Moonlight Folktales
A Mother's Meal 1

The stories of our childhood told under the brightness of the moonlight.

Once upon a time, there lived a king of a very powerful kingdom called king Anozie, he had a vast empire with lots of villages under his jurisdiction. Speaking of wealth and prosperity, he had it all , with thousands of warriors under his command . He was feared and loved by his subjects for he was a great king . He had everything but one thing that was vital to him and his kingdom , which was he had no child, he had seven wives but no child to succeed him , he had been battling with childlessness for almost thirty years and this had cost him great pain and deep  trouble, for most of the nights he would he would be seen in this throne  lost in thoughts thinking on how to go about his present predicament. He knew he was getting older as the days went by and soon he would be called by his ancestors, how can he bring shame and disgrace to this ancestors?, how can the throne of his father's end in his time?, if he couldn't provide an heir, his kingdom will be in a mess for the other kingdoms had always been envious of his power so definitely they will sort to take his throne . As he pondered on these things, his first wife came to him and asked " Why has the greatest king of all times refused to settle for the night ? what troubles you my king ".  Hearing her speak , the king became calm for he loved her, she was his first and only love , he wouldn't have married other women if not for their issue with childlessness. He recalled how sad and pained she was when she heard of his decision of getting another wife, she felt it was her fault and wept bitterly while begging him not to remarry but he wouldn't be moved for the pressure from his elders and his mother who was alive at that time was so unbearable , he thought taking another wife would solve the problem but it didn't and he ended up with seven wives and this was more than enough to prove that the fault wasn't from his first wife or any of his wives but it was from him.

 Looking at Queen Oluchi's now ageing face which was filled with worry, brought back memories of the past, he married her in her youth and both of them had been through a lot but she still stood by him and supported him. In his quest to have an heir, he had married beautiful maidens who were younger than Oluchi at the time he married her still his love for Oluchi never wavered. Seeing the king lost in thoughts again after looking at her baffled the Queen but suddenly the king smiled at her and  placed a hand on her shoulder and said " My Queen why are you awake at this hour?" then she said " I was feeling pressed so I went to ease myself but on getting back I saw that the lamp on your throne room is still burning brightly so I came to check and I found you deeply lost in thoughts, I have been standing there for a very long time but you still didn't notice my presence , so my King tell me what troubles you "  . The king replied her and said " The issue before me is enough to rob me of my sleep, I am a king with no heir isn't that troubling enough? and to crown it all am surrounded by wolves who have their evil prying eyes on my throne eagerly waiting for my demise before they strike , honestly am about to lose everything I and my fathers have ever worked hard on to some hungry wolves who don't deserve it " . The Queen felt sad and wondered why the gods had chosen to punish them this way , what wrong have they done to suffer this hardship? , the Queen consoled the King and talked him to go to sleep. 

 The next day the King was having a meeting with his elders on matters of the kingdom and after it has settled, the issue of the king's childlessness was brought up again , then an elder made mention of a seer who he had come to know of recent and proposed for them to invite him.

To be continued...


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