Babida the lumberjack and his two associates Uncle Bibi and the young maiden Suzie headed back to the military camp in Okunde's garden as the first sun rays of the new day shone stronger.
"Here you are safer!" The woodsman said to his two companions.
"Last night, because of that Witch of bad luck, you couldn't have some rest. Neither could I. I had to wake up in the middle of the night, for I was having a vision that you were in danger and needed my help. Anyway, now it's over. Let's forget it and find a spot where we can sleep without disturbance," the woodsman suggested.
"Well, under this palm tree would be perfect, wouldn't it?" Uncle Bibi answered while showing the direction of the shelter with the index finger of his right hand.
They trekked toward the palmea and stopped under its refreshing green branches.
The young Miss Suzie, who was already half asleep, removed her brown sandals, hastened to the soft lawn, and immediately snoozed.
As for Babida the lumberjack, he laid his herculean steel ax beside the palm tree, then sat upright on the grass and leaned on the trunk before shutting his exhausted eyes.
Whereas the middle-aged Uncle Bibi remained awake for a while. He walked around the tree and contemplated the singing birds on top of the branches. Their sweet morning melodies appeased him and even reminded him of the time he was a little boy in the imperial city Ekule and enjoyed the robins' chorus with a girl he was in love with.
"Ama, Ama, Ama! Oh Ama, how I remember my young age with you in our hometown Ekule and how I terribly miss you dear. My first love, wherever you are now, I simply wish you happiness! Hopefully, one day, we will meet again," Uncle Bibi magnificently sang the song over and over again as the birds kept on playing their music.
And when finally the robins' opera reached its apotheosis with the rising sun, he took off his fedora hat and slippers, and like his companions, lay down on the lawn and napped.
The three adventurers slumbered under the curious watch of some imperial sentinels.
"Behold Babida the lumberjack and his friends. It seems that last night was a rough one," one of the imperial guards declared jokingly.
"Yes indeed. I saw the killer of the Monster of the Forbidden Mountain leaving the barracks precipitously in the middle of the evening while I was outside surveilling," another imperial sentinel stated.
"He came back right after dawn with the elderly man and the young maiden by his sides. I guess there was some sort of issue and now it may be over," the imperial soldier added.
Ahaaaaaaaa
"I should go and rest too, for I stayed awake all night long because of the patrol," he concluded while yawning.
The imperial warrior thereupon turned and went to his military tent.
The day continued nicely and by noon the young Miss Suzie woke up. She glanced at her sides and saw Babida the lumberjack and Uncle Bibi profoundly snoring.
She stretched her hands then slowly rose. She then strolled her eyes around and perceived bush down Okunde's garden.
"There are surely running waters behind those pastures over there," the young maiden Suzie asserted.
She thus began to head toward the green herbs and as she neared them their height seemed to be increasing. After just a small walk, she reached the feet of the plants and there was no way in. So she created a little passage with her hands and went inside the bush.
She walked till the other end of the greenery and when she emerged from it, she saw in front of her a well-maintained stream with pure and calm waters.
"Wow, what a fantastic view!" She exclaimed with great excitement.
”I need to bath inside those mythical waters," the young miss Suzy said in addition.
Away from indiscreet eyes, she undressed and dove into the river. And while she was bathing, the waters sparkled, the fishes danced around her, and the wind blew in slow motion.
Her curly hair gleamed and a group of three yellow butterflies descended from the sky and gravitated upon her head.
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After a few breaststrokes, she came out of the waters, cut some plant leaves to cover her nudity. She looked even more beautiful in those nature-made clothes.
The young maiden Suzie thereafter picked her wax-made blue gown and her scarf of the same material and color, stood at the stream's edge and crouched to wash the garments.
"Hey darling!" Someone yelled behind her.
She was slightly surprised. She looked back and glanced her two companions Babida the lumberjack and Uncle Bibi.
"So all this while, it's here you have been hiding, in Okunde's river!" her uncle said to her.
"Youhou!" The woodsman shouted unexpectedly as he ran toward the stream shores and flipped over the waters before diving deep inside.
"Hey, young man! Not so fast!" Uncle Bibi told the logger then he took off his boubou and sprinted too toward the river.
The elderly man remained only with pants and shamedlessly he jumped over the stream, arms and feet extended with his back turned.
"Supalala!" Uncle Bibi shouted childishly as he dove inside the hot waters.
The young maiden Suzie looked at her companions' ludicrous moment and smiled.
She thereafter uttered to herself : " Look at these two big men playing like toddlers," while shaking her head on the sides as a way to express her astonishment.
Then she remembered she still had laundry to do, so she got back to work. She finished cleaning her clothes and picked up her uncle's own and quickly tidied it up as well.
The woodsman in the meantime got out of the waters as drops rolled down his pumped body.
"How are you, pretty maiden?" He addressed his crush Suzie.
"Fine!" She shyly answered as she leered the logger's massive torso and biceps.
"Youhou!" Uncle Bibi suddenly exclaimed, for he was enjoying his swimming moment.
The middle-aged man continued his breaststrokes, unaware that his howl had just provoked an abrupt end of a just started flirt between the two youngsters.
"Look at my uncle! I had never seen him in this childish state," the young Miss Suzie spoke to Babida the lumberjack who simply giggled.
"Oh, let me hang fast these clothes and hopefully within the next three hours, they would be dry,” the young maiden Suzie declared as she remembered she wasn't done with the laundry.
