The course of destiny (I)

This can only advance the course of destiny as it affects candidates and prospective voters in the 2015 elections but cannot by an inch alter it.  I’m compelled by the title of this piece to recall a lengthy but exciting story I read a long time ago in the popular Hausa literature book Magana Jari […]

This can only advance the course of destiny as it affects candidates and prospective voters in the 2015 elections but cannot by an inch alter it.
 I’m compelled by the title of this piece to recall a lengthy but exciting story I read a long time ago in the popular Hausa literature book Magana Jari Ce. I cannot remember which of the three books in the series that carries the tale but I can recollect its title being “Zakaran da Allah ya nufe shi da cara”. I pray that Allah guides me to recall most part of it.
There once lived a poor couple who had no child. After many years of patience and prayers, the wife became pregnant. One day when the pregnancy was in the eighth month, she went to a public well to fetch water. While waiting for her turn, an aged woman came and asked her for some water to kill her thirst. When the heavily pregnant woman approached those drawing water from the well, herself and the aged-woman were rebuked and humiliated. The aged-woman had to wait until it was the turn of the pregnant woman who drew water from the well and gave her to drink. After drinking to satisfaction, the aged-woman told the pregnant woman that she would give birth to a male child that will marry a princess and become a king in that community. Other women present laughed at the prophecy of the aged-woman.
After returning home, the pregnant woman narrated the story of the encounter with the aged-woman to her husband whose only comment was “Allah knows best”. The other women on returning to their respective houses continued to gossip and abuse the pregnant woman until the prophecy about her pregnancy reached the king’s palace. The monarch immediately invited his Waziri and told him about the aged-woman’s prediction. They both resolved not to kill the pregnant woman with the unborn child. Instead, they resolved to wait until she is delivered of the baby. The woman eventually gave birth to a baby boy nick-named Dandaula by neighbours.
When the king heard of this, he sent for the Waziri who advised against the killing of Dandaula. Rather, he suggested to the king that Dandaula be kidnapped from his mother. One of the palace guards was assigned to do this at night which he did by leaving a puppy for Dandaula’s mother in place of the baby. At dawn, Waziri put the baby in a wooden box and threw it on the only river bordering the community. When the baby’s mother woke up to find a puppy beside her, she informed her husband. Both of them thought it was the baby that turned into a puppy and so they locked themselves in the room and started crying.
Suddenly, a woman appeared from nowhere and introduced herself as the same aged-woman who begged for water at the well site; informing them that she is not a human being but a jinn. She asked them to stop crying and assured them that Dandaula was alive; explaining how the baby was taken and thrown in to the river out of the fear that he would in future become a king. She then instructed them to kill the puppy, bury it and thereafter inform everyone that Dandaula had died.
Far away in another village, a farmer came to the stream early in the morning and found the wooden box (that was carrying Dandaula) floating. He picked it, opened it and found a baby boy wrapped in a cloth. He was frightened and wanted to run but was stopped by his wife who had come to fetch water. She calmed him and advised that they adopt the child since they’ve never been blessed with one. After seven days, they slaughtered a ram as required by Islamic tradition and gave the boy a name I cannot remember. For the sake of this piece, I will adopt Buhari as the name given to him by the farmer. The boy grew up to become, at age 15, a skilled farmer and hunter.
The king who ordered the stealing of the boy once went on tour of his kingdom. The trip brought him to the village where handsome Buhari was living. Young Buhari and his adopted father were part of the crowd standing by the street to greet the king. Looking directly at Buhari, the king who halted his horse was fascinated by the boy’s charming gaze and sought to know about him. Buhari’s ‘father’ explained how he picked him up fifteen years ago in a wooden box he found floating on the stream. The king requested to see the box. When it was brought, the king and his Waziri were both convinced that the young boy is the Dandaula they masterminded his abduction from his mother. The king praised the farmer for raising an orphan. The king, on Waziri’s advice, told the farmer that he would give a letter instantly to Buhari to take to his palace to collect a beautiful gown for him in appreciation of his kindheartedness.
Buhari lost his way at night in to a cave that, unknown to him, was used by some bandits as a hideout. He has never been to the village where the king’s palace is located. He sat to rest in the cave and soon fell asleep. When the bandits returned at midnight, the literate among them slipped the note out of Buhari’s hand and read it. The king had written that Buhari be killed. Captivated by Buhari’s handsome look, the bandits who felt a good-looking person like Buhari should not be killed for whatever reason, quickly changed the note and wrote: “Marry my daughter to him as soon as he arrives”; and slipped it back into Buhari’s hand.
Join us next week insha Allah on this page to read about what later happened to Buhari in the second and concluding part of the story. May Allah (SWT) keep us on the path of guidance; and not the path of those who earn His anger, amin.

Condolence:
With a heavy heart, I condole with the people of Niger State over the death of one of my teachers, Dr. Mundi  Yusuf, whose demise occured on Wednesday 11, 2015. May Allah (SWT) grand him eternal mercy, amin.