The KT OLLA Web Stories

 THE elders of Gilead were the ones whom Israel sent to fetch Jephthah back home. The word had gone out from the mouth of Yahweh, the command to bring back the warrior to lead the nation against the invaders. Yes, Israel was more than ready to have the exiled man back with them. But much more inclined to have Jephthah restored to his place were Jephthah’s own people, the townsmen of Gilead. Indeed, the Gileadites were the ones who exiled the battle champion. But they were also the ones who’d been haunted ever since by a burden of guilt. So then, Gilead’s elders and sages picked themselves up one day and combed through Israel – searching desperately for a war king lost in one reckless moment. No, they rode and roamed; they toured and called. Yet those elders couldn’t find the former warrior. Not anywhere in Israel. Then soon, the men caught a tiny wisp of information that Jephthah didn’t stay within Israel when they exiled him from homeland. They were told he left even the whole of ...

 THE memory of that genesis of Israel’s woes dawned on her anew. Everywhere people gathered to talk, and every day that they assembled, the fallen nation pondered their giant fall. And the stories of their downward slide was a thing too hard to handle. Israel remembered everything now. Her audacious escapade, the sightseeing of everything obscene. She remembered her ride down to the camp of heathens. The rebellious bow to the heathen gods, too. Altogether with that unending slavery resulting from that bow. It had been a few years now since Xarxus king of Ammon crashed into Israel gates via Gilead. A few years it was, too, since Jephthah was banished from home. Now everything else didn’t matter again – whether to Israel or even to her border region Gilead. Everything else didn’t matter. They’d fought and argued over inheritance and ascendancy in Gilead. But it didn’t matter anymore. Yes, Gilead exiled his capable bastard, only to give his scepter of authority to a failed son. But ne...

 AMMON didn’t come a terror to Israel in one day. Nor did the giant lords of Philistia. Israel herself was no small nation at the start. And her soldiers wouldn’t flee at the sound of battle. But Israel’s fall before Philistia and Ammon, aboriginal nations of their God-given land—the people’s fall began with a common glare over their own walls. And that wistful longing soon grew too raw and animalistic, that it broke down their great walls with the force of a desperate throng. It was a giant fall. Several years back, the people of Israel decided to play around those conquered nations still inhabiting their land. Particularly the aboriginal peoples of Philistia and Ammon. The Philistines and the Ammonites… they were some of the clusters of peoples left in Israel’s Land of Promise, which was formerly Canaan. Yes, they were heathen nations that those people of Yahweh hadn’t driven out of their newfound land. They were former lords of war turned work slaves to Israel as she gained domi...

THE unknown speaker stood in front of Jephthah. He was a huge, stud thing and he swung his sword across the warrior’s face. Jephthah stood still for a while, then he caught that blade with a hand. That man looked at him for a moment, and then laughed. But Jephthah was serious. ‘Who are you and why d’ you trouble me?’ he queried, hauling off the man’s sword. The man smiled and asked, ‘Your subordinates just told you, didn’t they?’ ‘No they didn’t. Why do you trouble me?’ ‘Because I am curious! I wanted to see if you can own me. Or if I should!’ The Gilead-born looked at the stranger in front of him, wondering at what he was saying. The man went on. ‘You came and earned for yourself the four I’ve always wanted to train. ‘I have an eagle eye for prospects. And those boys standing behind you were the ones I’ve set my eyes on since you came around. ‘You won them too easily, didn’t you? I really wonder how you did it. ‘I wonder how strong and quick-witted you are to have won my militants of ...

JEPHTHAH woke up today with a desperate craving. It was about a month since he found himself on that rainy day. Since that day when the former warrior found peace in God and friends, Jephthah had stopped wasting himself on drinks.  But this early morning one month after, the young fighter woke up in his cave all too thirsty for liquor. Yet everything before him was water and milk. For the former waster had thrown alcohol out of his life. Then he combed through the cave, with Baddok and co fast asleep around him. Those friends of his had started living with him. It was since that rainy morning they swore to live for his cause. So, in that desperate moment of search, Jephthah found himself again. He remembered then that he’d found a new life; that he was no longer going to squander his days away. That he’d live responsibly from then on. So he dashed out immediately for a fresh air to soothe his tensed nerves. And as he got out of the caves he saw the little brook that ran across the ...

AS the men got up to talk about what’d just happened, a lively Jephthah moved to speak first. Yet in that instant when Jephthah addressed his buddies, he didn’t know when he called them something else. ‘Hey, Baddok, Simone, Gilkar and Sham…!’ It was the first time Jephthah was addressing his new friends by names. But then those weren’t their names at all. So the friends looked at each other, surprised at where that was coming from. But Jephthah didn’t even know he called the chaps by other names. He simply went on chattering, repeating the names every once in a while. ‘Listen, Baddok and co…’ ‘You get me, right? Baddok…? Simone…? Gilkar and Sham?’  ‘Are you still with me, Baddok, Simone and co?’ The men didn’t know what to make of this at all. Those names were strange. The gentlemen weren’t even sure if those were names, or if they were some sort of endearment over there in Jephthah’s country. Whatever those terms were, the guys were sure they were completely unfamiliar. Just out o...

