Lahat ng Kabanata ng Shading Black: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

Echi was from Umuolu, a village filled with people whose ancestors were mainly immigrants from Afam. The first settlers in Umuolu probably gave the village its name because of their indulgence in productive activities, which has led many to become farmers, woodcarvers, and hunters.The people of Umuolu were known to have war with many of the neighboring villages, and they usually came back victoriously with the spoils gotten from the raided villages. They sometimes came with girls, which they captured to ease the sexual desire of the men who went for the war. This brutal display of power by Umuolu through war, made the fear of Umuolu spread through the villages which had not been raided. Those villages came together in a meeting and decided that five girls should be given to Umuolu every new yam festival so that the warriors of Umuolu would not attack their villages and destroy it. This idea was welcomed by the people of Umuolu, especially the men who saw it as a me

On the path that led to Isiewu’s shrine, their ears were constantly disturbed by the sound of whistling insects that communicated to their folks as they joyfully whizzed through the air. “We will soon get there,” Echi assured her in a low voice. The morning breeze blew and was accompanied by a rumbling sound. Olanna pressed her wrapper tighter around her body to shield herself from the cold that was steadily gaining entrance into the soft body that Echi caressed every night. They kept on walking and passed two men. “Excuse me,” one of the men beckoned them with a lively tone. “Do you know the road to Umuolu?” “You are already in Umuolu,” Echi replied. The men chatted with Echi for a brief period. They asked him a lot of questions about Umuolu before bidding him goodbye. “Who are they looking for?&rdq

The sun rose as morning pulled its way through the darkness. Echi got up as soon as the first ray of light hit his eyes. He turned to check if Olanna was still on the bamboo bed. He grinned. She was still there with her eyes closed tightly, like a memorial corpse.“We will be late for the sacrifice if you don’t get up from this bed,” Echi said.Olanna got up with a wry smile. She greeted Echi with the sweetest voice he had ever heard. When he spoke about the sacrifice, she did not refuse or complain. Instead, she prepared a cold bath for him to his astonishment. After he finished taking his bath, he rubbed his body with palm kernel oil and watched as the liquid rose and fell on his body. His happiness increased when Olanna prepared his favorite food, bitter leaf soup, and fufu.After the meal, he washed his hands and stuck a chewing stick in his mouth. He took a short walk to the backyard to observe the yams he had planted some mont

The news of Echi’s short display of insanity spread through the village, and Olanna was the first to admit it after a bitter argument with a neighbour that ended with her calling him a fool. Neighbours came in groups, so did relatives. One after the other, they asked about his mental state, they asked whether he was chasing a naked spirit with palm fronds or he had been visited by a lover who he had broken her heart with his treachery before his marriage. Olanna declared all of them false. She called them lies that were formed by her husband’s enemies to desecrate the name he had made for himself in the village. What annoyed her the most was the way the people she called his friends twisted words to fit their hate for her husband. A hate she had just discovered now. She also had her share of the hate too. There were rumours flying everywhere in clusters. Rumours that his short-lived madness was caused by her witchcraft, and this false rumor transpired among those she called her frie

Isiewu came in at midnight when Echi and Olanna were already fast asleep. His eyes were wide like a night cat, and his lips were tightly pressed together as he studied the moon through the small window in Echi’s hut and smiled. It was the right time for the sacrifice.“Which sacrifice?” Echi had asked when Isiewu told them that they should prepare themselves for an atonement sacrifice.“We need to do an atonement sacrifice to the spirits hovering around you,” Isiewu replied.“Can’t the sacrifice wait for tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Must it be done this night?”Echi and Olanna awakened after Isiewu entered their hut.“There is a strange feeling I had that made me return back after I had left. The gods told me that your life will be in danger if we don’t do the sacrifice this night. We have to do this sacrifice right now,” Isiewu said.Outside the hut, Isiewu grabbed a female