Iv. The Sacrifice Of M'orimi
Sacred-Texts Africa Index Previous Next
p. 35
Iv. The Sacrifice Of Mrimi.1
\"Arba continues:"
Obo I have told you of the days
When Odudwa and Orsha fought;
But of the times of peace our annals hold
Strange legends also... Now in the age when mirth
And Odudwa reigned, grief ever-growing
Befell Great Mrimi, the wife of skilled
Mrimi
has no
sons, Oblufon--for while his lesser wives
Proudly bore many sons unto their lord,
A daughter only, young Adton,
Was granted to his queen. And as the years
Lagged by, a strangeness which he always seemed
To keep in hiding chequered the fair day
With doubtings, and waylaid her in the paths
Of her fond nightly dreams. Once with the Spring,
She saw the clustered tree-tops breaking into leaf
Copper and red and every green, and she
Remembered how beneath the new year's buds
It was ordained by Peregn 'Gbo, lord
Of uninhabitable woods that Life
p. 36
Should spring from Forest, and Life from Life,--till all
The Woods were gladdened with the voice of beasts
And birds--and thus she reasoned: "Is it not told
How Peregn 'Gbo1 spoke, and from the womb
Of Forest leaped the sloth that laughs by night?
How 'mid the boughs the sloth brought forth the ape
That bore the leopard? And did not Peregn
Watch o'er the birth of young Ornmila,
And ever, when the morrow's sorrowing dawn
Must yield up to the leaguing fiends the child's
Fair life, did not the watchful God send down
His messenger to stay the grasping hand
Of Death? Thus do the Gods; and surely one
Will give me sons. Ah! whom must I appease?"
She
consults
fa:
Quick with new hope Great Mrimi sought out
A priest of fa2 in his court yard dim,
Where from each beam and smoke-grimed pillar hung
The charms the wise man set to guard his home,
His wives and children from the ills contrived
p. 37
By the bad spirits. To her gift she whispered,
And laid it on Okpll; and the priest
Seizing the charm of fa said: "Okpll,
To you the woe of Mrimi is known;
You only can reveal its secret cause,
Its unknown cure!" Then he laid down the charm
And ffun Knran stood before them. The face
Of fa's priest was troubled, and he said:
Who tells
her to
sacrifice
her
daughter.
"Mrimi, this is the message of my lord
fa: a son, nay many sons, you long for.
You have a daughter, and your husband's love
Was yours. The Gods would give you many sons,
But in your path stands shu, the Undoer,
Whose shrine calls out for blood, for sacrifice:
Adton." Without hope Mrimi
Went forth, and loathing of the ways of the Gods
Possessed her--while indignation fed her love
Of her one child....
The months passed by: Moons came,
And in the smiles of happier wives she read
A mockery; Moons faded from the sky,
And grief and her Adton remained
Companions of her hours. At last she cried:
"But sons l asked for; I will go again
p. 38
And pray for sons and my Adton.
The last word is not yet. Olkun's tide
Has ebbed: will it not flow again?"
Yet hope
She
consults
fa again.
Went not with Mrimi to the dark court
Of fa's priest; and when a torch disclosed
The self-same bode of sorrow in the dusk--
To her drear home Great Mrimi fled back
In terror of the deed which love commanded,
And love condemned.... Silently in the night
di advises
her to act
on fa's
message.
Came di, the Perverter, the smooth of tongue,
Who with his guileful reasoning compels
To conscious sin: "The forms of messengers
Reveal the thoughts of fa, and the ears
Of fa, the God-Messenger, have heard
The far-off, thundrous voice. Would you hold back?
Is not the birth of Nations the first law
Armf gave? Can any wife withstand
His will, or maid stern gun's call?1 To-day
Is yours, oh, mother of great kings that shall be:
The green shoots greet the Spring-rain and forget
The barren months, and Mrimi shall know
Her grief and her reproach no more." Then doubt
p. 39
Seized Mrimi but still she answered; "Will Gods
Not give? Is the grim World a morning market
Where they drive bargains with the folk they made?
Are babes as bangles which Oblufon
Fashions to barter?" But di answered her:
"But once Armf spoke to Odudwa,
And with what heavy hearts the Gods went forth
From Heaven's valleys to the blackness! Now thrice,1
Thrice to the woman Mrimi the word
Has come--with promise of the World's desire:
Not every wife is chosen for the mother
Of a house of kings. And think!--Oblufon!"
Then di, the Perverter, hid his form
In darkness; and with the dawn a young girl lay
The death
of Adton.
On the Undoer shu's altar--while
The lazy blue of early morning smoke
Crept up the pass between the hills.
Next
Footnotes
p. 35
1 See Note VI on Mrimi's sacrifice.
p. 36
1 See Note XI on Peregn 'Gbo.
2 See Note XII on the divination of fa.
p. 38
1 gun kills unmarried girls of marriageable age.
p. 39
1 According to the legend, Mrimi consulted fa three times before acting on his advice.
from israel pilgrimage rome sanctuary unknown| church grail hidden holy