17/05/2020
The story that follows is an extract from Shaihu Umar by Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. th story tells of sudden raid.
Happy reading.....
After they we had finished our farm work, we went to a stream and washed ourselves because it was not good to return home that dirty, it was the middle of the rainy season and we worked in a swamped area.
Then we returned to the locust Bean tree that separate, our village and the other villages, we sat down to take a drink of water before going home for it was a long way back to the village, my mother uncovered a Calabash and took out some flour made of corn(MUMU) that's how it is called in our dialect, she added water thus it was better consumable when wet, each of us was giving a portion to have, we little children were given ours in a ladle, we scrapped it out to our mouths with our fingers.
After we had finished, my mother picked me up, put me on her back even as I was a little baby I remember vividly everything that happened, then we set out for the village.
The head of our family was behind with a quiver and bow slung across his shoulders, for the village experienced attacks from a near by Islam village.
And his two younger brothers were in front with their weapons slung. We children and women were in between.
We had hardly left the farm when we had the distant hoof beats of horses in the forest, and people calling out 'To horse, to horse, today your beds shall lie empty'
Not one of us took any notice of what they were saying, but just kept on going. But although no one took any notice, there was not one whose blood did not turn to water. Each of us just kept walking in a daze.
Then we saw in the distance a horseman on a grey horse, clad in chain mail. He set his stallion at us, crying out TODAY YOUR BEDS SHALL LIE EMPTY
On hearing this, the head of the family said, God willing, perchance it's your bed that shall be the loser.
Thanks for reading, watch out tomorrow for the completion of the story.
CLEVER
