Because I Am A Poet-Drama
OLOWO. My king who is always
taller, when on the throne and on our mortal ground. The Iroko tree is an
exaggeration when your height is to be praised, I raise you to the sky my king.
KING ABAYOMI. Olowo, your
tongue is the bee comb that gathers sweetness
of stings. Let me die by your
tongue great farmer, good man. What brings you to my palace with, the visitor
and the daughter of that lion Dele? I know why but I must ask and follow the
tradition of ignorance.
OLOWO. My king I am waiting
for my older brother to get here, I know now why you asked a question you
already know the answer to. It will benefit the hearing of my older brother
Dele. Your wisdom has born another fruit my wise king.
SAMSON. Olowo, I’ve sent a
message to the mommoh the town crier to awaken the hearing of their attention
and that of the council of elders.
OLOWO. Samson, you have done
well. The council of elders is almost complete, but I wonder who is to stand
for that young man with the confusing words? Is it the NISE?
SAMSON. It is NYSC not NISE.
He has shown he is a man when he belly your niece with child. I think he can
stand for himself. Sometimes I wonder if it is his words that are confusing or
it is our head that doesn’t understand his language.
OLOWO. Samson, please do not
speak unwisely. We are inn the presence of the king.
SAMSON. Unwisely or I
shouldn’t speak against custom and tradition in the presence of the king. How
then must we forget the law that says we shouldn’t marry an outsider?
OLOWO. Here arrives Dele,
please be unwise to the custom and tradition. I beg thee, do though heed me?
[Whispering]
SAMSON. Most heedingly I hear
you my good friend though against willingness.
ENTERS DELE SITS WITH OLOWO
AND TOWN CRIER WITH FIVE COUNCIL MEMBERS
KING ABAYOMI. My wise council
of elders, Dele the lion of our village welcome. This is a rare gathering since
the war of ‘Iserin’ that you proved thy valiant strength. Today it is not war;
your daughter has been impregnated by an outsider. He is the
DELE. What! [Stormed out
violently from behind] Olowo, Is that true? Mama Shade so this is where you
have been?
OLOWO. Hmmm.
MRS DELE. Hmmm [sobed bitterly]
DELE. Shade, is it true?
[angrily]
Shade. Daddy I um uh. It is…
GUARDS. You do not speak when
the king is speaking only your ears have the liberty to listen rightly! I will
not warn you again.
DELE. Apologies my king.
KING ABAYOMI. My wise council
what say you? Tunde, you’re the oldest and the interpreter of our laws, what
does the law say about this.
Tunde. We should deliberate
on this my wise king.
COUNCIL WHISPERS AMONGST
THEMSELVES
FIRST MAN. Do not forget
she’s the daughter of Dele, and also the unpronounced niece of the king though
he denies it. The king has no heir so he told me to warn all about banishment
that they should be married.
SECOND MAN. I don’t agree
with banishment. They are to be married to let peace reign. That way the
bloodline will not be lost.
THIRD MAN. Are we suspending
the law that says banishment upon such taboo?
SECOND MAN. We are also
suspending your banishment from this world by doing that.
THIRD MAN. It is your
banishment, foolish man. You are afraid of your war mate.
SECOND MAN. Oh if you are not
afraid of him why do you whisper it? Stand up tall with the ostrich feather on
your chiefly red cap and pronounce the banishment If you dare.
THIRD MAN. That was not what
I meant oh.
SECOND MAN. Dele, is not a
dead warrior he only hasn’t proven his warrior hood because there’s no war. He
single handedly defended our village from hundreds of Ijune VILLAGE. O jare let them wed.
FOURTH MAN. I agree with him
let them be married.
ALL. We vote for marriage
too.
TUNDE. Marriage it is then.
KING ABAYOMI. What has my
wise council decided?
TUNDE. We the council of
uroko village has according to the interpretation of our custom decided that
the young man should take Shade as his wife and assume full responsibility of
the pregnancy.
KING ABAYOMI. Does anyone
here in this gathering disagree with the judgment of the council?
MRS DELE. Oooohhh [cries]
KING ABAYOMI. No one. By the power bestowed upon me as the king of this village i pronounce that the words of the council is binding. Then it
shall be that Shade and the student be married. [crowd murmurs amongst themselves this is impossible, this is not true]
To be continued…………………………
Thanks for reading…..
2 comments:
eheheh!...thrilling n hilarious___u rilli penned it well... I can't wait to c d poet's reaction...(my suspense is triggered)
I can't stop laughing, why didn't the poet and Shade make effort to convince them that there's no pregnancy? Laughs i can't wait to read another scene.
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