Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess from Africa . Her name was Adaeze, a name which was passed down from generation to generation. She was born with all the necessary blessings, and she was perfect, but the ancestors were not happy with the king so they sent a messenger to capture his beloved daughter. This messenger must have the stealth of a wildcat but also the speed of a gazelle. The council of head ancestors decided to send Abeeku, the fastest and stealthiest member of the council.
In the dead of night Abeeku crept out of the spirit world and into the living world through the cave of whispering souls, which was where all the unready spirits were caught. Children and babies’ spirits were kept there for eternity. As they floated through the cave their loose bodies got caught on the walls and they could not escape to the realm of ancestors.
As Abeeku floated through he thought of his past in the cave of whispering souls, he was the only spirit that had managed to escape. Abeeku wasn’t really an ancestor since he had died as a teenager and ancestors had to be an elder, but he was a respected member of the council for making it out of the cave. As he made his way out of the cave he started to feel human again and he realized that until he got back to the cave he would be human.
Abeeku walked to the castle and snuck through a crack in the gate. He made his way over to Princess Adaeze’s room and with a sudden burst of speed he snatched the baby and ran all the way back to cave, but when they reached the cave Adaeze started bawling and that is when Abeeku realized her spirit was being taken out of her, so he rushed her to a farmhouse and left the baby there with a note that said: Take care of Adaeze.
After Princess Adaeze was captured the king realized why she had been taken. The ancestors were not happy with the keeping of their shrine. Immediately the king gave orders to make the shrine more beautiful. It was tended to everyday in hope that the ancestors would be pleased and return Princess Adaeze. The king hired a shaman to tend to it and give the ancestors everything they wanted.
Fifteen years later…
Abeeku kept a constant watch on Adaeze as she grew up as a farm girl. She grew tall and slim and was very beautiful, her adoptive parents, who had been childless, took her as a blessing from the ancestors.
Abeeku was getting tired of the spirit world. It was so plain and dull. All black and white and just marshes and little abodes. What had happened to the legend that said heaven was of pleasant breezes? Abeeku felt like going back to the living world for a little bit. Since ancestors have total power over their living relatives he asked his good friend to make his grandson take a vacation so he could use the house.
Abeeku moved into the house a week later and started making it more homey. When he went to the market he saw a sign announcing that the prince was ready to marry and any girls between the ages 14 and 17 should attend a party. There the prince would choose his new wife. Quickly, Abeeku ran back to the spirit world and told the council that he planned on revealing Adaeze’s true identity the night of the party. The council decided the king had suffered enough for the crime of not taking care of their shrine for many years, and since he had been taking such good care of it since the princess’s capture they agreed to put Abeeku’s plan into action.
Abeeku walked (he had done a lot of running and was tired) all the way back to the living world and knocked on Adaeze’s door. He explained to her that she must go to the party, so she agreed to it. On the night of the party Adaeze walked to the palace. Soon it was obvious the prince would choose her as his wife. The king’s ancestors made him think of his daughter and her birth mark on her ear. It was a strange place for a birth mark so she could be recognized by it. He also thought of her face, and he just had to take a peek at his son’s selection. As soon as the king saw Adaeze he knew she was his daughter. He took her aside and asked if she had any birth marks. She replied yes and showed him the one on her ear. The king dragged her to the stage and announced in an almost yell, “My daughter has been found!”
Adaeze didn’t see how this connected to her until she recalled that the lost princess’s name was Adaeze and that is when she realized she was the princess. Immediately the queen ran up to her and hugged her, and the king lifted her high in the air. The prince was disappointed that he couldn’t marry her, but he was happy she was his sister and would be his child’s aunt.
Everyone was happy that night. The ancestors where happy and the royal family was happy. Princess Adaeze ran home to tell her adoptive parents that she was moving to the palace and that she would ask if they could move in too.
Two years later…
“Umm, father?” said Adaeze.
“Yes, darling.”
“Umm, I have found the man who I would like to be my husband.”
“Wonderful! Who is he?”
“Umm, Jelani, the tax collector’s son.”
“Brilliant, just the right kind of man. I will arrange the wedding immediately, oh and, make sure your adoptive parents know. Okay?”
“I already told them and they approve.”
“Great!”
One Month Later…
Jelani and Adaeze were married in the palace gardens. Even though tradition stated that Adaeze should live in Jelani’s house the king made an exception, so Jelani and his family moved in the palace and everyone, including the ancestors and Abeeku, lived happily ever after.
The End
I like it. Thank you for posting it. We are in Tuxedo now experiencing a freaky electrical outage. We think our refrigerator quit (it's old) and leaked and shorted various things out. Some of them started working again in the middle of the night, which started the burglar alarm batteries beeping, which started the dogs barking, which meant I had to stay up with them all night (that keeps them quiet). So I'm a mess now and Caroline is sleeping. And if I leave the house (I would like to buy some ice so that I can have iced coffee), they'll go beserk. I'm going to send this to Jane. She'll be home a week from Tuesday.
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