Cave Of Mysteries
Hi, I am Ijeoma and I am a farmer. I was in my farmland that day when that low faint sound was heard. I knew it was from a far distance. As I drew out of farmland, I was able to hear it clearer and the clearer it became the more annoying it was. As I got out of farmland, I discovered that it was not only me that heard the annoying sound but all the villagers did. We all started tracing the sound, behold it was coming from the king's palace.
When the king saw that everybody had gathered in the palace, he began his speech and from his face and the sound of his voice, we knew he was sad and nervous as he said; "Great people of this great kingdom, a kingdom without a location, a kingdom who made peace her great priority which has been obvious over the past years. The people of the great kingdom of Ukpramuko, the princess has fallen ill with a bad and rare illness". He paused as the villagers began murmuring. He asked for a cup of water and a guard ran almost immediately to get one. He arrived within a few minutes and he came back with one jug of water and two cups. He rinsed the two cups with the same water and he poured the water into the two cups. He drank one of the cups and waited for two minutes before giving the king his cup. The king continued after drinking his cup of water, "The princess has fallen ill and the eyes of the gods of our land, Ameh (chief priest) said that the only cure for her sickness is the zudu leaf that is only found at the end of the cave of mysteries, and he will be back in three days to announce the seven youths going to the cave of mysteries''.
After the king's speech, he left the palace for his inner Chambers and the villagers started leaving in groups. Most of them were praying that none of the youths was from their families. I left with my friend, Mama Chukwumais is popularly known as Cynthia. I and Cynthia discussed it all the way home and I told her I hoped for my only son, Taratu.
Three days went by so fast, like just 12 hours. That same annoying sound started again but this time it was louder. I knew almost immediately that it was time to go to the palace. I left for the palace with Taratu. I had no husband so only the two of us left. As we arrived at the palace, we met the chief priest and he was about to start. He carried out some incantations for almost ten minutes and then he began "the seven youths that the gods have chosen to go to the cave of mysteries are Gundu one of the sons of the now(second to the king) of this kingdom, Safara one of the sons of Agbaji the hunter, Manuru one of the sons of Chioma the trader, Agoji one of the sons of Atori the popular drunkard, Sadi one if the sons of Imaku the palm wine tapper, Kadoma one of the sons of Aduma the blacksmith, and finally Taratu the only son of the widow, Ijeoma. Moreover, these youths must come to the shrine tomorrow for cleansing as they will leave the day after tomorrow". He said and he left almost immediately.
I could not hold my tears as I sobbed badly and loudly. The gods had already taken my husband and now they want my son, I mean my only son. "No! No!! Noooo!!!" I screamed. My son, Taratu and Cynthia kept consoling me to take heart. Taratu kept promising me that we would all be fine and I should not worry because he was going to make it out successfully.
The next day ran so fast like the wind. I saw my son already prepared but he was sitting next to my bed waiting for me to wake up. Immediately when I woke up, I saw him looking at me. I looked very closely at him and I saw fear but he was trying very much to hide it. He was not even up to the man I wanted him to be and the gods were about to take him away from me. I immediately started crying again as I said some words of prayer for him and then he replied "Ise" (meaning amen)
Ijeoma! Ijeoma!!, Cynthia kept calling my name. I knew she was looking for me but I can not just leave these kids without completing the story for them. I immediately called Taratu to complete the story. Moreover, he knew the story more than me, and he will know how to explain the cave of mysteries in broadway. I left to meet my friend Cynthia and Taratu continued.
Hi, I am Taratu and I am sure you guys know me. Just see me as the storyteller for now. I asked them where my mom stopped and they said she stopped where I was going to the shrine. I started;
I left the house that day so scared. I was scared of dying at a young age and I never knew how my mom would cope if I didn't return. I arrived at the shrine to meet Gundu, Safara, Manuru, Agoji, Sadi and Kadoma. They started complaining asking why I was late. They were so angry that Safara blurted out that he was sure that I would be the first person to die in the Cave of Mysteries because I was way younger, weaker than the rest of the group. The chief priest came out of the hut in the back of his shrine and started the cleansing needed to grant us entry to the cave of mysteries. We all went to 7 rounds of cleansing. They were all painful. We had to sleep in the shrine for the night as we waited for the next morning. I was woken up by Safara's tap. He tapped me saying "wake up first to die". I ignored him.
Then, the chief priest came out of his inner hut. He gave us his blessings as he teleported us one by one to the Cave of Mysteries.
