Jul 15
X Files: The Prophecy
‘Repent! Repent!! For the kingdom of God is at hand!!’ shouted the man in white, his bible in one hand and a bell in the other.
‘This is God’s message to you people of Araromi Street this morning.
You fornicator! God is looking at you right now. Nothing is hidden from the Lord God Almighty. He knows what you did last night. And what you will do later today is not hidden from him.
You! Yes you, planning to donate your son at the Witches Coven tonight, The Lord says, if you do not repent, you will not live to see another dawn’
The day was just breaking on Araromi. The people were used to prophets coming around and proclaiming all kinds of doomsday messages. So they did what they usually do when the men in white come around. They ignored him.
Ronke also heard the prophet, but like every other person on Araromi, she went on with her business, totally at ease with herself. She was grinding the pepper for the ‘moinmoin’ she planned to give her son, her only son, that morning. As she milled the pepper, she started to sing her favorite morning song:
Emi leni taye ti ro wipe kole da nkan re se
[I am the one people thought would never achieve anything meaningful]
Sugbon mo ri anu re gba
[But the Lord was merciful to me]
Olu Orun lo bamise
[The Lord of Heaven made mine happen]
She was so into her song that she didn’t see the prophet walk towards her.
Woman! Bellowed the prophet;
Startled, Ronke looked up and was more surprised to see the prophet by her porch.
Thus saith the Lord, the prophet said, almost in whispers:
Your child is an ogbanje and he has planned to go back to his ‘people’ on his 7th birthday. You have to pray and fast if you do not want to lose him. The Lord be with you.
The message left Ronke shaken, confused and very scared. Before she could comport herself to rebuke the prophecy or ask the Prophet any question the man had left her porch and moved on to continue his work on another street.
She quickly looked all around to see if anyone had seen what just happened, but from the way her neighbors went about their businesses, if they had seen or heard anything, they weren’t giving anything away.
She stopped what she was doing immediately and ran into her house. Her son, Abayomi, was sleeping peacefully on his mat. She pulled the boy up and started shouting his name. Abayomi! Abayomi!!
The boy woke up startled and scared. At first he thought he had urinated on his mat again. That is the only reason his mother shouts at him in the morning. But a quick look at his mat confirmed that he hadn’t done that. Fear gave way to confusion when his mother picked him up, hugged him and started crying.
Abayomi: Maami, ki lo de [What is the problem Mummy?]
Ronke: Ko si nkankan omo mi [Nothing my son]
Abayomi: Ki le wa nsunkun fun [Then, why are you crying?]
Ronke: Ko si omo mi, inu mi ndun ni [Nothing my son, I am just happy]
O da o. Ki la ma je laaro yi [OK. So, what’s for breakfast?]
After breakfast, Abayomi went outside to play with his friends, leaving Ronke alone with her thoughts, fears and the prophet’s words.
Who will she turn to now? She had never been a ‘spiritual’ person. She had never fasted in her life. Even when she was looking for a child and people offered her many suggestions, many of them she didn’t take because it entailed her fasting and doing one act of spiritism or another. The only thing she did was to go to a stream to wash away her barrenness as the Spiritualist she visited had advised and the only reason she did that was because it was her mother that took her to the spiritualist. She had conceived Abayomi shortly after that, ten years after she got married.
Her husband, if she can call him that, married another wife five years into their marriage. He came and left at will, spending most of his time with his more fruitful and younger wife. She was grateful that he came twice a month to see them and give her money for Abayomi’s upkeep. He hadn’t touched her in years but at the moment that was the least of her worries.
What was she going to do now? She couldn’t go to church and tell her Pastor. Telling would mean divulging more information than necessary. Moreso, she had shared a testimony in Church after she had her child, although at the time she knew she wasn’t being entirely truthful about her ‘miracle’.
She was so deep in thoughts that she didn’t hear her son come into the room.
Abayomi: Maami, ngba wo nmape omo odun meje [Mum, when is my 7th birthday?]
The question threw her off completely. Was the child confirming the prophecy or was this coincidence? She wanted so much to believe it was coincidence. Abayomi had always been interested in his birthdays but the fact that he was asking on the same day she received the prophecy was too much to ignore.
