Tale of an African Woman

Chapter three

12 3 aught up in this sad situation, which was not of her making and which she knew nothing about, it was natural that Yaàs childhood should arouse compassion. So, when the issue of the house in which she would have to spend the rest of her early life came up, all the women in the village expressed the genuine desire to take her in. After a careful examination of all those who had requested to adopt the child, the Tabih, on the advice of the Council of Elders, finally decided to cast his lot with Chacha, who was herself a victim of ostracism. “She mustn’t be buried one day with a stone,” he said mournfully even if somewhat sarcastically of the baby’s new mother, citing in this instance the fate reserved for childless women upon their death. In the village, Chacha was a tall, tough, and pretty woman with something of a free spirit. She was single but had been married. Her husband, whose secret love affairs everyone in the village knew about, had accused her of barrenness and dumped her when four years into their marriage she was still unable to become pregnant. The Council had sided with her husband and confronted her on the issue. Without mincing words, she had defended herself by stating that it was her husband’s fault. Since in the community, the general belief was that only a woman could be barren, the members of the Council did not take kindly to her declaration and they let her know it. “I don’t think this man could be running around with all these women if he couldn’t get himself up,” the Tabih told members of the Council. “This is a relatively small community and C 13 if it were so the news would have spread like bush fire by now, especially given that women take to gossip like a rat to peanuts.” “I think she only wants to create a scandal,” a voice rose in support. “Now, tell me Chacha, are you saying that he isn’t up and going and immediately falls asleep at night?” the Tabih asked with voyeuristic glee. “I don’t mean any of that,” she replied. “When it comes to getting himself up and going all night, he sticks like a driver ant,” she added much to the amusement of the Council. “So what then is the matter?” the Tabih continued with his questions. Chacha was not frightened and challenged the Council. She pointed to the numerous women with whom her former husband was having an affair. “How many of them are pregnant?” she asked, with her hands on her hips and the upper part of her body thrust forward in an open show of courage. “Why is the second wife still without child?” she kept up her interrogation. “Finally, let me tell you something which, perhaps, men don’t know. Not all rivers which lead to a big stream contain fish. As you can see, the man has liquid, plenty of it, but it’s without seeds.” The strength of her logic was too much for the entirely male Council and as most men would do when an overpowering female position comes seriously to bear, they simply retired and conspired. They knew she was making a good point but at the same time they could not admit it without setting themselves up with their own women. “The moment a person doesn’t have two nuts swinging underneath, the person instantly becomes a fool in the eyes of this Council,” she scolded members of the Council in a final act of courage. The men felt humiliated and made a mental note of all she had said. They, however, avoided confronting her publicly, lest the strength of her logic rally the population to her support. Instead, through their own wives to whom the outcome of the encounter between Chacha and the Council had deliberately been distorted, they receded behind a thick wall of tradition and respect to say that the woman was arrogant and did not want to listen to the Council. 14 It was with this half-baked and utterly sentimental idea that the Council finally stirred the community and turned it against the woman. She stuck to her guns and incurred the wrath of the community rather than surrender in the face of what was outright injustice. Now left to her...