It was a week after the Odunayo festival. Aduke’s Ileke were on the floor. She needed this break.
Making Ileke( Beads) looked like a normal chore, but it was a difficult task for Aduke. It was not because she was sick. She was fit and strong in health. But for reasons best known to herself, she wished for the princess’s life.
She wanted to wake up to freshly made amala and ewedu. That Ewedu with all sorts of assorted meats. While eating, she would have a singer with the voice of a nightingale singing her oriki. Aduke was made for the princess’s life. She craved that life.
Aduke smiled at the roof of the mud house she shared with her mother and kept imagining how life could be so beautiful, not hearing when Adunni shouted her name.
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“Aduke! I have been calling your name. Its been a while the cock crowed. Your mates are even coming back from the stream. When do you intend to go to the market to sell these, Ileke? Is it when everyone has gone home?. Do you intend to sell to spirits?
At the sound of spirits, Aduke jerked from the raffia bed
“Maami, why involve the spirits? Please, I will head out now. Or do you want me to meet with spirits?. She said, laughing.
“Oh, you are afraid of spirits? Now that I know, I will keep saying it in this house. Omo ba Aduke.”
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“Ah Maami! How did you know what I have been thinking about?’ I wish I were a princess, Maami. I wish we were very wealthy. Imagine the markets were closed for three market days, yet I didn’t rest. I was making Ileke up and down. Now I will go to the market to sell it to these girls that are not even pretty,” she said, laughing.
“Oh! You wish you were a princess, Omo ba Aduke? We don’t always have what we wish for, Aduke. But I know the daughter I raised. You are strong, intelligent and very beautiful. I know when Eledumare calls me, you will be here, strong enough to fend for yourself.
“Ah, Maami! Please don’t say that again. You are all I have. Eledumare cannot call you now or ever. If he calls you, don’t answer. Tell him Aduke hasn’t bought you a fine asooke from Iya Busayo. Maami, it’s just the two of us. I want to have many children. Six grandchildren, I will even have Ibeji,” she said, hugging Adunni.”
“Ibeji from which belle?. Eledumare will grant all your heart’s desires. But now, you have to hurry to the market and sell off all these Ileke”. Understood?
“Yes, Maami, I will hurry now”. She replied. Took the basket of Ileke and hurried out.
“Aduke, come back. You forgot your Ileke on the bed. Come and wear it’ Adunni cried out.
“Oh Maami, why! You want me to change my mind from going to the market?. Aduke said, murmuring.
“Come and wear it, and ensure it is covered. Use your Asooke to tie your waist”.
“Oh, I don’t even know what is special about this, my Ileke”, she said while returning to their hut. She wore it, used her assoke to cover her waist and set out for the market.
Aduke would never understand why her mum was always protecting this Ileke…? Was it because it was very different from the one they sold? She would ask when she returns from the market.
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Glossary
Ileke: Waist bead
Maami: The Yoruba word for Mother
Asooke: A traditional Yoruba material
Eledumare: It means Creator
Ibeji: Twins
Oriki: To sing one’s praise
Amala and Ewedu: A Delicacy Enjoyed by the Yorubas