Ronke: Ose meta si igba ti awa yi ni omo mi [It’s in three weeks time, my dear]
Abayomi: Ejowo e ranmi l’eti ti ojo na ku ojo kan [Please remind me a day before Ma].
Ronke: O da [Ok]
As she said that, her heart sank further into despair.
She told her mother about the incident but her Mom told her not to believe anything the prophet said. She did not listen to her mother, for the first time in her life.
Another thing she started to do for the first time was fast. She fasted and prayed for 7days. She prayed like she had never prayed before. On the eighth day, she felt a peace in her heart and she was convinced all was going to be well.
As the days turned to weeks, Ronke did all she could to prevent the boy from knowing his birthday was near. The night before Abayomi’s birthday, they had gone to bed the same time they have every night. But Ronke’s heart was heavier than usual that night. Normally, she would have drifted off to sleep immediately her head touches the pillow but on this night she was finding it difficult to sleep.
She however succumbed to sleep a few hours later but her slumber was cut short by a very loud shriek from her son.
Abayomi: Maami, won ti de [Mummy, they are here!]
Ronke: Awon wo? [Who?]
Abayomi: [visibly scared and pointing to unseen beings in the room]
Awon ore mi ni. Se e ko ri won ni? Won ti wa mu mi lo o [My friends. They are everywhere, can’t you see them? They are here to take me.]
Ronke: [Scared too but trying to act brave] Nibo? Abayomi, ma ba mi se erekere o. Emi o ri nkankan o [Where? Abayomi, stop this nonsense! I can’t see anything]
Abayomi: [Still pointing at the unseen beings and running from one part of the room to the other]
Sugbon mo ni k’eran mi leti ojo kan si ojo ibi mi. Won ti wa mu mi lo ni sin yi ko si si oun kan ti mo le se si
[But I told you to remind me of my birthday a day before. Now they are here to take me with them and there is nothing I can do about it.]
Ronke: [Now crying and visibly petrified]
Ma binu omo mi. Joo ma loo. Ki ni mo le se bayi ?
[I am sorry my son. I don’t want you to go. Please don’t go with them. What can I do?]
Abayomi: Oya, emu igbale ki e si ma na ibikibi ti nba na wo si ni emeta
[Pick up the broom and wherever I ask you to hit with the broom, please hit three times].
Ronke: Oda [Ok.]
The warfare went on for several hours until finally, Abayomi told Ronke all his Spirit friends had left.
Ronke fell into a deep sleep after that with her son in her bosom. Not even the prophet’s bell could wake her up that morning. She was truly at ease.
48 Comments so far
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This story took me back to the book “Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe. Spirituality is a deep issue in our world. Wow.
2nd, not bad…
Wow, very intense…reminds me of Abiku, I think it was a dramma or something in those days..
well done. I really liked it. when is part 2?
awww ronke’s luv for her son really touched me, but all these abiku/ogabnje sef, do they stil exists???
You have created this world that is closed and full of spirits. Its rich. But Ronke will have to visit the Prophet and offer some offering, he can see better visions about her. she needs to. Because he might yet come up with another “God says”.
6th! lol, not doing bad today, usually like next to last or last! lol… Excellent, well written. Reminds me of the same movie afrobabe mentioned - Abiku - that used to scare me like crazy! And everytime someone died at school, we used to think - oh maybe he/she was abiku! I’ll be back to see what happened to Ronke and he son.
The skeptic in me knows this is not a true story but a well written one. Nice.
That was such a lovely story… I love reading yoruba and i love that song. Ronke should have been binding and casting instead of hitting them with a broom, lol! Oh well…
How’s it going with the rhymes and your son?
Ghost story. gosh. u shld have had a disclaimer at the top. lol. But i enjoyed it tho. BTW, you wouldnt happen to be Abayomi right? hehe. not funny.
