Aduke has never been this terrified. She wished the ground just open and swallow her up. So this is how she is going to die. That is how she will never have her twins.

“Aduke, can I sit inside, or at least get me a seat”, the stranger said laughing at the pandemonium that was ongoing.

“Please do not kill me. Maami will not survive. Her health will fail her. Just leave me.”. Aduke replied crying. Her Asooke was filled with sweats. She was shivering and hiding her face, afraid to look at her face.

” I just want to buy Ileke, Aduke. Stop shivering. I’m not a spirit. I’m Omoba Aramide from Kokoye village. I need your Ileke for my Igbeyawo.” Aramide said laughing.

Aduke raised her face slightly. Well, maybe she is not a spirit after all. The shivering lessened as she looked up with the last confidence left in her.

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A princess has come to buy her Ileke. She couldn’t believe her luck.

“Omo ba, Ha! (She held her chest). Please come inside and sit. Please forgive me for making you stand.. You came alone?. Were are your guards?.

Aramide looked at Aduke laughing. She knew they will be friends.

” No, I came alone. Atleast let me be able to select my own Ileke. My mother would not let me do anything even for my own wedding. I hear you have the finest Ileke in all of Odunayo.” She said smiling.

“You heard right Omo ba I have very colourful Ileke. The very best in Odunayo. For you Omo ba , I will design and redesign to fit what you want. I can show you from the set I brought to the market today. My mother designed them all through the festival.

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“I should wear what you have displayed for the whole Odunayo?. Aramide said laughing.

“No Aduke, I cannot wear what has met the eyes of ordinary men. You will make new ones for me. New designs that have never been created. Talk to your Maami. Tell her that Omo ba Aramide needs your best Ileke”. I will leave you now so you can hurry home. Will be back in two market days. I want you to surprise me Aduke. I need the best of the best. Would prove to my mother that I can make my good choice. Please do not disappoint me.

“Ha! Omo ba, you want to take my Ileke to the palace!. I won’t disappoint you. I and Maami will not know sleep until you get the best of the best” Aduke replied excitedly.

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“I believe you won’t disappoint me”.Wait Aduke, I can see the designs you have here, what about the one you are wearing. Can I see your Ileke, this one that you are covering your waist, you have save the best design for yourself. Aramide said laughing

Aduke remembered what her mother told her about her Ileke. It must not been seen in public. All this years, she will always us her assoke to cover her waist as if she was married or already betrothed. She knew she had to lie.

” My Ileke, nooo. I don’t have any on my waist. That is why I’m using my Asooke to cover my waist. Because I do I explain that I make the best Ileke and I do not have any on my waist. Don’t worry Omo ba, I  will do my best.

“I will take your word”. Aramide said as stood up to leave. I fear that I may not be able come here for them. If in two market days, you do not see me. Take the Ileke to the river bank, someone will be there to collect them for me”. She used an asooke to cover her head as if to disguise as she walked away.

Aduke couldn’t believe her luck. Instead of a spirit, Ele du mare has brought a royalty to her shop.

Quickly she closed the shop and started running home. As she got home, she saw her mother outside, pacing up and down.

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She ran and hugged her mother, who freed herself from her embrace angrily.

“Where are you coming from Aduke?. I have been so worried. You want to kill me ehnnn”.

“Maami, fortune has come. You will not die. I met a princess Mammi. Princess Aramide wants our Ileke for her Igbewayo.”.

“Who is princess Aramide?’. Maami asked .

“Maami, she is very beautiful. She is from Kokoye village. She said she wants the best designs. Maami I will not sleep. We will not sleep, our Ileke will get to the palace ooo. ” Aduke replied and started dancing.

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Maami kept looking at Aduke in shock , she couldn’t mutter a word.

“Hmm Maami she even asked me to show her my own Ileke”.

“What did you do, don’t tell me, she saw it Aduke”. Maami immediately panicked.

” No, ooo. I didn’t show her” You have warned me never to show any one my Ileke.

