SHACKLES OF TRADITION
Shackles Of Tradition - Episode 13
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" Well I have thought it through and Adanna my answer is...I accept your condition. I will give you my support in whichever way you'll desire but my daughter ensure that this vision would not drag you or the entire family into trouble. Please I'm pleading with you to be very careful as you become queen!" Mazi Ebuka said to Adanna pleadingly and she nodded in understanding
" I will try as much as possible to be careful Papa. This is the risk I am willing to take at least as a final parting gift to Emeka. I won't want other Osucasts to pass through the stress we've encountered...because of this shackles guarding the tradition that disregard Outcasts and value freeborns"
" Well Adanna you are my first fruit and I trust you. I want to believe that you will never put this family to shame!"
" Thank you Papa. I promise that I will not let you, Mama or our family down"
With what Adanna said, the discussion between father and daughter was concluded for the day. Three days later, prince Obinna was crowned the king, Adanna his chosen bride was made the queen and her father Mazi Ebuka was pronounced the Onukwo of the land.
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Two years has successfully passed and a lot of changes has surprisingly taken place in the village.
Freeborns and Outcasts now live together as one without a separate location or system of rejection and discrimination between them.
The love, acceptance, and togetherness did not just happen overnight. It took a lot of sacrifices, publicity and efforts on the part of Adanna at the front line and from her father behind the scenes.
After Adanna was crowned the queen, she didn't act immediately. As a wife, she took her time to win her husband's heart completely in such a way that she will be sure that he will not be able to turn down difficult requests from her.
In a pace of six months, Adanna had studied her husband's moods and likes. Obinna is a good husband to her and treats her like his treasure and she used it to her advantage to convince him into making a decree which will eliminate the Osucasts system.
Adanna was able to subtly get him to understand her perspective on the reasons why the Osucasts should be given fairness, equality and privileges in the village as the freeborns individuals.
King Obinna loves Adanna so much that he would do anything to please and make his wife happy. But since he wasn't so convinced, he decided to seek the Onukwo's opinion on the matter.
As promised, Mazi Ebuka encouraged King Obinna to make the decree immediately he mentioned it to him. And although King Obinna was still not fully convinced, he still went ahead to make the decree which had subsequently liberated the Osucasts.
To King Obinna, it was part of his way of further proving his love for Adanna.
A decree in favor of the Osucasts was sealed by the king and further enforced by the Onukwo with queen Adanna and that was the beginning of a new dawn.
The decree went thus:
First, the Osucasts are allowed to reside in anywhere of their choice just as the freeborns. This completely eliminated the practice of having a separate location isolated for the outcasts.
Second, there will be no sort of discrimination or rejectee treatment melted down on any Osucasts.
Everyone would be treated with love, fairness and equality without any form of favoritism or stigmatism.
Third, the Osucasts will be given same individual rights as the freeborns in regards to relationships, marriage, inheritance, education, residence, social benefits, infrastructures, religion etc. This simply signifies freedom of movement, speech etc for the Osucasts.
Fourth and most importantly, nobody is allowed to be addressed as an Osucast. Freeborn or not, the fact still remains that everyone is a human being with same features. The decree clearly stated that there will be no title attachment to anyone and no term like outcasts would be in existence from now henceforth.
As expected the people revolted and had diverse views on why such a decree was a bad idea. They felt that it is unwise to mix the Osucasts which the regard as unclean individuals with the freeborns.
That's the point which queen Adanna had step in to further spread more light and warm her views into the hearts of the people until they became convinced.
She made it a duty to ensure that the Osucasts moved out of their isolated region to the main village to live as one with the freeborns.
Yet that still did not change the way other freeborns people treated them.
Obviously, the discrimination, rejection and stigmatism against them was still ongoing only that it was low-keyed. So Adanna invented a new strategy of gathering everyone both the outcasts and the freeborns at the village square to publicize and talk to them on the need to embrace oneness and love.
In the first four months, it wasn't easy as the people only listened to Adanna out of courtesy because she was their queen.
Afterwards, the grudgingly accepted her ideas and perspective to cohabitate with the Osucasts because the had no other choice or a concrete way to undo the king's decision and his decree. But gradually with time, they begun loosing up and relating more with the Osucasts.
Eight months down, they didn't need to be further coerce into cooperation. This is due to the obvious fact that they had begun developing genuine love and acceptance for the Osucasts.
The people just couldn't resist loving them after discovering that the Osu individuals were really kind, peaceful, caring and amazing people different from their previous thoughts patterns.
Adanna feels very happy whenever she strolls out and sees the cheerful look on everybody's faces. Now she could barely differentiate between freeborns and Osucasts because everyone was mixed.
She feels proud of herself despite how long it took her to get this good results.
Yes! it may have taken about a year and six months of consistency, determination, long talks and kind gestures towards the Osucasts to successfully pulled through yet she is very glad that her efforts all paid off.
She's glad that at the end of everything she had gotten the people to reciprocate the same acts of kindness mixed with genuine love and acceptance towards the set of people the termed unclean.
Sadly, even though Adanna accomplished her vision of ensuring that everyone was living in peaceful coexistence without discrimination, she wasn't completely fulfilled as a woman.
It is actually for two reasons; first is that after she married Obinna, she has not set her eyes on Emeka. The last news she heard about him is that he left for the city with his mother and had promised never to returned to this village again.
To be honest, it still hurts Adanna that she had to sacrifice her affection and martial choice for this vision to come through, and that she had to lose the man that truly owns her heart.
To matters worst for her, she is yet to give King Obinna any child or at least an heir who will take over the throne after his demise.
It's true that Adanna does not have any iota of feelings for prince Obinna but that will not hinder her from performing her wifely duties which of course includes childbearing.
And as a devoted wife, she is trying her best in the bedroom but still there's no signs of pregnancy forth coming.
Eyebrows are slowly rising and the queen mother is already beginning to ask her questions. Adanna knows that it is only a matter of time before she will begin to behave awkward towards her.
This takes Adanna's mind back to the day her father took her to meet the native man who he claims will break the blood oath binding her and Emeka.
Tried as man did on that fateful day he could not break the blood covenant, instead the consequences of madness or death on Adanna was only subdued for a period of at least three years.
This actually means that the blood oath isn't completely broken and somehow Adanna has this strange feeling that her childlessness is likely linked to it.
Adanna sighed as she lifted her eyes towards the sky and unconsciously blurted out in a low tone; Oh the gods! What would become of me right now...?
No doubt she is feeling very scared. Her thoughts is wondering what would become of her when the queen mother eventually begins mounting pressure on her to give the royal family an heir...?
Adanna's mind is wondering on what King Obinna's reaction will be when the truth leaks out about her oath with her past lover, which might consequentially be the cause of them not having any child after two years in marriage.
She is also wondering what exactly would become her fate when the three years eventually comes off without Emeka and her reuniting,
which at the moment it is completely impossible since she's married and to the king of the land for that matter.
This is the point whereby she is boldly admitting that she's in a crossroad and doesn't know what to do anymore.
Right now, it feels more to Adanna like she escaped the shackles of tradition and fell into
another harder shackle.
(Do not take credit or Plagiarize AMAH'S HEART stories)
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