HALF HUMAN, HALF SNAKE

CHAPTER 2: THE TALE AT STREAM

Finally we got to the stream after some distance of strolling. I felt very stressed and sat down under a large tree, while my mom was busy washing clothes.

I asked her if she heard of any strange sounds while we were on our way to the stream.

She said to me 'that she did not hear any single strange sound while we were coming here, it was just the two of us that came into this place all alone. Along the way, we didn't meet with anyone on the way to this place, please do not scare me'. She continued with her washing of the clothes.

I took a deep breath, and averted my face away from her for a few seconds.....

Due to all those anxiety sounds which I had encountered on our way, I had to do something to forget about them because it keeps on revolving in my sane mind which was even making me feel more frightened.

I called her and told her to tell me of a real-life story of an event that had happened while she was still in her teenage years.

She said to me that, 'a lot has happened and she can't remember everything but there is a particular one that she can never forget'.

I said to her that my ears are wide open to the story, as she started telling.

'Okay, when I was nineteen years old, there was a war between our kingdom and Ishala's people's kingdom.
The warriors from Ishala kingdom are very strong and mighty, they have fought many wars with different kingdoms none of them has ever won them. The Ishala people always won on the battlefield, which made every other kingdom fear and respect them.
One day, the king of the Ishala kingdom and his guards were embacking on a journey to a wedding ceremony to which he was invited by a friend of his who is also a king. When they came across our land one of his guards found a very humorous gold which he called the attention of his king to it. The king of Ishala told his people that they shall come back tomorrow and get it because he is very fatigued to wait for a moment.' My mom paused and poured out the water that she was using to wash the clothes. She went into the stream and fetched some fresh water again.

While I stood up, using one of my hands to brush off some pieces of grass in my short white gown, stretching out the whole of my body and yawning, I said to my mom.

'Mom, can you please proceed with the tale?.

'Yes.' Said my mom.

She used one of her hands to plow some water on her face and began again.

'So, all of a sudden the information got to the king of our land, and the king of our land decided to send a message through his messenger to the king of Ishala land, then the king of Ishala land got to his land before receiving the letter from our king. What was written in the letter was (I am aware that you found a huge amount of gold in my land, since you are the one who found this gold in my land, I'm ready to share it with you. I had sent my men to convey into my palace which they already did. Kindly come over to my land and have your own portion Share of it).

After he had received this message from the king of our land, he sent the messenger back to the king of our land that he was the one who found the gold, and he is not going to share it with him or anyone else, and if he insisted on sharing the gold with him, then he should prepare for war .
When the king of our land received this message from him, he got upset and sent the messenger back to him again to tell him that he was been polite to him because he is a king and he was the one who found the gold in his land, since he didn't want to share it, and all he wants is to have it all to himself or war, he will give him war. The messenger went to the Ishala kingdom to deliver the message from our king to the king of Ishala, after he delivered the message to the king of Ishala, He said to the messenger to go and inform our king to prepare for the war because the war will take place in five days from now, he didn't just stop there he went ahead and cutting off the messenger right hand for our king to know how serious he was, because the messanger was from our land.
The messenger Left there for our kingdom with blood all over his body and told our king exactly what the king of Ishala had told him and his next plans towards our kingdom.
The King of our land sent one of his guards to the priest of our land to come into the palace, which the priest did arrive at, after the message was delivered to him at the gods of our land shrine.

An entirely white feather tied across his forehead with a red piece of red wrapper and unknown two bird skulls were tied in a piece of red wrapper across his neck, calabash chalk was used to draw a circle on his two shoulders. That is how native doctors dressed.

The king of our land asked him if he was aware of the upcoming war between our kingdom and the kingdom of Ishala.
The priest said yes, that he is aware of it. Then the king said to him,
'What should we do now, so that we wouldn't be wiped out by our enemies? Because those people are more likely to be stronger than us'

The priest replied to him, 'that he knows that, and there is a possibility that the kingdom and the people will be wiped out if the gods didn't assist.'
He added, 'ever since the time that the gods informed him, he has been seeking a solution from the gods, but the kind of sacrifice that the gods are demanding is somewhat ambiguous to him:. He told the king that he wouldn't take much time, he just wants to go and consult the gods again.'

The priest who left the palace went to the shrine a couple of minutes ago and came back to the palace.
And said to the king and the chiefs that 'the gods are still mandating for a kind of rigorous sacrifice that our forefathers have never done, and he has been trying if there is another way, but there is not.' My mom paused again.

I asked her what kind of a sacrifice that would be?

While she was spreading some of the clothes that she had already watched and rinsed on the grasses.

She proceeded, 'the priest said to the king of our land that he is afraid that the king might not be able to perform this specific sacrifice because it is a very tough one. Our king said to him as long as it will save me and my people, I will do it, no matter what it takes me. Just tell me what I have to do, that is all.'
She paused and called out to me to help her scratch her back that was inching her, which I helped her in doing.

I decided to ask her a question if she had ever worked in a palace as a maiden, because I was wondering how she got to know everything that was going on in the palace since her father is not one of the king's chiefs that will be going to the palace from time to time.

She replied, 'no'

I asked her again how she got to know the theory of the event then.

She said she got to know the theories of the event because she was a very good close friend to the princess. She also said that she constantly goes to the palace to see her while she too comes to her parent's house to see her on certain occasions. She said that they were age mates, and also the princess was the one and only child of her parents.'

"Wow, that is interesting."

So, I told her to please continue the story and she did. 'The priest said to the king that his only child, Princess Une who is a virgin, has to be buried alive beside our river with seven female slaves that are Virgin in two days from now. Everyone became shocked, after the priest declared this, he stepped out of the palace instantly. And All the king chiefs doubted his message from the gods that that could never be true. So they decided to choose three chiefs out of them and send them to an outlying village to visit their priest, but the chiefs returned back with the same message which the priest of our land came to deliver earlier. To cut the story short, the pretty Princess was buried alive with the seven virgin female slaves.
The day of the war came, and the worries from our kingdom went to the battlefield to fight the warriors from Ishala kingdom. They were all exterminated by the Ishala warriors at the battlefield. As they had already eliminated all the warriors from our land, they all agreed to come to our hometown to attack us. On their way to our home town, they got to the very large and deep river that separated our home town and the battlefield, the gods of our land made a footbridge across the river, the moment all of them walked to the middle of the footbridge, the footbridge collapsed and they fell into the river and an unknown crocodiles and alligators ate them all. The neighboring town heard of the news and they decided to come into our kingdom and celebrate the news with us. Princess Une saved our kingdom from the hands of our enemies by allowing herself to be buried alive with the seven virgin female slaves. That is why today in our kingdom every single year a human must be made as a sacrifice for princess Une.'

After she had told me this I do not know what to say any more than saying

She was indeed a great saviour.