April 14, (THEWILL)- In the tranquil village of Ikpalegwa, nestled deep within the lush landscape of Abi Local Government Area of Cross River State, tragedy struck with the force of a tempest in the night of March 23.
A young man, brimming with the adventurous spirit of youth, found himself entangled in a chilling encounter with a mystical creature from the depths of folklore – a mermaid.
It all began innocently, as tales often do in such remote corners of the world. That night, the young man, accompanied by his comrades, embarked on a daring hunt.
Their prey? None other than the elusive mermaid, a creature whispered about in hushed tones by the villagers. Its existence was shrouded in mystery and wonder.
With hearts pounding with excitement and anticipation, the group succeeded in capturing the ethereal being, its iridescent scales glistening like precious gems in the dim glow of their torches. Ignoring the warnings that echoed in the recesses of their minds, they indulged in a feast fit for kings, devouring the mystical creature with reckless abandon.
But fate, with its cruel sense of irony, had other plans in store. Soon after partaking in the forbidden feast, the young man began to exhibit strange and alarming symptoms. His body contorted in unnatural ways, his skin tinged with an otherworldly glow and a peculiar boil emerged upon his brow, pulsating with an eerie luminescence reminiscent of the mermaid’s own visage.
Whispers spread like wildfire through the village, weaving tales of dark omens and cursed destinies. Some speculated that the young man had unwittingly unleashed the wrath of the mermaid’s spirit upon himself by defying the natural order.
Others, more superstitious still, whispered of mystical powers and divine retribution, citing his departure from the teachings of the Christian faith as evidence of his transgressions.
Desperate for salvation, the young man sought solace in the ancient wisdom of traditional healers, their knowledge steeped in the traditions of generations past.
Yet, despite their best efforts, the spectre of doom loomed ever closer, its shadow casting a pall over the once vibrant soul of the village.
In a last-ditch effort to appease the vengeful spirit of the mermaid, the young man embarked on a perilous quest to complete a sacred ritual, a ceremony fraught with danger and uncertainty.
But fate, it seemed, had already sealed his fate, for the necessary materials proved elusive, slipping through his grasp like grains of sand in the hourglass of time.
Undeterred by the warnings of those who knew the dangers all too well, the young man’s persistence in his pursuit of the mermaid, resolved to the spectre of unshaken doom.
Three times he had attempted to ensnare the elusive creature in his fishing nets, and three times she had slipped through his fingers like water, leaving behind nothing but a whispered warning upon the night breeze.
Yet, driven by a mixture of hubris and desperation, the young man refused to heed the signs, his obsession blinding him to the perils that lay ahead.
And so, on the fourth attempt, he succeeded where others had failed, capturing the mermaid in a net woven from threads of fate and folly.
But victory, it seemed, came at a steep price, for the young man’s triumph soon turned to tragedy as the cursed creature exacted her final toll.
Consumed by the darkness that lurked within the depths of her siren’s song, the young man met his untimely end, his life extinguished like a flickering flame in the cold embrace of the night.
As dawn broke over the horizon, casting its golden rays upon the somber tableau that lay before them, the villagers mourned the loss of one of their own, a son of the soil whose fate had been sealed by the whims of fate and the caprices of the supernatural.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the echoes of the young man’s demise served as a solemn reminder of the dangers that lurked beyond the veil of the known, a cautionary tale etched into the annals of time.
For in the heart of every legend lies a kernel of truth, a testament to the fragility of human existence in a world where reality and myth intertwine like the branches of an ancient tree.
And so, as the sun dipped below the horizon once more, casting its gentle glow upon the tranquil waters of the river, the villagers gathered to pay their final respects to the fallen hero, a soul lost to the depths of eternity, forever entwined with the mermaid’s haunting melody.
Commenting on the tragic incident, Mrs Lovina Benjamin Iduma, whose father was an herbalist in the village, said she had been told by her dad that mermaids do stay by the river bank or stream in the village.
”I had witnessed that sometimes a lady would sit in the water and I would pass and greet her. But soon, she would vanish into the rock,” she told this reporter, adding, ”The deceased asked me to buy some parts of the fish, of which I refused to.”
Chief Victor Ezere, an elder from the village, said, ”Whenever we want to fish, the trap is removed overnight. That is a warning from the mermaid. But the deceased refused to heed to custom and the mystery behind it.”
For Mrs Blessing John Bassey, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. This is what Egwa did not want to accept. He refused the warning of the creature and landed now in the grave.”
According to Bassey, ”Also, it is not everything you see you eat. Nobody used to set traps on that side of the stream. Lovina’s father was said to be from the water.”
She also went down the memory lane on the background of the whole incident.
”According to history, his mother was barren eating close to the stream while the food fell and she cried. Then, the mermaid came out from the rock and told her she knows her heart desires that she will have a child.
”The child was Lovina’s father today and he was very handsome. It was this history we were told but a long throat has sent this man to the grave. They even said he would turn to a snake if he was treated, ” Bassey stated.
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David Sanni
