Stars of the Long Night
Malthouse African Fiction
Dele Afolabi, Molara's Revenge Zaynab Alkali, The Cowebs and other stories Chukwuemeka Ike To My Husband from Iowa Festus Iyayi Awaiting Court Martial Kris Obodumu Die a Little Tanure Ojaide, God's Medicinemen and other stories Wale Okediran Dreams Die at Twilight Femi Olugbile Batolica!
Stars Of The Long Night
a novel
by
Tanure Ojaide
Malthouse Press Limited
43 Onitana Street, Off Stadium Hotel Road,
Surulere, Lagos, Lagos State
E-mail: malthouse [email protected]
Tel:+234 (0)802 600 3203
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, chemical, thermal, manual or otherwise, without the prior consent in writing of Malthouse Press Limited, Lagos, Nigeria.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade, or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in writing, in any form of binding or cover other than in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
© Tanure Ojaide 2012
First Published 2012
ISBN 978-978-8422-49-5
Distributors:
African Books Collective, Oxford, UK
Contents
11
12
PART II The Moons Between
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
PART III Seven Days
25
26
27
28
29
30
PART IV Festival Moon
31
32
33 The Moon
34
35 The Call
36
37
38
39
40 The Day After and Afterwards
In memory of my Grandmother,
Amreghe,
the Mother Hen
“The elephant does not die of one broken rib.”
(Urhobo proverb)
How many people are sharp-eyed enough to see through the thick clouds covering the distant past? How many others can tell what brought about the big scars they now carry as a badge? Many have even forgotten the wounds that gave rise to their scars. Maybe they had sustained them by accident; or, it could be that someone more powerful than them had inflicted the wounds upon them. How many still know the way they had taken to where they are now settled? Many believe they had been thrust into where they are now by some deity who actively patterned people's lives according to their respective desires. It does not matter to such people whether their forebears had travelled through a perilous road to their current refuge. It does not matter to them what the past did to them. They only want to look ahead. But let such people beware. Where do you go, if you do not know where you are coming from; more so if you are fleeing from somewhere? How much of the present is not conditioned by the past? And what future is not the sum of the past and the present?
Remembrance is a god that is worshiped every moment of the day. The god of memory is a jealous god that asks to be remembered with sacrifices and, in return, makes you remember whatever you have experienced. As the god of memory's favourite, what you saw would never leave you; you would recount every detail of your dreams as if the events were still unfolding before you. Series of events spread before you to see in bright light. The faces you come across once are pictured before you for all times. You keep a mental canvas on which everything you experience is boldly impressed. Once Aridon, the memory god, accepts you as a devotee, you will be blessed with memories. The echo and the sound become one, just as the shadow and the body are one figure.
Remembrance is an experienced guide. It tells you what happened in a particular place at a specific time. Be on your guard! Better be on guard than be taken by surprise. Who is armed with experience of the past will not be ambushed by surprises of the future. Who has been taught lessons knows the virtues of knowledge. How will the earth not know if somebody dies and has to be buried? The storyteller must serve the memory god.
Without memory an endowed people run the risk of losing their virtues and wealth and slipping into vulgarity