Ewoye and the Rain

Ewoye and the Rain (Short Story)

In the last village, on the edge of the world —well, the Frenchman says there is more world beyond— there lived a boy named Ewoye. The other boys in the village found him strange. He was always asking questions about the world and nature, or what he called "the Green," that they could not answer. They would often laugh at him. But all that did not matter to Ewoye, because he spent all of his time with Old Bako.

Old Bako was a griot: a musician and storyteller, and to Ewoye, he had all the answers. The stars, the trees, the grasslands, the flowers, the crops, where they all came from, where are the Frenchmen from, who built the five villages, and everything else in the Green could be explained through a story about the spirits, their ancestors, or the legendary hero Endegwe the Builder.

Occasionally, the land of the five villages would have a dry season. But this dry season lasted longer than any usual one, and the elders became worried. This made the grown-ups worried. To the other children, this problem did not really matter at all. But this did make Ewoye confused.

"When will the rain come?" Ewoye would ask his father.

"I do not know. But I hope it does." His father would sigh.

"When will the rain come?" Ewoye would ask his mother.

"After the last four times, I still do not know." His mother would groan.

"When will the rain come?" Ewoye would ask the Frenchmen.

"I not know when come rain. Only Lord know." A Frenchman would say, smile, and point at the sky. This made Ewoye even more confused. It is the gods and spirits who control the rain, why would the lord --the king-- of the center village know?

"When will the rain come?" Ewoye would ask Old Bako.

To which Old Bako would say: "The rain will come when it comes. Now, let me tell you a story." He would place Ewoye down from his shoulders, tune his khalam, pound his drum, and begin.

The first week after the dry season was to have ended, people were worried yet hopeful. Old Bako and Ewoye went to the ovens, for Old Bako needed to make bricks to repair his well. The ovens usually bake bread and yams, but without a new harvest, people wanted to save their stores. Ewoye asked his question, and Old Bako told his tale.

He told the story of how Endegwe built the ovens. The hero had challenged the Water Goddess, so for her first test, she made it rain forever and no one could cook food with fires.

"Oh, how I wish we could have rain forever!" Ewoye interrupted. Bako stopped playing and dancing and glared at him.

"No interrupting!"

"But I've heard this one-"

"Ewoye!"

Endegwe searched far and wide for a dry place to make bricks for a dozen ovens. Eventually, he found a cave where the monster, Ikemba, lived. Ikemba, hairy, with sharp claws and fangs, the size of the tallest tree and the largest hut, roared and challenged Endegwe. The hero grabbed his spear that he always had ready and the two fought, neither could outmatch the other. They reached an agreement: Endegwe could use the cave and build the ovens; however, the food they would produce would only feed the monster. Endegwe agreed, but while he built the ovens, he also built a wall at the entrance of the cave, explaining it needed to block out any rain that would come in. Endegwe would always slip through a small entrance to lay the bricks he would make, and once he was finished, he sealed it. The wall was so strong that the monster could never come out to eat the people's food.

Ewoye knew the story and enjoyed it, but he did not see how it explained the rain. The second week after the dry season was to have ended, people were anxious. Old Bako and Ewoye went to the bridge to fish, but it was so dry they could simply grab the fish from puddles. Ewoye asked his question, and Old Bako told his tale.