Monologue From The Masque Of Ozue's Attacks
AVIARA a pilgrims tale
OTHUKE OMINIABOHS PROLOGUE
Third Month of the full moon, 1578
The roads were hungry, and they burnt with a peculiar thirst. Beneath his feet, Ozue felt the unmistakable, preternatural clamour for pandemonium and chaos. He moved swiftly through narrow bush paths, without the mortal encumbrances or dread that should have made his feet to falter. His kills, three antelopes and a boar were slung across his broad shoulders like trophies. The blood from their wounds had caked on his back, attracting a horde of noisy green flies and a trail of hungry forest ants that quickly devoured the flies felled by each swat of his big hands.
He moved on with purposeful strides, his footfalls echoing behind him like thunder …show more content…
By the time he glimpsed pinpricks of light from paraffin lamps, dusk had fallen. He walked faster. The earth groaned and rumbled in his wake. All around him arose the thin wail of insects, filling the air with chirps, screeches and croaks.
He stepped into his kingdom amid great cheering. Having heard his footfalls from a mile away, the women swept the ground he walked upon with palm fronds and the men chanted his countless praises and titles. They gave him a wide berth, a hallowed distance in reverence of his greatness. He was a god. They were but mere mortals in his …show more content…
He thanked the women for their songs and set off in a trot for the village square. The villagers bowed in greeting wherever he turned: mothers cooking outside their huts, knees planted on the ground, heads turned almost upside down in smoke, fanning the firewood with their breaths; children bathing in clusters beneath the night sky, scooping water with their hands from clay pots and pouring it over their heads in infectious exhilaration; men seated ponderously on low chairs, few paces from the cooking fire, staring vacantly at the dying day; maidens with song on their lips, clay pots balanced precariously on their heads as they got back from the stream. He returned their greetings, sometimes stopping to inquire about a household member. He knew them all, even by their
OTHUKE OMINIABOHS PROLOGUE
Third Month of the full moon, 1578
The roads were hungry, and they burnt with a peculiar thirst. Beneath his feet, Ozue felt the unmistakable, preternatural clamour for pandemonium and chaos. He moved swiftly through narrow bush paths, without the mortal encumbrances or dread that should have made his feet to falter. His kills, three antelopes and a boar were slung across his broad shoulders like trophies. The blood from their wounds had caked on his back, attracting a horde of noisy green flies and a trail of hungry forest ants that quickly devoured the flies felled by each swat of his big hands.
He moved on with purposeful strides, his footfalls echoing behind him like thunder …show more content…
By the time he glimpsed pinpricks of light from paraffin lamps, dusk had fallen. He walked faster. The earth groaned and rumbled in his wake. All around him arose the thin wail of insects, filling the air with chirps, screeches and croaks.
He stepped into his kingdom amid great cheering. Having heard his footfalls from a mile away, the women swept the ground he walked upon with palm fronds and the men chanted his countless praises and titles. They gave him a wide berth, a hallowed distance in reverence of his greatness. He was a god. They were but mere mortals in his …show more content…
He thanked the women for their songs and set off in a trot for the village square. The villagers bowed in greeting wherever he turned: mothers cooking outside their huts, knees planted on the ground, heads turned almost upside down in smoke, fanning the firewood with their breaths; children bathing in clusters beneath the night sky, scooping water with their hands from clay pots and pouring it over their heads in infectious exhilaration; men seated ponderously on low chairs, few paces from the cooking fire, staring vacantly at the dying day; maidens with song on their lips, clay pots balanced precariously on their heads as they got back from the stream. He returned their greetings, sometimes stopping to inquire about a household member. He knew them all, even by their