The ground shakes as if the elephant were running wild, and the leaves and bushes give way to the fast movement of Ogidan.
He was the king of the jungle, the Tarzan of his kind as he lived nearly all his life in the scariest jungle of Umpamugo from the age of eight.
Perhaps he got lost, and no one dared to enter the forest, so they left him behind; only God knows.
During his fifteen years of survey, he once saw a Kingdom on the outskirts of Umpamugo, but he always liked to maintain his boundaries.
“What if they are dangerous people and don't want me?” he will say.
He knew the ways of the jungle, fed on anything he saw, be it fruits, vegetables, or other animals, and always wore animal skin.
This day was just like any other one as he chased an antelope into the lion's territory and they ran after him.
As it is said that a warrior who ran away from a lost fight, stays to leave for another.
This one is a dead end and a matter of life and death, as he was chased by a pride of lions and had escaped with severe injuries, and the last thing he remembered was crashing into the hole he dug beneath the gigantic Iroko tree found at the center of Umpamugo.
He found himself walking in a desert then a voice echoed to him.
“Ogidan, this land will grow to have water, and beautiful oceans will surround it”.
“ How will this happen?” he asked.
“ You don't need to know how,” the voice said, and Ogidan woke up to see that it was a dream.
To his surprise, he was already treated and lying down beside a fire made to warm him.
He stood up in surprise, looked left and right, and squatted in his favorite position to attack anything coming, then he saw a figure coming from afar. It was a woman, and she was the most beautiful thing he ever seen. Maybe due to the fact that this was the first human he had seen for years now made him retreat from attacking.
“Who are you?” She asked boldly and Ogidan asked back as he believed that he was in his territory.
But there is one thing about her that he noticed, she was daring, and her lappa was of different designs which complemented her curly hair and hypnotizing look.
Ogidan called himself back to the moment.
“ Thanks for saving my life,” he said, looking at all the injuries he sustained.
“ The pleasure is mine, it is the least I can do,” she replied, brought out fruits from her bag,, and gave them to him.
“ How did you know that I was in that hole?” Ogidan asked, pointing at the gigantic Iroko tree.
“ I was coming from that route, and I saw something moving in the bush. I thought it was an animal, so I hid and peeped to later find out that it was you,” she replied, pointing at the place she hid.
“ Why are you in this scary jungle?” Ogidan asked.
“ I wanted to be used for sacrifice and I ran,” she replied in a dry tone.
“ Where?” Ogidan asked, sitting upright.
She pointed in the direction of the kingdom, which is on the outskirts, Umpamugo, the one he is familiar with.
“ Sacrifice for what?” He asked again, not believing his ears.
“To Esu Beleke ( the maiden eater dragon)” she answered with a smile.
“ Why hasn't anyone tried to fight the dragon?” Ogidan asked and this time he looked dead serious as he continued eating his fruit.
“ The few that did get eaten by it” she replied.
“ Ohh! Why does it now only take a maiden as a sacrifice” He inquired.
“ If it were a maiden, it would not come back for another twenty years, but if it were any other, it would keep attacking,” she concluded.
“ Ohh!, I see,” Ogidan said.
“ I would like to fight the dragon to repay your kindness, and please don't say no,” Ogidan requested, and they went back to the village on his request.
As they walked back, she said “Won't you get healed to the prime before you go sacrifice yourself strange man”
Ignoring what she said, he asked which day the sacrifice was due without looking at her.
“ Two weeks,” she replied.
“ I will be up to the task by then” he answered.
They went to the kingdom and everyone followed them and looked as if they saw ghosts. Ogidan and the strange woman went to the palace and it was there that he got to know that she was a princess.
“ Do you know what you are up against?” the king asked softly.
“ I do, I have fought an Anaconda which tried to swallow me” he answered and asked.
“ Why is it that the dragon wants the maiden princess and how will it know one”
The king smiled, “ Esu Beleke is a demonic dragon which we inherited from our ancestors, it can't be lied to,” the king replied.
Ogidan was taken and treated well and after a week, he was up and sound.
He was provided with tools to help him fight the war and the day came as usual.
The princess was put in the center of the market while Ogidan hid in a Balboa tree standing beside the market. All of a sudden, he saw a huge structure floating off the highest mountain at the other side of the kingdom, and after one hour, it landed at the entrance of the market and walked slowly with its tail that coiled up like a spring.
Ogidan wasted no time and aimed an eye of the dragon with an arrow, which was accurate as it cried loudly and vomited fire in different directions. It wanted to fly away, but due to its heavy weight, it took it a few minutes to float, and Ogidan quickly jumped back at it. Before it could notice something crawling on its back, Ogidan struck it with a sword on the back of its shoulder, and it crashed back to the ground.
No one has ever gone closer to Esu Beleke like this, so other warriors who hid before stormed out, and it was a massacre, and at the end of the day, the dragon was killed. A very large party was thrown in the kingdom as that had ended the villain for good.
At the palace, the king asked what Ogidan wanted, and he said he wanted to live among humans. After that, the princess stood up and said.
“ Strange man, we have so many things we didn't say”
Ogidan smiled and asked. “ Like what?”
“ Your name, My name, your adventures, like what happened to you that day I saw you, how you fought the Anaconda, and how I fell for you the day you decided to risk your life for me,” she concluded with a warm laugh.
Ogidan looked at the king who nodded his head in agreement.
“ You have so many things to discuss, truly,” the king uttered.
Then a voice echoed in Ogidan’s mind.
“ The desert that will grow water and beautiful oceans” he understands this now and smiled.
