Baskadia

Once upon a time, there lived a hunter (di nta) in a small village, he was successful, he was always lucky to make big catch whenever he hunted. He always preferred to hunt at night when all the animals come out to feast on the left overs from humans.

The hunter had so many friends who sung praises of his victories with animals and they would join to eat from his lot after he had sold some of his catch.

Anúlika the hunter had an elder brother, Ikem'efuna who was a farmer, but the brothers were perpetual enemies, Anúlika’s friends always spoke bad of his brother and this strengthened his hate for his brother.

One day, Anúlika went hunting as his culture was in the dead of the night, he saw a giant creature, he followed the creature until he got to a comfortable place where he shot at the animal, few meters away from where he shot the animal, he found his target dead in cold blood, thinking to himself that he has killed another big animal, he quickly covered the animal with leaves and again, thought to himself "let me go and tell my friends that I have killed a human being to see who will follow me to carry this big meat".

In the little village of Úmúógbógú, there was a law that whoever kills a fellow human being will be killed also, Anúlika wanted to know who loved him the most amongst his friends, so he went to Ike's house, when he knocked at the door in the dead of the night, Ike came out, thinking it was business as usual, he greeted his friend, Anúli, odogwu (great man) this one you came to my house, have you made another bug catch? Anúli answered and said, Ike my good friend, I am in trouble, I have killed a human being mistakingly, Ike screamed, Anúli, have you told your brother? He replied no, I came to you first, Ike said to him, my dear friend, I cannot help you, it is our culture that whoever kills another human being will be killed, am sorry dear friend, Ike quickly entered his house and Locked the door. Anúlika went to Obi's house, Obi came out with excitement thinking it was business as usual, when Anúlika told him his ordeal, he asked him if he had told his brother Ikem'efuna? He said no, Obi went back to his house and closed the door. Anúlika went to all his friends and got similar reactions. He thought to himself, all these people have asked me to tell my brother, why don't I tell my brother and see his reaction? Anúlika went to his brother's house that same night, when he got there, he knocked at the door, his brother opened the door halfway, when his brother saw that he was the one, he hissed and closed the door, Anúlika stood behind the closed door and spoke with a loud voice and told him that he was in trouble, his brother opened the door again and asked him what sort of trouble, he narrated his ordeal, his brother came out, closed the door behind him, held his hand and moved towards the mango tree where no one will hear them and asked him if he had told anyone about it, he replied no, his brother went back to his house, got a shovel and asked Anúlika to take him to the place where the incident happened. When they got there, his brother started digging the ground, he told Anúlika that he was too important to be wasted because of this mistake, while he was digging, he told Anúlika not to mention of the incident to anyone, not even his wife. As he was digging, Anúlika asked him to check if it was a male or female he killed that he hadn't had time to check, when his brother opened the leaves, he saw that it was a big animal, he screamed in excitement and told Anúlika that it was a bush meat and not a human being, Anúlika knelt down and apologized to his brother and they both reconciled that night. The next morning his friends saw them eating with their wives and they were astonished that the two brothers had reconciled and that Anúlika didn't kill a human being.

Written by;

Nweke Isaac Chidi.