the breeze blows eastward to the evil forest of Ichite kingdom. the leaves and branches of the trees are responding rhythmically to the melodious voice of the air. the fallen leaves due to abscission are been moved up and down by the cool morning breeze.it is early winter and everywhere was cool and filled with fog.

Below the big obeche tree lies a being. His skirt was made up of fig leaves. He was not putting on anything up. he was seen sleeping peacefully with his long six dread lieing calmly on his shoulder. He is light skinned about twelve years of age. He had lived all his lives in the forest so he was adapted to the wild life. He eats any fruit he sets his eyes on . atimes he prepares a game. A good friend to wild animals mostly monkeys. As he was sleeping, a little monkey threw something at him, he sighed turned to the other side and continued his sleep. the monkey came again and hit him harder this time around and he jumped up from his slumber He looked up and saw the smiling little monkey. he smiled back and started chasing it. He doesn't know how to talk, instead makes monkey sounds. perhaps cause he had never seen a human through out the twelve years of his life.

At birth, he was branded cursed by his people because of his dreads. He behaves and climbs tress like monkeys.

eight days after his birth, he was circumcised after which a sacrifice was made. Atakata the chief priest of Ichite kingdom consulted their gods"Agummiri" regarding his future. nothing was revealed except that he was going to have dreads . this hasn't happened in the history of their kingdom cause an eight days child's future must be revealed after circumcision. that they believed was the way their ancestors lived. so since nothing was seen about his future and in addition to been dread, they believed that he was an evil child whom the gods doesn't want to waste their time on by looking into his future cause dread was an abomination in their kingdom. so the chief priest said that he must be casted into the evil forest to avoid incurring the wrath of the gods on the people. the mother wept cause that was the child she had prayed for after eight years of marriage without any issue. Now the one she had was going 5o he casted into the "ajo-ofia".the father wasn't wailing like the mother but a mere look at him would tell a good observer that he was in sorrow. the mother pleaded for them to give her ten minutes alone with the child. so she can sing one last song for him. the king granted her request she went home and took "uli" (native black chalk)to draw a sword at his top left shoulder. the she said to him, I know you were sent by the gods, if it's their wish for you to be casted into the evil forest, so be it. I will give you the name "Eziterem" meaning I was sent. the little boy was looking at his mother as tears flows down her cheeks. the little lady started smiling. she picked up the"uli" again and wrote his name below the sword, the wiped her eyes and stepped out with the child to the king's palace. when she got to the palace, the chief priest commanded her to carry her "Aru" which means abomination as they called the child and lead the way to the evil forest. on their way at the boundary between their village and the evil forest, just before them was a heavy downpour with angry thunderstorms and lightnings. the surprising thing about the rain was that it wasn't raining where they were standing. The chief priest told them not to worry that the gods were happy cause the evil was been sent away. He suggested they wait for the rain to stop as they can't walk under the rain cause the rain was so heavy. they waited for more than two hours before before the rain stopped. when the rain stopped, they continued their journey. they hadn't covered more than six meters when six doves flew past them. this got the elders confused. then Ichite eziokwu called the chief priest's attention. Atakata, something is wrong somewhere. How do you mean? The chief priest asked. didn't you see the six doves that flew past us right now? you know doves signifies peace and harmony. and so what are you insinuating? Atakata snapped. all am saying is that if this child is evil as you said, vultures would have been the ones to block our way and not harmless doves. Ichite eziokwu explained.

Hey ichie,Ezemmuo called, I wasn't the one that said the child is evil, the gods did. besides, "dread" we all know is an abomination in our kingdom. so watch your tongue. After the argument between the two, they continued their journey to the evil forest.