Queen Ilentanmen: The Power Of An African Woman
The men were seated in a circle. Six of them are facing the king. She stared at her two arch enemies, Ozoro with his thin arms and flabby lips and Uzah with his tall frame and huge chest. It was his head that hid the face of the King from her probing eyes. They were both ignorant of her feelings towards them.
“I just remembered a parable my father used very well when he was alive,” said one of the chiefs
“Tell us about it,” King Udele said.
“You might cover all the holes a rabbit can use to escape you, but there is always a final one”
“Care to explain this parable to us?” Ozoro asked
“We are supposed to be men of wisdom,” the Chief said looking at Ozoro with a sneer
“but I will explain the parable. It simply means that there is always a way out of the problem”
“Thank you, my Chief” the king’s deep-throated voice sounded. Ilentanmen shifted on her feet. “I understand the parable, what I do not understand is how we are going to escape this problem. I believe it is easier for a rabbit to escape smoke than for a king to escape the “goodwill” of another king”
“King Shekere knows that your hands will be tied and you wouldn’t be able to refuse his offer. Your refusal would look like a slight to him and in the whole Seven kingdoms, everyone knows His Majesty King Shekere doesn’t take kindly to slights.” Name said
“There must be a way,” the Chief who gave the parable said, everyone, looked at him “but it would require a person of cunning to devise it”
“I was of the opinion that my Chiefs were men of both wisdom and cunning but I am beginning to doubt,” the King said. Ilentanmen opened the curtain a little more so she could see the faces of the Chiefs.
“We are at your service my King. In seven days’ time, we should have an answer for you” Name said. Ilentanmen only saw the flick of his arm but she knew. Soon enough a guard was standing at the other side of the door, thrusting his sword to impale whoever was listening in on the King’s inner chamber discussion. His sword met thin air.
***
Eight women sat on their individual thrones in the chamber. Their servants stood behind them with huge fans. The gradual sweep of the fan slowly cooled the bosoms of the eight fat queens of Uruama kingdom.
“Little Mother” one of the women called to the oldest among them, she was wearing a red shiny one-piece wrapper. Her head was beautifully made and adorned with beads and feathers until it was so high up it covered the top part of her throne. She was Isikhini the king’s first wife who demanded respect from all the other wives, whether they wanted to give it to her or not.
“Yes, my daughter” she answered, smiling at the woman who had called her attention.
“What are your plans for us this next market day,” another woman said quietly from within the group. Her name was Isoke. Isikhini’s eyebrows rose in faux surprise. She was very aware that they held meetings and gossiped behind her back but she was going to be the wise cat who walked past the rat as though blind anytime its belly was full.
“You know I always take good care of you,” she said and laughed her slow laugh “he,hehe. You all are dear to my heart and I love when you look plump and beautiful” she shared a look with the other women.
“Unlike that one” Owuma said, she was the king’s third wife and the only person who hated to attend these “meetings” but couldn’t resist coming every time because she was a terrible gossip.
“Which one?” All the women chorused, their teeth flashing white against their black skins as they laughed. They were obviously used to this line of discussion.
“That one that hangs her neck like an ostrich. I hear the groves of her neck are as deep as Onwodu the great wall.” Madu stood up and said, she was a big woman. Fat, tall and troublesome, all the other women avoided her.
“I hear she is a dog and prefers to eat bones instead of meat,” Egua said, all the women burst into raucous laughter. Egua was a fair-skinned beauty with long hair and graceful limbs. The other wives gossiped behind her back, calling her a mermaid the king summoned from the river.
“Her parents do send her food anyway. She doesn’t need anything we can give her” Lariat said. She was the fifth wife who always kept to herself. She had come all the way from the North when her father had given her as a goodwill gift to the King of Uruama.
“Yet her stomach is so flat. We all know that the king likes his women plump and soft to the touch” Orhuie said. She was the eight wife, a great deal younger than most of the others but still older than Lariat and the prodigal last wife Ilentanmen.