She hung the outfits on the leaves of the plants and while she doing so Uncle Bibi came out of the water.
"What a replenishing river! I feel like in my twenties," the elderly man confessed joyfully.
He cut a few leaves that he wrapped around his waist and commenced moving them circularly at a slow then rapid pace. The moves were those of the Batang empire's folkloric dance, the Sambasiko.
The young maiden Suzie tried hard to contain herself but when uncle Bibi made his special move by slowing down the waist shake, then pausing and standing immobile before sweeping the floor with his right foot, she laughed out loud till she got a mild stomach ache.
"My Commander, what a terrific performance right there! You're an artistic virtuoso," Babida the lumberjack said, amazed.
"Alright, enough! Uh! Let me take a break now!" Uncle Bibi uttered a bit out of breath before sitting on the green grass.
"Come sit next to me, my children!" The elderly man invited his niece Suzie and the logger, and they swiftly obeyed to his command.
"Fine! Now listen to me with the utmost attention!" Uncle Bibi required from his companions.
He thereupon started recounting them a tale...
"Once upon a time, there was in the imperial city Ekule a twenty-year-old young and strong man. He enrolled in the imperial army and was very proud of it.
However, after a few months of serving His Majesty with great devotion, the gentleman felt very sad, for he was lonely and had no pretty woman by his side.
One day he went on an imperial mission to Okunde and a sunny afternoon like this one, his comrade Radi took him to the river.
Upon their arrival, they found two beautiful sisters of almost the same age as them who were catching little fishes with rattan baskets that they used like nets.
The siblings looked alike, for they were twins. Nonetheless, they had different heights and sizes. One sister was taller and thinner than the other and was courted by the young man's friend, Radi.
The shorter and bigger sister melted the gentleman's heart. He instantly madly fell in love with her and regularly invited her to this stream in the afternoon and they entertained themselves till almost the last sun rays.
One day the young man invited again the shorter and bigger girl but she didn't come over. And as if the spirit of misfortune had plotted against the gentleman, he had chosen that day to propose to her to get married to him.
He was hence disheartened and for days he couldn't sleep at night and hardly ate.
Ultimately his mission in Okunde was over and he returned to his unit in the imperial city Ekule and ever since he never found love again.
That unlucky lover is your old uncle Bibi right here," The middle-aged man almost in tears concluded his story.
The two lovebirds, Babida the lumberjack and the young maiden Suzie looked at a regretful Uncle Bibi and they held him by each of his hands to express their compassion.
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Suddenly the woodsman grasped a familiar sound.
"Wait a minute! Is that a snake noise?" He said as he hastily rose to grab his steel ax.
Frightened, the young Miss Suzie and Uncle Bibi stood up as well and stayed behind Babida the lumberjack.
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
The noise repeated with even more intensity, then a green and nervous mamba about one meter long popped up from the green herbs.
"Oh! Oh! Guys, we are about to have nice snake meat for lunch," the logger exclaimed as he stood face-to-face with the reptile.
And with incredible dexterity and rapidity he beheaded the foe.
"Now, let's make fire and grill this excellent bush meat!" He declared.
"Let me handle that, young man!" Uncle Bibi reacted then collected two stones on the ground.
"Just bring me a few fagots!" He added.
The young maiden Suzie heard her uncle and walked as fast as she could to the other end of the bush. She picked up some dry wood sticks, and came back to the position of her companions.
They joined their efforts and together successfully made fire. Then Suzie took the snake's body to the stream and cleansed and stripped off its skin before returning to the fire to smoke the reptile.
A festive ambiance was therefore created. Babida and uncle Bibi began to sketch funnily Sambasiko moves. The young miss Suzie watched amazed her companions' euphoric moment while roasting the green mamba.
An hour later, the color of the reptile's flesh had changed from white to slightly black and its fine odor sharpened the appetite.
"Hey big men, lunch is ready!" The young Miss Suzie invited her two associates the woodsman and Uncle Bibi to eat.
They therefore interrupted their nonacademic dance and rushed to sit down on the ground so that the young maiden Suzie would serve them. However, for an unknown reason the pretty Miss was taking too much time.
Very hungry and impatient, the two giants rose and met her around the fire to check what was delaying the service. They learned that there was no plate where to put the delicacy. So they helped the beautiful chef find a bunch of wide taro leaves nearby that she used as dishes to serve the hot grilled snake.
"Gentleman, let's get at last started!" The young maiden Suzie boldly declared as she gave the kickoff by pinching some of the animal's flesh and putting the piece in her papillae.
Babida the lumberjack and Uncle Bibi sliced the snake too and savored its combined chicken-fish taste.
In light speed the three companions ate up their repast. They were full and started feeling lazy and drowsy. So they lay on the green grass to digest and rest. They took a nap till they were out of the blue disturbed...
"Comrade, please rise!" An imperial sentinel said while lightly shaking the logger with the right hand.
"Late Governor's aide-de-camp, Polo, is asking for your presence in the administrative headquarters, and right away," he informed.
Babida the lumberjack woke up, as well as the two other companions Uncle Bibi and the young maiden Suzie who heard the imperial messenger. They were invaded by curiosity, they wondered what the henchman Polo had so important to tell.
The three associates thus quickly ran to the river, poured water on their faces, and wore on their clean outfits which had long dried. And without any further due, they followed the imperial guard to the administrative headquarters.