The Bowl Of Pepper

This happened long long ago, before Kwesi Broni(White Man) set his foot on the shores of Gold Coast. When customs and traditions were respected. When bragoro (puberty rites) were expected of every girl. In the times where rules were obeyed and morality was high.

Picture from @mydivathings

Now Let's Begin...

In the village of Mзkokↄkↄↄ (red pepper), a young girl, Amoaniwaa committed an abomination. She had taken seed whiles not married. This was not to be taken lightly. She had to be ostracized with her lover as custom demanded. On the eve of her banishment, something happened. She had a dream where an old woman told her to go and steal where the seeds of the red pepper were kept. Mзkokↄkↄↄ was the only village producing red pepper in the Kingdom All other towns and villages depended on Mзkokↄkↄↄ for pepper. The only pepper farm was located in the castle and seeds from the fruit were always taken out before the seeds were sold. They wanted to be the only pepper producers in the region. Mзkokↄkↄↄ was well known for it's pepper, hence the name, Mзkokↄkↄↄ (red pepper).

Amoaniwaa opened her eyes only to realize it was just a dream. She dismissed it and went back to bed. For a second time, she dreamt again. The same old lady was in her dream asking her to go for the pepper seeds. She took her to the palace to show her where the pepper seeds were stored. Amoaniwaa jerked from her sleep, sweating profusely and didn't know what to do. It felt so real, and she was still trying to catch her breath. She sat down waiting for day to break, so she could meet her lover, and they both leave the village, never to return. She thought about all the people she will never see again. Her family, her friends, her neighbors and even the entire village. She drifted back to sleep, with her mind on how life will be like, outside the village.

She had a third dream which was more than just a dream. The old woman led her to the most secret chamber in the palace, took the bowl containing all the pepper seeds, and placed it in the hands of Amoaniwaa. She could sense something was wrong. The details in the dream were too much for it to be just a dream. She could feel the bowl in her palms being real. She looked down, and she was on her mat in her room. She was alone with the bowl of pepper seeds in her hands. How did it get here. Wow, I hadn't imagined it. What do I do, she asked herself. If she was found with it, she will be kept until she had the baby, then she will be stoned to death. From nowhere, fear gripped her, and was suffocating her. She got up from bed, went out into the forest to hide the bowl. It was still dark, the sun hadn't come up yet. She found a place deep in the forrest, on top of a tree where she hid the bowl of pepper seeds.

It was almost daybreak when she got back to her room. She was too scared to even go back to bed. She sat down, waiting for the palace guards to come for her, so the whole village will see her off. People shouting, gong gong sounding, and drums being beaten woke her from her slumber. It was daybreak and chaos was everywhere. It had been announced that the bowl of seed were missing. Nobody was to go in or out of the village. Every single hose was going to be searched. For a whole 3 moons, the village was on a lock down. Nobody going out, nobody coming in. The palace guards searched, and searched, but the bowl of seeds wasn't to be found.

The King finally lifted the ban, and Amoaniwaa was then banished with her lover out of the village. She went straight to where she had kept the bowl of seeds. She looked up, and the bowl wasn't there. She looked down and saw beautiful pepper plants all around. The bowl of pepper had overturned and scattered everywhere. Now she could cultivate pepper and sell with her lover. There was no pepper all over the world, and she was the main supplier for the world. That's how pepper got to be planted in other areas of the world.