Princess from the past

Episode 3

The princes; Afere, Ikedi, Akudo and Obinwa, gathered at their regular spot, behind a hut, to break kola. A plate of kolanut and alligator pepper and a keg of palm wine were served on a small mat at the centre, the prince sat around it on a small stool as they were surrounded by a good number of palace guards and servants.

The kola nut is usually broken and prayed with by the oldest man in every gathering. Women are not allowed to break kola except there is no male in sight, even if it a little boy.

Prince Obinwa being the youngest son picked the plate of kolanut and handed it to Prince Afere.

"Dalu rii ne" "thank you so much" he said to Prince Obinwa and then proceeded to bless the kola, broke the kola and gave it back to Prince Obinwa.

"Ngwa nwanne ke ezie ya" "You can now share it brother".

Prince Obinwa took the plate and passed it around for the princes to take, starting from the oldest.

As they were eating the kola, the servant served them some palm wine in their cups as they discussed and laughed in merriment.

Later the servants brought a bowl of roasted meat and served too.

Not quite long, Ego entered to their shock, everyone went silent at her presence

"O chim, why the silence" She uttered, went to sit on Prince Ikedi's laps.

Uncomfortable at everyone's gaze at her, she blurted out

"Ah ah this is awkward. Quit staring bikonu"

"The only awkward thing is that you are only woman in here. In case you haven't noticed Ego. This men'sgathering"

"E mee" she makes a satire gesture, stretched her hand and picked a chunk of meat. The Princes exchanged glances and smiled. They were used to their rude princess's intrusions.

It didn't sit well with Prince Obinwa, who has been looking at her with so much annoyance written all over his face.

"hmmm. which meat is this?" She asked as she chewed.

"Nchi" Prince Akudo replies.

"This is one of the reasons I miss obiako. Ever since he moved out of the palace, we rarely ear good meat like this. When will men learn how to hunt?" She said daringly, causing a disdainful gestures from the princes.

"Meaning? Do we look like hunters. If you have picked one of your suitors, you wouldn't be here" Obinwa snapped

"Please you are not even among the men here so don't even start" She blurted.

In fury Obinwa snapped

"I can see you are out of your mind. Now get out of here"

"make me" she responded.

Prince Obinwa made to attack her but Prince Akudo rushed and restrained him.

"Nwanne biko kwa" "Please my brother" Prince Afere begged, Prince ikedi held Ego off in a protective way.

Prince Afere then ordered Ego to leave.

"I will leave" She said in anger, she grabbed another chunk and stormed out.

"leave me alone" He yelled at Akudo who withdrew his grip and went to sit back on his stool.

"You need to calm down Obinwa. I mean it is Ego. We know how she behaves" Ikedi said calmly.

"exactly my point. You all took part in spoiling that girl" Obinwa blurted in anger, they all laughed at his behavior.

"Nwanne sit let's continue to merry and forget Ego biko" Afere said to ease the tension.

Ego could hear the sound of crickets as she walked towards her hut, ignoring the palace guards and servants greeting her as she passed.

Ugomu and Uchayi have been looking for her since, in every corner of the palace. Excitedly, they ran to her immediately they say her.

"Where have you all been?" She barked at them.

Her maids were surprised at her mood, they both echoed

"we have been looking for you"

"we taught you were still sleeping in your hut" Ugomu added.

"Oh really. my hut ugo" she yelled

"we are sorry" the girls begged. She hissed and walked off, the maids hurriedly walked behind her, wondering what was going on.

She suddenly stopped, turned to the girls and said

"can your believe that boy tried to hit me. He was even shouting at me" She complained.

"Who dared that my princess" Ugomu asked curiously.

"who else.That fat cow".

"Oh Prince Obiako" Uchayi chuckled

"You are so brave" Ugomu shunned her and turned to Ego and asked

"what did you do?"

Ego threw a disdainfully stare at her.

"I am sorry" ugomu snapped, not to anger her further.

"my princess don't mind the Prince. okay" Uchayi consoled and Ego nodded like a baby.

The girls know exactly how to handle her temper.

"By the way, it is tale time my princess. I know you will not like to miss it. At least to take your mind off all this". Ugomu suggested.

Ego nodded again,

"We are late I guess. let's go"

She adjusted her waist beads properly, then led the way. The maids walked behind, almost struggling to catch her pace.

It was a gathering of majorly royal kids and teenagers, who come around at every full moon to listen to an old woman's story.

The old woman has been telling stories since Ego was little, she so much enjoyed her tales, that she never stopped coming to listen, even at her age.

They gathered under a very gigantic gmelina tree, sittting a burning wood which waa a source of light. One of their oldest rumors in the palace, was that the old woman lives in that gmelina tree, because no one knows where she lives and that she is always the first to arrive and last to leave.

Ego and her maids sat at the back quietly not to draw the attention of the children, the old woman winked in greetings at her on her arrival.

The old woman was telling the tale of a stubborn little girl. Everyone listened in silence as the old woman spoke.

"She was a daughter of a very wealthy farmer. Her father owes a very big barn. The little girl had all she wanted but the only fault she had was that she was disobedient and stubborn. One day, her father came back with a very big soursop for her and her siblings. Her father warned his children not to swallow the soursop seed but because the little girl was stubborn, she swallowed a seed".

Out of curiosity, one of the children interrupted

"what happened to her".

Ego could sense the fear in his voice. She smiled at little one's question knowing he was just innocent and a naive.

"The seed germinated into a tree in her stomach and grew out of her mouth". The lady replied.

The children began to make buzzing noise.

"what happened to her?"

"is she okay?"

"how big is the tree".

The kids kept throwing questions. Ego got uncomfortable with the noise, she tapped her maids by their legs, signaling for them to leave, only to notice they were both fast asleep.