"The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" by Victor Hugo.

The novel is set in France. 

 In Rheims, Paquette de Chantefleurie gives birth to a pretty baby girl. Then some Gypsies steal her baby and replace it with an ugly baby boy who is a hunchback. They take away the shoe of one leg of the baby and leave the other behind. Paquette goes to Notre-Dame and becomes a recluse known as "Sister Gudule". She curses every Gipsy she sees from the window of her room. She keeps the shoe left behind by the Gypsies. 

The Gypsies rear Paquette's daughter and she becomes the beautiful La Esmeralda. She dresses like a Gipsy, sings and dances beautifully and takes a goat around with her. She also carries her second shoe (taken by the Gypsies when they stole her) around. Meanwhile, the hunchback baby boy is adopted by the archdeacon of Notre-Dame , Claude Frollo, an orphan who has reared up his younger brother, Jehan. The hunchback is named Quasimodo and becomes

the ringer of church bells in Notre-Dame. The noise of the bells make him deaf with time.

 Sister Gudule keeps looking for her daughter and La Esmeralda for her mother. Sister Gudule curses La Esmeralda whenever she sees her, seeing her as a Gipsy.

La Esmeralda has once saved Pierre Gringoire from the gallows by marrying him but wards off his amorous advances with a dagger she always carries ground. She also gives Quasimodo some water to drink when he is pilloried and nobody else is willing to give him water. Quasimodo is eternally grateful to her for this. Her undoing is falling in love with one Captain Phoebus de Châteaupers ,the lover of rich Fleur-de-lys de Gondelaurier. 

While Fleur-de-Lys hates her because of Phoebus, the archdeacon wants her for himself. One day, Phoebus and Esmeralda enter a hotel room but the archdeacon stabs him from behind and everyone thinks she did it . She is sentenced to death by hanging, though Phoebus is not really dead. Quasimodo carries her to a sanctuary, from where the archdeacon and Pierre take her away in a boat. While Pierre is busy with the goat, the archdeacon asks her to choose between accepting his love advances and death by hanging. She defiantly chooses the latter so he takes her to Sister Gudule's cell and goes to call the soldiers. However, Sister Gudule and La Esmeralda get talking and discover they are mother and daughter when the shoes in their hands matched. Sister Gudule quickly changes from her enemy to her protector.  

Sister Gudule will have succeeded in hiding her from the soldiers, if she has not heard Phoebus' voice and shouted his name. Sister Gudule bites the hangman but pays for this with her life. The archdeacon watches Esmeralda's hanging with great pleasure from the top of the church tower. Quasimodo pushes him down from behind and he dies. Quasimodo flees Notre-Dame but his skeleton is found entwined with Esmeralda's 2 years later. Pierre Gringoire saves the goat and Phoebus marries his Fleur-de-lys.

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* "Gipsies" = "Gypsies". Both spellings are correct.

"The Gods are not to blame" by Ola Rotimi

.CHARACTERS.

NARRATOR.

KING ADETUSA = the old king of Kutuje.

QUEEN OJUOLA = his wife.

KING ODEWALE = successor to Adetusa. 

ABERO = Odewale's second wife.

ADEROPO = second son of Adetusa and Ojuola. 

OGUN PRIEST.

BABA FAKUNLE = a soothsayer.

BOY = his escort.

FIRST, SECOND and THIRD CHIEFS.

ALAKA = Odewale's boyhood friend.

GBONKA, OLOJO = messengers to Adetusa.

IYA ABURO = a mad woman.

ROYAL BARD.

ADEWALE, ADEBISI, OYEYEMI, ADEYINKA = King Odewale's children. (The ones mentioned first and 3rd are boys, while the other 2 are girls). 

AKILAPA , BOKINI, LABATA, AGIDI = royal bodyguards. 

Townspeople, Drummers, Royal retainers. 

................................

PROLOGUE: When King Adetusa and Queen Ojuola have their first baby, an Ifa priest (Baba Fakunle) prophesies that the baby will kill his own father and marry his own mother. The baby is given to Gbonka (the king's special messenger) to be taken to the evil grove and killed. Two years later, the king and the queen bear another son, Aderopo ("replacement"). 32 years after that first boy's birth, King Adetusa has met a violent death. Kutuje's neighbours, the people of Ikolu, take advantage of the king's death and attack Kutuje. They kill, seize and enslave many people in Kutuje. 

