After eating dinner with every villagers and helping my mom to clean up the kitchen.
I asked my mom for permission to go to the village elder house, we usually call him ' Baba Alawo'.... he's a very old that he had lived for two centuries. At night, every children will gather at his place to listen to moonlight stories...my favorites is the tortoise and the hare.
I learnt that no one should intimidate anyone and one shouldn't think he has it.... just like the hare....he slept thinking the tortoise won't catch up with him....in the end, who won?
The tortoise, of course, because he never gave up and went on slowly till he got to the finishing line.
My mom allowed but told me to be back before curfew. Our daily curfew was ten on the dot.. though in the village, we don't have what you call ' wall-clock', instead, we use the sky Ọlọrun gave to us, to watch the time.
I was quite early, since there were quite a few children around helping him around the house. I personally love to come early because I will be able to help around his house. Actually, the women in the village cooks, fetch water from the river for him, make clay pots for him, mend his clothes,sew new clothes for him, clean his house, dye his clothes, the men tend to his farms,fix up anything that's faulty in his house or his barns, hunt games for the women to cook with, fishing at the river , and we the children, helps to clean up the house in our little possible way and to keep him company.
His wife died alot time ago while fetching water from the river... In our culture, anyone that died by the river will be buried beside the river, to appease Yemoja, the river goddess.
After helping him with his house and watching him using his right hand to eat his favorite delicacy; Eba with asapo ila soup and assorted stew prepared by the village women before hand.
He actually called us to join him because we are all his children, but we just smiled saying " Baba o se, a wa dara "
After he was done eating, we helped him clean his calabash . Then we gave him his emu which the men made, to down the food he just finished eating.
We all surrounded him, as we were much , plenty children came not long ago. All hoping for our favorite grandpa to tell us a moonlight story tonight
After he finished drinking his emu(palm wine) , he laughed saying " oh awọn ọmọ mi kekere, Mo nireti pe ẹ ti ṣetan fun itan alẹ yi (oh my little children, I hope you are ready for tonight story)"
I am anxious of the story he would tell us tonight.