Zama and the Golden Necklace
Zama and the Golden Necklace - 1
Many years came and passed but the magic of the golden bracelet had not faded away. It was still present in the earth and it usually called people to its resting place every night. Many people were cautioned that the golden bracelet was an artefact of malevolent origins, so they all stayed away from it. We even heard stories of children who had had bad dreams because they had wandered too close to the shelter of gold. Stories were told of men who had fathered animal-like children because they had dared to tap palm wine in the forest of gold. Women who had dared to even plug but a leaf off the fresh bitterleaf trees were said to go barren forever.
In the time of Mbaku and Tebo, the Meta people had used the Golden Necklace as a symbol of divinity, royalty and patriarchy. It is even rumoured that this very necklace had been handed over to the queen mother by the night goddess Bih. It was a necklace that was meant to protect them from their enemies, themselves and any other bad luck that could come their way. In the days of gold, the necklace had permitted the Meta people win wars against stronger kingdoms. Their harvests had been soaring and the kingdom’s political prowess was compared to none in that part of the country.
The fall out between the goddess Bih and her people wasn’t without a cause. When the white man Alfred of Winterville came, the Priestess of the Shelter of Gold had warned against mingling with him. But since he brought with him gifts of extraordinary marvel and extravagance, the people didn’t heed the advice. They had turned around and bitten the very finger that had fed them for more than 500 years. They went on and on until they began to visit Winterville’s church and to practice the culture he had brought and termed civilization. The goddess Bih didn’t punish them.
The land of Mbaku and Tebo was gradually being desecrated as palm bushes were cleared off to build Winterville’s churches, schools and houses. He had bought off most of the villagers with his dashing gifts and his gentlemanly ways. Children became lazy and headstrong. They all wanted to spend time in the white man’s court listening to the stories about the rise and collapse of the Roman Empire, Greek Mythology and the famous artists and inventors of the Renaissance and post Renaissance era. The women had started falling short of their matrimonial duties as they were constantly seen with Winterville’s maids talking about society’s highlife. Then again, the goddess didn’t strike her people. Nobody knows why the goddess had finally stricken her people or why they had been restricted entry or any form of activity in the forest of gold.
Zama grew up hearing stories of the goddess who had turned on her people. The stories of a gold blazing fire that burnt through the place where the ancient shrine stood, without burning it. Of how 20 notables were killed on that day and the crops on every farmland were destroyed. Zama was wise. He never directly pointed to the white man’s coming but always thought the stories of the once good goddess of gold who had turned evil were to be linked to Winterville’s coming. One day, while he was walking pass the forest of gold, he heard a young girl call him “Zama, Zama, Zama. Pride of your mother, heir to your Father” He was afraid and didn’t pay attention and as he made attempts to carry on with his journey, he heard a louder call “Zama, Zama, Zama, future king of the Meta people. Did your father not tell you not to ignore an old woman’s call?” Zama recalled very clearly what his father had told him about listening to his grandmother. Zama then entered the bush and saw a young girl holding the golden necklace towards him. “You will give this to your bride to be on the day of your coronation so that things may be as they were in the beginning.”
In the years when Winterville lived in the village with the Meta people, the notables had connived and removed the true ruler of the Meta people because he had outrightly condemned the selling of native ancestral lands to a foreigner. He didn’t want his people to interact with the white man. The 20 notables who were becoming richer from the sales of sometimes expropriated native ancestral land then came into a secret alliance and planned to frame the King, Assi. They accused him of killing his older brother to get the crown. The people stoned him to death. In the end, the 20 notables were made regents of the land with each having a small portion to control.
The coming of Zama, a greatgrandson of the fallen king, with the golden necklace meant only two things — firstly, that he was the legitimate ruler of the land and secondly, that the land had been cleansed of the desecration and the goddess had forgiven them of their misgivings. The bringing of the necklace meant that the Meta people would have a new life. One that will be as prosperous as was in the days of Mbaku and Tebo. The new life was to be led by King Mbaku with his beautiful bride Akwen.
Might be continued...
