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MARIERE






MARIERE
It was said that she had this ravishing beauty that made suitors hover around her father’s compound. They would come prepared with gifts and entourages only to be frequently turned down by her. Few gave up the trial while many continued, unsuccessfully. The villagers waited to see the day and the lad who would win their untitled princess at last. 
This one, he came out of the blue. He came like a king who could not be refused. He came prepared from a faraway land that even you cannot guess. He came for the taking and nothing less. Many had lost but he was called to win. Voila! The unpleasable damsel eventually was defeated by the affluence, charisma, debonair and gaiety of this lad. They gracefully were married without further ado. It was a quick wedding as the groom could not wait to consummate the union. A bit uneasy, mother and brother to the bride decide to accompany the couple to their home in Lagos to be familiar with where their blood would be inhabiting henceforth.
The journey seems to be never-ending. The roads keep stretching farther and farther. Mother, Daughter and Son would ask the groom: ‘are we not there yet? It is farther than expected.”
Groom would reply: “it is but a few miles left and we would arrive in Lagos don’t you worry.”
As the journey stretched on, the bowels of Mother and Son were full to the brim. They have to relieve themselves. The Groom stops the car, Mother and Son come out to do their business in the bush close by. They do not go too deep in the forest for fear of the unknown. Within a few minutes, they are done and quickly head back to join the couple. Alas! There was no car nor "couple" anywhere in sight. Mother and son look at one another almost in the brink of laughing as this seemed beyond strange. They heard no sound of a moving car nor screams from the couple if they posed to be in danger so where in the world or how, would they have just vanished into thin air like that?
Mother and Son keep wandering around the bushy area rehearsing what to say to the head of the home when they return or how they would even do the returning home. Suddenly, a path seems familiar to them both. They reckon they have seen and even passed through that path in the past. In unison they scream out loud: “this is the road that leads out of the village graveyard!!!” Questions of how, when, where, who, follow suit. They are lost in thoughts. They return to the village broken by what has happened. Search parties are sent out to look for the missing couple, especially their daughter. Seconds crawled, minutes walked, hours ran and days flew with no evidence or trace of their daughter. They keep searching in despair. 
THE couple reaches their destination. Husband tells the wife to wait as he will be back with his people who would give her a befitting welcome. He takes too long to return and wife gets hungry and worried. She is not in a huge house or a hotel but in a place filled with people selling, buying and cooking. However, she is sure this is Lagos since she has once heard of its busy nature. She sees an Akara (bean cake) seller and is tempted to eat but she has no cash and neither is their currency similar to the one she’s familiar with. “Is Lagos truly abroad?” She asks. These people here pay her no attention as if she’s not welcomed. She is spotted by a man, eating from a bin hip. He recognizes her as one of the daughters of the village called Elueni - his village. He calls out to her but she is reluctant to his callings. He tries again, asking her how she got to this place. She says she came with her newly wedded husband who has gone to call his people to welcome her. He says:
“take a look around you woman. Can you not see that this is not the place for you? You must be the one! Your husband is one of us. He placed a bet that he would get married to one of the living and he has fulfilled it. It is good that I saw you in time. Make sure you do not consummate your union else you will end up like us here, DEAD.” 
She is cold with fear now, shivering from head to toe without the slightest idea of what to do. 
He tells her about his wrongdoing which led him to the land of the dead: 
“ I was from your village. I wanted a higher status and that was why I shed human blood to achieve it. I would have become a top professor in this country but greed quickened my temporary days of glory. Now I am here, once a wealthy man now eating from the trash. This is why you don’t recognize me. But I am glad you are here for you will help me relate my story to my people when you get out of this land. Tell them that quick wealth is no wealth at all. Tell them that I regret every bad step that I took and that they should learn from my ordeal.”
“But how will they believe me? And will I ever get out of here?” she asked. 
“I will give you a letter written and signed with your blood. Those who know me will remember when they see my writing and my signature. But make sure that all the people are gathered in the village square before you relate this to them.

 You will leave this place through that path over there. You should not look back for any reason else, that would be the end of you. Go, go now and do not look back…
She overcomes all temptations thrown at her to look back and this is how she finds herself in the same path that leads out of the village graveyard. Speech failed her for some days being shaken by the incidence. The village priest was consulted who had to perform some rituals to enable the damsel to speak again. This was successful and then she requested the whole village be summoned at the village square.
“I have witnessed what I will never wish on my fellow man. Having been to the land of the dead, it is true to say that death is only favorable to those who are guiltless. Many of you should be familiar with our Mariere: once academia and a wealthy man who suddenly departed. The letter I am about to read was written and signed by him.”
She reads out every word written by Mariere and the whole crowd becomes silent like the night. Those who were very affected reflected on the life they have been living and others just saw it as another tale by the moonlight. For many days, mothers had enough preaching to give to their children. While the male child was warned about quick wealth, the female child was warned about being choosy and ending up with a ghost as a husband. However, Mariere’s name spread far and wide. His death brought him more fame than his life ever did in Elueni… 

 SOURCE: Elder from Isoko North.

 GREAT AKOKITES, DID YOU KNOW? 😜
Google Samuel Jereton Mariere

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