Odewale , "son of Ogundele from Ijekun Yemoja", hears of their suffering and comes to their aid. He helps them defeat Ikolu into oblivion and is made the king of Kutuje (against their tradition of crowning only natives). He inherits Queen Ojuola (who has 4 children for him). The first 11 years of his reign are blissful.

               ACT 1 

Scene 1: A strange sickness is afflicting and killing many people in Kutuje. While Aderopo is away to Ile-Ife to ask Orunmila the cause of the plague, King Odewale teaches the people how to use herbs. The king also sends Iya Aburo (a lunatic) for treatment and fosters her baby.

Scene 2 : Aderopo delivers the oracle's message, "The land is suffering because King Adetusa's killer is living in peace in your midst!" He offers to bring Baba Fakunle to reveal the killer's identity. Odewale swears by Ogun (the god of iron) to expose the killer, remove his eyes and send him into exile.

         

      ACT 2

 Scene 1 : Aderopo returns with Baba Fakunle (who is now blind). When Baba Fakunle says he has smelt the murderer and turns away without revealing his identity, Odewale accuses him of having been bribed. Baba Fakunle now calls Odewale the murderer and a bedsharer.

Scene 2: Odewale accuses Aderopo of being behind the seer's accusation in order to get the throne from him. Despite all intercessions, he sends Aderopo on exile. ''May my eyes not see Aderopo again till I die!", he swears by Ogun.

Scene 3: Odewale returns from the town to the palace and is greeted by the royal bard.

Scene 4: Odewale refuses to tell Ojuola the cause of his quarrel with Aderopo. He summons the chiefs to a meeting.

            ACT 3 

Scene 1:  

  Alaka, "son of Odediran", Odewale's boyhood friend from Ijekun Yemoja, comes to the palace to see him. "When Odewale left our village 13 years ago, he made me swear not to look for him until both of his parents are dead". Odewale is the "son" of Alaka's master. Odewale tells Alaka," I ran away from Ede (where I said you would find me) because a man died there in my hands. I caught an old man and several other people harvesting yams on my land. He called me a bush man and a thief and told his men (Gbonka and Olojo) to bundle me up. They said the land I bought belongs to the mother of their master. As the other 3 men attacked me, I used incantations to put them to sleep. The old man remained awake and used incantations to get me to drop dead. I used my hoe to strike him dead with a single blow and then ran away from the place in horror. I crossed five rivers before getting to this strange land".

Scene 2: Odewale explains his anger at Aderopo (over Baba Fakunle's comments) to Ojuola. Ojuola said that this same seer : (a) made her kill her first son ; (b) said King Adetusa was killed by one of his own blood. Odewale calls in the chiefs to hear that second part (which seems to vindicate him, as a "stranger" in their midst). The chiefs and Queen Ojuola agree that King Adetusa was killed near Ede (according to an eyewitness account). This reference to Ede makes Odewale uncomfortable (since he also killed a man there) . The eyewitness, Gbonka, is sent for. 

Scene 3: Alaka tells Odewale about his "father's" death in peace. Odewale reveals another past experience. "A man I considered my uncle once called me an impostor. I consulted an oracle which said I would kill my father and marry my mother but said I should stay where I was and not run away. That is why I ran away from home. My father has now died in peace". Alaka now says Ogundele and Mobike are not Odewale's biological parents. Further questioning makes Alaka reveal that he and his master (Ogundele) got Odewale as a baby (wrapped up like a sacrifice to the gods) from Gbonka. Ojuola now knows she has married her son and walks into the bedroom in dismay. 

Scene 4: Gbonka is led into the palace. He doesn't recognise Alaka until Alaka (as a younger man) prods his memory. When Odewale eventually knows his wife is his mother, he goes into the bedroom (where Ojuola has killed herself by pushing a knife into her own womb). Aderopo is sent for and he sees that Odewale has gorged out his own eyes with Ojuola's suicide knife. 

Odewale apologises to Aderopo (who says that is how the gods meant it to happen). Odewale now says," Do not blame the gods. It was my harsh temper that made me kill my father for insulting the tribe I thought was my own. It was that murder that made me run to this land where I married my mother". He tells the chiefs to give Ojuola a befitting burial and then goes into exile with all his children. 

"Oge ré mi fọ́ " by Ògúngbádé Ábìdínì Gbén̄ga

"Oge ré mi fọ́" means "Vanity destroyed me" in Yoruba language. The novel highlights how spoiling a child leads to terrible results in future. However, some children rise above bad parental training and examples and end up well. 