“That is why Our King does not go into her often. Think about it. Her bones must be poking him at night!” Owuma said. All the women threw their heads in different directions and laughed. Lariat looked at them and shook her head.
“I hear she can see and hear through walls,” she said. The women grew quiet, they had heard about that too.
***
Erû no dè o
The child that spits
One sè é èné
on his mother
Erû no ó dè o
Yes, the child that spits
Kpá tő wé wenê o
Shall eat from the floor
Ilentanmen watched as the poor servants approached, bearing the heavyweight of Isikhini, the king’s first wife. They were panting and sweating at their armpits, but didn’t dare drop her because the Little Mother had a reputation for killing people for the slightest offense.
The shoemaker who had served her last year had died with his family in a mysterious fire outbreak after he brought her a pair of shoes that “made her legs look fat”. Ilentanmen chuckled at the irony. Then she beckoned to her servants, who led her to the throne and began to fan her.
Uwalua, the dutiful servant that she was, ran inside for a bowl of water and began to wash Ilentanmen’s feet. Isikhini walked inside the palace and with a sweep of her eyes, Ilentanmen saw her take in the clean polished floors, the plump servants. The ornaments on the wall, and the fact that the younger woman wasn’t even making any effort to get up and kneel before her.
“Ilentanmen” Isikhini called, her eyes flashing dangerously. Uwalua scurried away from her queen’s feet.
“Yes, Little Mother. I can see you are healthy. I am sorry I cannot get up as my feet have been freshly washed.”
“They can always be washed again,” Isikhini said.
“Can they?” Ilentanmen asked. She looked at Uwalua as though considering. Then she turned back to the older woman “No. I am not in the habit of punishing my servants”
A vein throbbed in Isikhini’s forehead, she beckoned for her servants to bring her throne and they did, sitting her comfortably on it. Ilentanmen stared at the perspiration on her swollen chest and smiled. Fat witch.
“When do you intend to start coming for our meetings?” Isikhini asked. Ilentanmen was silent for a while, she busied herself with putting on a fresh pair of brown fur slippers. Then she lowered her head as though she was in pain.
“I will come when I can finally raise my head in the circle of the King’s wives. When I have finally borne him children” she said.
Isikhini hissed long and hard. “Don’t pretend to be a fool. I know very well that you are not. Women like you? Your bellies are too hot with anger to hold any child.”
“That is not true.” Ilentanmen got up from her throne “You know those fertility potions you gave me a year ago. I actually drank it”
“You gave it to your dog”
“Oh yes, I remember now. I also remember that the dog was pregnant and it spontaneously miscarried” Ilentanmen said.
“Dogs miscarry.” Isikhini said, throwing a meaningful look at the younger woman “I had no hand in it”
“Of course, I also remember that I hadn’t seen my period that month. A normal glitch that every woman experiences. You had sent me my stash of sanitary pads and I had sent it back.” Ilentanmen said, there was a wry smile on her lips. Her long purple velvet wrapper flowed as she walked.
“And I gave it to the servants”
“Yes, deducing that perhaps I was pregnant. Those potions were to kill my baby, wasn’t it? Ilentanmen asked, facing Isikhini with an angry scowl.
“You will not accuse me of anything!”
“I am not accusing you of anything. Just asking you questions, woman to woman!” Ilentanmen said fiercely.
Isikhini burst into laughter, her chest heaving as she laughed. She pinned Ilentanmen down with the force of her hateful gaze “I will let you know that there are women, and there are women. Be very careful young Ilentanmen”
“Thank you, Little Mother,” Ilentanmen said, growing quiet. She felt bad for letting her emotions take control of her.
“You will do well to watch your footsteps,” Isikhini said and smiled. Her servants gathered her up unto their shoulders, a hulking hippopotamus on a pedestal.
Ilentanmen paced the length and breadth of her small throne room. She wrung her hands like a little girl as she spoke.
