The Spirit Of The Seventh Sea

   In the days when men adhered strictly to the rules and custom that guided society, there lived a man who was filled with the urge to make a difference. Agbawo believed that he knew more about life than any other man in the society and he went on to raise his family in the manner he thought fit regardless of what societal norms suggested. He encouraged his wife to do things that only men were allowed to do, and encouraged his only son to engage in senior jokes and games even before he was anything close to the required age.

Very soon, his wife was sniffing traditional grinded-tobacco (powdered tobacco), an exclusive pleasure of the men shared only with elderly women who needed to take the herbal powder for medicinal and analgesic purposes such as toothache relief, and extinction of bacteria from the cavities in the head, and a clearer eyesight. His son joined the elders to cross the dreaded seventh sea during major market days. Other members of the society did not appreciate Agbawo's dereliction from stated customs, yet none could say it to his face because he was a very wealthy and powerful man.

One day, when Agbawo was on a trip to a foreign land, his wife took their son with her on her way to a major market across the seventh sea. Other elders in the boat complained that bringing a child along with the merchants on a boat across the seventh sea could mean a bad omen, and may bring some mishap upon the merchant/voyagers. They therefore requested Agbawo's wife to leave the child behind but she refused and rather threatened the complainants' with Agbawo's name and wealth. 

By the time the merchants' boat got to the heart of the sea, Agbawo's wife had already expended her bottle of tobacco. Being an addict, she was in dire need of some tobacco to sniff. Because of the way she treated the other merchant voyagers at the beginning of the trip, none of them agreed to offer Agbawo's wife their tobacco-bottle or a pinch of grounded tobacco to quell her urges. The boat was now midway into the sea and would not turn back, while it was still a long way before they would touch the shore on the other land. 

While other merchants were resting, Agbawo's wife went to an isolated part of the big boat to strike a deal with the spirit of the seventh sea. She could not control her urge any longer. "Dear spirit of the seventh sea," she said. "Please give me a bottle of tobacco and I will give you my child," Agbawo's wife pleaded. The spirit of the seventh sea quickly agreed to the deal. A life for a bottle of tobacco is definitely a good deal, the spirit thought. Agbawo's wife then tossed her sleeping child overboard. "I am a woman, and I can always have another child rather than miss this tobacco," she said to herself.

The spirit of the seventh sea kept its promise and tossed a bottle of tobacco at Agbawo's wife. Quickly, she opened the bottle and sniffed from the supply. "Since I was born, I have never had such sweet tobacco," she said. "If you give me another child, you will get an even better quality," the spirit suggested. "This will do for now," Agbawo's wife replied as she continued to sniff and relish in the wonderful tobacco. 

After she finished enjoying her tobacco, she raised an alarm that her child had drowned by himself. It is said that bitterness does not extend to issues of death. Therefore, the other merchants decided to put their grudges aside and then set up a search party for the dead child. After the spirit had used what it wanted, it gave up the corpse of the child, and the merchants then collected the child's corpse and took it home to Agbawo.

Despite several inquiries by Agbawo as to what happened, his wife kept denying the fact that she had anything to do with the death of their only son. "If I know anything about what killed our child, may the spirits take me," she swore in her attempt to convince Agbawo that she was innocent. After the burial ceremony, Agbawo managed to leave to complete some business he had suspended when he learnt of his son's death. "I will be back this night," Agbawo assured his wife who appeared very touched and disheveled by the loss of their son.

Later that night, the messenger of the spirits came knocking on the door of Agbawo's house. "I will be right there," Agbawo's wife responded as she stepped to the door to answer the door thinking that her husband had returned. She had failed to realize that she signed a long lasting pact with the spirit of the seventh sea when she threw her child overboard and enjoyed the tobacco provided by the spirit at sea. The same spirit had listened to her when she swore to her husband that the spirits should take her if she knew what killed their son. Since the spirit knew that Agbawo's wife knew what happened to their child, it took her for her words and therefore sent its messenger of death to come and bring Agbawo's wife as she had requested when she swore to her husband. 

When Agbawo returned home much later that night, the house was empty. Feeling tired, he slept off as soon as he stepped into the house, thinking that his wife was probably sleeping in their bedroom. The next morning, Agbawo was woken by cries of neighbors who have cited the corpse of his wife at the front door. The messenger of the spirit of the seventh sea had returned the corpse of Agbawo's wife after it had taken what it needed - her life. 

Suddenly, the 'wise' Agbawo had lost his wife and only child all within a day. He was crushed, bitter, and melancholy to say the least. As the crowd gathered, he sat down at the foot of his doorstep to ponder about his world and his life. How did it come to this? 

©Oliver O. Mbamara, 2003