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The Seven Against Gogo, 2 (poems from homecoming)
The Seven Against Gogo, 2 (poems from homecoming)
Come Nguzi
Arrive in our feast and sing again,
Of the champions that went after Gogo,
Of their battle in the spirit realm,
Of their victory and triumphal return to Ete.
Sing, for you knew it all, and you saw it all.
Then Nguzi, starry eyed like the night,
Fixed his gaze upon the mound, and sang to all Ete:
Before they left,
The champions after Gogo,
Ogbudu, ten men in one, high priest and leader in Ete,
Gave some herbs to the giant
And his hunger quenched
As long as the journey lasted.
Eluama was not strange to them
But Gogo, with his powers
Made them wander and wander
In search of it in vain.
This endless wandering
Was on when a cock appeared to them.
Some in their midst made to kill it
But Nge was quick to stop them
He saw it was no ordinary cock,
But Etedi himself
That came down to lead them.
They sacrificed to their god on the spot,
And the cock
Which stood still earlier on
began to move
And led them to Eluama.
There, they got to know
That Gogo had left with Nwanyioma
Probably to the land of the spirits
The cock still led on
To the river in Eluama
Where it so shook its body
So hard that all the feathers came off,
And it plunged itself
Into the river,
Making an immediate passage.
Nge called on his men
And they followed.
The cock disappeared.
The path they took
Led them to the land of the spirits
Where Gogo was with their daughter.
Gogo,
Who knew of their coming
Called other spirits
To attacked the strange visitors
As they advanced steadily.
Nge motioned on Obinnaya.
He picked his harp, sent it out with his song.
So moving and enchanting was it
That the advancing spirits
Began to dance to it.
They were carried away
By the sweet songs
And it was in vain
That Gogo called and shouted
For them to stop, and renew the attack.
The dancing was on
When the king of the spirits
Heard such moving a voice
And so invited the strangers to his palace.
There,
They made known their mission
And the spirit king promised to help
He told them they would have their wish
If only they would be able
To accomplish five tasks.
He warned them that if they failed
In any of the tasks
They all would be killed.
These were the five tasks
That the king of the spirits gave to the champions
Who came after Gogo, to rescue Nwanyioma.
They were to answer a riddle
Which he was to place before them
And tell him a story
Which no one has heard in his kingdom.
They were to give him one man
Who must wrestle with
And throw their best wrestler.
There had to be among them
A man who must beat the spirit's best archer
In a shooting contest.
They had to give the king of the spirits
A hunter who would hunt and kill
Two evil birds in a strange forest.
And finally,
A man among them
Had to beat the best eater among the spirits
In a eating contest.
No sooner had the king finished
Than he pronounced the words of his riddle
And the men's tasks began.
‘Who in your midst
Will answer these questions correctly
When is the most important time?
Who is the most important man?
What is the most important action of a man?
The answers to these questions
Must be followed
With a story
Which no one has heard in my kingdom.’
Nge looked at Ogalabu
And the young man knew
That his time had come.
He spoke to the king and the people.
‘This great king is the answer to your question.
By no way are you the first
To seek answers to these questions.
In a way or the other
Men and spirits seek them daily.
But there arose a king like you
Who left his domain
In search of these answers.
It is his quest great king
That I tell you
And it is his discovery
That we shall see.
He journeyed through plains and fields
Holding discussions, and probes
With both wise and foolish.
No one was able
To give him an answer
Which could satisfy him.
After a long search
He learnt of a soothsayer
Dwelling by the side
Of a distant river.
Off he went,
In search of this man
With full hopes
For the end of his search
He came to the village
Where the river lived,
At the banks of which
The wise soothsayer lived.
And was led
To where he could see him.
Fast, he moved to seek him out
But very close to the river
He met a man full of sores
Weak and disabled
Begging and praying him for help.
The searching king was in a hurry
Coming this far
No poor, miserable beggar
Ought waste any of his time
He was soon , in all splendour
Before the soothsayer.
Avoiding any discussions
He quickly flung his questions
And promised to change his home
Fill it new, with slaves and servants
If he could end his search.
He was shocked
To hear the wise man tell him
That he knew nothing that could help him.
He however did not let him begin a moan
For he promised to send him at once
To the house of a man in the next village
Who knew the answers to the questions.
Arriving at the next village
He ran to his destination
Only to meet the same man
With sores before he arrived.
And again, he ignored his entreaties.
His rage knew no bounds
When he came to the house
And met the same man
Who had directed him earlier.
He was fuming with threats
Of all manner of violence
When the soothsayer stopped him.
'Listen great king,
Not for your threats,
Nor for your might that I help you.