I loved the story, i’ve always loved reading yoruba. I love that song too. Ronke should have been binding and casting instead of using the broom but oh well…
Hw’s it going with the rhymes and ur son?
this is simply marvelous
reminds me of Motara of the abiku fame
we had a neighbour when i was about 7 whose 5yr old had imaginary friends,she would talk and eat in her sleep and all sorts of Motaraish behaviour till she was taken to church and beaten with broom(s)…………..
i guess they are abound(spirits)………
everyone just needs to have a personal relationship with the Creator and we shall overcome whatever obstacles come our way!!!!!
make una see story oh…i dont get it, are you trying to write a play for NTA Tales by Moonlight?…thanks GOD i didnt read this at night…enjoy
Very interesting.
the dialogue was the best part of the story for me! way to go 007!
BJB, I enjoyed every bit of this post.
The the song ronke sang, to the prophets warnings, to the yoruba dialog, the warfare with brooms…
The things parents do for their children. hummmmmmmm.
It reminds me of them Yoruba literature books we read in high school - Je n lo’gba t’emi. Very nice. I like it much.
How are you re?
LOL@Ronke waving the broom up and down, i can see it.
Very interesting.
My inlaw, how’s my one and only sexy eyes?
Hmm…well narrated…but I cant help to think that there’s more in store. Is there?
lol. I’m still laughing at the thought of her hitting the broom on the unseen beings. Hehehehe.
WOW! astounding piece! my heart was beating wildly, i actually felt Ronke’s fear! Bravissimo Bond dudu, u are too much.
lol @ ur nursery rhymes illiteracy!
just register at mine, i’ll teach u ALL of them, seriously.
I left a 300 worded comment earlier which appears to have been eaten by the evil Blogville.
My comments is easily summarised.
“BRILLIANT!!”
hmmmm
very nice black007
nice post!
Awon agba ma so pe ” abiku so ologun di eke”
Love the story but felt it ended abruptly
Interesting work here. You had me breathing heavily in fear at the end of it, now it has me thinking could there be more?
Nice work here man..Keep it coming…
My eyes were glued to this post. I read every word! It had all the ingredients of a great story: Probability, Simplicity, believable characters and Yoruba! Simply G8!
WOW!
Black007 are you sure you are not trying to write another ‘Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole’ or something. Haba, the dialogue could have just been in English now rather than taking some people through the journey of reading the Yoruba then reading English translation immediately after.
I actually refused to read the English until the end of the story in Yoruba.
Nice one though.
Q: Ki ni itan yen ko wa o?
A: Itan yen ko wa wipe atele owo eni kii tan ni je.
Moral of the story: In the final analysis, your destiny is in your hands (sometimes a broom comes in handy)!
[See what you caused now.]
awww, had me thinkin back to Soyinka’s abiku and things fall apart, and the girl in Ake…brilliant! like carlang said..just brilliant!
…how i simply enjoyed this…as i was reading, i was praying that you wouldn’t make me wait for part two…thank you for finishing it…beautiful…thank you for writing it and not with the usual christianity saves all twist that usually ends such stories…i too look forward to more tales…
i loved this.especially the yoruba dialogue.scary though.i was watching my back to be sure they were no spirits.lol.
u don’t know nursery rhymes?google it.u’ll learn plenri.
Orisirisi….
Is that not what you get when you take the short cut solution?
Ehm…update biko.
The storyteller is at it again! Nice work. Love the Yoruba and the translations too.
Wow! This was tight! Loved it loved it loved it. Yes it reminded me of Abiku the movie as well.
ho ho ho this took mi back to far far far back in dayz where u hear stories as such and watch all them movies as well.
i love the way u wrote this, great delivery.
007 strikes again. Wonderful story. I can’t help but remember all those false prophets that used scare tactics to take serious money from people when I was growing up in Eko.
Hope all is well with you and yours…
NIGERIAN CURIOSITY
IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER WHEN I ONLY HAD ONE…
aww that was simply beautiful…but kinda scary tho!!!!
Inlaw mi atata, i dey o, just looking for work and looking for ways to entertain myself. How is my darling sexy eyes, lemme go look at his pics again, i must not forget his face. Hope u have a very nice week…
UPDATE! UPDATE!! UPDATE!!!
nice…
felt like i was watching a movie..had images in my head..lol!
Part 2?
where art thou o black 007? dont 4get i know where to find u!
BJB, its high time u updated oh.
Howz d fam?
nice work…great talent.
WHat happens in the end?
Did he die?
Answer now…
could you please tell me the person thst sang that song? thanks