THE LEGEND OF KIWAKAAZI

“You will have a daughter but she will not be the source of your happiness, on the contrary, she will be the cause of your worst pain. She will be beautiful but she will be unwell for the greater part of her childhood. Brave Ashanti, you must wait for him; the one who will save her. You must open your eyes and look out for the three signs; sacrifice, kindness and wisdom in this man.”

They say that “a woman is honored when she finds a good husband but even greater is the honor when their marriage is blessed with children.” Ashanti had found a good husband. Maybe it was not so tangible initially but he was. Everything needed to sustain a marriage was present in their marriage; great sex at least thrice a week; good communication; trust and love. Only one thing was missing – children.

The ruler to demonstrate the depth of love he had for his wife refused to take another woman as wife. Remember he had a limit of four wives.  He withstood the countless pressures from the elders, kings and people of his empire and was very firm in his decision. He will console his wife with sweet words and little gestures that eased her mind. He was prompt at least twice a day to perform prayers with his wife. He assured her many times that she will conceive and have a beautiful child. He preferred a daughter whom will be beautiful like his wife and remind him always about his life’s best choice. “Together they will pamper her and spoil her. But she will grow up to be a great ruler like her mother,” he often said.

After fifteen years of marriage without children, she was distraught. She one day locked herself up in her shrine and prayed to the gods for six straight days and nights without food or water. This troubled her husband greatly but he respected his wife’s resolve. 

On the eve of the seventh day, Ashanti’s body had become so weakened that she passed out. While lying on the floor, she saw a crow enter her shrine and head straight for the altar. She followed the crow with her eyes until she heard children giggling. She moved her head and saw three children; two girls and a boy playing. They were dancing around in a circle. She returned to the altar and noticed the crow had disappeared. She turned to look at the children and two of them had disappeared; one girl and the boy. The girl whom remained with her was short and wore just a cloth around her waist. She giggled and played alone for a while before she spoke:

“Ashanti, my name is Fomo, the goddess of birth and children. The gods have accepted your devotion. Your husband Sasu has committed many sins against the gods. He destroyed our temples; he insulted our names and did everything to incur the wrath of the gods. The only way to punish him was to make you suffer. Fomo smiled. You will have a daughter but she will not be the source of your happiness, on the contrary, she will be the cause of your worst pain. She will be beautiful but she will be unwell for the greater part of her childhood. Brave Ashanti, you must wait for him to come; the one who will save her. You must open your eyes and look out for the three signs; sacrifice, kindness and wisdom in this man.”

Emperor Sasu could wait no longer. It has been seven days and almost seven nights since she locked herself up in the shrine. “What if something is wrong with her?” he thought. He ordered a few of his guards to knock down the door and found her collapsed on the floor. She was carried to her room and after a day or two of treatment, she recovered. She gave her husband quite a scare.

What the gods have promised, the gods fulfilled and a few more days later Empress Ashanti was pregnant. After nine months and seven days on the night of a full moon and on the day of the celebration of “Futse” (the day of sacrifice), Empress Ashanti delivered a beautiful baby girl and she was named Dedeli.

She was beautiful but bed ridden from her infancy because of ill-health. People with power often think they can buy good health with power and money. Emperor Sasu invited many herbalists, wise men, priests and western doctors from all across the world and his daughter’s condition will not improve. Fifteen days after his daughter’s fifth birthday Emperor Sasu drew his last breathe after a short illness.

The elders immediately wanted to install a new Emperor. The man who was next in line was Bagunasango, the highest ranked officer of the South’s army. A new Emperor will be her new husband and she did not want a new husband. Tinle Ashanti believed “you love once, marry once and die once.” She tried to convince the elders that she was more than capable of running the affairs of the empire. This was unheard of at the time. There were no women leaders and this will be a sign of weakness and not strength.

Empress Ashanti convinced them to put it to a vote. Seventeen kings, a hundred and fifteen chiefs, two hundred and thirty elders, and, twenty-seven others including soldiers, the chief priest and some men of wisdom voted. It was a close contest but Ashanti won by just a single vote and was crowned the Jaaziba (Empress) of Jumapafie (Lands united through hard work or Southern Empire).

