LARA: THE god OF HEKO

EPISODE EIGHT

EPISODE EIGHT

The hunters were received in the village with heroic jubilation. They had gone into the forest to challenge the gods and they had returned victorious. They came back with Lara's blouse and the clues she left for them. Words travelled fast. The men who returned Odegbami's body to the village had narrated how these courageous hunters had fought and killed a Lion. Their fame had gone far and wide. 

Entering the village, the drums went mad and the people followed. The families of the hunters had come to join them and welcome them home. Their wives and children danced along. Soon, ordinary people came out en mass to share in the festive mood. When the people finally caught sight of the zebra, the entire village congregated with the hunters to catch a glimpse of this beautiful animal. The streets of Olle-Bunu then became a potent carnival. The crowd thronged, the drums boomed and the hunters wielded their guns, bows and arrows. There were occasional gunshots into the sky at the behest of the Head Hunter. And each time a g*n was shot into the sky, the crowd erupted into a thunderous roar tearing apart some feeble eardrums. Of all the spectators who trooped out, none had seen a zebra alive. It was then understandable why they would treasure this moment for the rest of their lives. 

The hunters made a parade through the entire streets of Olle-Bunu. At every turn, they made a display of the hunter's dance which was basically a demonstration of the moves of different wild animals in the forest. They made a demonstration of the buffalo and her powerful horns. They mimicked the Lion and his hunting tactics. They ran like cheetah and seized their preys. The hunter's dance was largely an attempt to teach non-hunters about wildlife. Done with the street parade, the retinue headed for the king's palace. It was important they briefed the king how they faired in the forest. The king, who had been informed of the hunters' arrival, was impatiently waiting for the Head Hunter and his team. The drum boomed. The flute bounced from the earth into the sky. The dance went wild as they stood at the gate of the king's palace. Young men with their abundant energies now danced, hopped and staggered in some rollicking manner. It was their own hunter's dance. The large crowd on the street made it to the palace one person after the other as they shoved and pushed. 

The drums ceased and the young women stopped giggling. The Head Hunter stepped forward to address the king and the crowd: "Kabiyesi, I greet you. May your reign be long and peaceful. We followed Lara into the wild like you sent us. We were attacked by various wild animals including a Lion. We triumphed over them all. We saw the place where Lara had stayed, it was a great distance into the forest. It appeared that when she heard our drums, she fled deeper into the forest leaving these clues for our attention. This was the blouse Lara wore the day she varnished into the forest. The shrub she left was still fresh when we picked it up. She left the place not more than two hours when we got to the tent where she had stayed. It appeared to us that Lara wanted to be left alone. We suggest, my king, that you consult the Ifa Oracle."

The king, in his response, that the Head Hunter and all the hunters who had participated in the expedition. He appreciated their courage and sacrifice. He acknowledged with sadness the casualty recorded during the expedition. The families of the two hunters who were killed during the expedition were to receive a certain stipend from the king's purse after every full moon. Every hunter who participated in the expedition was to be given two pieces of gold each for their efforts. The crowd burst into cheers 'long live the king', they said. 

The king then called on Abore, the Ifa priest. He wanted an immediate consultation with Ifa, the god of knowledge. Abore, signalling his allegiance, disappeared from the palace in haste. 

Then the Head Hunter stepped out again. This time, he held a roped animal in his hand. The king looked on in awe. He had never seen this animal alive before now. This was beautiful and fitted for the palace. Then Head Hunter began to speak: "long live my king. May your reign be good and peaceful. We saw this animal in the wild. It was too beautiful and too harmless to be killed. We thought it wise to bring it to you alive so the people can come to the palace to admire it. Our ancestors call the animal Egbin". "Thank you the Chief Hunter of our land. You have done well. This is the most beautiful animal I have ever seen alive. The palace will take a good care of the animal", the king concluded. 

And so a place was assigned to the zebra within the palace courtyard that was easily accessible to the public. Day and day, the people trooped into the palace to catch a glimpse of the queen of the forest.

Words spread fast to the forty villages in Bunu that there was a rare animal brought home alive from the forest. Within a short while, Olle became a tourist site for the Bunu clan as people came from far and near to see the most beautiful animal from the jungle, the zebra.

And so it followed that when a woman was beautiful, when her face was impeccable and spotless, when her breasts were full, sumptuous and voluptuous, when her tommy was chiseled flat, and her waist was narrow, giving way to wide, fleshy and round hips which extended to some roundly shaped, flesh laden buttocks, the people of Bunu would say "she is as beautiful as the zebra". For them, Egbin or Zebra was the symbol of beauty and perfection. 

The palace was free and deserted. The king had retreated to his inner chambers. Abore, the Ifa priest, had just returned from his consultation and he must deliver Ifa's message to the king at once. Standing before the king in his chamber, Abore spoke up: "Long live the king. Ifa said Lara is in good health and she will return to live among us. He said by the time Lara returned, she would no longer be the same person she used to be. Ifa commanded a sacrifice of white pigeon and a white sheep to guarantee safety and peace for Lara in her journey. May your reign be long."

The king ordered that the sacrifice be done first thing the following day. In the morrow, the bird and the animal were taken to Orede where they were slaughtered, the blood sprinkled on the altar of the god and their meats were prepared into delicious venison and shared among men, women and children. Everyone ate and wished Lara safety in the jungle. 

   ***

Odegbami's compound was a beehive of activities. The hunters had retreated there. Gunshots rent the air. The sounds of drums and flute created distinct tunes to the ear. The hunters danced their dance steps and acted like wild animals, demonstrating hunting and defence skills - of Lions, Elephants, Buffalos and other animals. A courageous hunters had been slain by the king of the jungle and the hunters were determined to make a memory of it and to accompany him on his way to the land of the ancestors. 

Egungun Ode or the hunter's masquerader was also present. He was simple but masked. Hanging from his costume were practically the heads of all the birds in the jungle - all dead but potent. The tortoise was not spared. His head was hung on the Egungun's costume. Parrot, Eagle, Peacock, Sparrow - they all had their heads hung here and when invoked, they returned from the land of the dead to run the errands of the gods, or so they made us believe. If they didn't turn up for these errands, the man who conjured was unclean. These heads, though dead and dried, never failed to answer the gods. With the Egungun on parade, the periodic gunshots in the air, and the mysterious ways in which the rites were performed, which was further confounded by the secrecy surrounding them, Olle-Bunu was gripped in total terror. And this was not all there was about the terror and horror that came with the burial of a great hunter. Tomorrow would be the final rites when Odegbami would be committed to the earth. The final rites came with a curfew. The curfew would begin by twelve noon and would endure till five o'clock. No man, woman or child was expected to be seen outside a home. Only hunters were free to move about and during this time, it was believed that the hunters would metamorphose into different wild animals from Lions to Buffalos and whoever defied the curfew and strayed to the streets would be torn apart in unimaginable terror. Everyone stayed indoor, doors and windows firmly locked. During this period, Odegbami had been buried and forgotten, all shrouded in absolute secrecy.