All the villagers were already seated around Fere, the madman with the voice of the gods. I sat with my father who was still trying to solve the last riddle. Everewhere was calm now and you could hear a pin drop.
Fere was unusually quiet; no dancing, no shouting. He just wrote on the floor.
‘Una don come again’, he looked around him and scribbled some words on the sand; only known to him.

Pikin die; you say na the gods……mama die, you go say na the gods……the gods dey laff….
Shey na the gods dey kill them?….

And Fere stopped talking for a while. We looked at each other hoping that was not a riddle. He must have heard our unspoken words because he laughed.

Na we dey kill ourselves. ….

He looked around and went to pick a young lady out. She was one of the prettiest faces around. We all knew he was harmless so they left them alone. He dragged her to another young man and handed her to him. Everybody applauded with the young man grinning. Fere laughed and danced. The gods has given that man a beautiful bride, my mother said echoing the words on everybody’s lips. A perfect match, someone whispered close to us.
Then the madman stopped suddenly and everywhere was quiet again. He took the lady’s hand back from the young man to everyone’s surprise. He took her to the centre and looked around. All eligible young men adjusted; hoping they would be the lucky ones. Even married men adjusted to the chagrin of their wives. My father laughed at their folly.
Suddenly Fere dragged her to a corner and handed her over to a young man seated quietly in a corner. There was no applause this time. Everybody stayed quiet; looking at each other. The young man adjusted awkwardly while the lady removed her hands from her new man.
Everybody expected him to drag her away again but Fere laughed. He danced to the beats from the gods that only he could hear.

Na we dey kill ourselves. ….no be the gods…..(more dancing)…

And just like he does; he sat down exhausted and wrote on the floor. Then he left the gathering. Everybody sat down unmoving expecting an answer to their questions. My father smiled and I knew he understood Fere’s unspoken words. He stood up and went to the centre. He had everybody’s attention.

"I think I know what Fere was driving at. The first young man is from this very village; a true born. A son of the soil; born and bred in this village. A perfect husband."

He stopped to view his audience who were nodding at his words. Even the first young man adjusted to the cheers of his friends. Papa smiled.

"The other man is a total stranger. Not even connected to this village. His parents are just travellers that settled here. How can he marry one of us?"

Everybody nodded to this. He smiled again. We were still confused with the whole drama.

"Fere has spoken and he’s right. Even without using words, he has shown us our own foolishness. We just discriminated amongst ourselves. We just judged another man without even knowing him. The gods do not need to come down to explain what we just witnessed"

We were dumbfounded. Slowly every man walked to his home embarrassed by their actions or in this case; inaction.
*****
Afterword: Discrimination is a disease that has eaten deep into our society. We judge people by their tribe and that is wrong. Even politicians use this to their advantage. ‘United we stand’ is just a word we use to make ourselves feel good. Until the time we really accept others without biases; then we’ll continue to be divided.
*****
There are no bad tribes; but bad people – Tunde Obe
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previous edition: https://realyans./2014/07/16/rumblings-of-a-madman-a-riddle/