Love in trial

NOON

Sadiku:: ( gleefully ) well, will you be Odama's own jewel?

will you be his sweetest princess, soothing him on weary nights? what answer shall l give my lord?

Sidi:: ( wags her finger playfully at the woman)

ha ha. Sadiku of the honey tongue

Sadiku, head of the lions wives

you'll make no prey of Sidi with your wooing tongue

Not this Sidi whose fame has spread to Lagos and beyond the seas.

( Lunle beams with satisfaction and rises)

Sadiku:: Sidi, have you considered what a life of bliss awaits you?

Odama swears to take no other wife after you.

Do you know what it is to be the Bale's last wife?

I'll tell you. when he dies and that should not be long; even the lion has to die sometime well, when he does, it means that you will have the honour of being the senior wife of the new Bale. And just think, until Odama dies, you shall be his favourite. No living in the outhouse for you, my girl.your place will always be in the palace; first as the lastest bride, and afterwards, as the head of the new harem... it is a rich life, Sidi. l know. l have been in that position for forty one years.

Sidi:: you waste your breath.

why did Odama not request my hand

before the stranger

Brought his book of images?

why did the Lion not bestow his gift

Before my face was lauded to the world?

can you not see? Because he sees my worth

Increased and multiplied above his own;

Because he can already hear

The bailad makers and their songs in praise of Sidi, the incomparable, while the lion is forgotten.

he seeks to have me as his property

where l must fade beneath his jealous hold.

Ah, Sadiku

The school man here has taught me certain things and my images have taught me all the rest

Odama merely seeks to raise his manhood

Above my beauty

He seeks new fame

As the one man who has possessed

the jewel of IIUJINLE!

Sadiku:: ( shocked, bewildered, incapable of making any sense of Sidi's words ) but Sidi, are you well? such nonsense never passed your lips before. Did you not sound strange, even in your own hearing? ( Rushes suddenly at Lunle ) is this your doing, you popinjay? Have you driven the poor girl mad at last? such rubbish... l will beat your head for this!

Lunle:: ( retreating in panic) go away from me, old hag

Sidi:: Sadiku, let him be

Tell your lord that l can read his mind

That l will none of him

Look judge for yourself.

( opens the magazine and points out the pictures )

He's old. l never knew till now,

He was that old....

( During the rest of her speech, Sidi runs her hand over the surface of the relevant part of the photographers, tracing the contours with her finger)

... To think l took

No notice it is !

And no man ever thought

To praise the fullness of my breasts..

Lunle:: ( laden with guilt and full of apology)

well, Sidi, l did think..

but somehow it was not the proper thing.

Sidi:: ( ignores the interruption)

see l hold them to the warm caress

( unconsciously pushes out her chest)

or a desire filled sun

( smiles mischievously)

There's deceitful message in my eyes

Beckoning insatiate men to certain doom. And teeth that flash the sign of happiness, strong and evenly, beaming full of life. be just, Sadiku

compare my image and your lord's

An age of difference!

see how the water glisten on my face

Like the dew- moistened leaves on a Harmattan morning but he his from the saddle of his horse,

( Sadiku gasps )

sprinkled with the musty ashes

form a pipe that is long over smoked

and this goat like tuft

Which l once thought was manly;

It is like scattered twists of grass

Not even green

But charred and lifeless, as after a forest fire!

Sadiku, l am young and brimming; he is spent.

l am the twinkle of a jewel

but he is the hind quarters of a lion!

Sadiku:: ( recovering at last from helpless amazement) may sango restore your wits. for most surely some angry god has taken possession of you. ( turn around and walk away. stops again as she remembers something else) your ranting put this clean out of my head. my lord says that, if you would not be his wife, would you at least come to supper at his house tonight. there is a small feast in your honour. he wishes to tell you how happy he is that the great capital city has done so much honour to a daughter of IIUJINLE. you have brought great fame to your people.

Sidi:: Ho ho! do you think that l was only born yesterday?

The tales of Odama's little suppers

l know all

Tell your lord that Sidi does not sup with married men

Sadiku:: They are lies, lies. you must not believe everything you hear . Sidi, would l deceive you? l swear to you.....

Sidi:: can you deny that

Every woman who has supped with him one night,

become his wife or concubine the next.

Lunle::Is it for nothing he is called the Fox?

Sadiku:: ( advancing on him) you keep out of this, or so sango be my witness...

Lunle:: ( retreats just a little, but continue to talk)

His willingness is know even in the largest towns.

Did you never hear

Of how he foiled be public works attempt

To build the railway through IIUJINLE.

Sadiku:: Nobody knows the truth of that. it is all hearsay.

Sidi:: I love hear says. Lunle, tell me all.

Lunle:: Did you not know it ? well sir down and listen

my father told me, before he died. And few men

know of this trick oh he's a die- hard rogue

swom against our progress.. yes... it was.. somewhere here

The track should have been laid just along

The outskirts. well, the workers came, in fact

it was prisoner who were brought to do

The harder part... to break the jungle's back...

( Enter the prisoner, guarded by two warders. A white surveyor examines his camp stool, table etc. erects the umbrella over him and unpacks the usual box of bush comforts soda siphon, whisky bottle and geometric sandwiches. His map consulted, he directs the sweat team where to work. They begin felling, match swinging, log dragging, all to the rhythm of the work gang's metal percussion ( rod on gong or rude triangle, etc) the two performers are also the song leaders and the others fill the chorus. 'N'ijo itoro' 'Amuda e! 'ebe l' aiya' 'Gbe je on 'ipa' etc.)

Lunle:: They marked the route with stakes, ate through the jungle and began the tracks. Trade, Progress, adventure, success, Civilization, fame, international conspicuousity... it was all within the grasp of IIUJINLE...

( The wrestler enters, stands horrified at the sight and flees. Returns later with the Bale himself who soon assesses the situation.

They disappear. The work continues, the surveyor occupies himself with the fly whisk and whisky. Shortly after, a bull-roarer is heard. The prisoners falter a little, pick up again. The bull- roarer continues on it's way, nearer and father, moving I'll circle, so that it appears to come from all round them. the foreman is the first to break and then the rest is chaos. Sole survivor of the rout is the surveyor who is too surprised to move.

Odama enter a few minutes later accompanied by some attendants and preceded by a young girl bearing a calabash bowl. They surveyor, angry and threatening, is prevailed upon to open his gift.