Stars of the Long Night by Ojaide Tanure

Author:Ojaide, Tanure
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC051000
ISBN: 9789788422792
Publisher: Malthouse Press
Published: 2012-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

Water hyacinth had been here in a different shape and had not always been a nuisance to the waters. Apart from water lily and “crayfish” leaves, they had petals of flowers that sometimes covered ponds like a blanket. Those were tiny leaves that merely floated on water. They were not parts of any plant. These hyacinths were plants that grew in water. Their roots might not touch the riverbed, but they went deep.

The new invasion of fast-flowing rivers and streams was fraught with menace. Boats could not travel, as their courses were no longer thoroughfares. When the boaters and fishers cleared them, they massively sprang up and seemed to warn against their being harassed. They seemed to be bent on redoubling themselves as soon as any attempt was made to eliminate them.

This was not the raining season. But the rivers, creeks, and streams were filled up to the banks. There was nothing unusual, as floods outside Agbon's borders came at this time with the great river. As the rivers filled up their banks, the hyacinths came in droves. They came on each other's back, and the wind and currents accelerated their journey to spread themselves to wherever there was water. They drifted with the flood to take over Agbon's rivers. As if to defy explanation, some appeared in ponds that were not close to flowing water. They sneaked into wherever there was water to show their determination to escape being eliminated. They were a fertile breed and reproduced themselves faster than any animal Agbon people could think of. Not even their sow, known for extraordinary fertility, could match the reproductive pace of the water hyacinth.

Some medicine men tried to boil the flowers for cures. Those administered the new cures did not see any change in their conditions—they neither improved nor got worse. Medicine men wanted to give their patients new cures that could change the plight of those they had almost given up. That was a clear way of discovering new cures. If the hopeless patient recovered, then that cure would be routinely applied later to those suffering from the same afflictions.

The hyacinths were first called Olokun's flowers. Where else could they have come from than the belly of the sea? Olokun was known for doing only good things, but on rare instances she had punished people for their greed. Were these flowers good for Agbon despite their obstructing river traffic? Other people saw them as signs of Olokun's anger. The water-goddess wanted to close her eyes to human beings for not remembering often enough to make offerings to her, some diviners explained.

Since the stubborn flowers took over many of the creeks, there had been many mishaps in the streams, rivers, and creeks. At the beginning, these flowers, whose roots did not reach the soil, gave the false impression of shallow waters. The deep bottom mired even the experienced swimmer. People stopped calling them Olokun's flowers. They must be evil flowers brought by the currents to punish them for not serving their ancestors and gods regularly and with huge sacrifices.

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