The Palm Oil daughter

This is an African tale about how communication prevents misunderstanding. We should endeavor to ask for the reason behind an action before just assuming.

Many years ago, in a Nigerian village, there lived a very rich town elder called Omonigho. She had everything she could possibly want, a mansion, a lot of money, farm animals and even a lot of servants. There was just one problem, Omonigho was a very lonely woman. Her husband, the love of her life, had died in a hunting accident a few years previous and they had no child. She had been alone for many years but she was tired of it and resorted to desperate measures. This is where our tale starts.

There was a legend in their village of the gods of the village granting a person a boon if they adhered strictly to the conditions given. Omonigho consulted the village medicine man and he told her that in the night, right before her bedtime, she should leave an earthen pot filled with palm oil outside her room door, pray and ask her request from the gods and then go to sleep. She was very grateful and was in a haste to leave when the medicine man called her back and gave her a warning. He told her that indeed she would get a child but she should make sure that the child never goes out in sunlight, goes near a fire and is always kept very cool. Omonigho assured him that she would do so.

That night, Omonigho did as the medicine man instructed and went to bed with high hopes. The next morning, she found a sleeping girl outside her door. She was overjoyed and named her new daughter Itohan. She didn't allow her to go out, cook or do any strenuous activities and she made sure that at least 5 servants followed her around, taking turns to fan her. Things were good for months but there was trouble brewing.

The servants in the house were annoyed that they had to cater to Itohan all the time. They were plotting amongst themselves about how they would force her to do some of the work when Omonigho was not around. They were being paid but they were indignant and jealous about how Itohan was being pampered. They weren't aware of the reasons why Omonigho made all those concessions for her new daughter. They just thought she was being spoilt because her mother was rich and decided to teach her a lesson.

One day, Omonigho left the house to go visit her friend's house. She left the usual instructions about Itohan's care. The servants, once they were sure that Omonigho had truly gone, seized Itohan and made her do some of their chores. They then decided to drag her to the kitchen that her mother had forbidden her from and make her cook. Itohan was struggling and pleading but they just sneered at her and threw her into the kitchen. They made her light a fire on the adogan (cooking tripod stand) and asked her to fan the flames and then they locked her in the kitchen. At first, they were making fun of her while she was sobbing but eventually they noticed she was quiet. They quickly opened the door but it was too late, she had already melted. They panicked and ran away.

Omonigho came back to the house in the evening. As she got into the house, she called for Itohan buy she received no answer. She grew panicked and started frantically checking the house for Itohan or at least, any of the servants. When she got to the kitchen and saw the oil puddle in front of the lit adogan, she realized what had happened. She packed the oil off the floor and put it into the pot again and after praying to the gods, she went back to her room but she couldn't sleep. She went out the next morning hopefully but there was nothing there. She rushed to the medicine man's hut but he gave her bad news. He told her that she had lost her chance. That it was a test from the gods and she had failed it. She wouldn't get another chance, even wit had not been her fault. She returned home sad and grieving and eventually she died ofa broken heart because she couldn't get over the loss of the child she lost.

Perhaps the servants would have understood and been nicer if they had known the reasons for her actions but we shall never know.