Why Fire and Rain are Enemies
There once was a King who had a beautiful daughter. The Princess had the most beautiful chocolate brown skin, thick, black, curly hair and a smile that could melt a heart of stone. Every man in the land wanted to marry her. But the King was very protective and refused to let her marry just anyone. “Whoever she marries must be perfect,” he said.
One day Ojo (Rain) who was gentle and kind, visited the Princess in the royal garden. Looking lovingly at her, he asked “Omoba, will you marry me?” The Princess, who had heard of Ojo’s kind and generous character, smiled shyly and said “Yes, I will”.
At that very moment, Ina (Fire) who was handsome, powerful and rich visited the King. He came with drummers, dancers and lots of expensive gifts for the King. “Kabiyesi o!” He greeted the King “I have come for the Princess’s hand in marriage” he announced. The King, impressed by Ina, thought, “Hmm, he’s strong and thoughtful. He is perfect for my daughter”. So the King agreed to let me marry the Princess.
That evening the King called for the Princess to tell her the good news. “I have the perfect person for you to marry,” he said. “His name is Ina and I have promised him that you will be his wife”. The Princess cried, “Ah Kabiyesi! I have already promised Ojo that I would marry him. I can’t break my promise and I can’t marry them both either”. The King frowned, thinking hard about how to fix this problem. Then his eyes lit up “I’ve got it! I will make them compete and the winner will be your husband”.
Ojo and Ina were invited to the palace early the next day. They arrived expecting to hear when their wedding to the Princess would be. “Kabiyesi o!” They greeted the King together as he entered the throne room. “Thank you for coming at such short notice”, the King said to them. “I have invited you here because you have both been promised the Princess’s hand in marriage. But of course only one of you can marry her”. “Me?” asked Ojo. “No, Me!” shouted Ina. “The two of you will have to compete in a race and the winner will marry the Princess”. The two rivals looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
News of the race spread fast through the kingdom and there was great excitement on the day of the race. Ina came with his drummers, exciting the crowd even more as he danced wildly, boasting “I have already won this race”. The crowd cheered. Some shouted, “Ina will definitely win”. Others mocked Ojo, “he’s so skinny, there’s no way he can win”. The Princess listened to the people, thought to herself, “No matter who wins the race, I will keep my promise to Ojo”.
The King thanked everyone for coming to watch the race. “Ina and Ojo will run from the city gate back to the palace gate. The winner will marry the Princess”. The people cheered as the rivals took their place at the gate. The Agogo sounded, “Gong!” Ina took off like a rocket leaving a trial of smoke from his flaming head. There was so much smoke, no one could see Ojo or Ina’s friend, Wind, who carried him quickly towards the finish.
As Ina neared the palace, Ojo was nowhere to be seen. The crowd cheered “Ina has won the race”. But suddenly, they noticed a small dark cloud forming above them. The cloud grew larger… and darker… until “Boom Kaboom!” It burst open and water poured down like a waterfall, right on top of Ina. “Psssssht!”. Ina was washed away before he could reach the palace gate.Through the mist, Ojo walked through the palace gate. The crowd erupted in excitement and disbelief. He had won the race and the Princess’s hand in marriage.
From that day to now, fire and rain have remained enemies and the people learned not to judge people based on how they look.
The end.
The Moral of the Story
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover
The people were distracted by Ina’s flashiness and thought that the gentle Ojo was too weak which was not true at all.
Yoruba Proverb
A proverb that shares the theme of this story is;
“Yiyo ekun, ki i se t’ojo” (The leopard’s crouching is not because it’s afraid)
This proverb, like the story, is a warning to take care because gentleness does not always mean weakness.