CHAPTER 1 : Ládélé is an indigene of Akẹ́lẹ́mù, near Oyo town in Oyo State. From his Primary 3 days, he has decided to be either a Customs officer or a policeman because of the bribes he would get. He says he will rather use his child for money rituals rather than be poor. His father , Ògúntọ̀míwá, is a renowned herbalist. Ládélé's mother is Ògúntọ̀míwá's favourite wife. Ládélé too becomes a herbalist under his father's tutelage. He has been making charms for criminals before graduating from primary school. He is skilled in soccer and speaks good English. He rejects the pregnancies of 3 of his female customers, who dare not complaint because of his spiritual powers. 

After leaving primary school, he gets into the Police Force. His smartness gets him posted to the office of the Commissioner of Police right after graduating from the police training college. Three months later, his immediate boss (Inspector Adérìntọ́) is dismissed from the force for trying to pervert the course of justice. Ládélé goes scotfree as a subordinate officer, who must obey his bosses' orders without asking questions. His handwriting attracts the attention of the Commissioner, who makes him his confidant and favourite. Ládélé's superiors and many influential people in the society have to befriend and bribe him before getting the Commissioner's favor. He has many girlfriends and 2 children from his 2 wives. He builds 2 bungalows and a 2-storey building. 

Then he meets and falls in love with Músílì , a popular woman selling fabrics to the high and mighty (including the Commissioner of Police). 

CHAPTER 2 : Their love affair is the talk of Ọdẹ́dá and Idi Radio, especially among the police officers. Her earlier lovers back off because of Ládélé's greater wealth and charms. Músílì has 2 children from 2 earlier husbands but insists on a statutory marriage (which makes him divorce his 2 earlier wives) and a lavish traditional wedding (as for a spinster bride). Ládélé doesn't mind the cost (including having to sell off his 2 bungalows) because he will get enough bribe at his office to settle any debt. However, the lavish wedding attracts his senior colleagues' attention and they start monitoring him more closely at work. The police commissioner gets promoted to an AIG while Ládélé is posted out to Múwọnlẹ́rú Police Station. Músílì has 5 children (Bọ́sẹ̀dé , Abíọ́dún and 3 sons, in that order) for Ládélé. 

CHAPTER 3 : Bọ́sẹ̀dé(Músílì 's firstborn child with Ládélé) attends a private primary school owned by Dr Búsàrí Òjó in Ibadan. When Mr Àjàyí canes Bọ́sẹ̀dé for cutting a fellow pupil's skin on the arm with a blade, Músílì alerts the family's standby lawyer (paid a salary even before any legal battle ensues) and goes to the school to beat up the teacher. She then reports to the police. Dr Òjó is out of the country . His second-in-command has to beg many influential people to beg Ládélé and Músílì against getting Mr Àjàyí jailed. Ládélé said they should have asked him to pay the other pupil's hospital expenses instead of caning his child. When she later continues her bad behaviour after the incident, Dr Búsàrí Òjó expels Bọ́sẹ̀dé from his school. Ládélé is angry but his lawyer explains that he has the legal right do so. Ládélé takes Bọ́sẹ̀dé and Abíọ́dún to a private school, where he deposits ₦0.5 million, enough to pay their school fees for 5 years. The new school's staff agree not to cane Ládélé's children for any reason. Bọ́sẹ̀dé acts anyhow but Abíọ́dún is disciplined and often refutes Bọ́sẹ̀dé's lies against the teachers. Even then, Ládélé and his wife insist that the children's tolerance levels differ. Jídé and Kọ́lá are just as spoilt as Bọ́sẹ̀dé and attend the same school with their sisters. The school proprietor rejoices when Bọ́sẹ̀dé graduates and goes to a secondary school. He has merely been tolerating Bọ́sẹ̀dé's excesses because his school is newly-founded and needs money. Ládélé has been sponsoring many of the school's projects. Abíọ́dún is both brilliant and well-mannered.

Ládélé also bribes Bọ́sẹ̀dé's secondary school proprietor into laxity. By JSS 3, Bọ́sẹ̀dé has become a prostitute, drug addict and cultist. She gets pregnant for Abíọ́nà in SSS 1 and has to stop schooling. If not for Abíọ́nà's wealth, Ládélé would have sent him to prison for truncating her education. Bọ́sẹ̀dé herself tells Ládélé not to punish him.