“Do not, Aduke, I repeat, do not ever show anyone the Ileke around your waist. No other eyes must see it”.  Go and have your dinner” Maami replied and made her way inside the hut.

Aduke was surprised. Wasn’t Maami happy that they have met a royal client?. She is even more concerned about protecting her Ileke. Her mother can be very strange.

That didn’t bother her, she had to make royal Ileke for Aramide and had no time to waste.

Aduke knew there was no need to lie, she needed to face her mother square on. She was ripe for marriage. The knowledge of who her father was never seemed to bother her, until Adekunke rubbed it on her face. His last words, “Who will collect your brideprice?” kept ringing in her head.

“Aduke, I spent the whole Odunayo festival making those Ileke, how is it possible that you didn’t sell all of them? How do we repair our leaking roof now?. Maami asked with anger in her voice.

“Who will collect my brideprice, Maami?” she asked quietly.

Maami was shocked at her question. Where was this coming from?. Who did she meet at the market?

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“Who did you speak to. Ahhhh. You fell from the sky, Aduke. I don’t know your father. I sent you to the market to sell off Ileke, you return with questions. Aduke, I have no answer for you. When you are hungry, you can have your Amala beside your bed”. Maami said as she began to walk away.

” I wish I fell from the sky. It would have been better. Then I will know I’m a bird. But how can I be a human and not know my father, Maami? Adekunle asked me today, “Who will collect my brideprice?. I couldn’t say a word. I came home to you, and you told me I fell from the sky. It’s not a problem”. Aduke replied.

“Why do you want to know your father. Haven’t we been doing well all these years?. Have I ever bothered you about marriage or grandchildren? Why does Adekunle’s words bother you?. Is Adekunle not the struggling blacksmith that you kept turning down till he decided to be with Funmi? Have you changed your mind about him?.

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I have trained you to be strong, hardworking, stand on your own two feet. Who will collect your bride price? Aduke, go and sell the Ileke in the market, let us replace our roof before the rain starts”.

Aduke looked at her Maami. She had a lot to say, but couldn’t form the words. There was no need to continue with the conversation. Without thinking, she took her basket and started heading out.

“Where are you going to?. Maami called her in surprise

“To sell Ileke and repair our roof. Is that not what you want?. Aduke shouted back.

Without looking back. Aduke headed for the market. Maami knew that there was no need to pursue or beg her to come back. She knew her daughter. She had the anger and audacity of her father.

Aduke arrived at an empty market. Everyone had gone home. She sat amid her Ileke. She couldn’t even understand herself or why she came to the market this late. It was anger, one she didn’t get from her mother, who was a more patient person.

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This is how she was going to be a second wife. Ha! Not to Adekunle. He will mock her. He will make sure he ridicules her existence. Because there is no father to collect her brideprice, she will be a free wife, one who enters a man’s house without honour. This is not the life she planned for herself.

While she was deep in thought, her eyes fell on a shadow in front of her. It was a long shadow. She looked up and saw a woman. She was tall, beautiful, and light-skinned. No, she hasn’t seen that face in Odunayo. While she was staring at this stranger, it dawned on her that the market was empty.

Ha! A spirit has entered the market!. A spirit has come to buy Ileke. Who sent her to enter the market this late? She was in trouble?. This was a real-life spirit.

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Now she wished Adekunle would come to her shop to save her.

She looked up again, and this beautiful stranger was still staring at her. Aduke pushed her sacks of Ileke on the floor. She remembered what her mother told her, how spirit beings come to the market at night.

If only she could see the eggs that she would throw at this stranger to make her disappear. She was in trouble,

“So you allow your customers to stand in the dark, Aduke?. The stranger said.

“Mo gbe!. Mo ti ku” (I’m dead). Aduke shouted in tears. She has met a real-life spirit.

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Aduke was filled with anger as Adekunle walked closer. A man who has taken wine to his would-be in-laws wants to continue to woo her. Even if she is under a spell to be a second wife, it will not be Adekunle.

