Saturday, February 21, 2015
ALONE IN A LONELY PLACE
By: Funke Egbemode
Bareheaded, barefooted and breathless, the king ran through the woods, like his life depended on it. It did, in fact. The king, the lion of Ayedire was running for his life, both royal and physical. The people who one worshipped him had just rejected him and ejected him from the stool of his ancestors. No, they were not really out to kill him, all they wanted was their throne, their palace, back from him.
Oyewumi, the Alaaye of Ayedire until a few hours ago, could still hear the youth chanting war songs and the women, each holding just one broom stick, cursing and threatening him. It was an unbelievable day, a nightmare that would haunt him the remaining days of his life. That is, if there were any days remaining for him.
Oyewumi continued his lonely and lone flight through the forest, seeking a place of refuge in this coolness of the day, a day that had broken like any other but one that would end like none other. Who would have thought that this day would come, when he would wake up in all his royal majesty and end up under a tree, without royal apparels and being pitied by the birds and squirrels? Who indeed!
He choked on his rage and regret, wondering where he went wrong and how things got so bad without him knowing. Did he not do all that his advisers told him? Did he not go to war when Balogun (the head of his army) told him to do so? Did Oluode (the head of the town security) not tell him his people were sleeping with both eyes closed? Should he have doubted and cross-checked what Iyalaje (the leader of the market women) reported as the state of commerce and commercial activities was in his kingdom? Who would have thought the walls of the palace were not as impregnable as the Olori Eso (head of the royal guards) made him believe? The fat idiot almost got him killed.
So, where were all his chiefs now? How did he end up the only one without even a cap, half-naked, hungry and haggard? Where were the people who told him all was well and that there had been no king like him since the first Alaye settled in Ayedire? How did he end up being the homeless one while the fat cats he made rich with royal patronage were probably sound asleep in the arms of their wives? What kind of fate had befallen his own queens, especially the beautiful one he had just taken, just three moons before? A short brown snake crawled past, he almost jumped out of his skin but the reptile didn’t seem to notice his royal presence.
How did Oyewumi end up a refugee in his own kingdom, with only disrespectful snakes and squirrels as companions? It is a sad twist of fate and a sad turn in the road that the king was not told existed. Yes, for his royal majesty was not the first king that Ayedire rejected and he most likely would not be the last. Oba Oyeniyan too was disgraced out of the palace, chased into the cold dark on a rainy night. It is the way of the people of this kingdom, they hate with the same intensity with which they love.
With open arms they had welcomed King Oyewumi. They danced and sang for seven days when he ascended the throne of his ancestors. They prayed for him and gave him gifts. They worshipped him and treated him like the representatives of the gods that he was. He was a welcomed relief from the days of drudgery and poverty of the last king.
For a while, things went well. The rains came when it should and the harvest was plenty. The women went to the river and farm and returned safely. Then things started going awry. Children got missing on their way from the farm. Women got raped on their way to the stream. The neighbouring kingdoms became so bold they not only refused to bring their annual tax (isakole), they also started raiding border farms and compounds. Soon, everybody started feeling uncomfortable. The rains still came on time and the harvest increased but the people of Ayedire were no longer happy with their king. What was the use of the new beads and ‘Alaari’ they could now afford if their wives lived at the mercy of rapists? What was the use of the tubers of yams that got bigger by the year if the markets were not safe? Where would they sell their farm products if nobody came to buy? And if a man lost two sons in one day, who would he leave his wealth to?
Tension rose and side talks soon became loud protests. The young ones stopped prostrating for the chiefs and then stopped greeting them altogether. The people of Ayedire stopped attending the king’s festivals. The people of Ayedire were simply done with Oyewumi. If he could not protect them and their families, he was no longer fit for their palace. And just like that, in the middle of the day, the sun high and hot, these people forgot every and any good thing this king had done and chased him out of town, far out of town and deep into the forest.
A rodent defecated on Oyewumi’s crownless head. The squirrels bounced up and down the short bush path. The birds continued to sing. As if all was well with the world, as if nothing significant happened that day. Though a male tree is not expected to produce juice, tears welled up in the blood-shot eyes of the king. Was this really the end of the story, the end of the road for him? Had he actually become ‘yesterday’s king’? He imagined Ayedire crowning a new king, the maidens dancing seductively, boisterous laughter all over town, everybody drinking free palm wine and eating pounded yam like it is going out of fashion. Though his heart failed him at that point but he took evil delight in the sure knowledge that his people would soon tire of their new leader and send him to this lonely place of former kings where grasscutters and rabbits are the subjects.
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Funke Egbemode writes for the Sunday Sun, from which website this article was retrieved on February 21, 2015.