But return to a certain man
Whose body is filled with sores
And who you saw, not far away from here
He would tell you all that you seek.'
It was definitely
Not with his earlier rashness and disdain
That the humbled king
Now approached the invalid,
And the sick, by the way side.
He came as a suppliant child
And did all he could to make him speak
But the man would not
Finally,
He washed his body,
Dressed his sores,
And ordered his servants
To cloth him in new shinning clothes
Yet would he not speak.
He hurried back to the man
Who had sent him in renewed anger
Ready to order his servants
To kill the soothsayer.
But the grace and manner
With which he was received
Again by his host
Robbed him of all power:
'You have gone and come back great king
And should know
The answer to your questions
Without my telling you.'
The king, dumbfounded
Was still lost
When his host came out with these answers.
And as they were given to that king
The same way I give them to you.
The present is the most important time.
The man you are dealing with at the present
Is the most important man in your life.
As I am dealing with you now
You are the most important man in my life
And while the king
Dealt with the man with sores
He was dealing with
The most important man in his life.
It was then wrong for him
To abandon the most important man in his life
To search for another man.
The most important action of a man
Is what a man is doing at the present.
Helping the man with the sores
Was that king's most important action
At the time of the help.
Presently answering your question
Is the most important action of my life.
These great king, are the answers to your questions.’
There was silence,
And the nods of the king
Showed that Ogalabu had answered correctly.
‘Now you must tell me the story
Which no one here in this kingdom has ever heard.’
And Ogalabu,
Calm and confident, replied:
‘Great king,
The story of the king
In search of these same answers
Which I just told you,
The same is the story you ask for.’
Again,
There was dread silence.
The king looked around
With hopes that any would come
Who had heard the story,
But there was none
He nodded again.
Ogalabu had won.
Disappointed,
He waved for their best wrestler
And a monster,
Whose form was ever changing
Charged into their presence.
‘You either throw him or.........’
Their wrestler was still turned around
Accepting pre mature praises
When Ugbene grabbed him by the legs
And threw him on the ground
Before his fellow spirits.
Their king then knew
That champions were before him.
Yet so sure was he
That their end was near.
The shooting came next
And it was Jaja's turn.
He called his bow
‘ evil spirit, killer of mother and child, bow of the brave.’
It is time for your work.
A kernel was tied to a tiny rope
Hung at the summit
Of a tall palm tree.
The two archers, Jaja and their own
Were placed a long distance away
From the foot of the palm tree.
Theirs shot first.
His was a perfect shot.
The rope and the kernel fell.
Another rope was quickly tied
With the same kernel too
But a difference was seen
After Jaja's shot.
Much more perfect was it
He Picked off the kernel
Leaving the rope intact,
Hanging securely on the tree.
The hosts bowed in shame
The third act was done.
Nge went into the thick forest
With Ipe
In search of the evil birds.
It would not have been possible
For Ipe to find the birds.
For all the beasts and birds
In the forest were not earthly.
After a while,
They located the birds
Mating in a large nest.
Ipe climbed a nearby tree,
And from there
Set a net trap over the nest.
Back on the ground,
He struck the nest,
And the birds flew into the trap.
When the trap
Was carried in with those birds,
The king was shocked,
And asked
That they be taken back
Into the forest, for the safety of his people.
The struggle by the eaters came last.
As such,
Each side waited patiently
To see the outcome.
The spirits themselves
Still nursed a hopes
Of their giant doing better
In this last fight.
The men were sure
Of the bulk they had on their side.
Akirikada was seated
When their giant came in.
Seeing him,
Their hearts melted.
He was twice the size of the men's giant,
But Akirikada was confident.
If the others
Could beat their own giants,
Why not him, he thought.
The heads of three cattles,
And a pot of water
Were set up for each eater.
He who finished first,
Would be the champion.
The spirit giant grabbed one head
Threw it into his mouth,
And Akirikada licked up
The water in his pot
As though he drank a little cup.
He then faced his meat.
On his second head,
A large bone got stuck in his jaw.
He was fighting
And hitting the ground over this,
When Akirikada,
With the speed of lightning
Potent with evil, and death
Hurriedly released to a desired target,
Crept his entire share.
That was the end.
The men,
Defeating the best of the spirits.
Their king kept his promise,
Releasing Nwanyioma to them
With food, gifts and a trusted guide
To lead them home.
Her eyes were totally restored.
They arrived Ete
With full glory,
And returned the maiden to her father,
Who detained all the champions
In Ete for one market week,
During which they feasted continuously.
The week came to an end,
And each of the visitors
Went away with a large stock of gifts
Their names and deeds
Are sang of in Ete and all Igbo till this day.