We all appeared in the cave of mysteries as another world on its own. We saw a very beautiful maiden, she was kind and that made me less scared. She asked what we were looking for in the Cave of Mysteries. Gundu told her that we were looking for the zudu leaf at the end of the Cave. She said; "You will all follow the right path, You will see a mountain, after the mountain, You will cross a river but you must not drink out of it. After that you will get to the land of look-alikes, as you pass the land, Finally, you will get to the farmland of a spirit, you should ask for the zudu leaf". As she said all these, she disappeared.
We all went the right path of the cave and behold we met the mountain.
We began immediate climbing as we had no time to waste. As we got to the top of the mountain, we saw a tiger. Gundu our leader told us to sit and stay still and the tiger will go away. The tiger came and it started touching our body with its paws. It first went to Gundu but Gundu was brave enough not to move, it went to Sadi and passed, Manuru and passed, Kadoma, Agoji, Safara and then I. I almost passed but Safara pushed me and the tiger almost ate me if not for Gundu who threw the spear the Chief Priest gave to us to scare the tiger away. I wanted to fight back at Safara for pushing me to the tiger but the rest of the group stopped me. We left the mountain and we headed for the river.
When we arrived at the river, it was already our third day in the cave. As we got to the river, our thirst grew so much. The water from the river looked like the water of life, it was so clean, pure, odourless and from your sight, you would know it was thirstless but from a drink, you would get your thirst back. Manuru and Kadoma insisted that they must drink from the water. They went and had a drink from the river. They lifted their heads and joined the group full of life. I also wanted some but Gundu stopped me from having any. As we got to the middle of the river, Manuru and Kadoma started sinking in the shallow river and before we knew it, they were nowhere to be found. The rest of us ran as fast as we could out of the river.
We reached the land of lookalikes on the sixth day. Immediately when we reached the land of look-alikes I saw my mom. I wanted to go hug her but Gundu stopped me one more time. After walking for like four hours in the land of look-alikes, we met Agoji's mom, Safara's dad, and Sadi's dad. They all ran to meet their relatives before I and Gundu could stop them. As they hugged their relatives one by one, they all disappeared. Immediately, Gundu and I began our non-ending race out the land of look-alikes, trying to withstand any temptation it brought to us.
Finally, we reach the farmland of the spirit farmer on the ninth day. I waited outside as Gundu went inside the hut near the farm to ask for permission to take the Zudu leaf. After one day in the hut of the farmer. Gundu and a weird looking man came out of the hut. The man told us where to get the leaf. I started heading to the end of the farmland and after a few steps, I noticed that Gundu was not following me but instead he was following the weird looking man to his hut. I ran back to ask Gundu why he was going back. He replied, "I have to sacrifice myself for the leaf, Taratu. Gundu replied. Now run, Taratu and don't look back". I immediately started running and after a few steps, I heard Gundu shout Nooooo! I knew he was dead and I started crying. I cried through the farm until I got to the leaf. I plucked it and immediately, I appeared in the village.
I saw Cynthia and she was shouting "They're here! They're here!! They're here". Immediately I fainted and I woke up in the king's palace. I heard the king ask, where are the rest? I replied weeping "they're gone". I gave the leaf to the Chief Priest near me. He laughed and then took the leaf to the Chambers of the princess. He came out with the princess sound and healthy.
Immediately, that annoying sound was played and after like 30 minutes the villagers started approaching. I waited eagerly to see my mom. As I saw my mom, I ran to meet her and I gave her a tight hug. The king came out and then he began his speech; "Great people of this kingdom of Ukpramuko, it is a moment of sadness and happiness. There is both good and bad news at the moment. The good news is that the princess is now strong and healthy. The bad news is that only one out of the seven men sent to the Cave of Mysteries survived. These six men will be named after the six markets in the village. The only man that returned to the village and the princess' new husband is Taratu, the only son of the widow, Ijeoma. Now, may the souls of Gundu, Safara, Sadi, Kadoma, Agoji, and Manuru rest in peace. The markets in the village will now be Gundu market, Safara market, Sadi market, Kadoma market, Agoji market, Mauuru market respectively".
By this time the families of Gundu, Safara, Sadi, Kadoma, Agoji, and Manuru were mourning their deaths. They were all given befitting burials that lasted for six days and on the ninth day, I married the princess who is now the queen, my lovely wife. That was how I became the king. The end.
My mom, Ijeoma had already arrived as she was done with her gist with Cynthia. By this time, the children had left for their various homes. We all ate dinner and went to bed.