{"id":2849,"date":"2017-06-05T11:47:35","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T11:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=2849"},"modified":"2017-06-05T11:47:35","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T11:47:35","slug":"the-adulteress-of-edda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=2849","title":{"rendered":"The Adulteress of Edda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: \u00a0Edited from Whatsapp,\u00a0<\/strong>author unknown.
\nI am awakened by loud banging and shouts\u00a0outside the door. I am momentarily confused until I see Odinaka hurriedly putting his\u00a0clothes on, his eyes wild with fear.
\n\u201cChei they are here! We are caught!! Oh, may\u00a0our Chi have mercy, we are going to die today! They will kill us both!\u201d he sputters. He stumbles over his clothing as the shouts grow\u00a0louder and the banging fiercer. My mind is\u00a0still dulled by sleep, my body too shocked to\u00a0make a move to get up from bed & get\u00a0dressed.
\nThe door crashes open and I see a group of\u00a0men rushing in. They seem to pass Odinaka\u00a0and run toward – me! One of them slaps me\u00a0across my face as the other pulls my hair.
\nThe force of my hair being pulled is enough\u00a0to drag me out of bed, my nakedness\u00a0apparent for all to see. I gasp in pain and\u00a0taste blood on my lips.
\n\u201cCover her up,\u201d I hear one voice say, \u201cAt\u00a0least let a bit of modesty be preserved before\u00a0we finish her off.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy cover the harlot up?\u201d another cruel\u00a0voice that I recognize as Udoka, my\u00a0elder brother, hisses.\u201c She has brought\u00a0shame upon us all and should die like a dog,\u00a0in shame!\u201d
\nI use the opportunity to pull the sheet around\u00a0me loosely. I look around for Odinaka . He\u00a0must have used the ensuing chaos to flee and\u00a0preserve himself. Just like everyone in my\u00a0life. So much for love and standing beside\u00a0me through thick and thin! \u00a0A smile curves\u00a0on my lips and a small humourless chuckle\u00a0escapes before I have time to stop it.
\nAnother\u00a0slap cracks across my face. This time I\u00a0cannot stop the quick tears that come to my\u00a0eyes as a result of the pain.
\n\u201cShameless baggage!! You even dare to smile\u00a0and laugh over your sin?\u201d my brother,\u00a0Udoka spits. \u201cYou are nothing but a\u00a0harlot. A whore! You have been so from the\u00a0day of your conception and you will die as\u00a0one!\u201d
\nI am dragged out from the room, through the\u00a0house and thrown out on the street. I barely\u00a0have time to recover when I am dragged to\u00a0my feet, beaten mercilessly as I am shoved\u00a0and pushed forward.
\nThe crowd, holding bows and arrows, cutlasses, and all manner of cudgels, slowly swells as other men, full of\u00a0righteous indignation, join the ranks of my\u00a0accusers. Women look out of their windows,\u00a0pointing fingers at me and cursing.
\nI can\u00a0hear some of them jeering.\u00a0\u201cWhere is your beauty now, ‘onye-akwuna’… harlot?\u201d\u00a0\u201cShameless woman! Be grateful you are\u00a0barren, for our Chi has spared your children\u00a0the shame of having a mother such as you!\u201d\u00a0and the shouts went on.
\nI fall down again and feel a kick in my side.\u00a0I push myself up only to be slapped and\u00a0punched again. I feel my right eye swelling.
\nThe physical pain is overwhelming but it is\u00a0the pain in my heart that threatens to undo\u00a0me. I remember my life: the misery, the\u00a0betrayal and pain I have had to endure over\u00a0and over again. I remember.\u00a0I was cursed with beauty. It was my burden.
\nI have raven black hair, rich and\u00a0abundant. I also have almond shaped eyes, with luxuriant black lashes and a full\u00a0red mouth. I was born to seduce and tempt.
