The Lake Goddess by Flora Nwapa

Author:Flora Nwapa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2021-06-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

“Choo-shi, choo-shi, choo-shi. What kind of goats are these? See, they are behaving like human beings. Cho-oshi, cho-oshi. Our ancestors protect us.”

She threw the knife she was using in peeling the yam at the stubborn goats and missed. She hissed and went for her knife. She continued peeling the yam.

“You goats, go to sleep. It is late. You want to eat the peels, eh? You will not eat them. Do you hear? You will not eat them. Don’t you know that there is famine, eh? Don’t you see the way I am peeling the yam? I am going to use the peels for ariba. Do you hear? Who gives goats yam peels these days? Cassava is even expensive for goats these days.

“But must you be hungry from morning till night? Did you not find leaves to eat in the daytime? Our ancestors protect us!” Mgbeke exclaimed at the biggest one, a he goat for that matter, for almost pushing her down with its head. She flung her knife at it and missed again:

“You wizard, what did you want to do with your head? You will not eat my yams today. Do you see my trouble? I don’t have a goat and yet goats will not let me rest in this compound, goats will not let me drink water in this compound.”

She began to shout:

“Those who have goats in this compound must look after them. I have chickens. They have turned in long ago. Come and take your goats-o-o-o.”

One of the neighbors said, “The broken one, where did she go? Every day she comes home late. She is not the only fish-seller in this compound. I wonder when she cooks for her husband. The broken one, of course she does not cook for her husband anymore.”

Then she said loudly for Mgbeke to hear, “The goats are mine, my sister.”

“Then come and take them. Isn’t it late?”

“I am coming, don’t be angry with me. These goats are giving me a lot of trouble. How come they do not know the way home these days?”

Every night when everybody had gone to sleep, Mgbeke would stay up doing one thing or the other.

“I am notorious for cooking late in this compound. Besides cooking, I have this basket of fish to dry before I go to bed. But where is the foolish one? Where is my son? Isn’t it time for him to come home, eh? As soon as he returns now, he will tell me that he went for choir practice, whatever that means, or that he went to play football. Football, today, choir practice tomorrow; one day, he is going to eat football and choir practice.”

Mgbeke heard a shrill voice at a distance. Someone was hawking something and was shouting out what she was selling for anyone who cared to listen. She had finished peeling the yam and lit the fire. She was not sure whether she should eat the yams with palm oil or make pounded yam foo-foo. If she began to pound, the whole compound would hear and complain.

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