JEPHTHAH had his name called from behind him. It was by several voices. ‘Jephthah… Jephthah… Jephthah…!’ The former warrior turned to see where he lay broken on the mat in his cave house. It was his four new friends calling. The rain had just stopped pouring over that side of Tob; and so Jephthah’s friends were easily jolted awake by his moans and sobs. ‘What happened? Why are you sobbing?’ one of the men asked impatiently. Then the other three poured in with similar questions. ‘Are you all right, Jeph? What happened?’ ‘Why’re you crying, Jephthah?’ ‘Come on, tell us; we’re here for you!’ Jephthah raised his gaze and looked at the men for a while. These were the men he’d rather call strangers. And these same men cared for him beyond the norms, he reasoned. Right there he sat himself up and faced them. He wiped off the tears with his cover spread and decided to tell the friends everything about him. There’s no point putting on my guards with these gentlemen. They just dote on this stran...

THAT instant when the sun shone over Jephthah’s cave house in Tob, that kind sun seemed to be dusking on the man’s hometown in Gilead. Even when it was daybreak there in that town as well. Then, as it were, a daunting rainstorm broke up in Gilead’s house just when the rains ceased over his son in exile. Words sparked like lightening in a heated argument. And several voices rattled with talks at the same time. Not a soul gathered there in Gilead’s house today was ready to hear the other out. It was the elders of Israel torn in-between talk and dispute. But then amid the whole noise was one man seated poised like someone who knew what to do, when indeed he simply had nothing to say. It was this man’s words that had sparked flames off already-heated faces. It was his last words the elders were contending. That man was Gilead the leader of them all. He’d just spoken in defense of his heir, Elar. That early morning the elders had gathered in the council hall in Gilead’s estate. And there th...

THE cock crow sounded loud like the herald’s gong today, as Jephthah woke up from a drunken sleep. It was morning and it was still raining outside the cave where the ex-fighter lived in Tob. It had rained a heavy downpour all night. But here was Jephthah fagged out from rounds of drinking through the night. Jephthah woke up sober. He sat up on the straw mat where he’d laid and observed his surroundings. Here in that dim-lit cave were four big men sleeping like a dead log of wood around him. The men laid on his own cloths spread out on the ground. But those men were the four friends he’d just made among the vagabonds that frolicked around him. They were the ones that wouldn’t rest till they’d made a pal of this loner. Jephthah’s eyes roamed away from those four as his gaze settled on the stone at the head of the mat. Beside that stone that he’d used for a headrest, and a little away from it, there were two empty wineskins. They were still dripping wet with scant drops of liquor. The you...

BATTLES closed in more and more on the cities of Israel. But the regions of Gilead got the fiercest heat. Gilead was the slaughter ground in Xarxus’s war, so that Slayer of Dragons wouldn’t spear the populous metropolis. But it was for revenge on Jephthah that Xarxus aimed to destroy Gilead. Yet the ex-soldier had renounced that city by now and everything her. Several months had rolled past. Elar was fast losing his command over the army of his city. For already he’d realized words wouldn’t suffice to hold soldiers together. Not when battles were crueler than death. Thus, everyone started to miss the glorious times their champion was with them. That is, the war king Jephthah. But even Jephthah’s captains missed him terribly. They regretted betraying and exiling him, their valiant commander. But then again the man Elar was having it tough here. He’d got to grapple with the remains of his honour in order to hold sway over his men still. Yet no one was ready to listen to the army chief. N...

JEPHTHAH was exiled from Gilead; and he left that upsetting homeland as far as to the land of Tob outside Israel. The rumours of the man’s exile travelled far also. It ran along the flow of Jordan and swum as far as to the den of the Ammonites. So like the cock crow wake the morning sun, that news had stirred up soldiers of Ammon to spread terror across the whole nation. And that terror did burn wide and big indeed. For Xarxus came on the cities of Israel like an outbreak of fire at night. And the people perished in hundreds of thousands. However while homeland burned hot with Xarxus’s terror, Jephthah wasted himself in wanton pleasure in the land of strangers where he fled to, that land called Tob. The broken fighter never attempted to pick up the splinters of his shattered self. Since that betrayal in Gilead did hack him down beyond recovery. So now Jephthah lost interest in everything brave or noble. Thus he wasted away with wine and gamble. As things were, moreover, the land of Tob...

JEPHTHAH lacked the words to respond to his brother. He felt beaten and overpowered. And now he felt convinced his abuser was right. That he was but dung and garbage. Then as the combatant sunk deeper into that mess, he suddenly raised his head above the mire. He looked up now, held out a fist and kept yelling out aloud. ‘Aargh! Aargh! Aargh...!’ It was a trampled soul letting out the fumes. Elar lowered himself to his seat and simply enjoyed that scene, smiling. He knew he’d been able to cut down the hero’s pride. But then he wasn’t going to stop here. He was going all the way with Jephthah today. So that kid brother pointed his finger at the older one and mocked him even more. ‘Now behold your pride, sons of Gilead! Behold your hero who should lead y’ all to conquer aliens!’ Jephthah’s valiant four looked at themselves where they sat and shook their heads. Elar observed the men and turned back to face his prey. ‘Now listen to me, Jephthah!’ he shouted above the man’s noise. ‘Today we...

