THE OZIDI SAGA OF NIGERIA: PART THREE

FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE. FOR PART TWO CLICK HERE.

PART THREE: When we left off, our hero Ozidi the Younger had just finished slaying the first of his father’s murderers and Ozidi reminded his mentally unfit uncle, King Temugedege, that he is having to take care of the family business that he is incapable of. When all of the killers of Ozidi the Elder have been dealt with, his father’s spirit will be free from the deadlands limbo in which it currently dwells. 

Azezabife the Half Man (also called Kemepara), another of his father’s murderers, is the next to confront Ozidi. The narrative makes it clear that despite his bluster and his graphic description of the way he intends to kill our hero, Azezabife is frightened deep down.   

This figure is called the Half Man because one half of his body is normal while the other half is hideous and monstrous. Azezabife was spawned by the deadlands and in that limbo there is another of him whose body is human on the half where the living Azezafife is monstrous and vice versa.

The Half Man puts up a very long fight against Ozidi despite our hero having the strength of ten men and – thanks to his sorceress grandmother Oreame – an arsenal of weapons in his intestines that he can draw from his mouth to use in battle. As usual, chief among those weapons is his sword made out of lightning.

Azezabife comes close to overcoming Ozidi but – as will be the pattern in these clashes with his father’s killers – just when things seem hopeless our hero pulls another one of his mystic weapons from his mouth and winds up winning the fight and killing his opponent.

Ozidi then returns to King Temugedege’s spacious home and brags to his grandmother Oreame and his mother Orea about his deed. Another part of the formula is the post-battle demeaning of King Temugedege for failing to have dealt with his brother Ozidi the Elder’s murderers himself.

Next, our main character faces another of the killers – Ogueren the Giant of Twenty Limbs. He is twice as tall as ordinary men (or taller, depending on the version) and does indeed have twenty limbs – two legs and nine pairs of arms.

In each of his hands Ogueren wields a weapon. Outside of participating in the murder of Ozidi the Elder, Ogueren has committed no villainy and has indeed been a war hero and monster slayer for the people of Orua. Unfortunately, his role in that murder means either he or Ozidi the Younger must slay the other.

The formula is followed – Ogueren the Giant of Twenty Limbs comes close to killing Ozidi but our hero recovers and wins this battle to the death. Then it’s back to King Temugedege’s home to brag to his mother and grandmother and then to upbraid his uncle over his inadequacy. 

I ‘LL PICK UP NEXT TIME WITH THE CONTINUATION OF THIS EPIC MYTH FROM AFRICA.