The Family Curse - Season 1 - Episode 13

6 years ago

The Family Curse - Season 1 - Episode 13

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(Incident at Amadi’s house).

When the crowd arrived at Amadi’s house, all his three children were incredibly amazed.

The cutlasses which every adult was holding frightened them a great deal.

‘Where is Chidi? Where is Chidi?!’ the Chief thundered.

‘I am here, sir’, Chidi answered in a trembling voice.

Then, the Chief, with a cutlass in his hand, told him,
‘Tell me before your head is cut off where you kept the money you stole from four houses here in Mbadike. ‘The two masquerades were standing close to the Chief. Chidi could not resist the fearful look of the crowd. He simply led the Chief to where he kept the money and it was found intact.

There was great noise of surprise from the crowd when the money was recovered.

The masquerades immediately began a song to accompany the sharpening of their cutlasses. A ga-egbu mmadu. A ga-egbu mmadu. A ga-egbu mmadu. (Someone must be killed.) Such execution song usually preceded sudden killing by the masquerades. And if someone was killed in Mbadike in such circumstances by the masquerades, nobody would challenge it for it was termed the handiwork of a spirit. So, when the Chief sensed what was about to happen, he quickly called some elders apart and held a brief meeting with them.

Immediately after, a he-goat was brought and given to the masquerades. Then Ofogeli and his team led them away to their shrine.

After the masquerades and some young men had left, there was mixed opinion among the crowd. Some who knew Amadi’s family history attributed it to the wicked work of the gods of Ajana who had pushed the boy to steal.
Some said that poverty caused the bad act, while others attributed it to bad friends. Very few who used to accuse Amadi on every market day of selling his palm-wine too costly were very happy at the incident.

Later that evening, all the villagers returned to the Chief’s palace with Amadi and his son, Chidi, together with the stolen money. By the time they got to the Chief’s palace, it was already very dark.

Owing to the long distance from Amadi’s house to the palace, the people were all very exhausted.(tired).

After they had had some rest, the palace policeman rang bell. Then the Chief stood up and said, ‘My people, should we hold a meeting on this case this night or shall we all go home and come back tomorrow? I’ve said this because i can observe that you all are tired.’

‘Chief, your observation is correct. You are our wise Chief,’ the people chorused. ‘Let it be tomorrow.’

The Chief then dismissed them and held back Chidi and the recovered stolen money in his palace.

So Amadi went back home without his son, Chidi. However, since the Chief was fully aware of the curse of the gods on Amadi’s family, he was not happy with the situation. So, soon after the villagers had left, he sent for Chidi. When he was brought, the Chief kindly asked him, ‘My boy, have you eaten this night?’
‘No, sir, ‘replied Chidi.
‘Well, you know that you are in big trouble, and you are not expected to be fed or given water to drink,’ said the Chief.
Chidi made no reply.

The Chief asked again, ‘Are you sure you are truly Amadi’s son?’
‘Yes, sir, ‘replied Chidi.
‘Now, tell me the truth before the villagers reassemble tomorrow. Why have you become so bad as to steal from four different houses? Your family is poor due to their problem with the gods of Ajana, but there had not been a theft case against them before now.’
Chidi could not say a word. Rather, he started crying. After crying for some minutes he stopped. ‘I’m still waiting for your reply, ‘the Chief continued.

‘I wanted to use the money trading, for i wouldn’t want to be a palm-wine tapper like my father,’ said Chidi in a trembling voice.
‘Okay, go back to where you are staying till tomorrow morning, for i have got a clue to what i wanted,’ said the Chief as he began to go to his masters bedroom.
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