IGHO GOES TO FARM 7 7. Akoto Game And Catapult Hun

Esomowho told them many interesting tales about the village and how they lived. He was in JSS3 and very smart in a number of ways. He told them about his exploits in fis.h.i.+ng and hunting. Igho and Onome listened with rapt attention and asked him many questions. He showed them his catapult, a V-shaped instrument made from a tree stem, with an elastic rubber and leather band that holds the sling point. A smooth pebble is placed in the leather band, and when pulled and released, it flies off and hits the target.

Esomowho had many notches in his catapult to indicate how many games he had caught with it; it meant that Esomowho was a good marksman. Onome and Igho were impressed. He told them he had caught a squirrel once and many other birds. To show them his skill in using the catapult, he aimed at a bird flying by and let off his catapult's sling. He hit the bird and Onome and Igho rushed to where the little bird lay and breathing hard and fluttering its wings. But the bird was too weak to fly away. Esomowho caught it and tied a string to one of its legs and put it in his cage that already had three birds in it.

Then he brought out his ekoto kit, where he put all his small empty sh.e.l.ls of snails that had been properly carved into cone shapes ready for spinning. They were not the big and edible snail type. Igho and Onome admired the different sizes and colours of Esomowho's ekoto and imitated him the way he spun them in a small hole he dug on the ground. But they could not spin them well.

To play the game, two persons competing would first put forward the same number of ekoto or choose from the same stock. They would then take turn to spin one akoto inside the hole one after the other. Whoever knocks off the opponent's akoto, with his own still remaining inside the hole takes possession of the opponent's akoto until he claims all the ekoto in his possession and is declared winner of the contest. Just then Esomowho's friend, Eneruvie, came visiting.

"Eneruvie, meet our guests from Warri and Lagos," Esomowho proudly introduced Onome and Igho to his friend. "This is Eneruvie, my friend and cla.s.smate."

"Welcome to our village!" he said to Igho and Onome. "I hope Esomowho is taking good care of you. He's my boy, you know."

"My friend, keep quiet!" Esomowho barked in mock anger. "When you see your elder, you should say 'digwo! Isn't that how your parents taught you?"

"Elder my foot!" Eneruvie spat. "Come let me teach you how to spin akoto so you learn how to respect me before your guests!"

"No need to boast," Esomowho accepted the challenge with a proverb: "Here is the river; here is water. Come take your bath and be clean so you learn to shut up when your elder is talking!"

"Well, since I didn't bring my stock of ekoto, I will have to share from your inferior stock!"

"I have better stock than you!" Esomowho said and poured out his plenty stock of ekoto. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

Igho and Onome were excited at the prospect of seeing an akoto contest.

The two friends chose from the lot. Both got two ilodi each, the biggest and strongest and prized akoto in any stock. Then they started spinning. Igho and Onome were amazed at the skill with which both of them spun the ekoto and how hard it was to dislodge one akoto from the hole. It was a contest of skill and guile and both city children were mesmerised that a game like that existed. In all, three ekoto cracked and got broken. Holes were pierced on the sides of some. After what looked like a long time, Esomowho managed to beat Eneruvie by a slim margin. The two ilodi Eneruvie chose cracked badly while one of Esomowho's olodi also cracked beyond use.

Although Esomowho won the keen contest, Igho and Onome agreed it was a good match and that both were skilled spinners. Eneruvie said Esomowho had inferior stock of ekoto otherwise he would not have been beaten. He wondered why three ilodi had to crack in one contest. But Esomowho blamed it on his friend's crude and poor skill hence his inability to spin properly.

For lunch Esomowho roasted a tuber of yam over logs of firewood. After it got soft, he dug holes in the middle with a spike and poured palm oil mixed with pepper and salt into it while he held it upright. When the mixture had soaked into the yam, he cut it into pieces and also roasted smoked fish to go with it. Igho and Onome were surprised how succulent and tasty the yam was, better than any they had eaten before. The yam was soaked red with palm oil and it gave off a nice aroma.

It was late evening and the four formed a team of two and played football in the wide compound. Onome paired up with Esomowho while Igho and Eneruvie teamed up. Then it started to rain and they continued to play in the rain. Sun still shun through the rain.

This made Eneruvie and Esomowho to burst into a song in Isoko: 'Oso ovbe ro yo uvo ovbe ruo, Epe bi ye!'

The sun was also s.h.i.+nning although not as intensely as it should. The rain mellowed the sun's intensity a bit. Igho and Onome did not see anything out of the ordinary in the rain falling and the sun s.h.i.+ning. But with Eneruvie and Esomowho singing happily over it, it became a new experience to the two city dwellers. They were intrigued. Although they enjoyed the chant, they did not understand what Esomowho and Eneruvie were saying with such child-like happiness. Their Isoko was limited.

As Eneruvie played the ball into the air, Igho caught and held it. He wanted to know what the chant was about. Esomowho explained that whenever the rain and the sun happened at the same time, it meant a lioness was being delivered of her cubs.

"How does that happen?" Onome asked.

"Well," Esomowho said, "that is what the elders told us. The lioness's act of giving birth is a big event and it forces nature to witness it. The sun and the rain are part of nature that ordinarily stayed apart. But in this case, they are forced into action and struggle for who will be first to announce the birth and then they clash by doing so at the same time."

"Are there lions and lionesses around here?" Igho asked and looked around fearfully.

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"No, we have never seen any," Esomowho said. "But they used to be in the olden days, but hunters killed many of them. Others simply left."

"So, it's like the moon and the sun clas.h.i.+ng to cause an eclipse of the moon!' Igho said triumphantly.

"Exactly!"

"So, how can you be sure it is a lioness giving birth if there are no lions here anymore?" Igho persisted.

"Well, like I said," Esomowho stressed, "that was what the elders told us. Don't forget, I said there were lions here before they were hunted and killed and some migrated elsewhere. You don't expect the elders to lie, do you?"

"No," Igho said and shook his head.

"I wish I can see the lioness giving birth to her cubs!" Onome said.

"Ah, she will pounce on you and devour you!" Igho said.

"Thank G.o.d there are no lions here again!" said Onome.

After Igho and Onome had satisfied their curiosity about the mystery of the lioness's birth pangs causing the sun and the rain to clash, they resumed their game. The game in the rain was absolutely thrilling for the city children until Ufuoma returned from the farm with an antelope slung over his shoulders. The football game ended and they went to the river to have their bath. Not long after, Grandpa and Grandma also returned.