Taboos of Lisa's Stream

Taboos of Lisa’s Stream

The population of Odogbagede had increased to about three thousand seven hundred people, king Adegboyega died in his sleep few weeks after he married a second wife; Lisa became jealous and killed king Adegboyega because she felt he shouldn’t have married another wife when she was there to satisfy his sexual need always.

A new king, Oba Olusegun from the lineage of Adegboyega Adebowale as usual had been installed; and a bigger one storied palace with modern aluminum roofing sheets had been built by the Local Government for the new king. A secondary school was also added to the primary school. They changed the school’s name to: “Adebowale primary and secondary schools, Odogbagede”. Lisa’s stream was still the only source of drinking water in the Community.

There was no other religion except the old tradition of worshipping Lisa, the stream goddess. A new chief priest had been installed from the lineage of the first chief priest. The goddess killed the previous chief priest who wanted to warn teacher Benjamin from following an unknown woman because of love, the intention of the chief priest was to reveal the true identity of the strange woman to the teacher, but the goddess killed him before he could warn the bewitched teacher.

From the history of Odogbagede Community, no one has ever experienced the invasion of mosquitoes in the Community. One particular night, mosquitoes in their millions invaded every home in the Community; no one could sleep a wink throughout that night.

Even the king and the chief priest could not sleep as well that night. King Olusegun summoned an emergency meeting in the morning with his chiefs; every one of them came to that meeting with swollen eyes from lack of adequate sleep, the chief priest was still scratching his body when he walked into the palace. The king watched his chiefs as they came into the palace one by one with tired eyes because of mosquitoes bites; “What could have brought this calamity to this Community, mosquitoes everywhere in millions sucking our blood.” None of the chiefs had a clue of what brought the mosquitoes except the chief priest, and he said; “Modern life of walking with foot wares into the stream brought the mosquitoes my king.” The King and the other chiefs found it difficult to believe that the mere walking into the stream with foot wears could attract mosquitoes. “Oh chief priest, how can going into the stream in slippers attracted millions of mosquitoes into the Community?” One of the chiefs asked with a surprise look on his face.

The king shifted forward on his throne, and asked; “Did the goddess revealed that to you, or you are just guessing?” The chief priest was not surprised about the King’s reaction; and he answered calmly, “Yes my King, Lisa the goddess appeared to me this morning, she told me that some young people came to fetch water at the stream yesterday morning and stepped into the stream with their rubber slippers, instead of removing their slippers at the bank of the stream, they just walked straight into the stream, breaking one of her many taboos. Lisa commanded the mosquitoes into manifestation in order to warn our People not to enter the stream with their foot wears again,” the priest declared.

“How do we stop the mosquitoes from invading our community every night?” The king asked the chief priest. “The goddess is asking for two white goats, two kegs of palm oil, and twelve yards of white linen,” the chief priest said. The king looked expectantly at the other chiefs, waiting for any of them to say something about the demanded items, or raise an objection to the high demands of the stream goddess, when there was no further suggestion or opposition from any of them.

The king then said; “In that case, go and collect equal amount of money from every adult in the Community for the demanded items,” the king ordered the palace clerk. The community news crier was later sent out with a gong to announce the levy which every adult must pay for the sacrifice at the stream. Before the sacrifice was done three days after, no one could sleep at night in Odogbagede Community.

However, peaceful sleep returned back to the Community the very night after Lisa’s stream was appeased with all the demanded items in the morning; all the invading mosquitoes simply disappeared completely from the village. No one could have thought that going into the stream with a pair of slippers could have brought such calamity into the Community.

Many people after the mosquitoes’ attack became very sick with malaria, and they treated themselves with prescribed herbal remedy (Dongoyaro leaves) before they could be cured of malaria fever. Lisa, the stream goddess would not tolerate any unclean behavior in her stream; neither did she have mercy for anyone who transgressed against any of her taboos.

Some years back, a middle aged man was at the stream to wash his clothes, and at a point, he felt a strong urge to empty his bowel, he moved down the stream where his excreta could flow away with the flowing water currents, he stooped down and released his excrement in the flowing stream, and used his left hand to scoop some water to wash his anus clean.

And when he was about to stand up, he felt a sharp pain at the right side of his buttock, he cried out in pain, and he thereafter looked down in the stream to know the source of the sharp pain, and to his horror, he saw a black water snake preparing to strike him again, he quickly jumped out of the stream shouting for help. Many of the people at the stream that day, rushed to his aid, and asked what the problem was; he explained to them what had happened to him. One elderly woman told him to go and report the matter to the chief priest.

The elderly woman assured him that water snakes in Lisa’s stream do not have deadly venom that could kill anyone. The victim doubted what the elderly woman told him, he thought the water-snake’s bite had transferred deadly venom into him that would kill him within an hour if no help came to him. He ran like a mad man all the way from the stream to the chief priest’s house breathlessly.

The man came into the chief priest’s house still shouting for help when he met some people who were also waiting for their turn to consult with the chief priest. The chief priest sympathetically came out to attend to the shouting man urgently in order to calm him down.