“I know they are after me. All these women are like vultures looking for the first sign of weakness to strike. They have declared open season on me. Where will I run to and who will help me?” Her pacing had led her to stand in front of her throne. Seeing it, her eyes shone with sudden vigor. “There is something that they forget. My name is Ilentanmen, which means I know my rank. I am a queen of Uruama kingdom, I do not cower before anyone.
She turned around and began to walk towards her bedroom. “Uwalua”
“Yes, my queen” the servant walked into the throne room. She was no longer the scurrying maid. She had a serious expression on her face that belied the warrior she really was. What everyone did not know was that Ilentanmen’s female servants were trained warriors that masqueraded as servant girls.
“Call me the Chief guard”
***
The palace square was full to the brim. People were falling on top of each other just to get a look at the woman standing in the middle. This crowd was not an ordinary crowd, these people were dressed in finery and adorned with beads. They were the members of the Uruama royal family and they had all come to witness the trial of one of the king’s wives.
The drums stopped beating abruptly and everyone held their breath. Chief Asewi the orator came out and began to speak. It was one of his popular speeches.
The dynasty of the Uruama kingdom spans for thousands of years. Kings have come, left us and come back to us again. King Udele Unojie III is even more powerful in his third visit to our kingdom. To honor him, the gods have blessed him with nine wives and numerous sons and daughters. We are gathered here today because one of the wives has failed in her sacred duties…
“As if it concerns us,” One woman in the crowd said to her neighbor. She was the wife of Chief Uzah, a beautiful woman. It was rumored that the chief bought her a lot of fine things but beat her whenever he pleased.
“As if men have the right to hold us in trial over anything, after all, we do for them,” another woman said bitterly.
“She married a king, not a man,” Chief Ozoro’s wife said, sounding jealous.
“She is here for failing in her sacred duties. What are those?” Chief Ozoro’s wife unmarried sister asked.
“You can never please a man,” someone said quietly. Everyone looked at Chief Uzah’s wife and felt pity for her.
“At least your husband takes good care of you,” Chief Ozoro’s wife said, her eyes skimming the expensive wrapper and ivory beads on the other woman. No one said anything after that, they all looked towards the center of the square.
***
King Udele looked at the woman sitting in the middle of the square. Even from this distance, he could see that her back was straight and her head held high. Ilentanmen was not one to back down and that was what he loved about her. Another woman would have become a shadow of herself after seven years of infertility but Ilentanmen seemed to be becoming even younger and more beautiful.
The other women were making him do this and as much as it was their decision to dethrone the young woman, he was also eager to send her away. Take her far away from these women before they killed her with their jealousy. Two months of fresh air in her parent’s home would be good for her.
The peace of mind might even make her add some weight. Besides, he would be accepting King Shekere’s gift in a fortnight and for some reason, he didn’t want her to meet the woman before he had consummated the marriage.
“I plead for permission to speak,” Ilentanmen’s voice sounded. Everyone looked to the king. Udele nodded his head and his ninth wife began to speak.
“My people, the great people of Uwalua Kingdom” she began. A murmur arose in the crowd, people argued about her right to call them “my people” she was from Kwasoe kingdom after all. “I just have a simple question to ask. Can a woman sleep with herself and bear children? Ask my husband when last he came to my quarters. Ask him!”
There was an uproar, the people were stamping their feet at the abomination. The young queen had spoken out of turn and must be punished.
“Take her away!” The king roared.
The guards gripped Ilentanmen roughly and carted her out of the palace square. She felt no remorse. The king had disgraced her by sending her home to her parents. She wasn’t going to go down calmly. Even if it cost her life.
***
King Udele sat on his throne fuming, who was she to undermine his royal authority in the presence of the entire court? Why was she playing with death as though it was a newborn? She was not aware that he had feelings for her because he hid it well. Why then was she so bold to speak of him like that in public?
“Your Majesty” the king snapped back to the here and now. His faithful butler was standing in front of him.
“Uvnode, what is it?”
