Ujunwa and the cubs( A nigerian folktale with an igbo setting). My entry for the sankofa contest

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Long time ago, in the land of umudike. There lived a hunter called Amadi, who was famous in the village for his hunting skills. He was known as the best hunter in umudike, but after some time, he stopped hunting without telling anyone the reason why.
Amadi has a beautiful daughter called ujunwa who was his last daughter.

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Ujunwa, just like her father, was also very popular in the village not just because of her beauty but also because of her kindheartedness.
Ujunwa has always wondered why her father stopped hunting, because she has heard a lot of stories about him as a great hunter. It got to a point that she decided to approach her father and ask him the reason why.
The next day, she went to his chambers, greeted him and sat down besides him. He was pleased to see her because she always put him in a lighter mood whenever she come into his chambers. He teased her with different kind of sweet names, which he always find pleasure in doing. After some minutes, she told him the reason why she came to his chambers. He sighed, looked her in the eyes and smiled at her. He told her that he stopped hunting because, when her mother was having hér pregnancy, she was always scared of him going out into the forest, because she felt something bad could happen to him. He decided to stop hunting because of the love he has for his family.
After hearing all he said, ujunwa felt like she wasn't hearing the real thing, but she didn't want to argue with him because she thought he has a good reason for hiding it.
Years past, and ujunwa got married, her father felt very bad to send her off to her husband's place, but he knew he has to. Ujunwa also felt sad when she was about leaving, she has always known that such a day would come when she would have to leave her family, but she never expected it to be this hard. After much crying, she gave her family her last greeting and left with her husband. The family felt her absence a lot, especially her father, but he decided to console himself.
One year after ujunwa's marriage, she became heavily pregnant.

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She got up one morning, and decided to go to the stream to fetch some water. Though her husband has always warned her not to, because of her condition, but that didn't stop her from going to the stream.
When she got to the stream, she noticed some little animals playing close to the water. She came very close to them, and noticed that they were cubs.

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At first she was scared because she taught their mother would be around, But after some time, she didn't see anyone so she concluded that they were orphans.
The cubs were six in number, three of them were thirsty but couldn't go close to the water because they were scared, she noticed it, and immediately used her pot to fetch them some water for them to drink. She stayed with the cubs until it became dark, knowing that her husband would soon be back from the farm, she decided to rush back home to make dinner for him. All this while that ujunwa was with the cubs, she didn't know that their mother was at the top of a tree watching her,

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waiting to see if she would harm the cubs. But she became calm after she saw ujunwa taking care of her cubs.
When ujunwa got home, she couldn't take her mind off the cubs because, she was wondering how they were doing. The next morning, after her husband left for the farm, she immediately rushed to the stream to see the cubs carrying some food inside her pot. When she got there, as usual, she saw them playing close to the stream. She immediately rushed to them, and gave them the food she brought for them. After they finished eating, she fetch some water from the stream and gave them to drink. She stayed with them for some time before going back home.
She continued visiting the cubs until her pregnancy could no longer allow her, because she was beginning to see signs of labour. It really hurt her that she could no longer visit the cubs, but there was nothing she could do about it.
She didn't know that the cubs mother traced her to her house the last time she came to visit the cubs.
After some time, the mother of the cubs noticed that ujunwa was no longer coming to visit her cubs like before. So she decided to go to her house and know what the problem was. When she got there, she found out that ujunwa has given birth because, she heard the cry of a baby coming from ujunwa's house. She immediately went into the bush, killed an antelope, and brought it to ujunwa's house in the middle of the night and dropped it at her door post.

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Very early the next morning, ujunwa heard screams of people outside her house. She immediately rushed out, only for her to see a dead antelope at the front of her door. Her husband walked round the whole village,asking for who dropped the antelope at the front of their door, but no one agreed that they knew anything about it. After much failed effort, her husband decided to visit the village priest to inquire answers about the dead antelope at their door post.

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When he got there, the priest told him that it was the mother who owned the cubs that ujunwa always take care of in the stream, that brought the antelope. And he also told ujunwa's husband a story about ujunwa's father.
He told him that ujunwa has saved her father by he kindness towards those cubs. Ujunwa's husband was confused after hearing this, so he asked the chief priest to elaborate more on what he just told him.
The priest told him that ujunwa's father was the one who killed the cubs father. He told him that a long time ago, when ujunwa's father went hunting, he saw an antelope and immediately aimed at it with his gun. And while he was aiming at the antelope, he didn't know that the cub's father was also aiming at that same antelope. And it happened to be that, it was when he released the bullet that the lion also flew on top of the antelope, the bullet caught him and the antelope ran away. The lioness who was inside the bush, saw all this and immediately ran after the hunter, but luckily for him, he was able to outrun the angry lioness. After the incident, the priest told amadi that the lioness will not rest until she kills him, that he should stop hunting for the sake of his wife who was pregnant and his children.
After hearing all this from the priest, ujunwa's husband was still confuse, he asked the priest how ujunwa has saved her father. The priest told him that the lioness saw ujunwa's father in front of her house the day she traced ujunwa to her house. And she was about attacking him when she heard ujunwa call him "father". The lioness was shocked to see that the hunter who killed her children's father was ujunwa's father. At first, she still wanted to attack him even after finding out who he is, but just then, her mind became clouded with all the things ujunwa has done for her cubs, and she left the place with a change of mind.
Ujunwa's husband started trembling, he immediately rushed home and told his wife everything that the priest told him. Ujunwa too became scared after learning the fact that a lioness has been watching her all this while without her knowing about it. She started wondering what would have happened to her if she had harmed those cubs.
Very early the next day, she rushed to her father's place, and told him everything that the priest told her husband. Her father was shock that the lioness still hasn't forgotten about him, but was still happy that she has forgiven him because of his daughter.
After ujunwa got home, she vowed never to go to that stream again. Though she missed the cubs, but thinking about their mother was enough to scare her away from the cubs.
THE END