Iremma, who had proven unbendable at first, was shedding crocodile tears, begging to be forgiven, but it was late. In Umudi, it was said: “Never get into a case with umuada or else you will see your ears with your eyes.” No one was greater than them in the clan. Their journey from Umudi to Oseke took them the whole day, because they were slow in movement and made brief stopovers in many places to gossip. Men and women, who were on their way to the farm and market, saw them and stayed off and only looked behind after. They were not supposed to ask questions. Already, they knew why it was that way. The day had been dedicated to that. They neither ate nor drank. One did not eat with anger in the heart. They made her know that even though she had boasted that she was an ada, that the wood in each clan served the clan. She was not a daughter of Umudi and so must do what the daughters asked her, or else she would go back to be married to her brothers. It was said that when a man married, it was no longer a personal affair; it became a family matter. A wife didn’t belong to the man only. She was purely a clan’s property. They also told her that any Umudi daughter married to Oseke, who behaved as she had done, should be punished without mercy.
On reaching Oseke that evening, they met her parents well. As soon as they saw her with sad and weary company, they guessed what had happened and asked no question.
“Our in-law, we mean no harm, but we have returned your daughter to you. We gave her a whole farming season and half to stay with you, after which she would come and ask for forgiveness. If she wishes and behaves well, she remains our wife, but if she does not, we would not want to set our eyes on her again,” said Ugene the eldest and leader, while others nodded.
The old man listened silently to the end and then said with some relief, “I am not surprised my in-laws. A man of my age should not deceive himself in telling you a lie. It is something I know would someday become a reality. The words of our elders are like a planted seed. It soon germinates and sprouts. Now it has sprouted at its time. Iguru River and Idem never mixed. I know they could not make a match. You were never a good woman. A woman like you that married the best of all husbands, into a good home where you were needed and cared for, where you were pampered like an egg, could never respect herself and the family you come from. You messed up with your many troubles. Stream said that it is because it has nobody to direct it as it goes in a zigzag way. You grew under a troublesome woman you call your mother. Come home and join me and your mother for a fresh training. Shameless daughter! Remember, you are doing yourself. He is a good man. I could not have spent two nights with you,” he said to her daughter, pointing at her very face.
He was an honest man who had said it all. When a man told where it scratched him, he would not die in pain or shame. He knew his daughter and wife and it would be a basis for her daughter to be considered by her husband’s people to come. If he had taken side with her, it would worsen the whole thing.
His name was Ezindu. He was called that name because of his good life. He was also called Ezeeziokwu as a title because in a land dispute between Okene and Oseke he was the only man from another clan who said the truth about the land that had made the two clans fight each other many times. Okene was his maternal home and Oseke was his paternal home. Those two clans claimed equal ownership of him, but he stood in the gathering of the fourteen ndi ozo of the two clans and said that the land belonged to Okene. The elders all knew the truth, but had been covering it with leaves since it all began. He knew the truth and he was itching to talk when he was denied the opportunity. He hesitated and scratched his head, with more words to say.
“My people, our Okene brothers are my people too. But a man would always go back to the home of his father. We all know that the land belongs to Okene. My father told me this long time ago even before I joined my maternal grandfather in my maternal home when I was still young. Let us stop pretending that we don’t know this. We know it well. Let us save face and time and know that this land belongs to them.”
That was the end of it all. The elders all realised this truth and thanked him for saving them from what would have happened to their children if they had continued laying claim to that land.
It took them a long time to establish peace again with Oseke clan as they had fought over that land and it was not possible to see each other in a bad face.
The daughters all thanked the old man after his speech and left after accepting his pleadings that they would allow her home as soon as she changed.