 |
| Photo by Kevin Gent on Unsplash. |
In 1900, the Benin Empire had been conquered by the British and was renamed 'Nigeria' as suggested by Flora Shaw in an article in The Times of London on January 8, 1897. Just before the defeat, there was a clan of personae non gratae, unaccepted outcasts whose actual name is yet to be known.
What makes historians and archeologists inquisitive about this tiny bit of history?
The clan started when a brother and sister went into exile in 1830 to avoid shame and death. A serene family, living in the middle of nowhere took them in thinking they were a couple- that was the impression they gave. The siblings committed incest, a taboo (awua) in the Benin culture.
Esewie (the sister) was pregnant for a male child- Ogiemién. She died immediately after childbirth. Meanwhile, Degbueyi (the brother) kissed the dust a few days after their flee as though the punishment for their awua followed him. Ogiemién, however, grew up with the kind family and their children, a boy and a girl, Osatohamwén and Itohan.
This is one part of the story that leads to the main story historians and archeologists are interested in, the story of Ogiemién (Ogie) and Osatohamwén (Osato).
There's also a believed story by archeologists that Esewie gave birth to twins because they found skeletons decades later which passed for identical twins. But we would stick to the former, the traditional story- they were friends.
Consciously or subconsciously, the kind of friends we keep influences our attitudes even when their attitudes may ordinarily contradict ours. This is called 'Vicarious Dissonance'.
Ogie was a cursed child from conception. He wasn't notorious or stubborn. He was weirdly weak- he could not hold his spoon until he was 9, he fainted a lot, and he couldn't do anything. A human waste? Osato was the opposite. With time, some of his manly abilities rubbed off on Ogie.
Brotherhood, the bond the two men shared. Not even the angriest raging tempest could cause a waver. The problem was that their lineage was without a future since they lived alone somewhere in a forest. Ogie had to marry Itohan, Osato's sister. At least they weren't related by blood.
Maybe I was too soon to say nothing could affect their bond. There was something that could break their bond forever- the secret of Ogie's birth and Osato's father was the only one alive who knew. Not even his wife knew.
"We may never know our secrets."
To be Continued...
Disclaimer: This is a fictional story.
To Receive Updates, Such as When the Full Story is Posted, Click Here
Comments