He re-assured the hapless man that the water-snake’s bite was not meant to kill the offender, but the water-snake was sent to bite him in order to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to pollute Lisa’s stream. However, the chief priest further explained to him that he must bring two white cocks to perform a spiritual cleansing exercise at the stream within seven days; otherwise, the man will not be able to make love to any woman again for the rest of his life.

What the water-snake passed into him was a poison to kill his libido and not to kill him outright; but the spiritual cleansing would neutralize the non-lethal venom of the water-snake. The victim performed the spiritual cleansing exercise within three days, the man was married to two wives, and he needed his libido if he must remain a husband to his wives.

He did what was necessary and set himself free from the imposed spiritual impotency. The night after the man appeased Lisa; he invited one of his wives into his room, and to his relief; he was able to satisfy his wife sexually two times that night, and his sexual performance was even better than before, because his rod was stronger during the acts!

Another Lisa’s (stream) taboo which was not known to the people of Odogbagede Community was revealed when a young woman of about twenty-one years old came to Lisa’s stream during her menstruation. A woman having her menstruation could come and fetch water at the stream, but the unknown taboo was when a woman with her menstruation swims in the stream.

When this innocent young woman with her monthly blood flow started swimming in Lisa’s stream, the whole stream changed into blood, right from the source of the water! “Ewo! Ewo!” (Taboo, taboo; what brought this blood!) The people shouted. When the whole water changed into blood, everybody, including the offender ran out of the stream; no one could swim or fetch water again. All of them waited at the bank of the stream to observe what was happening.

To the surprise of all the observers, within five minutes after everyone was out of the water, the stream changed back to its normal clean and clear water again. No one at the stream that day knew what caused the sudden change; but they suspected that a serious taboo had been committed; which means, Lisa would ask for sacrifice in due course!

Six months after the bloody incident at the stream, the young woman who was responsible for the taboo at the stream some months earlier, consulted the chief priest for solution to a health problem she was facing. “What brought you here young woman?” The chief priest asked her. “Baba, I have not seen my menstruation for the past five months, the last time I had it was six months ago.” she replied.

“Then you must be pregnant,” the priest said without emotion. “Baba I am not pregnant because I am still a virgin,” she protested with a slight anger in her voice. The chief priest looked at her for few seconds, the chief priest removed the cover from the top of a medium sized earthen pot for about five minutes, clearly in that pot, the priest saw the scene of what happened on the day Lisa’s stream changed into blood water.

The chief priest asked the young lady; “Who are your parents, and are they still in Odogbagede?” “My parents are farmers in this village, and they are still at home when I left the house some minutes ago,” she responded looking worried. “Your affliction was caused by your ignorant of what you should not have done, go and bring your parents to me!” The priest shouted angrily.

The young woman was alarmed because of what the chief priest said, what did she do unknowingly? She asked herself. “This village is full of many mysteries,” she said to no one in particular. The poor young woman practically ran from the priest’s house all the way to her parent’s house panting like a dog. She still met her parents at home, “Daddy, mummy, I am in serious trouble oh,” the young woman lamented.

“What happened?” Her mother cried out. “I don’t know the cause of my ceased menstruation, but the chief priest asked me to bring the two of you fast,” she wailed. Her parents followed the young woman, running and walking all the way to the chief priest’s house. When the parents and the young woman arrived at the priest’s house, they waited for their turn to see him.

The priest pointed his fingers at the mother of the young woman, and said accusingly; “Why did you allow your daughter to swim in Lisa’s stream when she was menstruating?” The mother of the girl spread her hands and shook her head helplessly; “Forgive me chief priest, I don’t even know it was a taboo. We came to this village three years ago, but this taboo is a new one on me,” the mother of the girl said apologetically.

“Your daughter innocently violated one of Queen Lisa’s taboos at the stream, and ignorant of any of these taboos are not acceptable by the stream goddess,” the chief priest declared. “But why is she not menstruating again since that day?” The father of the young lady asked, speaking for the first time. “Her menstruation ceased the moment she swam in the stream when she was having her monthly blood flow,” the chief priest explained. The parents of the young lady opened their mouths wide; and the lady cried bitterly “What can we do in order to restore her monthly menstruation?”

The mother asked. “Your daughter will have to perform a special sacrifice at the source of Lisa’s stream blindfolded, she must do the sacrifice as soon as possible, so that she will not be barren for life,” the chief priest told the parents. “May the gods have pity on us oh,” the father lamented because of the cost of the sacrifice. The parents of the young woman paid dearly for the special sacrifice to free their daughter from barrenness which was the punishment of swimming in the stream with her menstrual flow.

Many people in the Community heard about what happened to the young lady with her menstruation ceased by the stream goddess, and the heavy price the parents of that lady paid for the restoration of her monthly menstruation. Some people said that Lisa was just introducing all kind of taboos in order to receive sacrifice from the people of Odogbagede Community; but Lisa would not tolerate any unclean habit in her stream.

Nobody knows what next to expect from the unpredictable stream goddess every year. Lisa, the stream goddess did not see her hash attitudes towards the people of Odogbagede as over bearing, because she considered everyone, including the King as her slaves. However, God rules in the affairs of men! Lisa, the stream goddess was very powerful; but Supreme Power belongs to the Almighty God who created Satan and demons like Lisa for His purpose.

CHAPTER TEN