URENMA (Journey To The River World) - Season 1 - Episode 13
URENMA (Journey To The River World) - Season 1 - Episode 13
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“The condition is grave, my lords. Why can’t you strip me of my powers and thereby take this curse far from me?” “You are the first princess of the gods to dwell amongst men and as it is you will be the first princess of the gods to marry a mortal man, the bars must be set so high so other younger princesses will not follow your example. If you truly love your man as you claim, accept our condition and leave, a life awaits you in the land of men”, said the head of the elders gods. Urenma knelt down and declared. “I accept your condition. I agree to never use my power as a princess of the gods under any condition while married to a mortal man!” All the elder gods, the twenty of them, stood up and declared, “You can marry the mortal whom you love and bear him children; you have our permission!” Urenma stood to her feet and fled the scene. She had no time for pleasantries; she wanted to return immediately and begin her wedding plans. When she woke up on her mat from her journey to the river world, she was over joyed. She wanted to dash out immediately to Obinze’s house to break the news that she would after all be getting married to him, but then she remembered that it was too early. If someone or anything attacked her on her way, she would not want to use her powers. She wanted to learn to live without making use of her powers. Life without making use of her powers would be strange and she wanted to get a hang of it; so she waited till dawn. Before she told her parents, she dashed down to Obinze’s house and broke the news to him. Obinze didn’t care what Urenma traded with the gods to get their permission for them to marry.
He was getting married to the woman of his love and that was what matters.
A few weeks later their wedding was announced, and on the wedding day many people came to celebrate with them. Okeke and Ngbankwo slaughtered cows and prepared foods. Obinze who had become wealthy as well slaughtered cows and made sumptuous meals for his guest. The display of the wealth in the wedding and the kind of personalities who graced their wedding had not been seen before. Long after the wedding, tales of it still resonated in Ukeh and the lands around it.
Not so long after their wedding, Obinze and Urenma had two children, a boy and a girl. They were a happy home and the envy of many people. They had everything they needed and much more.
However about six years into their marriage, Obinze’s wealth began to diminish. His lands stopped yielding seeds abundantly; his cows, sheep, goats and chicken began to die like those of the others and Obinze could not explain why.
When that had become a major source of worry to him, one night Urenma seeing how troubled he had become woke him up from sleep and explained it all to him. “All your wealth came from me as a princess of the gods. But since I chose my love for you over my princess position in the river world, we have to now live like ordinary people. The gods are slowly taking everything from us which came as a result of my position. I still have my power but I cannot use it to reverse this current trend. The gods are testing me to see if I will break the deal I made with them”.
Having understood the situation Obinze promised Urenma that he would work harder to keep their wealth from completely diminishing. However, Urenma knew that his hard work would not change much. A few more years down the line, Obinze lost all his wealth and become as poor as he was before he met Urenma. His change of fortunes puzzled the land of Ukeh and all who knew him. Things got so bad that Urenma had to be going to her parents who were still rich to get what they would eat; and that was their saving grace. Okeke did as much as he could to save his daughter, son-in-law and their children from starving to death.
Though Okeke went from one oracle to another to find out why his son-in-law suddenly fell into abject proverty, the truth was hidden from the oracles.
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