The First Female Ruler of L’Eko by Oluwatofunmi Lawal

The First Female Ruler of L’Eko by Oluwatofunmi Lawal

Retold by Anthonia Oyereyi Ukanah

Long ago, in a far away country, the palace of Oba Akinjobi laid in the beautiful village of L’Eko. A spotless and glorious land, rich in producing.

One bright morning, while the marketers were happily setting up their shelters at the village square to start their activities. Oba Akinjobi, an ancient, brave and spirited man walked through the village, pondering on how the village has flourished through the years of his rule. In a blink of an eye, princess Funmilola joined him.

“Papa, Papa!” called princess Funmilola. She is a dainty young beauty with long blonde hair woven into a pony tail which is known as ‘suku’ amongst the Yoruba’s. “What’s wrong?” asked princess Funmilola pulling at the king.

“Nothing my dear, just the village and how it has prospered,” replied the king.

Princess Funmilola immediately changed the subject to her performance in the university. Her father was proud of her but did not show it as usual.

Princess Funmilola knew something was wrong even though her father did not betray his inner feelings, they continued their walk back to the palace. At the gate they met Baba Mofe, one of the king’s workers. He also knew something was troubling the king. “What is wrong?” asked Baba Mofe, the king refused to say a word but simply strode pass him.

The king felt the need to tell his wife, Olori Semipe about his difficulty. So as soon as he got to the palace, he called out to her “Please come over.”

She walked in the direction he was walking in, wondering what the matter was. The king led her to a tree and sat under and started to discuss all his issues with her.

Oba Akinjobi clearing his throat began “Dear, I am getting old and need to assign prince Kunle my only son to the throne, we have to think of what to do,” said Oba Akinjobi.

“I will be untruthful if I tell you I have not been thinking about that for the reason that, my son’s lifestyle worries me a lot.”

“AHA! I have come up with an idea, you should consult Baba the old wise one in the village, I assure you he will know what to do.”

The king did as his wife had said. He called for Baba, the old wise one in the village.

After a lot of consultation Baba said that the king should hold a programme titled ‘The trials of Prince Kunle’,

In this programme, he will be tested mentally and emotionally,” said Baba.

Oba Akinjobi rewarded her with 2 gallons of palm wine, 3 yam tubers for answering his question.

In the midst of all the energetic people in the village lived Iya Mofe, an envious and mischievous woman. She was the wife to Baba Mofe a very obedient person to the royal family, together they had a son called Mofe a very respectful and polite boy.

Iya Mofe thought that being the wife of one of the king’s workers his monthly earnings will be more than enough to buy her expensive charms for her to wear to the village meetings but it wasn’t even enough to get her new pair of sandals.

In spite of her daily outbursts to her husband to get another job he remained loyal and honest to the king.

Iya Mofe had tried in many ways to hurt the king, in spite of jealousy of how the village had prospered but remained unproductive. However, she did not give up on her plan. To bring down Oba Akinjobi, is to remove someone very close to him. Iya Mofe remembered Moyo the palace cook who had told her that Olori Semipe drank at least one cup of milk daily.

She called for Moyo and deceived her by saying “If you put this potion into Olori’s glass of milk, she will love the ladies of L’Eko and even do their biddings.”

“Are you sure it won’t hurt Olori in anyway?” asked Moyo.

“Of course, I’m sure do you think my level of intelligence is low!” exclaimed Iya Mofe with a smirk on her face.

The day finally arrived when prince Kunle was to be tested quite ignorant of what the day held for him.

Well Iya Mofe had just given the potion to Moyo to pour into Olori’s glass of milk, Olori Semipe just gobbled everything up in order to get to her son’s test.

First, he was tested emotionally. He was given his favourite meal, Eba and okro, to eat. Just then he saw a woman who was hungry but he simply ate up everything up and teased her and finally gave her the empty bowl to eat.

The last test was graded on his mental skills; he heard five men saying “Oba Akinjobi is getting old and needs to appoint someone to the throne, immediately prince Kunle, called a party to his ascension to the throne.

Disappointed, Oba Akinjobi had no choice but to refer to Baba the old wise one again. But before he left, he gave an instruction that his son should be thrown in jail for embarrassing him.

When he got to Baba, she comforted him and told his guards to leave him alone, just then one of his guards rushed in and told him that Olori Semipe dead.

He rushed back to the palace and rushed to his beloved’s room and only to find his wife’s lifeless body on her bed.

The king wept “Why did you do this to me? how am I supposed to go on without you?!”

After the loss of Olori Semipe, Oba Akinjobi did not pay any attention to the requirements of the village but always looked miserable and lost in thoughts and muttering his wife’s name “Semipe, Semipe Semipe, Semipeooo.”

The king called for Mama, the old wise one in the village, one more time. After all the advice and suggestions, Oba Akinjobi decided to test princess Funmilola the exact same way he tested prince Kunle, but she did the exact opposite of what prince Kunle did.

Princess Funmilola showed empathy on the hungry woman and gave her all the portions to eat.

When she heard her father had limited time on the throne, she fled to her room and mourned bitterly.

The king was so happy when he had found his ascendant to the throne and that night he slept with a smile on his face and never woke up and that threw the whole village into total madness.

The princess was outdone with grief because she had lost her parents in a period of 1 month.

The whole world had fallen just right on her and to make it worse some elderly men came to her room to get her ready for her coronation “Princess, please come and get ready for your coronation.”

“WHAT CORONATION!” yelled princess Funmilola, “I do not care about being the ruler all I want is my parents.” Some women walked in and comforted the princess to be tough.

The day finally arrived when princess Funmilola was to be coronated. The halls were nicely decorated with balloons and colourful streamers. People came from far and near to attend this jubilant event. On the other hand, the princess had a lot of struggle getting ready but she had to get over the terrible deaths of her parents.

As princess Funmilola walked in to the hall, all eyes fixed on her as she wore a heavily adorned buba and iro, with a choker made from marbles and a pair of high resoled shoes. As she strode down the hall majestically, she saw her parents seating on the aisle and Oba Akinjobi saying “Thank you for making me proud.”  The princess shook her head and came out of her dream world and said “It’s all a vision in my head.”

It was a jubilant occasion. Moyo, who was enjoying the occasion, did not care of what people would say as she fell down in front of the queen and confessed, she had killed Olori Semipe, “YOU DID WHAT?” cried the princess as the palace guards surrounded her and got hold of her arms. As Iya Mofe was trying to escape, she shouted “IT WAS IYA MOFE THAT GAVE ME THE POISON TO KILL OLORI SEMIPE!” the guards took hold of Iya Mofe and took her to prison.

Princess Funmilola was heartbroken to hear that Moyo and Iya Mofe had killed her mother she was taken to the inner room of the palace to be supported.

Later in the afternoon princess Funmilola decided to go to the prison, when she got there, she asked the guards to release her brother. Again, she told the guards that she had exiled Iya Mofe and Moyo from the land and that they should release them and the guards should follow them till they are far away from to land. She secured their lives but did not want them in her kingdom.

Anthonia Oyereyi Ukanah is an 8-year-old pupil of The Rock Montessori School. This piece is her submission for the Jordan Hill September 2019 Writing Challenge.