Amaeke was a poor, old widow that lived in the countryside of the city of Antoshi. She lived alone in a hut that was a little far removed from her neighbours. Looking at her, you would be hard pressed to believe that there was a time when she was a desirable, beautiful young woman. But there was. Amaeke was once one of the most beautiful women in Agodi kingdom. Every man, including the prince of Agodi, wanted her to himself but that was a lifetime ago. She fell in love with Banki, the hunter, and there was nothing anyone could do to tear them apart. The prince did everything within his power to woo her, but for the first time in his life, he saw something that he could not have. He was furious at first until he realized that the two lovebirds could not help themselves. He walked away after his best had been done, wishing them well. That too was a lifetime ago. Amaeke married the love of his life and had the babies which both her parents and Banki's parents had blessed them with on their wedding day. But, as life has taught her, things seldom remain the same. Banki became sick just fifteen years after their marriage and died. The war came and claimed her three sons many years after, leaving her all alone.
In spite of everything that had happened to Amaeke, she was still the most cheerful person any person ever met. She was completely aware that life had dealt her a losing hand but she still did not allow herself to get sad. People who knew her often asked her why she was always so happy. Her response was always, "Yes, I know that life has been unlucky for me in this incarnation. But when I think about the gloriousness of my next incarnation, smiles and laughter could hardly allow me to blow to life the fire to warm my meagre supper."
On her good days when she was not feeling any pain from rheumatoid arthritis, she would work for the more affluent members of the community, sometimes cleaning, other times weeding. On bad days when the pain was too much, she worked as a nanny for her neighbours. But no matter what type of day she was having, Amaeke was always happy and maintained a positive disposition.
One day, she had to travel to the next village on their market day to buy wares for her nursing neighbour. As she walked, she hummed and sang different lullabies that she usually sang to the children she cared for. Once in a while, she would stop by the roadside to admire a lone flower or a colourful bird even though she was on a three-hour journey to the market on foot. She finally arrived at the market. Everywhere she went, sellers greeted her cheerfully and offered her great discounts on their products. So it did not take her very long to gather all the things she had come for on her basket which someone helped her to put on her head. Her return trip was slower than the morning trip because of the heavy load she bore.
Amaeke was almost halfway through the return trip when her load began to weigh too heavily on her that she needed to set it down and rest her neck. She looked around but there was no one in sight to help her bring down the load. However, a little far in front was a pile of firewood gathered by someone. The pile was a little bit below her height so she approached it, bent down and lowered her basket onto it. She was relieved after setting down the load and sitting on a tree stump nearby that she soon began to sing melodiously. She sang about the culture of the land, of wars, of dreams, of animals in the animal kingdom. Hidden by leaves and grasses just behind Amaeke was Akan, a little boy.
Akan was from Umunze, three towns after the village which market Amaeke bought the wares she carried. He was nine years old but had seen just about the same level of suffering that Amaeke had suffered in her own life. His parents died when he was four years old due to some unknown disease which made them bloated before it killed them. The town was rife with rumours that they had offended Amadioha, the god of thunder, and therefore was killed by him. Their bodies were not buried according to normal burial rites. Instead, they were carried to the evil forest where their bodies were surrendered to the gods. That was the beginning of Akan's hunger and deprivation. He was abandoned by everyone he knew. It was months before a distant aunt came to his rescue. She had a local catering business in the village and operated a restaurant. Akan did the dishes for her and that was the best time of Akan's life since his parents died, until recently. Money was missing in his aunt's home from time to time and Akan was accused of stealing. He knew it was his aunt's son that stole the money but he dared not accuse him. This culminated in his aunt chasing him out of her house. After many weeks of pleading to be taken back, he gave up and decided that he would walk as far away as the town that had given him nothing but heartaches for as long as he could remember. That was how he came to be in that bush as Amaeke walked home. Akan realized that the old woman might be scared seeing a little boy in the middle of nowhere by that time of day so he hid.
As Amaeke sang, Akan felt the urge to get closer so that he could better hear the song. As he went closer to Amaeke, she stepped on a dry branch of a tree and made a noise which startled Amaeke. She turned around and saw. She smiled. She is not scared at all, he thought.
"Oh, my goodness! Aren't you a cute little thing!" she said as she approached him and pinched him on the right cheek. Akan began to cry. No one had called him cute since the demise of his parents. His cry broke Amaeke's heart and she decided that there was nothing she would not do for him than to see him cry like that again. After a while, he was able to recount his ordeal from his townsmen and how he was determined to move away as far from there as possible. Amaeke pleaded with him to return home to no avail.
"I would ask you to return home with me but I am just a poor old woman and me have nothing to offer you," she said.
"Happiness," Akan said under his breath.
Amaeke thought about it - she was happy but sometimes she did feel lonely. She could not bring herself to leave Akan there, so there was really no choice than to let him follow her. She rolled her old wrapper which she used as a pad to carry the basket and she walked over to the place she had placed the basket. With surprising agility, Akan climbed the pile of wood and lent a hand to her, making it easier for her to carry the basket.
As they walked home, she told him stories about the tortoise and the elephant, about the tortoise and the birds of the sky. She told him about how wonderful her next life was going to be and how the thoughts of that gave her so much happiness that she could not contain herself. Suddenly the trip seemed short and so did the rest of her life. Neither of them ever told the story of how they came into each other's life. Akan took Amaeke's name and was her son until the day she slept and never woke up. In Amaeke's mind, she did not have a choice than to take Akan in but he knew that she was a woman who loved him in every way that a human being could be loved, saved his life in more ways than one, and she did not even have to. Sometimes, Akan found himself wondering if there is such a thing as reincarnation and whether one of his sons or daughters was incarnate of Amaeke. He wondered if the life he provided for them was as good as Amaeke had imagined her next life would be.
Until this day in the Agodi kingdom, the Amaeke family still exists and flourishes. Everyone knows that Amaeke is a feminine name, but not many know the story of how the name came to be.
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