CHAPTER 4: Ládélé throws a lavish

 wedding for Bọ́sẹ̀dé and Abíọ́nà, just before his due retirement. He has sold 2 of his 3 houses to finance his wedding to Músílì decades ago. He is now much poorer and loses his wife's respect and fidelity. Ládélé doesn't have enough money to bribe his sons' way out of going to prison for an offence. Bọ́sẹ̀dé is possessive and wrecks Abíọ́nà's pharmacy business by fighting his female customers. When Bọ́sẹ̀dé gives birth to their first child, she and Músílì compel Abíọ́nà to throw a lavish naming ceremony. Abíọ́nà has to sell off his car. Bọ́sẹ̀dé resumes her adultery and later marries Abídọlá as her second husband. She frustrates Abídọlá's first wife (the mother of his three children) out of his home after getting pregnant for him. She is also hostile to his relatives and friends. After their child Rọ́pò's naming ceremony, she resumes her adultery and later marries Johnson when Abídọlá's business fails. She has a child for Johnson too. Johnson beats her frequently for not stopping her adultery. They eventually part ways.

CHAPTER 5: Bọ́sẹ̀dé decides to live alone in order to get full sexual freedom. When she can't renew her rent, she moves back to her parents' house. She, they and their grandchildren manage Ládélé's little pension. They live together in the upper floor of the building while their tenants fill the lower floor. Bọ́sẹ̀dé continues her prostitution with the aid of charms. Abíọ́dún often comes from her husband's house to warn her to no avail. She is the only good one among Músílì 's children. Her real biological father is a policeman who couldn't afford to drag her paternity with Ládélé. Bọ́sẹ̀dé's parents side her in evil. When Bọ́sẹ̀dé's prostitution business wanes, she turns to buying and reselling stolen clothes. She is caught by the police 2 years later but her father bribes the way for her release. None of her 3 ex-husbands is ready to take her back or cater for their child. Bọ́sẹ̀dé later marries a younger man nicknamed Pàrómà. Pàrómà sells illicit drugs at motor parks and beats her up every other day. It is his way of curing her indiscipline. He rapes her after beating her up at night. His neighbours are too hardened to come to her aid. Wherever she flees to her father's house, Pàrómà would come and beg for her return, only to beat her again. When she eventually refuses to return to his house, he beats her up thrice in her father's house before being warned by the police.

CHAPTER 6: Bọ́sẹ̀dé's ex-husbands doubt her children's paternity and refuse to help her with them. Two of her sons are caught by the police for oil theft. Ládélé fails to secure their release because of the incorruptible police boss. His charms also fail to get them released. Ládélé dies and Músílì follows him to the grave 3 months later. Bọ́sẹ̀dé's sons get life imprisonment. She uses her father's house to get a ₦500,000 loan to bribe her sons' prison warder boss into releasing them. Before the day they are to be released, the prison boss is transferred elsewhere after a prison riot. The new prison boss is incorruptible. Her creditors only allow her to live in one room without collecting any rent from her tenants until she repays the loan. When Abíọ́dún gets wind of the situation and decides to repay the loan, the creditors use charms to get Bọ́sẹ̀dé to sell the house for ₦1 million. They give Bọ́sẹ̀dé only the balance of ₦500,000 because of her unpaid loan. The next day, Pàrómà (Bọ́sẹ̀dé's ex-husband) and his gang rob her of the money and take turns to rape her. It's too late for Abíọ́dún to redeem the house.  

CHAPTER 7: Bọ́sẹ̀dé's creditors rent a room for her near her father's house and pay 3 years' rent. She uses cosmetics and skin bleaching to enhance her prostitution business. She sells alcoholic drinks at a motor park, where she meets men of her age. Bleaching creams give her skin different colours yet she can't stop because of the withdrawal symptoms (e.g. skin itching). Her offensive body odour (caused by bleaching) chases her customers away and ends her prostitution and alcohol businesses. She then turns to illegal mining of gold, silver, etc. On her way to the mining site one day, her vehicle collides with a trailer. All the passengers survive with serious injuries and need to have their skins stitched. Bleaching has weakened Bọ́sẹ̀dé's skin so she doesn't survive the surgery (unlike all the other passengers). Her last words were," Vanity destroyed me. It made me sell off my father's house, bleach my skin, sell my body,..."

¤

When shall we reap what we sow?

