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Chapter Twenty
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177 A Legend of the Dead: Sequel to The Crown of Thorns Chapter Twenty A soft answer turneth away wrath. (Aeschylus) Better old debts than old grudges. (Prince Aldrid, King of Nuthumbria) DURING THE first few months of his reign Chief Beckongucho virtually lived in the palace of Small Monje and drove to work in Bimobio country, a distance of twenty-three kilometres. It was here in the palace that he received a delegation of three men from his subjects in Likume two weeks after Anuse’s lynching. It included the President, the General Secretary and the Treasurer. He was glad to see them and immediately went on to inquire about the object of their visit. “His Highness, Mr. Marus Anuse has been arrested,” the President said as if reporting the fall of a comet. The Chief did not look agitated. “It serves him right,” he said, unruffled. He was looking at them as he spoke, and noticed a peculiar strain of disappointment that began to distort their faces. “Is that what you came to tell me?” he asked. “Yes, it is, His Highness.” “ I heard of it the very day it happened.’ The visitors looked at each other and then at the six or so Elders who were sitting with the Chief. Beckongncho said softly: “My fathers, let me borrow a saying from the Ibos. They say: “If a masquerade dances too high people will see its feet, and that’s not good. Mr. Marcus Anuse thought he was too rich to listen to a child talk to him. He thought Likume was too small a place for him to share his authority with any other human being. He thought this world is too small for him to control with any other human being. 178 Linus T. Asong That is not correct. He just needed something to make him understand that he was still a human being like you and I. “I was in a position to prevent or even postpone that arrest. But he shamed me in public. A Paramount Chief and an SDO like myself cannot afford to be rubbed with excrement before the very people he is supposed to rule. When he spoke to me in Likume it was no longer Kevin Beckongncho he was insulting, it was the Government of this country.” “So what are we going to do, His Highness?” the president inquired. “ We who? And you mean do about what?” “About the arrest of Mr. Marcus Anuse, His Highness.” The Chief’s brows came together and the age lines of his face became harshly accentuated. “What exactly do you mean?” he queried. “When His Highness came down and talked to us we all were very glad with him. We completely agreed with him. And for this trip that I have come down with these two men like this, we had planned to come with something to make our Chief know that we did not just say Yes, Yes, so that our Chief should hurry back and leave us alone to do what we pleased. We had planned to bring what the blood of Small Monje, his tribe in Likume, can afford as mud for the rebuilding of the crumbling walls of our palace. But something happened.” Nobody interrupted him. “ The week after His Highness returned we agreed on a sum of 2000 francs for all the families. They were two hundred and thirty, not two hundred and twenty-five as His Highness noted. That was to have given us four hundred and sixty thousand francs. And we the Committee members were to have given 40,000 francs on top to make it five hundred thousand francs. That is what we would have brought to His Highness today. But this is all we have been able to get — one hundred and ten thousand francs.” He pointed to the sum of money which the Treasurer drew out of his bag. He also handed over a letter to the chief. “And all the families have sworn that they will not add another franc again.” [54.173.229.84] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:42 GMT) 179 A Legend of the Dead: Sequel to The Crown of Thorns Beckongncho tore open the letter, glanced at it briefly, and looked at them without saying a word. A large bluish-green fly flew in, sat first on the knee of the President, dashed off, circled above the Chief’s head, sat on his right shoulder and took off...