OTHER CHARACTERS NOT IN THE FAMILY TREE PICTURE.
ÀKÀNGBÉ: Ọlátidé's friend.
KÍKẸ́LỌMỌ : Àkàngbé's wife.
ATINÚKẸ́ : Àbẹ̀ní's friend.
OLÓRÍAWO: the king's herbalist.
FÁBÍYÌÍ , AWÓKÚNLÉ: other herbalists in the play.
JAGUN, Ẹ̀Ẹ̀KẸRIN, ALÁSÀ, Ọ̀TÚN,AJÍRỌ́BA, AMÒFIN MỌ́GÀJÍ: chiefs.
KÉBÉ:the king's messenger.
ỌLÁWÙMÍ: Kòkúmọ́'s friend.
AJÉLABÍ:businessman.
FỌLÁKẸ́ : Ọ̀tún's wife.
WÚRÀỌLÁ: Jagun's wife.
................................
THE PLOT
ACT 1
SCENE 1 : Àbẹ̀ní visits her 30-year-old son, Ọlátidé, and advises him to get married and give her a grandchild.
SCENE 2: When his friend, Àkàngbé (who is married with children at the same age), later arrives to take him to a beer parlour, he refuses.
SCENE 3: Àkàngbé goes to the beer parlour alone and drinks so much that he misbehaves and is arrested but later released.
ACT 2
SCENE 1: Ọlátidé has married Adénrelé but their first son (Ọlákùlẹ́hìn) dies in infancy.
SCENE 2: Three years later, they are yet to have another child. Ọlátidé vists Awókúnlé , who says Adénrelé will soon get pregnant.
SCENE 3: She has a new baby, whom Àbẹ̀ní names Kòkúmọ́ (" he will not die again").
SCENE 4: At the modest naming ceremony, no alcohol is served so Àkàngbé goes to Ìyá Gbajúmọ̀ ( the beer parlour woman who got him arrested earlier) after eating his food.
ACT 3
SCENE 1: Kòkúmọ́ starts living with Àbẹ̀ní at 3 years of age. At 5 years of age, he starts school at Primary 2 because of his performance at the admission interview.
SCENE 2: Five years later, he is appointed the "Senior Boy" of the school. That same day, he and his friend Ọláwùmí see a purse containing 10 000 naira on the road on their way home. Kòkúmọ́ takes the money to the police station and the owner turns out to be Olorì (= Queen) Adébísí. The king decides to sponsor his education to the university level, have him at the palace and give his parents a house. Queen Adébísí feels it is too much but the king overrules her objection.
SCENE 3: She tells Kòkúmọ́ to wash her children's clothes with his, among other household chores, and must not report to the king. On the 6th day of his arrival, she tells him to stop wasting electricity by reading at night. He replies, " Please, Ma, it's because household chores prevented me from reading in the evening after school hours". Kábíyèsí (= "the king") overhears them and warns her against maltreating the boy.
SCENE 4: Queen Adébísí consults a herbalist (Fábíyìí) to kill Kòkúmọ́ for outshining her children (though he teaches them at home). Fábíyìí gives her a poison to put in his food and a charm that makes whoever steps across it mad till death. After serving the children's food, the king calls Queen Adébísí (who tells the children not to eat before her return). While the other children wait, Adélékè (the crown prince) gets impatient, eats the wrong food and dies. Queen Adébísí steps across the charm while rushing back and runs mad.
Some chiefs suspect Kòkúmọ́ until Olóríawo consults the oracle and reveals the queen's atrocities.
ACT 4
SCENE 1: Kòkúmọ́, now a medical doctor, refuses to abort a 3-month pregnancy for Ajísafẹ́ and his girlfriend, Bọ́látitó.
SCENE 2: The king gives his daughter Àsàkẹ́ in marriage to Kòkúmọ́ and the marriage is blessed with children.
SCENE 3: Kòkúmọ́ assembles all the town's herbalists to cure his mother-in-law, Queen Adébísí. Only Fábíyìí is understandably able to cure her and gets the monetary reward. However, robbers ambush him, beat him up and take all the money.
SCENE 4 : The king dies without any surviving son so Kòkúmọ́ is made the new king of Ayéwùmí.
ACT 5
SCENE 1: Kòkúmọ́ consults with his chiefs on ways of moving the town forward. Among other things, he offers free land to any indigene who wants to build a company in the town.
SCENE 2: Ajélabí is the first indigene to come. He wants to build a cocoa-processing company and the king tells him to choose any parcel of land he likes. The land Ajélabí chooses belongs to Jagun , who insists on selling the land or getting some of the bribe he thinks Ajélabí has given the king.
SCENE 3: Jagun plots with Ọ̀tún and Alásà to get Kòkúmọ́ dethroned. He alleges that Kòkúmọ́ has collected a 10 000 naira bribe from Ajélabí and is also having an affair with Ọ̀tún's wife. Ọ̀tún and Alásà refuse to come out as witnesses. Jagun loses his chieftaincy title to Ajélabí.
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