Onisegun – Another Interesting Story

Alake, the queen had a single problem. She was childless. Some called it barrenness, others believed she was among the phantasmal spirits that got incarnated as women. If not, how could she be so beautiful, yet childless? Alake’s barrenness bothered the king to no respite since she was his favourite queen. People recommended the service of Alani to the king, since he was a notable herbalist, the king therefore ordered Alake, the queen to consult Alani, the herbalist for solution to her childlessness.

This bright morning, Alani pondered on the previous day’s visit of the queen to his house. He wondered why so blessed a lady may be suffering from so malignant a blight. Childlessness is considered a terrible disease in those days. Many people considered it as a sign of displeasures of the Gods with any woman, only few people like Alani actually understood that there were many other causes for childlessness apart from the spiritual ones. He felt pity for the woman and a part of his feeling come to surface that he could not immediately name. Alake, he had noticed, was beautiful still; ravishing would have been the appropriate word for her.

She was beautiful, she had always been. With ebony-black complexion and a dainty gap between her frontal set of teeth, Alake could still turn the head of most male youngsters in town despite her many years of marriage. The splendour of her position added a ton to her charm. Alake could set mouths drooling, and when she smile, it would fall on the beholder like blessing from heaven. They had run together in wet rains, played together in dry harmattan, and had shared most of their childhood golden moments together.
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