Face to face with loss & a special kind of resurrection
There once lived a young man called Okeny. All his six sisters had been married off, leaving Okeny with only his parents. Occasionally, he showed interest in some girls but Okeny had no desire in a long-term relationship.
One morning, Okeny’s mother went to the garden. She spent hours weeding her food crops until late afternoon. Before she left for home, she harvested green leafy vegetables and caught two grasshoppers. At home, she placed the vegetables in the sun to dry. As soon as Okeny saw the grasshoppers, he picked them, roasted and ate them. His mother, after realizing what his son had done, demanded for the insects back.
“Okeny, you don’t provide me any kind of help here but had the guts to eat my grasshoppers!” she complained. “I’m fed up with you. You should get married so that your wife can help me around the house. I’m dying of fatigue, cooking food for you every day. I want my grasshoppers back.”
Everyone tried to convince Okeny’s mother to forgive her son for eating the insects without her permission but she wouldn’t relent. For several days, she kept asking her son for the insects. Okeny went into the bushes and caught grasshoppers but on all the three attempts, she refused them. His mother insisted she wanted the very ones that Okeny ate.
***
The rescue team split into two groups. One group carried Okeny and set off with him to his aunt’s home…Despite his aunt’s care, Okeny died a few days later…
One day, Okeny came up with a plan: “Mother, since you have refused the grasshoppers I have brought for you, I will bring you a special gift,” he said.
He went into the house, picked his spears and shield and left for the jungle. He walked for a long time, hunting for animals. Eventually, Okeny came upon a herd of buffalos. He spotted the biggest one and aimed his spear at it. The buffalo wrestled Okeny before it dropped dead.
With a big wound in his chest, Okeny crawled until he reached a shade, sat and leaned against the tree trunk. For two days, he endured immense pain from his bleeding wound. Okeny got worried that he would die. Then, a thought occurred to him that a bird could actually deliver a message home.
He started calling different kinds of birds to see if any could sing and become his messenger. First, came the Babbler. It sang: I drop everything down, I drop everything down. The song made no sense. Okeny called the Dove: kuri ki dudu, kuri ki dudu. Next came the Owl and it sang utu tu tu, utu tu tu. The Woodpecker also came by: tel tel tel tel. Okeny was frustrated. He had called all the birds he knew and none of them could compose a song about his pain. Eventually, a special bird flew by and began singing:
Rititi rititi Okeny is a good man
Rititi rititi Okeny is a good man
The death that killed Okeny
is death from a wild animal
Rititi rititi all because of a grasshopper
Okeny was excited.
“You are the bird I have been looking for. Please fly to the homestead where people are dancing. Once there, sing the exact song you just sang to me.”
The bird flew and before long, it arrived at an arena filled with people. It sat on the drum anchor and began singing. When Okeny’s nephew heard the bird sing, he stopped, turned and saw it. He called for silence.
“Stop beating the drum,” he ordered. The bird continued singing:
Rititi rititi Okeny is a good man
Rititi rititi Okeny is a good man
The death that killed Okeny
is death from a wild animal
Rititi rititi all because of a grasshopper
When everyone heard the bird, they stopped dancing. Majority broke out in wails and started running to their homes, thinking that the bird had delivered a death announcement.
A few others picked up spears and set off for the jungle. The bird led the way, singing and hopping from one tree to the next until they saw Okeny slumped against the tree trunk. His pulse was weak and was close to losing consciousness. When Okeny saw his people, he made a wish: “Don’t take me back to my parents. I want to go live with my aunt.”
The rescue team split into two groups. One group carried Okeny and set off with him to his aunt’s home. The second group began slaughtering the slain buffalo before carrying the meat home.
Despite his aunt’s care, Okeny died a few days later.
***
Okeny was buried in his aunt’s courtyard. According to custom, a mound of sand, encircled by stones, was piled on his grave. Months later, grass started growing on Okeny’s grave, followed by African Spider Herb—the popular Akeyo vegetables. Okeny’s aunt was happy when she saw her favorite vegetables.
“Let me harvest these Akeyo from my son’s grave and cook it,” she said.
She plucked the greens, spread them on the sun and later cut them into small bits. Once she had washed them, she put the greens in a pot. However, when she poured water onto the greens, the water immediately turned bloody. She left the greens on the hearth to cook anyway, and continued with other chores. When she returned later to check the food, even the green vegetables had turned red. She carried the pot off the hearth and placed it in a corner. The next day, the bloody soup had clotted. She covered the pot and left it for two more days. On checking, the food had turned into a fetus. It kept growing and growing until it was a young man.
Okeny had come back to life.
***
Okeny began asking his aunt about all the people he once knew. “How is so and so?” His aunt would give him all the updates. After some days, Okeny asked his aunt to invite his best friend home. His aunt obliged but Okeny’s friend was hesitant.
“Why are you inviting me to your home? Don’t you know that seeing Okeny’s grave will make me start grieving him afresh?”
The aunt tried all possible ways to convince Okeny’s friend to say yes. Eventually, he grudgingly accepted. When he entered the house, Okeny emerged from the inner room. His friend couldn’t believe his eyes. But once his initial shock had faded, the two reunited with a long embrace. There was so much joy and laughter. His friend stayed with Okeny for a few days.
“Is the girl I used to like still unmarried?” Okeny asked one day.
“Very much so,” his friend said.
Okeny asked his friend to convince the girl to come and see him. But when she was told about going to the home of Okeny’s aunt, she said no. “I cannot come with you. If I see Okeny’s grave, my heart will break all over again.”
With time, Okeny’s friend convinced the girl. When she saw Okeny, she nearly lost her mind. But once she had accepted that Okeny was truly alive, she cut the cloth she had tied around her waist and head as she mourned him. She took a long shower and dressed up nicely. The joy of knowing that the man she loved was back, overwhelmed her.
***
Okeny and his friend brainstormed about the next step to take. After days of deliberation, they decided to organize a dance ceremony. They sent invitations far and wide. When the day arrived, Okeny and his friend wore similar attire—a big head gear made of long white feathers. They each held a spear and on their arms, armlets shone and rattled.
They waited until the arena was full before coming out of the house. Everyone who saw Okeny froze in shock. The dance came to a stop, but once realization had sank in, even those who were just standing by, began dancing. Joy was visible on every face. Joy was palpable in every footstep. With his animal gems horn, Okeny sang the song that the special bird delivered for his rescue:
Rititi rititi Okeny is a good man
Rititi rititi Okeny is a good man
The death that killed Okeny
is death from a wild animal
Rititi rititi all because of a grasshopper
News about Okeny’s resurrection travelled quickly across hills. His mother on getting the news ran to the arena. But upon seeing her son, she ran mad. Okeny disowned her, saying he didn’t want anything to do with her.
“Even if I meet her, I will not acknowledge her as my mother,” he said, as his mother was helped back to her home.
Okeny’s father and sisters slaughtered a cow, invited everyone to celebrate his resurrection. Not long after, Okeny got married to the girl who was the first to see him back to life.
***
NOTE: The Ododo Series is a project launched in April 2020 to translate, document and share Acoli folktales in English. These folktales were narrated to children by (grand) mothers in a fireplace setting in homesteads of the Acoli of Northern Uganda and elsewhere. Care has been taken to stick to the story-line as originally told in the Acoli language, but small variations are inevitable.
***
Edited by Caroline Ayugi
Journeys Within 