Galatians 6:7 says, "Whatever a person is sowing, this he will also reap" . WHEN will this 

occur? Is it occurring already?

In 2 of Jesus' parables, we read that (a) fine seeds can be eaten up by birds, scorched by the sun, choked by thorns, etc ; (b) weeds can be oversowed among fine seeds by the enemy (Matthew 13: 1-9, 24-30) . The sower was not the one who planted the weeds, was he? 

We are living in an age when the weeds and the wheat are allowed to grow together until the harvest time (when the weeds will be uprooted and burned and the wheat will be collected into the storehouse)-Matthew 13: 30,36-43. In this present system of things, bad things sometimes happen to good people (Psalm 34:19 ; John 16:33) , while good things sometimes happen to bad people (Psalm 73: 1-18). (a) Rebekah was barren for 20 years, despite getting married as a virgin (Genesis 24:15-16 ;25:20-26). (b) Joseph (who was missing for more than 13 years) was not a Yahoo boy (Genesis 37:2-35 ; 41:46 ; 47 : 9). (c) Job was the most righteous human being of his day, yet he suffered many calamities. He lost all his ten children the same day, just as disobedient Eli lost all his two children and his daughter-in-law the same day (1 Samuel 3:10-19 & 4:18-22 ; Job 1:1-3,8,18-22). While Eli's daughter-in-law was survived by a son (1 Samuel 4: 18-22), Job's ten children (whose conduct could not be faulted even by Satan) all died childless. Job's boils (which resembled a wicked person's punishment at Deuteronomy 28:35) made his friends to conclude that he must have sinned secretly to attract God's wrath (Job 2:7 ; 4:7,8 ; 22: 5-11). His brothers and sisters turned away from him (Job 19:13) and came back only after God restored him (Job 42: 10,11). Though God gave Job and his wife a new set of 10 children, their first set of children were not restored to life [Job 42:12-17]. (d) The baby boys killed by Pharaoh [Exodus 1:22] and by Herod (Matthew 2:16-18) were innocent. (e) Jesus Christ said that the man born blind was innocent (as were his parents) (John 9:1-3) and that some Israelites killed by Pilate and by a falling tower were not worse sinners than other people (Luke 13:1-5). (f) Abel, the first murder victim, is still waiting for justice (Genesis 4: 1-12). (g) God did not remove Paul's "thorn in the flesh" (2 Corinthians 12: 7-9).

Not every calamity is caused by humans (e.g. witches and wizards). Satan killed Job's children and struck him with boils without human help (Job 1: 12, 16-19]. Job did not eye any other woman apart from his wife (Job 31:1 , 9 - 11) , so there was no stepmother to suspect.

On the other hand, Asaph was almost stumbled by the prosperity of the wicked until he discerned their future (Psalm 73: 1-19).

Therefore, don't be quick to judge anyone who is suffering as wicked. Just "rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15). You can't be sure whether they are being punished by God (for sin) or by Satan (as a trial permitted by God, as in Job's case). Don't rejoice when your enemy falls, or God will be displeased with you and stop the punishment (Proverbs 24: 17-18). "Speak consolingly to those who are depressed" (1 Thessalonians 5:14). 

Since life is unpredictably brief, always "prepare to meet your God" (Amos 4:12). Be (and remain) on God's side (Ezekiel 18:24 ; Matthew 24:13). Dead people are unconscious (Psalm 146: 3-4 ; Ecclesiastes 9 : 5,10) and therefore unable to repent before the Judgement (2 Corinthians 5:10 ; Hebrews 9:27). 

______________________________________________

The real home-breaker

Joyce could vouch for her husband's fidelity (even when he gave excuses of busy and exacting office schedules as reasons for his late nights and frequent travels) until she received a text message on her phone. The message read : " You don't know me, but I just want to inform you that I'm no longer dating your husband, Steve. ... I now know that what we did was wrong. I'm sorry for any pain I may have caused you. Do forgive me".

When Steve returned from work that night, Joyce confronted him about the text message, but he denied it vehemently. Joyce would not stop there. She wanted to get to the bottom of the matter so she demanded to go through his phone logs, messages and contacts, raising her obviously exasperated voice at him. Irked by his wife's effrontery, Steve lost his cool, accused her of nagging and ingratitude, picked up a few of his clothes and stormed out of the house, not knowing she was 2 weeks pregnant with their second child.

He didn't return until 9 months later , when she had lost the baby after a Caesarean section due to pregnancy complications. They eventually reconciled, after paying a steep price for not settling their dispute  amicably as the Bible commands.   