“The woman, what do we do with her?” The butler asked.
“What do you think?” King Udele asked, rubbing his forehead. It was just like Ilentanmen to leave him feeling fatigued.
“She deserves to be executed, my King. No one speaks to the Great Unojie III in that manner.” Uvnode said fiercely.
“Uvnode”
“Yes my king”
“I wanted her dead too but a little thinking changed my mind. Our maker created everyone, male and female with a certain fire inside of us. That fire is only purged in a woman when she begins to bear children. Ilentanmen is childless and very much hurt by it. I will not kill her but I will punish her in another manner” King Udele said with a cruel smile on his face.
“You are indeed wise, My King. How do you intend to punish her?”
The king removed one of his ankles “Take this to Shekere, tell him I accept his offer. I will take the woman from his hands even though I know she is a spy but I have a new plan. I will wait for Ilentanmen to return before consummating the marriage. I want her to watch me plant my seed in her kinswoman”.
***
One Month Later. King Shekere’s Palace
The Kwasoe Palace was bubbling with festivities. The kingdom was agog with celebration over another year of a bountiful harvest, Anu be praised. Ilentanmen was dressed for the occasion in a two-piece wrapper of red and silver color. Her neck was heavy with beads and the beads lining her waist added to its mass. Her hair was short and also decorated with red and sapphire beads.
She had cut her hair after being sent away from Uwalua kingdom. Partly as rebellion because Udele liked his women with long hair and partly because she needed a good disguise for her meetings with Mafuga the King’s Chief Guard. Lately, she had been having a feeling that they were being watched but she could do nothing about it. She couldn’t stop now that they were finally getting somewhere.
She walked around, picking food from the trays of her kinsmen. The food was delicious, Anu be praised. The land hadn’t disappointed them at all. She walked in a deliberate circle around the King’s courtyard, laughing and dancing with women of her age group. She was leaning against the wall when a hand tapped her on the shoulder.
It was one of Shekere’s guards. She bowed to him as a common woman would.
“The king has favored you, he desires your presence in his chambers tonight,” he said.
“Lead the way,” Ilentanmen said. She followed him, wondering what she would say when she finally met the king.
King Shekere’s chambers were in the middle of the courtyard, surrounded by the huts of warriors at all sides. Ilentanmen appreciated the security but she knew it wouldn’t be enough. The guard led her to one of the inner rooms.
“The King will be here shortly,” he said. Ilentanmen nodded in reply.
Minutes later, the king parted the curtains and stepped inside. Ilentanmen bowed so low she thought her back would crack. King Shekere lifted her up gently.
“I have been watching you. You are a beautiful woman. What is your name?” He asked.
“Ilentanmen”
The king laughed ” A woman who knows her position, that must be an interesting one” he remarked. Ilentanmen smiled bashfully. When he made to put his arm around her she stopped him and stepped backward.
“I am Ilentanmen truly but I am not here as an ordinary woman. I come here with the news.” She said. King Shekere sat on the edge of his bed.
“Tell me everything”. He said.
***
King Udele sat on his throne and wept, in the silent way that men are allowed to weep. He could not believe that Ilentanmen had done something like that to him. For sure, he had been under no delusions as to her affections for him but he never thought that she would go that far. To think that he had been looking forward to her return.
His butler entered the throne room and the King looked up. “Uvnode” he called.
“Yes, my king”
“Don’t you think the law is unfair?” King Udele asked. Uvnode’s head snapped up.
“Your Majesty, you are the law,” he said. Udele laughed bitterly at that.
“I am the law. I want to walk up to my wife and ask her why she laid with another man. Can I?”
“No, my king,” Uvnode said, shaking his head vigorously. “She has become an abomination to you. You can no longer call her your wife”
“Does she have to die?” Udele asked. At that moment he looked less of a king and more of a man. He blamed himself for Ilentanmen’s actions. Afterall his father had warned him about leaving a woman to herself for too long but he hadn’t listened.
