Wale and the Little Moonlight

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

One might say that the whole of Ogunta village and the neighbouring kingdoms and communities who were part of the great kingdom of Ogunta during the reign of Akin as the strongest wrestler and warrior were only waiting for Wale to bring back the lost glory of Ogunta and much more. The rains had returned during the days and at nights; crops were beginning to grow and green properly; livestock were fattening up; harvests were becoming big again; food was on the increase—the days of famine and drought soon seemed a distant past. Wale’s victory made the huge difference and brought new hope.

Wale had become a demi-god in Ogunta and his victory had made all the kingdoms in all of Oduduwaland trembled at the name of Ogunta. It was one great source of joy for Wale to see the smile and happiness of the faces of his people and others within the sphere of Ogunta's influence. Nothing could excite him more than this, he always thought—not even the most innocent of the virgins that had been paraded before him for him to make a choice of wife from among them. He had always stood his ground by rejecting all of them. However, this feat was soon to become a mere stepping stone to a greater one for he, Akin, and the Oba and the council of elders had met and had discussed a way to unite all of Oduduwaland and bring it under one Oba—Oba of Ogunta, undoubtedly—especially at this period that the great kingdom of Ojola seemed to have been wounded by a clipped wing. Better days were in view.

Though many moons had passed by, the glory of Ogunta and Wale still seemed new. And even with the vision of better days for Ogunta, better days had just begun for Akin when his wife broke the news of her pregnancy to him.

“The gods be praised. This evening, my ancestors have decided to bless my ears with these good tidings”. Akin exclaimed. He called upon his neighbours and kinsmen to gather at his house for a celebration. Good amount of palm wine, ogogoro, pounded yam and white soup, amala and ewedu, and other victuals would definitely go down for the evening. The gods had finally answered the cries of this warrior and of her virtuous wife. And as conceived in the minds of the people, Ogunta had just been blessed with an additional soul with a warrior’s blood.

Wale for the first time was seen over-excited that evening at Akin’s place. He was seen drinking for the first time; he drank a good quantity of palm wine. His merry state was equally celebrated by everyone around. It became a situation of Wale and others celebrating with Akin, and Akin and others celebrating Wale. Everyone at Akin’s place ate well and drank good quantity of drink. The night itself was happy with the whole event as the moonlight shone its best.

Later at night when everyone had left Akin’s house for their respective homes, Wale, as usual, sat outside under the trees meditating the night away in the beam of the moonlight, and conversing with the moon. But as unusual, he was tipsy. Suddenly, a girl appeared in front of him as though she had just dropped from the sky—she was light skinned; as bright as the moon; as beautiful as the goodness of the moon. And she was an Iroko in height. Wale had never seen a human creature of this kind before.

"May be I have fully given my mind to wine to detect for me what I see with my eyes". He thought he had just hallucinated out of the influence of palm wine.

He blinked his eyes again and again to clear his sight and to be sure of what he saw or what he thought he saw. "It definitely must be a product of my imagination or a ghost". He assured himself. But the more he cleared his eyes by blinking, the more real the female figure appeared.  Reality was drawing close  Wale as the female figure drew close to him. It was like an instant magic that he came out of his tipsiness into a sober state when the girl took him by his right hand.

"You are indeed a girl--a real real girl, a beautiful girl". Wale confessed. "What name do people call you by?" He added so solemnly.

"My name is Oshunwale". She answered so sweetly.

“At last the moon has sent one of his own to the sons of men”, Wale muttered with great amazement. Still agape and enchanted by her alien beauty, the girl drew closer to Wale, took his hands and led him straight into his hut.  Wale could not resist her even in the slightest of the ways.