\nOr at least that is what I have been told from\u00a0the moment I was 12 years old. I remember\u00a0my father, a high ranking member of the\u00a0council of ndi-iche; chiefs, being told by his friends, \u201cYou\u00a0had better marry that one off quickly before\u00a0she tempts a fine young man into sin.\u201d I\u00a0didn\u2019t even know what sin they were talking\u00a0about. Then my brother\u2019s friends and even my father\u2019s\u00a0friends gazed at me with lust from the time I\u00a0was 14 years old. That made my brothers\u00a0seeth with rage and my sisters to boil with\u00a0jealousy.
\nI tried to be modest, following all\u00a0our customs to remain proper and decent\u00a0but to no avail. Short of covering my face\u00a0entirely, there was nothing I could do.
\nAt 15, I\u00a0was married off to Mazi Ukanna, a man closer\u00a0to my father in age than me, an upstanding\u00a0member of the council of ndi-iche. I didn\u2019t like him.
\nHe looked at me like I was a piece of prized\u00a0palm kernel, a hideous glint in his eye. I remember\u00a0weeping the night before my wedding,\u00a0begging my father to release me from the\u00a0betrothal. That was the first and last time my\u00a0father slapped me.
\n\u201cYou will marry him and give him many\u00a0fine sons,\u201d my father said, his eyes as cold as the driest harmattan breeze at night.
\nThus, my marriage began. I could not endure\u00a0Mazi Ukanna’s forced caresses. There was no\u00a0love, no tenderness, only lust and anger.
\nWhen he saw my lack of response, he took to\u00a0beating me. Then, of course, there were no\u00a0sons or daughters..that was all attributed to\u00a0me.
\n\u201cA curse on you, barren woman!\u201d he would shout often. His whole family blamed me for\u00a0my lack of children. I was distraught. I knew\u00a0nothing of love. I had not received more\u00a0than anger and jealousy at home so I knew\u00a0nothing else.
\nUntil I met Odinaka.\u00a0He was my husband\u2019s nephew. He came to\u00a0stay with us under the tutelage of Mazi Ukanna,\u00a0with hopes of becoming a part of the\u00a0ndi-iche. He was tall, handsome and\u00a0showed me what I thought was love.
\nHe spoke tender words to me under the\u00a0moonlight in the garden when the rest of the\u00a0household slept and my husband was off\u00a0gulping away in palmwine with his friends. I felt Our Chi had played a cruel joke on\u00a0me, and then left me to my fate. I felt that all\u00a0members of the ndi-iche and indeed\u00a0society in general were hypocrites \u2013 exhibiting righteousness in public and behaving no better\u00a0than wild oxen in private.
\nIt wasn\u2019t long\u00a0before I let Odinaka into my heart and then\u00a0into my bed. I knew it wouldn\u2019t last but I\u00a0had not expected to get caught presently, I feel myself being thrown to the\u00a0ground.
\nThe crowd has swelled in size. I\u00a0knew the end was coming soon. Then I heard\u00a0Udoka shout, \u201cOnye nkuzi anyi..Teacher, this woman was\u00a0caught in the very act of committing\u00a0adultery. In our Law, our fore-fathers commanded that\u00a0such a woman must be stoned to death. Now,\u00a0what do you say?\u201d
\nOnye-nkuzi? Oh, yes, it must be that fearful, but gentleman that the elders call a dibia, but the youths describe as a jazz-man on account of some unbelievable miracles he had performed.
\nHe was quite a popular\u00a0character. I had seen him briefly once, in\u00a0passing. He was a rather non-descript fellow\u00a0– a typical righteous man with dark brown\u00a0hair, beard who had the bearing of one\u00a0accustomed to manual labour.
\nI hear he was the son of a handyman from another village. People said he\u00a0performed miracles and was full of wise sayings beyond his years or experience. Well, maybe he\u00a0could perform a miracle for me now and\u00a0make me disappear, I thought wryly.
\nI was\u00a0determined to die with dignity, I was not\u00a0ashamed. I had had a brief taste of love and\u00a0if I was to be punished for that, then so be it.
