Once upon a time in a village, there was a very beautiful girl that was contested by two young men, and she didn’t know which of the two to choose, because she liked them both. She didn’t want to disappoint any of them, so she kept dragging on.
Though Muthinda knew that she had to choose one, so she promised to make her choice during the new yam harvest celebration.
The new yam and other farm produce were usually first offered to the gods to thank and appease them before the folks could consume them.
During this event, young men and women could marry, or choose a partner, and at that time Muthinda was contended by two young men. She didn’t know what to do, even if she had a preference among the two. Mudinga was a shy, but kind and gentle, while Kalu his rival, was arrogant, and liked flirting with many village girls.
The rivalry was so strong between the two men, but Mudinga loved very much Muthinda, and wouldn't contest her choice if she preferred Kalu, as long as she was happy.
Kalu didn't think the same way, and he wouldn't allow anyone to stand in his way including Mudinga. While the harvest celebration day drew near, Kalu began to think how to play his rival off.
Kalu was very a proud man, and thought he would die of shame if Muthinda should choose Mudinga, because he thought he could make any girl fall at his feet.
In the meantime, Kalu noticed the sweet way Muthinda looked and treat Mudinga, and that didn’t pleased him.
On the morning of the new yam celebration, Kalu sent a message to Mudinga in Muthinda's name, to invite him to the top of the hill that dominated the village. The idea of Kalu was to convince his rival to take his hands off Mithinda, but that night when Mudinga arrived at the place of the appointment feeling happy, he was surprised to see Kalu standing there instead of Mutinda.
“What are you doing here, where is Muthinda, did she invited you too?!
“There’s nobody else!” Replied Kalu to his rival.
“May be she’s late!”
“No Mudinga, I sent the invitation to you.” Kalu grinned under the light of the large moon.
“Why the hell did you do that for?!”
“I just wanted to warn you to keep off your hands from Muthinda, she is mine!” Kalu snapped.
“Why don’t we allow her choose between us? Asked Mudinga smiling. “She had promised to make her choice tonight. May be she’s already at the village square waiting for us.” Then Mudinga said and turned round to go away. At that time, his rival so full of anger and jealousy rushed at him, and pushed him rolling down the hill.
Mudinga went down the steep into the emptiness below. Kalu was wild, and had completely lost contact with reality, not realizing what he had just done.
Then he went to the square to meet with Muthinda, who was finally ready to make her choice. Mudinga fell many metres down hill, and landed fortunately on branches of trees below that softened his fall.
If he had fined at the bottom, he would had ended up smashing on the rugged rocks. Kalu, got to the village square where all the folks were already gathered.
Muthinda was surprised to see Kalu arrive alone without Mudinga.
“Where’s Mudinga?” She asked.
“I don’t know!” Kalu snapped. “I’m not his keeper.
“I thought you were together.” She wondered.
“I didn’t see him,....now you can choose me.”
“No Kalu! I want to wait until Mudinga arrives.” Muthinda said.
Kalu took Muthinda's hand by force, and pulled her violently to himself, “You’re mine!” He affirmed Shouting in her face, scaring the beautiful girl.
“Leave me alone Kalu, you're hurting me” Muthinda struggled to get free shouting, “Help! help!!”
At that point, Mudinga covered with bruises and blood arrived from Kalu’s back, and hit him hard on the head.
“Didn’t you hear what she said?!” Mudinga roared, while Kalu fell to the ground, fainting, and Muthinda ran into Mudinga’s arms
“What happened to you, why are you bleeding?!” Muthinda asked in awe. She was so worried for Mudinga’s injury, but she was happy that the man she was really interested in, had come to save her.
Mudinga told the villagers what Kalu had done to him, and the crowd that had gathered decided that Kalu deserved a punishment for his deceitfulness, arrogance, and crime, and for pushing his rival down the hill.
Muthinda joyfully chose Mudinga as her partner, and that very night under the light of the big moon got promised to each other.
The End
Yoruba proverbs:
- The Imam is burnt, and people are asking about his beard (Those were the fight to catch fire!)
- Many days for the thief and a day for the owner (One day, the thief will be caught by the owner of the property!
- A Muslim that refuses to eat pig, is probably not hungry, if he has a great hunger, he would eat monkey.
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