The brave Girl

A Story by saralot

CHAPTER 1

The sun had just begun to set, making the sky red. Birds were flying over to find shelter for the night. Papa Esoun entered his compound with a worried look on his face. He was so deep in thought that he neither heard nor recognized his granddaughter who was coming towards him.

“Nana, Nana!” the young girl cried in delight. She ran to embrace the old man who stood in the middle of the compound, a look of delight on his face. “I’ve missed you. You know we are on vacation and I told Papa I wanted to come and visit you.”

The sight of her made him smile.

“Oh Yaa!” he exclaimed as he hugged her. “My little warrior princess, this is a great surprise.”

He pulled her closer and looked at her. She had grown at least an inch taller and she was already showing signs of womanhood.

“See how my little girl has grown.”

“Where are your parents?” he asked when they entered the house.

“Papa has gone to greet the village elders but Mama is in the kitchen. She told me to get her a fan for the coal pot.”

“Is that so? Well that is a change. So you won’t climb trees and chase lizards again, right?”

“By all means,” she said pretending to be angry. “Besides I still have to beat Kwaku and the rest in the fist game and show them how good I have become at using the catapult.”

Papa Esoun laughed.

“Yaa Asantewaa, you never cease to amaze me. When did you arrive anyway?”

“A short time after you left. That is what Kwaku said.”

“And where is he?”

“He went out to Kofi’s house. I’ll go there in a moment.”

“All right, let us go and see what your mother is preparing for supper.”

Abena Sarfoa came out of the kitchen to greet her father in-law. Seeing the old man always warmed her heart for she had grown to love and cherish his pieces of advice over the years.

“Welcome and good evening, Papa,” she greeted hugging him.

“Good evening, my daughter,” he replied. “It is good to see you. I have spoken with Yaa but I’ll wait till you have finished here before asking for anything. Anyway, what is for supper?”

“Your favourite. You just take a bath and relax. I’ll call you when I finish.”

“Yaa, fan the pot until it is blazing and then fetch water for your grandfather to bathe before you go out.”

Yaa bent to stoke the fire. Papa Esoun smiled at them and went back to his room.

Knock, knock went the sound on the door to the house of Kofi Mensah.

“Come in,” a voice from inside called out, “the door is not locked.”

Yaa entered the room and saw that all the others were already seated except Kwaku who was nowhere to be found.

“Ei Yaa! When did you arrive?” one of the boys in a yellow shirt asked. He was surprised to see her.

“This afternoon,” Yaa replied. “Where is Kwaku?”

“He just left for the house but he didn’t tell us you were in,” the boy continued. “We have finished the meeting if that is why you came. You see, no girls are allowed.”

The other boys burst out into laughter.

“Don’t get her angry, Kwame. You know she can beat you up,” one of the boys said after the laughter had died down.

“Really?” another asked.

“Of course Kofi, and she can beat you too, so don’t pretend,” Kwame said. “That girl is a tigress. Have you never wondered why she is named Yaa Asantewaa?”

“Now I see,” the boy replied, nodding his head.

Yaa turned to leave.

“You know I just love to tease you Yaa, don’t go,” Kwame said.

He put his hand on Yaa’s shoulders but she brushed it off.

“I only came to find out what you guys were up to. If you won’t tell me I’m leaving.”

Later that evening, the gong beater sounded his gong as he went round the whole town to deliver the king’s message.

“Kon kon kon,” went the gong. “Good evening folks of Praso. Please make ear for this announcement. Nana says, no one should go to that part of the forest which lies beyond the great river Pra. Anyone who is found in that part will be fined a goat before Nana and his elders. Goodnight!” he concluded after beating his gong again. He continued to another part of the village to continue his proclamation.

Papa Esoun sat in his folding chair on the verandah puffing on his pipe. The gong beater’s message had made him remember the incident that had taken place just two days ago. Mensah, one of the hunters in the village had gone to the forest to visit his traps and there, a lion had attacked him. If it was not for another hunter who heard his screams and came to his rescue frightening the animal away, they would have heard bad news. Later in that day, the chief summoned him and the other elders to the palace and asked for their opinion. After much discussion, they all agreed that the area should be banned at least until the palace guards had killed the animal. What made him more worried that day was that the beast had not yet been killed.

After a while, he went back to bed.

The next morning, which was a Saturday, Kwaku, Yaw and Kwame met at their usual play grounds, under the Odum tree on Kofi’s compound. But Kofi and Kwasi, who were also at the previous meeting, were nowhere to be found. The rest waited impatiently for them. Just then Yaa appeared.

“You should have told me you were bringing her along, Kwaku,” Kwame Ntim said, pointing a finger at Yaa.

“What would you have done then?” Yaa asked frowning.

“Humph,” she said and turned to walk away to another part of the tree with her nose up in the sky.

“Just look at her, this is the very reason why I didn’t want her to come,” he said. He walked up to her and poked a finger in her back. “This is boy stuffs you know, Yaa Asantewaa. Why don’t you like doing things girls do?”

At that, she turned round to face Kwame.

“Guy stuffs? Really?” she cried. “Please don’t…”

“Guys, guys, come on and stop this argument,” Yaw cut in, holding up his hands.

“Where are Kwasi and Kofi? I thought I made it clear we had to set out early if we are to make it back by dusk,” Yaw grumbled.

“Let’s go. He knows where we hunt and can come on his own,” Kwame replied.

“No, we are not going to our usual grounds,” Yaw said. “My brother told me of a place just by the river where rats abound. Let’s wait here for a while. If he doesn’t come, then we will go.”

