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The Sacred Door So, this is how it is. It’s all about a poor man. His father and his mother die, leaving him with nothing. He has no crops in his farm. Not one young woman will look at him or think of marrying him. Some call him the village scarecrow. For that reason he often flees to the forest where he spends most of his days. No one actually knows what he does among the trees. One day, he takes his cutlass and axe and goes into the forest to look for a fertile piece of land to plant his seeds. Not confident of the parts of the forest he already knows, he decides to go even further and deeper into the forest. He gets tired and sits down under a mahogany tree. After a while he feels strong hunger pains; his stomach wambles, he feels faint but he has no food. He searches the trees hoping to find some fruits. There are none in sight. To his surprise he sees an old woman instead . He greets her, “Mother are you lost?” She says, “Where are you from?” The man says, “Father-Mine and Mother-Mine have died. I am looking for a place to plant some seeds.” And he hears her command, “Give me that cutlass and axe.” He gives her the cutlass and the axe he is carrying across his shoulder. The old woman says, “Turn around. Take off your clothes.” The man turns around, his back to the old woman. He takes off his brown tattered singlet and the loincloth tied around his 170 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. waist. He finishes undressing, looks up, and finds himself in a different country. People of this country are happy to see him. They take him to their palace and crown him as their king. The poor man can hardly believe what is happening to him. A nkwob, the most senior of all the nobles, gives the king a tour of the entire palace. There is a lot to see: all the living quarters, the ceremonial grounds, the king’s gardens. It takes all day. It is a long day. They finally come to a door and the nkwob bows and says, “Mbeh, everything in this palace is yours, but you should never open this door. It is the sacred door.” Years pass. The king settles comfortably into his duties. He looks after his subjects. He is doing a very good job. His subjects love him and the gods bless him with many offspring. But, as the Beba say, the king’s throat is bitter, very bitter inside . He is unhappy about the door. “Why shouldn’t I touch that door? Am I not the king? Have I not been good to my people? Why am I being treated as if I were a stranger? What is it about that door?” He gnashes his teeth. The sacred door torments his dreams. He vows to do something about it—after all, he is the king. His plan materializes on the most important day of the year, the day of the nwa ngeh, the Feast of the Cutting-of-the-Grass. The king gives food; he gives drinks to his subjects. The people are festive. They nwa ngeh and invoke their gods. They thank their gods for the rains, for the new births, for good health, for the bountiful harvest, for another peaceful year. They pour libations, kill a goat, spill its blood, and say incantations to ward off their enemies, bad omens, and evildoers. They eat and drink and dance and celebrate. The festivities over, the king tries unsuccessfully to fall asleep. His satiated subjects have stumbled unto their beds and are profoundly asleep. One lonely figure begins to roam the halls of the palace. He can hear his tortured mind whispering into the darkness, “Today is the day I must open that door. If I don’t open it on a The Sacred Door / 171 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. sacred day like this, the annual day of reckoning, when can I? A sacred day...

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