ATTAH EBURUTU! A TRAGIC STORY OF THE FALL OF A GREAT KINGDOM!

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Edidem mmeedidem!
Akaraenyoñ Akaraisoñ
The goddess of our land!
The people are not smiling!
We need your intervention!
There has been no raindrop neither does our crops yield. We are starving! We need you! Please forgive all our transgressions!

Tears rolled down Mma Asuquo's cheek as she prostrated at the bank of the ukasie river!
The water flowed towards her and just then it went back as a sign of anger by the goddess.

Mma Asuquo was crying profusely when the river in its flow, returned her sacrifice; The chicken was still alive and the white cloth was very intact, clean and white.
She picked up her offerings, looked at the river, wiped off her tears and moved away sadly.

The goddess has rejected her sacrifice!

The people of Attah had forgotten everything in a glimpse! They had forgotten the blood that was shed, the tears that was wept and all they had done to their companion.

The king of Attah assembled his elders to tackle the issues on ground.
The King was well dressed in his kingly attires. On his entrance, the elders arose as the moderator hailed the king in their special way. The king saluted the gathering and sat on his glorious throne. Perhaps the calamity on ground could make his throne inglorious in a short while and this he felt as he looked at the throne sternly before he sat.

The moderator took a bow at the king and addressed the house, "Ba Ba Ba Attah Eburutu!"
"Heee!" The elders responded in unison.

"Ba ba ba Attah Isongo!"

"Heee!"

"Ba ba ba Attah Eburutu!"

"oweh!"

"Oboñidoñ soñidem! My elders I greet you all! There is a popular saying that a good song is known from its whistled tune also in same light a bad song is known"
The elders nodded in consonance.

"This land has been known for its rich farm yields, cassava, plantain, cocoyam, wateryam and other crops that we produce and we have no contender. Our enemies even make peace with us because of our food products. But the table is turning around for the worse! Our farms don't yield any crop again! No rainfall! We are suffering! Hunters go to hunt and get hunted by evil spirits! We have gathered today to hear what the King has to say. We better hear now and act upon it before our corpse hear it and cry about it in the spirit land."

Immediately he took his seat, the King was about to address the house when the priestess of the land whaled in, in her magnificent attires.
Escorted by two firm beautiful maidens who were equally dressed deeply culturally with faces painted to showcase their allegiance and unending loyalty in serving the great goddess of the Land.

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The priestess bounced in, retrieved her footsteps, backed the elders, shook her body speedily, laughed out loud, turned around again, shook her body speedily and walked into the gathering. She stared at the elders who were marvelled at her uncalled entrance.

Indeed the goddess must be calculating and must have a vital message to pass on.

The priestess screamed and rendered a dirge,

Uwa mi ooo
Ooooo uwa mi ooooo...
Edieke ami nke nsinede ofoñ kidem
Ami nyene okuk nyene ima nyene emem
Afït nfina ikpiduhe ndien oooo
Uwammi ooooo
Ooooo Uwammi ooo

(my life oooo my life. If I have clothes to wear, I have money, I have love and I have peace. All these problems wouldn't have been existing. My life oooo my life)

She screamed loudly and the escorts went on their knees as they sobbed.

"He who pours ashes is followed by the same ashes! The goddess does not mourn anyone who is killed by his own morsel!
The goddess is angry! The people of this land has forsaken their ancestors. The people have broken a covenant that had been sealed with blood and honesty. The people have slapped the face that smiled at them during their birth. The people of Attah were homeless and hopeless and was accepted out of pity by the ancestors of a land. Attah! What have you done? Attah what have you done?"

Immediately, the crying escorts screamed and raised the dirge again,

Uwa mi ooo
Ooooo uwa mi ooooo...
Edieke ami nke nsinede ofoñ kidem
Ami nyene okuk nyene ima nyene emem
Afït nfina ikpiduhe ndien oooo
Uwammi ooooo
Ooooo Uwammi ooo

The dirge continued as the priestess barked at the sky, reciting incantations...she hurriedly retrieved her steps and walked away as her escorts followed her fading the dirge.