\nI lifted my chin up, determined to be proud\u00a0till the end. I wasn\u2019t afraid to die, indeed it\u00a0might prove to be a sweet release for me\u00a0from my miserable life. By now, my right\u00a0eye had swollen shut but I looked up.
\nMy\u00a0eyes met briefly with those of Onye-nkuzi’s and my\u00a0heart stopped.
\nNever had anyone looked at me that way.\u00a0Not with lust, or hate or jealousy. But with\u00a0love and tenderness so pure it seemed\u00a0otherworldly. And there was something\u00a0absent in his eyes: condemnation.
\nI felt tears\u00a0spring up as inexplicable feelings coursed\u00a0through my veins. I felt shame, fear at the\u00a0same time. I wanted to throw myself at his feet and beg, not for my life, but for\u00a0forgiveness. He then stooped to the ground\u00a0and ….
\nHe\u00a0said, so softly that if not for the deathly\u00a0silence He may not have been heard.
\n\u201cWhichever one of you has a clean heart and clean hands should shoot the first arrow or slash her through with your cutlass.”
\nI thought I heard a hiss and someone turn around to walk away. The same thing filtered into my ears as I awaited a piercing arrow or slash. I prayed death would be swift. It sounded to me like I heard footsteps turning around and walking away.
\nAnd then, I heard, “foolish prostitute,” and a familiar loud hiss. It was definitely Udoka!
\nI heard his steps walking towards me as I relaxed, lifting up my neck with closed eyes for the ultimate strike of his cutlass. He stopped in front of me as I whispered my last prayers. I felt a splash of spittle on my face. He turned and walked away.
\nI heard as other steps walked away in the distance.
\nI looked up when I could no longer bear the silence. It\u00a0was just Onye-nkuzi and I in that narrow alley. I\u00a0slowly got up, every fibre in my body aching.
\nHe straightened up and stood. Our\u00a0eyes met again and I had the overwhelming\u00a0feeling that I was standing in the presence of someone great. I wanted to fall to my face\u00a0and pay homage.
\nHe then said softly\u00a0again, his voice like the soft humming of the breezy wind after the evening rain.
\n\u201cWhere are they? Is there no one left to\u00a0condemn you?\u201d
\nI shook my head and answered, \u201cNo one,\u00a0Sir.\u201d
\nHe smiled softly and exhaled, total\u00a0forgiveness in His eyes. \u201cWell, then. I do not\u00a0condemn you either. Go, but do not sin\u00a0again.\u201d And just like that I felt the burden of\u00a0my past drop from me like dead weight. Not\u00a0just my adultery but my pain and anguish. I\u00a0felt new. I knew I had no home with\u00a0Mazi Ukanna or my family but I was not\u00a0panicked. I had felt the very presence of our chi, the True Chi!!!
\nI felt like shouting with joy! As I\u00a0gathered my wrappings around me I looked\u00a0up and saw Onye-nkuzi anyi walking away, some men\u00a0joining him. I wondered if I could follow him. Perhaps I could for I heard there were\u00a0some women in his party, one of them,\u00a0da Philomena, distantly related to my\u00a0side of the family.
\nI could now understand why the gentleman was so loved and reverred; why the elders in their fear and jealousy called him a dibia. Why the young men who called him a jazz-man also described him as a Son of Chi. He surely behaved like true royalty, without the pride and arrogance. He was majestic, in spirit and in actions.
\nFor me, I subscribe to his Sonship to that Chi everyone talked about, but had never. I was convinced I had met Him.
\nMy mind was made up. \u00a0I would go to da Philomena!
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: \u00a0Edited from Whatsapp,\u00a0author unknown. I am awakened by loud banging and shouts\u00a0outside the door. I am momentarily confused until I see Odinaka hurriedly putting his\u00a0clothes on, his eyes wild with fear. \u201cChei they are here! We are caught!! Oh, may\u00a0our Chi have mercy, we are going to die today! They will kill us both!\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}