“Adekunle, do not let me lose my anger on you this morning. I came to sell off the Ileke, I couldn’t sell at Odunayo festival, not waste my time with frivolous conversations with a struggling blacksmith. Please leave my presence”

Adekunle looked from side to side as if there was a third person in their midst. “Iyawo Mi, are you talking to me?”. He asked.

“Is there any struggling blacksmith in this village asides you, Adekunle?’. Does Funmi know that you are here? Look at the man who will soon marry another woman, calling me his wife. Repeat that word “Iyawo mi” again, and you may not be alive for your Igbeyawo. Aduke replied.

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“You are pained, you are very pained, Aduke. Yes, I left you for Funmi. You were surprised. Oh, you thought I would woo you forever. You are beautiful, but you are not gold. I won’t keep digging deep into your heart to see if there is a single glimpse of hope that you would come to love me. With all your beauty, you haven’t gotten a suitor. He looks at her and starts laughing.

“Are you done?. Adekunle, ten of you cannot afford to keep me in your house. Adekunle, you know you are not deserving of me. When my suitor comes, you will not even be able to clean his horse. You claim to have found a bride in Funmi, yet you are here ranting.  Adekunle You are pained . You need comfort. When is your Igbeyawo? The earlier, the better. Funmi needs to comfort you”. Aduke replied.

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Adekunle looked at Aduke, unable to talk. He was ashamed of himself. Truly, he was pained. Pained that Aduke kept turning down his proposals. Who does she think she is? A simple girl who sells Ileke. If not that she was beautiful, he would have moved on from her much earlier.

With shame in his eyes, he struggled to mutter,

“We will be here to see the prince and his white horse when he comes to ask for your hand in marriage. Before I forget, who will collect your brideprice?. Nobody knows your father, Aduke, or do you? He said as he walked away.

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Aduke watched Adekunle walk away. He left her in confusion. There was no way she would now be able to sell her wares.

What was she to do? She never loved him, she never led him on.  She wondered if she had made the wrong decision. Adekunle was a struggling blacksmith. He wasn’t as successful as Fikayo and Shogunle. He was always at Iya Kusemi’s hut to take fresh palm wine at night, even on days when he didn’t have good sales. She wanted more for herself. A life where she didn’t have to struggle to replace their leaking roof, or buy goats for big celebrations. Did she make the wrong choice by turning down Adekunle?. She sat down, beclouded by her thoughts.

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It was a long day at the market, with few sales. Aduke wasn’t interested in selling off her Ileke. She was thinking of her life. About Adekunle, her father that she never knew and why she wasn’t interested in any man in the village.

When the other sellers started packing their wares, Aduke kept the basket of Ileke inside the store and headed home. She saw her mother packing clothes from the back of their house as he approached the compound.

She planned to sneak inside the house without her mother noticing. But it was too late.

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“Omo mi, Aduke mi. Eka bo. Was it the market?. Hope you sold all the Ileke you took to the market?. Maami asked with curiosity in her voice.

How was she going to tell Maami that, because of her conversation with Adekunle, she had a moody day and refused to call out to customers to buy their wares.

She looked at herself and started thinking of what to tell her mother. Will a lie work for this situation, or would she say the truth? Either way, she was going to have a conversation with Maami. It will be about her father. Now, she didn’t care if that conversation would make her mother uncomfortable. She was ripe for marriage. Who would collect her brideprice?

New Episodes drop every Sunday by 9pm.

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.

Ipaye market was filled to the brim on that day. It was the first market day after Odunayo festival so the crowd was expected.

As she spreaded her wares on the table, she noticed Adekunle the blacksmith walking towards her direction. He wasn’t the first person she expected to converse with this morning.

Adekunle had just returned from the neighbouring village where he went to do his introduction ceremony to Funmi.

It was this same adekunle that has been wooing her for market days untold.

She would put him in his place today.  She would not play second fiddle to a cheating blacksmith.

“Iyawo mi, Aduke Mi, My eyes are blessed to behold such a beauty this morning”.

Aduke was boiling with anger. There was no way she wasn’t going to give him a peace of her mind today.

New episode drops every Saturday by 9 pm. Stay tuned

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

Iyawo : My Wife