Immediately she left, an elder Ette Okon stood up and addressed the gathering,

"Ba ba ba Attah Eburutu! Oboñ mi, I greet you. My elders, the thing they say speaks for itself. The wife of a debtor they say speaks in consonance with the husband except the husband has the money and does not support at home.
The goddess has never failed us before. We know the popular tale our Fathers told us. This land belonged to the Osukpe kingdom and we wandered for days and nights searching for where to stay. They found us, re-branded us and gave us shelter. Now we reciprocate by waging a war against them. An improvised war! We attacked them because some of their men have been beating up our girls when they went to the stream. Oboñ mi! We are finished. It will take more than the blood of all our virgins to stop this calamity.”

The people of Attah had attacked the Osukpe people at the crow of the cock sometime back. In the kingdom, wars were not waged that way. The two villages always tried to sort things out amicably and when that doesn't happen, they set out for war.

The King of Attah had beaten his chest and overrode the elders' contributions when he commanded the warriors to embark on attacking the Osukpe Kingdom who had given them the land they now bragged about.

The king in his authoritativeness had come to the bridge of his power. He was unable to decide as the land was damaging. He would sit up on his throne blank and his mind would travel far and near yet nothing would come out.

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They rendered sacrifices to the gods and when the goddess informed them that the remedy was the blood of his two children, The King of Attah wept loudly, "My mother! You asking for my only children is an indirect way of asking me to handover my crown to another lineage. Please my mother! Let the innocent children be, I will handover my crown to you."

Just then, the king uncrowned himself, threw his crown inside the river and walked away.
The river swallowed the crown and immediately it started raining.

Everyone ran helterskelter as the rain was heavy and the storm seemed like a tornado.

The next morning Mma Asuquo was still asleep snoring heavily when her dream was distracted by rantings in the neighborhood. She got up and wrapped herself with her wrapper loosely and off the Hut she was. The neighborhood was gathered with villagers around who stood happily dancing!
"What is the good news? Ehn? Can't nobody talk?"

"Our crops have bore fruits. We can now see flowers on our plants."

"Thank You goddess of our land!"

Just then she knelt down and in tears she worshipped the goddess. The towncrier's announcement interrupted her prayers.

"Attah Owewewewewe! Attah Eburutu! Attah when one door opens, another one closes. Attah calamity gone, calamity arisen! Attah our king surrendered yesterday and today his blood has seized flowing. Attah the king has killed himself. Attah we are to gather immediately at the palace to mourn the King! Owewewewewe!"
He hit his gong and went another direction to repeat this same information.

Immediately, a lady hissed lengthily as the others mocked at the news.

what is the calamity now?

The death of an evil king is a blessing not a calamity.

Please let him rest in pieces and now we can flourish in nourishment.

The people slowly moved to the palace at least to behold the last view of their fallen king.
The priestess and her entourage as usual bounced into the gathering. The place remained silent as the dirge was raised by her. The people kept singing the dirge as their hearts had been touched subconsciously by the spirit of the goddess.

The priestess made some recitations as some wept for the king while others wept for the calamity and the covenant they had broken and some listened to the priestess as she called the new convenant to them which was not convincing.

The people of this land has hurt their ancestors!
They refused to abide by love with their helpers!
The king has given his blood!
The land had been restored!
But the fruitfulness has been cut!
The people will now labour harder than other kingdoms.
This land will be the poorest of all the Efik Kingdom.
Those who own the largest farmlands will not have children to farm on them.
Those who own the smallest farmlands will be bear too many children and will not be able to feed them.
This land will never remain as it used to be!
The goddess has spoken!
Bless the goddess and her supremacy!

The priestess stormed out in her usual way as the people fell to the ground crying after the pronouncement of their awaiting punishments.
The dirge continued and the brightness of the sky chameleoned into darkness!

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This story is a fiction. It never happened and remains an act of creativity.

Gift Unyime explores cultural and ancient situations, studies them and creates concepts out of them. This is one of my creative write ups!