Episode 6 - WELCOME TO YESTERDAY ( Revenge is better served when cold)
By Gabriel Ette.
As it crawled closer to its destination, the more enraged the Anaconda became. It's eyes were fixed on the tree where it's light was hung. The snake dragged its huge frame over blockades on her pathway till it could see clearly the Mkpafere tree. As it thundered into the hunter's compound, it's first obstacle was the mud houses for the hunter interlocked his buildings for his wives and let out only an opening at the gate iso oko. The snake lifted her huge frame and mounted the matted roof of one of the thatched houses and it caved in. Then it made straight for the ladder upon which the hunter climbs daily to bring down and also display the moon at dawn. As it climbed, her weight pulled out the tree from the roots so that together, the Anaconda and the ladder fell alongside with the tree. The impact of the fall made the rope upon which the snake's moon was tied to loosen and the luminant hit directly on the big stone the hunter's first wife used to prepare snuff and shattered into pieces.
The snake was livid with rage as it beheld her prized possession shatter into smithereens. In rage, it proceeded to swallow the fragments of the light and thereafter went berserk. As at the moment it's rage calmed down, no single hut in the sprawling compound was left standing. The snake killed all the goats in the pen except for those that escaped when the barn was destroyed. It swallowed many fowls and fell lots of economic trees. Having gotten even over its destroyed moon, the giant Python positioned itself in the center of the compound awaiting the inhabitants.
Akpan Umogwo ran straight with his last wife to the compound of the deceased village head to alert members of his household of the advent of the giant snake. He assembled members of his household and informed them of his fears. In the course of talking, he discovered that his fourth wife, Tity Umogwo was not present. Her son informed the father that she went back to the house to get her snuff box that she forgot. The hunter prayed to his ancestors that she would have been home and out before the Anaconda arrived. When he heard the loud hiss of the snake at first, he had thought of climbing the tree to bring down the moon but because of the snake bite he recorded earlier in the day, he was too weak to attempt that rather he decided to use his last ounce of strength to escape for dear life. He was so worried for Tity his wife.
As Tity turned the corner that opened into her husband's compound, she saw what looked like a mobile palm tree climbing their Mkpafere tree. Reality dawned on her when the tree fell with the weight of the snake. The Anaconda has come for her light. She heard the enraged hiss of the beast and also heard it crash their huts, she fainted out of fright. She did not know how many minutes she laid on the roadside unconscious, when she regained herself, she stealthily crawled some distance away from the theater of revenge for fear of attracting the snake's attention. She only ran after having walked on her knees for some distance back to the chief's compound. As she collapsed into the arms of her husband, the hunter knew that the worst had happened but he was thankful to his ancestors that his wife was still alive.
So enraged was the wild beast that the destruction so far occasioned did not assuage it. It coiled in a huge heap at the center of the compound exposing only her head facing the entrance to the compound. Akpan Umogwo prevailed on members of his household and his neighbors not to return home that night. Even when dawn broke, they waited till it was light. Himself and the strong men in the village who heard the story went armed with spears and machetes to the hunter's compound. What they saw sent shivers down their spines. Almost all the hunters swore that in their entire hunting lives, they had never seen Echid Itiaba of that size. But it wasn't the sheer size that awed them, they met the Anaconda swallowing a human being whose feet were still yet to be swallowed by the huge Python dangling outside its huge jaws.
Akpan Umogwo knew that the tyrant was very vulnerable at that point unless it vomited out her victim. He whispered to his co hunters and in a frenzy they stacked dry woods and leaves in front of the compound. Akpan Umogwo went through the bush behind the huge snake to his felled houses and set it on fire. As the flames increased, the giant knew it was trapped and that it will be roasted alive unless it vomits her victim. The snake vomited Udo Ebegwo the village drunkard who went early to the hunter's compound to buy native gin from his first wife, oblivious of the danger that lurked. The Anaconda probably seeking revenge on the thief of its light fell him with one hit and proceeded to swallow him. It was in the swallowing process that the hunters met it.
There were no firearms then, hunting was done with bows and arrows, spears and machetes. As the intense heat scorched the Anaconda, it uncoiled after vomiting out its prey and stood erect. The hunters scampered in different directions. It brought down her huge trunk on the burning roof sending a cloud of dust and ashes upward and crawled through the flames back into the direction of the virgin forest. The hunters knew it would be a suicide mission to pursue it and so they let it go.
Akpan Umogwo had to resettle his family by building a new family compound in one of his land near to the late Chief's compound. He attempted to rebuild his ruins but all of his family members told him that none of them will live there with him. He was so grieved at his loss that he swore to take revenge on the snake. How he will do it he was yet to know but he said, I will think out a plan. He allowed a period of four moons to pass before he went hunting again in Akai Ibong.
That fateful day was Editaha market day. Fortune smiled at him as he killed one antelope. He dragged the antelope with him into the favorite hunting spot of the Anaconda. He stuffed a rather potent poison he bought into the death antelope's mouth and tied the mouth to prevent leakage. He then deposited its corpse near the Ukpa tree where the Anaconda loved to hunt. Receding some distance, he sat and kept watch. Other carnivores attempted to eat up the dead animal but his flying arrow always scared them away. It wasn't long when he heard the hiss in the distance. Probably, the Anaconda had perceived the smell of blood from its hideout. The hunter didn't need to wait for its appearance, he departed for home from the opposite direction of the sound.
The Anaconda saw the slain antelope. It was elated at its good luck. It wasn't long before the antelope found a resting place in her huge belly. Akpan Umogwo stayed away from the forest for over three months before he ventured back into the forest one day. What he saw made him smile. Wild animals like the hyena and jackal had done a great work in feeding on the corpse of the giant snake that has died apparently because of the poisoned antelope. As the antelope digested in the snake's belly, the poison sipped into its system. Eventually, the giant was itself overpowered by the potent effect of idia adung poison. It weakened the snake on daily basis till it died. The giant hunter itself had become a prey and the legendary hunter Akpan Umogwo had his revenge. (concluded)
0 comments:
Post a Comment