LAYERS of cloud masked the noonday sun in the open sky. It had been a week since that routing defeat at those borders of Gilead. It seemed the Ammonites were giving the men of Gilead some respite to mourn their fallen fighters and bury their dead. For in the past week there hadn’t been any form of attack from the invaders. But while the soldiers of Gilead enjoyed that brief rest from battle, Elar the commander of their army seemed to be preparing a launch against an enemy. Yet that enemy wasn’t the Ammonite monsters he fought just a week ago. This was a different kind of foe. And it was one who demanded no spear or sword. It was his brother Jephthah.  Mumbles rumbled through the guest chamber of Gilead’s homestead. But the old man wasn’t the one hosting that gathering. Neither was he aware of that emergency congress. But that congress was made up of nine souls. Five legitimate sons of the old man Gilead. Along with Jephthah’s captains… Baddok, Simone, Gilkar and Sham. It was Elar w...

ARRIVING at the camp downhill, Jephthah dismissed the army except for his own division. Then he left that base with the departing soldiers while an envious superior addressed his men. No, the warrior’s ride back home was a lonesome trot that afternoon. And he rode alone by another way through the mountains and valleys. But Jephthah was accompanied by a pack of worries and concerns. He feared too many things now. Indeed, as the brave fighter cantered to his house, the thrill of his gallant fight that afternoon was simply drowned in some uncertainties. He feared what Elar his chief might be talking to his soldiers about. Yet he knew he couldn’t have insisted on staying behind… Especially with his master’s insistence on addressing the men without him. So, the hero of that day’s battle fell defeated now. It was by the dagger in the words of his chief commander, his own brother. It was this sort of witty words that Jephthah had been afraid of for a long time. But just now he’d carelessly be...

THE news of Jephthah’s bravery in that battle found its way above the dusky clouds of Israel’s defeat. Soon the fleeing soldiers of Gilead caught the wisp of that travelling news. Now Jephthah rode back to join his shattered fellows as they matched back to the army base. In no time, that bold warrior had raced his horse to catch up with his chief commander. So now he was riding side by side with him. But Jephthah’s frame was dwarfing his superior with that fame he’d just earned. Yes, that moment that he rode beside his lord, Elar became as small as a tiny elf. Yet Elar wasn’t a dwarf in his own place. But when his deputy was standing anywhere close, his place suddenly looked as low as the footstool. And that battle that Jephthah fought alongside him, it only made him feel smaller than he could bear. For it hurt him too hard that he was lesser than his associate. Indeed, Elar was a young vibrant war chief. Commander of the defenders of Israel’s borders in Gilead. And while many had earn...

XARXUS surveyed the plains from the hill where he stood. And that king of battle was shaken down to his roots. For all the while that the Gileadites fled the battlefield and the Ammonites gave them a shooting chase, one of Gilead’s warriors had stood the ground at the foot of the hill. And that warlord, with his four captains, kept slaying the stoutest of Xarxus’s men in their scores. It was a gory massacre. So that moment when fear struck Xarxus’s chest, he beat himself for chickening out at the sight of that warlord. Then he informed his deputy beside him, Manoh, that he’d go down and face the fighter alone. Right there Xarxus’s deputy begged him not to. He cautioned him with many pleas so much the warrior became more curious. The Ammonite king enquired: ‘Who’s that fearless fighter? And who are those men with him?’ Manoh looked up at him and chose to answer his second question first. His voice was a little shaky when he replied. ‘My lord…! Those four fighting with that brave warrior...

IN the Age of Darkness when no law or king ruled the Land of Promise, an alien pack reigned instead. Their name was Terror. But Terror was born some savage beasts, with fiery breaths that could raze down whole cities. So the people cried and died every passing day, for they’d brought this fate on themselves. Yet now their own lord of war arrived. But he was born worthless. [ c. 1140 – 1030 BC]

  Dear Readers, here is what God asks us to tell Nigeria, today the 1st of April, 2022 —  THE PROPHECY  — 1. The Lord said the sins and atrocities of Nigeria He can no longer ignore. He said He will now punish all lawlessness, unless we repent and change our ways. 2. He said it is for this sake that He has withdrawn the showers of rain, and made them really sparse. 3. God said unless Nigerians repent and turn from all lawlessness, there is coming a draught so severe that it will spark up very strange fires. 4. Yet so that God’s people will not suffer or be shaken, He asks us to tell you our readers and everyone who cares to listen, that you store and keep storing up water without a stop. He sternly instructed us all to do this. 5. God also commanded us to assure His people of His promise for this time. He said He will preserve the righteous during these trying times that will go on to try even the world. 6. He said several times over that the righteous will inherit t...