FEAST OF THE TORTOISE:Complete Story

Barely twelve days to the expiration of thirty days deadline given to Rumeda to appease the goddess of the dark ocean or risk her destruction alongside the Island of Zebulon, Fabius, her husband is yet to meet the conditions given by the three Wise Sisters from the East for the survival of Rumeda and the said Island.
His destiny helper, Menem, contacted a man-spirit popularly called the White Witch Wanderer, who hailed from the West side of the kingdom, about two and a half days journey from the East where they went to consult the witches.
The White Witch Wanderer is reputed for excellent relationship with the goddess of the Red Sea who is always at war with the goddess of the Dark Ocean. Menem had to wait for three more days for his return from his routine visit to his wife in the Red Sea. This heightened Fabius concerns for his embattled Wife who had become so emaciated to a near-skeleton due to deep thoughts for her life.
Rumeda had gone for days without food because the last meal was exhausted a few hours before their departure from the East.
The White Witch Wanderer finally returned to meet his guestS waiting anxiously for him.
He too was equally anxious to know why they had waited patiently that long when he was told that his guests had waited for three days already. Menem wasted no time in letting the cat out of the bag. He told his host what brought them and offered him fabulous amount of money but the man-spirit declined the offer, suggesting rather to be given another two days to see the possibility of getting through with their demands.
The White Witch Wanderer departed back to the Red Sea and organized a feast for the tortoise in the Sea, quite a significant number attended the feast. He told the tortoise that he had just wedded another wife on the land in
addition to the one in the sea. Tortoise brought gift items to him in great number to the extent that he had no place to keep them. The White Witch requested the help of some tortoise to escort him with some gift items to his home in the land. About ten tortoises accepted the request and were very excited about it. The male tortoise could not leave their families behind so they gave out their daughters to help the White Witch on his request.
The following day, they set out for the
journey and eventually arrived the home of the White Witch Wanderer wLth the items carried. These included some pounds of gold and precious stones which the tortoises hid in their hard shell to keep them away from public glare. When they finally arrived the home of the White Witch, it was another moment of ecstasy by the tortoise for the opportunity to visit the land in their life time. In that moment of joy, the tortoise drank to the point that they could not speculate with their senses any longer and the Seven of them were bound and handed over to Fabius and Menem for homeward bound.
Fabius returned with great joy even though it was about seven days left for the appeasement ritual, he was' at least happy that there waş hope in sight. Menem and Fabius armived the Island of Zebulon two days after and headed straight to the anxious expectation of his father-in,law in the King's Palace. The King had met with his Council of Chiefs a day carlier and decided that, rather than have the whole Kingdom deştroyed by the wild dark ocean goddess her only daughter, Rumeda will have to pay the supreme price:As Fabius entered the King's Palace, everybody appeared physically waned by the stripes of death starring on their faces.A great number of people had fled the kingdom for fear of being caught in the web of the impending doom.
The king on sighting Fabius, his son-in-law and Menem said he battle to save Rumeda is rued, the kingdom must be saved, the Council of Chiets had decided. This is a lesson for lousy
people.Hold your peace your Highness! The kingdom and Rumeda will be saved" Fabius said with confident, Fabius looked at Menem expecting a word but Menem hesitated rather, he signaled Fabius with head like the nodding of a lizard appreciating itself Fabius understood and quickly brought out seven female tortoises bound and put them before the king.The king was amazed and quickly summoned all the High Chiefs in the kingdom to the Palace.
Discussions went on smoothly as people were exCited about the hope of redemption With just three days left, the Chiefs demanded that the resolutions of their last meeting with
His Highness be implemented to the letter, to be at the sate side in case the goddess rejects the offer of seven tortoises, They ordered the Chief Priest to prepare Rumeda by carrying out
Spiritual cleansing at the purification river for onward delivery, to the goddes before attempting to appease the goddess of the dark Ocean.This, is to,ensure that they don't take undue dances which they believed, could spell doom for the kingdom.

The king acceded to the request of the Chiefs as Fabius and Menem watched helplessly seeing Rumeda being led away like a sheep to the slaughter. The Priest prepared Rumeda and tied her beside two giant trees at the popular
Polar Creek where sacrifices are usually made to the godess of the dark ocean. Menem was three metres close to where Rumeda was tied through the night till the following day.
Barely twenty four hours left to save her life, the Priest left to the King's Palace to take seven tortoises which Fabius brought. The king also added other items such as a heifer as demanded by the goddess and high scented powder which are usually used to appease the godess of the river. The Priest headed straight to where Rumeda was tied to a stake, he brought out the items one after the other and kept chanting incantations. As he spoke on, there was a great turmoil on the water; the wave was as if it was going to push everybody into the water. People were terrified including the Chiefs because the magnitude of the wave and storm were never witnessed before in the history of the kingdom's existence. As the wave tumbled the water, a giant creature emerged from the middle of the water and made its way to where Rumeda was tied. The monster had a complete human face, breast and two hands. But from the waist, it was snaKe with multiple colours. As she came close to the Priest, she looked hungry and tasty. She moved her mouth as if she was chewing with it, her deep red tongue came out at intervals to clean her lips. Her teeth were as sharp as the lion's teeth. She turned her face through the direction where Rumeda was tied and fixed her eyes steadily on her. As she moved closer to Rumeda, the Priest said: The beautiful goddess of the Dark Ocean; So beautiful than anything else in the world.
Your sparkling eyes adorn your golden face To put us on the pathways of enduring wealth.
Show us mercy from the breast ofa mother To avert wailing that may lead to another.
Behold the gifts from inhabitants of Zebulon Hear the cry of the Priest and the penitents And show pity on the pale weary girl.
Save the Island of Zebulon from public outcry.
We've been together in countless ages past.
And shared the bounties of our commonwealth.
Goddess of the formidable Dark Ocean
Grace! Peace! And Love!"
As the priest finished his prayers, he brought iut seven live tortoises from his old straw bag and dangled betore the monster. The monsterdevoured them one after the other to the delight of the on-looking crowd. The blood of the young female tortoises could be seen rolled from the mouth of the monster to the water. The heifer was also strangulated and consumed.
At the end, the Priest brought out a white face towel to the goddess messenger to wipe her face: At the end of the ritual, she poured powder all over her body except her lower part which was enmeshed in the water. She turned her face away from Rumeda and backed the crowd. A pole of darkness came out from the middle of the ocean, very far from where the ritual took place. All eyes could see it as the black pole stood for about five minutes. A sign to confim that, the sacrifices were accepted by the goddess. As the black pole disappeared, a heavy storm and swift-moving wind enupted like volcano. The monster zoomed away in the midst of the stom while the erowd went into wild celebration as Rumeda was untied and led home amidst drumming and singing.

The End

Thanks for reading and checking my blog post