“There comes Kofi.” A young boy approached them.

“Sorry, I’m late but I had to run some errands for my mother,” Kofi said, joining his friends. “Kwasi will not be able to make it. His uncle has just returned from the city and wants to see him before leaving.”

Together, the five friends set off for the forest to begin their hunt.

CHAPTER 2

The five friends conversed as they made their way through the forest. As they went along, Yaa picked up the shiny stones she found on the way and placed them in her pocket. She wanted to show them how good she had become in using the catapult. Soon they got to the place where Yaw had spoken about and they began to search for rat holes.

“I’ve found one,” Yaa shouted. The rest rushed over to where she pointed.

“Now, all that we need is to find another hole start smoking the rat out,” Yaw said.

“I found one behind that tree over there, but I doubt it is the other end,” Kwame said.

“Let’s try anyway, we can always look for other holes later,” said Yaw.

“Light a torch, Yaa, and let’s start smoking the hole.”

Yaa gathered dried twigs and placed them at the mouth of the hole. She then proceeded to light it. As the twigs caught fire, and started smoking, the boys covered the other hole with a sack to catch the rat. But there were three holes instead of two.

The rat ran out of the third one. Kwame was the first to see it.

“There it is,” he screamed, pointing after the animal.

They gave the rat a chase unaware of where they were going. Kwame ran ahead of them. He dived as the rat attempted to enter another hole but he slipped and fell allowing the animal to run free into the hole.

Feeling disappointed, he got up and realized that he had entered the forbidden part of the forest. His heart began to beat faster as he thought of what would happen.

“Kofi! Yaw!” he cried. “Kwaku, Yaa.” He continued but heard nothing in response. He sat on the ground and started crying.

Meanwhile, the other realized that Kwame had gone too far and they couldn’t find where he went. They huddled together when they realized that they had entered the forbidden part.

“I heard someone calling my name,” Yaa said to the rest.

“It might be Kwame,” Kofi said. “Which direction did it come from?”

Yaa stood to get her bearings and pointed in the westward direction.

“But that will only take us deeper into that part of the forest,” Yaw said. “Why don’t we go back to the village and tell the palace guards so they can come and look for him”.

“What?” Yaa exclaimed. “And leave him all alone? We have to find him before something bad happens to him.”

Kofi and Kwaku both nodded their heads in agreement.

“Yaa,” they heard the call again, this time, more clearly.

“There it is again, come on let us go.” They followed the direction of the call.

Kwame shouted until his voice became hoarse. He put aside his fears and got up. He tried to decide the best route to take. Just then he heard the rustling of leaves behind him accompanied by a low growl. Fear gripped him and he began to shake. He could not move. The growl came again, this time closer. He turned around and saw a huge lion. The animal watched him and still continued to growl. Kwame screamed and turned to run but he slipped. He turned on the ground and attempted to get up and found out his legs and hands were too weak to support him. He knew he had to get up from the ground and run but fear kept him down. He started to scream once again.

Kofi was the first to hear the scream. It pierced the still air in the forest and caused bumps to appear on his skin. He turned around to look at his friends and as they all realized what it meant, they began to run faster. They saw Kwame first, lying on the ground, helpless. Yaa started towards him but Kofi pulled her back pointing to the lion standing there with bared teeth.

CHAPTER 3

Yaa pulled out her catapult, placed a stone inside and aimed at the lion’s head and shot. The stone hit it and caused it to stop. She hit it with another stone, this time, aiming for the eye. It bared its fangs again but could not decide between attacking Kwame or Yaa. It started towards Yaa.

Suddenly, they heard boom, the lion fell, blood oozing out of its head. Yaa turned to see the direction from which the shot came and saw one of the palace guards with a gun in his hands advancing towards them. With that image in her head, Yaa collapsed.

She woke up later in the evening with a dull ache in her head and realized she was back in her room at her grandfather’s house.

“Mama,” she called out to her mother.

Outside, she heard scurrying feet and the door flew open. Kofi, Kwame, Yaw Kwaku and Kwasi came through the door all at once. They burst out into laughter at the look of astonishment on her face. They were relieved that she was all right. She also joined in, glad to see that they were also all right. They hugged even as they laughed on. Her mother, father and grandfather followed suit.

“What happened?” she asked when the place became quiet. “All I can remember was the palace guard.”

“Well, you collapsed and one of the guards carried you home,” Yaw said.

“The most important thing is that the lion died, and we are all safe,” Kofi added.

“Thank you very much for saving my life,” Kwame said. “If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t be alive right now, Yaa Asantewaa. I’ll never tease you again.”

“Don’t mention it,” Yaa said, playfully patting him on the shoulders. I know you would have done the same thing for me.” And she turned to look at the others and smiled. She knew Kwame would go right back to it after the hula has passed over the incident.

“I now remember, Kwame, the look on your face,” Yaa said. “Don’t you ever scare us like that again, you hear.”

“I don’t know what made you go to that place,” her grandfather said, giving all of them a stern look. “But you will surely receive your punishments later, for now, let us be thankful that you are all safe and sound where you belong.”

QUESTIONS

1. What were the friends hunting for?

2. What is the name of the boy who the lion attached first?

3. Why did the boy enter the barred part of the forest?

4. Who shot the lion?

5. Who is the main character?

GLOSSARY

Proclamation……a public or formal announcement

Summoned……... to send for somebody to come

Grumbled………to murmur in discontent

Accompanied…..to go along with someone

Hoarse………….sounding rough