Believe Yields Love
One day, a pregnant woman went to fetch water from the stream. After filling her pot with water, she wanted to lift it up and place it on her shoulder. She found out that because of the advanced nature of her pregnancy, she could no longer lift up the heavy pot without assistance and there was nobody nearby to help her. However, as she prayed for help to arrive, one man surfaced from the woods. “Good man of the farm,” she called, “please help me lift this pot to my shoulder. The baby within has weakened my strength.” “Okay, I'll help you, beautiful woman of the stream,” the man said, and lifted it on his shoulder, he asked her to show him the way. “You don't need to take it home for me,” she exclaimed. “No, no, I can't stand to watch a pregnant woman carry this heavy pot on her shoulder,” the man said. She chuckled and led the way to her home. After getting home, the husband thanked the man and offered him some tubers of yam, but he refused and said, “only if you could grant me something else as an appreciation”. “And what is that my dear friend, I'll love to give it out,” said the husband. “If you give birth to a baby girl, you will let my son marry her; if you give birth to a baby boy, you will let my son befriend him,” the man said. The husband smiles looking at his wife and simply prays that she should deliver her baby safely. After some days, the man turned up at the house to visit the couple. He also seized the opportunity to introduce his son to the woman, hoping that, as earlier discussed, the son would marry the baby if it turned out to be a girl and would befriend the baby if it turns out to be a boy. After some months, the woman gave birth to a baby girl. Unfortunately, it was an abnormal child, the body was like that of a monkey, so hairy. All the same, the man decided that since he had earlier given an undertaking, it must be fulfilled. And so, when the girls and his son came of age, they got married and moved to his house. His wife being a monkey like woman, the farmer's son decided that before leaving the house for his farm, he would lock her inside the compound of his house to avoid her being harassed by neighbors and rascally minded children. But each time he returned from the farm, he found that food had been prepared for him and that water also had been placed on a bowl for him to bathe. This happened every time he went to the farm. The young man was frightened as he had no other person in the house. He does not allow the wife to do any chore, he always takes care of her and make sure she is doing well. He complained to the father about the happenings when he gets back from farm, his father ignored him and later drove him away from his house. The immediate neighbor of the young man was an old woman. One day, as the boy sat under a tree, sad over the affairs of his marriage, the old woman invited him and asked him what the matter was. He narrated his story. As it turned out, the old woman had been witnessing all that had been happening in his house each time he left for the farm. The monkey, according to the old woman, usually turned into a human being to do all the domestic work each time the boy went out. “What you can do to resolve the mystery,” the old woman said, “is to take a day off from the farm. Let her believe you have gone to the farm, then come to my place and hide. When she turns into a normal girl to do her cooking, you will serve by yourself.” “I take your advice, ma. Let us carry out the plan tomorrow.” The following day at the old woman's house, both of them took cover to watch the monkey's strange transformation into a beautiful lady. They watched as she did all the housework. She looked very attractive in her perfect human form. No longer able, at a point, to simply behold her from his hiding place, the young man scaled the fence and put up a surprising appearance. The girl was scared stiff and wanted to revert to her monkey nature. Alas! It was too late. The boy had taken hold of her hand and had started to sing and plead with her not to be a monkey again. As she wept and wept, “I can't explain how it always happen, when I am alone, I would transform into a human, but immediately I hear a human voice, my body turns back to monkey nature,” she said while weeping. The boy held her, telling her not to feel guilty about whatever she had done to him as a monkey. “The important thing is that, in spite of what has happened in the past, we can henceforth live happily as husband and wife.”