“Yes, my king. It is the law.” Uvnode said sadly. He beckoned and the king’s guards filed in to surround him. They led him outside.
***
Ilentanmen watched as the king came out of the throne room. He looked so grave that she almost felt like laughing. Who gave him the right to look so sad when he had turned a blind eye to all the punishments his other wives had meted on her? She knew they had sent those men to watch her, their plans had worked after all.
What was that song Isikhini’s servants had been singing? Yes, she was eating from the floor now. All the queens sat on their respective thrones beside King Udele, fake sad looks pasted on their fat faces. Ilentanmen could have spat on them but they were too far away.
The good part of all this was that the process was very short. She had been convicted of infidelity to the King and her punishment was death. Not just any death but her head was to be cut off from her body. Everything was in place, the king in his chair, the eager crowd and the executioner standing with his sharp blade glinting in the sun.
The king would raise his hand to give the go-ahead. When his fist closed finally, Ilentanmen’s head would be rolling on the floor. Udele slowly pried his hands from the hand rest. Some women burst into tears in the crowd and many turned their faces away from the horror.
“Wait!” A voice shouted from behind Ilentanmen. It was a member of the king’s guard. Esokun, a friend of the Chief guard that had been caught in Ilentanmen’s chambers.
“What! You dare interrupt a royal proceeding?!” Uvnode’s voice rang out. Ilentanmen heard Esokun fall to his knees, that was when she realized she had closed her eyes.
She opened them and looked at him, he must have been running some distance and was out of breath.
“Kwasoe’s King is here!” A call rang out, they were surrounded. Udele’s guards drew their swords.
“I come in peace,” said a booming voice, it was King Shekere. The guards sheathed their swords but remained standing around their king. Ilentanmen collapsed on the floor with the sheer force of feeling. She would not die alone, her kinsmen were here to watch her leave this world.
“Shekere. There was no announcement of your intended visit.” Udele said.
“I apologize, my friend. There was no time for that. I did not want to be too late. Stay your hand, I have something to say.”
“What could that be?” Udele asked if a vein was working in his forehead. He did not want to waste any time because he knew if he didn’t finish the execution quickly he might lose his nerve. The king losing his nerve, abomination!
“I have come to free your prisoner.” Shekere said. He indicated Ilentanmen with a sweep of his hand.
“That is not a prisoner. That woman was my wife, once”
“I know that now. I also know she is the warrior that saved my life” Shekere said. A hush fell on the crowd, everyone knew it was not a small feat to save the life of a king.
“Tell us,” King Udele said simply.
“On the first day of the festival of Anu, a woman came to me bringing news. At first, I was skeptical, perhaps she was a common woman trying to gain importance by feeding fake information to the king. Perhaps she was a spy. However, I followed her advice and everything happened just as she said it.
My enemies came and they did not find me. It is all because of her bravery and her love for the Kwasoe people. She might be your wife but she will always be the daughter of Kwasoe. As for the young man, he is her right-hand man and fellow soldier. Their secret communication was necessary to save my life. I, King Shekere have come to plead with you to save a life for me. It will be counted as a favor.”
“My father always said, a king is just as powerful as his word. You are a powerful king, my friend. I congratulate you on your victory against your enemies.” King Udele said. Then he stood up from his throne and walked over to the trembling woman on the floor.
“Ilentanmen” he called.
“My husband. My king” Ilentanmen said faintly, choking on her tears. She waited for the command to rise but it never came. Soon she felt the king’s strong arms lifting her up from the ground. Loud Ululation rose from the women in the crowd. The queen had been reinstated.
Shekere’s right-hand man stepped forward and lifted up his right arm in the customary way the Kwasoe people swore or made proclamations. “On the fifth day of the Bone moon, she will be given a chieftaincy title from the hands of The Great Lion, King Shekere of Kwasoe Kingdom”. He said. The ground shook as the people rejoiced. Ilentanmen stood alone, a half-smile playing on her face.
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