As an Empress and a leader she was very successful. The Southern Empire became very rich and peaceful during her reign as Empress. Everyone loved and respected her very much. She had an interesting ritual. Once in a while, she leaves her palace and spends three days in a village she chooses randomly. In this village, she feeds orphans, clothes them and tell them stories about love, friendship and unity.

But what can you expect in world ruled by time. When time decided, the Southern Empire was peaceful and when time changed his mind, everything changed. A group of unknown bandits had entered the Southern Empire. Their approach was not extreme. They neither harm nor murder; they just take what they want which was usually food. With every passing day there were reports of theft in one village or the next in Jumapafie. These people were very smart; attacking random villages. And after every attack, several days will pass before the next attack. Even the duration was not constant. There was no particular pattern to their attacks.

One day, one of the bandits was apprehended and arranged before the Empress for judgment and appropriate punishment. He was a young boy about thirteen years old with large pointy ears; a big nose, thick lips and black short hair. He looked thin and wore tattered clothes. He had blood stains around his lips, eyes and nose. The Empress could not believe that just a boy could be the cause of all the problems in their land. She was convinced he was probably being manipulated by some older men. Nevertheless one thing troubled her, “how this boy who had evaded the military so far get caught?”

She looked at the boy and asked “what is your name?” The thief did not answer. A couple of the guards quickly moved to force an answer out of him but the majestic Empress lifted an arm suggesting they do no more to him. Then, she turned her focus to the guards and inquired of them how he was apprehended. The guards were not exactly sure. They remember chasing him and almost losing him until they found him lying somewhere with an injury to his knee. He could no longer run so they just grabbed him. The Jaaziba, Ashanti, now turned to the crowd and asked if anyone saw something.

An old short man wearing even worse clothes than the young boy, and, a hat covered with holes stepped forward and said “yes I do.”

The boy turned to face the old man amazed because he was sure there was no one present. “What lies is this man going to tell about me?” he thought.

The short old man stepped forward, walked past the boy and bowed before the Empress. He apologized to the Empress for not being able to kneel before her. Something Ashanti did not care about very much. She asked “so, tell us everything you saw.”

He narrated the story as follows:

“I was walking the streets and felt someone was following me so I hid in a corner of an alley. I hid for some time and felt perhaps those following me were just a figment of my imagination. After all what could they possibly want from an old boy like me?” He laughed out loudly at this and looked around to see if anyone else was laughing. When he saw no one laughing, he frowned and continued his story. “I heard a voice and then a beautiful girl emerged. She carried a pot of water and was singing a beautiful love song. The song was about when she and her lover will finally meet. She was so young I wondered what she could possibly know about love.

Then came out this boy (pointing his index finger at the culprit behind him) running so fast from behind the sweet innocent beautiful girl. It scared her so she turned abruptly. He shoved her in the back. The girl lost her balance and was about to fall. But there was a big rock lying just in front of her. Ok, maybe the rock was not so big but judging her trajectory, she might have crushed her skull on it.”

The boy could not believe his ears. These were the very events that took place but he was a hundred and one percent sure no one was present. There were no corners in the alley like this man wants people to believe. “What is going on and who is this old man he thought?”

Meanwhile the old man continued to tell his story:

“I was so scared I felt I was going to have a heart attack. How can this beautiful girl just die because of this rascal; wagging his index finger intently at the boy. But he immediately turned and looked at the girl. I think he saw it too, that, she had lost her balance and was going to crush her skull on the rock. He turned and quickly ran towards the girl. He jumped and grabbed the girl at the eleventh hour injuring his knee in the process. That was when I saw the guards swooping in and arresting the boy. They still gave him quite some beating. But the amazing thing was that even whilst being beaten he kept on asking the girl if she was alright. And that is all I saw.”

“What a fascinating story. So you want us to believe that this dangerous boy ‘sacrificed’ himself to save the girl. Do you take us for fools you senile old man?!” shouted a man from the crowd “Did you say sacrifice?” whispered Ashanti.