A Parent’s Grief

Her mother had told her the stories of the Abiku and how to avoid them following her

marriage, but despite this, she had been unlucky and the Abiku had found her. She

was not the first woman from her village to be accosted by the Abiku and birth an

Abiku child, but she cursed her luck and spent some much time trying to narrow

down where in her life she had crossed its pass. Was it the evening she had been

late walking home from her mother’s house and had taken a short cut through the

dark back streets or was it when she had taken a walk past the baobab tree in the

blinding heat of the day, even though her mother had warned her against it.

She knew that she would never know but she tormented herself every day since her

child had died, knowing that somehow this was her fault. Her baby, a girl, was born

one morning at the beginning of summer; a beautiful, little girl with a piercing cry that

had broken the early morning silence on the morning of her birth. The pain and

exhaustion from the delivery had been immediately forgotten as she held her

beautiful daughter in her arms, watching as she turned her small head, seeking the

nourishment of her breast.

Her happiness, however, had not lasted. Within less than a month, she saw changes

in her little girl. The eager suckling turned into complaints as she tried to encourage

the baby to feed and the well-fed body began to look weak and malnourished. She

tried everything she could think of, seeking advice from her mother and the older

women of the village who had raised child after child to adulthood. Help me, she

begged, help me save my child.

Eventually, one of the elder women spoke the words that the young woman had

been trying to avoid thinking, although in the dark of the night they jumped unasked

into her mind.

“Your child is an Abiku child girl. She is not long for this world, seek out the Babalawo

and pray he can help you.”

The woman and her husband cried in horror and called out to the sky asking why

their child was chosen. They had done everything to avoid this fate, but it had been

to no avail.

In the next village, their resided a Babalawo who was said to be extremely

knowledgeable and, according to word of mouth, had saved other children from the

Abiku. He was not, however, cheap and the young couple did not have much money

to spend. In desperation they begged for help, selling as much of their property as

they could manage without so that they could pay for the Babalawo’s services.

As they daughter’s health continued to decline, they made the journey to the next

village to beg the Babalawo for his help. Entering his dark hut, they explained their

situation and asked for his help. The Babalawo listened to their pleas and held up his

hand, indicating that he had questions to ask.

He asked the questions that the mother had been asking herself; had she walked in

the places where the Abiku were known to reside? Had they listened to their elders

and given the child a name that would have appealed to an Abiku to stay in the

mortal realm? Had they noticed their child acting in the ways of the Abiku? Had they

spent too much time giving compliments to their daughter, telling her how beautiful

she is?

The father protested that their daughter was so young, how were they to know if she

had acted in the ways of the Abiku? The Babalawo told the father that he should be

more vigilant as it was well known that at night Abiku children would transform into

full grown adults and leave to attend meeting with other Abiku before returning the

next morning and returning to their childlike form.

The Babalawo had agreed to help the young parents for a fee and after they had

paid his asking price, he told them to wait whilst he prepared potions for them to give

to their daughter on their return home. He told them that this was the only way to

save their daughter, but should it fail, they would have to prepare themselves for the

Abiku’s return.

The parents took the Babalawo’s potions, but nothing helped, and their daughter

continued to grow weaker and weaker. Finally, late in the evening, when the baby

was not even two months old, she breathed her last breath and departed the world.

Her mother screamed and cried for her lost daughter, but also for the future as it was

known that the Abiku would return again and again to live and die in their child.

Her mother scolded her for her tears, telling her the Abiku wanted her to cry so it

could profit from her tears, but nothing could console the mourning mother. The

Babalawo was called and more money raised so that he could advise the parents on

how to prepare for the next stage on the Abiku’s torment.

The Babalawo was a prideful man, and he was furious that his potions had not

worked. However, it was also known that the Abiku did not respect the skills of any

Babalawo, and he had to consol himself that he had done everything in his power

and now the parents must listen to his knowledge if they were to know if their Abiku

child had been reborn.

When the parents heard what they needed to go, they protested that they could not

do those things to their baby, even though she had passed away from the world. The

village elders came together and told the parents that they must think about the

future, and it is important to know whether the next child was the Abiku child back

living. They also said that the Abiku must be punished for what it has done.

So, with deep regrets, the parents allowed the body of their child to be punished. The

Babalawo told them that by leaving scars on the child’s body, cutting its fingers, and

burning it, when the Abiku child is reborn, it will still bear the scars and so it will be

clear from the start that this is an Abiku child.

Later, her mother also told her that as the Abiku children were so beautiful, now that

they must bear the scars the rest of the Abiku spirits would shun them, refusing to

allow them to return. This would mean that the Abiku would need to stay alive in the

mortal realm and the child would grow to adulthood.

The woman and her husband were not reassured, and they mourned their daughter.

They also mourned their future children as they believed with all their hearts that the

Abiku was not in possession of their future and unless it could be killed, no child of

theirs would live to adulthood to care for them as they aged.

Why may you ask would the woman and her husband want to have more children

after this? Well, the couple and their people believe, as do most people, that children

are a blessing to married people and to not have children would be a blemish on

their whole family line.

The woman and her husband looked towards the future with fear and despair, and

their happiness was broken forever.