What's Myne (Part 1)

Once upon a time, there lived a great man. He was wealthy and powerful and his estate fertile and vast. His lands begun from the banks of a river and continued up stream to form a huge city (his land could be estimated to be almost as big as the present day city of Ibadan).
His was a fair businessman and was good to his tenants. In honor, they called him Baba Igho, meaning father of money.

No other name could best describe him.

Baba Igho had a weakness for praise and beauty this could probably the reason why he continued to get married each time he lost a wife.
He was unfortunate in love.
After he got married, his wife would live only long enough to bare him a child and then fall prey to some mysterious illness, which would take her life.
This happened four times with each woman being more beautiful than the last (Somewhere in Nigeria, persons would conclude that Baba Igho was being “worried from his hometown”).
When the fourth wife died a few weeks after the birth of her child, he decided to retire his ring welding wrist and dedicate the rest of his life to taking care of his children and estate.

The first daughter, he named Kiki her late mother was a princess from a distant land.
Kiki was an egotistical self-serving child.
She never let anyone touch her toys or share in the fruits that her little garden yielded.
The second daughter was Zizi.
Her late mother was rumored to be a marine spirit.
Zizi’s beauty was so enchanting that gazing at her could make a pagan prayerful.
She would spend hours in a day applying beauty products on her skin to make herself more beautiful; she too did not care for anyone but herself.
The third daughter was Mimi.
Her late mother was the child of a warrior.
Mimi was independent and strong to a fault. She fed on power, was unforgiving and was swift to punish anyone who dared to cross her.
The fourth daughter was Baba Igho’s favorite child.
He named her Mine but for peace to reign in the house, he changed her name to Myne.
Myne’s mother was the most unlikely of the four wives. Although she was endowed with grace and beauty, she was the child of a poor healer.
Myne’s modesty and kindness often pushed her to the background and her sisters picked on her.

Years went by and soon Kiki, Zizi, Mimi and Myne became young adults.

Baba Igho decided it was time for his beautiful daughters to get married.

Not one for small measures, he threw a grand party and invited eligible bachelors from around the country. When his guest arrived, he sat on his gold plated throne and proclaimed that his daughters were the fairest in all the country.
He then turned to them and promised that he would give them wonderful husbands based on the love they had for him and asked each of them to come forward one after the other and profess her love.
Kiki spoke first.
Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him and said. “Father! I love you to the moon and back! I will give away all my possessions in exchange for your happiness and health!”
This pleased him.
He gave her a quarter of his lands and married her off to a politician who promised to build a wonderful home for her.
It was Zizi’s turn.
Zizi sat on his laps sang a song and afterward she spoke “my dear father, the love I have for you goes farther than the moon! My beauty can not hold a flame to the light of my love for you. I would gladly adorn myself with rags and bear sores on my beautiful skin in exchange for your prosperity and well being.”
This pleased him.
He gave her a quarter of his land alongside cattle and bags of money. He married her off to the most decorated footballer in the country.
When it was Mimi’s turn to speak, she ran to his feet and burst into tears. When she was done crying, she wiped her face and sat at his feet. “Father” she said. “I have traveled around the world and found none like you. You are the strongest, brightest and bravest of all who I have come across. I love you beyond the reaches of the earth, I love you farther than that and I love you even more. For your sake, I would willingly go into captivity and beg in tears each day if this will make you happy.”
This pleased him very much.
He gave her the third quarter of his lands, cattle, more bags of money and married her off to the most talented musician in the country.
When it was Myne’s turn to speak, he sat up straighter and ordered absolute silence because unlike the rest of his daughters, he knew Myne was the one that truly loved him.
He was excited with the anticipation of the praises she would shower on him and wanted everyone to hear.
Myne walked up to the foot of his throne, gave a curtsy and then stood straight and tall.
With a soft but clear voice she looked straight into his eyes and without blinking said.
“ Dear father, I love you as much as my duties require”.
He gaped in shock and stood up outraged.
“What?!”
He screamed.
“You dare to make a fool of me in the presence of my subjects?”
He ordered the guards to throw her out and banished her from the land.
“All these years, she deceived me”.
A bent old woman passing through the land who was a witness to all that had happened, walked up to asked Baba Igho and asked if she could take Myne back home with her to be a nurse to her sickly child.
Handing her a bag of assorted seeds as payment for her troubles, he washed his hands off Myne and went back to his throne to continue the celebrations...





... to be continued