THE STORY OF ỌMỌLOKÙN
(PART FOUR)
One night, Ọmọlokùn started asking for something outrageous and Mọ́wùnmí never expected or could afford it. “Mother,” she said in a song form, her voice soft yet determined, “I wish to eat that shining ball in the sky at night.”
Call: “Ìyá, ìyá n ó f’oṣù bọ̀’rùn àjìjà mi
Ìyá, ìyá n ó f’oṣù bọ̀’rùn àjìjà mi
Ọmọ losùn ọmọnidẹ, ọmọ níí sìnsìn fún ni sìn
Response: Ọmọ losùn, ọmọnidẹ
Call: Ọmọ lẹ̀ṣọ́ ayé,
Response: Ọmọ losùn, ọmọnidẹ
Mọ́wùnmí’s heart skipped a beat. She remembered Aroni’s words and knew she had to fulfill every of her daughter’s request. She took her daughter inside, then rushed out to mold wax into a ball and light it like a candle. Then she brought it to her daughter. The daughter looked at it suspiciously and ask if she could see the sky outside if the moon has indeed being plucked out by her mother.
Before Mọ́wùnmí could stop her, she jumped outside to check. Life almost jumped out of the mother too as she knew the consequence of not fulfilling her daughters request. Luckily for the mother, big cloud had covered the moon at that particular time so the girl accepted.
Her next request after few weeks was even more ridiculous. She saw the moon in the sky again at night and asked her mother she wants the new moon. Her mother tried the trick again but this time no cloud to cover the moon in the sky. She had to call a witness that she actually went to heaven’s firmament to cut a piece out of the moon for her. Their neighbor came to bear her witness but Ọmọlokùn was not satisfied. She changed the request. If the wax as the moon is in doubt, this busy-body neighbor can never be in doubt. She started singing:
Call: “Ìyá, ìyá n ó f’odidi ẹni bọ̀’run àjìjà mi
Ìyá, ìyá n ó f’odidi ẹni bọ̀’run àjìjà mi
Ọmọlokùn ọmọnidẹ, ọmọ níí sìnsìn fún ni sìn
Response: Ọmọ lokùn, ọmọnidẹ
Call: Ọmọ lẹ̀ṣọ́ ayé,
Response: Ọmọlokùn, ọmọnidẹ
“I wish to eat a whole human being” was her request!
Ọmọwùnmi looked up at the sky. She remembered the word of wisdom of Aroni the druid. A child that doesn’t want to come to earth should not be forced to come. She gave up. She cannot kill a human being all because she wants to leave a kid behind to inherit her. How many humans will she have to kill to satisfy this insatiable Ọmọlokùn? She denied her beloved daughter the request for the first time with emphatic NO.
Suddenly eerie winds began to blow. The tree that fell years ago and did not hurt her came crashing again and this time crushed Ọmọlokùn to death. As she laid lifeless, the thunder that could not hurt her in the past struck and burned her corpse. That was how Ọmọlokùn returned to heaven and Mọ́wùnmí became childless again.
However, people noticed Mọ́wùnmí was no longer depressed due to her childlessness. When asked, she said Ọmọlokùn may be gone, but the fact that she gave birth to her is enough consolation. She will forever remain Mọ́wùnmí, the mother of Ọmọlokùn.
Few years later, Mọ́wùnmí gave birth to a set of triplets naturally and without force. She named them
Ọmọniyì,
Ọmọlẹ̀yẹ,
Ọmọlàṣẹ̀yìndè.
She was praising Aroni her druid, Aroni was praising Òrìṣà òkè. She said:
Bójú ọmọ pọ́n ni bá ò bí
Ká má fokùn ọ̀ràn fa ọmọ wáyé
A difá fún Mọ́wùnmí tòun ti Àrọ̀nì
Tí wọn ó fokùn fa ọmọ wáyé ní dandan
Ọmọlokùn ọmọnidẹ, ọmọ níí sìnsìn fún ni sìn
Ọmọ tí ó sìn wá, tí ó sin wá là ń fẹ́
Kìí ṣọmọ tí ó jòṣùpá ọwọ́ ò tókè
Èdùmàrè jọ̀wọ́ jẹ́ kọ́mọ rere ó ṣelédè lẹ́hìn ẹni.
Ìyá, ìyá n ó f’eku bọ̀’run àjìjà mi
Ìyá, ìyá n ó f’ẹja bọ̀’run àjìjà mi
Ọmọlokùn ọmọnidẹ, ọmọ níí sìnsìn fún ni sìn
Ọmọlokùn, ọmọnidẹ
Ọmọ lẹ̀ṣọ́ ayé,
Ọmọlokùn, ọmọnidẹ.
The End.
Note:
The story is part of Yorùbá folklore fed into, and reconstructed by AI engine CHATGPT.
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