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The Python And The Dance: The Temptations Of Okolobia Agu - Literature - Nairaland

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The Python And The Dance: The Temptations Of Okolobia Agu by netozii(m): 8:33am On Sep 18, 2017
In the olden days, on the banks of a River known till this day as Omambara, there was a town named after that River whose protector was Ani: the goddess of the Earth. And the good old Okolobia-Agu was her priest. Okolobia was unarguably the wisest man that lived on this earth.

And it happened that a law was made by the founding fathers of Omambara that nobody would ever dance to the beats of Ikoro. For Ikoro - a musical instrument like a slit drum that is beaten with a stick - announced forbiddens like: War, murder, desecration, and calamity. Anyone that disobeyed this law would be sentenced to death by burning him alive. And the judge to sentence the offenders would be the priest of Ani: Okolobia-Agu.

But Okolobia-Agu's nephew, Ikeanyi, believing that his uncle was the high priest, took the Ikoro; and every night, he sat with his friends at the market square and beat the gloomy instrument. They knew the law, so none of them danced to the beats. But this troubled Okolobia-Agu and he called his brother's son.

'You should stop that music of calamity,' he soberly said. 'I don't want to hear the sounds again.'

Ikeanyi, being a strong head, replied: 'Okolobia, I failed no law. I beat the Ikoro in the company of my friends but none of us dances to the beats.'

'You failed to add "yet",' Okolobia-Agu told him. 'You should rephrase and say, 'We beat the Ikoro but none of us dances to the beats yet.'

Ikeanyi responded harshly, 'The great priest, we are not foolish. None of us would ever dance to the Ikoro.'

His uncle bowed his head and muttered to his hearing: 'Is it not better to remove from the pot, the hands of the monkey or should we wait until it turns to the hand of a man?'

But the boy's heart was unruly, he did not stop. This infuriated the priest and he ordered the young men of the town to seize his brother's son and had him flogged in the market square.

That night, Ikeanyi's father, Egbuna, went to his elder brother and spoke angrily to him, asking: 'What has my son done to deserve this public disgrace? Why do you wish to bring shame to my household?'

Okolobia smiled and softly said to his brother, 'Ikeanyi is also my son but It is easier to extinguish the matchstick than to stop an inferno. I rather flog Ikenayi than to sentence him to death.'

'But he was not dancing to the Ikoro,' the younger brother burst out. 'And I know my son, he would never bring shame to our family.'

Okorobia gnashed his teeth for a while and switched to a little story:
'There was a town,' the old man narrated, 'that forbids a Python. One day, in the bush, a boy found a Python's egg and took it home. He became so fond of this newly found egg. He knew that a Python's egg would never hatch if it left the nest. But none of us dictates to nature, there are things that happen that should not.'

Okolobia -Agu raised his head and looked at his brother.
'Tell me, Egbuna,' he continued, 'If you are the boy's father and you found the egg in your son's room; which is easier: To leave the egg because your son is fond of it and it would never hatch, or to break your son's heart by destroying the egg before it beats all speculations and hatches into a Python?'

This is Ajambele.

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The Amazing Power Of Forgiveness / Happy Birthday Queenitee / I Can't Breath By Olaonipekun Sr 111

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