he had done his part, that one who uses
his eyes to kill also uses his eyes to share [the results of the kill].Chapter 4
No comments:
Post a Comment