1. The Bible says at Luke 17:1 , "It is impossible for offences not to come". However, we should not retaliate when offended (Romans 12: 17 - 19). Resolve your differences as outlined in Matthew 18:15-18. Forgive your offender, even if there is no apology (Ephesians 4:32 ; Psalm 103 : 10,12 ; Romans 5: 8-11 ; Matthew 18:35). Try to avoid offending others and seek their forgiveness if you have offended them already( Acts 24:16 ; Romans  14 ; Hebrews 12:14).

2. Steve's other woman did a lot of damage to his marriage with that text message. She was probably dumped and deliberately wanted to crash  his marriage in retaliation. Otherwise, why confess to the WIFE? A bitter ex can do more damage to a marriage than a current mistress who "hides her head". 

Some socio-economic tips

1. If circumstances do not allow you to help people , just make sure you don't harm them. Jesus Christ did not blame the 5 wise virgins for not rendering self-harming help to the foolish virgins (Matthew 25: 1-12).

2. There is a limit to human help (2 Kings 6:26-27 ; Psalm 49:7-9) . Even the biological parents of an only child will not be able to help him rear up his 4 children, 16 grandchildren, 64 great-grandchildren, etc. 

3. Don't distract people from facing their own battles. Neither try to profiteer from other people's problems. Don't dump your children's upkeep on someone who is childless or has lost a child. They will see you as the architect of their problems. Nowadays, most childless women battle fibroids, etc and can't afford to shoulder the upkeep of other people's children as well. 

4. Don't have more children than you can handle alone (in case of divorce or widowhood , and even to enjoy your marriage ) . Even God directly created only 2 people (and left the remaining production to us, via reproduction). Having many children even increases a woman's risk of developing placenta previa, cervical cancer, etc. There is a medium in all things. 

5. Extensive farming (along with attending public schools) can help large families to survive. Labour is a factor of production. That's how our forefathers survived in the olden days. 

6. Yorùbá people say :(a)"Òrìṣà jẹ́ n pé méjì obìnrin kò dénú"( Deep down, no woman wants her husband to have another wife) ; (b) "Ẹní bímọ fún'ni kúrò l'álè ẹni" (the mother of your child is more than a side chick or mistress). Therefore, don't let any woman see (or know) you as her rival, or your child as her stepchild. That's how not to be a home-breaker.

7. No cheating husband can commit maternity fraud against a woman. A woman can always tell her own child apart from a stepchild. That is nature's compensation for the labour pains. Remember this biological advantage when tempted to cheat back or fight other women over a man.

8. A mistress has only herself and her children to feed most of the time, since the man visits her only occasionally while his friends and relatives have no business with her. She can therefore afford to be less financially demanding than the wife (who needs an adequate Entertainment Allowance in order to be a good wife, stepmother, daughter-in-law, etc). Greater work should attract greater pay.

9. All financial transactions (even between relatives and fellow believers) should be properly documented. Read Jeremiah 32: 6-12.

May God bless all our well-wishers and make the plans of the wicked against us backfire on them. Amen.

 

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Like a computer-based test (CBT), life is a series of customized "questions" (or trials). You may face trials previously unknown to those in your family, neighbourhood,etc. You may get into trouble for doing what other people had gotten away with.

"Past questions" (other people's earlier experiences) alone are often not enough to get by. You have to read very widely and think deeply. Life has no curriculum, syllabus or exam time-table. You may face questions on PRONOUN before knowing what a NOUN is. You may face SIMULTANEOUS EQUATIONS before LINEAR EQUATIONS , or INTEGRATION before DIFFERENTIATION. This is because "the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one" (1 John 5: 19).  

Therefore, face your problems squarely and don't distract others from facing theirs. Your "questions" are unique. It is sheer wickedness to push your responsibilities to others (and sheer folly to accept such responsibilities). "No dog is ferocious enough to guard two houses successfully", says a Yoruba proverb. A good swimmer should direct others from a safe distance. If they all hang on to him (instead of learning to swim), both he and they will drown. 

When the 5 wise virgins were unable to share their oil, they directed the 5 foolish virgins to the sellers of oil (Matthew 25: 1-12). When Moses' own mother was unable to hide him at home beyond 3 months of age, she placed him in a water-proof basket over the River Nile. God moved Pharaoh's daughter to adopt (rather than kill) him (Exodus 2: 1- 10). Know your limits. "Too much luggage breaks a plantain stem", says another Yoruba proverb. 

