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MUSTARD I – Ch. 16 | KT OLLA

ADUKẸ my own!’ Moro took over in a cool, soothing voice.

He was set to impress his beautiful woman by a response that could beat her boasting.

Yet he wasn’t going to sweep her off ground by talks about his own father. His airs were enough stuff to flaunt.

So he called again. ‘Adukẹ my own beauty!’

‘I am right here,’ she answered.

Moro took her hands, looked into her eyes, and spoke.

‘I have neither kills nor captures from hunting...

‘Still I can tell you this: that  Father has found a worthy man for his precious daughter.

‘I call him Father, ’cause he raised you well!’

Adukẹ nudged him, chuckling loads. ‘Come on now, that’s too much!’

Moro looked at her and smiled. Then he dropped her hands and sat up.

‘You know already that I’m a farmer, but I am no small one.

‘I know my crops like the lines on my palm. Still my knowledge means little if it hadn’t prospered me.

‘So you must know that my harvests are in barns and barrels: wealth is a true friend to me!’

Adukẹ brightened with smile. She couldn’t help some chuckles too.

‘Now tell me,’ finished Moro, ‘what man wouldn’t give his lovely daughter to a great farmer as I?’

There was a moment’s silence. And then the lady spoke.

‘I know anyone would want you for a son-in-law. But marriage is not between two persons, they say. It is between two families here.

‘So tell me about family – your father and your father’s father. That is what my father will ask you.’

There Moro breathed a silent sigh. He paused a moment, then he found words.

‘I came from a different people. The people of Ekiti—’

That instant when the words dropped, the smile left the lady’s face.

Adukẹ looked surprised. She gazed at the young man and said nothing. But her smile was no more.

Moro was quick to catch on. So he added more things.

‘Adukẹ, you should also know that I arrived this land when I was far younger! And I came with my two kid brothers.

‘I travelled jungles and cities, kingdoms and battlefields. I survived on nothing but the determination to be!

‘And I went for half a moon till I came to Ede!’

By this time the beautiful maiden  was out of it, with her gaze spelling disapproval.

The mood was rather tense. And Moro struggled to make things work.

He stammered. ‘Adukẹ, you should know I own property in this land! I own a house in town and a farm along Alajuẹ. I am no man’s slave!’

The young maiden got up. Then she spoke, looking rather much disgusted.

‘So you are no son of the soil! You are just a stranger who came from afar! Now how dare you try to court me?

‘I mean, court Adukẹ from the hunter clan! The hunter clan of Ede!’

Moro was shocked to hear her boast. He wondered if she heard what she was spewing. He felt to answer her just once.

‘Even the first king met people here, Adukẹ! Your hunting clan came from somewhere, too!

‘But grow up and stop feeling so insecure. That’s the way to live!’

The young woman heard those words and lost all her composure.

‘You don’t need to ask me of Father. ’Cause you are not from this place still!

‘Now let this be the last time you come see me. You stranger! You alien! You filthy outcast!’

Moro got up to his feet, completely lost for words. He stood and couldn’t move a foot as he watched his woman leave.

He watched his sweet love story end sour.

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