Stars of the Long Night. Tanure Ojaide

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      Stars of the Long Night

      Malthouse African Fiction

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      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]

      [email protected]

      Tel:[phone]

      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

The Heritage of Tales

PART ONE Dynasties of Men

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

       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)

The Heritage of Tales

      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