"Abẹ́ Ààbò" by Akínwùmí Ìṣọ̀lá

The play discusses how false prophets prey on gullible people. 

SCENE 1 : John and Maria are both devoted Christians. At the beginning of this scene, Maria rebukes Janet for singing worldly songs. John can be extreme at times. He blames Sunday's teachers for teaching them about Jesus' conversion of water to wine (John 2: 1-11), instead of the dangers of drunkenness (Proverbs 20:1). Jimoh is John's younger half-brother who has converted to Islam from their common Christian background. He lives with them and often twists John's words in jest, but John can't eject him from their father's house. He also smokes and drinks.

SCENE 2: Jeremiah (a prophet) and Solomon (his deputy) come to John's house to rent 2 rooms. They have bought a neighbouring plot of land to build their church and claim that God led them specifically to John's house. Jimoh objects to their tenancy. "In this 4-room house, you and your wife use 1 room, your children use the second, the third is the store and guest room, while I use the 4th room. When I get married, my wife will use the guest room. We are each entitled to 2 rooms. Don't cheat me". Nevertheless, John lets out the guest room and the prophet move in the next day. 

SCENE 3: A month later, John complains about Maria's watery soup. She reminds him that he hasn't increased the housekeeping money despite offering free meals to the prophet and his entourage. They also pay no rent. John says she should continue the free feeding and that he will put up with any inconvenience because of God. 

SCENE 4: Jeremiah complains to Michael (a more experienced false prophet) about inadequate offerings, an unfriendly neighbour,etc. Michael decides to take him to a herbalist the next day. Jeremiah's wife (Abigail) is in Ilesa and he wants to pretend to be single and make Janet his second wife. One of Jeremiah's church members has bribed him to select his (the member's) choice on the list of suitors his daughter will bring. The daughter is unhappy and Jeremiah consoles her that prayer may reverse the situation. He hopes to lure her to his bed. 

SCENE 5: While the prophets are with the herbalist, Jimoh watches them from the window and overhears their conversation. Jimoh enters the herbalist's house after their exit. They both discuss the hypocrisy of some prophets . Jeremiah and Michael have obtained crowd-pulling, self-defence, drop-dead and womanising charms.   

SCENE 6: Oluwole (Janet's fiance) tells Jimoh about her reduced interest in him. Jimoh reveals she is now very close to the prophet. They plot to catch him red-handed and report him to John. They see Janet and Jeremiah coming from church and decide to hide in Jimoh's room. Jeremiah plays with Janet's hair before trying to drag her by force into his room. At this point, Jimoh and Oluwole come out and beat Jeremiah. When John arrives, Jeremiah denies the seduction attempt and Janet supports him. Jimoh calls Jeremiah a "prophet with charms", in an aside.

SCENE 7: Michael visits Jeremiah and promises to get him a charm that will make people forget his misdeeds. Jeremiah says Maria has come to him to solve her secondary infertility problem and he has invited her for a 3-day spiritual retreat (Abẹ́ ààbò) in the church's uncompleted building. Jimoh overhears this before he and Oluwole enter the house. They sing mocking songs in Jeremiah's hearing . For example, they use the tune of "Christian, seek not yet repose" to sing "Wòlíì, jọ̀ọ́ lọ ọ fẹ́'bìnrin. Máṣe gb'aya aláya. Bí o kò bá ṣọ́ra rẹ, wà á j'ọrẹ́" (Prophet, go and get married. Don't snatch another man's wife. If you don't caution yourself, we will beat you). They also call him Prophet "Toromáyà" (cling to breast). 　

SCENE 8: After a church service , Jeremiah tells 3 women "under spiritual retreat" to wait behind. Maria is to be prayed for that same night, Abigail the next night and Rachel the last night of the 3-day prayer session. While praying for Maria, he uncovers and plays with her hair and later caresses her shoulders and her back. Jimoh and Oluwole watch them from a window behind them. John later joins them in their watch. As she rebuffs Jeremiah's advances, he points out that John may be the infertile one and that she should try him (Jeremiah) for a change. Maria refuses, especially since she already has 2 children. When he tries to undress her by force, the men come out of hiding and start beating him. When he takes out his drop-dead charm (ońdè), they run back. He manages to take the offering basket before running away. At last, John's eyes are opened to the realities of life. 

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